Peripatetic Russ Feingold

Opinion Journal had a follow-up to the bit about Peripatetic Russ Feingold whose recent trip to Alabama may have been a hint that he's considering a run for President in 2008.

Reader Mark Conversino, who describes himself as "a retired military officer and transplanted Yankee" now living in Montgomery, Ala., offers this interesting response to our item yesterday on Sen. Russ Feingold's visit to the state:

Alabama has long lagged behind many other states in terms of education and economic development. The governor, both senators and the majority of the state's House members are Republican. But this trend toward a Republican ascendancy is not even a decade old.

What the senator from Wisconsin apparently chose to ignore is that at the state level, the Democratic Party has been firmly in control for decades. The most powerful lobbying group in the state is not the Christian Coalition but the Alabama Education Association, as bloated and worthless a teachers' union as any.

Granted, most Alabama Democrats are "conservative," relative to the standards of the national party, and most of these state Democrats share their constituents' views on God, guns and gays. Yet perhaps the Republican Party is gaining strength here and elsewhere across the South because of the failure of the old Democratic establishment to move their states forward. If Feingold finds Alabama in such desperate straits, therefore, he must give credit where credit is due -- to the Democratic Party.

Zing!

I also discovered this from the BadgerPundit, a transplanted Alabamian.

The JS editors suppose that Russ Feingold would be an attractive candidate for national office. In fact, this Paul Wellstone clone is much too left-wing even for the people of Wisconsin, who for some reason haven't yet wised up to what a loony lefty Russ is. But I know this much: Russ Feingold will never play in Peoria, much less in Alabama or anywhere else in Red State nation. The fact that the JS thinks Feingold's sanctimonious condescension will win him in any friends in central Alabama is droll indeed. Alabamians are warm and hospitable, and we all hope the Senator enjoyed his golf trip and will return soon. But the vast majority of the Heart of Dixie, in private, hope that Senator will take his politics and put them where the sun don't shine.

Double Zing!!


(Cross-posted to Badger Blog Alliance)