So the trick of nominating the most extreme candidate because, as everybody knows, the Republican is going to win anyway . . . backfired. So much so that Steve Bannon looks like one of those Looney Tunes characters with powder burns on his face.
The lesson that Alabama voters gave the rest of us this week should be: Nominate a respectable candidate in the primary. But will Republican primary voters learn?
We certainly learned in Arkansas. Some of us can still remember Orval Faubus. And the memory of that executive gave us Winthrop Rockefeller, Dale Bumpers, David Pryor, Mike Huckabee, Mike Beebe and Asa Hutchinson over the years. Not to mention other responsible types in Congress such as Mark Pryor, John Boozman, Tom Cotton, Blanche Lincoln, John Paul Hammerschmidt, Jay Dickey, Mike Ross and the current crop of congressmen now representing Arkansas.
Alabama, like a lot of Southern states, has historical baggage to deal with and no longer wants embarrassing elected officials to represent them. If we had Faugress in the 1960s, then 'Bama had George Wallace. And Georgia had Lester Maddox. And Louisiana had Edwin Edwards and David Duke.
Now then, may Roy Moore slink silently into the background. And the rest of us can learn, and move on.
Editorial on 12/16/2017