not in the mood to blame the victim on a day like today. two years ago in alabama the person who realistically in the most powerful politician in the state. the way their state government is set up, the most powerful politician in real terms is the speaker of the house. two years ago the sitting speaker of the house in alabama was charged with 23 felony corruption counts. that seemed like a crisis at the time because he is indicted on those 23 counts two weeks before election day. and he was up for reelection. and that speaker of the house decided that he would not drop out of the race. and our first clue that something had shifted off its axis in alabama republican politics was when the guy who had just been indicted on 23 felony corruption charges not only didn't drop out of the race, he won. he won his race for reelection by a lot. and then his fellow republicans in the state legislature elected him again to be their leader. to be their speaker despite the fact that he was currently under indictment on 23 felony