We have two physicians running for governor of Alabama. The current governor, a retired dermatologist,apparently sees every problem as only skin deep. He entered office on the Republican ticket vowing to accept no salary until he brought jobs to the state. After almost a full term in office, he is still receiving no salary and is worth every penny we pay him. He has waged a campaign to accept no Medicaid expansion for his state, costing Alabama jobs as well as income, throwing the healthcare industry into a tail spin, staving off medical treatment for hundreds of thousands, and causing many to wonder if he ever took the Hippocratic oath.
This year, the Democrats came up with their own doctor to oppose Gov. Bentley in the gubernatorial race. Some even dared to hope that Alabama might have the potential to get a real governor running the state. Until this last week, Parker Griffith's most memorable effort was in trying to resurrect the state's failed attempt at an education lottery, a train that left the station at least two recessions back.
I heard it first from a colleague at work, that Parker Griffith had a meltdown on the air, cursing and threatening a radio talk show host. I thought "Oh, great, have we now got two clowns running?" Then I did a little research and saw in a news report that it was an off-the-air meltdown, not on the air. Still not a good move for the gubernatorial candidate. Leave it to Alabama to put the goober back into gubernatorial.
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