Howard Dean tried to compliment Alabama Sunday on MSNBC, but it didn’t come off great.

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The former Vermont governor, appearing on “MSNBC Live With Alex Witt” said, “Now, here is the interesting thing about this, Alabama is a state that has changed fairly significantly in the last 20 years. Most people up north don’t know that. They have much better jobs than they did, a lot of the car manufacturers, the University of Alabama, for example, has now become a very good university, not just because they have a great football team, because they’re also terrific academically.”

He continued, “Alabama’s not the same state it was when George Wallace was running. This is going to be a really interesting election, because Doug Moore (sic) is a son of Alabama. Two blue collar parents. Worked his way up. Lawyer, very smart, very principled. This is one of those cases where I think a lot of Republicans who are moderate, thoughtful people in Alabama, and there are a lot more than yankees believe, are going to do the right thing and turn the page on Alabama’s supposed image of a backward blah blah blah and all of that stuff.”

“I think this is a great election. I do think we’re going to win. I think it’s going to be close, but I also think it’s a turning point for Alabamians and I think we, the yankees should stay out of it and let them make up their own mind about how they want to do this,” he concluded.

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