It’s always fun to watch annoying people turn on each other, and there’s no better spectacle than watching Alabama Republicans eating their own. After spending decades luring the most fringe elements into the party, using them as loyal foot soldiers, and then ignoring them after the election, the mad political scientists are losing control of the beast they created.

That TEA Party tiger they had by the tail? It’s going rogue. Pass the popcorn.

State Auditor Jim Zeigler, who is currently in a struggle with AL Chief Justice Roy Moore to determine which man is the fiercest unicorn hunter in the land, has surged ahead in the contest. He’s been asked to give the “Republican response” to a Republican’s “state of the state” address. Not by the Republican establishment, of course, but by outside groups hostile to the leadership.

From his press release:

Two conservative groups have asked State Auditor Jim Zeigler to respond to the State of the State. The Alabama Tea Party Conservative Coalition and the Common Sense Campaign made that request. Dr. Lou Campomenosi, the groups spokesman said, “taxpaying anti-establishment conservatives have a right to hear a rebuttal from one of their own.” Zeigler, who has disagreed with Bentley on several issues, says he will make a decision by Wednesday, or Thursday on whether he will give the rebuttal to the State of the State.

Zeigler is always fun, in a “did you see that guy in the wacky 1970’s era leisure suit wandering in the street, yelling at a stuffed dog, and trying to shake hands with fence posts; isn’t that sad” sort of way, so we hope he takes these groups up on the offer. The tiger is loose; might as well send it out to speak in public.

Did you just hear a tiny pop like from a child’s balloon? It could be the sound of Governor Robert Bentley’s influence in the Alabama Republican Party vanishing – well before his term ends.