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October 13, 2006
The Original Kinky Jew Shakes Up Texas Gov Race
Singer/novelist/gadfly Kinky Friedman has come bolting out of his ranchito in the Texas Hill Country to cause a stir with his bid for Governor of Texas. Kinky's presence in the race is throwing a kink, so to speak, in the plans of other candidates in the race. Earlier this week, Democratic candidate Chris Bell called Kinky and asked him to drop out of the race. The Dallas Morning News reports,
Mr. Bell left a voice mail message on Mr. Friedman's personal cellphone Tuesday, asking for a meeting at the mystery writer and former bandleader's ranch near Kerrville, Mr. Friedman said.Mr. Bell later confirmed he sought a meeting so he could try to talk Mr. Friedman into dropping out of the four-way race, which is in its home stretch. The election is Nov. 7.
"I had hoped to talk to Kinky privately, but now that it's been reported by the Dallas Morning News, I'm going to ask him publicly: Please join me in defeating [Republican incumbent] Rick Perry," Mr. Bell said in a statement his campaign issued late Tuesday.
Above is a gratuitous photo of your correspondent modeling the latest in Kinkywear.
Kinky campaign workers are alerting the faithful to watch out for more Democratic pressure. I'm on the mailing list of the Hidalgo County Kinky machine, which sent out this email:
Most of you have probably heard that Bell would like Kinky to step down from the race. He thinks Kinky is stealing "his" votes. But Kinky has said "no to terrorism" and has not even considered that. So now, people, watch out. The Democrats are about to launch a huge anti-Kinky campaign instead of focusing on the issues. If they collect the dollars they need, they are going to bombard the areas with black voters with commercials using Kinky's shtick out of context from 25 years ago. What a desperate ploy. Just hang in there and remind others who are waffling to stick to the issues, not the cover for the inadequacies of the Democratic Candidate who knows he cannot win. It's like those people who actually believe Perry's ad saying that education is his #1 priority. Puh-Lease...get real.
[Note to voting officials: despite my Kinky t-shirt and rabid reading of emails from his campaign, I will only be voting in Connecticut, where he is not on the ballot. Not yet, anyway.]
The press loves Kinky becomes he makes irresistible copy. I know, because I once interviewed him for a story about the Lone Star Roadhouse. He was available and, of course, quotable. The stories practically write themselves. Even East Coast sophisticates, such as writer Ron Rosenbaum and the staff here at Kesher Talk, are mightily impressed by the Kinkster. Rosenbaum endorsed him on his blog, here. Rosenbaum wrote,
I think it wouuld be one of the most refreshing things to happen in American politics if Kinky won his independent bid.It’s not impossible. At first even he seemed not to take it too seriously. In addition to writing mysery novels instead of music these days, he runs an animal shelter and originally he said his major campaign plank would be to outlaw the de-clawing of cats. Don’t get me wrong, me and my cat Bruno are totally with him on that. But the recent Post interview suggests that his current surge in the polls (only 12% behind the front- running Repbulican incumbent) suggest he’s thinking of a broader mandate. Indeed let me leave you with one of his more serious-minded political remarks which a lot of politiicans outside Texas could take to heart:
“A politician is looking at the next election. A statesmen is looking at the next generation.”
Reason Magazine just ran a piece by Jesse Walker called "Hooray For Kinky Friedman," which puts the campaign in the context of other populist insurgents, such as
the western-swing bandleader Pappy O'Daniel, [Texas] governor from 1939 to 1941, whose term in office was so erratic that some of the state's most prominent businessmen helped him land a seat in the Senate just to get him out of Texas.And Kesher Talk has covered his political rise, here and here.
For the deep New Yorker Magazine view of the man, look at this article from August 2005.
Will Kinky win? Who knows? Get enough ornery Texans in the voting booths and give them a choice and maybe they'll pull a Pappy O'Daniel (or Vesse Ventura/Arnold Schwarzenegger) and give him a chance. With three other candidates fighting for the conventional votes, Kinky could win with less than a majority. Then we can see what a real singing insurgent can accomplish.
Van | 10/13/06 at 02:47 PM | Categories: - Jews in odd places
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Tracked on October 13, 2006 05:42 PM
» Weekend Reading from Get Kinky
The Weekly Standard just released a lengthy profile on Kinky’s campaign.
For those of y’all with excerpt fetishes, there’s more after the jump.
... [Read More]
Tracked on October 14, 2006 04:38 PM
Comments
I support Kinky. Heck, he's for the legalisation of medical marijuana, which is just sensible, in my opinion, considering how many therepeutic benefits it has in the latest research in the last few years.
Alcibiades | October 13, 2006 11:21 AM
I love Kinky, who has the brass cajones to admit that the President is an honorable cowboy. Here's an interview:
Susannah McNeely: I seem to remember a year or so ago in a television interview, you said that at 60 you wanted nothing more or less than to be the Salsa King of Texas. And after your bid for Justice of the Peace in ’86, you said you were leaving “that worthless tar baby that is politics” to the young people. What happened that changed your mind and prompted you to run for governor of Texas?
Kinky Friedman: Nothing changed my mind, that’s still correct. This is not a political campaign. It’s a spiritual one—a spiritual calling.
...
SM: How do you think “cowboy” has been used pejoratively?
KF: By Europeans, by some Americans . . . maybe it’s because of George W., maybe not. It’s been used that way to mean a loose cannon or a bully. But a cowboy has never been that. A cowboy has always stood up for the little people. He’s always been a knight out of time, beloved by all the children of the world. I want to preserve the cowboy as he really is. I want to take us back to a time when the cowboys all sang and the horses were smart. I’m gonna beat this wussification, if I’ve got to do it one wuss at a time.
SM: As a spiritual leader of Texas, restoring the faith in the way things ought to be?
KF: That’s right, I’m looking to do spiritual lifting instead of heavy lifting. That’s what I’d do as governor.
SM: So does this idea of the honorable cowboy have anything to do with why you threw your support behind President Bush in this last election? You did, didn’t you?
KF: Yes. I did in this last election, but I didn’t vote for him the first time.
SM: Who did you vote for in 2000?
KF: I voted for Gore then. I was conflicted. . .but I was not for Bush that time. Since then, though, we’ve become friends. And that’s what’s changed things.
SM: So it’s your friendship with him that’s changed your mind about having him as president more than his specific political positions?
KF: Well, actually, I agree with most of his political positions overseas, his foreign policy. On domestic issues, I’m more in line with the Democrats. I basically think he played a poor hand well after September 11. What he’s been doing in the Near East and in the Middle East, he’s handling that well, I think.
By the way, don't be put off about Kinky's claim that he voted for Gore. Kinky was simply mistaken about that issue because Kinky's voting records confirm that he hasn't voted but once in more than a decade (and that was his sweet vote in 2004).
GO KINKY!!!
Kinky is Awesome | October 13, 2006 03:07 PM
Forget politics, I Just love Kinky he is irristibly candid (and funny). Even though I live in Tenn. I am a card carrying Honorary Texas Jewboy (they Aint making Jews Like Kinky anymore)
Sammy Benoit | October 13, 2006 05:25 PM
Well, I live in Texas and Kinky is getting my vote and my son at college is actively campaigning for him in Lubbock, too.
If it weren't for Kinky, I would likely not even vote this year because I am sick to death of "politics as usual". What this country needs are some straight-talking real people with fresh ideas.
Terri | October 13, 2006 10:17 PM
