Governor Jewboy?
Kinky Friedman thanks you for not getting all PC on my ass.
There may be hope for Texas yet. And if there's hope for Texas, there's damn sure hope for America.
Ye Olde Qualifier: There are a few things I don't like about Kinky Friedman, and they're more than a little worrisome. He's far too fond of Governor Whatshisname of Gulliphoneya, not to mention the fact the sumbitch voted for George W. Bush in 2004. I don't consider him well-informed when it comes to politics, although I seriously doubt his opponents are any better in this regard. Frankly, one would have to be shit thick to miss the fact that Iraq was in no way related to what James Wolcott calls "the war on an abstract noun." Iraq was and is George W. Bush's personal pinata, and how anyone could not comprehend this is, well, frustrating, to put it mildly.
That said, the fact that I, a raging Leftist, still consider The Kinkster's candidacy a blessing should tell you something about Texas politics. The last thing I want to see is Scott McClellan's wildebeast of a mama, Carol Keeton Rylander Strayhorn Whoever-I-Am-This-Week, parking her sorry bag o'bilious bones in the Governor's Mansion, and I'm sad to report the crooked old hag is most assuredly dangerous enough to win. Choosing between Rick "Governor Good Hair" Perry & Strayhorn is like choosing between monkey brains and dog meat for dinner.
Pardon me for facing the screeching music: No Democrat is going to win the race for Texas Governor in 2006. Chris Bell, the guy who filed the ethics complaint against Tom Delay, may well be a principled politician whose views better comport with my own, but Bell doesn't have a prayer in this profoundly fucked up state.
Of course, Governor Kinky would make a terrible mess of a state even messier, but at least he won't be firing up theofascist crowds and directing them to put the heads of liberals on pikes for display at the city limits. That's no small thing where I live.
I guess the reason I don't just walk away from the whole thing is because, at the very least, Kinky Friedman is essentially a humanitarian and that's not something one will find among the legions of professional Texas pols. He has said a moratorium on the death penalty would be a distinct possibility should he win. He did the Peace Corps thing, and his sister's a pro in the NGO humanitarian arena. He founded Utopia Rescue Ranch in 1998. He's a decent human being.
The odds are a million to one that he could pull it off - hell, he couldn't even win a seat as Justice of the Peace a few years back - but like his campaign slogan says: Why the hell not? Texas can do much, much worse than Kinky Friedman. At least the man has a beating heart, and that's a hell of a lot more than Strayhorn or Perry will ever be able to demonstrate.
If nothing else, getting Kinky elected would be worth it just for the memoir. God knows I could use the humor.
Kinky Friedman for Texas Governor.
Yes, he's serious.
Yes, he's serious.
There may be hope for Texas yet. And if there's hope for Texas, there's damn sure hope for America.
Ye Olde Qualifier: There are a few things I don't like about Kinky Friedman, and they're more than a little worrisome. He's far too fond of Governor Whatshisname of Gulliphoneya, not to mention the fact the sumbitch voted for George W. Bush in 2004. I don't consider him well-informed when it comes to politics, although I seriously doubt his opponents are any better in this regard. Frankly, one would have to be shit thick to miss the fact that Iraq was in no way related to what James Wolcott calls "the war on an abstract noun." Iraq was and is George W. Bush's personal pinata, and how anyone could not comprehend this is, well, frustrating, to put it mildly.
That said, the fact that I, a raging Leftist, still consider The Kinkster's candidacy a blessing should tell you something about Texas politics. The last thing I want to see is Scott McClellan's wildebeast of a mama, Carol Keeton Rylander Strayhorn Whoever-I-Am-This-Week, parking her sorry bag o'bilious bones in the Governor's Mansion, and I'm sad to report the crooked old hag is most assuredly dangerous enough to win. Choosing between Rick "Governor Good Hair" Perry & Strayhorn is like choosing between monkey brains and dog meat for dinner.
Pardon me for facing the screeching music: No Democrat is going to win the race for Texas Governor in 2006. Chris Bell, the guy who filed the ethics complaint against Tom Delay, may well be a principled politician whose views better comport with my own, but Bell doesn't have a prayer in this profoundly fucked up state.
Of course, Governor Kinky would make a terrible mess of a state even messier, but at least he won't be firing up theofascist crowds and directing them to put the heads of liberals on pikes for display at the city limits. That's no small thing where I live.
I guess the reason I don't just walk away from the whole thing is because, at the very least, Kinky Friedman is essentially a humanitarian and that's not something one will find among the legions of professional Texas pols. He has said a moratorium on the death penalty would be a distinct possibility should he win. He did the Peace Corps thing, and his sister's a pro in the NGO humanitarian arena. He founded Utopia Rescue Ranch in 1998. He's a decent human being.
The odds are a million to one that he could pull it off - hell, he couldn't even win a seat as Justice of the Peace a few years back - but like his campaign slogan says: Why the hell not? Texas can do much, much worse than Kinky Friedman. At least the man has a beating heart, and that's a hell of a lot more than Strayhorn or Perry will ever be able to demonstrate.
If nothing else, getting Kinky elected would be worth it just for the memoir. God knows I could use the humor.
posted by Arvin Hill at 7/05/2005 11:30:00 PM
<< Home