...especially politicians pretending not to be politicians.
Posted on 08/22/2006 6:21:45 PM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
Kinky Friedman, who is to be in El Paso when this article comes out (Aug. 20-22), wants it to be known he isn't a politician, and despite his never-ending run of the mouth that appears to make light of issues, he is serious.
“I'm not going to become a self-important politician. The circus needs clowns like donkeys need elephants. Will Rogers said the politicians were the greatest jokers of all. Every time they made a joke it turned into law and every time they made a law it turned into a joke,” Friedman said.
Still, as the campaign heats up after Labor Day, with a few million in the bank and a strew of polls indicating Kinky has the popularity and name recognition to win, the joke may wear thin as voters home in on issues.
“Labor Day traditionally marks the moment when Texas candidates start campaigning in earnest. Up to now, Friedman has offered some welcome entertainment. But now the end of the silly season is approaching. Friedman has too much potential influence in this strange four-way race just to play the clown. On the other hand, maybe Kinky wants to just keep being Kinky. In that case, his supporters should enjoy the show, but save their votes and money for a candidate playing for more than laughs,” concluded an Aug. 16 editorial in the Houston Chronicle.
Friedman is a newcomer to politics, but not to the limelight. An author and musician, he has blended words, music and humor for more then 30 years, and attained a national reputation. His Web site has a media section that shows feature articles and mentions on his candidacy by many of the leading newspapers in the country.
The site also notes his campaign themes and platform, which began with political reforms, and most recently has added an energy policy statement.
“Friedman's energy plan is his second major policy announcement of the summer. In June, he unveiled his seven-point political reform agenda. He will release a health care plan this fall. Friedman already has shared his proposal for creating a permanent revenue stream for education, which includes legalizing casino gambling with a local approval option and constitutionally dedicating those funds for education,” states the site.
The energy policy calls for Texas to generate 20 percent of its electricity from renewable source by 2020 --"Today, our capacity to generate energy from wind, solar and biofuel sources is 400 times greater than the amount we're currently using," he says -- as well as crack down on polluters.
Newspaper Tree interviewed Friedman by telephone prior to his coming to El Paso. The El Paso schedule is posted on his site.
NPT: You must get this all the time. What makes you think you have a chance to win?
Friedman: That's pretty obvious. In virtually every poll, from all over the state, we've really kicked Rick Perry's ass, including the new poll in Midland , which is as you know George Bush's hometown. This has been pretty much the way it's been. The only poll Perry wins is the likely voter poll and that represents only 29 percent of people. This election is going to be much bigger.
NPT: How long do you think it will take before you're taken seriously as a candidate, and we in the media and the public at large stops asking that question?
Friedman: I think we already are taken seriously by everybody but the politicians. The poll and the pundits don't take us seriously, but the people do. Look at the Dallas Business Journal, for instance. They're not our polls. Look at the paper in Victoria, Texas, which asked the question, and got 85 percent for Kinky, 15 for Rick Perry. He's had his chance and its time for a change and everyone in Texas is ready for a non-politician for governor.
NPT: Do you think prior experience in dealing with large organizations is important to the job of governor, and if so, how will you overcome your lack of experience if you win?
Friedman: Right now, the system is not functioning. Right now they're robbing us with fountain pens, these crooks who live in Austin ! Right now the lottery money is not going to education like it is in Georgia, for instance, where every kid with a ‘b' average goes to college free. Another issue: People who bought license plates, who thought the money was going to parks and wildlife, it isn't, it's going to the general fund to balance the budget. My lack of experience is a plus; between the other candidates, who are good decent people -- Strayhorn, Perry, Bell -- they have 89 years of politics between them. That is exactly what the Founding Fathers didn't want America to become.
NPT: Yet it is, and not only is it, it's so entrenched. Look at what Rick Perry can't get done, and it's his party in charge. How can you change that?
Friedman: I can charm the pants off these legislators much better than he can, and I will bring in people. Willie Nelson is ready to go with biodiesel coops, farmers' coops all over the state to make a biofuels industry, to lead the parade not follow it. I admire Lance Armstrong because he's managed to irritate the French for seven years in a row. Lance and Willie will never have their hand in Texas' pocket, nor will Kinky Friedman. So I think what I'm saying is, get the politicians out of politics and then we'll get somewhere.
NPT: Politicians seem almost a necessary evil, like rich people.
Friedman: I don't think it is; there's always some crooks in there. Right now if you came up with a good idea it wouldn't get implemented; there's just the Crips and the Bloods. There aren't people involved who just care what's best for Texas. We need a good shepherd.
NPT: How much money have you raised? Are you benefiting in any way from the publicity -- more book sales, etc?
Friedman: In a one-word answer, no. I'm not benefiting from anything, any more than I was before. I might be selling a bit better; I haven't seen any windfalls. How much money have we raised? I'd say $3 (million) to $4 million. Not near the amount of Perry or Strayhorn. (But) there's more coming in and people are helping us, like Jimmy Buffet coming to play a fund-raiser. A guy like Jimmy Buffet is richer than God and the only reason he's doing it is that he believes in the environment and he believes in me. He's not doing it as an investment. People give money to Rick Perry, and that's not a contribution, it's an investment. How can Perry be interested in biofuel when he's married to the power lobby? That's why your electric bill is up 80 percent in his administration.
NPT: Just based on anecdotes, there appears to be a lot of support out there for a non-traditional candidate.
Friedman: Well, we look at Joe Lieberman's race as very significant. One, the incumbent lost, and two, 50 percent more people voted then expected. If that happens here in Texas it's a landslide for us. Perry is praying it's a small turnout. That's his only chance. This is not personal. I don't hate Rick Perry. It's not Kinky vs. Rick Perry, it's Kinky vs. apathy.
NPT: Almost everything publicized about your candidacy has been positive, which seems like an amazing feat for a self-described Texas Jewboy who has such positions as supporting gay marriage. How do you get away with that in Texas and still have such a high level of popularity? Is there a danger that your support has been "self-selecting," and when the race heats up if you're taken seriously you'll take a different type of heat, that you won't be able to joke it off?
Friedman: Our media guru, who is Jesse Ventura's guy, Bill Hillsman, says the true situation now is between all these polls, there are now 15-20 of them, and the likely voter polls where Perry is about 35 and we're at 21. Somewhere between the two is the truth. We also can measure against Jesse Ventura, where the summer before his election he was at 7 points. We don't need to go much higher if the turnout is significant. I'm not going to become a self-important politician. The circus needs clowns like donkeys need elephants. Will Rogers said the politicians were the greatest jokers of all. Every time they made a joke it turned into law and every time they made a law it turned into a joke.
NPT: What do you know about El Paso, other than that we have a lot of assholes here?
Friedman: I played that song the last time I was there, for a benefit for the cancer institute. The other candidates seem to have humor bypasses. A sense of humor, integrity, and creativity -- those are things musicians have that politicians don't.
NPT: Seriously, do you have any specific knowledge of El Paso .
Friedman: Very little. I enjoyed being there several times. It reminds me of Australia -- how Australia is in the world El Paso is to Texas. I'm getting tired of these big cities; they all feel the same. Not that El Paso isn't a big city. It feels different, like Perth or Honolulu, isolated enough to be its own place. And they think their own way and that always makes for a bit of a good time. In general I enjoy campaigning with Hispanics. It's more fun and their food is better.
NPT: I've seen that line in other stories about you.
Friedman: It's true. People ask me, ‘How are you going after Hispanics?' I tell them I don't eat tamales in the barrio, chicken in a black church and bagels with Jews. If you ain't Texan I ain't got time for you, and I'm telling you most Hispanics agree with me. They're tired of these politicians going out of their way not to offend them. Hispanics want the same thing everybody else does, education for their kids, job security and above all the truth from politicians, and that's the hardest one to get. Nobody likes to be pandered to and patronized. Jesse Ventura gave me the advice, ‘Be yourself and nobody will have to remember who you are.' Jesse's a smart boy. He made Minnesota number one in health. Minnesota Care, they tax hospitals, insurance companies, and medical procedures and that creates a floating fund that has paid for every man, woman and child. I would like to adopt that as Texas Care, with a few things from Hawaii, Massachusetts and Vermont.
NPT: Your family moved here when you were a kid. Has anyone attacked your "Texasness," and how will you defend it? A Jewish liberal from Austin via Chicago running for governor of Texas sounds almost like a Saturday Night Live skit.
Friedman: I'm not a liberal, believe me. I'm a compassionate redneck, far more conservative than I am liberal. I'm 61, too old for Medicare, too young for women to care. A liberal I'm not. I do ask the question, who would Jesus deport? My basic immigration policy is remember the Alamo . If we can't guard the border better then we're doing forget it. Organized crime and syndicates are trafficking people and drugs and guns and they're sophisticated and have no regard for human life.
The fact that I'm Jewish hasn't even popped up. The Baptists love it. I talked to a far-right Christian in Austin , he said ‘My name is George, I'm one of the Far Right who holds back legalized gambling.' I asked him why he supported me: Is it my position on Israel, the 10 Commandments, prayer in school? He said, ‘No, you're going to answer the phone.' Most conservatives, they don't care about gay marriage and flag burning, they just want to hold onto their money. Small business is getting taxed. It's a shell game, instead of facing issues directly ... for example, to pay for education, you have to have a dedicated stream. Legalized gambling will produce $6 (billion) to $8 billion a year. The Lottery all went to the politicians and the lobbyists. That's why you see this campaign from the Lottery that claims the money goes to education. Why the campaign? Because every Texan knows it's a lie.
NPT: On your Website, you talked about meeting with other border governors to outline an overall strategy. What are your ideas about what that strategy ought to be? What do you think of militarizing the border?
Friedman: I don't have all the answers. I'm already in discussion with (N.M.) Gov. Bill Richardson, and I'll talk to (Ariz. Gov.) Jeannette Napolitano. (Perry) has never talked to them. Why is the only policy he has to put cameras in the border? Why has he swept this under the rug for six years? I'm telling you, political reasons. So I don't have all the answers but there are a lot of people that haven't been brought into play. I want to know what (Sen.) John McCain thinks, what ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza thinks. ... The Mexican government is to blame. They and the oil company Pemex make Mexico a very rich state that doesn't take care of its people.
NPT: Some thought has been put into your political reform agenda and other elements of your platform. When did you put these things together? Had it been brewing over the years, did it come together when you decided to run, and how much help did you have putting it together?
Friedman: I've never been involved in politics. I've been involved in truth telling basically. Running for governor is just an extension of writing the books and playing music. I'm more in touch with people than any politician ever born, because I'm not one. This is the right time. The Democrats are tired of slaving on the plantation with nothing to show for it and the Republicans are mad as hell. They want to see us do it honestly instead of spending time on gay marriage or cheerleading legislation. There's a big gap between the people and the politicians.
NPT: How would you deal with a conservative Republican Legislature for which many of your programs are anathema, given the power of the lt. governor and speaker of the house positions?
Friedman: I don't let the Legislature lead Texas. Let the people lead Texas. I'd have the Legislature over to the governor's mansion. We'd smoke Cuban cigars we'd have a barbecue. We'd get along. The lieutenant governor does the heavy lifting but the governor needs to do the spiritual lifting and Rick Perry isn't doing that. Roosevelt, Kennedy .... they used the bully pulpit. If they were around today they would tell Texas the big issues are education, immigration and environment, all of which have been ignored for political reasons. That's why Rick Perry threw the teachers a $1,500-a-year court-ordered crumb.
NPT: What is your position on drug laws? Too harsh? Too soft?
Friedman: Too harsh, and I think our prisons are filled with non-violent druggies. We don't have room to put baddies in there any more. As Woodie Guthrie said, ‘The more laws you make the more criminals you're going to have.'
NPT: You may break through this, but until then, in the current political paradigm we have, some of your positions are very red, and some very blue. Can it work?
Friedman: I think compassionate redneck hits it. I like to keep them confused. I'll tell you very few conservatives like me on gay marriage, but they take that because I'm for prayer in school as well and they know they're not going to find another candidate who has those two things and is telling the truth about it. That's why Jesse was elected, not on any one issue but because people believed he was talking from the heart.
By the way Jesse will be here talk to college campuses in September. He refused to meet a lobbyist the entire time he was governor and I'll do the same.
It's a privilege to be running and it makes me proud. I've seen the sea change, from people saying, ‘Are you serious?' -- that hasn't happened in six months -- to now they're thanking me for running and they're very sincere.
I dunno, other than John McCain (LOL) all the people he references by name are Democrats. Think about it, in Texas how many votes is he going to pick up by declaring himself to be left-leaning? All the left is already voting against Perry, but split over 3 candidates. But if he tries to throw bones out towards moderates and the right, he has a shot of pulling more votes his way and away from the frontrunner Perry. So even if he is liberal, strategically he is better off claiming the opposite (like many Dems do.)
And note how he always cites how he is leading in all these polls, such as one where he is leading Perry 85-15%, but of course those are all unscientific online polls and thus completely meaningless. Says to me that he will blow smoke up our rears, say whatever it takes to get elected, even if it is misleading. Isn't that what he supposedly is campaigning against? Wasn't Bill Clinton also all about reform back in 1992? I really don't want to imply that he is a scoundrel on the scale of Clinton, but it does make the point about not being fooled by the latest Music Man to come along and say what many want to hear.
Kinky reminds me of the guy sitting in the bar who looks at the politician on the TV talking about budgets, bills, and diplomacy and says, "I could do better than those clowns." Who looks at the military officer on TV talking about how they are operating in Iraq and says, "I could do better than those clowns." Who looks at at the NFL quarterback being interviewed before the game and says, "I can do better than those clowns."
The guy at the bar may be able to spot problems, but I doubt that he could get anywhere close to actually performing competently, much less doing better.
NPT: Politicians seem almost a necessary evil, like rich people.
Mediots are all the same.
Lieberals will do anything to get elected...including deny their very essence.
`Kinky': "I'm not a liberal, really, I'm not."
Yeah, right.
):^(
LOL, populists are a bore.
Kinky is only somewhat more serious than Pat Paulsen when he ran for President.
It's a publicity stunt. He'll attract the disaffected voters, but he's not a serious candidate.
I think he might finish ahead of the Democrat candidate, and I'd get a good chuckle out of that.
How about "I'm not a comedian."
He'll get another book out of it, at least.
...especially politicians pretending not to be politicians.
Given that in theory it will only take 25.1% of the vote to win in a 4-way race, I can easily envision scenarios in which any of the 4 win. Remember that Perry is neither a good speaker nor a good debater, so if they can knock him down to around 30-35% someone else could win with a last minute shift. With Perry down that low the Dems might start to think that they actually have a shot at winning with their own candidate, resulting in Carole...Strayhorn and Kinky losing a big enough chunk of their Dem votes to get Bell to 35%. Or if a Kinky or Carole... starts to pull away from the other that might draw even more in the final week along with enough Bell supporters who are for anyone who can beat a Republican. If Perry isn't near 40% in mid-October, this could get real fluid and unpredictable.
I still expect Perry to win and am supporting him, but I wouldn't rule any of them out right now.
BTW, did you see Reggie Bush last night? He had some decent moves against Dallas' first team defense.
Look up "Pappy O'Daniel".
Yeah, I did. And as a Cowboy fan and USC fan it was interesting to be pulling both ways. Bush showed some great moves, but statistically the Cowboys also shut him down. My affection for Bush will drop dramatically if he really starts to hurt us.
The Texans were SO STUPID. Mario Williams has spent all preseason on his butt. But Houston has some sort of a sports jinx on it anyhow. We either have bad luck or engage in self-defeating stupid behavior as a sports town. Mostly the latter.
Well, if Mack Brown can be handed a nat'l championship (Thanks, Vince!) I guess anything is possible these days.
Oops, 14 was meant as a "Don't give up hope in Houston" post, not a "Rub salt in USC wounds" post.
I will vote for him... : ) <<< me
No problem, that's the way I took it when I first read it. Houston did have a brief glimpse of glory with the Rockets, but that was obviously an aberration.
Still the Texans might be somewhat respectable this season. I'm not sure. They would have been more respectable if they had taken Bush with the first pick. Unless Bush's career ends early, I think they'll regret that for 15 years.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.