Posted on 12/15/2009 9:53:26 AM PST by a fool in paradise
...Friedman's departure left outgoing Houston Mayor Bill White and hair-care millionaire Farouk Shami as the two main contenders for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination and lessened the chances of the race going to a runoff.
While it does not clear the field for White, it gives him the advantage over a less-known and less experienced opponent. White has a track record in office and proof he can win elections.
Shami says he will spend $10 million of his own money to win the nomination with his rags-to-riches life story, but he still will have to answer the ultimate question: Is Texas ready to have a hair-dresser for governor?
...Friedman said he met with White and Shami over the weekend and consulted with former Texas Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower.
After my visit with Bill, my mind was made up. There is a clear alternative for the people of Texas, and today I'm changing courses with a happy heart, Friedman said in a statement. Mayor White, Farouk and I share the same desire for changing the leadership in Austin, up and down the ballot.
Friedman said Hightower convinced him he could do important things as agriculture commissioner.
I'm confident that the torch for many of my issues will be carried forward in November, and now, we'll do our part by campaigning hard to represent our party and the people of Texas, starting with protecting our farmlands, not give them away to Spain, Friedman said, a reference to the Trans Texas Corridor project that was to be built by a Spanish company.
...White then jumped from a prospective U.S. Senate race to the governor's contest, changing the dynamics. White has filed as a candidate for governor, and Shami plans to file today...
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
Kinky should run along home.
Kinky just wants to grab an office somewhere so he and Willie Nelson can sit around smoking grass in a publicly paid for position. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
So Jim Hightower convinced the Kinkster to drop out and let Mayor White take this thing.
What a sell-out.
And you gotta like the Comical calling the OTHER guy the millionaire. How much money is Bill White worth? Calling him a “hairdresser”. Does that mean f*g? Really? What is the writer saying?
I mean I know that Bill White is their boy but can they be less obvious about it?
Does he do Perry's hair? 'Cause that is some mighty-fine hair.
I suspect that he was told that as ag chief he could push for bio-diesel, which was one of his issues.
Neither this article nor the candidate’s website mentions he was born in Palestine (and not the one in Texas).
http://www.faroukforgovernor.com/about.php
WGAF.
Ah, makes sense. And the industrial use of hemp as well. Hadn’t thought of that, thanks.
We got White and some guy with a arab sounding name. Don’t know if he’s Jewish or Arab. And of course we have Kay “I’ll support any woman for Senate no matter what party she’s in” Hutchison and Governor Good Hair. Guess I’ll stay home.
last governor’s race it was a Democrat, a Democrat who ran as an independent, a Democrat-turned RINO-turned independent, and a Democrat-turned RINO Republican in the general election.
Your point is?
PS Kinky Friedman is Jewish.
He’s going to be really pissed off when he gets less votes than he did when he ran for governor. And he’s really going to be surprised when he does some research and finds out the dems want this transtexas corridor just as much as Gov. Good Hair. With this road the Mexicans can bring drugs and immigrants all the way to Kansas City and not even have to stop in Texas.
He’s Jewish enough to vote for Obama like all the Jews in Florida. And the term is correct. He’s not really a Jew. He’s Jew-ish.
He would have stood a fair chance to get the Democrat nomination against White. Certainly there were independent and crossover Republicans willing to vote in the Democrat primary.
And he would have served as a foil to whatever BS Mayor Bob-White was spewing in a debate.
But instead, he rolled over like a good Yellow Dog Democrat.
How about the hairdresser is Pakistan. Doesn’t that count for anything?
We can’t bring up that he was foreign born or what some of his political ideologies may be. He’s a millionaire (boo hiss) and a “hairdresser” (snicker).
I guess that the hairdresser Shami straightened Kinky out. : )
Palestine, not Pakistan:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farouk_Shami
Farouk Shami is a Palestinian-American businessman and entrepreneur from Ramallah, West Bank, who now lives in Houston, Texas, where he runs a large hair-care and spa products company...
Shami is a member of the board of the American Task Force on Palestine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Task_Force_on_Palestine
“The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) is an organization founded in 2003 to advocate that it is in the American national interest to promote an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict through the creation of a Palestinian state that will live alongside Israel in peace and security. ATFP categorically and unequivocally condemns all violence directed against civilians no matter who the victims or perpetrators may be.”
And yet... “In November, 2004, AFTP President Ziad Asali served as a member of the United States official delegation to the funeral of Chairman Yasser Arafat.”
IMHO, there are two things Perry's got going for him:
1. He's not Kay Bailey Hutchison. May wife goes postal every time she sees one of KBH's commercials that tout her "conservative credentials", complete with a photo with Dick Cheney in it. Good thing I keep the weapons and knives locked away.
2. He's not Arnold Schwarzenegger. Arnold's been such a terrible governor, he's made Rick look "not so bad".
Actually, there's a third: the TX Legislature meets every other year, which keeps TX politicians from uninterrupted monkey business.
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