He's not catering to anyone's political ideology, either; he's tackled each issue individually, not based on what he's supposed to say because he represents this or that group of people. He's blunt and forthright and doesn't equivocate by hiding behind spin-doctors or spokespeople. With Kinky, what you see is what you get.
Kinky's first challenge in his quest to win the governor's mansion is to get his name on the ballot. In order to do this he has to hand in a petition with 45,000 signatures by May 11th, 2006. Once he's past that hurdle the real race can begin.
In Canada where I live we had four legitimate parties competing in our last federal election. People need to have more than just two options when they are voting for public office; otherwise it becomes far too easy to lose interest in the proceedings. Neither candidate is willing to deviate far from the tried and true and risk alienating the regular voters and the money behind the scenes. A third candidate introduces fresh ideas and new life to a campaign, gives voters a genuine option for change, and can generate fresh interest among the voters.
In Kinky Friedman the people of Texas are not only being given the opportunity to look over new ideas to old problems, but also have the chance to put life into a system that is threatening to become moribund. At the very least Kinky deserves to be on the ballot for this November's race for the governor's mansion, after that, well it will be interesting to see where the chips fall, that's for sure.
Article comments
1 - Dawn
Ahhh, good old Kinky. Eric played a few records (yes, records) thinking that I too, a Jewish person of southern roots, could appreaciate him. Good times...good times.
I hope his books are better than Jimmy Buffett's.
So if he wins, would that make him "the Kinkinator"?
2 - Phillip Winn
The Kinkster (which is what he's called, Dawn) needs 45,540 signatures to get on the ballot, but they must be from registered Texas voters who did not vote in the primary election.
They're trying to collect 150,000 so that there can be no confusion, but I don't know how close they are. They've got my signature, and I'm trying to get a coworker in touch with a signature collecter this week, which is the unofficial deadline for signing so all the paperwork gets checked over before being submitted prior to the deadline.
I have high hopes for the guy getting into office, and his "five Mexican generals" immigration plan isn't all of why, but it's an amusing start.
Campaign slogans:
Kinky for Governor -- How hard can it be?
Kinky for Governor -- Why the hell not?
Get Kinky!
3 - Travis
Not sure I can talk Lubbock into loving Kinky, but I still send Kinky love from Lubbock. (He's coming this week!)
Feeling left out on the "My cherry is for Kerry" bit, I considered, "My winky is for Kinky" but I'm not sure it has the same impact. Regardless, my governor is a Jewish Cowboy.
4 - Houston
He's not some crazy liberal like some people think. He's a real thinking man's candidate.
He voted for Bush in 2004 and he hasn't voted for any Democrats for over a decade (google kinky friedman voted for bush in 2004 and thinks he is handling the middle east well).
His website says "Kinky is not anti-death-penalty" (google that quote).
He wants to build a wall between Texas and Mexico and he has a great plan to hire Mexican generals to control Texas' border with Mexico's army (google "the five mexican generals plan").
Kinky has a hilarious video from the Donny Deutsch show on MSNBC (google kinky donny deutsch).
Kinky has got some pro-abortion people buffaloed but Kinky's website confirms his true feeling that abortion is a joke: "I'm not pro-choice, I'm not pro-life, I'm pro-football!" (google that quote, too).
Finally, Kinky wants prayer in school and the Ten Commandments posted in every classroom (google kinky supports school prayer and ten commandments).
We should all support Kinky!
5 - Scott Butki
Go, Kinko, Go.
6 - C
Please, how moronic can you be???
'The Kinkster' voted for BUSH, no, not ONCE - TWICE!!
Do you find that "hilarious," too???
If you're going to be that stupid, at least DON'T VOTE.
7 - Phillip Winn
Gee, C, more than half of eligible Americans took your advice and didn't vote, but I don't see anybody lining up to call that the smart move.
But it turns out that enough "stupid" people voted for Bush to make him President. Ask yourself, are those people all really that stupid? Or is it possible you're missing something?
8 - Kinky is Awesome
Kinky is NOT the namby-pamby liberal that some knee-jerk liberals think he is.
Kinky spoke with Ruminator Magazine about his thoughts on Bush's foreign policy:
Ruminator: 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?
Kinky: Yes. I did in this last election, but I didn't vote for him the first time....I was not for Bush that time. Since then, though, we've become friends. And that's what's changed things.
Ruminator: So it's your friendship with him that's changed your mind about having him as president more than his specific political positions?
Kinky: Well, actually, I agree with most of his political positions overseas, his foreign policy....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.
This interview is available on-line if anyone is curious. It is well worth checking out!
9 - Dave Nalle
From what I've been able to tell Kinky is basically an ecologically conscious libertarian, so that makes him likely to vote Republican in national elections. There are a lot of us like that, and we're behind Kinky here in Texas, not least because our mainstream Republican leadership in this state has failed so abyssmally to protect the people from rapacious developers.
Dave
10 - Richard Marcus
I wouldn't read too much into Kinkey's friendship with George, he's also friends with Clinton. He has always had a lot of praise for the Bush family personally because they have been big supporters of his animal rescue ranch since the days that Laura was first lady of Texas and George was Governor.
Before anybody on the left or the right starts claiming Kinky for themselves, I think it might be good to think about why he does appeal to such a broad cross section of people.
I don't think anyone should read much into his comments on school prayer, because if you go to his site, he says he believes in non-denominationial, interfaith prayer. "A kid should believe in something even if it's a rock or a tree"...
As Dave said he is an Independant/Libertarian, and people shouldn't try and impose their own political views overtop of his. They will be sorely disapointed.
I think if one wants to find out where he stands on the issues you're best bet is to go to the link in the article and get the facts from the Matzah Ball Soup bowl itself.
11 - H.A. Page
Kinky is making politics fun again... MotherPie.com, watching from the sidelines in NYC...
Great article, Cheers from a Texas Transplant.
12 - Rich Eggleston
He's already a Kinkitician.
If we wins, he'll be the Kinkinator.
I hope he does, for the sake of Texas politics and American politics. He would bring the wit and perspective to Texas politics that Jesse Ventura never delivered in Minnesota.
13 - Joanie Garner
What a breath of fresh air!!!! You could be the one who gets the non-voters to register. Everyone saya to vote it's your right! Vote for what? The next liar? So far in the past, no politition has been honest. They point their finger at each other and make fools of themselves. I think you are the best thing that could happen to whats left of America. I believe that we are on the verge of losing America. I would register today to vote for you. Just one problem. I live in Alaska. So, if you don't win in Texas come on up here. We're bigger than Texas and we have plenty of room for you. If you do win, do you have any friends that would like to relocate? All our polititions are greedy for themselves. Make more news appearances so we all can see ya way up here. Maybe you will catch on. I went to school with prayer and the 10 commandments plus the Bible. I wore uniforms to school. I had to respect my teacher. I DID NOT GROW UP DAMAGED! Let the children smoke, and do drugs too. This way they will die before they're 30 and there'll be more Social Security for me. Keep up the good work. Don't forget your new friends up here in Alaska. WE LIKE YOU!
Joanie
14 - marc ziegler
i would love to move to texas so i could vote for the kinkenator you go go get them kinkey and kick some political a.......
a fan for forever marc
15 - Lindsey
I think Kinky is a great songwriter and an exceptiona guy all around. I'm not too political, but I think he's very talented. I really like the work he did on Kacey Jones' latest KACEY JONES SINGS MICKEY NEWBURY.
16 - Willie Lee
GO KINKY!!!