Stop Kinky!

Bell Goes 3 for 3 in Post-Debate Polls

2006-10-24T13:04:00.000-07:00

Just as early voting begins, the new SurveyUSA poll is coming out, and it confirms the two other post-debate polls: Chris Bell is the only candidate to emerge from the pack of challengers to have any chance of beating Perry.

36% - Rick Perry
26% - Chris Bell
19% - Carole Strayhorn
16% - Richard Friedman

Chris Bell is also the only candidate with consistent upward momentum (Strayhorn and Perry wobble up and down and Kinky has a consistent downward trajectory).

To recap, here are the other two post-debate polls:

Wall Street Journal (an internet based poll which uses a methodology that may oversample younger, pro-technology, well-educated voters, but which weighted to match the race, age, economic profile, and party affiliation splits corresponding with the splits from the latest exit polls from comparable elections in Texas):

37.5% - Rick Perry
26.2% - Chris Bell
13.2% - Richard Friedman
13.0% - Carole Strayhorn

Texans for Insurance Reform (a land-line telephone based poll which uses a methodology that may undersample younger, pro-technology, economically disadvantaged voters, and which is weighted to match the polling population to the assumption that 40% of the voters will be Republicans, 30% will be Democrats, and 30% will be independents - this poll is conducted by an independent polling firm and financed by Strayhorn supporters):

34.4% - Rick Perry
18.7% - Chris Bell
18.5% - Carole Strayhorn
_8.6% - Richard Friedman

What do these three different polls with three different methodologies tell us?

Perry is inescapably trapped near mid-30%, and he is vulnerable, and this fact is apparent no matter how you collect the data.

Bell is the lone break-away challenger and has strong momentum as confirmed by all three polls and this status is also born out regardless of the data collection method.

Strayhorn seems destined for a third place finish, and Friedman is flushing out as every election anlaysit has predicted since day one.

The question which will determine the outcome of the election is this: As it becomes increasingly inescapable that only Bell has any hope of beating Perry, will the supporters of Strayhorn and Friedman spite-vote or will they flock to Bell and effect a change in their government.

Specifically, do the anti-TTC people (whose blog is underwritten by Strayhorn) seek to elect Bell as the only challenger who can stop the TTC or will they go down with the Strayhorn ship and acquiesce to Perry's TTC?

Likewise, do the Friedman supporters who seek to "make a statement" want that statement to be "we punk’d the vote in Texas" or "we put an end to one-party rule in Texas."

Nothing less important than your future and the future of our state depends on the answers to these questions.

Kinky Endorses Republican Slate

2006-10-24T09:18:00.000-07:00

Most of you already know that Kinky voted for Bush/Cheney '04 and this was the only time he has voted in the in last 14 years (although he lied about voting for Richards in '94, lied about voting for Gore in '00, and lied about voting against discriminatory marital rights in '05).

Kinky has now voted for only the second time in at least 14 years and, again, he voted for the Republican slate. Immediately after voting, Kinky told the media of his support for Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison and Republican Lamar Smith: "Friedman said he cast ballots for Congressman Lamar Smith and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, whom he said he met Sunday at a Dallas airport. 'She (Hutchison) is not without charm,' he said. 'We have a lot of friends in common.'"

Please tell your Democratic friends that Kinky is just a Republican in a black hat and cigar costume.

Kinky Lies about Supporting Bush

2006-10-09T07:38:00.000-07:00

When Kinky appears before Democratic crowds, he falsely plays down his support for Bush.

First, there is no question that Kinky voted for Bush/Cheney in 2004 (some Kinkaholics on "Satan's internet" still dispute this fact):

"The voting record doesn't look strong, but my voting record is better than Dick Cheney's," he said, referring to reports in 2000 that Cheney skipped 14 of 16 votes in Dallas County - including the presidential primary in which he could have voted for his future running mate, George W. Bush.

According to Kerr County voting records, Friedman voted in the 2004 presidential general election but not in any other contest since 1994.

"I was for Bush in 2004," he said.

Further, it remains clear that Kinky's support for Bush and his war was unabated less than a year ago:

Question: 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?
Friedman: Yes. I did in this last election, but I didn’t vote for him the first time.
Question: Who did you vote for in 2000?
Friedman: 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.
Question: So it’s your friendship with him that’s changed your mind about having him as president more than his specific political positions?
Friedman: 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.

Interestingly, these two interviews with Kinky demonstrate an obvious lie about Kinky's voting record. Clearly, it cannot be true that Kinky "voted for Gore" in 2000 if "Friedman voted in the 2004 presidential general election but not in any other contest since 1994."

Some Kinkaholics say that Kinky was merely mistaken, and his false statement about voting for Gore is simply an innocent mistake. Yet even that weak justification for Kinky's lie does not hold up.

In the April 2001 edition of Texas Monthly, less than six months after Kinky supposedly "voted for Gore," Kinky wrote "now, I have hope once again in our political system, thanks to the election of George W. Bush as president." Kinky's statement of hope in American politics due to the Bush's presidency comes in the brief window of time after the highly controversial Supreme Court interference in the Florida recount and before 9/11. I cannot believe anyone who voted for Gore would have said "now, I have hope once again in our political system, thanks to the election of George W. Bush as president" just a few short months after the Supreme Court prematurely ended the Florida recount.

Texas Governor Election Quiz

2006-10-03T23:01:00.000-07:00

Test your knowledge of the Texas gubernatorial candidates.

1. Who said "I think Rick Perry is an inspiring leader; he inspired me to run for Governor"?

A. James "Rick" Perry
B. Chris Bell
C. Richard "Kinky" Friedman
D. Carole Keeton Strayhorn

2. Who said "I'm not a liberal, believe me; I'm a compassionate redneck, far more conservative than I am liberal"?

A. James "Rick" Perry
B. Chris Bell
C. Richard "Kinky" Friedman
D. Carole Keeton Strayhorn

3. Who said "I'm not a supporter of using embryonic stem cell research; frankly, I think it's a very narrow, at best, area"?

A. James "Rick" Perry
B. Chris Bell
C. Richard "Kinky" Friedman
D. Carole Keeton Strayhorn

4. Who said "Stem-cell research isn't just a good idea; it's a moral calling"?

A. James "Rick" Perry
B. Chris Bell
C. Richard "Kinky" Friedman
D. Carole Keeton Strayhorn

5. Who said "After nine legislative sessions full of name-calling, our school funding is in crisis, property taxes are up and judges are having to do our governor's job"?

A. James "Rick" Perry
B. Chris Bell
C. Richard "Kinky" Friedman
D. Carole Keeton Strayhorn

6. Who said "As Jesus once said to the Mexicans, don’t do a thing till I get back"?

A. James "Rick" Perry
B. Chris Bell
C. Richard "Kinky" Friedman
D. Carole Keeton Strayhorn

7. Who said "A lot of the issues that are driving this debate as far as I'm concerned come down to questions of morals and values: How are we going to take care of the less fortunate, the more vulnerable individuals in our society"?

A. James "Rick" Perry
B. Chris Bell
C. Richard "Kinky" Friedman
D. Carole Keeton Strayhorn

8. Who said "Why don't you just let us get on down the road"?

A. James "Rick" Perry
B. Chris Bell
C. Richard "Kinky" Friedman
D. Carole Keeton Strayhorn

9. Who said "I do not suffer hunters gladly"?

A. James "Rick" Perry
B. Chris Bell
C. Richard "Kinky" Friedman
D. Carole Keeton Strayhorn

10. Who said "We need to reduce the number of abortions in Texas by reducing unwanted pregnancies. Gov. Rick Perry's policies have failed to reduce abortions, which have increased under his administration"?

A. James "Rick" Perry
B. Chris Bell
C. Richard "Kinky" Friedman
D. Carole Keeton Strayhorn

11. Who said "Building highways through toll financing rather than pay-as-you-go financing dramatically speeds the time it takes to complete a given project"?

A. James "Rick" Perry
B. Chris Bell
C. Richard "Kinky" Friedman
D. Carole Keeton Strayhorn

12. Who said "I’m a conservative. I believe in limited, efficient government—and that’s the opposite we’re getting from the Republican Party"?

A. James "Rick" Perry
B. Chris Bell
C. Richard "Kinky" Friedman
D. Carole Keeton Strayhorn

13. Who said "If 500 of Rick Perry's campaign contributors died of abuse, I think he would find the money to protect them, but when incomprehensible cruelty visits the least of those among us, suddenly we can't find the money"?

A. James "Rick" Perry
B. Chris Bell
C. Richard "Kinky" Friedman
D. Carole Keeton Strayhorn

14. Who said "The Jews own the world, the Catholics run it, Protestants work it, and the Niggers and Mexicans enjoy it, basically, that's what they've done"?

A. James "Rick" Perry
B. Chris Bell
C. Richard "Kinky" Friedman
D. Carole Keeton Strayhorn

15. Who said "Under this governor, it is us against them"?

A. James "Rick" Perry
B. Chris Bell
C. Richard "Kinky" Friedman
D. Carole Keeton Strayhorn

16. Who said "That marriage is the union between a man and a woman is a truth known to each one of us already, and any attempt to allow same-sex marriages is a detriment to the family unit and hurts our state and nation"?

A. James "Rick" Perry
B. Chris Bell
C. Richard "Kinky" Friedman
D. Carole Keeton Strayhorn

17. Who said "We can't treat teachers like glorified test monitors and pay them accordingly if we want to have any hope of keeping teachers in classrooms"?

A. James "Rick" Perry
B. Chris Bell
C. Richard "Kinky" Friedman
D. Carole Keeton Strayhorn

18. Who said "I have been a lifelong Democrat, but I'm going to spend the rest of my life vigorously and wholeheartedly in the GOP"?

A. James "Rick" Perry
B. Chris Bell
C. Richard "Kinky" Friedman
D. Carole Keeton Strayhorn

19. Who said "The crackheads and thugs who remain in Houston after Katrina happen to be black; that's fact"?

A. James "Rick" Perry
B. Chris Bell
C. Richard "Kinky" Friedman
D. Carole Keeton Strayhorn

20. Who said "It's becoming increasingly obvious that Rick Perry just doesn't get it, that he doesn't understand that budgets are moral documents, that there are human costs attached to fiscal decisions"?

A. James "Rick" Perry
B. Chris Bell
C. Richard "Kinky" Friedman
D. Carole Keeton Strayhorn

21. Who said "All of these politicians are afraid of offending Hispanics"?

A. James "Rick" Perry
B. Chris Bell
C. Richard "Kinky" Friedman
D. Carole Keeton Strayhorn

22. Who said "I said there was not a shortfall in the budget this session, but a shortfall in leadership from the governor"?

A. James "Rick" Perry
B. Chris Bell
C. Richard "Kinky" Friedman
D. Carole Keeton Strayhorn

23. Who said "A leader does not let nine sessions go by and now a tenth without a long term fix with cutting property tax and money going into educate for our teacher and for our classrooms"?

A. James "Rick" Perry
B. Chris Bell
C. Richard "Kinky" Friedman
D. Carole Keeton Strayhorn

24. Who said "What [Bush]’s been doing in the Near East and in the Middle East, he’s handling that well, I think"?

A. James "Rick" Perry
B. Chris Bell
C. Richard "Kinky" Friedman
D. Carole Keeton Strayhorn

25. Who said "The informed-consent requirements should conform to mainstream medical knowledge, which refutes the link between breast cancer and abortion"?

A. James "Rick" Perry
B. Chris Bell
C. Richard "Kinky" Friedman
D. Carole Keeton Strayhorn

26. Who said "Native Americans believe you can't really own land, a horse or a waterfall. The only thing they believe you can really own is a casino"?

A. James "Rick" Perry
B. Chris Bell
C. Richard "Kinky" Friedman
D. Carole Keeton Strayhorn

27. Who said "We divide the border into five sections and we appoint a Mexican general in charge of each section, and we give him a million bucks, which we hold for him in a bank account, and every time we catch an illegal coming through his section we withdraw $5,000"?

A. James "Rick" Perry
B. Chris Bell
C. Richard "Kinky" Friedman
D. Carole Keeton Strayhorn

28. Who said "“Packing the Ethics Committee with DeLay loyalists further immunizes the Republican congressional leadership not just from the Democrats but also from democracy"?

A. James "Rick" Perry
B. Chris Bell
C. Richard "Kinky" Friedman
D. Carole Keeton Strayhorn

29. Who said "I am going to see nondenominational prayer and the Ten Commandments put back in the schools"?

A. James "Rick" Perry
B. Chris Bell
C. Richard "Kinky" Friedman
D. Carole Keeton Strayhorn

30. Who said "Adios, MoFo"?

A. James "Rick" Perry
B. Chris Bell
C. Richard "Kinky" Friedman
D. Carole Keeton Strayhorn

ANSWERS:

1. B, 2. C, 3. A, 4. B, 5. D, 6. C, 7. B, 8. A, 9. C, 10. B, 11. D, 12. C, 13. B, 14. C, 15. D, 16. A, 17. B, 18. D, 19. C, 20. B, 21. C, 22. D, 23. D, 24. C, 25. B, 26. C, 27. C, 28. B, 29. C, 30. A

Molly Ivins Explains Why Kinky is Wrong

2006-10-03T09:44:00.000-07:00

Of course, it is no surprise that Molly Ivins would endorse the Democrat who is also the most progressive candidate in the race.

Yet there have been many Kinky supporters who have misrepresented that Molly supported Kinky.

Fortunately, Molly has corrected those Kinky supporters who have been touting that Ann Richards supported Kinky (false) and that Molly Ivins supports Kinky (also false).

Here are Molly's sage thoughts on the matter:

By Molly Ivins

Chris Bell for governor! I know, I know, it’s stop the presses, Ivins favors Democrat! But the Kinky Friedman candidacy is worn thin and no fun. Besides, we actually have a good chance to get Rick Perry out of office. After six years in office, the Coiffure is at 36 percent approval. He gets another four years, I don’t think we’ll have a public school system left—he really does intend to destroy it, at far-right GOP donor Jim Leininger’s bidding, you know. We may never again get a chance to do our state such a great service. This could be the Alamo of elections.

For those, like me, who believe in music and laughter in politics, Kinky Friedman appeared to be a natural—and besides, how hard can it be?

It turns out, a little harder than Kinky is willing to make an effort to go. In an excruciating interview with the Dallas Morning News, Friedman not only got about half his facts wrong (this is why we accuse Bush of misleading people), but also demonstrated that he does not understand school finance or taxes, nor does he have any intention of trying to do so.

...

One of the great mysteries of this race is why Carole Keeton Strayhorn has imploded almost as fast as Friedman. The only reason Friedman is still in the race is because of free media: Reporters were all so bored by the thought of another snoozer Republican victory, they fought to keep Friedman’s candidacy alive long past the point when it was clear that the Kinkster was in it entirely for ego and publicity. I still like the idea—maybe next time, we should get a funny, smart musician who cares enough to study up a little. Marcia Ball, anyone? Joe Ely?

...

Bell is looking like a better bet because: (A) He has the Democratic base vote going for him, and (B) Perry is just so lame. As we start down the stretch, Bell is picking up on the outside, Perry is still at 35 percent after a year, Strayhorn is fading and Kinky stopped to poop on the track.

...

There was a bit of flap recently when Liz Smith claimed the late Ann Richards would have been in favor of Kinky for governor. Maybe Liz knew Ann better than I did. But I’d bet not. Listening to her memorial service, I was reminded how hard we fought and how tough it was. I thought of the slippage since she left office—blacks and browns left out again. All we have to do to win this is get Democrats to vote. Let’s make it a vote for Annie.

Kinky Friedman in his Own Words

2006-09-27T15:20:00.000-07:00

To punish criminals we should "throw them in prison and throw away the key and make them listen to a Negro talking to himself," and then he explained that "Negro ... is a charming word."

"You folks know the Friedman family motto now: The Jews own the world, the Catholics run it, Protestants work it, and the Niggers and Mexicans enjoy it, basically, that's what they've done."

"I was run over by a bookmobile coming to the show this evening. They took me to the Ben Talb hospital now- when I came to the doctor told me, 'Kinky, we've had to give you a transfusion with the blood of a person of the Negro persuasion.' I said, 'well that's moderately unpleasant.' He said, 'well yes Kinky there's a good side to this, too. There's some good fringe benefits. Your welfare check will start coming in next month and your penis just grew 12 inches so these are some things you should think about...'"

"I went to a bowling alley. I couldn't go bowling, there were no bowling balls. The people here throw 'em all in the sea, thought they were nigger eggs…thought they were nigger eggs."

"I often encourage young people to go ahead and get into politics themselves. You see, I don't like young people, and if they become involved in that worthless tar baby that is politics, the more chance there is that maybe they'll leave me alone."

"The musicians and artists have mostly moved back to New Orleans now. The crackheads and the thugs have decided to stay. They want to stay here. I think they got their hustle on, and we need to get ours."

"The crackheads and thugs who remain in Houston after Katrina happen to be black; that's fact" followed a few days later by "I am not a racist, I am a realist. ... I never said what color their skin was. .... I'm smarter than that."

"All of these politicians are afraid of offending Hispanics. I want the border off the evening news until we get something resolved," but later "I want the border on the nightly news every night."

"My immigration policy is 'Remember the Alamo.'"

"Native Americans believe you can't really own land, a horse or a waterfall. The only thing they believe you can really own is a casino."

"I am going to see nondenominational prayer and the Ten Commandments put back in the schools."

"I'm not pro-life, and I'm not pro-choice. I'm pro-football."

"If you don't love Jesus, go to hell."

Discussing the reason why Kinky lost his last political election when he ran as a Republican "my inability to appeal to the religious right … torpedoed my candidacy."

"I've been stoned a lot of times... And I don't regret any of it. ... I quit doing cocaine when Bob Marley fell out of my left nostril."

"I am not anti-death penalty," but later (and under oath) "let's do away with the death penalty," and still later "I think there are people who need to die."

"I'm not a liberal, believe me. I'm a compassionate redneck, far more conservative than I am liberal."

"I was for Bush in 2004. He's a good man trapped in a Republican's body."

"Well, actually, I agree with most of 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."

"I voted for Gore," but when Kinky’s Kerr County voting records confirmed that he voted only in the 2004 general election but not in any other election since 1994, and that Kinky had lied about voting for Gore, Kinky said "The voting record doesn't look strong, but my voting record is better than Dick Cheney's."

"All the little issues you're talking about are all (expletive). It's all (expletives). That's the key. Okay, I mean, you can talk about, 'And I would deregulate this; and my plans is to give a seven percent raise on the textbook.' It's all (expletive) because the people who are doing this are crooks and they're corrupt and they don't give a (expletive) about the people of Texas. That's the truth."

"I'm still not sure I want to be governor."

Kinky and Race (Episode 3 in Kinky vs. Minorities)

2006-09-21T07:43:00.000-07:00

After months of treating Kinky Friedman as nothing more than a sideshow freak in the three-ring circus that the Texas governor's race has become, the media have finally begun to explore the inherent flaws in Kinky's campaign.

True to its nature, the first of many flaws which the media have fixated upon is the more sensational misjudgments (and less policy-oriented errors) represented by the strain of racial tension undercutting Kinky's campaign efforts.

From Kinky's last political campaign as a Republican candidate to his current political campaign, Kinky has established a pattern of using racially charged phrases about his on-again-off-again distaste for the "tar baby" of politics, his thoughts on "nigger eggs," his views on punishment by mumbling "Negroes" in prison, his talk of "fried chicken in the ghetto," and his plans for the black "thugs and crackheads" in Houston.

Some call this pattern of comments racist, but others call this simply a foolish way for Kinky to guarantee that he won't win a single minority vote. In either case, it is not without good cause that Kinky has less than half of the minority support that Chris Bell enjoys and less than two-thirds of the minority support for Perry.

While Kinky's comments about the mumbling Negro prisoners, fried-chicken-eating ghetto dwellers, and black crackheads have already received much media attention recently, his "nigger egg" and "tar baby" comments have not.

Expect these comments from the April 2001 edition of Texas Monthly to surface in the next wave of press questioning Kinky's wisdom in courting the minority vote in Texas:

But it wasn't former U-boat commanders who torpedoed my candidacy. It was my inability to appeal to the religious right. To me, the religious right has always seemed like the kind of place where if Jesus walked in with three nails, they'd probably put him up for the night. But I persevered. I even went so far as to become a Southern Baptist until I realized that they didn't hold 'em under long enough.… Thus it was, because of my personal disillusionment with politics, that I finally became a charismatic atheist. About the only article of faith that we charismatic atheists truly cling to is the belief that ballet is basketball for homosexuals.... I often encourage young people to go ahead and get into politics themselves. You see, I don't like young people, and if they become involved in that worthless tar baby that is politics, the more chance there is that maybe they'll leave me alone.

For those too young to be familiar with the nature of the term "tar baby," historian and public schools curriculum advisor Randy Lightfoot explains:

Tar Baby gained a negative connotation during the period of American slavery. The nickname was given to African children living on slave plantations. It was a degrading term that implied a lack of intelligence and uncivilized behavior, he said.... "For those who know what it means, Tar Baby is very offensive," he said.

Also, expect to hear more soon about Kinky's recorded comments from his April 16th, 1980 concert at the Rockefeller Club in Houston, where Kinky joked with his mostly white audience:

Then I come down to Houston, I went to a bowling alley. I couldn't go bowling, there were no bowling balls. The people here throw 'em all in the sea, thought they were nigger eggs…thought they were nigger eggs.

Once the media tires of pointing that Kinky hasn't done much to win the trust of black voters in Texas, it will ultimately see that Kinky is not a better friend of the Native American or the Tejano.

Maybe, just maybe, after all that discussion of Kinky’s propensity to offend minority voters the media will finally consider the fact that Kinky's absurd proposed political policies present the greatest threat to Texas.

Kinky Lies to the Associated Press

2006-09-14T21:39:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, September 13, 2006, the Dallas Morning News published an Associated Press interview with Kinky Friedman. Kinky tried to downplay the racist nature of his recent unfortunate comments saying that the black hurricane refugees in Houston from New Orleans were "thugs and crackheads":

Friedman last week said he would provide $100 million to Houston, or any other city facing similar crime problems, so Houston could hire 1,200 new police officers to deal with crime and weed out the "crackheads and thugs" among the thousands of Katrina evacuees from New Orleans who relocated to Houston.

Roundly criticized as a thinly veiled attack on blacks from Louisiana, Friedman said Wednesday his proposal "was not in any way racist."

"How can you possibly regret that, telling the truth?" he asked. "I am not a racist, I am a realist. ... I never said what color their skin was. .... I'm smarter than that."

Yet on September 9, 2006, Guillermo X. Garcia with the San Antonio Express-News Staff reported on a question-and-answer session with Kinky and directly quoted him:

In answer to a question, Friedman said the comments do not indicate that he holds racist views. Rather, he said they demonstrate his ability to take on a subject the other candidates won't touch.

"Racism was here before I came around," he said. "I am just trying to bring up these issues within the (expletive) society."

Later, he said: "As it happens, the crackheads and thugs who remain in Houston after Katrina happen to be black; that's fact."

This latest lie follows Kinky's previous lies about his past claims that he vote for Ann Richards and Al Gore and against the Constitutional Amendment rejecting equal marriage rights. Here is one such false claim:

Susannah McNeely: ... 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: 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.

Kinky statements about his past votes have proven false based on Kinky's public Kerr County voting records:

"Quite often, I did not like my choices," Friedman was quoted as saying in Friday's Dallas Morning News....

"The voting record doesn't look strong, but my voting record is better than Dick Cheney's," he said....

According to Kerr County voting records, Friedman voted in the 2004 presidential general election but not in any other contest since 1994.

More on Kinky's lie under oath to follow.

Why Kinky Cannot Win

2006-09-13T08:18:00.000-07:00

I believe Kinky Friedman should not be elected because of his reactionary views on many issues from reproductive choice to immigration to eroding the separation of church and state. Most of this blog is dedicated to spreading information about Kinky's unsuitability for the office of Governor based on his position on substantive issues.

This post is not about why Kinky shouldn't win; instead, this post is about why Kinky can't win.

Perry has led every poll throughout this election (not including website polls where people from other states vote, people who are unregistered vote, and poll participants can vote as many times as they wish). This election is unquestionably Perry’s race to lose, but it seems that Perry is doing his best to lose it. Consider the election prospects for each of the three main alternatives to re-electing Perry.

Strayhorn

Strayhorn presents a unique threat to Perry's re-election. When Perry and Strayhorn last ran for office, they appeared on the ballot together. Strayhorn, not Perry, was the top vote recipient among all Republicans (she also received the most votes of any candidate for any office regardless of party affiliation). Strayhorn captured 2,878,732 votes compared to Perry's mere 2,632,591. Not only does Strayhorn have proven appeal among Republican voters, she has some support from those who typically support Democrats, including the endorsement of the TSTA and the TFT as well as support from prominent Hispanic Democrats such as Tony Sanchez, Perry's last Democratic opponent.

In addition to these factors, Strayhorn has raised over $10 million to fund her campaign, and the majority of those funds will be spent on comparative advertising directed against Perry's abysmal record as governor. While Strayhorn's support in the polls has been erratic and the trend has generally been downward, she has the campaign funds on hand to mount a substantial television advertising campaign to address that trend.

Bell

Bell also threatens Perry. Several recent polls have identified Perry's current level of support between 31% and 35% with a continuing significant downward trend. This would be disastrous for an incumbent in most situations, but Perry is less threatened because the two thirds of the vote which is currently "not Perry" is divided among three significant alternative candidates (plus Libertarian James Werner who will probably get nearly 2%).

Bell's support is trending upward (most recent polls have identified Bell's current levels of support between 18% and 25% and rising).

There are two historical voting trends which strongly indicate that the upward trend of Bell's support will continue to even higher levels.

First, Perry, Strayhorn, and Kinky have very well established name identification among Texas voters. Bell, on the other hand, is identified by about half of likely Texas voters. We know from previous elections, once a candidate achieves a very significant level of name identification with a likely voter without achieving that likely voter's support, it becomes substantially more difficult for the known candidate to win that voter's support. The fact that Bell has the most room to increase his name identification indicates that he also has the easiest task of building his support. Moreover, we also know from past elections that Bell's name identification will rise as the election nears as a result of the fact that Bell is the nominee of a major party. Among likely Texas voters who can identify the names of all four main candidates, Bell is polling at 28% to Perry's 32%, which is barely outside the margin for error. (For those who question the Zogby poll which has Perry at 30.7% and Bell at 25.3%, within the margin of error, if you review Zogby's internet-based methodology, you'll find that Zogby does a good job of polling an accurate ideological cross-section of the voters -- better than telephone-based Rasmussen, for example, who has Perry’s support at 33% -- but Zogby polls skew to over-represent people who are quicker adapters of new technologies – whereas Rasmussen under-polls this group -- and the people polled by Zogby tend to be better informed about politics and so the Zogby numbers show where Bell will be polling when he gets better name identification).

Second, Bell (and Perry) will receive a boost from straight-party voting which polls undercount (people answering polls generally deny voting the straight-party ticket but past elections confirm that about half of Texas voters choose a straight-party ticket in a statewide election during a non-presidential year). In recent non-presidential elections, about 23% of the Texas electorate has voted for the straight-party Democratic ticket (and about 28% have voted the straight-party Republican ticket). Moreover, in recent past elections where the Democratic candidate has accepted the party's nomination but essentially chose not to campaign, those types of statewide Democratic candidates have nevertheless received about one third of the vote (despite the fact that pre-election polling consistently identified levels of support much lower than 33% of the Texas electorate for such non-campaigning Democrats). When statewide Democrats mount a campaign, they generally receive about 43% of the vote during non-presidential elections. Undoubtedly, if Bell could achieve Democratic Party unity, he would easily win, but Strayhorn and Kinky will certainly disrupt the party unity for both Democrats and Republicans.

Friedman

Kinky is a unique candidate. Kinky's support has polled between 11% and 22% in polls that were conducted contemporaneously so his levels of support are obviously difficult to measure and highly dependant on the poll's method for identifying likely voters. But the prospect for Kinky's rise in the polls is not good. Of all the major candidates, Kinky has by far the highest disapproval numbers. Moreover, Kinky has very high name identification so his task of winning new supporters will be very difficult.

Kinky's campaign looks to Arnold Schwarzenegger's and Jesse Ventura's campaigns as models, but those campaigns are substantially different from Kinky's campaign.

Schwarzenegger's campaign differs from Kinky's mainly in the fact that Schwarzenegger enjoyed the strong backing of the Republican Party as that party's candidate (the California Republican Party and its prominent figures endorsed Schwarzenegger, including several other potential Republican candidates who dropped out of the race to avoid dividing the Republican vote). Interestingly, Schwarzenegger's campaign demonstrates how a minority party (whether Republicans in California or Democrats in Texas) can win a plurality election against a much stronger party (Democrats in California or Republicans in Texas) with strong party unity. Because the multi-party Texas gubernatorial race will be determined by a plurality (the eventual winner will likely garner only 33% to 38% of the vote) just as the recent California election, Schwarzenegger's model for minority-party triumph is more of a model for Bell's campaign than Kinky's campaign. Kinky’s model from the California recall election is not Republican-Party-candidate Schwarzenegger, it’s entertainer-with-campaign-jokes Gary Coleman.

Ventura's campaign differs from Kinky's mainly in the differences between the manner in which Ventura achieved a third-party coalition and in the differences between Minnesota and Texas election law.

Like Schwarzenegger's Republican Party support, Ventura had the organized campaign support of the Reform Party (Ventura was the Reform Party's nominee, not an independent candidate) which was by far the most significant third party in Minnesota with a substantial party infrastructure and network of campaign workers. Moreover, Ventura won the support of the Libertarian Party and others who value the separation of church and state when he famously said that "organized religion tells people to go out and stick their noses in other people's business" and whereas Kinky has alienated that group by advocating prayer in school and posting the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. Ventura won with 37% of the vote by running under a coherent platform as a fiscal conservative and a social liberal in a state with about one third Republicans, one third Democrats, and a full third of the electorate as Reform Party members or other Independents. In contrast, Kinky's platform is not coherent (socially liberal on gay marriage, de-criminalizing some drug crimes, and legalized casino gambling to alienate social conservatives, but socially conservative on immigration, abortion, and school prayer to alienate social liberals), and Texas is more like 50% Republican leaning, 35% Democratic leaning, with only 15% truly independent. Also, Minnesota's minority vote is much smaller than the minority vote in Texas, and Kinky has irreparably handicapped his candidacy among likely minority voters with Kinky's comments about "Negroes" and "tar babies" and black “thugs and crackheads” from New Orleans and Kinky’s alignment with the “Minutemen” border vigilantes and his statements that politicians being "afraid of offending Hispanics" and saying the Tejano immigration protesters were "playing hooky." It is no wonder polls show Kinky with the least minority voter support of the candidates, and this problem with Kinky's campaign cannot be fixed.

Yet perhaps the more important distinction between Ventura's campaign and Kinky's is the election law differences. An Independent candidate's chances of success are much greater in Minnesota due to Minnesota's law allowing for voter registration at the voting booth on election day and Minnesota's public financing for state elections (which would minimize Kinky's current status as the candidate with the least funds on hand).

In light of these factors, the conventional wisdom of professional election analysts from Kinky's former colleague at "Texas Monthly" Paul Burka, to Republican poll guru Mike Baselice, to the progressive Lone Star Project, to independent analyst Chuck McDonald has consistently concluded that Kinky will likely end up in the single digits on election day (and if he pulls anywhere near 15%, Perry will likely win by default).

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In summary, Kinky can't win for five main reasons:

(1) Base vote -

(a) Perry will get a substantial Republican base vote (less than in other years because Strayhorn and Kinky will cut into that base) so Perry builds support on a base of perhaps 25% who will vote for the Republican no matter who the nominee is so Perry wins votes to add to 25% he gets automatically,

(b) Bell will get a substantial Democratic base vote (also less than in other years) so Bell builds support on a base of perhaps 20% who will vote for the Democrat no matter who the nominee is so Bell wins votes to add to 20% he gets automatically,

(c) Strayhorn has no party base but she was the top vote recipient on the whole ballot last time she ran so she likely has some established core of support among voters so, while she has to win every vote one-by-one (i.e., she benefits from no straight party vote), she has a voter constituency which she has established in prior statewide elections, and if we look at her petition drive supporters as an approximation of that core of support, she is now adding votes to a base of about 4%,

(d) Kinky has no party base and he has not run for office since his unsuccessful mid-'80 run in a local Kerr County race as a Republican so he also has to win every vote one-by-one (i.e., no straight party boost), and if we look at his petition drive supporters as a core of support, he is now adding votes to a base of about 3%,

(2) Minority vote - Kinky has the lowest levels of support among all racial minority voting groups and his support is still falling among those voters and it appears that Kinky's candidacy has been irreparably damaged in this regard by his bigoted statements, and the alienation of these large voter groups sets a cap on Kinky's ability to build support,

(3) Negative identification - Kinky has by far the highest numbers of likely voters who have already developed a negative impression of him and his candidacy (Kinky’s negatives are about double the other candidates’), and these high negative numbers set a cap on Kinky's ability to build support,

(4) Substantive campaign mismanagement - People complain about how Strayhorn has run her campaign (the suit to get her on the ballot as "Grandma" which the campaign had to abandon was a mistake) and Bell's campaign (not visible enough), but these are complaints about the procedural aspects of the campaign, whereas Kinky's campaign is suffering substantive defects (Kinky has had to contradict his own campaign staff on about “Kinky’s” position in key issues from immigration, to abortion, to ethics) and this is the sign of a rudderless campaign where the candidate is not providing any ideological direction, and

(5) Ideological dissonance - When some Kinky supporters say that Kinky is neither liberal nor conservative, they are mistaken. A candidate who holds middle-ground positions on many issues is neither liberal nor conservative, and Kinky is the exact opposite. Kinky is both liberal and conservative (not neither) because Kinky simultaneously takes the most right-wing views on issues like abortion, immigration, eroding the separation of church and state, privatizing aspects of the public schools, racial scapegoating, etc., and Kinky has also expressed the most liberal views of any candidate on issues like regulating pet ownership, expressing contempt for hunters, and de-criminalizing some drug crimes. Kinky does not take the most moderate views; instead, he combines the most right-wing views with the most liberal views. Kinky’s “platform” is not like Jesse Ventura’s quasi-Libertarian platform which coherently blended liberal social views with conservative fiscal views because Kinky’s issue positions seem almost calculated to alienate progressive voters with his stance on abortion, immigration, destroying the separation of church and state, privatization of aspects of the public schools, and racial scapegoating while simultaneously alienating right-wing voters on issues like hunting. Kinky's nonstop pattern of flip flops (abortion, immigration, hunting, etc.), his taking two contrary positions at the same time on the same issue depending on what audience he is addressing (capital punishment, cronyism, etc.), and some outright lies (his false claim to have voted for Ann Richards and Al Gore, etc.) appear connected to this ideological dissonance.

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Considered together, these factors will utterly prevent Kinky from ever rising in the polls to threaten Perry. Will Kinky get 5% or 20%? I can't say. But I can say that Kinky will not ever get anywhere near Perry's base vote numbers so even if Perry is limited to his hardest-core base and nothing more, Perry will still beat Kinky.

Kinky's Unconscionable Shift to the Far Right

2006-09-10T15:22:00.000-07:00

Kinky has ideologically positioned himself on the far right to get the votes of disaffected radical Republicans.

As reported by the Quorum Report, Kinky has pledged on Dan Patrick's right-wing talk radio program that he would not veto Patrick's "trigger bill" to make abortion illegal in Texas immediately upon any reversal of Roe v. Wade by the US Supreme Court.

This puts Kinky to the right of Perry and Strayhorn, who both have refused to commit to signing Patrick's extremist bill.

Chris Bell is the only candidate who would veto Patrick's extremist bill:

“I would veto that,” Bell told The Associated Press on Friday. “I think the majority of Texans are still pro-choice. I don’t think they’re pro-abortion, but they understand that there are instances where that very painful choice is going to have to be made.”... Abortion rights advocates should help “find ways to make it as rare as possible,” Bell said. “But to make it illegal, that’s not the road to go down.”

Kinky also positioned himself well to pick up far right-wing votes when he "stirred up controversy Wednesday when he referred to hurricane evacuees living in Houston as 'crackheads and thugs' who should be escorted out of Texas."

When asked about these comments, Kinky helpfuly explained that "Racism was here before I came around," he said. "I am just trying to bring up these issues within the (expletive) society....As it happens, the crackheads and thugs who remain in Houston after Katrina happen to be black; that's fact."

A few days earlier, Kinky positioned himself to capture right-wing votes on the issue of immigration reform:

He said he supports groups such as the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps because they draw attention to problems on the border.

Asked about his own strategy for securing the border, Friedman said, "I'm not sure. I don't have a plan."

He said he would appoint people who care about the state to develop a plan based on his motto: "Remember the Alamo."

Border safety has deteriorated, Friedman said, because politicians are too afraid to offend Hispanics and get tough on the Mexican government.

On issues ranging from a woman’s sovereignty over her own womb to race to immigration reform, Kinky has flip flopped himself into positions far to the right of all other candidates, including our shamelessly right-wing failed governor.

Why Can't Kinky Make Up His Mind?

2006-09-07T11:50:00.000-07:00

FLIP: "PRESS RELEASE: Immigration policy Kinky Friedman today said he ... supports a portion of the House bill, which calls for the construction of 700 miles of security fence along the U.S.-Mexico border and which would make illegal immigration a felony."

FLOP: "Friedman said Tuesday that he never called immigrants felons, calling a reporter "full of (expletive)" before apologizing... a spokeswoman said the initial statement was posted erroneously."

.

FLIP: "When I talk about the five Mexican generals, people think I’m joking but I’m dead serious. I will divide the border into five jurisdictions, assigning one Mexican general to each and providing a trust fund for that general. Every time a person crosses illegally, we subtract $5,000 from the trust fund."

FLOP: "QUESTION: Other candidates have laid out policies on illegal immigration, including the use of the National Guard. Are you sticking by your idea of paying Mexican generals to keep would-be illegals on their side of the border? FRIEDMAN: No."

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FLIP: "My immigration policy is 'Remember the Alamo.'"

FLOP: "Asked about his own strategy for securing the border, Friedman said, 'I'm not sure. I don't have a plan.'"

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FLIP: "All of these politicians are afraid of offending Hispanics. I want the border off the evening news until we get something resolved."

FLOP: "I want the border on the nightly news every night."

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FLIP: "Good fences make good neighbors, and, Mr. Fox, help us build that fence."

FLOP: "Kinky believes that the U.S. Senate is on the right track--with a plan that includes limited amnesty for hard-working illegal immigrants."

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FLIP: "Kinky Friedman on Thursday asked Travis County prosecutors to investigate Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn for possibly misusing state employees to help her campaign."

FLOP: "Kinky Friedman on Saturday disavowed the criminal complaint that his campaign for governor filed against independent rival Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, but Friedman declined to withdraw the complaint or apologize to Strayhorn."

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FLIP: "I'm not pro-life, and I'm not pro-choice. I'm pro-football."

FLOP: "Should Roe vs. Wade be overturned? Friedman: No. ... Are Texas laws too restrictive for adult women? Would you favor adding new restrictions or repealing current ones? Friedman: I have mixed feelings on parental notification. On the counseling requirement, I'm not sure, but I know the less I talk to social workers, the better. No issue with the public-funding restrictions, but I would want to investigate further."

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FLIP: "I am not anti-death penalty."

FLOP: "Let's do away with the death penalty."

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FLIP: "Who did you vote for in 2000? Friedman: I voted for Gore then."

FLOP: "According to Kerr County voting records, Friedman voted in the 2004 presidential general election but not in any other contest since 1994."

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FLIP: "After your bid for Justice of the Peace in ’86, you said you were leaving 'that worthless tar baby that is politics.'"

FLOP: "Kinky walked up the steps to the Secretary of State's office in Austin and submitted the paperwork necessary to make him a candidate for the office of Governor of Texas."

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FLIP: "Deer season may have ended, but that does not mean any of us are safe from an errant bullet fired by an errant bullethead. It only means that hunters have turned their cold sights from harmless Bambies and creatures that fly higher than their dreams to other prey. There is never a moment when a Texan cannot legally curl his finger 'round a happy trigger.... I do not suffer hunters gladly."

FLOP: "I’m not anti-hunting, I just don’t hunt. As far as gun control goes, in Texas the conceal-and-carry law is working really well; it’s cut crime and Ithink George W. did good with that one."

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Why can't Kinky make up his mind?

"I've been stoned a lot of times... And I don't regret any of it. I quit doing cocaine," Kinky says, "when Bob Marley fell out of my left nostril."

Kinky, Immigration, Minutemen, and Race

2006-09-04T20:18:00.000-07:00

Here's Kinky's latest blather on immigration:

"My immigration policy is 'Remember the Alamo.'"

Would someone please tell Kinky that "Remember the Alamo" isn't an immigration policy?

Kinky's latest comments reported by Brandi Grissom of the El Paso Times are distrubing. Kinky says Mexico should face what he calls the "Israeli discount," and Kinky insists our immigration policy should be "ruthless." Here is what else the El Paso Times reports:

He said he supports groups such as the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps because they draw attention to problems on the border.

Asked about his own strategy for securing the border, Friedman said, "I'm not sure. I don't have a plan."

He said he would appoint people who care about the state to develop a plan based on his motto: "Remember the Alamo."

Border safety has deteriorated, Friedman said, because politicians are too afraid to offend Hispanics and get tough on the Mexican government.

"I would tell them (Mexican government officials) to step up to the plate and pay their fair share of the cost illegals are costing the state of Texas," he said. "If they don't do that, then I want the border on the nightly news every night."

...

Responding to Friedman's suggestion that Texas should treat its border as Israel does, Black said: "Wow. That kind of rhetoric is irresponsible. It's not real. It's cartoon rhetoric."

Until this latest about face on the immigration issue, Kinky had been bragging that his Five Mexican Generals plan was a great idea:

“When I talk about the five Mexican generals, people think I’m joking but I’m dead serious. I will divide the border into five jurisdictions, assigning one Mexican general to each and providing a trust fund for that general. Every time a person crosses illegally, we subtract $5,000 from the trust fund.”

Of course, this isn't the first time Kinky has flip-flopped on immigration reform. Kinky has also recently added amnesty for illegal aliens into his grab-bag of doubtable ideas regarding border security. With his announcement that Kinky now favors "amnesty for hard-working illegal immigrants already in this country," Kinky bragged that "I’ve been urging action on the border for over a year."

Going back and listing all the bad ideas that Kinky has proposed with regard to border security makes for very interesting reading.

For example, as the Austin American Statesman noted, "His position on immigration has been wobbly. On March 28, his campaign provided a statement describing Friedman as favoring a guest worker program and language classifying illegal immigrants as felons."

Kinky issued this press release supporting "the construction of 700 miles of security fence along the U.S.-Mexico border and which would make illegal immigration a felony," but Kinky withdrew this press release.

But Kinky has repeatedly mentioned building a fence, and after saying that he would seek the Mexican president's help, Kinky agreed with Bill O'Reilly that we cannot trust Mexico's President to assist with immigration enforcement:

FRIEDMAN: And I want them to help. I mean, good fences...
O'REILLY: Absolutely. That's what they're there for.
FRIEDMAN: ...Good fences make good neighbors, and, Mr. Fox, help us build that fence.
O'REILLY: Well, don't count on help from Mr. Fox because he's getting so much money from this illegal immigration back there.
FRIEDMAN: That's true.

I guess if you don't like Kinky's immigration policy, just wait a while and it will flip the opposite direction.

The internal crosstabs at the latest SurveyUSA poll show that Kinky has the least support of all the candidates among likely Hispanic voters.

Could it be the newspaper interviews where Kinky promises to take "a harder line on immigration" than any of the other candidates and where Kinky says the Tejano protesters marching in favor of immigration reform are "half playing hooky"?

Could it be the other newspaper interviews where Kinky says "Mexico is not a poor country" and "I will divide the border into five jurisdictions, assigning one Mexican general to each and providing a trust fund for that general"?

Maybe it's those interviews where Kinky says "all of these politicians are afraid of offending Hispanics ... I want the border off the evening news until we get something resolved." (Oddly, Kinky now says "I want the border on the nightly news every night" -- just one more 180 degree flip flop on his immigration policy).

Obviously, Kinky is not "afraid of offending Hispanics" – or Black voters, for that matter.

The crosstabs at the SurveyUSA poll show that Kinky has the least support of all the candidates among Black voters. Kinky's support among likely Black voters is down to 6% and down even lower to 4% among those racial minorities who did not list their race. Kinky's paltry level of support is less than half the support among Black voters than even notoriously unpopular Governor Perry receives.

Why is Kinky's support so low among likely Black voters?

What could be diminishing Kinky's support in the Black community to less half the level of the widely disliked governor?

Could it be this video from Kinky's appearance last November on CNBC's "The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch" where Kinky explained his view that criminals should be punished by locking them in prison and making them "listen to a Negro talking to himself"?

Could that be why Kinky is so distrusted in the Black community?

Or perhaps Kinky is so unpopular among Black voters because Donny Deutsch asked if Kinky's statement was possibly a little racist, and Kinky replied that "Negro is a charming word."

If Kinky thinks "Negro is a charming word," I can only guess what Kinky thinks about the phrase "tar baby." The last time Kinky ran for public office, when he ran openly as a Republican, Kinky lost and he was bitter about it. Kinky said he was leaving “that worthless tar baby that is politics.” Just count that as one more broken promise.

No wonder Kinky is the least popular candidate among minority voters in Texas.

PLEASE, IF YOU KNOW ANYONE WHO CARES ABOUT FAIR IMMIGRATION POLICY OR RACE RELATIONS, WARN THEM AGAINST KINKY.

The Truth About Kinky Spreads Across the Blogosphere

2006-08-29T14:47:00.000-07:00

The Phronesisaical blog has a discussion about a Kinky supporter who has become disenchanted with Kinky:

As someone who signed your petition the very first night it was possible to do so, I am very disappointed that you accepted the invitation to the Bush shindig in College Station.... I was hoping for you to be a true Independent. But I understand that there are several well connected Republican donators from Houston to your campaign.

Several blogs have reposted a great editorial entitled "Which side of his mouth is Kinky talking out of?" from the Houston Chronicle's Clay Robison:

Many people continue to laugh at the jokes, one-liners and other quotable quotes still being delivered by the Clown Prince of the Texas governor's race.... Some of Kinky Friedman's quips are funny (at least the first two or three times you hear them).... Without much of a political program to promote, he simply performs the role of Kinky.
...
Calling himself a "compassionate redneck," Friedman also has been outspoken on several other hot-button issues.

"I am going to see nondenominational prayer and the Ten Commandments put back in the schools," he told the Kilgore News Herald several weeks ago. "If you don't love Jesus, go to hell," he added.

He also has called for repeal of the top 10 percent law, which many minorities value because it gives the best students from poor, mostly minority school districts an equal opportunity with more-privileged young people for admission to the best state-supported universities.

And Friedman talks a tougher line than Gov. Rick Perry on border security. He told conservative TV commentator Bill O'Reilly last year that he would "seal the border" against illegal immigrants by bringing in the "National Guard, the Texas Rangers, the entire Polish Army, whatever it takes." "Good fences make good neighbors," he added. More recently, as quoted in the Dallas Morning News, Friedman said, "My immigration policy is 'Remember the Alamo.' "

Off The Kuff explains "Why Not Kinky":

To everyone who has a "K - The Governor" sticker on their car next to a Kerry/Edwards or KPFT sticker: You're not supporting some kind of freethinking progressive who shares your values. You're supporting Larry the Cable Guy. I'd say the joke's on you, but unfortunately the rest of us are collaterally damaged by it.

The Squawkboxnoise blog has a post rejecting Kinky's candidacy:

Kinky Friedman for Gubnor? I think not.... I lived through a president that was a hip slick cool cigar smoking don’t pin me down on the issues character. I cannot nor will I vote Kinky.

Houtopia says:

Kinky Friedman, has never waivered from his politically incorrect wisecracking schtick -- an amusing routine (until you have heard it for the fifth time), but is running nothing more than a joke candidacy.... Kinky will get some votes in November, but it is difficult to imagine that when push comes to shove, he will get the kind of support he has now. Historically, candidates like him get about half of what they poll.

McBlogger reminds his readers why "Kinky is Lame":

I know what the polls say about about Mr. Gimmick candidate, Dick Friedman. Sorry, y'all, not drinking the Kool-Aid on this one. I think his music is a joke and is writing is mediocre at best.... Kinky's going to be worse for Texas than Ventura was for Minnessota .... Sure, Kinky's dressed up in his Independent bullshit but I can assure you, he's not Independent.... Kinky charts WELL TO THE RIGHT of Perry on the issues that matter most to Texas voters.

The Re Collection blog warns against voting for Kinky:

You really shouldn’t vote for the Kinkster no matter how funny you think it would be to have a guitar-playing “Jewish Cowboy” for Gov. Enough with the damn cowboys already. Let’s let someone who believes in government run things for a while. M’kay?

Over at the Burnt Orange Report, peacearena (the genius behind the Re Collection blog reminds us that she figured Kinky out months ago:

his going for W in 2004 indicates a real lack of moral fiber, not to mention decent judgement of people (note the “humorous” quote about how Bush is a good man trapped in a Republican body).... There may be little chance of him winning and becoming governor, but I’d like to know that the person I vote for, if elected, is a member of the “reality-based community” and no one who willfully voted for George Bush, a known quantity, in 2004, can claim to be one.

Killer Alien has his Endorsement for Texas Governor up:

I have decided to endorse Chris Bell for Texas Governor. He stands the best chance at defeating incumbant Rick Perry. Why? Because it is a 4 way race: with Carol Strayhorn steeling votes away from Rick Perry this is the Democrats best chance to take back the Texas Governorship. What about Kinky Friedman you ask? I ask you the same question; what about him? can you tell me one thing he stands for? Can you let me know what his platform is?

Did you know that Kinky is a conservative? Did you know he once ran as a Republican?

Ones and Zeros tells us he's fallen off the Kinky wagon:

A long time ago, I was in favor of Kinky Friedman’s candidacy for governor of Texas. Now I’m not. I’ve been more and more unimpressed by his lack of an actual campaign as the race has continued, but his big “go to hell” to me and people like me was enough to make it clear that he’s not the governor I want for Texas.... We don’t need this guy, and voting for him only helps the marginally more loseriffic Rick Perry, so I recommend against Kinky.

Banjo Jones at The Brazosport News first told us why he is no longer supporting Kinky:

Some time ago I withdrew my support of Kinky Friedman's independent campaign for governor of Texas for the simple reason that his jokes were getting stale.

Later Banjo warned us of Kinky's future:

Kooky politicians don't fade away, they endorse Intenet gambling sites... what if Kinky Friedman is elected governor of Texas, serves one term (like Ventura) and then leaves office with his state holding a deficit (like Ventura). What then? Endorsements [for] Erectile Dysfunction aids? YES, great comic possibilities there. ... Comedy club appearances with Larry the Cable Guy? Sure, with an HBO special.

The Half Empty blog has a great post calling on Kinky to withdraw from the race:

Richard “Kinky” (Big Dick) Friedman seems to be acting to make certain that Richard Perry, will be a minority-elected Republican incumbent, who will be able to maintain his residence in the governor’s mansion in 2007. How will he do that? ... It’s almost as if he were secretly working for Perry’s re-election.
...
In Texas, the winner of the governor’s race is the one who gets the most votes, not the one who gets the majority of votes. There is no runoff. If Texans are thinking of casting a protest vote or a vote of fancy, they should remember that.
...
Friedman’s issues, like everything else in his campaign, are jokes. Where Chris Bell discusses serious issues, Friedman says he is serious in his plan to bribe 5 generals in the Mexican army to guard the Texas border with Mexico. He says he will establish 5 $1 million trust funds for the 5 generals, saying he will deduct $5000 from it for every Mexican citizen who crosses the border illegally. This is just the stuff of his campaign – a joke - but he says he is serious. Well, OK, if so, isn’t what he is planning to do a promotion of murder of Mexican nationals? A bullet in the back of an illegal immigrant crossing the border is the easiest solution in the preservation of a general’s trust fund. His plan is no longer quite the knee-slapper, is it?

Easter Lemming Liberal News reports:

Since 1994 Kinky has voted in just one election - 2004 in support of Bush. Not 2000 for Bush or Gore, not on the anti-gay marriage amendment, just that once.
"The voting record doesn't look strong, but my voting record is better than Dick Cheney's," he said, referring to reports in 2000 that Cheney skipped 14 of 16 votes in Dallas County - including the presidential primary in which he could have voted for his future running mate,
George W. Bush.

According to Kerr County voting records, Friedman voted in the 2004 presidential general election but not in any other contest since 1994.

"I was for Bush in 2004," he said. "He's a good man trapped in a Republican's body."
Kinky is a sometimes funny cigar smoking Republican who wants to eliminate no-smoking ordinances.

Making Light drops a quick link to remind everyone "Kinky Friedman: no hero."

Eye on Williamson says:

The jokes were funny, like the article said, the first couple of times but for Democrats to vote for this guy, who has no chance of winning, is almost guaranteeing Rick Perry will be reelected. With ‘ol What’s Her Name now sinking and her, hopefully former, Democratic supporters coming back to Chris Bell, it’s time for the “Kinky Democrats” to come back too.

Finally, we have the double blow against Kinky's vanity campaign from The Burnt Orange Report.

Karl-Thomas Musselman tells us that Kinky is a joke (and a tired one at that) and he shares an email from his mother, a recovering Kinky supporter who has seen the light:

OK, I am done farting around. I am taking the Kinky bumper sticker off my car ... its now near 3 months until zero hour and I must take a stand. As much as I love to rally for the "outsider" with a good one-liner or three, (remember my flirtation with Ross Perot), my heart bleeds blue (ok sometimes burnt orange, too).

Bell's speech at the Demo rally in Bandera this weekend was a darn fine speech, he's making a lot of sense, plus I get his humor. What finally got my rear in gear though, was another Texas Democrat (not local), who was admiring my stickers in the parking lot this afternoon (thought at first it was an R fixing to key my car doors). He asked me was I REALLY going to vote for Kinky. Without another thought, I said, "No, I'm voting for Bell. The KF sticker was just for laughs."

In the most complete and devastatingly well reasoned rejection of Kinky's novelty campaign, Phillip Martin at The Burnt Orange Report begs voters not to thow their vote away on Kinky:

You're doing theater, when you should be doing debate...It's not honest. What you do is not honest. What you do is partisan hackery. --Jon Stewart, in his Oct. 15, 2004 appearance on CNN's "Crossfire"
...
Voting for Kinky, in no way, is voting against politics as usual or political theater -- it's voting for a hypocrite who's finally mastered it.

The Class Clown

I honestly believe Kinky Friedman is the class clown of this election cycle. He's funny, he's cool to be seen with, he's hip to be associated with -- but at the end of the day, all he has to offer are jokes and tired one-liners. Not constructive criticisms, not a real alternative voice, not new ideas or even different ideas than what is already offered. Just a series of jokes that sound good in TV soundbites and action figures.

In that sense, Kinky is the ultimate political hack. He's mastered the pieces of theater that are political campaigning. And for some reason, his biggest group of supporters continue to be progressives -- despite his decidedly non-progressive platform.

Kinky has an immigration platform that is more small-minded than Perry's. His education and health care platform is stolen from the headlines of Democratic press releases -- he didn't even bother to look at the substance. He is, by no means, a serious candidate. And he's proud of that. As he said in a recent Dallas Morning News interview:

Just because the other three candidates have had humor bypasses does not mean I have to be a self-important pompous ass. The circus needs clowns as much as donkeys and elephants. Besides, some things are too important to be taken seriously.

Kinky's got it, all right. He's got it completely backwards: some things are too important NOT to be taken seriously, and a lot of those things are the issues facing Texas today.

Why the Hell Not? Because People are More Important than Puns

I've spent the last two years working in the capitol, an experience that has changed my life, one that has shown me how good government can be. I've gotten countless phone calls from people whose electricity was turned off, and from folks who can't get to their homes because the roads are so beat up. One day, a teacher called me because she'd been administering the TAKS test for 9 hours. Why so long? A group of fourth-graders couldn't finish the test because they were afraid that if they didn't pass the test, they'd fail, lose their friends, and live a bad life.
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What's Kinky's take on standardized testing? Well, the third bullet in Kinky's education "platform" gives a commentary on the TAKS test, but offers no solution. Chris Bell, meanwhile, has made standardized tests one of the center-points of his entire campaign. Bell advocates eliminating the highstakes nature of standardized testing by using it only as a measurement, and not a deciding factor, for student advancement. In the past year, since Bell first came out against highstakes standardized testing, countless editorials, articles, letter-campaigns, and teacher groups have made standardized testing important to this campaign.

That's taking leadership on an issue, and not just playing for headlines. Whether or not Bell wins, he's taken leadership on an issue that politicians can no longer ignore. I doubt Kinky can say the same thing.

Do we want someone who will make a difference, or make a joke?

As I said before, voting for Kinky, in no way, is voting against political theater -- it's voting for someone who's finally mastered it. You don't fix an old house by throwing stones at broken windows. You fix a house by rebuilding what is left so it's better for future generations.

In the end, voters will have to ask themselves which is more important: making a difference, or making a joke. Support someone who believes the issues facing Texas are important and serious, or someone that honestly believes that "some things are too important to be taken seriously."

I beg you: please don't vote for Kinky Friedman. You won't be throwing your vote away, but you will be throwing away a chance to make a difference.

This Isn't The First Time Kinky Blamed His Staff

2006-08-21T14:36:00.000-07:00

The San Antonio Express-News's R.G. Ratcliffe reports that Kinky will blame his staff for the ethics complaint Kinky filed against Strayhorn, but Kinky won't apologize:

Kinky Friedman has disavowed a criminal complaint his gubernatorial campaign filed against independent rival Carole Keeton Strayhorn, but he declined to withdraw it or to apologize to Strayhorn.

"That's not going to happen," Friedman said Saturday of an apology. "That's always bogus. It's meaningless. It's politically correct these days to apologize to the Indians and apologize to the Hawaiians for taking their land, apologize to the African Americans for dealing with them as slaves, and on and on without end.... Friedman said he was shocked to see headlines that indicated he was the one filing the complaint, ... but he said he will not ask Barkley to withdraw it because Barkley believes it has merit.

"I'm not totally convinced the charges aren't true, by the way. I'm just saying I did not want to be the one that's picking at the other candidates," Friedman said.... Friedman said he hired Barkley, who helped former wrestler Jesse Ventura win the governor's office in Minnesota, because he trusts his political instincts.

This isn't the first time Kinky's campaign issued a press release on Kinky's policy and -- after the policy went over like a lead balloon -- Kinky blamed his staff for releasing a policy (including direct quotes from Kinky) which Kinky later said he didn't support.

In March, Kinky released an immigration statement that he supported making illegal immigration a felony:

Kinky Friedman...supports a portion of the House bill, which calls for the construction of 700 miles of security fence along the U.S.-Mexico border and which would make illegal immigration a felony.

“I’ve been urging action on the border for over a year,” Friedman said.

After taking heat over the press release, Kinky withdrew it and blamed his staff.

Plus, Kinky can't very well make a big deal about complying with the laws of Texas when he's said "I've been stoned a lot of times ... and I don't regret any of it ... I quit doing cocaine when Bob Marley fell out of my left nostril" and he proudly flouts Texas law whenever it suits him.

Vote Bell or Strayhorn, but Defeat Perry

2006-08-18T15:23:00.000-07:00

Rick Perry is the worst governor in recent Texas history, and that's really saying something.

Months ago, with the hope of defeating Perry, I made time to meet Strayhorn, Bell, and Kinky personally at campaign stops, and I tried to select which candidate to support based on two criteria: (1) who would best support my values on issues important to me and (2) who would have the best chance of beating Perry.

While evaluating the candidates on the issues, one fact became apparent. It was somewhat difficult to ascertain where Strayhorn stands on the issues because her positions on many issues have changed over the past few years and because her website isn't particularly issue oriented. It was comparatively easy to determine where Bell stands on many issues as a result of his tenure on the Houston City Counsel and as a Congressional Representative and because Bell's website has a good deal of information on various issues. It was most difficult to ascertain where Kinky stands on the issues because his positions have not been constant on many key issues and because Kinky generally gives either very general answers or jokes when asked serious policy questions. Early in the campaign, Kinky suggested that he wouldn't be trapped into taking stands on issues, but as his campaign has progressed, Kinky has answered more questions (but his positions still waiver back and forth with the wind on many issues).

Here is what I have learned about the three candidates' stands on issues:

EDUCATION

Strayhorn supports a $4,000 teacher raise, reducing reliance on TAKS (formerly advocated larger role for TAKS), opposing private school vouchers (formerly supported), opposing college tuition deregulation (formerly supported) (and has endorsement of TSTA and TFT).

Bell supports a $6,000 teacher raise, reducing reliance on TAKS, adopting career technology training programs vetoed by Perry, opposing private school vouchers, limiting State Board of Education censorship of textbooks, eliminating tax on textbooks, opposing college tuition deregulation, expanding Texas Grant program for low-income Texas students with academic achievements who seek a college education they couldn't otherwise afford.

Kinky supports a teacher raise (no amount specified), reducing reliance on TAKS, funding public schools by legalizing casino gambling, allowing corporate sponsorship of public school physical education programs.

HEALTH

Strayhorn favors restoring full collection of federal CHIP funds for underinsured Texas children (formerly advocated cuts in CHIP).

Bell favors allowing drug prescription to be filled from Canadian, expanding prescription drug benefit for Medicare recipients without limitations imposed under current law, expanding stem cell research, restoring full collection of federal CHIP funds for underinsured Texas children.

Kinky favors expanding stem cell research, restoring full collection of federal CHIP funds for underinsured Texas children.

TRANS-TEXAS CORRIDOR

Strayhorn opposes (formerly supported).

Bell opposes.

Kinky opposes.

WAR

No position from Strayhorn.

Bell favors state funding for premiums on $250,000 federal life insurance policies for Texas National Guard soldiers serving in combat (rated 100% by SANE, indicating a pro-peace voting record).

Kinky support Bush's foreign policy in the Middle East.

WAGES

No position from Strayhorn.

Bell favors increasing minimum wage (and has AFL-CIO endorsement).

No position from Kinky.

ENVIRONMENT

Strayhorn favors promoting coal gasification alternative technology, restricting coal burning, improving Texas Commission on Environmental Quality enforcement

Bell favors reducing CO2 emissions by 80%, lowering mercury emissions from coal plants by 90%, improving Texas Commission on Environmental Quality enforcement, promoting coal gasification alternative technology, restricting coal burning, tightening regulation of air permits for plants and refineries, raising the Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard to 10%, ending "grandfather" immunity from municipal regulations that protect the health and property of those near refineries, opposing acceleration of forest thinning projects, converting the state vehicles to green vehicles, providing incentives for green builders.

Kinky favors promoting wind, solar, and biofuels as alternative energy sources.

HOME OWNERSHIP

No position from Strayhorn.

Bell opposes insurance rate hikes, supports task force to instigate insurance rate rollbacks, supports audit of Texas Residential Construction Commission.

No position from Kinky.

IMMIGRATION

Strayhorn supports use of National Guard troops on US-Mexico border, opposes in-state tuition to Texas-born children of illegal immigrants.

Bell supports the McCain-Kennedy bill with pathway to citizenship, use of National Guard troops on US-Mexico border, opposes law requiring that illegal aliens who seek hospital treatment be reported to INS (rated 0% by anti-immigration organization, indicating a progressive voting record on immigration).

Kinky supports building a border fence, supports the McCain-Kennedy bill with pathway to citizenship (formerly supported House bill which did not include pathway to citizenship), says "my immigration policy is `Remember the Alamo'" (formerly supported hiring Mexican generals to enforce border).

REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

Strayhorn supports maintaining legal right to abortion.

Bell supports maintaining legal right to abortion, repealing law requiring doctors to misinform women seeking reproductive counseling of false link between abortion and cancer, requiring that abortion laws must include exception to protect mother's health (rated 100% by NARAL, indicating a pro-choice voting record).

Kinky supports maintaining legal right to abortion.

GAY RIGHTS

Strayhorn opposes right to civil unions.

Bell supports right to civil unions, co-sponsored the Permanent Partners Immigration Act.

Kinky supports right to civil unions.

Neither of these candidates reflects my own views of these issues perfectly, and I disagree with some portion of each candidate's positions. Measuring Strayhorn's current views against my own, she would be a very distinct improvement over Perry, but I am troubled by the number of significant issues on which she has substantially changed her position. Of the three candidates, Bell has the most detailed positions and his views on these issues are generally nearest my own. Finally, as compared to the other two candidates, Kinky's views on these issues conflict most with my own views, and Kinky is the least specific of the three candidates. Also, Kinky's views conflict with mine on other issues which are important but I have not listed them above among my highest priorities (like the separation of church and state, for example).

Moreover, when researching these issues, it became apparent that Kinky hasn't merely changed his mind on certain issues (like Strayhorn has); Kinky has been dishonest or two-faced about some matters. For example, Kinky has been dishonest about his prior votes in the 2000 election and the Texas constitutional amendment. In contrast to Strayhorn, who now advocates in favor of issues she used to oppose, Kinky appears to simultaneously advocate different positions to different groups on issues like capital punishment, immigration, and reproductive rights.

Also, when researching Kinky's statements on different issues, one cannot help but come across statements like (1) after losing an election where Kinky ran as a Republican, he said he was leaving "that worthless tar baby that is politics," (2) and said we should punish criminals by sending them to prison and making them "listen to a Negro talking to himself" and "Negro ... is a charming word," (3) and "I've been stoned a lot of times ... and I don't regret any of it ... I quit doing cocaine when Bob Marley fell out of my left nostril," (4) and "all of these politicians are afraid of offending Hispanics," and (5) the Tejano protesters marching in favor of immigration reform were "half playing hooky."

After determining that Kinky's views and his past statements poorly reflect the type of gubernatorial candidate I hope to support, I also considered which candidate is most and least likely to beat Perry.

Strayhorn presents a unique threat to Perry's re-election. When Perry and Strayhorn last ran for office, they appeared on the ballot together. Strayhorn, not Perry, was the top vote recipient among all Republicans (she also received the most votes of any candidate for any office regardless of party affiliation). Strayhorn captured 2,878,732 votes compared to Perry's mere 2,632,591. Not only does Strayhorn have proven appeal among Republican voters, she has some support from those who typically support Democrats, including the endorsement of the TSTA and the TFT as well as support from prominent Hispanic Democrats such as Tony Sanchez, Perry's last Democratic opponent.

In addition to these factors, Strayhorn has raised over $10 million to fund her campaign, and the majority of those funds will be spent on comparative advertising directed against Perry's abysmal record as governor. While Strayhorn's support in the polls has been erratic and the trend has generally been downward, she has the campaign funds on hand to mount a substantial television advertising campaign to address that trend.

Bell also threatens Perry. Several recent polls have identified Perry's current level of support at 35% with a continuing significant downward trend. This would be disastrous for an incumbent in most situations, but Perry is less threatened because the 65% of the vote which is currently "not Perry" is divided among three significant alternative candidates (plus Libertarian James Werner whose support is negligible). Of all the candidates, Bell's support is most consistently trending upward (most recent polls have identified Bell's current levels of support between 18% and 21% and raising).

There are two historical voting trends which strongly indicate that the upward trend of Bell's support will continue to even higher levels.

First, Perry, Strayhorn, and Kinky have very well established name identification among Texas voters. Bell, on the other hand, is identified by less than half of likely Texas voters. We know from previous elections, once a candidate achieves a very significant level of name identification with a likely voter without achieving that likely voter's support, it becomes substantially more difficult for the known candidate to win that voter's support. The fact that Bell has the most room to increase his name identification indicates that he also has the easiest task of building his support. Moreover, we also know from past elections that Bell's name identification will rise as the election nears as a result of the fact that Bell is the nominee of a major party. Among likely Texas voters who can identify the names of all four main candidates, Bell is polling at 28% to Perry's 32%, which is barely outside the margin for error.

Second, Bell (and Perry) will receive a boost from straight-party voting which polls undercount (people answering polls generally deny voting the straight-party ticket but past elections confirm that about half of Texas voters choose a straight-party ticket in a statewide election during a non-presidential year). In recent non-presidential elections, about 23% of the Texas electorate has voted for the straight-party Democratic ticket (and about 28% have voted the straight-party Republican ticket). Moreover, in recent past elections where the Democratic candidate has accepted the party's nomination but essentially chose not to campaign, those types of statewide Democratic candidates have nevertheless received about one third of the vote (despite the fact that pre-election polling consistently identified levels of support much lower than 33% of the Texas electorate for such non-campaigning Democrats). When statewide Democrats mount a campaign, they generally receive about 43% of the vote during non-presidential elections. Undoubtedly, if Bell could achieve Democratic Party unity, he would easily win, but Strayhorn and Kinky will certainly disrupt the party unity for both Democrats and Republicans.

Kinky is a unique candidate. Kinky's support has polled between 11% and 22% in polls that were conducted contemporaneously so his levels of support are obviously difficult to measure and highly dependant on the poll's method for identifying likely voters. But the prospect for Kinky's rise in the polls is not good. Of all the major candidates, Kinky has by far the highest disapproval numbers. Moreover, Kinky has very high name identification so his task of winning new supporters will be very difficult.

Kinky's campaign looks to Arnold Schwarzenegger's and Jesse Ventura's campaigns as models, but those campaigns are substantially different from Kinky's campaign.

Schwarzenegger's campaign differs from Kinky's mainly in the fact that Schwarzenegger enjoyed the strong backing of the Republican Party as that party's candidate (the California Republican Party and its prominent figures endorsed Schwarzenegger, including several other potential Republican candidates who dropped out of the race to avoid dividing the Republican vote). Interestingly, Schwarzenegger's campaign demonstrates how a minority party (whether Republicans in California or Democrats in Texas) can win a plurality election against a much stronger party (Democrats in California or Republicans in Texas) with strong party unity. Because the multi-party Texas gubernatorial race will be determined by a plurality (the eventual winner will likely garner only 33% to 38% of the vote) just as the recent California election, Schwarzenegger's model for minority-party triumph is more of a model for Bell's campaign than Kinky's campaign.

Ventura's campaign differs from Kinky's mainly in the differences between the manner in which Ventura achieved a third-party coalition and in the differences between Minnesota and Texas election law.

Like Schwarzenegger's Republican Party support, Ventura had the organized campaign support of the Reform Party (Ventura was the Reform Party's nominee, not an independent candidate) which was by far the most significant third party in Minnesota with a substantial party infrastructure and network of campaign workers. Moreover, Ventura won the support of the Libertarian Party and others who value the separation of church and state when he famously said that "organized religion tells people to go out and stick their noses in other people's business" and whereas Kinky has alienated that group by advocating prayer in school and posting the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. Ventura won with 37% of the vote by running under a coherent platform as a fiscal conservative and a social liberal in a state with about one third Republicans, one third Democrats, and a full third of the electorate as Reform Party members or other Independents. In contrast, Kinky's platform is not coherent (socially liberal on gay marriage and legalized casino gambling to alienate social conservatives, but socially conservative on immigration and school prayer to alienate social liberals), and Texas is more like 50% Republican, 35% Democrat, with only 15% independent. Also, Minnesota's minority vote is much smaller than the minority vote in Texas, and Kinky has irreparably handicapped his candidacy among likely minority voters with Kinky's comments about "Negroes" and "tar babies" and politicians being "afraid of offending Hispanics" and saying the Tejano immigration protesters were "playing hooky." It is no wonder polls show Kinky with the least minority voter support of the candidates, and this problem with Kinky's campaign cannot be fixed.

Yet perhaps the more important distinction between Ventura's campaign and Kinky's is the election law differences. An Independent candidate's chances of success are much greater in Minnesota due to Minnesota's law allowing for voter registration at the voting booth on election day and Minnesota's public financing for state elections (which would minimize Kinky's current status as the candidate with the least funds on hand).

In light of these factors, the conventional wisdom of professional election analysts from Kinky's friend and "Texas Monthly" colleague Paul Burka, to Republican poll guru Mike Baselice, to the progressive Lone Star Project, to independent analyst Chuck McDonald all agree that Kinky will likely end up in the single digits on election day (and if he doesn't, Perry will likely win by default).

Just as my analysis of the candidates' positions on the issues led me to rank Kinky last among the candidates running against Perry, my analysis of the candidates' chances of beating Perry also leads me to rank Kinky last among the candidates.

In light of these views, I am trying to broadcast information about Kinky which may (or may not) cause other voters to reach the same conclusion that I have reached. Specifically, I have concluded that the anti-incumbent vote is very large, but it is not so large that it can be split by three alternative candidates who each attract a 15% to 25% following at the polls. As a result, I think Perry will likely be re-elected with significantly less than 40% of the vote unless one of the candidate's support drops into the single digits. I hope offering the fact-based reasons for my rejection of Kinky's candidacy may further that possibility (or maybe it won't, but I will not see Perry re-elected while I stand idly by).

Vote for Strayhorn or Bell depending on who stands a better chance of beating Perry on election day.

Kinky Flip-Flops AGAIN on Immigration

2006-08-14T12:35:00.000-07:00

Here's Kinky's latest blather on immigration:

QUESTION: Other candidates have laid out policies on illegal immigration, including the use of the National Guard. Are you sticking by your idea of paying Mexican generals to keep would-be illegals on their side of the border?
FRIEDMAN: No. The Mexican government must step up to the plate. Mexico is a rich country, and they should pay their fair share. My immigration policy is "Remember the Alamo."

Would someone please tell Kinky that "Remember the Alamo" isn't an immigration policy?

Until this latest about face, Kinky had been bragging that his Five Mexican Generals plan was a great idea:

“When I talk about the five Mexican generals, people think I’m joking but I’m dead serious. I will divide the border into five jurisdictions, assigning one Mexican general to each and providing a trust fund for that general. Every time a person crosses illegally, we subtract $5,000 from the trust fund.”

Of course, this isn't the first time Kinky has flip-flopped in immigration reform. Kinky has also recently added amnesty for illegal aliens into his grab-bag of doubtable ideas regarding border security. With his announcement that Kinky now favors "amnesty for hard-working illegal immigrants already in this country," Kinky bragged that "I’ve been urging action on the border for over a year."

Going back and listing all the bad ideas that Kinky has proposed with regard to border security makes for very interesting reading.

For example, as the Austin American Statesman noted, "His position on immigration has been wobbly. On March 28, his campaign provided a statement describing Friedman as favoring a guest worker program and language classifying illegal immigrants as felons."

Kinky issued this press release supporting "the construction of 700 miles of security fence along the U.S.-Mexico border and which would make illegal immigration a felony," but Kinky withdrew this press release.

But Kinky has repeatedly mentioned building a fence, and after saying that he would seek the Mexican president's help, Kinky agreed with Bill O'Reilly that we cannot trust Mexico's President to assist with immigration enforcement:

FRIEDMAN: And I want them to help. I mean, good fences...
O'REILLY: Absolutely. That's what they're there for.
FRIEDMAN: ...Good fences make good neighbors, and, Mr. Fox, help us build that fence.
O'REILLY: Well, don't count on help from Mr. Fox because he's getting so much money from this illegal immigration back there.
FRIEDMAN: That's true.

I guess if you don't like Kinky's immigration policy, just wait a while and it will flip the opposite direction.

Who Said All This Nonsense?

2006-07-28T11:38:00.000-07:00

1. Who said we should punish criminals by sending them to prison and making them "listen to a Negro talking to himself"?

2. Who said "Negro ... is a charming word"?

3. Who said "Mexico is not a poor country"?

4. Who said "good fences make good neighbors, and, Mr. Fox, help us build that fence"?

5. Who said "I will divide the border into five jurisdictions, assigning one Mexican general to each and providing a trust fund for that general"?

6. Who said "all of these politicians are afraid of offending Hispanics ... I want the border off the evening news until we get something resolved"?

7. Who said the Tejano protesters marching in favor of immigration reform are "half playing hooky"?

8. Who said "every crazy redneck in Texas is already supporting me"?

9. Who said we should grant "amnesty for hard-working illegal immigrants already in this country"?

10. Who said "I'm not pro-life, and I'm not pro-choice. I'm pro-football"?

11. Who said "I have mixed feelings on parental notification" about abortions for girls under the age of 18 and "on the counseling requirement, I'm not sure, but I know the less I talk to social workers, the better. No issue with the public-funding restrictions, but I would want to investigate further."?

12. Who said "you uppity women I don’t understand why you gotta go and try to act like a man"?

13. Who said "I am not anti-death penalty"?

14. Who said "let's do away with the death penalty"?

15. Who said of Bush's Iraq War "I agree with most of his political positions overseas, his foreign policy"?

16. Who said what Bush has "been doing in the Near East and in the Middle East, he’s handling that well, I think"?

17. Who said my "voting record doesn't look strong, but my voting record is better than Dick Cheney's"?

18. Who said "I am going to see non-denominational prayer and the Ten Commandments put back in the schools"?

19. Who said we should turn over public school physical education classes to corporations and charge them whatever they will pay to "get their hooks into the athletes while they’re still young"?

20. Who said "I've been stoned a lot of times ... and I don't regret any of it ... I quit doing cocaine when Bob Marley fell out of my left nostril"?

Kinky vs. Texas Minorities (Why They Distrust Him)

2006-07-27T11:04:00.000-07:00

The internal crosstabs at the latest SurveyUSA poll show that Kinky has the least support of all the candidates among Black voters. Kinky's support among likely Black voters is down to 6% and down even lower to 4% among those racial minorities who did not list their race. Kinky's paltry level of support is less than half the support among Black voters than even notoriously unpopular Governor Perry receives.

Why is Kinky's support so low among likely Black voters?

What could be diminishing Kinky's support in the Black community to less half the level of the widely disliked governor?

Could it be this video from Kinky's appearance last November on CNBC's "The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch" where Kinky explained his view that criminals should be punished by locking them in prison and making them "listen to a Negro talking to himself"?

Could that be why Kinky is so distrusted in the Black community?

Or perhaps Kinky is so unpopular among Black voters because Donny Deutsch asked if Kinky's statement was possibly a little racist, and Kinky replied that "Negro is a charming word."

If Kinky thinks "Negro is a charming word," I can only guess what Kinky thinks about the word "tar baby." The last time Kinky ran for public office, when he ran openly as a Republican, Kinky lost and he was bitter about it. Kinky said he was leaving “that worthless tar baby that is politics.” Just count that as one more broken promise.

Maybe this is why Kinky is widely unpopular among Black voters.

Likewise, the crosstabs at the SurveyUSA poll show that Kinky has the least support of all the candidates among Hispanic voters.

Why is Kinky's support so low among likely Hispanic voters?

Could it be the newspaper interviews where Kinky promises to take "a harder line on immigration" than any of the other candidates and where Kinky says the Tejano protesters marching in favor of immigration reform are "half playing hooky"?

Could it be the other newspaper interviews where Kinky says "Mexico is not a poor country" and "I will divide the border into five jurisdictions, assigning one Mexican general to each and providing a trust fund for that general"?

Maybe it's those interviews where Kinky says "all of these politicians are afraid of offending Hispanics ... I want the border off the evening news until we get something resolved."

Obviously, Kinky is not "afraid of offending Hispanics" – or Black voters, for that matter. Maybe that's why Kinky is the least popular candidate among minority voters in Texas.

Kinky Adds Amnesty to His Moronic Border Plans

2006-07-19T17:49:00.000-07:00

Kinky's official website confirms that Kinky has now added amnesty for illegal aliens into his grab-bag of doubtable ideas regarding border security. With his announcement that Kinky now favors "amnesty for hard-working illegal immigrants already in this country," Kinky bragged that "I’ve been urging action on the border for over a year."

Going back and listing all the bad ideas that Kinky has proposed with regard to border security makes for very interesting reading.

First, Kinky issued a press release supporting "the construction of 700 miles of security fence along the U.S.-Mexico border and which would make illegal immigration a felony," but Kinky withdrew this press release.

Yet Kinky has repeatedly mentioned building a fence, and after saying that he would seek the Mexican president's help, Kinky agreed with Bill O'Reilly that we cannot trust Mexico's President to assist with immigration enforcement:

FRIEDMAN: And I want them to help. I mean, good fences...
O'REILLY: Absolutely. That's what they're there for.
FRIEDMAN: ...Good fences make good neighbors, and, Mr. Fox, help us build that fence.
O'REILLY: Well, don't count on help from Mr. Fox because he's getting so much money from this illegal immigration back there.
FRIEDMAN: That's true.

Later, Kinky reaffirmed his plan to outsource our border security to five Mexican generals:

Friedman's border proposal...calls for breaking up the border into five jurisdictions, assigning each one to a Mexican general, and putting millions of dollars into bank accounts for each.

"Each time we catch an illegal crossing through a general's jurisdiction," Friedman has said, "we withdraw $5,000 from that account. That'll solve the problem." His position on immigration has been wobbly. On March 28, his campaign provided a statement describing Friedman as favoring a guest worker program and language classifying illegal immigrants as felons.

So Kinky trusts armed Mexican generals on our southern border, but he doesn't trust the president of Mexico to assist. Kinky wants a 700 mile fence, plus a foreign army on our southern border to be in charge of our national security, and yet anyone who has managed to get to the US illegally before his Mexican army and fence plan goes into effect gets amnesty.

Against all hope, Kinky would actually be worse than Perry.

Kinky is Both For and Against The Death Penalty

2006-07-17T11:43:00.000-07:00

Kinky's official campaign website says that "Kinky is not anti-death-penalty, but he IS 'anti-the-wrong-guy-getting-executed.'"

No report yet whether Bell, Perry, or Strayhorn has come out in favor of the wrong guy getting executed, but at least we know where Kinky stands on the issue of killing innocent folks.

The more interesting issue is where Kinky's website says that "Kinky is not anti-death-penalty."

Really?

If Kinky is not against the death penalty, what was he doing testifying under oath at Max Soffar's trial that he is against the death penalty? Here is how ABC news in Houston reported the issue:

Independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman testified Tuesday on behalf of a man convicted of killing three people during a robbery at a Houston bowling alley....Friedman testified during the punishment phase of Max Soffar's trial that the defendant should not be executed and questioned the evidence used to convict him.... Although he used to support the death penalty, Friedman told jurors he's now against it.

So, is Kinky lying under oath or is his campaign website misrepresenting Kinky's political views?

Kinky "will end up in the single digits"

2006-06-15T15:27:00.000-07:00

For the second time in two months, Texas Monthly has yet another detailed election analysis (from a different analyst) confirming that Kinky has no chance:

"Nobody in the business of politics gives Kinky Friedman a chance to win, including me. … Perry’s strategists say that Friedman’s negatives are twice as high as his positives…. The model for his race, of course, is wrestler Jesse Ventura’s upset victory as the standard-bearer for Minnesota’s Independence party, then known as the Reform party, in that state’s three-way governor’s race of 1998…[but] as many observers have noted, the rules in Minnesota are far different from those here. Minnesota has instant voter registration, so young male wrestling fans could walk into the polls on Election Day and vote for their guy. That can’t happen in Texas. Another night-and-day difference between Minnesota and Texas is that the former has public financing of state elections while Texas, of course, does not. Friedman will benefit from plenty of free media coverage, but the conventional wisdom is that he will end up in the single digits."

Kinky Is No Jesse Ventura (Setting the Bar Low)

2006-05-30T14:34:00.000-07:00

Whenever anyone points out that Kinky’s campaign is doomed to fail (unless Kinky's real goal is re-electing Perry), the Kinky campaign is quick to draw an analogy to Jesse Ventura’s godawful tenure as governor of Minnesota.

This is a bad analogy for several reasons.

PRIOR POLITICAL EXPERIENCE

Jesse (a decorated Navy SEAL) was elected in 1990 as mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, and served through 1995 before he was elected governor of Minnesota.

Kinky’s prior political experience is his unsuccessful run as a Republican candidate for justice of the peace in Kerr County in 1986.

SUPPORT OF A POLITICAL ORGANIZATION

Jesse was elected governor of Minnesota on the Reform Party ticket, which was organized before he began his campaign.

Kinky has no similar base of support.

SUPPORT FROM LIBERTARIANS AND CHURCH-STATE SEPARATISTS

Jesse famously won the support of Libertarians and others who value the separation of church and state when he said that "organized religion ... tells people to go out and stick their noses in other people's business."

Kinky says "I'm for prayer in school" and for posting the Ten Commandments in "the public schools ... where they belong."

ELECTORAL MATH

Jesse won with 37% of the vote as the centrist candidate in a three-way race with no incumbent in state where the Democrats and Republicans and Independents each comprise about a third of the electorate.

Kinky is running as a far right candidate on some issues (immigration, religion in public schools, privatizing public school athletics to corporate high bidders, etc.) and from the left on other issues (outlawing cat declawing) in a four-way race with a Republican incumbent in a state where Republicans enjoy a majority of support and Democrats outnumber Independents.

Is Kinky a Trojan Horse for Perry's Re-Election?

2006-05-19T12:21:00.000-07:00

Texas Monthly's recent gubernatorial election analysis quotes four polls and two respected election analysts. There is only one thing all the polls and analysts agree upon: Kinky will come in last place among Perry, Strayhorn, Bell, and Kinky.

Here is the most disturbing aspect of Texas Monthly's election reporting:

"Most analysts assume that if Friedman gets more than 10 percent, he could well guarantee a Perry victory, since those votes are probably coming from Bell or Strayhorn rather than from the governor."

Maybe this explains why Kinky is running as an Independent this time despite the fact that

(1) he has run for office in the past as a Republican,

(2) he voted for Bush/Cheney in 2004,

(3) his interview with Ruminator magazine confirms that he supported Bush's Iraq war,

(4) his public voting records confirm he lied about voting for Gore in 2000,

(5) he hasn't voted for a Democrat in any election at least from 1994 to 2004,

(6) he wants to take time out of the school day for prayers in public schools,

(7) he wants to post the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms,

(8) he thinks "Negro is a charming word,"

(9) he thinks "Mexico is not a poor country," and

(10) his immigration policy of hiring Mexican generals to police our border is a right-wing extremist's fantasy.

Kinky’s Offensive Views on Immigration

2006-05-02T07:58:00.000-07:00

Kinky continues to offend with his right-wing comments on immigration.

When asked about the immigration debate, Kinky said "Mexico is not a poor country...all of these politicians are afraid of offending Hispanics. I want the border off the evening news until we get something resolved." Kinky's comments were published in the April 23 edition of the Texarkana Gazette.

These comments echo Kinky's previous comments published in the April 18 edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where Kinky said "I'm taking a harder line on immigration." Kinky further explained his view that the immigration protest marchers were "half playing hooky" before he once again suggested that Texas leaders are "too afraid to offend anyone" to make decisions about the "scads of illegal Mexicans" in Texas.

Later last week, Kinky spoke at Baylor University to further discuss his immigration plan. The April 27 edition of the Baylor newspaper reported on Kinky's plan:

"His strategy for border patrol is called Five Mexican Generals. He said five Mexican generals would divide the border into five pieces and would be paid to protect the border. But if an immigrant crossed the border illegally, they would lose $5,000 from their payment."

Finally, it is unclear if Kinky still backs his prior policy statements that, as governor of Texas, he would support the building of a wall along the Texas-Mexico border

Kinky's Latest Anti-Immigration Nonsense

2006-04-28T15:13:00.000-07:00

“Mexico is not a poor country....All of these politicians are afraid of offending Hispanics.”

Kinky's Campaign of $elf-Promotion

2006-04-18T19:51:00.000-07:00

If there was ever any doubt whether Kinky's campaign was motivated by a sincere desire for public service or Kinky's proclivity for self promotion, it's now abundantly clear that Kinky's in the governor's race for the publicity.

As reported by several news agencies, "entertainer and Texas gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman, complete with cigar, black cowboy hat and Southern drawl, is about to star in his own reality show.

'Go Kinky,' airing on Country Music Television, follows Friedman, an independent candidate, on the campaign trail in the Lone Star State.

'Every crazy redneck in Texas is for Kinky,' Friedman told FOXNews.com from his ranch in Medina, Texas."

Of course, as an added self-promotional bonus, Kinky's official campaign website doesn't fail to remind you that Mr. Friedman has a new book coming out next month!

Kinky Thinks He's Above The Law

2006-04-17T13:54:00.000-07:00

I've never made an issue of the fact that, during his campaign, Kinky has violated the Texas open alcohol container law.

Also, I never made an issue of the fact that, during his campaign, Kinky violated the rules against tobacco in public schools (when Kinky was informed that he was breaking the rule, he dared the principal to "call the sheriff" and he went right ahead enjoying his cigar).

But at some point, isn't someone on Kinky's campaign staff going get up the nerve to tell Kinky that maybe he ought not act like he's above the laws of the state of Texas?

Regret Signing Kinky's Petition? Fix It!

2006-04-10T12:13:00.000-07:00

If you have signed Kinky's petition and you now regret it, you can fix that mistake simply by voting in the runoff election on April 11.

Here is how the Texas Secretary of State explains the situation:

Q. If I sign an independent candidate’s petition after the primary and then vote in a party primary runoff. What happens to my signature?

A. If the party you voted in had a nominee for the same office sought by the independent candidate at either the primary or primary runoff election, your signature is void.

That means you can vote in the Republican Party runoff where there is an interesting race for Court of Criminal Appeals Judge between Terry Keel and Charles Holcomb, and by voting in this runoff you can erase your signature on Kinky's petition.

Or you can vote in the Democratic Party runoff where there is an interesting race between a serious candidate for US Senator like Barbara Ann Radnofsky versus a vanity candidacy from Gene Kelly (he's not the song and dance man -- that guy's dead) and between two serious candidates for Lieutenant Governor: Ben Grant and Maria Luisa Alvarado. So if you regret signing Kinky's petition, you can fix that error by voting in this runoff election.

If you vote in either runoff election on April 11, that vote will have the effect of retroactively nullifying your ballot petition signature (Which reminds me, has Kinky ever said whether he favors the wider availability of the morning after emergency contraception pill? Nope).

If you have signed Kinky's petition and you don't regret it, "why the hell not"? (catchy phrase!)

Here are ten reasons not to sign Kinky's petition (or to vote in the runoff to nullify your signature if you have signed the petition):

1. Kinky's own website quotes Kinky telling the New York Times, "I'm not pro-choice." Elsewhere on Kinky's website he simultaneously claims to believe in a woman's right to choose (apparently, Kinky's also believes he can have his cake and eat it, too).

2. At a recent death penalty trial, Kinky testified under oath that although "he used to support the death penalty, Friedman told jurors he's now against it." Yet Kinky's website also says "Kinky is not anti-death-penalty."

3. Kinky gave an interview to Susannah McNeely of Ruminator magazine where Kinky said "I voted for Gore" in 2000: "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.... I agree with most of his political positions overseas, his foreign policy.... What he’s been doing in the Near East and in the Middle East, he’s handling that well, I think." Yet that's clearly a lie because according to Kerr County voting records, Friedman voted in the 2004 presidential general election but not in any other contest since 1994.

4. Kinky wants to take money generated from sales tax and other state revenue sources and give that money away only to Texas property owning corporations and people with those owning the most valuable property getting the biggest windfall (Live in an apartment? Tough! Do you live in a modest house? Too bad!).

5. On a November 8, 2005, Kinky appeared on a nationally televised CNBC news program, where he was asked about his views on criminal punishment. Kinky replied, "Throw 'em in prison and throw away the key, and make 'em listen to a Negro talking to himself." When asked whether his use of the word "Negro" was racist, Kinky replied "no ... it's a charming word."

6. Kinky would address Texas' public education funding crisis by letting "the corporate sector bid on funding athletics." (What exactly does Kinky think the corporations will be getting from our children in exchange for their high bids?)

7. Kinky proposes to deal with immigration issues by building a wall along the Texas-Mexico border and by outsource our border security to five Mexican generals who we'd pay based on how successfully their armed thugs kept immigrants from crossing our border.

8. Kinky supports school prayer and posting the Ten Commandments in Texas classrooms (no word on whether Kinky has decided to post the Hebrew, Catholic, or Protestant version of the "Ten Commandments").

9. Kinky hasn't even gotten on the ballot yet, and he's already made plans to offer top political appointments to his biggest campaign contributors.

10. Kinky's candidacy is aimed a drawing votes from young independant voters who do not know where he stands on many issues, and yet Kinky has run for office before (as a Republican, not an independant), the only time Kinky said he voted for a Democrat in the past decade it turned out that Kinky lied and he actually didn't vote but when Kinky said he voted for Bush/Cheney in 2004 that proved to be the truth, Kinky has numerous Perry-supporting Republicans financially backing his petition drive, and if Kinky can draw off any significant number of independant votes, his candidacy will have the nearly certain effect of guaranteeing the re-election of arch-villain Rick Perry.

Kinky Continues to Flip-Flop on Immigration

2006-04-07T21:57:00.000-07:00

Kinky's position on immigration seems to change daily.

Recently, Kinky reaffirmed his plan to entrust our border security to five Mexican generals:

Friedman's border proposal...calls for breaking up the border into five jurisdictions, assigning each one to a Mexican general, and putting millions of dollars into bank accounts for each.

"Each time we catch an illegal crossing through a general's jurisdiction," Friedman has said, "we withdraw $5,000 from that account. That'll solve the problem." His position on immigration has been wobbly. On March 28, his campaign provided a statement describing Friedman as favoring a guest worker program and language classifying illegal immigrants as felons.

Kinky issued a press release supporting "the construction of 700 miles of security fence along the U.S.-Mexico border and which would make illegal immigration a felony," but Kinky withdrew this press release.

Yet Kinky has repeatedly mentioned building a fence and he also told Bill O'Reilly we cannot trust Mexico's President to assist with immigration enforcement:

FRIEDMAN: And I want them to help. I mean, good fences...
O'REILLY: Absolutely. That's what they're there for.
FRIEDMAN: ...Good fences make good neighbors, and, Mr. Fox, help us build that fence.
O'REILLY: Well, don't count on help from Mr. Fox because he's getting so much money from this illegal immigration back there.
FRIEDMAN: That's true.

So Kinky trusts armed Mexican generals on our southern border but he doesn't trust the president of Mexico to assist? Does Kinky favor a fence or not? Does Kinky want to classify illegal immigrants as felons or not, and if not, how would he classify them?

High School Newspaper Reporter Stumps Kinky

2006-04-07T21:39:00.000-07:00

Once again, Ken Rodriguez with the San Antonio Express-News offers the most insightful reporting on the Kinky campaign:

When gubernatorial hopeful Kinky Friedman came to town the other day...one reporter...asked a penetrating question...

"You're very critical of the governor and Legislature. What specific plan would you offer to fix public education and the border?"

The questioner, it turns out, was Chelsea Farnam, an 18-year-old on assignment from the Revelation, the San Antonio Christian School newspaper.

Apparently stumped by the question, Kinky rambled. Then he changed subjects. He never gave an answer.

High school kid nails Kinky on the campaign trail. How often does that happen?

Kinky Talks out of Both Sides of His Mouth

2006-04-05T08:26:00.000-07:00

ON WOMEN'S RIGHTS

Kinky's own website quotes Kinky telling the New York Times, "I'm not pro-choice." To the amazement of CNN reporter Bruce Burkhardt, Kinky repeated this in an interview on CNN:

CNN: As for other issue, his positions are a little hazier. Take abortion.
FRIEDMAN: And I'm not pro-life, and I'm not pro choice. I'm pro football!
CNN: Now that's evasive, man, that's evasive.

Link to the whole CNN transcript.

Now, Kinky's website also simultaneously claims Kinky believes in a woman's right to choose (apparently, Kinky's also believes he can have his cake and eat it, too).

ON THE DEATH PENALTY

At a recent death penalty trial, Kinky testified under oath that although "he used to support the death penalty, Friedman told jurors he's now against it."

Yet Kinky's website says "Kinky is not anti-death-penalty," and this blatant contradiction of Kinky's testimony under oath is exactly what Kinky told CBS News.

ON KINKY's 2000 VOTE

This probably counts more as a lie than a flip-flop, but Kinky gave an interview to Susannah McNeely of Ruminator magazine at the beginning of his campaign for governor where Kinky said that he voted for Al Gore in 2000:

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.... What he’s been doing in the Near East and in the Middle East, he’s handling that well, I think.

Yet that's clearly a lie because Kinky's voting records prove that he didn't vote in 2000:

According to Kerr County voting records, Friedman voted in the 2004 presidential general election but not in any other contest since 1994.

Kinky Would Rob the Poor State to Pay the Rich

2006-04-04T15:16:00.000-07:00

Kinky wants to give away Texas' temporary budget surplus. Instead of fully funding the state's bankrupt education system, or expanding health care for children, or addressing the problems with the intrastate roads, Kinky wants to give these funds away.

Kinky wants to take Texas' general funds and give them to Texans and Texas corporations -- but not to all Texans! Kinky wants to give Texas' general funds away only to property owners. Plus, Kinky wants to give more of the money to those people and corporations who own more valuable property. Do you live in an apartment? Tough! Do you live in a modest house? Too bad! Kinky wants to take the money generated from your sales tax and other state revenue sources and give that money away only to property owners.

Link

Kinky Last in Wall Street Journal-Zogby Poll

2006-04-03T08:47:00.000-07:00

The latest Wall Street Journal-Zogby poll, demonstrates Republican Perry's support is falling, Independent Carole K-M-S-R's support is falling, Democrat Chris Bell's support is rising, and Oddball Kinky's still in the cellar:

Perry: 36%
Bell: 21%
Strayhorn: 19%
Kinky: 17%

Link to Wall Street Journal report.

This WSJ poll confirms, once again, that either Bell or Carole K-M-S-R could beat incompetent incumbent Perry with the votes wasted on Kinky, but a four-way race with Kinky on the ballot all but guarantees a Perry re-election.

Survey USA polling indicates that Kinky is stealing more than three times as many votes from progressive and moderate voters than from conservative voters. With Kinky off the ballot, the race would really tighten up into a three-way brawl.

Kinky The Politician

2006-03-27T14:06:00.000-08:00

As mentioned below, the San Antonio Express-News's Ken Rodriguez began his insightful piece on the Kinky campaign by noting the hypocrisy of Kinky's "I'm Not a Politician" political campaign:
“In a small auditorium at UTSA, Kinky 'I'm Not A Politician' Friedman is stumping for political support.”.

Who's buying this peculiar idea that Kinky's not a politician? Generally, you can differentiate the politicians from the rest of us because we non-politicians have never run for political office, and we'll tell you exactly what we think about any topic without first weighing how it will affect our political future, and we're not prone to cronyism. Against these standards, Kinky is MOST DEFINITELY A POLITICIAN.

First, he's previously run for office (unsuccessfully) as a Republican. Truly, is the difference between a politician and a non-politician success at the election box or is it seeking political office? I think repeated efforts to win elected political offices is the hallmark of a politician. Clearly, Kinky’s a politician. He’s just not a successful politician.

Kinky running for political office as an independent, instead of running as a Republican (the last party he voted with and the last party he ran for office under) seems to be the COMSUMATE ACT OF A POLITICIAN. How is Kinky's move from the Republican party to an independent candidacy any less "political" that Carole KMRS's similar move? It’s not. Kinky is just as much a political opportunist as Carole KMRS.

Next, take the important issue of abortion. Kinky wouldn't give a straight answer on this issue for some time:
CNN: As for other issue, his positions are a little hazier. Take abortion.
KINKY: And I'm not pro-life, and I'm not pro choice. I'm pro football!
CNN: Now that's evasive, man, that's evasive.
Now he claims to be pro-choice. That initial waffling followed by a nicely executed flip-flop is nothing if not political.

Finally, Kinky pretends to be a different kind of candidate, but already he's said that he wants to appoint his biggest campaign contributor to the office of Secretary of State. How much more blatantly political cronyism does it take to brand this clown a politician?

Rodriguez Spots the Holes in Kinky's Platform

2006-03-24T22:24:00.000-08:00

At the San Antonio Express-News, Ken Rodriguez spots the holes in Kinky’s cotton candy wisp of a platform.

Rodriguez begins with a sharp observation of the hypocrisy at the core of Kinky’s campaign: “In a small auditorium at UTSA, Kinky 'I'm Not A Politician' Friedman is stumping for political support.”

Then Rodriguez gets to the heart of the problem:

one student after another asks a question. They want specifics.
What, for example, does Kinky propose to do about illegal immigrants in Texas?
"First, we need to focus on the problem," Kinky says.
And then?
Then Kinky rambles and changes the subject....
Next question?
Kinky's campaign quips beg lots of questions. He provides few answers.
To wit: He says he favors returning prayer to schools. He says he wants to restore the Ten Commandments in classrooms. "It's not right for one atheist to throw prayer out," Kinky says.
But when a student asks how he plans to bring back prayer, Kinky, for a moment, turns silent and pale. Like maybe he swallowed a red-hot chili pepper and doesn't know where to find a beer to douse the fire.
"I'm running for governor, not God," Kinky finally says. "I'm not going to shove prayer down anyone's throat."
Applause. Only Kinky can get a liberal audience to cheer a conservative idea that lacks a plan.…
A young lady wants to know how Kinky would address the health care crisis in small cities.
Kinky rattles off lots of words, but offers no plan.
"I'm being very general here," he says.
Translation: He has no idea….

Ken Rodriguez: Kinky's platform: Ideas and answers as meaty as cotton candy.

Kinky and Punishment by "Negro" - See the Video

2006-03-23T20:33:00.000-08:00

On a November 8, 2005, Kinky appeared on a nationally televised CNBC news program, where he was asked about his views on criminal punishment. Kinky replied, "Throw 'em in prison and throw away the key, and make 'em listen to a Negro talking to himself." When asked whether his use of the word "Negro" was racist, Kinky replied "no ... it's a charming word."

PLEASE see the video and judge for yourself by clicking on this link.

Email Kinky and tell him what you think about his comments: answers@kinkyfriedman.com

Kinky Would Offer Our Schools to Corporate Bidders

2006-03-23T07:18:00.000-08:00

Kinky would address our public education funding crisis by privatizing public school physical education programs to the highest corporate bidders. As Kinky explained this plan to The Daily Sentinel, "As to funding the education system, Friedman's answer is to put all the money in the education system and let the corporate sector bid on funding athletics."

What exactly does Kinky think the corporations will be getting from our children in exchange for their high bids? Texans ought to reject this corporate intrusion into our public schools.

Kinky Would Outsource Our Border Security

2006-03-23T06:53:00.000-08:00

Kinky proposes to outsource our border security to five Mexican generals who we'd pay based on how successfully they kept immigrants from crossing the border into Texas. We ought not bring in even our own military to address immigration problems much less invite a foreign country to encamp an armed militia on our southern border.

Kinky recently explained this plan to the Texas Daily Newspaper Association:

"Friedman again outlined his Mexican generals policy, whereby he would divide the Texas-Mexico border into precincts, stationing a Mexican general in each precinct. Each general would be given $1 million and the account would be drawn against every time an illegal immigrant is captured and returned to Mexico."

Link to the whole story.

Kinky Wants Religion in Public School Classrooms

2006-03-23T06:19:00.000-08:00

Kinky supports school prayer and posting the Ten Commandments in Texas classrooms. Neither the government nor the government's school system are the best source for teaching our children what, if anything, they ought to know about prayer and the Ten Commandments. Does Kinky even know that the Jews, the Catholics, and the Protestants have different "Ten Commandments," and if so which version is he proposing we post in all Texas classrooms?

Here is an excerpt from the Kinky interview with CBS Pittsburgh affiliate, KDKA:

"The Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments being taken out of the public schools. I want them back," says Friedman.

Why?

"I want them back, they belong there," says Friedman....

"I'll tell you right now. I'm for prayer in school," he says.

Link to the whole story.

Click here for a comparison of the differences among the Hebrew, Catholic, and Protestant versions of the Ten Commandments.

To Kinky, Women's Rights Are A Joke

2006-03-23T06:04:00.000-08:00

When asked about women's rights, Kinky says "I'm not pro-life, and I'm not pro-choice. I'm pro-football!" That's not funny to the many Texans who consider this a serious issue. Texas imposes some of the nation's harshest restrictions on women's reproductive rights, and this freedom of choice is the right of the people, and not the business of the government.

Here is an excerpt from the Kinky interview on CNN:

BURKHARDT: As for other issue, his positions are a little hazier. Take abortion.

FRIEDMAN: And I'm not pro-life, and I'm not pro choice. I'm pro football!

BURKHARDT: Now that's evasive, man, that's evasive.

Link to the whole transcript.

Kinky's Vote for Bush/Cheney '04

2006-03-22T15:31:00.000-08:00

Kinky Friedman has voted just once in the last 12 years, and that was when he voted for Bush/Cheney in 2004. Kinky explained, "I was for Bush in 2004 ... he's a good man." Kinky has also run (unsuccessfully) for public office as a Republican in the past. How is he an "independent" candidate?

NOW Named Kinky "Male Chauvinist Pig of the Year"

2006-03-22T14:58:00.000-08:00

As a result of sexist lyrics in Kinky's songs like "Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in the Bed," the National Organization of Women named Kinky "Male Chauvinist Pig of the Year." Here is a sample of his lyrics:

"You uppity women I don’t understand
Why you gotta go and try to act like a man,
But before you make your weekly visit to the shrink
You’d better occupy the kitchen, liberate the sink....
Mean-hearted harpies are breaking all the laws
Tearing up their girdles and a-burning up their bras...
If you can’t love a male chauvinist
You’d better cross me off your shopping list....
Women’s liberation is a-going to your head,
Get your biscuits in the oven and your buns in the bed."

Kinky and Cronyism

2006-03-22T14:21:00.000-08:00

Kinky hasn't even gotten on the ballot yet, and he's already offered the top political appointment to make his biggest campaign contributor Secretary of State for Texas. This know-nothing campaign contributer should not even be considered for any political appointment, let alone a top appointment, when his only qualification is giving the Kinky campaign almost a million dollars. Here's the story about Kinky's plan to appoint the Secretary of State and here's a partial record of money from the appointee to Kinky's campaign.