Do you have any friends from Texas? Besides me? If so, you might’ve noticed the college kids of Texas banding together to vote for comedian/country singer Kinky Friedman in his bid for governor of Texas. A classic southern liberal with a few noxiously reactionary tendencies (his rhetoric on illegal immigrants is pukeworthy), Friedman overwhelmingly appealed to the sort of young rich white kids who don’t actually care who they vote for because they’re the scions of wealth and it’s not going to affect them anyway. These kids won’t vote for Rick Perry (a self-indulgent ‘fuck you’ to mom and dad) but are basically too hardwired to the status quo to support someone with an inkling of a chance, and thus they ‘make a statement’ of how cool and zeitgeist they are (See also: Ralph Nader). So let’s do the math:
Rick Perry - 39%
Chris Bell - 30%
Kinky Friedman - 12%
(And yeah, ‘Grandma’ Carole Keeton Strayhorn also got 18% in this race.)
Oh wait. 12+30 is um… uh… 42, which would’ve been enough to beat Rick Perry, a governor whose two notable accomplishments in six years have been being the lead proponent of the environmentally disasterous land-grab known as the Trans-Texas Corridor and being even less ‘compassionate’ about prisoners on death row than his predecessor, our idiot president. So congratulations, Kinky Friedman. You put the state you purport to love in the hands of Rick Perry for four more years. And congratulations Young Voters of Texas. You made a ’statement,’ and by doing so, made jackasses of yourselves. Man, you guys are gonna be patting each others’ backs about your ‘He’s Not Kinky, He’s My Governor’ bumper stickers for like, two more weeks(!).
And meanwhile, on a serious note, I hope for the best for Democratic challenger Chris Bell, an ardent supporter of stem cell research, gay rights, the funding of schools and deemphasis of the outmoded and insultingly arbitrary TAKS testing system, and a strong opponent of the unnecessary Trans-Texas Corridor. Bell, the former congressman who filed the ethics complaint that took Tom DeLay out of office, should continue to prove an important force in Texas and national politics.
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COMMENTS / 4 COMMENTS
Old Whip added these pithy words on Nov 14 06 at 11:44 amYour math sucks.
You assume that everyone who voted for Kinky would have automatically voted for Chris Bell.
Kinky brought in new voters and people who otherwise were probably not going to the polls. Of the ones who might have voted with Kinky out of the race, about 10% would go to Goodhair, 20% to Grandma, 40% to Mr Excitment with the rest staying home in disgust.I voted for Kinky because I believe he was hands down the best man for the job.
The power of the Texas Governor isn’t in making direct policy. It’s in using the bully pulpit to get the State Legislature to get something done and in appointing qualified people to various state commissions.
No matter what happened in the Guv’s race, the Legislature was still going to be dominated by the GOP (fact) so….
If Perry wins, it’s 4 more years of the same. Sweetheart deals and appointments for big donars.
If Strayhorn wins, it’s 4 more years with a differant set of fat cats on the state’s teet.
If Bell wins, the republicans dig in their partisan heels and keep him from accomplishing anything. (Bell just doesn’t have the strength of personality to bring them along. Fact is, the man couldn’t inspire kids to eat ice cream.)
If Kinky wins, you have someone who knows how to draw public attention to issues and someone who can bring both sides to the table to hash out real compromises.
IMO, Texans missed a real chance here.
Brendon added these pithy words on Nov 14 06 at 12:13 pmYour idealism sucks.
Kinky Friedman was a gimmick candidate. His candidacy was not a real one, and it never had a shot of even remotely approaching viability. He placed fourth in an election with four visible candidates, despite a genuine grassroots backing. If his personality and ability to draw public attention to issues are not enough to get him more than 13% of the vote, they certainly would have failed him in dealing with the Texas legislature.
And yes, four years of gridlock with Chris Bell would certainly have been better than four years of Rick Perry.
You should have voted for Chris Bell.
But you voted to make yourself feel good.
Enjoy your corridor!
Old Whip added these pithy words on Nov 21 06 at 2:18 pmI didn’t vote to make myself feel good. (If that was my goal, I would have stayed home with a 6 pack of beer.) I voted for the person who best represented my views.
It wasn’t a lack of personality that failed to get us more then 13%. It was a lack of funds and pure damn laziness on the part of Texans to get off their fat asses to vote.
33% turnout is pathetic and of those 33%, over 45% voted straight party tickets. (This is how dumbasses like Tom Delay andWilliam Jefferson get elected.)
What these percenteges tell me is that the only people voting are the extremist party diehards who are, (IMO) the problem, not the solution. You know, the Crips and the Bloods who spend all of their time squabbling over turf and screwing up the neighborhood.Now the dems can whine all they want about how Kinky stole Chris Bell’s votes but the truth is, Those votes weren’t Bell’s in the first place. He has to earn those votes just like Perry, Kinky and Strayhorn have to earn them. He failed to do that so if your have to fix blame for Perry keeping his job, Chris Bell is your man.
4 years of gridlock with Bell might have been better then 4 more years of Perry but 4 years of Kinky would have been better then either.
And just as a footnote, nothing was stopping Bell from throwing in the towel and endorsing Kinky. That would have done more to rid this state of Goodhair then Kinky calling it quits.
Shane added these pithy words on Jul 06 07 at 11:12 amNicely done Old Whip. And you bring up something I think should be eliminated - straight party tickets. Are we that lazy that we can’t check off a box next to each person’s name running for an office. I don’t remember how many offices are on the ballot, but it’s not a vast amount. Let’s vote for people and not necessarily just parties. Oh and Brendon…you have a right to your opinion. But let’s stop with the “if” game. Too many people vote for their second choice because they think they’re first choice has no chance. I tell those people to stand up for what you believe in and do it anyways. And then, when everyone is complaining about the present office holder, you have no regrets because you did what was right and honorable.
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