You'd be right on that bet.
I've been curious about which part Set objected to -- that we can't get out of the blue-statism vs. red-statism? That we have to keep fighting, or something?
I think lots and lots of people are tired of the labels that don't quite fit them (it's come up here again and again that even people who readily identify themselves with one label or another often diverge from the positions they're "supposed" to have) and that playing off of that can be powerful (whether Kinky or Obama).
nimh wrote:someone pissed in your cheerios this morning, Set?
Ah, the stunning power of your rhetorical skills humbles me.
Quote:you'll find a bunch of American commentators agreeing with me on that one ... not to mention someone like Soz, I'm betting.
It has not be so long ago that one could find "a bunch of American commentators agreeing" that the war in Iraq was justified and necessary. Do you consider
argumentum ad populum a reasonable support for your contention?
Quote: If we be clueless its got nothing to do with me not being from America (as is implied in your post)
That you choose to so construe it does not warrant a contention of such an implication. As Soz hints at in her comment, a great many people are fed up with the attempt to categorize them by the witless dichotomies of which clueless writers at
The Washington Times or Fox News are so fond, as well as more distant observers.
Setanta wrote:As Soz hints at in her comment, a great many people are fed up with the attempt to categorize them by the witless dichotomies of which clueless writers at The Washington Times or Fox News are so fond, as well as more distant observers.
That kind of makes, rather than contests my point right? Theres enough people out there exasperated with this manic, inane camp thinking thats governing US politics right now to give someone like Kinky an outsider chance. Or any non-conventional populist with balls the left might put up, as soon as it finally figures out that by playing to character and putting up stereotype-confirming ueberblue-staters like John Kerry, the Democratic party is doing its
own part in ever solidifying the liberal vs conservative sheepherding thats going on - a game which it'll
never win.
I wouldnt let the people get off so scot-free either. Sure, Fox News does what it can to perpetuate the simplification of political thought into cookie-cutter, polarised narratives; but in the end its the viewers, talk radio listeners and
voters who're empowering those folks. Chicken and egg. You can see how it works even right here at A2K, there's enough self-policing going when it comes to keeping the neat demarcations in place of what "one of us" and "one of them" is supposed to think or say or not. I just havent seen anything like it in continental politics.
Finally, one's gotta admire the rhetorical turn you tried, here, of pretending a post made in
agreement with my argument somehow supports your blustering contention about how
clueless it is, but, you know ... didnt quite work.
sozobe wrote:PDiddie, I dunno. I will admit that my enthusiasm for Kinky's run started when I thought he had absolutely zero chance. Just searched, first mention is here, 2 years ago:
http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15754
Now that people like Finn are saying they'd vote for him (wow!) I may need to reassess based on how I think he'd actually govern rather than just the idea of him.
But I think it is a mistake to dismiss him as a celebrity candidate. I can't tell you how many times I've been met with blank looks when I mention his name (usually after attributing to him a quote which also got blank looks...) in the past 10 years or so that I've been a major fan. He's no Ahnold.
More important than pure name recognition, though, is what he's done to achieve what notoriety he has -- writing
books. Ahnold and Jesse are musclemen who were put through their paces; Kinky's a scrawny guy with big hair and a big hat who writes all his own material. Nobody's putting him through his paces.
He is, in otherwords, a populist storyteller, which has a long and noble (as well as ignoble) history in politics.
Meanwhile, one of the very valid concerns that you cite is "priority one" for him, first thing listed on his platform. To quote:
Quote:EDUCATION REFORM: Priority One
The young people of Texas are our future, and we must treat them as such. They are our number one resource for that future. The current government seems to prefer band-aids over solid planning for the next generations of Texas. A Texas revolution is needed in our school systems. "No teacher left behind" - Kinky Friedman
Texas is #1 in drop out rates and #48 in education spending. Our children deserve so much more. Texas is also 48th in per capita child protection expenditures, as well as 49th in general, 46th in mental health, 45th in public health, 49th in state arts agency, 44th in highway, and 49th in water quality expenditures. The Austin American-Statesman is correct: "It's Texas vs. Mississippi in a race to the bottom."
Teachers are Kinky's heroes, along with police, soldiers, firefighters, and cowboys. Each of us remembers a teacher who made an impact on and changed our lives for the better. Kinky intends to identify these special people and seek their advice in creating a vibrant, responsive and forward-looking education system for Texas. "Politicans appear to be more interested in French cuffs than solving our problems." - Kinky Friedman
I understand what you are saying about coalitions et al, but does anyone else have that to a significantly greater extent? The candidacy so far seems to be marked by remarkably diverse and broad support -- why wouldn't that translate to effective governing?
If I'm convinced that it's just about entertainment, I'd agree, and may yet be convinced but he seems pretty serious about this at the core.
"People like Finn"
I resemble that remark.
I get a kick out of Kinky. He writes lousy songs but pretty good books. He's a character. The governor of Texas is not a particularly powerful executive position. He won't be able to do too much harm, and he'll be entertaining.
Heh, I actually paused over that one, squinted at it, and decided to leave it. I believe "the likes of Finn" was an earlier version. :-)
What's your favorite book? I thought the last 3-4 were dumb. The ones set in New York are much better.
I bet Kinky would make a great Chief Justice!
The Kinky pledge:
THE LONE STAR PLEDGE
I pledge that I will save myself for Kinky and will vote in neither the Republican nor the Democratic primaries in 2006. Instead I will save myself and when the day comes to sign the petition to put Kinky Friedman on the ballot as a candidate for Texas Governor, I will do so proudly.
sozobe wrote:Heh, I actually paused over that one, squinted at it, and decided to leave it. I believe "the likes of Finn" was an earlier version. :-)
What's your favorite book? I thought the last 3-4 were dumb. The ones set in New York are much better.
Love Song of J Edgar Hoover
That one's good!
I'm not sure... maybe "Elvis, Jesus and Coca-Cola."
AUSTIN - The prolonged impasse over school finance has taken a political toll on Gov. Rick Perry and the Legislature, but Perry still has a strong lead, 46 percent to 28 percent, over challenger Carole Keeton Strayhorn among Republican voters, the Scripps Howard Texas Poll indicates.
ADVERTISEMENT
The same survey shows that President Bush's job approval rating among Texans has fallen to 52 percent, the lowest rating from his home state since he has been in the White House.
Perry and the Legislature's approval levels dropped by several points after lawmakers, during two summer special sessions called by the governor, failed to agree on a new way of paying for the public schools or cutting local property taxes.
Only 39 percent of Texans like the job Perry is doing, and 45 percent disapprove, according to the telephone survey of 1,000 people conducted Aug. 22-Sept. 3. The remainder were uncertain. Perry's approval rating, which almost matches his low of 37 percent in the spring of 2004, has fallen 6 points since May and 12 points since February.
About 23 percent of Texans approve and 65 percent disapprove of the Legislature's performance, according to the survey, down from a 37 percent approval rating in May.
23 percent approval? Wow.
Conditions seem good for an Independent, don't they?
This from Kinky's official site:
Now We'll Never Know
Texas executed Frances Newton last night by lethal injection. Newton was the third woman and first black woman Texas has executed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1982, and she might've been innocent.
There was evidence enough in fact to compel the president of the American Bar Association to write a letter to Rick Perry and to the Executive Clemency Unit of the Texas Board of Prisons and Paroles:
As President of the American Bar Association, I write to express the concern of the ABA about the case of Francis Newton, an African-American woman who is scheduled to be executed on September 14, 2005. Our concern arises from our understanding that arguably significant and compelling new evidence regarding Ms. Newton's case has not yet been evaluated by Texas courts. This new evidence includes forensic evidence and evidence of a lack of motive, both of which are made more serious by Ms. Newton's continuing and unwavering claim of innocence.
The Austin Chronicle claims that Newton was the first black woman to be executed since the Civil War, and points out that the manner in which Newton went from court room to death row is both frighteningly slipshod and incredibly common.
Unique in that historical sense, in other ways the Frances Newton case is painfully unexceptional. For there is no incontrovertible evidence against Newton, and the paltry evidence that does exist has been completely compromised. Moreover, her story is one more in a long line of Texas death row cases in which the prosecutions were sloppy or dishonest, the defenses incompetent or negligent, and the constitutional guarantee of a fair trial was honored only in name.
...
Lingering questions about the physical evidence against Newton prompted the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to recommend, and Gov. Rick Perry to grant, a 120-day reprieve for Newton on Dec. 1, 2004 вЂ" the day she was last scheduled for execution. Although Perry said he saw no "evidence of innocence" вЂ" legally, an oxymoron вЂ" he granted the four-month stay to allow for retesting of evidence contested by Newton's defense, including nitrite residue on the hem of her skirt and gun ballistics evidence.
But testing on the skirt proved impossible, because the 1987 tests had destroyed the nitrite particles, and Harris Co. court officials had stored the skirt by sealing it inside a bag together with items of the victims' bloody clothing вЂ" thereby rendering it worthless as evidence. The second round of ballistics testing, on the other hand, supposedly confirmed a match between the gun prosecutors say Newton used and the bullets that killed her family. However, that match may be fundamentally undermined вЂ" because there is no certain connection between the gun and Newton.
At the very least, this is a case that deserved more attention from the State of Texas. We are not doing enough to insure equal justice in this state, and that's a frightening thing indeed when it comes to capital punishment. As Kinky himself often says "I'm not against the death penalty, but I am against executing the wrong person." The governor's job is to do everything in the office's power to make sure that only the guilty are put to death in Texas and that all evidence gets a fair hearing.
True justice demands nothing less.
AUSTIN ?- Willie Nelson opened up his Central Texas ranch and private golf course on Sunday, raising an estimated $170,000 for his friend Kinky Friedman, an independent candidate for Texas governor.
Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, who became governor as an independent candidate, joined supporters for lunch and golf.
Friedman needs as much as $5 million just to get his name on the ballot next year, managers say. But Friedman cited Ventura's success in Minnesota as proof that he can defy conventional wisdom and become the first independent governor in Texas since Sam Houston.
"Jesse is a virtual gold mine of information," Friedman said. "He's been through the fire. He knows what works and doesn't work."
The two seemed mismatched seated next to each other ?- Friedman in a black felt cowboy hat and work boots, Ventura with beads at the end of his braided goatee and stringy shoulder-length brown hair. Both puffed on cigars.
Ventura had plenty of tips and observations for Friedman.
"To me honesty is what the country's striving for today ?- someone who will get up and speak honestly to them," he said. "You have to remember truth-tellers get hammered today. If you go tell the truth, you've got to be prepared to get knocked around."
He also hurled insults at Democrats and Republicans, saying their primary objective is keeping independent-thinkers out of office.
"I don't want a Democrat in the board room and I don't want a Republican in the bedroom," Ventura said. "Democrats can't do business ... and all Republicans want to do is get in your bedroom and tell you what you should do in the privacy of your own home."
After a morning round of golf, Friedman dished out his signature one liners along with $1,000 buffet-style lunches of brisket, sausage, barbecued chicken, beans and rice. Another table offered vegan and kosher selections.
Longtime Nelson buddies Jerry Jeff Walker and Billy Joe Shaver entertained the crowd of about 250 people.
Austin-based Tito's Handmade Vodka provided the drinks, including the raspberry-tinged Pinky Friedman and a Texas Bloody Mary. Cigars, a Friedman trademark, also were available.
Nine contributors, including Texas country crooner Bruce Robison and attorney Dick DeGuerin, paid $5,000 for a round of golf with Nelson, Friedman and Ventura on Nelson's nine-hole golf course. DeGuerin represents U.S. Rep.Tom DeLay, who stepped down as U.S. House majority leader after he was charged with money laundering and conspiracy.
"I'm a yellow dog Democrat, I represent Tom DeLay and I'm for Kinky ?- I see no contradiction there," said DeGuerin, an unpaid adviser to Friedman.
Lunch was served in the middle of Luck, a fictitious old West town on Nelson's ranch. Picnic tables were set up, covered with red gingham table cloths, on a caliche-covered road between a saloon, hotel, opera house and church.
Jim Cravotta, a supporter from Center Point, called Kinky a "breath of fresh air," compared to current Gov. Rick Perry or any candidate the Democrats might field.
"The Democratic party in Texas just really isn't there anymore ... nobody likes Rick Perry, Kinky's the alternative that people seem to respond to," Cravotta said. "He's not going to lie to you. He's not going to play politics. He genuinely cares about the people of Texas and that comes across."
Still amazing to me that this is actually a possibility, but the zeitgeist (sp?) is sure in the right place for ol' Kinky.
Go, Kinky, go!
(Meanwhile, I saw some of Ted Nugent on CNBC last night. Apparently, there's some thought that he may run for governor of Michigan in the future.)
Actually, my ardor for Kinky has cooled somewhat. As dys has pointed out, a Kinky may have good intentions (maybe not), but he has no history that ensures he knows how to get things done. I will most likely vote for the Democrat, if they field a halfway decent one.
edgarblythe wrote:Actually, my ardor for Kinky has cooled somewhat. As dys has pointed out, a Kinky may have good intentions (maybe not), but he has no history that ensures he knows how to get things done. I will most likely vote for the Democrat, if they field a halfway decent one.
Of course he has no track record! That is precisely why we Texans should support him.
I'm sure he can't get anything done...that's what's so attractive about him. He will be ineffectual, but amusing.
In Texas, the Gov isn't all that powerful a figure. Kinky will be the perfect Gov.
Kinky's amusing, but he could only help Perry get re-elected in the final analysis.
