More music, less politics
[Kinky] Friedman, the singer-satirist and unsuccessful candidate for governor in 2006, says Perry is vulnerable to a challenge if he runs for re-election in two years.
And Kinky knows just the challenger to beat him — Kinky Friedman.
“I don’t think Perry is going to win, and if he thinks he is, he’s very mistaken,” declared Friedman, who says he’s seriously considering another run.
Friedman knows he has detractors. He knows that when some people hear he might run for governor again, they envision a rerun of a glitzy but ill-fated bid loaded with one-liners and light on position papers. But he also senses a gathering sentiment that people believe Perry has embarrassed the state and has rewarded wealthy interests at the expense of cash-strapped Texans worried about their health care and their children’s schools.
“Perry has created a state that’s first in business climate and 49th in education. What’s wrong with that picture?” Friedman said.
This time, Friedman said he would run as a Democrat, not an independent, and as a more serious and substantive candidate. These days, the cosmic cowboy is reading Churchill.
“The main thing is to defuse the idea of being a comedian or even being an independent. I’m an independent-thinking Democrat and I’ve been a Democrat way further than most of my detractors,” he said. “It would have to be what you show the Democrats during that primary, and if you can show them a different side of Kinky Friedman, and it’s definitely there. Most of us realize the real comedian is already in the Governor’s Mansion.”
Friedman has a habit of popping up between elections to torment us with the idea of running for office again. It’s like a case of the clap that keeps flaring up no matter how many penicillin shots you get. He swears he’s a real true Democrat in the tradition of JFK and Ann Richards, except of course when he’s not.
Yet, simply put, Rick Perry and I are incapable of resisting each other’s charm. He is not only a good sport, he is a good, kindhearted man, and he once sat in on drums with ZZ Top. A guy like that can’t be all bad. When I ran for governor of Texas as an independent in 2006, the Crips and the Bloods ganged up on me. When I lost, I drove off in a 1937 Snit, refusing to concede to Perry. Three days later Rick called to give me a gracious little pep talk, effectively talking me down from jumping off the bridge of my nose. Very few others were calling at that time, by the way. Such is the nature of winning and losing and politicians and life. You might call what Rick did an act of random kindness. Yet in my mind it made him more than a politician, more than a musician; it made him a mensch.
These days, of course, I would support Charlie Sheen over Obama. Obama has done for the economy what pantyhose did for foreplay. Obama has been perpetually behind the curve. If the issue of the day is jobs and the economy, Rick Perry is certainly the nuts-and-bolts kind of guy you want in there. Even though my pal and fellow Texan Paul Begala has pointed out that no self-respecting Mexican would sneak across the border for one of Rick Perry’s low-level jobs, the stats don’t entirely lie. Compared with the rest of the country, Texas is kicking major ass in terms of jobs and the economy, and Rick should get credit for that, just as Obama should get credit for saying “No comment” to the young people of the Iranian revolution.
[…]
So would I support Rick Perry for president? Hell, yes! As the last nail that hasn’t been hammered down in this country, I agree with Rick that there are already too damn many laws, taxes, regulations, panels, committees, and bureaucrats. While Obama is busy putting the hyphen between “anal” and “retentive” Rick will be rolling up his sleeves and getting to work.
Link via TM Daily Post. ‘Nuff said, and shame on you, Wayne Slater, for falling for it. For the love of God, Kinky, please stick with your cigars and Willie Nelson collaborations and whatnot and leave the politics to anyone else. Harold Cook and BOR have more.
In a race between Perry and Kinky, I’ll vote for Kinky every time. Why the hell not?