Kinky Friedman wants us to believe he’s one of us.
Friedman, who is running in the 2010 Democratic primary after finishing fourth out of four major candidates in the 2006 governor’s race with a little more than 12 percent of the vote, said the fight between Perry and Hutchison will benefit the Democrats.
“This is going to deliver a lot of heat and very little light and leave the Republican Party very divided and no time to heal,” Friedman said. “It’s going to offer the Democrats a great opportunity.”
And the former singer for Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys hopes that his black cowboy hat wearing, cigar-toting image is just the thing to rise to the top of the “coat and tie” Democratic establishment that hasn’t won a statewide race since 1994.
“They’re a very small group, but they are the ones who have presided over the party the last 17 years,” Friedman said.
But he says he doesn’t mean that as a slight against the other Democrats in the race, which right now includes rancher Hank Gilbert and Tom Schieffer, a former ambassador to Japan and partner in the Texas Rangers baseball team.
“I don’t know these guys, most of ‘em, but I believe any of ‘em would be better than Rick or Kay,” said Friedman, who said he’s been a Democrat all his life except for the 2006 race and when he ran for justice of the peace in Kerrville in 1986.
Yeah, except for that time when I ran for office as a Republican, and that time I ran for office as an independent and spent the better part of three years trashing the two-party system, I’m a lifelong Democrat. Oh, and please also overlook my votes for Lamar Smith and Kay Bailey Hutchison in 2006 as well. Hey, at least I voted that year, which is something I almost never did before then.
Yeah. You know, I’m willing to overlook the occasional Republican primary vote around here – certainly, a number of lawyers in Harris County who wanted to affect a given judicial race had little choice but to do that in a number of years – or the occasional support of a friend who happens to be a Republican candidate. I’m more than happy to welcome converts and party-switchers, especially those who demonstrate their newfound love of the Democratic Party by helping other Democrats win elections. Far as I can tell, the only Democratic candidate Kinky Friedman has ever actually cared about is himself. With this history, it’s going to take a little more than just him telling me he’s a Democrat to be even remotely convincing.
Must be awful to be a “committed” Democrat or Republican at the moment. So many choices. None good.
The Democrats can either vote against Kinky in the primary or vote for Hutchison in the primary. In the end, well, who knows. Who cares. Judging from the reality of the economic forecasts it probably doesn’t matter who is governor any more than it matters who is mayor. In fact most probably would be wise to avoid running at all since they will be blamed for the problems they will be inheriting. Increasing unemployment, another collapse on Wall Street followed by a possible collapse of the banking system, and of course at that point unbelievable inflation. Not a pretty picture. But one quite a few are seeing just the same. And it only cost the taxpayers an estimated $23 trillion. So far.
I still believe even with Democrats voting for her that Kay Bailey Hutchison cannot carry the primary. I suspect she believes it as well which of course explains why she is obviously in no hurry to resign her seat and probably won’t even if she wins the primary. And that, of course, is what is hurting her the most among Republicans.
Liar, liar, pom-poms on fire.