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Kinky Friedman for Governor of Texas!

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Kinky Friedman for Governor of Texas!

Postby MrMustang1965 » Wed Aug 10, 2005 1:57 am

If you've kept your ear to the ground around the Texas political scene in the past year or so, you've heard the name; and if you've had your eyes open during your daily commutes to and from work, you've seen the bumper stickers.

"My governor is a Jewish Cowboy," "He's Not Kinky, He's My Governor," and other such eccentric expressions of support can be spotted throughout the Hill Country and the state on the rear bumpers and windshields of everything from pickups to Cadillac's. For the Medina resident who is looking to overthrow the career politicians in Austin and put the state's government into the hands of "the young people," it's a dream come true.

"I certainly never dreamed that we would have such support," Friedman told the Bulletin. "Bluebonnets will be springing up all over America if we win. The young people will finally have a place here of importance "

And those young people have turned out in force to help spread the word of Friedman's campaign for the governorship.

"We're getting them from all over the place," Friedman said. "We've had 30,000 volunteers sign up on the web site."

Friendman said that, as an independent candidate, he is trying to rally the support of all Texans in his campaign, because "every Texan is an independent at heart."

"Many people don't realize that only 29 percent of Texans voted [in the last governor's race]," Friedman said. "Only 18 percent elected Rick Perry. The great majority didn't bother to vote; they didn't like having to choose between plastic or paper."

Friedman makes no bones about his distaste for the current governor, Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn and others whom he deems career politicians.

"People are tired of Texas being run by empty suits and empty dresses," Friedman said. "The last thing Rick Perry wants is a big turn out, so we want to get more people in the process; those who didn't vote before because they were disillusioned with their choices."

For Friedman to have a chance in the race for the governorship, he will have to collect 45,549 or more signatures during a petition drive in March 2006. The biggest hurdle in getting those signatures is that anyone who votes in the primaries for the election, even at only the local level, will be unable to sign the petition. Because of this, Friedman has begun a pledge drive through his web site, www.kinkyfriedman.com, to collect names of people who will pledge to not vote in the primary so that they can sign the petition to get his name on the ballot.

"We're either dead meat or gold depending on if we get on the ballot," Friedman said. "Getting on the ballot is not news, it's history. It's been a 146 years since it last happened for a fellow named Sam Houston. That is what we call a long time between dreams.

"This is a classic battle of money versus ideas," Friedman said. "The most important thing is that we need to get the support of young people and old people, people like me, who have been lied too long to, the young people who never cared about politics for good reason, and the people who look at their leaders and see politicians out of touch with the people and the spirit of Texas."

Friedman said that he wants to bring common sense, a sense of humor and spirituality back to the Capitol. He said that he follows the mantra of WWWRD, "What Would Will Rogers Do."

Beside Rogers on Friedman's list of inspirational figures are names such as Bob Dylan, John McCain, Jesus Christ, Willie Nelson, Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi and former Minnesota governor Jessie Ventura. Friedman's campaign is run by Senator Dean Barkley and media specialist Bill Hillsman, both of whom ran Ventura's wildly successful underdog campaign.

Friedman said that his neighbors in the hills of South Texas will be the ones to lead the charge in his campaign.

"The Hill Country is the home of common sense in Texas, not Austin or Dallas," Friedman said. "People here have very good [deleted] meters and they're not going to be fooled by a politician.

"I'm an accidental politician. My model is John McCain. Here is a guy who never wanted to be a politician; he never plotted, planned or schemed. He saw a need and jumped in front of the parade; all we can do is hope it's the right parade."

Friedman's ties to the Hill Country go back to when his parents bought the Echo Hill Ranch in Medina, in 1952, which was opened as a camp the following year. Friedman's brother, Roger, still runs the ranch. Friedman grew up in Houston, Austin and the Hill Country. He played tennis and baseball in high school and was the sports editor for the Austin High School newspaper. He attended the University of Texas at Austin, but never declared a major.

"I'm only qualified to run for government," Friedman joked.

After college, Friedman joined the Peace Corps and traveled to Borneo. He then toured with Nelson, Dylan and Waylon Jennings. Since those days, he has traveled the world as a performer and author.

"It's probably why I'm running," Friedman said. "I've traveled all over and met a lot of people; I feel in tune with real Texans. Musicians can run this state better than politicians; hell, beauticians can run this state better."

And if Friedman finds himself elected to the governorship, beauticians may very well have a hand in running the state government.

"All I want, out of all the people the governor appoints, are people who are not passionate about power or about Republicans or Democrats, but people passionate about Texas," Friedman said. "Those are the people I would appoint."

Friedman said that he feels people who intimately know what they're governing should be appointed to positions of authority in state government.

"I'll delegate to the young people, good people. They will run the state," Friedman said. "It's such a simple solution; for example, let's put teachers in charge of education. Appoint someone who really cares about teachers and education. Don't appoint an MBA who has never taught and has no teaching certificate."

Friedman has a number of other "common sense ideas" he would like to institute as governor, many of which, he said, can be done without the legislature.

Education funding is a sore issue for Friedman, who is vocal in his disgust for the state legislature's inability to keep Texas from becoming the worst-ranked state in education.

"We are 50th in education, number one in dropouts and 50th in kids who continue their education from high school to college," Friedman said. "We can't even say 'Thank God for Mississippi' anymore; it's dreadful."

Friedman proposes that the state get rid of the TAKS test, which he said has ruined education in Texas.

"We are teaching to the test and not teaching to kids," Friedman said. "The education system should only have people appointed to it who have seen the inside of a classroom. We need to put teachers back in charge."

One of Friedman's ideas, the Trust for Texas Heroes, is to put a 1-percent surcharge on oil and gas production at the well head for every barrel of oil, and a 1-percent surcharge on corporations. He said it would draw over a billion dollars a year which would be used solely for increasing the salaries of teachers, law enforcement and firefighters.

"I will guard it like Cerberus, the three-headed dog of Hell," Friedman said. "It won't go into lobbyists' pockets. We all know where the Texas lottery money went to."

Another of Friedman's proposals is to transfer public school sports funding out of the education budget and allow the corporate sector to sponsor football stadiums, equipment and salaries for coaches and athletic directors. He said that Nike, Bank of America, UPS, and other such corporations would jump on the idea.

"It's been done in Georgia for three years now," Friedman said. "It would cut the education budget in half. Forget property taxes and such; there wouldn't be any need for it."

Casino gambling is another hot topic that Freidman supports to help raise money for education. He wants to legalize it in the state, but allow individual counties to pass referendums if they do not want to allow it.

"It should be up to the local authority," Friedman said. "If Bandera County doesn't it want it, great; if Padre Island says yes, great. What could be more fair?"

Other topics that Friedman holds dear include illegal immigration, criminal justice, bio-diesel, and many others, including one that especially hits home in Bandera, the Cowboy Capital of the World: cowboys.

"The word 'cowboy' is misused by people nowadays," Friedman said. "It's very common to hear someone like the DA of Aruba say, 'You can't come down here like some cowboy and tell us what to do.' A cowboy is not a bully; he has always been a knight. Such men are knights out of time.

"I'm upset about that. Cowboys are my heroes and are an endangered species. Children love and look up to cowboys; I know from personal experience. Vietnam, South Africa, Iran - all the places I've visited - their people don't hate America; their governments and the United Nations hate America. The children of the world love America and they especially love Texas because they love cowboys."

When Friedman is back in the Hill Country, a rarity nowadays because of his campaign, he said that he likes to frequent the Old Spanish Trail (OST) restaurant and Luby's in Kerrville.

"I love the demographics because I'm one of the youngest people there," Friedman said.

The Kinkster, as he calls himself, will be making quite a few stops around the state leading up to March 2006, both scheduled and not. Friedman said that one of his preferred outings is to take in a spirit walk, where he will walk onto a college campus, Indian reservation or city street and just meet and talk with people.

"It's not a political thing, it's a spiritual thing," Friedman said. "I don't think the politicians have grasped this; it's not a political campaign they're up against, it's a spiritual one - and it's dangerous to them."

Friedman said that if the 'common man,' the non-voting, non-political, non-interested Joe on the street needed to know one thing about why he should get out and 'Vote for Kinky," it's because he is the anti-politician.

"He should vote for me for the same reason Ronald Reagan gave when he was running for governor of California - because the other guy has the experience," Friedman said. "We have seen what political experience can do. We can see it now in the legislature. Has it helped them or has it created a situation where nothing gets done, and while nothing gets done, we drop to 50th in education? Right now the governor is more concerned about ironing his shirt than ironing out education's problems."

Assessing his odds to enter the governor's mansion next year, Friedman's outlook is both positive and poetic; not unlike the songs that his heroes, the cowboys, used to sing while out on the trail.

"If you talk to the career politicians, they say an independent can't win in Texas," Friedman said. "But if you talk to the people of Texas, you get a different story. That is the spirit all over the state. This idea, whose time has come, can defeat any army in the world."

For more information on Kinky Friedman's campaign for the governorship, visit www.kinkyfriedman.com.
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Postby Water Pony » Wed Aug 10, 2005 9:41 am

As a Midwesterner and McCain fan, is the Kinkster for real? Could make for a fun campaign.

:lol:
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Postby MrMustang1965 » Wed Aug 10, 2005 9:43 am

Yes. He's for real. Also got a BIG write-up in a recent Texas Monthly magazine.
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Postby Dooby » Wed Aug 10, 2005 9:54 am

Kinky is for real in the sense of "Is he really running?" and "Does he really have a chance of winning?"

He's only going to help a very vulnerable Rick Perry keep his job. Perry could easily lose in 2006 if the Democrats could get a decent message and, God forbid, a decent candidate. The last thing they need is a colorful, left of center character wandering around the state taking the limelight from whatever spare to fair politician the Democrats choose to run against Perry this year.
At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
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Postby Stallion » Wed Aug 10, 2005 10:12 am

for as populist to win he has to run against the Democratic--and the Republican Party!!!!
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Postby EastStang » Wed Aug 10, 2005 12:39 pm

Who would have thought that Jesse the Body Ventura would get elected Governor of Minnesota? (I heard from Minnesotans, that his supporters were telling people that he would legalize weed and a large youth vote turned out). Now, that's how you motivate young people to vote.

Speaking of governors' races, former AD Russ Potts has an independent campaign for Governor of Virginia this year. He may get to participate in an actual three way debate on October 9, if he can muster 15% in the polls by then. Right now he is at 9%.
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Postby Dooby » Wed Aug 10, 2005 3:46 pm

Stallion wrote:for as populist to win he has to run against the Democratic--and the Republican Party!!!!


If only Texas were a two-party state.
At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
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Postby jtstang » Wed Aug 10, 2005 3:51 pm

Texas IS a two party state--one on Friday night and one on Saturday night.
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Postby Water Pony » Wed Aug 10, 2005 4:25 pm

jtstang wrote:Texas IS a two party state--one on Friday night and one on Saturday night.


:lol: :lol: :lol:
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Postby MrMustang1965 » Wed Aug 10, 2005 7:01 pm

Used to be 3 parties...Monday night's at The Old Church! Woo-hoo! :shock:
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Postby KnuckleStang » Thu Aug 11, 2005 11:29 am

EastStang wrote:Speaking of governors' races, former AD Russ Potts has an independent campaign for Governor of Virginia this year. He may get to participate in an actual three way debate on October 9, if he can muster 15% in the polls by then. Right now he is at 9%.


Git on and ride this Russ Potts train!

http://www.russpotts.com
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