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Kinky Friedman takes aim at Serious Politics I can see why people have their doubts about celebrities-turned-politicians, but my goodness, it is hard to resist the appeal of someone as funny, and as sharp as Kinky Friedman (I love Americans’ names). Jesse Walker has a brief look at his campaign to be governor of the Lone Star State. He concludes that Friedman will do Texan voters a favour by annoying the usual political parties. My main doubt would be his ability as a manager, but then frankly how much worse could he be than a professional politician who has probably not done a hard day’s honest toil since leaving college?
He may not get to the governor’s mansion in Austin, but boy, the election will be fun to watch.
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One of his campaign slogans is “how hard can it be?”
Indeed.
One of his managers is the man who brought Jesse Ventura to Minnesota.
As someone who lives in Texas, I’m really tired of this guy. He’s so overhyped, as well.
I don’t live in Texas, but I’ve still got to agree with you, Clayton. I’ve seen him do his schtick in various venues and it’s pure cheese. Sorry, but I’m not buying the "I’m just one of you folks, but I’m whacky! I’m a Jewish cowboy!" line of BS he seems to be trying to sell. I could be wrong, but I get a distinct whiff of mediawhore coming off of him.
You guys above are a bit closer to the action than I am, so if you come across any interesting material about what sort of campaign KF is running, pass it on.
Well, I was leaning towards him (Perry has actually done a very good job as governor, much as it pains me to admit it… on personal grounds, I just can’t stand the guy)… but KF’s policy descriptions were an all-over-the-map, please-everybody-mishmash that sounded like typical tax-and-spend, but wearing a cool hat.
Was very disappointed. He’s wayyyyy out of his league.
My favorite Kinky slogan is :” Kinky for governor….why the hell not?”
My favorite Kinky slogan is :” Kinky for governor….why the hell not?”
Rick Perry is a good man, and an excellent executive.
The best part about Kinky running for governor is that he’ll bleed off the hippie/libertarian vote away from the Democrats, which means they’ll get thrashed even more soundly — always a good thing.
Of course, 10,000 votes out of about 7 million cast isn’t going to register very much.
“As someone who lives in Texas, I’m really tired of this guy. He’s so overhyped, as well.”
Speak for yourself, pal. This Texan is voting a little kinky this season. I would rather have an entertaining governor than what we have now; a well made hair-piece with a person attached (aka, Governor Rick Perry). And anyway, it’s a crime that California has more interesting governor than we do- I’m absolutely sure that goes against some provision of the Texas Constitution. It has to be.
As for Perry being a “good governor”, Kim, you didn’t strike me as someone who did heavy drugs. He sucks. I’m all for immigrants, and I’d have let you in in a heartbeat, but the Mexican thing is out of control and Perry’s hair is letting it happen (I know he isn’t- his hair is what’s clearly in command). I didn’t know we had any significant areas of disagreement, but Kinky is one of them. Don’t get me wrong- I’d vote for The Hairpiece any day of the week over that nullity Chris frigging Bell; he used to frequent my haunt (the Ale House) where I worked, and was as dumb as a rock; I’m proud to say I chased him out by quizzing him on Texas history, which embarrassed him no end (he didn’t like being less educated than the bouncer). It’s not even a question of voting for a Democrat. I’d never do it (unless Scoop Jackson came back from the dead). It’s a question of having a governor who is the proper size to run Texas.
Yeah yeah, Kinky’s all for gay marriage and stuff, but so what? Texas has what is called in the US state system a “weak-governor/vertical power” system; he has virtually no say on the matter because he has less power than the average school superintendant. All the real power in Texas is with the comptroller and the ‘ledge, respectively. Even the lite guv (lieutenant governor) has more power. What he actually can do is cool and relevant. He’s going to put troops on the border, increase teacher pay while destroying the teachers union, and attempt to levy taxes on Pemex (the messican petrol company) to pay dividends for straining our welfare/workfare system. I wouldn’t mind pummelling the Teacher’s Union while increasing teacher salaries; that sounds like the perfect combination of responsibility and bloody-minded Texas individualism to me.
Plus, Kinky’s not going to pay for the teachers with our taxes- he’s going to do it by legalizing gambling, which will be a massive boon because huge numbers of Texans gamble. Our generous gamblers have kept the fiduciary horror states of Louisiana and Kentucky solvent for years. It would be like a built in bank for Texas, although it will almost certainly destroy our neighboring states budgets (especially New Orleans: the combination of home gambling and the people staying away because of Katrina may make Louisiana the next Missississippi). So what? Fudge ’em, they made their bed, let ’em lie in it.
I like Kinky because he wants Texas to quit footing the bill for neighboring states and countries. In Houston (where I’m from) we’re footing the bill for New Orleans, and in Laredo and everywhere else in Texas they’re footing the bill for Mexico City. It ain’t right, and The Hair isn’t going to make it right. At least Kinky’s going to try to make Mexico pay for Mexicans and La pay for New Orlean crackheads. I don’t want ’em, do you?
Kinky won’t solve our problems, but then, as another person noted, no one else is going to either. I like someone who will go to a good ol’ boy bar and tell redneck jokes, and then go to the NAACP and tell black jokes. Also, Kinky reminds me of you a little, Kim; a big personality. We Tejanos like oversized personality’s. Yes, he has some leftist tendancies: but he’s also completely independant. He can be forgiven. And, as he puts it- he’s a Jew. He’ll hire good people.
But, he makes the contest a bit more colorful in a state known for it’s very dry political races. Hey, I think he has some good ideas. At least he is getting something different into the discourse than the usual dreck.
The Hobo
There’s a part of me that almost wants Kinky to win. A dirty little part of me that also hates myself. Sure he wants to give the Texas head of the Nation of Islam an education appointment, sure he said he likes AMLO down in Mexico, sure the guy is nuts, but I would laugh my ass off if he won.
Is Kinky Friedman really a celebrity? I’ve only seen or heard of him because of his occasional appearances on Don Imus on MSNBC…perhaps Imus is familiar with KF from time he spends on his ranch in TX. A national celebrity? No. In Texas? Maybe.
It would be interesting to elect a buffoon out of spite, and to show the real world consequences of doing so. A dose of meds to be the antidote to “Man of the Year” fantasy movie with Robin Williams.
KF may not start out as a politician, but if elected, he’ll end up as one.
“Kinky Friedman..why the hell not?”
Because he is a political lightweight with no idea how to solve the problems Texas faces.
Tax policy? Illegal immigration? Tort reform? Education? Health care for Texas’ large population of uninsured citizens and aliens? Pollution control? Industrial development? How to handle the influx of Katrina refugees? Security for the Port of Houston?
Friedman opposes the death penalty and favors biodiesel, legalized marijuana, cigars and black cowboy hats. There is no one in the state’s politics whom you could more truthfully describe as “all hat and no cattle.”
I’m planning to vote for Kinky on the assumption that he will do as much good as any other governer — none. The governer can’t get anything done in this state, which as a libertarian, is just fine with me. He can be entertaining, and with as much money as it takes to keep a governer, that should be the least the citizens get.
I think Kinky will be scandal-free (other than saying outrageous things, which is only a scandal if they are out of character for the person saying them.) Texas politics used to be fun. We haven’t had a punch thrown in the lege in a decade, and it has been two decades since we had an honest-to-God brawl in the lege. Maybe Kinky can bring back good old fashioned Texas politics, like in the days of Ma and Pa Ferguson and Pappy O’Daniel.
The debate was 59 minutes and 50 seconds of blah, blah, blah surrounding 10 seconds of brilliance. Here’s the beauty part:
Kinky Friedman said he would call for military martial law in border cities if he becomes governor on Friday, during the only gubernatorial debate scheduled for the campaign season. … “Yeah, of course, whatever it takes,” said Friedman in response to a question from an Austin television reporter about whether he would declare martial law. Declaring it would make his proposal to add 8,500 National Guard troops to the border possible.
Kinky initially came out in favor of the Assault Weapons Ban (i.e. semi-auto versions of Assault Rifles). I think he may have flipped now, but as a Texan I don’t trust him on guns.
Mr Friedman is not a “Jewish cowboy” he is a muscian from Chicago. Although he has lived in Texas for many years he has never worked in the cattle industry.
Governor Perry has worked hard to government spending under control (the State legislature has not exactly been helpful in this). I rather doubt that Mr Friedman would concentrate on this – on anything else.
As a libertarian I am against laws banning drugs, but this does not mean I support their use or would vote for man who boasts about his drug use. Mr Friedman is not capable of resisting the expansion of government spending – or of any other serious task.
Speaking as an outsider if I had to pick a date when State government was under control in Texas it would be 1960 – no company tax, no income tax, no sales tax (this came in 1961 – and has gone up and up) and a balanced budget. State government has grown a lot since then (although Texas is still one of the lower taxed States) and local government spending has also greatly increased (plus all the “boards”, “authorities” and other such).
Watch this video clip. It is hilarious, it is true, and it is politically incorrect as hell.
Next, read up on Kinky’s get-tough illegal alien plan and his 5 Mexican generals plan. Kinky’s common sense border security plan is the straight up “minuteman” approach, not Perry’s namby-pamby “let’s set up cameras” approach. Make no mistake, Kinky is the only candidate brave enough to say we need armed military generals on our southern border.
Now consider Kinky’s party affiliation. Kinky has run for office in the past as a Republican and he voted for Bush/Cheney in 2004.
Here is an excerpt from Kinky’s interview with Ruminator magazine which confirms that he supported Bush’s Middle East foreign policy:
Question: So does this idea of the honorable cowboy have anything to do with why you threw your support behind President Bush in this last election? You did, didn’t you?
Kinky: Yes. I did in this last election, but I didn’t vote for him the first time.
Question: Who did you vote for in 2000?
Kinky: I voted for Gore then. I was conflicted. . .but I was not for Bush that time. Since then, though, we’ve become friends. And that’s what’s changed things.
Question: So it’s your friendship with him that’s changed your mind about having him as president more than his specific political positions?
Kinky: Well, actually, I agree with most of his political positions overseas, his foreign policy. On domestic issues, I’m more in line with the Democrats. I basically think he played a poor hand well after September 11. What he’s been doing in the Near East and in the Middle East, he’s handling that well, I think.
Now maybe you are like me and you were worried that Kinky showed liberal tendencies by voting for a tree-hugger like Al Gore. Well, rest assuredthat Kinky was mistaken when he said that. Kinky’s public voting records confirm he didn’t vote for Al Gore in 2000 because Kinky didn’t waste his vote on any candidate from 1994 to 2004 when he voted for Bush/Cheney.
Maybe you think Kinky’s a liberal because he’s a Jew. Rest assured, Kinky’s views on religion are well to the right of Perry’s. Kinky wants to take time during the school day for prayers in schools, and he wants to post the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms.
GO KINKY!!!
“On domestic issues I am more in line with the Democrats”.
Well (as a Governor does not decide war policy) that sums it up. Mr Friedman would not hold the line on spending and taxes (or on regulations).
I have nothing against Jews (look at my family name), it is a matter of Mr Friedman not being a conservative.
Hey, I wrote a long and thoughtfull-ish piece on Kinky here, why didn’t y’all put it up? Did I curse or something? I didn’t rip on anyone. What the heck?, as Bush would say.
Editor: glitch in the comment moderation system… published now