Kinky Thoughts

We're still more than a year away from the Texas primary, where Democrats and Republicans will choose their candidates for governor. Although the Republicans already have two candidates who are already beginning to take potshots at each other, so far no Democrat has officially tossed his cowboy hat into the ring.

But there is a candidate who seems to be edging closer to entering the race -- Kinky Friedman. The comedian, author and singer ran in 2006 as an independent and finished fourth in the four-man race. In the interest of full-disclosure, I supported and voted for the Kinkster in that election, and I might do so again in 2010.

Kinky is approaching the race more seriously this time. If he runs, it will be as a Democrat. He said he learned in 2006 that an independent just cannot win in Texas in an important statewide race. He also says he will cut down on the one-liners and increase the talk about policies. Talk like this makes it sound like Kinky is getting close to announcing his candidacy for governor in the Democratic primary.

The thought that Kinky may be getting close to announcing his candidacy, and may actually start out as the front-runner because of his state-wide name recognition, seems to be upsetting some progressive political bloggers -- bloggers that I respect and normally agree with. The thought of Kinky as the Democratic candidate seems to be sending them over the edge, because at least three have launched some rather vicious attacks in the last couple of days.

The first attack was a simple one, and every bit as silly as it was simple. I quote what this blogger said about Kinky, "You are not a Democrat. Never were. Never will be." I can understand the bloggers feelings. At one time or another, most of us have wished we could define the rules for party membership and exclude the people we don't like. But it doesn't work that way, especially in Texas. If Kinky declares his candidacy for office in the Democratic primary, then he is a Democrat -- no matter who wishes it wasn't true.

The second attack was very disappointing, because it was made by a blogger who is normally very knowledgeable and right on target with anything involving Texas politics. He says, "This is not 1930, and the man on the tape repeating the word “n*gger” over and over isn’t going to win a Democratic Primary. And, as if that wasn’t enough, Democrats hate him for helping cost us the Governor’s Mansion in 2006." Both of these accusations are lies.

If Kinky is on tape using the word "nigger", then he must be a racist -- right? Wrong! He also wrote a song called "Get your biscuits in the oven and your buns in the bed". Does that make him a misogynist? The fact is that Kinky (and myself) were politically active before this blogger was born, and before "political correctness" became the liberal norm. It was normal in that time to expose stupidity by throwing the words or ideas of the stupid right back at them. It was a way of spotlighting the stupidity.

Many of us, including Kinky, demonstrated for civil rights back in the sixties, when it took more than a little courage to do so. He's not a racist, and calling him one is just plain wrong.

It's also wrong to blame Kinky for Chris Bell's loss in the 2006 governor's race. The fact is that the two Republicans in the race, Rick Perry and Carole Keeton Strayhorn, together got 57% of the total votes. Bell got slightly less than 30% and Kinky got slightly more than 12%. Even if you give half of Kinky's votes to Bell (and I seriously doubt he could have gotten that many of them), he would still have lost. The fact is the Democrats had a poor candidate that appealed to less than 30% of the voters, and that's why he lost.

The third attack is a little harder to deal with because the charges are true. for the most part. The blogger says, "I would like to say here, for the record, that I will never vote for that libertarian leaning, testosterone poisoned, immigrant hating, Hurricane Katrina evacuee bashing, no good bully no matter what." He gets a little carried away with the "testosterone poisoned" and "no good bully" parts, but the other three charges deserve some discussion.

I won't try to defend Kinky's position on immigration. I think he's wrong and I hope he changes his views (but I've never met the politician who I could agree with 100% of the time). As for the remark Kinky made when he called Hurricane Katrina evacuees "thugs", Kinky has backed off and admitted he was wrong to do that. I agree, and think he genuinely regrets that.

That leaves "libertarian leaning". It's true, Kinky does have some libertarian beliefs. So do I. So do most Americans, and I believe even most progressives. Do you believe the government should tell a citizen what he can eat, drink, smoke, or ingest, as long as he's not hurting anyone else? I don't. Do you believe the government should tell a citizen where they should live, go to school, or what job they must have? I don't. Do you think the government should try to force our views on other countries through military power? I don't.

Many libertarian beliefs make a lot of sense. But there are also some other beliefs of Kinky's that are more progressive, such as:

*doing away with the death penalty.
*defending a woman's right to control her own body.
*raising teacher pay to national average.
*stop teaching the TAKS test and really educate students.
*allowing casino gambling to help keep down taxes.
*opposing the TTC and other toll roads.
*moving away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy.
*covering all Texans with healthcare insurance.
*supports gay marriage and homosexual rights.

I don't know about you, but that sounds like a program I can support.