By not voting on it he is showing that he doesn't care whether it passes or fails and being it that it was the first constitutional amendment in Texas history that took away civil rights rather than granted them, that is disturbing. That said, I have now moved over to the undecided camp. While I prefer Bell's stances over Kinky's on just about every issue. I don't think Bell has a snowball's chance of making the runoff in November. Maybe Kinky can. We'll see. More likely is that I probably have to get used to the idea of voting for Strayhorn in the runoff against Perry. Great. One more in a long series of sad days for progressives and the Texas Democratic Party.
Texas progressives (for Kinky, Bell or Cuellar) = Republicans. One more in a long series of reasons I couldn't be happier to be out of that bassackwards state. You guys had a remarkably good candidate for governor there and you blew him off, just like you did with Greanias all those years ago, not coincidentally right around the time that I quit the Texas Dem party for good. I really don't know which is worse -- the Bell supporters or the Kinky supporters -- but I know for sure they're both simple minded equivocators. And I'm not even talking about the Bush vote as lame as that was. Kinky's a ******* standup comic and he isn't even good at that. Worse, he doesn't even care enough to vote on issues he claims to care about. But I'm not let down by him. I knew he was a one note joker. I'm let down by the people here that I thought knew better. You guys are disappointing as hell.
Gammage didn't stand a chance. He joined the race late, and was unorganized. His name recognition in 2006 is next to nothing. It is definitely time for those of us who are sick of the two party system to vote for someone outside of the system, and I'm glad I have a friend who is running from the outside. I really do not care who or what he voted for in his past. He's got his priorities straight, unlike the other candidates. It's time to put Kinky Friedman in the governor's mansion.
Kinky has the best ideas on education reform of anyone in either party. Those ideas don't change because he didn't vote in past elections or voted for a wannabe dictator and crook like Bush in 2004. His ideas are still fresh, progressive, revolutionary, and actually stand a chance of working rather than having the same ol' same ol' tinker around with the system and give govt. jobs and contracts to whoever their particular friends are. Like you, I am out of the state and I can't vote. But I like Kinky's ideas on education which, to me, is the most important role the state govt. plays. I do have nephews, and neices in school in Texas, and I think they would be better served by Kinky's ideas on education. They wouldn't be better served by Kinky's ideas of presidential candidates, but that isn't really an issue for me as far as voting for someone in a state position.
Is there anything you don't passionately hate about conservative views? Sometimes you appear the worst kind of liberal. ie. a parrot. You certainly seem smart enough than to be a purely straight-ticket guy, yet you denounce democrats who aren't on the extreme side of the democratic party. Color yourself disappointed for many years to come.
Not to speak for Batman, but if I remember correctly, he is a deficit hawk. Which once upon a time was a conservative viewpoint. As for myself, I'm all for spending money we don't have when it can help the economy and create jobs ala the New Deal.
Good news: we are doing that right now Bad news: it's helping the economy mainly in the defense sector and nowhere else, and the only jobs being created are in the military and fast food establishments.
I was speaking of public works projects. Like a New Deal for New Orleans or something like that. Done responsibly. Giving people middle class jobs to help their communities. With the federal government signing the paychecks rather than KBR. What we are doing right now is the opposite of creating jobs. We are outsourcing.
dude thats too complicated for the government to handle. the done responsibly part doesn't really fit.
OK if I hear any liberals support something like this, then turn around and b!tch about too much government spending, I think I might just have to question their credibility.
Batman, I like you but these comments are extremely rude. As Davy Crockett once said, you may go to hell - I am going to Texas. Maybe your analysis is simple minded. NOTHING will shake up both parties here like Kinky punting them out of office. Similarly, Kinky is the best chance to mobilize many citizens who don't vote. Both of those are desirable outcomes in the long term. In a state with a relatively weak governorship there are plenty of checks on him doing any serious harm, and a shakeup is preferrable to the same old same old. I had a pint with Kinky in Austin and found him to be both intelligent and engaging, which is better than the last couple of governors IMO.
Congressional Quarterly seems to disagree with you. TX 22: DeLay More Vulnerable Than Ever Following Primary Tom DeLay and his partisans are hailing his primary victory Tuesday as a landslide and vindication from his constituents that the Texas Republican’s legal and ethical problems are behind him. But the primary result in Texas’ 22nd District — 62 percent for DeLay, 38 percent combined for his three little-known GOP challengers — should give him and his supporters pause. DeLay, who has been very popular in his home base in and near Houston through most of his 12-term career, lost nearly two-fifths of the partisan Republican vote: Tom Campbell, a lawyer who had never run for office before, pulled down 30 percent alone. (County-by-county results) As a result, CQPolitics.com has changed its Election Forecaster rating on the 22nd District general election to No Clear Favorite — a toss-up. It had previously been rated as Leans Republican (closely contested), mainly because of DeLay’s legal problems. http://www.cqpolitics.com/2006/03/tx_22_delay_more_vulnerable_th.html
I agree and I apologize for that. I was extremely disappointed and extremely pissed off by the election results last night, but that's not an excuse. So I apologize. I don't disagree that a Kinky win would shake up party politics in Texas. I just don't think it would be worth it. And, apologies aside, I am still appalled that any progressive would support a guy that still refuses to make his position on abortion clear (at a time when the next governor might be called upon to consider a statewide ban on abortion), that wants to build a damn wall on the border and, yes, that voted for George Bush. This isn't a matter of party loyalty or anything, especially considering that Kinky's not a Democrat, it's a matter of proudly supporting a guy that has done serious damage to our country. That's not the most important reason not to support Kinky, not by a long shot, but I'm kind of amazed that it doesn't give progressives like RMT and FB pause. Also, I don't know whether it's been mentioned yet in this thread, but when asked about the death penalty Kinky once said that, instead of executing them, convicted felons should be forced to listen to a black guy talk to himself. When confronted with having said that he made a joke and said it again. So, if the whole wall on the border thing didn't tip you off, this guy is a racist to boot. And he's an embarassment to the state of Texas.
serious: I don't deny it but I don't recall saying I was a deficit hawk. If I did, it's not entirely true. I am a deficit hawk in the context of a choice between that and supply side economics, which have been proven not to work. But given a choice between a balance budget and deficit spending in support of another New Deal, I'd enthusiastically choose the latter. I find it ironic that FDR inspired presidential term limits when he was our best modern argument against them. As for which conservative principles I might support, I am very nearly a libertarian on most issues -- the exception being that I feel we have a responsibility to the least fortunate among us. That's also the idea that I admire most about Christianity and the primary reason I am a Democrat, even though I am to the left of the party on most issues.
Do you have a link on that? I don't doubt you, I'd just like to know the context. If it was a case of him writing a racist character rather than espousing a racist view himself, I'd be happy to know that and happy to back off on that one point.
similar to you neo-cons who "b!itch" about big government and out of control spending and than support dubya, who has driven this country into unprecedented debt, never ever vetoed a spending bill, spent more than all previous presidents combined and increased the size of government and bureaucracy, while providing jobs for all his cronies all the way (heck of a job brownie!) bush is the biggest fiscal liberal this country has ever had.
Its from the book: A Case of Lone Star, 1993. He (the detective character Kinky Friedman) says a lot of outlandish things in a parody of the Philip Marlowe narrative. For example: If you are firmly enough rooted in your masculinity, it shouldn't bother you much to have a woman on top of you. It's a good deal more relaxing, it's often more satisfying for both parties, and you can see a lot more of what's going on. Golf is the only opportunity that middle-aged Wasps have to dress up like a pimp. They say God created whiskey to keep the Irish from taking over the world. I knew I wasn't as stupid as I looked. No one was.
