STORM2K

There is quite an extensive write-up on Kinky Friedman in the newest issue of the New Yorker (be warned, there is a bit of language):

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/050822fa_fact


I know there are a lot of Texans roaming around this board - what does everyone make of this fella? I know he was a country music performer and a mystery novel writer and had a column in the Texas Monthly (which I never read ). I've seen his stickers on everything from old hippie VW's to big fat Lincoln SUV's. He has a weird list of players stumping for him - from Dick Degeurin (the big wig defense attorney) to Willie Nelson to Penn from Penn & Teller to a few pros who worked on the Ventura campaign in Minnesota.

He was on my flight back from Austin on Friday, cigar and all (no, it wasn't lit), and seemed like a nice guy - answered questions for everyone who asked, talked to everybody, made everybody laugh.

So, any opinions?

Chances are, he'll be the first person I ever vote for. (I turn 18 in June 2006)

If for no other reason, then because I'm fed up with the complete ineptitude of the current generation of Texas politicians. I went to school today and did not have textbooks.

There are other reasons too, though. I hear he plans on banning animal shelter euthanasia - he runs a shelter for abandoned dogs at his ranch - and I really have no problem with legalizing gambling if it brings in revenues....Texas government is based on the philosophy of small government, and that people should keep what they work for. That's why we tax people on what they spend, rather than what they earn. So gambling as a state fundraiser is a fantastic idea. Especially compared to the alternative - no fundraising at all.

Plus, his personality IS Texas. We need more of that here.

He reminds me of Gatewood Galbreath, some pot-advocating loon who hung out with Willie Nelson. Tried a couple of times to run for governor of KY.

Watch him when he is on Imus...

Then again, not sure if that would show how "out" there he is sometimes...

I'm not in Texas.

I've been reading his novels for years.

I'd certainly listen to what he has to say if he runs for office. He can think--and is not afraid to say what he thinks when it runs contrary to conventional wisdom. He also does not shy away from the "difficult questions" that don't have easy answers--or sometimes any answers at all.

He has compassion. But he is not a "bleeding heart."

Yes, he is an iconoclast. On the other hand, are the politicians who pretend to be "holier than thou" and hide their youthful mistakes, supidities and indiscretions any better than those who admit to them? Are those who see what they are looking at--and say so--somehow bad people because they tell you that the Emperor isn't wearing any clothes? I'll admit that no one wants to hear that... but...

So before you say, "oh, he's terrible because he is not "like" the others, do pay attention."

Kinky hits the jackpot at casino

05:14 PM CDT on Wednesday, August 17, 2005


Associated Press


AUSTIN -- Kinky Friedman, the independent candidate for Texas governor, thinks he may be on a winning streak.

The musician, author and humorist says he won $45,612 over the weekend playing a slot machine at Harrah’s in New Orleans. On Wednesday, he showed news reporters a Harrah’s photograph of himself at the winning machine.


KHOU

Friedman is on a mission to unseat Governor Rick Perry.

“It’s a sign,” said Friedman, who is hoping that his luck spills over into his budding political career.

Friedman, who announced this year that he will run for governor in 2006, will have up to two months next spring to collect 45,000 signatures from registered voters to make it on the ballot as an independent.

Gov. Rick Perry and Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn are running on the Republican side, and former U.S. Rep. Chris Bell and Felix Alvarado are running for the Democratic nomination.

Friedman hasn’t decided what to do with his casino winnings.

He said through his spokeswoman that he may give it to his campaign fund or donate it to a charity or to the “leprosy colony for unwed mothers in Hawaii.”

Calls to a Harrah’s spokeswoman were not immediately returned.