Asshole From El Paso?

Country singer-cum-Texas gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman (last seen here) is doing damage control after a foul-mouthed interview with Dallas's WFAA. He got frustrated fielding policy questions and laced interview Brad Watson for asking them in the first place.

All the little issues you're talking about are bullshit. It's all fucking bullshit, ok? I mean, you can talk about "And I would deregulate this, and my plan is to give a 7 percent raise in the textbooks" - it's all shit! Because the people that are doing this stuff are crooks and they're corrupt and they don't give a shit about the people of Texas!

Pay special attention to Kinky's "asshole legislator" voice when he's talking about how the system doesn't work. The CW is that Friedman is blowing his gubernatorial chances (such as they were) with stuff like this; I'm not sure how discussing politics in public the way everyone does in private is going to hurt him.

Comments

[Postmodern Sleaze]

Can I change my voter registration to Texas? Please? New Mexico doesn't have any candidates this good...

[Isaac Bartram]

I'm not sure how discussing politics in public the way everyone does in private is going to hurt him.

That's sort of what I thought.

I sometimes wonder what would happen if the people who like outsiders like Kinky but turn around and pull the Donkey or Elephant lever saying "He's 100% right but he'll never win" ever just got together and voted for the guy they say they like*.

But they don't. They vote for the guy with "experience" or the guy who can "get things done". Then they spend four years bitching about "the crooks" in office.

*I'm sure someone will mention Jesse Ventura.

[R C Dean]

Because the people that are doing this stuff are crooks and they're corrupt and they don't give a shit about the people of Texas!

The Kinkster will be hurt by this about as much Bush was hurt by calling that Times reporter an asshole.

'Cause in both cases, they were right.

[Lamar]

RC Dean,
So Kinky will win with 42% of the vote, mirroring Bush's approval rating? Yes, insulting people doing their jobs is a direct path to political glory.

[R C Dean]

Lamar, you seem to be confusing approval ratings with election returns.

Not to mention that 42% will probably win the Texas governor's race this year.

Thanks for playing, though!

[Lamar]

RC Dean,
Respectfully, when you wrote that Bush wasn't "hurt" in your post, did you mean emotionally hurt, like a schoolboy with a broken heart? I suspect you meant politically hurt, and election returns, if I'm not mistaken, are a keen indicator of political value and whether somebody has been hurt politically or not.

[worm eater]

I suspect you meant politically hurt, and election returns, if I'm not mistaken, are a keen indicator of political value and whether somebody has been hurt politically or not.

Be that as it may, I don't think many people are voting (or answering polls) based on this issue. Hell, most people probably don't even know about this issue. And of the ones that do, I doubt very many care. And of those that care, they probably care a hell of a lot more about Iraq, gas prices, terrorism, corruption, immigration, etc.

[K. Toishi]

I wouldn't vote for this guy if he was the most libertarian candidate ever to run in the history of the U.S. Get some cooth... people really need to put a filter between their brain (or lack thereof) and their mouth. We are a nation full of people afflicted with Tourettes...

Nice parenting too with that potty mouth.

[R C Dean]

I suspect you meant politically hurt, and election returns, if I'm not mistaken, are a keen indicator of political value and whether somebody has been hurt politically or not.

Just so, Lamar. And Bush won the election, remember? Which is why your reference to approval ratings, which are not election returns, is such a non sequitur.

[Lamar]

Yes, yes. He won the election even though more people voted for the other guy. I remember now. The election returns said Gore got more votes. That's right. Though in fairness to your argument, it isn't clear that Bush's "major league" comment is what caused him to lose the popular vote.

[Shelby]

Lamar,

The point of the election was not to win more popular votes, but to win more electoral votes. If Gore was trying for the popular vote, he was demontrating gross incompetence. And I can't imagine more than a few hundred voters decided who to vote for based on a single moderately-foul insult.

[Lamar]

And not only did Bush lose the popular vote in 2000, his party stands to get smacked down in the next election. Isn't avoiding losing control of the House a viable election goal? First is was political "hurt", then "electoral returns" and now "the goal of an election is to win." Thanks for the civics lecture, but the fact is that fundamentalists vote Republican and uttering blasphemies in public is not the way to get through to their hearts.

[minor-league poo-hole]

"the fact is that fundamentalists vote Republican and uttering blasphemies in public is not the way to get through to their hearts"

The fact is that fundamentalists are a hell of a lot more interested in stem cells and abortion and gay marriage than in a potty-mouth comment, and it would take a hell of a lot more than "major-league asshole" to get them to shift their allegiance to the godless party or anywhere else. That comment by Bush was essentially irrelevant.

[rhywun]

"Friedman said he would like to put back in the Ten Commandments and mandatory prayer for students in Texas public schools"

*Sigh*. Why does anyone here support this guy?

[biologist]

hey, K. Toishi

how about a nice big cup of shut the fuck up?

[ed]

They don't support him, rhywun. They support the idea of someone, anyone, winning an election who isn't a Democrat or Republican. Even if he is dumb as a bag of potatoes.

[Lamar]

Minor League Poo Hole,

Single gaffs are almost always irrelevant. It's a few years later when they start to build up that it becomes relevant.

[Lost_In_Translation]

rhywun,

what commandment did he break? Thou shalt not call something a cow's poo? Come on, a little cussin here or there never hurt anyone

ed,

you're not that far off. I don't think Kinky will hurt anything and I also think him getting elected would send a message that the people of Texas want something else, maybe they're not quite sure what, but something.

[Lost_In_Translation]

rywun,

Nevermind, I misinterpreted your post.

And I have no problem with the ten commandments being posted in schools and I don't recall him ever saying he wanted "mandatory" prayer, just a relazation of the PC "we MUST NOT HAVE PRAYER"

frankly, i wouldn't worry about that anyway, he'd never get it past the congress.

[K. Toishi]

hey, K. Toishi... how about a nice big cup of shut the fuck up?

wah...

[Ruthless]

Speaking of political jokes, I'm old enough to have followed the many (not all) runs for President by Harold Stassen, the Boy Governor of Minnesota.

If Andy Warhol were alive, he could make more money than Slick Willie by being a "Fifteen Minutes of Fame" consultant.

And then there's George Clooney.
I'd vote for a national Clooney/Kinky ticket. It's alliterative.
(Actually I wouldn't. As a peaceful anarchist, I'm forbidden from voting.)

[rhywun]

just a relazation of the PC "we MUST NOT HAVE PRAYER"

Oh, "just a relaxation". That's great, I feel much better now. It's not like it would lead to wasting countless hours fighting over which religions are "valid" enough to devote classroom time to, or anything.

[David M. Nieporent]

I think Lamar is trolling here. First he deliberately confuses approval rating six years after an incident with an election, then he again confuses approval rating with elections, and then when it's pointed out that he's doing this, he starts trying to distract from his error by talking about an election six years later in which Bush isn't even on the ballot.

And all this with a loony argument that calling a reporter an asshole cost Bush votes, which we all know to be completely frivolous as an argument.

[Mutt]

If the fundies were going to hate Kinky, I would think that his stances in favor of gay marriage and abortion rights, his personal history of doing cocaine, fathering children out of wedlock, smoking and drinking beer in public would have done it already. Not to mention his songs, which among other things contemplate wiping his butt with a picture of Jesus (voice by Ringo Starr!) as well as whatever this lyric is referring to:

"I'll get a mule and be a flatland farmer /
Grow a little bumper crop of grass.
In Hollywood I totalled my karma /
Gonna cast my seed upon the ground /
Gonna covet my neighbor's ass."

He also said he considered becoming a Baptist until he decided they didn't hold them under long enough.

One of his campaign slogans is "may the god of your choice bless you" -- which doesn't exactly affirm his orthodoxy either.

School prayer is about his strongest credential with the fundies, and Kinky is not dumb enough to think it's going to make them roll over for him.

[Lamar]

David M. Nieporent:

"First he deliberately confuses approval rating six years after an incident with an election"
There are more ways to be politically hurt than mere approval ratings or elections, though we've only discussed these two here. If you notice, I did not bring up the concept of election returns.

"then he again confuses approval rating with elections"
This is RC Dean's unsupported assertion. He talked about political damage, then tried to redefine being politically hurt as "election returns" exclusively. I disagree. I did not confuse the two.

"then when it's pointed out that he's doing this,"
F-U, pal, FU. I even had a post, before yours was posted, clearing this up. Perhaps you could try reading.

"he starts trying to distract from his error by talking about an election six years later in which Bush isn't even on the ballot"
Uhh, Mr. Smartstuff, the topic of the post is this current election. You call me a troll, then you come here and start spewing BS without even having the courtesy of reading the posts? I suscribe to this beautiful magazine. What do you do when you're not making asinine posts?

[Mr. X]

If the fundies were going to hate Kinky, I would think that his stances in favor of gay marriage and abortion rights, his personal history of doing cocaine, fathering children out of wedlock, smoking and drinking beer in public would have done it already.

Kinky's fathered a child? If true, it'd be news to me.