Will Governor Hopeful Kinky Friedman help GOP in Texas?

[mechanical mandible]

In early March of 2006 Auhor and Country Musician Kinky Friedman will have a couple days to collect 50,000 signatures from people who will not vote in the Republican or Democratic primaries so he can be put on the ballot for Governor. I was honored to hear a speech from Kinky a week ago here at the University of Texas of Brownsville. Kinky described a conversation he had with MN Governor Jesse Ventura. Kinky concluded that, 'wrestling is real, politics is fixed.' Kinky also expressed concerns of Texas being 50th in education and 1st in executions while claiming he wanted to 'take Texas off of Ebay.' I like Kinky, but I think he may help the GOP in Texas by taking young voters from the Democrats, or do y'all think Texas is a hopeless cause already?

[RufusEarl]

1. Sorry to say Texas is firmly in the grip of the Re pubs, so I'll vote for

[PDittie]

2. "or do y'all think Texas is a hopeless cause already?"

:eyes:

mm, first of all welcome to DU.

Secondly, I would suggest you spend a bit more time reading a bit more before you post again. See, the funny thing is, you'd probably get quite a bit of agreement with this statement over in GD. There's lottttsa Texas haters around DU but they generally don't come in here.

Personally I think Kinky sucks, and not just cigars.

And no, Texas is not a lost cause. DEFEATISM is a lost cause.

Don't waste your time with the Kinkster; he's not going to get on the ballot. You'd be way more honored to hear someone who is going to make a real difference in how things happen in this state when he is elected.

[mechanical mandible]

3. Kinky

I think Kinky is a funny guy and even if he doesn't make the ballot he can still spread a good message about our border situation and the education system.

[sonias]

4. Welcome to DU mechanical mandible

Care to elaborate on that border situation you mentioned. What exactly do you support about Kinky's border policy?

Sonia

[mechanical mandible]

5. The fact is, anybody with anything can come in through our borders...

The GOP has been slow to react and Kinky's observations can only spread that message.

[mechanical mandible]

6. Ya know whats funny about Kinky...

he supports gay marriage and prayer in school. Hah!

[sonias]

8. Well that's a winning combination - Not

Conservatives won't vote for him and progressives won't either. So who do you think is going to vote for this guy? How big do you think the novelty vote is?

I agree with others on this board that Kinky is a joke and we don't need an Arnold Schwarzenegger size disaster in Texas. We have serious problems in this state and a "celebrity" type isn't the solution. Never mind his almost insurmountable problem of getting on the ballot in Texas to begin with.

If you really want to help take back this state, get involved with some of your local candidates for the Texas Legislature or help any of the candidates in the State and US Congressional races. But write Kinky off your political wish list.

Sonia

[crispini]

7. "y'all think Texas is a hopeless cause already?"

Um. One rule. No Texas-bashing in the Texas forum.

Next: The Kinkster. I think he'll siphon off votes from both parties, but the GOP voters are more lockstep, whereas our voters are more independent minded, so I think he might in fact hurt us.

That said, who knows. We don't even know who the Dem candidate will be yet.

[TexasLinda]

9. Why are Kinky supporters posting in DU?

In order to sign the petition to get Kinky on the ballot, they have to skip the Democratic primary and precinct caucus (Texas Election Code, Chapter 172). Why would a Democrat, "independent minded" or not, want to do that? The governor's race is only one of many, and the precinct caucus offers the chance to help shape the Democratic platform.

[crispini]

13. Exactly. Why would any Democrat who has any interest in...

ooooh, I don't know, maybe going to the State Convention and helping decide who the next TDP chair is going to be, why on earth would they want to skip the Dem primary and Caucus?

[RufusEarl]

20. DUer

It was my understanding that DU was not affiliated with the Dem party, I'm an independent always have been. I worked on Kerry's campaign in 04, went door to door and helped raise money the whole bit. Not because I'm a Dem but because I wanted Kerry to beat Bush, I thought he was the best candidate.

If being independent makes me not welcome here then I'll leave, but in all honesty I thought I was the type voter the Dem party wanted. Remember allot of Dem's voted for this war, voted for the prescription bill, energy bill, I can go on if you like but you get the idea, not all Dem's vote in congress the way I would prefer.

So all you DUer take a vote and let me know, go or stay it's up to you.. Peace out!!

[TexasLinda]

21. My bad

Sorry, I thought this was a Democratic site, but after reading the site's charter I find that you are well within DU guidelines to come here and encourage people to not vote for Democrats.

[crispini]

22. You forgot this:

:sarcasm:

Either that, or I've suddenly become reading-impaired:

You are not permitted to use this message board to work for the defeat of the Democratic Party nominee for any political office. If you wish to work for the defeat of any Democratic candidate in any General Election, then you are welcome to use someone else's bandwidth on some other website.

Democratic Underground may not be used for political, partisan, or advocacy activity by supporters of any political party or candidate other than the Democratic Party or Democratic candidates. Supporters of certain other political parties may use Democratic Underground for limited partisan activities in political races where there is no Democratic Party candidate.

[RufusEarl]

24. Vote for Democrats

We have a two party system in this country, like it or not! Nine times out of ten i'll choose a Dem over a Re pub every time in ever election and would try and convince my re pub friends to do the same. Mainly because Dem's in general support my views better then Re pub's, but for now we have a one party country. Sorry to admit this but it's true, Re pub's hold all three branches of our government at this time and I'm working my ass off to change that in 06. Just so you're clear, I'm not here to try and get folks to vote for Re pub's far from it, i'm here to discuss politics, and figure out way's to balance our three branches of government before it's to late and I have to wear a brown shirt.

[PDittie]

23. Dude as far as I'm concerned

you're welcome here.

But Kinky sucks.

[johncoby2]

10. Kinky is one F**ked up idiot.

What a moron. He is worse than gwbush, and just as bright.

He thinks cute stunts and snappy one liners will get people to vote for him,

Unfortuantely over half of Texas that votes is pretty stupid.

[efhmc]

11. Thanks for voicing my opinion of this joke for brains man.

[Lithos]

12. He should stay a singer

Where one liners can help make great songs. But we need someone who can do more. The Pukes have been destroying things so long that we need a professional in there, not an amateur.

L-

[mechanical mandible]

14. I don't think Kinky expects to win...

Kinky's main goal is to spread a message and I think he is doing just fine.

[NoPasaran]

19. Kinky's message is that politics is a joke

Fuck Kinky!

[Czolgosz]

15. Bad News: Kinky would siphon Dem votes but; Good News: too few signatures

[merci_me]

16. Possibly even less sigs than we think.......

If the Dems field two strong/appealing candidates in the primary, as I see Bell and Gammage being, and we have the third candidate, Alvarado(?), it's possible neither Bell nor Gammage would recieve 50% plus one.

If that's the case, we have a run-off and that puts off Kinky's group from collecting signatures until AFTER a run-off.

I don't recall off-hand, but isn't it like 2 months after the primary to collect signatures? Well, a run-off would block the 1st month, leaving only one month.

[crispini]

17. Yes, good point re: strong Dem primary.

Give 'em a reason to show up and vote!

[Czolgosz]

18. How do we convince Perry supporters that they should skip the primary so

they can get Kinky on the ballot? I'd rather beat the Mean Grandma in November than Rick "School-Financing-Trainwreck" Perry.