It’s Friday night and my wife is out of town. Naturally, I watched the Texas Gubernatorial Debate. Dork? Mois?
Okay, it wasn’t really a debate, it was more of a “debate,” but I watched it anyway.
Since the four way race between incumbent Republican Rick “Go Texas” Perry, Democrat Chris “Who? Huh?” Bell, Kinky “Why the Hell Not” Friedman and Carole “Grandma” Keeton Strayhorn began I’ve been one of the undecideds. I’m sick of Perry and he needs to go. The question is, who can beat him?
I flirted with Friedman and signed for Strayhorn, though I admit I lost the petition before I could mail it back.
In tonight’s “debate” Perry was polished and sounded good; if I hadn’t been reading the paper for the past six years, I’d have been impressed with him. He was most effective in dealing with Friedman’s recent racist comments and in defending his highway plans. I’d say give the devil his due, but there was no stench of sulphur, so I’ll just say Perry was as slick and polished as I expected him to be.
Friedman was all over the place. Willie Nelson in charge of energy policy? Come on. He’s running against politics and while he’s passionate about changing Texas, he has no idea how to do it. My brother said he doesn’t think we need a comedian as our governor. I agree, but I’d still take him over the clown we have. Comedians are funny. Clowns are scary.
I had high hopes for Strayhorn; however, she came off flat and uninspiring. I’d take her over Perry, but only since I know she really is committed to education. She sounded desperate, which is probably what happens when you’re fourth in the polls.
The best line of the night was from Chris Bell when he referred to the competition as his “three Republican opponents.” Bell was knowledgeable and he seemed to have a strong grasp of the issues. At times, Friedman even helped him out, though probably unintentionally. Bell has solid positions on education and has made transparency and clean government one of his signature issues. He gets points for being one of the first to file ethics complaints against Tom DeLay. He’s smart, witty and competent. Call me convinced.
I believe we are doomed to another four years of Perry (actually, two – he’s being groomed as the GOP VP candidate for ’08, God help us all) unless the Democrats come home to Bell. In all likelihood, they will abandon Strayhorn and Friedman and coalesce around Bell, which is a good thing since he’s the best candidate. If the traditional Democrat vote holds and he can pick up enough of the anti-Perry crowd (like me), he should have a chance.
Update: Thanks to the following blogs for linking to this post: Capitol Annex, Brains and Eggs, Easter Lemming Liberal News, Off the Kuff, and Houston Democrats.
James Brush is a teacher and writer who lives in Austin, TX. He tries to get outside as much as possible.
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Oui. Vous.
In a state where a plurality is all that’s needed to win the govenorship, I hope the Perry opponents can rally around one opponent. Otherwise we will get stuck with that dude with hairspray hair all over again.
Link
Enter a code upper right and click Download – This is the entire debate in a 13Mb MP3. I made it small enough so that those of us on dialup could still share it and HEAR it.
The debate was 59 minutes and 50 seconds of blah, blah, blah surrounding 10 seconds of brilliance. Here’s the beauty part:
Kinky Friedman said he would call for military martial law in border cities if he becomes governor on Friday, during the only gubernatorial debate scheduled for the campaign season. … “Yeah, of course, whatever it takes,” said Friedman in response to a question from an Austin television reporter about whether he would declare martial law. Declaring it would make his proposal to add 8,500 National Guard troops to the border possible.
Watch this video clip. It is hilarious, it is true, and it is politically incorrect as hell.
Next, read up on Kinky’s get-tough illegal alien plan and his 5 Mexican generals plan. Kinky’s common sense border security plan is the straight up “minuteman” approach, not Perry’s namby-pamby “let’s set up cameras” approach. Make no mistake, Kinky is the only candidate brave enough to say we need armed military generals on our southern border.
Now consider Kinky’s party affiliation. Kinky has run for office in the past as a Republican and he voted for Bush/Cheney in 2004.
Here is an excerpt from Kinky’s interview with Ruminator magazine which confirms that he supported Bush’s Middle East foreign policy:
Question: So does this idea of the honorable cowboy have anything to do with why you threw your support behind President Bush in this last election? You did, didn’t you?
Kinky: Yes. I did in this last election, but I didn’t vote for him the first time.
Question: Who did you vote for in 2000?
Kinky: I voted for Gore then. I was conflicted. . .but I was not for Bush that time. Since then, though, we’ve become friends. And that’s what’s changed things.
Question: So it’s your friendship with him that’s changed your mind about having him as president more than his specific political positions?
Kinky: Well, actually, I agree with most of his political positions overseas, his foreign policy. On domestic issues, I’m more in line with the Democrats. I basically think he played a poor hand well after September 11. What he’s been doing in the Near East and in the Middle East, he’s handling that well, I think.
Now maybe you are like me and you were worried that Kinky showed liberal tendencies by voting for a tree-hugger like Al Gore. Well, rest assuredthat Kinky was mistaken when he said that. Kinky’s public voting records confirm he didn’t vote for Al Gore in 2000 because Kinky didn’t waste his vote on any candidate from 1994 to 2004 when he voted for Bush/Cheney.
Maybe you think Kinky’s a liberal because he’s a Jew. Rest assured, Kinky’s views on religion are well to the right of Perry’s. Kinky wants to take time during the school day for prayers in schools, and he wants to post the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms.
GO KINKY!!!
[…] Kinky is Awesome: Watch this video clip. It is… […]
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