Second Thoughts about Kinky

Bush 2004? Say it ain't so...

It was brought to my attention that Kinky Friedman has only voted once in 12 years, and that was to support George Bush in the 2004 Presidential election. Words cannot say how that disappoints me. Had he voted for Bush in 2000, you could write it off to naiveté, thinking that Bush was a "uniter not a divider". But by 2004, Bush had already made serious strategic blunders that make him a candidate for "worst president ever". It also bothers me that Kinky was so uninvolved that he chose not to vote in so many other elections.

Kinky Friedman has a platform plank calling for return of the 10 Commandments to the walls of public classrooms. This goes against one of our nation’s most important precepts -- church/state separation. I'm surprised that a "Jewish cowboy" would make the suggestion at all. It opens that Pandora's Box concerning whose tenets, whose religion, whose version of the commandments.

I'm very disappointed to find out about "the Kinkster" but better to find out now than later. Beyond all the witticisms, you want a governor with substance, gravitas and good ideas. Clearly, Kinky is not that person. His actual political positioning was camouflaged behind witty remarks and fun photos with Willy Nelson. When it comes right down to it, we need a hard worker with progressive, good ideas in the governor's mansion. At this point, I have to say it's a toss between Chris Bell and Carol Strayhorn. If Bell has any serious ideas on fixing school finance problems I might be persuaded to his side.

Here is the DMN article, for those interested in Kinky's voting record.

POST SCRIPT: I removed the blog entitled "My Governor is a Jewish Cowboy". The title is no longer true, and if someone should randomly land on that blog without seeing my retraction above, they'd think I was still supporting Kinky's campaign. I don't have any replacement candidate in mind. Guess I'll have to see how the campaign develops. I do think Kinky is entertaining and will add levity to an otherwise dull affair.