Posted by Jakeman on March 30, 2006, at 22:17:14
I thought I would throw out this article to those attempting to make generalizations about Texas or politicians who come from here. As always, I offer the disclaimer that this post may reflect my opinions and but is not intended to offend or be insensitive anyone. If I have been insensitive please let me know. I am reporting statements made by other individuals.
FORT WORTH -- Kinky Friedman has a perfect explanation for what he calls "Guinness-Gate," and he gave newspaper publishers convened in Fort Worth a scoop tuesday.
The grand marshal in Dallas' St. Patrick's Day Parade, Friedman was caught on videotape taking a drink of a can of the beer in the lead car, which was traveling through downtown, Friedman said, at 1 mph. Friedman was not driving, but he was apparently in violation of the state's open container law.
At this week's annual meeting of the Texas Daily Newspaper Association, Friedman, who hopes to collect enough signatures to get his name on the ballot as an independent candidate for Texas governor in the November election, did acknowledge he had a beer with him in the car.
"Here's my explanation," Friedman said. "I was drinking it ... but I did not swallow."Friedman needs to collect 45,540 signatures to get on the ballot, and a petition with the signatures must be to the Texas Secretary of State's office by May 11. He is vague when asked to comment on how many he and his team have signed up, telling publishers he thought it was "about three."
His web site, www.kinkyfriedman.com, reports that over 600 supporters turned out over the weekend in Dallas just to help collect names. Chances are his campaign will have little problem pulling in the needed names.
"We've had to be creative to get on the ballot," Friedman said.
The self-proclaimed Jewish Cowboy, who is also a musician and novelist, outlined his strategies for education and protecting the Texas border -- two of his main talking points -- to the approximately 50 newspaper publishers and, as always, his presentation was sprinkled with a healthy dose of his offbeat humor.
Friedman said he and his team were out to change the country "one governor at a time," and admitted that the job of Texas' highest office holder is really not too terribly difficult.
"The governor's hair never turns gray after he is finished with his term, and he gets to judge chili cook-offs," Friedman said. "It's really not that hard.
"I intend to appoint the very best people I can find and get the hell out of the way and let them do the work. This concept has never before been tried in Texas."
Friedman says legalizing casino gambling is 'almost essential' to funding education in the state and added that teachers have expressed wide support for him because of his emphasis on education.
On gambling in the state, Friedman said, "A great example of how ridiculous things are is 'Texas Hold 'Em.' We invented the game and we can't even play it here. Everyone else is getting rich off a game we invented."
On border problems, Friedman said there is no solution in Texas, "maybe because the current governor won't pick up the phone" and call his Democratic counterparts in New Mexico and Arizona.
"Governor Perry's stance on immigratiion is 'Give us your tired, your poor, your drug dealers, your terrorists, your bombers ... and by the way welcome to Texas.' "
Friedman again outlined his Mexican generals policy, whereby he would divide the Texas-Mexico border into precincts, stationing a Mexican general in each precinct. Each general would be given $1 million and the account would be drawn against every time an illegal immigrant is captured and returned to Mexico.
-- Friedman says Willie Nelson has agreed to be his "energy czar," and said that no one knows more about bio-diesel than the country music singer. In fact, he said, the world's first production and retail facility for bio-diesel will open in Carl's Corner on July 4.
-- Friedman says he intends to establish the Four Highways of Texas, named after Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Buddy Holly and Bob Wills with possible future highways to be named after Janis Joplin and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
-- As a musician, Friedman, who says he'll only seek one term, says he likely "won't get much done in the morning, but he'll work late everyday."
-- Friedman called Perry out of touch with the people of Texas and said he intends to set up a direct, listed telephone number to the governor's personal office to be answered "during certain hours of the day."When asked what it was going to take to make the voters of the state take him and his campaign seriously, Friedman said he felt that by November, "The heart and soul of Texas will be widely behind this campaign." He said he has talked to teachers who had tears in their eyes, "one eye smiling and one eye crying," and he blamed the loggerhead in Austin on lobbyists. He has said before that his most effective campaign tool would be to do nothing but sit back and watch the current politicians in office do everything for him.
"How can you look at the Texas legislature and still believe in intelligent design?" Friedman said.
poster:Jakeman
thread:626904
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20060322/msgs/626904.html