Though running for political office, it doesn't appear that Kinky Friedman has any interest in toning down his persona to be politically correct:
Kinky Friedman has thrived on brash commentary, outlandish attire and crude humor. But some critics say the independent candidate for governor has gone too far with his comments about African-Americans.Friedman, in a video clip that some of his opponents began circulating Tuesday, calls Negro a "charming word" and uses it in an explanation of what he would do to sexual predators if he is elected in November.
"Throw them in prison and throw away the key and make them listen to a Negro talking to himself," Friedman said in the TV interview, which CNBC broadcast late last year. The comments hardly made a splash at the time, but the video, posted on www.youtube.com, is sparking fresh criticism.
...
Friedman offered no apologies then or now, saying he is generating controversy only because he is doing something so rare in politics today: telling it like it is."Anybody who feels that anything is offensive about this should definitely vote for one of the other three candidates," Friedman said in an interview Tuesday. "If I've got to lie to people, sweep the truth under the rug and worry about offending people, I'm not going to be very effective."
The video's from last year, but now that he's tied for second in the governor's race, people are doing some rediscovering.
(Star-Telegram login/pswd=bobbobcat@earthling.net/n0spam.)
UPDATE:
Editor & Publisher thinks there's a bit of organizing behind this fresh look at Kinky's old vid.
Replace "people" with "Democrats" and "rediscovering" with "oppo research" and I think you have the story. Everyone thought that Kinky (along with One Tough Grandma™) would pull mostly from Perry, but what the Dems are finding out is that it's their more conservative voters that are being pulled away instead.
Posted by: kbiel at September 20, 2006 12:46 PMThat's very interesting. Logically, he's gotta siphon the votes off someone. I'm sure he's drawing both sides. Don't know who's trying to bag him, but Kinky will stand by his words.
That right there will win some votes.
Yep, he's drawing vote from both sides, but everyone thought that it would be mostly from the Reps since Perry is not all that liked by his own party members. As it turns out, the polls show that most of his support seems to drawn from the Democrats (at least Bell is doing even more poorly than predicted). It makes since though. Kinky is a Democrat, a Texas Democrat that is.
Posted by: kbiel at September 20, 2006 07:36 PMYep, oppo research is going to be coming out from 'mysteriouis un-named sources' that they are hoping will be detrimental.
I'm betting it backfires massivly and even pushes him into the lead.
As a conservative in Texas I can tell you many Republicans are thoroughly disgusted with Perry because of his business tax increase under the guise of property tax relief. Property tax cuts without appraisal caps are meaningless and many, including me, feel betrayed by Gov. Goodhair for not fighting for real tax relief. Many of them will vote for Kinky in protest. Bell doesn't stand a chance even if it was a two way race. Grandma Manynames will be lucky to get into double digits. One thing should be pointed out, all four of them were Democrats until the '80s. Goodhair and Grandma switched allegiances when they saw the Democratic party in Texas fading into irrelavence. Perry will win but with less than 45% of the vote. Kinky and Bell will be about even and Grandma may get 12%. In the end, the Texas Governor is relatively weak thanks to reforms after the abuses of Reconstruction and it won't make a difference. But an embarrassing showing by Perry will put the fear of God into a few RINOs around here.
Posted by: hamous at September 20, 2006 11:24 PMI hope it pushes him into the lead, G, but Hamous probably has it pegged correctly. That Grandma candidate will suck away votes that Kinky needs.
Posted by: Donnah at September 21, 2006 02:20 PMOkay, I'm from PA, so I don't know much about Kinky Friedman, but please tell me this is some kind of sick joke? Does he actually think that Negro is NOT a racist word or is that some kind of "ironic" humor on his part? Sorry if you like him but there is something very, very wrong if this is his actual stance. I realize they didn't show the whole video so maybe there was more I didn't see, but from what I saw, that was pretty bad. Is no one upset about this? If not, WHY NOT???
Posted by: jinki at September 21, 2006 07:48 PMAsk the folks at the United Negro College Fund, jinki.
Posted by: Donnah at September 21, 2006 07:58 PM