Bell wants Friedman to drop out of race (Kinky: "We don't negotiate with terrorists")

Austin American-Statesman ^ | Wednesday, October 11, 2006 | W. Gardner Selby

[WestTexasWend]

Kinky says he won't step down.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell called on independent Kinky Friedman to drop his 20-month-old bid for governor Tuesday night.

Friedman didn't directly answer his opponent but said in a telephone interview: "Hell, no. Why would I do that?

"I don't want to step down for anybody when I think America is going to have a big turnout" on Election Day, Friedman said from a hotel in McAllen. "I'm not looking for a way out. We don't negotiate with terrorists."

Republican Gov. Rick Perry "better watch this, because we're going to beat him," Friedman said.

Bell, Friedman and independent Carole Keeton Strayhorn, bunched up well behind Perry in recent polls, have been jockeying to shoot past each other in the 20-odd days remaining before voters act Nov. 7. Libertarian James Werner also is on the ballot.

Perry did not crater in the only scheduled debate of the race Friday, leaving his challengers hunting for footholds.

Bell, coming off a solid debate performance, learned that Houston lawyer John O'Quinn will give or raise up to $5 million for his bid.

He said in a statement Tuesday night that he'd hoped to keep private a phone message left on Friedman's cell phone Tuesday suggesting a meeting at Friedman's ranch near Medina.

But since a newspaper found out, Bell said, "I'm going to ask him publicly. Please join me in defeating Rick Perry."

Referring to Friedman's declared goal of being a shepherd for Texas as governor, Bell said he and Friedman agree that voters want change. "And now is the time for us all to unite and elect a new governor. So I'm asking for Kinky to join me, and be a good shepherd for the state of Texas."

Bell's telephone message came to light because Friedman was campaigning accompanied by a reporter for The Dallas Morning News, which reported Bell's intent on its Web site Tuesday evening.

Bell acknowledged that Friedman is siphoning votes from him and Perry, whose campaign had no comment.

"He's taking from both," Bell told the Dallas newspaper. "But he's taking more from me."

Strayhorn spokesman Mark Sanders said: "That certainly is an unusual call. We've certainly had no calls like that nor placed any calls like that."

Democratic consultant Kelly Fero, who is not involved in the gubernatorial race, said: "You can't blame Bell for trying to get every possible advantage." But "all these candidates need to be worried about reaching out to voters, not reaching out to each other. . . . This will be a distraction."

[El Gato]

But some on FR will still state that kinky is not a liberal.

He's not, but he's not conservative either. He's "Kinky".

[PAR35]

Bell, coming off a solid debate performance, learned that Houston lawyer John O'Quinn will give or raise up to $5 million for his bid.

Looks like the Dem moneymen are beginning to abandon Rylander.

[swain_forkbeard]

I don't live in Texas. But if Kinky ran in NJ, I'd probably vote for him. Yeah I know he's a joke, but that's the point. At least he gets the joke.

[HushTX]

Well, to begin, it's not a "what if" game regarding eminent domain. That's pretty much a guarantee for the TTC. I absolutely HATE eminent domain anyway.

Being that he is the primary supporter of the TTC, he stands in a position contrary to things I feel strongly about. He is behind the deal to put a MAJOR transportation tool under foreign control- Spanish, no less. He has not released the details of the deal with Cintra to the public, and that remains highly suspect in my eyes, and is simply a BAD DECISION given the threat we face from foreign interests at present.

My primary issue of interest currently is border security, and Perry has been less than stellar in that regard. I haven't seen any sort of noteworthy action on his part to deal with the illegal immigration problem we face in Texas. With the President and Congress failing in that department, the last thing we need is a governer who follows suit. Our governer should be HARDER on the issue because of federal failings.

I won't comment on his fiscal policies, as that area is not my strength, and I acknowledge that I have a lot to learn there, but I have heard reports commending and berating him in that arena, so it could swing either way.

Those are my primary issues with him at present and the points most related to your comment. So no, this is not a "what if" scenario, rather it is "what next?" I don't think the other 3 options will be much better, but who knows? At least with Kinky he -appears- to be talking to us straight. That's more than I can say for Bell, Lead-Us-A-Strayhorn and Perry.

[steelwheels]

At least with Kinky he -appears- to be talking to us straight.

Kinky the Twinky was big pals with Bill and Hill in the 90's.

I'm voting for Perry because he will support W. With a war going on with troops dying for us thats all that matters for me.

[deport]

Well, Strayhorn and Bell are no-goes for me. Period. That leaves Kinky, which isn't much choice. I really wish there was another option.

---

Kinky you say........

Kinky supports or advocates the following:
--Abortion
--Amnesty for illegals
--Business taxes
--Death penalty review
--Disrepects Texas Hunters: "I do not suffer hunters gladly,"
--Gay Marriage
--Guest worker program increases of 400,000 per year
--Health care: the state should impose a 1 percent surcharge on procedures and hospital stays
--Immigration bill passed by the Senate 3-27-2006
--Same day voter registration
--Slots for Tots
--Willie Nelson to head the Texas Rangers
--Farouk Shami, Palestinian, as Texas Ambassador to Israel
--Robert Muhammad, Nation of Islam-Houston, to Clean up Houston

[HushTX]

Didn't know about the Clinton thing, honestly. That was before I was politically aware, and I haven't seen a lot about that in my reading. That's a strike. Can you provide some links to support? It's not that I don't believe you, but I'd like to see some of what he did to support them.

--Abortion

In cases of incest or rape, I support it.

--Amnesty for illegals

Big strike, though what I heard was him saying something about punishing the people who hire illegals and instituting a program to get them the hell out of here. Is it possible his support for amnesty was changed upon some study or gaining information? An idea.

--Business taxes

Obviously, I hate taxes.

--Death penalty review

Explain, if you could.

--Disrepects Texas Hunters: "I do not suffer hunters gladly,"

I'm willing to tolerate that if it means having someone who will deal with the border.

--Gay Marriage

Has he openly stated his intention to pursue that as governer? I am not aware that he has.

--Guest worker program increases of 400,000 per year

Another thing he has not discussed on the shows I've seen/heard him on. Obviously I don't support that.

--Health care: the state should impose a 1 percent surcharge on procedures and hospital stays

I don't think that would pass anyway.

--Immigration bill passed by the Senate 3-27-2006

Again, I haven't seen that. I'll look into it.

--Same day voter registration

Unless the Dems completely take over in the legislature, that would never happen.

--Slots for Tots

legalized gambling? I don't have a problem with that. It's no worse than the racket we have now, this "TX Lotto" nonsense.

--Willie Nelson to head the Texas Rangers It was my understanding he was wanting Willie to head some program with bio-diesel. I NEVER heard anything about the Rangers. Source please? I don't want Willie in any sort of government position, but if it's something reasonably innocuous, I don't really care.

--Farouk Shami, Palestinian, as Texas Ambassador to Israel

Source please.

Now, after all that, I want to point out that in my other posts I was fairly clear that I had not decided to vote for Kinky. In fact, I was explicit in the fact that I KNOW I don't want Strayhorn or Bell, and I do not like Perry and want him out, but hadn't decided how i felt about Friedman. I wouldn't say that means anyone needs to assume I'm some die hard supporter of him. I just appreciate the fact that he's been fairly plain spoke, if a little inane with his jokes. --Robert Muhammad, Nation of Islam-Houston, to Clean up Houston

[HushTX]

I'm voting for Perry because he will support W. With a war going on with troops dying for us thats all that matters for me.

I don't know that he will, at least not in any sort of manner that matters. If I could be convinced of that, I'd support him too.

I'm voting on security, period. Other issues matter, but that one is paramount.

[weegee]

Houston PING

Chris Bell is trying desperately not to come in third place.

[weegee]

The liberal, yellow dog, and progressive votes are also split to Grandma and (more so) to Kinky.

This is why Chris Bell is calling them all "Republicans" (even though Strayhorn and Perry were Democrats in the 1980s Reagan era and Kinky is backed by a lot of liberal musicians who are on his staff).

Chris Bell represents the Democrat establishment in this state. Their power comes from "payback" to their voting base. They are falling out of power. If the Dems don't have the offices to give the handouts and things don't change, then maybe the minority base DOESN'T REALLY NEED THE DEMOCRATS to survive after all...

[weegee]

Kinky makes a good protest vote to the Texas GOP ("we want a primary race next time") but if Chris Belle gets anywhere near the polling to "win" then the vote should not be cast to Kinky.

ADDITIONALLY we don't expect Kinky to drop out, but IF HE DOES, early voting for Kinky would mean tossing your vote away.

So it's looking like holding thy nose and voting for Perry.

And based on the pursuit of DeLay and Foley and Hastert, I will not be voting for ANY Democrat this year. No need to read the judges races (which don't always have a Republican as the better candidate). If I'm abandoning any "good" candidates out there, tough. Leave that dispicable party.

[Lurker]

Well you keep insisting you're not a liberal.

L

[NeoCaveman]

Bell's worried about coming in fourth.

I hope that happens.

[rustbucket]

Bell, coming off a solid debate performance ...

??? It was the first time I'd seen Bell speak. He came off sounding like a deadpan robot. If he'd done some robot moves on stage, it would have probably given him away.

[weegee]

I still allege that Chris Bell is more racist than Kinky.

Kinky participated in desegregation protests (as did Charlton Heston, who was smeared by Michael Moore as a racist).

Chris Bell lost his congressional seat to a black Democrat in a primary race.

Chris Bell blames Tom DeLay (and was responsible for filing the ethics charge against DeLay). Bell alledges that DeLay supported redistricting to "get more Republicans" in office. Redistricting was done because it is supposed to be done based on census figures for the state. Rubber stamping the previous districts was not proper (and doing it in the wake of 9-11 was not prudent; attention was diverted).

So Bell's district was redrawn to reflect minority population trends in Texas and the goal was to assist minority representation in Congress. So Bell was huffy because he lost his seat to a black man.

Additionally, I have received a lengthy cut and paste of "pro-Bell" articles, jokes, and propaganda from a lib who put my name on her mailing (I don't even think she personally knows me). There was a rant from Molly Ivins in there that talked about the players in this race...

Lots of people are voting for Kinky for the fun of it, but the thin-skinned Texas Jew reacted badly to questions about his recent racist remarks. He first became defensive and then petulant -- sort of, if you can't take a joke, to hell with you. The politically incorrect humor didn't work because it wasn't funny ... in fact, it was painfully bad. Strayhorn seemed over-prepped and over-amped. As Texas political guru Bob Armstrong said, she talked 40 mph, with gusts up to 70.

So that leaves us with two Protestant white guys again. Just FYI, the percentage of minority citizens working for the state government has gone down steadily since Ann Richards.

Rick Perry and Chris Bell: Compare and contrast. Rick Perry has really good hair. Chris Bell has everything else.

Who's the racist again?? To me, it is the dems who are looking at skin color and heritage rather than the worth of a man and his ideas.

[Night Hides Not]

--Willie Nelson to head the Texas Rangers

Couldn't do any worse than Tom Hicks...

[weegee]

There were too few cameras, only one news agency represented (and only one network permitted to carry the debate).

It was a biased debate. I'm waiting for the next one which will never come.

[weegee]

Kinky has been to both the Bush and Clinton White House.

Lionel Hampton was a lifelong Republican (and active in the party at least through 1992) yet he still went to the White House to receive an award that Bubba was bestowing.

[weegee]

I'll go ahead and repost that email I got from the Chris Bell fan (minus the bulk ofMolly Ivin's article because of syndicate and extreme barf reasons)

---

Don't foget Chris Bell took on Tom Delay!!
By Molly Ivins

THE NOT-SO-GREAT TEXAS GUBERNATORIAL DEBATE

AUSTIN, Texas -- I sacrificed an hour Friday evening to watch the Texas gubernatorial debate on your behalf, since I knew none of you would do it....

[snip]

Bell picked up a $1 million pledge that night from John O'Quinn, the Houston trial lawyer. The trial lawyers have almost blown a good shot here -- all it takes is one more vote than 36 percent, there is no run-off, this is winner-take-all, sudden death. Polls show two out of three Texas voters ready to vote against Perry. The Democrats have a base vote around 40 percent. I think it would be a real tragedy to throw this one away, and you know what is tripping us up? We think we can't win.

We're in a real "why try, why work, why contribute?" spiral, believing our guy doesn't have a chance. Nonsense. You couldn't ask for an easier win.


.............NEWS FLASH;
Local talk radio host Dan Patrick — conservative, Christian and the Republican nominee for Texas State Senate District 7 — announced a month ago that if (when) elected, his first legislative priority will be to introduce a pro-life trigger law in anticipation of a possible Supreme Court revision.

A trigger law would serve to prevent costly litigation and delays in implementation of a pro-life environment in Texas. Upon reversal of the 1973 Supreme Court decision, abortions would immediately be banned with a trigger law. “When the Supreme Court puts a stop to the madness, I want Texas to be a state that protects life. With a Texas trigger law, we can save lives immediately,” Patrick said.

Of the four major candidates, Democrat Chris Bell’s response to Patrick’s announcement was probably the least surprising. Plain and simple, Bell is a liberal Democrat, through and through:

“I would veto that,” Bell told The Associated Press on Friday. “I think the majority of Texans are still pro-choice.”

Incumbent Republican Governor Rick Perry, who is facing a lot of unrest and even opposition from Republican voters this fall, was somewhat less straightforward in his response to the proposed trigger law.

“It’s hard to comment on a specific bill that hasn’t even been written,” said [Perry campaign] spokesman Robert Black. “The governor would certainly want to see the bill.”

To my knowledge, Carole Keeton Strayhorn’s camp has not yet made any comments on the subject, other than the brief sentence in the AP article that she, like Perry, opposes abortion “except in instances of rape, incest or to protect the life of the mother.” The only problem with this is that Strayhorn’s politics have tended to wander through the years, from her liberal Democrat roots to a more populist version of a Republican stance to often straddling the fence, carefully avoiding any revealing policy statements. A recent Houston Chronicle bit of research tried to chronicle her political party switches and wavering stances on various issues. On the abortion issue, this is what they found:

· 1985: “She refused to discuss her position on abortion.” — Austin American-Statesman
“She has been pro-choice on abortion, although she now says she opposes abortion personally and would rule out tax dollars for its practice, except in cases of rape incest or where the mother’s life is threatened.” — Christian Science Monitor

· 1990s: Signed pledges for the Republican National Coalition for Life to oppose abortion and told Greater Austin Right to Life that she supported overturning the Supreme Court decision allowing abortions.

· Now: “I have made my position very clear. As a mama and a grandmama, I believe in the sanctity of life, but I understand that there are those heartbreaking situations where heartbreaking decisions have to be made.”

So in other words, who knows what Grandma really thinks?

The real surprising response was the one offered just this week by independent candidate Kinky Friedman, who is surprisingly still very much in the gubernatorial race at this point. Friedman is publicly pro-choice, which is affirmed by his campaign website. However, in a radio interview with Dan Patrick on Wednesday afternoon, Kinky was asked what he would do if (1) he were elected governor, and (2) Patrick’s proposed trigger law legislation were passed. Friedman’s first reaction was simply, “Well, I’m running for governor, not to play God.” But when pressed by Patrick as to whether he would sign or veto such a law, Friedman said that he would sign it.

Dear Frenz
I proclaim that after watching the Governor's debate on Friday, I decided I am going to put my energy into getting Chris Bell elected as Governor of Texas.

As you know, I used to sing in Kinky Friedman's band in the 1970's and as he is a fun entertainer, he is not prepared to be the governor of Texas. Voting for him was a fun notion I had entertained, but after listening to Chris Bell, it was as a clear Bell's ideas coincide with mine.

Here is Chris Bell's website.
http://www.chrisbell.com

also
Read the Kinky Ruminator article
http://www.ruminator.com/content/040501.html
10 reasons why Republicans should vote for Kinky

(1) Kinky has run for office in the past as a Republican,

(2) Kinky voted for Bush/Cheney in 2004,

(3) Kinky's interview with Ruminator magazine confirms that he supported Bush's Middle East foreign policy,

(4) Kinky's public voting records confirm he was mistaken when he said he voted for Gore in 2000,

(5) Kinky hasn't voted for a Democrat in any election at least from 1994 to 2004,

(6) Kinky wants to take time during the school day for prayers in schools,

(7) Kinky wants to post the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms,

(8) Kinky is not obsessed with political correctness,

(9) Kinky knows how to deal with illegal aliens from Mexico, and

(10) Kinky’s immigration policy of hiring Mexican generals to police our border is a great idea that John McCain has endorsed.

During the debate when asked, Carole Keeton Strayhorn did not know the name of the Presdient of Mexico, and I really believe the Governor of Texas should be aquainted with the politics of Mexico.

I have been bouncing back and forth between Kinky and Bell, but I have made my choice and I hope you will vote for Bell or at least visit his site and see what he has to say..

[TexasCajun]

Didn't Chris Bell have a drunk driving incident in Houston once upon a time?