Kinky - on the offense

I think people are finally waking up to who Kinky Friedman really is. He's a colorful, sometimes funny, snarky, wisecracking musician/comedian/author who happens to be running for governor of Texas right now, but some of the people who have embraced him just for his weirdness factor are starting to reconsider actually voting for him.

Some recent quotes:

In a CNBC interview regarding what should be done with sexual predators:
"Throw them in prison and throw away the key and make them listen to a Negro talking to himself," Friedman said in the CNBC interview. He also called Negro a "charming word."

Whether or not “negro” is a charming word or not is irrelevant. There’s no way to say this isn’t a racist comment. You can substitute any word you like and he is still making a derogatory comment about a certain group of people that are generally perceived as a "race". Actually, he was quoting himself:

As a general rule of thumb, however, if you thought of New York as a Negro talking to himself and of California as a VCR with nothing to put in, you wouldn't be too far off the mark.
Friedman, Kinky (1993), A case of Lone Star. New York (Wings Books), 379

Then there was the recent “crackhead” comment about the Katrina refugees:

“The musicians and artists have mostly moved back to New Orleans now. The crackheads and the thugs have decided to stay. They want to stay here. I think they got their hustle on, and we need to get ours”

It prompted a catty but amusing response from the Democrat camp:

"A former cokehead should have more sympathy for crackheads," said Heather Guntert, a spokeswoman for Democrat Chris Bell. To respond to the long documented drug use, Kinky gave his usual response, "I quit doing cocaine when Bob Marley fell out of my left nostril."

Well, we may as well surface a few more quotes where some more groups are more or less insulted. These aren't new any more than the "negro talking" quote:

Middle-aged WASPS, pimps
Golf is the only opportunity that middle-aged Wasps have to dress up like a pimp.
Friedman, Kinky (1993), When the cat's away. New York (Wings Books), 477

Women
Every time you see a beautiful woman, just remember, somebody got tired of her.
Friedman, Kinky (1993), When the cat's away. New York (Wings Books), 476

Women
I'd often felt that a man without a woman was like a neck without a pain.
Friedman, Kinky (1993), Greenwich Killing Time. New York (Wings Books), 24

Women
On the whole, I preferred cats to women because cats seldom if ever used the word "relationship".
Friedman, Kinky (1993), Greenwich Killing Time. New York (Wings Books), 135

Pretty much everybody, except cats
Cats are a fairly right-wing group politically. They are lovers of the status quo. They don't like anything that might represent change. They hate marriages, divorces, moving days, graduations, bar mitzvahs, bill collectors, rug shampooners, painters, plumbers, electricians, television repairmen, out-call masseuses, Jehovah's Witnesses, and just about everything else, most of which I agree with them about.
Friedman, Kinky (1993), When the cat's away. New York (Wings Books), 481

Lawyers
Cats, as a rule, don't like lawyers. They have great insight into human character.
Friedman, Kinky (1993), Greenwich Killing Time. New York (Wings Books), 48

Lawyers
There are no good lawyers. There may be lady wrestlers and Catholic universities. There may be military intelligence. But a good lawyer is a contradiction in terms.
Friedman, Kinky (1993), Greenwich Killing Time. New York (Wings Books), 12

The Irish
They say God created whiskey to keep the Irish from taking over the world.
Friedman, Kinky (1993), Greenwich Killing Time. New York (Wings Books), 216

Non-smokers who would like to keep living
You have to work at it if you want to be a good smoker. Especially today with all the nonsmoking world constantly harassing you.
Friedman, Kinky (1993), A case of Lone Star. New York (Wings Books), 245

Nice to see that cats are spared. Cats catch a lot of hell and disrespect, usually.

He wants non-denominational prayer back in the schools and the Ten Commandmants on the courthouse lawns because “you gotta believe in something”. Well… just because you think you gotta believe in something doesn’t mean you just toss something or other on public property and believe in it. Maybe we should stick a totem pole up there, or a swastika. Before you believe in something you need to know what it means and why you believe in it, and why you’ve erected this thing on public (government) property. If it’s not just artwork, I need more justification than that. It’s good government that is sacred and needs to be separated from mythology – both have various benefits but one is real, the other is fantasy. “If you don’t love Jesus, go to Hell” he has been recently quoted as saying, and if you’ve seen Texas legend Billy Joe Shaver (a close friend and tour buddy of Kinky’s, see photo) you know that he’s just repeating the exact phrase that Billy Joe says all the time. Billy Joe is a Christian and reformed hell-raiser and can say whatever the heck he wants. He’s a musician and not running for office. I don’t plan on going to hell, and I love Billy Joe Shaver.

Kinky has a no-kill animal shelter, and I think it's a great effort and great charity. In fact, if he really wasn't serious about being elected governor, he should have given all that money he spent on his campaign and the lawyers he hates, and given it to the dogs... and cats of course.

Kinky is fine with me -- not for governor though. I'm voting for the boring, uncharismatic Democrat, who won't be elected either (partly because of Kinky).

[LINK - Houston Chron] [LINK - Burnt Orange Report]

EDIT 9/22: A commentor has left evidence of a newly surfaced Kinkyism. This one is a joke about bowling balls looking like ni**er eggs. Unbelievable! good grief!!. The commentor viewed it as a positive. Here's the link, that includes audio.

Kinky's response to all the journalists and bloggers commenting on his remarks in a negative way is that they are "slimy cockroaches". Cockroaches are not slimy. Racists are slimy.

- Austin - Texas - Kinky -