Monday, August 7, 2017

Kinky Friedman, Following An Excellent Documentary About Him, Makes Comments That May Irk Dems and Independents

(from 2009)

Leave it to the always colorful Kinky Friedman - he of the controversial songs and quips - to make an announcement that may draw more attention than the documentary itself. And that would be a shame because the documentary is quite good.
But I am getting ahead of myself. Let's go through the w's
Who: Kinky Friedman, former leader of Kinky Friedman and the Jewboys (with song titles like "They Don't Make Jews Like Jesus Anymore), author of mysteries and memoirs (I interviewed him   before for his book, "You Can Lead a Politician to Water, But You Can't Make Him Think: Ten Commandments for Texas Politics," operator of a no-kill animal rescue shelter, among other things. He jokes in the documentary that he is cursed by being multi-talented - he is so so at a bunch of things instead of being really good at just one thing, he said.
What: The World Premiere of a good thorough documentary Along Came Kinky.
When: About five hours ago
Where: In Austin as part of its South by Southwest Film Festival
Why: Why not?
How: That's not really a W now is it and Texas already has enough W's (I'm looking at you, George) without H being a wanna-be W.
Wait, where was I? Focus, Scott, focus, I know you missed dinner while waiting in line for three hours after missing the earlier, other documentary (link) but you are a professional writer. Ok.
So let me set the stage, literally (as Kinky and the director spoke on stage after the screening).
About two weeks ago I arrive in Austin, just in time to participate in the South by Southwest Film, Music and Interactive Festivals.
Then I read in this piece in the Austin newspaper that one of the films premiering during the festival is about Kinky Friedman's attempt in 2006 to become the Texas governor, with the help of another independent candidate, Jesse Ventura.
I email the publicist who helped me set up the email interview with Kinky for his first book about politics and ask for help getting back in touch with Kinky and/or the director of the documentary. No luck on Kinky (no surprise there) but I get connected with the director of the documentary. As he was introduced by the head of the film festival, David is a "bright young filmmaker" and with this, his first project, he has a bright future.
I do an interview with the director and one of my questions concerns the fact the documentary will be somewhat predictable (I compared it to the movie Recount) in that some may not want to see it because they know it will end badly for those rooting for a different ending this time.
(I mention this as a bit of foreshadowing.)
The documentary is at times hilarious (boy, did people wear some weird clothes in the 60s and 70s, as seen in the footage of some of Kinky's performances - he even wore pink boots in one shot) and thoughtful (Kinky says at one point he thinks the reasons he and others like mystery novels is because they provide something often lacking in our own lives, namely the resolving of issues.)
I was still in Maryland during the 2006 campaign so I will leave it to other reviewers (I'll post links to those I find) to note what all is new regarding the coverage of the election. There are, though, some amusing scenes regarding the preparation for the sole debate featuring the candidates for governor.
Kinky's already bumpy road to become governor - the film notes controversies sparked by the unearthing of some decades old comments he made that sounds bigoted (Kinky says he's not bigoted but rather a humorist fighting bigotry) - hit a major roadblock in that debate when he pretty much blew it.
His press secretary tells the camera that Kinky said "I brought my 'c' game" and that pretty much summed it up.
Kinky's chances of becoming governor required something difficult, if not impossible, namely getting non-voters to vote. The better the turnout, the higher his odds of winning. Not only did voter turnout not increase but it actually dropped three percentage. Those statistics are noted at the end of the film.
But I have glossed over, intentionally, one major detail: Kinky ran as an independent. In his speeches, in the documentary, in his interview with me, he criticized both the Republican and the Democratic parties as being corrupted and specifically attacked them from being permanently damaged by lobbyists.
Also, in his books, in the documentary, and in our interview, he also took pains to note that while he shares the views of some Democrats on some issues (he is against the death penalty, he is for gay rights, saying Gays should have the right to be as miserable in relationships as heterosexuals) he also has some views classified as Republican (notably returning prayer in schools.)
That's all well and good but the reality is - as his campaign helped demonstrate - it's almost impossible (despite some exceptions like Ventura) for an independent to be elected governor.
Which brings me to the comments after the movie ended. About eight questions were taken from the audience.
One person asked, essentially, What does a 2010 run look like for Kinky now that grass-roots movement is "hip." Kinky alluded to some political wisdom from Texas writer Jim Hightower, who Kinky said he not only considers a "guru" but whom he would make an adviser to his campaign.
(Technically, Kinky refused to state clearly that he is running again but he also made comments that sure made it sound like he was running. Also, the movie states at the end that Kinky IS running again.)
Hightower, Kinky said, believes Democrats plus independents equals success. In other words it is only with the support of both Democrats and independents that Texas will get a governor who is not Republican.
Hightower also said Democrats have not truly been excited about any political leader since former governor Ann Richards left office.

(Incidentally my only criticisms of the documentary is that there was little, if any, reference to my two favorite female Texans (not including my family) namely Richards and the late great columnist Molly Ivins. I thought Ivins would be mentioned for coining the slogan for Kinky's campaign, namely "Why the hell not?"

While ducking one question, Kinky mentioned Richards and Ivins as two of his heroes, along with former Congresswoman Barbara Jordan. 

One audience member picked up on what Kinky had said about Hightower and pressed him: Does this mean he is going to run as a Democrat? How does that fit with his prior indictment of political parties and lobbyists?

Kinky gave a non-answer answer but I think that person's reaction, implying a bit of betrayal and hypocrisy by Kinky may hurt him in a big way. One can run as an independent or as a Democrat but if you run attacking political parties and then run as part a political party.. well, that way lies problems.

So, in a nutshell, Kinky's comments about running again but this time as a Democrat may sting for some of those in the movie who noted his independent status as their reason for getting involved in his campaign and for collecting signatures.

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