Watch the debates

One big source of my longing for Texas is:

Kinky Friedman as the next governor of Texas.

I watched the Texas Gubernatorial debates last night. While I can't even vote (I live in Colorado), I have a keen interest in the process and outcome of this election. 95% of my family and friends live in Texas, and the future of the greatest state in the union is at stake.

The format was interesting enough, but a somewhat disjointed. Some of the questions were just plain stupid and some engineered directly for politicians, some to deliberately throw off Kinky.

I'm glad that Kinky's running. I only wish I could be down there campaigning, deep in the heart of Texas.

Here is my breakdown of the candidates:

Kinky
Kinky was the only real human up there, and the only real Texan. He was quick to point out that the three other candidates had a combined 89 years of political experience between them, whereas he wants to throw the rascals out. I think he did quite well considering the limited and controlled atmosphere (15 seconds to answer a question? What is this, UIL?) He only used a few canned statements, but showed real anger and gave us great Texas imagery when talking about the border. Though I don't agree that "The internet is the work of Satan", my dad has said the exact same thing - my dad is politically conservative, and a real cowboy.

Bell
While Chris Bell did impress me with his intelligence and would definitely fit within the political system, he has the personality of a wet paper towel. Bell put me off by referring to all three of the other candidates as "Republicans" (Kinky is about as republican as the piece of lint I just pulled out of my pocket).

Strayhorn
She reminds me of just about every baby-boomer Texas woman I've known in my life - Big hair, great salmon colored jacket. She gave very rehearsed answers, complete flubs on many questions. She claims she's not an political insider, but she's run for goddamned near every position in the state (not to mention that her son is Scott McClellan the former white house press secretary) She took Perry to task on the Trans-Texas corridor, but looked aghast when the issue was brought up that she originally was in favor.

Perry
Greedy, slimy, politician with magic numbers. Period.