Common Sense

I’ve been uber slow getting back into blogging. We’re one month from election day and I barely can keep up with what’s going on. This was the worst time to get sidetracked.

It’s been nearly impossible to miss all the buzz around Kinky Friedman. I’m not talking about the sycophantic media fawning which has followed him around the last two years since he announced his intention to run for governor (I swear to God, that was actually pissing me off more than the lame, too-often-repeated jokes). We’re talking full-on questioning about whether he is racist.

I mean, if George Allen can lose in Virginia for calling someone “Macaca”, I don’t see why Kinky would win for busting out with the n-word. Sure he did it 20 years ago, but it wasn’t funny then, either. He’s claiming it was satire; that he’s an equal oppurtunity offender. Satire is supposed to serve a purpose other than just being offensive.

In a way, this is the Kinky campaign in microcosm. Everything he’s said and done in this campaign so far has been to offend our political sensibilities and to try and be humorous. But he has failed. He’s merely offended most of us and he’s not really funny. We can see that in the way he, and his supporters, have lashed out at those who have brought up these quotes and asked questions. When it got beyond the punchline into reality, he’s all hat and no balls.

Unfortunately, the joke is on the people who have donated time and money to get him elected.

Obviously, every other political blog in Texas has been covering this for almost two weeks. I’m just throwing two cents in because I felt obligated to. I have the platform to do so, therefore I have the responsibility to do so. Somehow, I don’t think Kinky understands that concept; that having the megaphone doesn’t equal a right to do for yourself, but the responsibility to do for those who don’t have a voice.

I’ve been uber slow getting back into blogging. We’re one month from election day and I barely can keep up with what’s going on. This was the worst time to get sidetracked.

It’s been nearly impossible to miss all the buzz around Kinky Friedman. I’m not talking about the sycophantic media fawning which has followed him around the last two years since he announced his intention to run for governor (I swear to God, that was actually pissing me off more than the lame, too-often-repeated jokes). We’re talking full-on questioning about whether he is racist.

I mean, if George Allen can lose in Virginia for calling someone “Macaca”, I don’t see why Kinky would win for busting out with the n-word. Sure he did it 20 years ago, but it wasn’t funny then, either. He’s claiming it was satire; that he’s an equal oppurtunity offender. Satire is supposed to serve a purpose other than just being offensive.

In a way, this is the Kinky campaign in microcosm. Everything he’s said and done in this campaign so far has been to offend our political sensibilities and to try and be humorous. But he has failed. He’s merely offended most of us and he’s not really funny. We can see that in the way he, and his supporters, have lashed out at those who have brought up these quotes and asked questions. When it got beyond the punchline into reality, he’s all hat and no balls.

Unfortunately, the joke is on the people who have donated time and money to get him elected.

Obviously, every other political blog in Texas has been covering this for almost two weeks. I’m just throwing two cents in because I felt obligated to. I have the platform to do so, therefore I have the responsibility to do so. Somehow, I don’t think Kinky understands that concept; that having the megaphone doesn’t equal a right to do for yourself, but the responsibility to do for those who don’t have a voice.