If your workplace is
safe; if your children go to school rather than being forced into
labor; if
you are paid a living wage, including overtime; if you enjoy a
40-hour week
and you are allowed to join a union to protect your rights -- you
can thank
liberals. If your food is not poisoned and your water is drinkable
-- you can
thank liberals. If your parents are eligible for Medicare and Social
Security,
so they can grow old in dignity without bankrupting your family -- you can thank
liberals. If our rivers are getting cleaner and our air isn't black
with pollution;
if our wilderness is protected and our countryside is still green -- you can
thank liberals. If people of all races can share the same public
facilities;
if everyone has the right to vote; if couples fall in love and marry
regardless
of race; if we have finally begun to transcend a segregated society
-- you can
thank liberals. Progressive innovations like those and so many
others were achieved
by long, difficult struggles against entrenched power. What defined
conservatism,
and conservatives, was their opposition to every one of those
advances. The
country we know and love today was built by those victories for
liberalism --
with the support of the American people.
Joe Conason, "Big Lies: The Right-Wing Propaganda Machine and How It
Distorts
the Truth"
Well, all of the Kinky-fallout emails have been answered; things
are quiet around the ol' blog. Ratio was about 90% Democrats saying
"hell yeh", 5% Republicans saying "you idiot", and 5% Kinksters saying
"come back to your real home. The Church Of Kinky Still Loves You."
Traffic's back down to a nice moderate normality, where it
belongs. Chris Bell has seen about $20k in new contributions in the
last three days; I hope that some of that was due to the thingy over
here.
Me and the boy had from-scratch Fettuccine Alfredo with blackened
chicken breast, thin-shaved garlic and scallions for dinner, and, by
golly, there's a "House" marathon on the USA Network tonight. I think
that I'll just make a double espresso, run a load of dishes, put on
the house coat and watch TV for a few hours.
BTW, this Wednesday night at Threadgill's is a benefit for Darcy
Deaville, and it is going to be musically incandescent.
There'll be amazing talent there. You should come by. It'll be
one of the very best nights of music of the year. Promise.
I hope that you and yours are well. Ryan and I certainly are; 'tis
a fine Sunday evening. Happy daylight savings thingy day.
This
is kind of neat — if and only if you were a fan of
ST-TNG. Everyone else: run, run like the wind.
It's a kind of "look-back through twenty years and do an episode
review" - by Wil Wheaton, the actor who played Wesley Crusher. It's
wonderfully snarky and insider-ish, and really funny if you were there too.
Well, the post below has shattered all records for traffic over
here, and it's still on fire today. Most of the traffic is coming from
forwarded emails now. And there have been a lot of jumps to
the Bell
site. Thanks to Burnt Orange.
There was a third exchange of email in the series, but it really
doesn't add anything substantive to the conversation; just more of the
same talking points. Mostly I explained my view that the "Internet is
the work of Satan" comment was damaging to them because it was uttered
in the context of the question "Why don't you research your facts
better?" What was telling to me about that exchange was the Bush-like
contempt for facts, not the comment itself. Take both interpretations
together, and you have a rock-dumb thing to say in a publicly
televised political debate. The boat started taking on water at that
moment.
My final paragraph to them simply said that this is not and has
never been about Kinky. Kinky is not the subject here. The Governor's
seat is the subject here. And the only capital crime in a political
campaign is taking your eyes off of the prize. Punishment is
immediate, irrevocable, and terminal.
I supported Kinky because I saw him as the best vehicle for getting
Perry out of the governor's mansion first and foremost. He no longer
has that distinction, and he no longer has my support. The Kinky clan
is on a crusade for Kinky; fine, they're expected to be. It's not a
cult of personality for me, and never was. It's bloodsport to
me; he didn't deliver.
I just sent this to the Kinky campaign, in response to one of their
get-out-the-vote emails:
To the Campaign and The Candidate:
Kinky will not be the next governor of Texas. You are aware of the
polls; he's in single digits in some of the newer ones and still
falling like a rock. Deservedly so.
He had my vote until his abysmal performance in the debate. He
articulated no policy and no numbers and no plan, other than
testy sound bites. And he capped it that night with his asinine
statement about the Internet being the "work of Satan." Well in one
sense, it is - from your perspective. Your fervent net.supporters feel
betrayed, and are turning away from your foolishness in
droves.
Now I see that he voted
at the Kerrville court house - for Lamar Smith and Kay
Bailey Hutchinson. And then he went outside and said, and I quote,
“It was a time for change. I’m very
excited.”
Change?? Holy Mother of God.
Listen folks, I
was a true believer. I've played benefits for Kinky. I knew
about the campaign months before it was publicly announced. I (among
others) suggested him for the keynote addresses at more than one music
festival. I've blogged about him. I talked him up. I made phone calls
on his behalf. I "saved myself" for the campaign and signed the
petition.
He had two years to get his act together and study the issues and
formulate policy. He didn't. And he does not deserve my vote.
'How hard can it be?' indeed. Apparently too hard for the
Kinkster.
If the Kinky campaign wants to make a difference and be more than a
laughingstock, it can pull out of the race now and endorse
Chris Bell -- and the then-former candidate can spend the last two
weeks of the season campaigning his ass off for Chris Bell.
Because that is where your support is going now, as it evaporates from
your campaign. I know; I'm actively helping that to happen; I am
watching the polls and listening to people, and I am seeing an
enormous
number of your once-supporters doing the same thing -- including your
core constituency: virtually every musician that I know.
I'd say "better luck next time", but "next time" ain't gonna
happen.
You let us down.
Randy Kirchhof
I bet that I don't get a Christmas Card this year.
ADDENDUM, 10:00 PM: I received a detailed personal reply from a
Kinky staffer (which I won't publish here) and responded point-by-point
to him. Here is that response:
Hi [withheld] -
Thanks for taking the time to respond on such a personal level. It is
very much to your credit. But there is not a "large and growing" group
of supporters going to the polls for you. Kinky's support -- both
financial and popular -- is drying up and falling away. That train is
gone. In my world, you are losing supporters in droves, daily.
The "large and growing" area in this race consists of disillusioned
liberal people defecting from Kinky and supporting Bell, who to his
credit is reaching out to them.
I will try not to take up much more of your time, but this is
important. I
will agree that Kinky's candidacy has done a service for
Texas, and exactly that which you state: he has mobilized an enormous
number of formerly disinterested voters. Unfortunately, as a well
tuned-in and seasoned political junkie who is out on the streets every
day, I am here to tell you that they are leaving you now. The only
thing that I can do as a committed and active citizen is to try to
convince them to go to the most viable candidate with whom I can
generally agree.
These are my views, as published, and will remain so:
You say that a vote for Chris Bell is a vote for the "two party
system." Sorry, dudes, you lost that talking point forever at noon on
Tuesday when Kinky announced that he voted for Kay Hutchinson and
Lamar
Smith. Your guy voted for a one-party system. I'm an
independent. I worked for your candidacy. Don't presume to tell me
what
my vote represents. A vote for Kinky at this late date is a
vote for the same one-party system that we have now: GoodHair
McDubya and the Tom Delay Clown Car. Rick Perry would be ecstatic
to
see Kinky up in the high teens again. (But hey - look on the bright
side. At least you don't have to deal with any attack ads, right?)
You're seeing the latest polls; it would not surprise me to see
you in single digits in all of them by early week. Hell, Perry is
scared enough of your defectors that he launched an attack campaign on
Strayhorn
today to try to get back every possible Republican vote that
he
can. Your buddy Kay Bailey's latest internal poll has Bell within five
points of Perry -- and you guys in single digits. That's hot off the
presses today.
This race is absolutely in play now - but not for your
candidate.
The Kinky Friedman campaign is over. I, and many like me, are
not
going to waste our vote. The stakes are too high. My vote is
not for a system. It is for the viable candidate who will best
represent my interests, and above all, it is a vote to rid this state
of the odious status quo. Unlike your candidate's vote.
Which brings me to my final point. A man who votes for Kay
Bailey
Hutchinson and Lamar Smith is not a man who in any way represents my
concerns. The "Satan" comment was one thing, and represents Kinky
badly
shooting himself in the foot. The Internet sustained your
campaign, and it was a stupid and offensive thing to say to your core
supporters. In making his actual votes public, he shot himself
in the head. That simple statement, once it makes the rounds,
will cost you virtually all of your core support. It is public
political suicide, nothing more and nothing less.
It is the single most boneheaded thing that I've ever seen someone on
a
campaign stump do, and it is seen as traitorous by everyone
that I've talked to who knows about it. I am certainly going to do
everything that I can to make sure that it is well publicized. You
do
realize that your foundational support in this race has been with
educated and connected young liberals, as well as older liberal
musicians and those that respect their views? Kinky just kicked the
whole lot of us squarely in the teeth. I take it as a personal
insult,
after I gave what I gave to your campaign. Your new core support is...
what? The old grumpy libertarian West Texas rancher vote? Cool. I can
cede that block to you. I like those guys; they're harmless
enough. They're perfect for you.
Why don't you people do an informal internal poll of your own, within
the campaign staffers, and see how people feel about it? I know
several
of you. And I wouldn't be surprised if half of your staff have
already decided to change their votes to Bell.
Really smart move there, Kinky, pissing off thousands of
politically passionate liberals who have web logs two weeks before the
election. After your concession speech at 7:01 PM on election day, you
can go over and hit the free buffet at Kay Bailey's afterparty,
leaving
behind your now doubly-disillusioned former supporters. Nice work
there, ace. Proud?
Kinky has lost. Kinky says he wants change? Let him pull out,
endorse Bell now, and show that he truly wants change
in our state.
Thanks again for your kind reply. Feel free to pass this exchange all
the way up the pipeline to Barkley, with my compliments. Since Kinky
thinks that the Internet is the work of Satan, we need not bother
him
with it.
And, hey, think of how much money I saved you folks in post-electoral
analysis today.
I don't know how old this is - I may be embarrassing myself with
something that you've known about for 15 years or something. I don't
care. I just found it.
British Member of Parliament George Galloway testified before
Congress. And he gave us a very good summary of this so-called "War On
Terrrrr" idiocy that I've been railing against for four years now.
This should be required viewing for every citizen of this country.
Rick Perry: 37.5%
Chris Bell: 26.2%
Kinky: 13.2%
Keeton-McClellan-Rylander-Strayhorn-er-Keeton: 13%
I've supported the Kinky campaign, enthusiastically and from the
start as a vehicle to get issues to the forefront that otherwise
would be ignored. In that context, he has run a very successful
campaign. And I think that he would make an entertaining if
ineffective governor (and "ineffective" is not a bad thing here; it's
much preferable to "incompetent and self serving," which is our
current state.) I was a true believer, and for the most part I've not
been disappointed in my chosen candidate.
But it's gut-check time: Kinky Can Not Win. It's over.
Happily, though, the Texas Democratic Party has finally stepped up
to the plate after a decade of tossing clowns into the shark tank and
fielded a competent and savvy
candidate that can go toe-to-toe with the Tom Delay/Dubya machine
in Texas.
Chris Bell has the momentum, the money, and the burgeoning name
recognition now to take it all, and he has my support. If half of
Kinky's camp and half of Grandma's camp give their vote to
Bell—and that
is doable—Texas will have a competent and progressive
governor who can start to disassemble the good 'ol boy corruption
machine, even if outnumbered by vestigial obstructionist yahoos in
every other elected office.
And really; stop for a minute and think. If a Katrina hits Houston,
would you rather have a witty musician/writer or an experienced
public policy administrator at the helm?
Don't get me wrong. I love Kinky and I believe that he has done a
tremendous service to this state by simply running. He turned it into
a race for the first time since Ann Richards. I've done
benefits for him, I've blogged about him, I've talked him up. If I thought
that he had a chance, I'd still be riding that train. But Kinky's shot
is
over—in no small part due to his abysmal
performance in the debate—and the other good guy, a genuinely
competent and proven candidate, has a real chance to get in there
and represent the interests of the citizens who don't have a voice in
their current government.
I urge all of you to think about it. If you're passionate about
Kinky, cool. Vote for Kinky. He is a smart, great guy who has
revitalized the better portion of our disenfranchised electorate. Good
for him. You can be a part of an amusing political footnote this
election year, and we can all do yet another cycle of GoodHair McDubya
and the Tom Delay Players.
However, if you're passionate about political change in this
state, I'd like to suggest that there is an excellent alternative
candidate available to you, one who actually has a shot. One who might
end up representing your views and make a difference. That
candidate is Chris Bell.
So much that could've been written in the last couple of weeks, but
I just didn't manage to find the time. I guess that I've been getting
things arranged properly in this little brainpan of mine. It's a time
of retooling, and rethinking, and a metaphorical time of harvest and
of plowing under, and a time to jettison habits and ways of thinking
that are no longer useful. But also, I've just been crazy busy, trying
to shoot the middle, be a dad, and accomplish my responsibilities.
The audio production work that I do is still a joy, and the quality
of the music lately has been superb. Eliza Gilkison, Jimmy LaFave,
Mingo Fishtrap, Grupo Fantasma. South Austin Jug Band is on their game as
usual. Leon Russell was quirky; Oliver Mtukudzi was magical. It is
just a really great life right now; a lot of mutual respect with folks
who have dedicated their lives to making music, and it's utterly
fulfilling. Threadgill's is getting ready to shut down for the season,
so I am trying to enjoy things as much as possible now; we won't ramp
back up until early March. I'll spend the winter working with them on
making it a better system, organizing and repairing wear and tear, and
helping around the restaurant.
We managed to get a wonderful CD from American Graveyard
shipped a month ago. I brought them together with Stuart Sullivan, an
old colleague and a world-class recording engineer that I've known for
more than twenty years. The result is a very, very strong release,
primarily recorded direct-to-stereo in one long twelve hour
session. (We got nine good tracks mastered out of that; that's a
lot. The Beatles on their best day did five songs
recording in that manner... heh.) So anyway, I am really proud of them
and the work that they did; they really stepped up to the plate and
delivered. I think that they are destined to be a successful group of
musicians; they are excellent writers with a unique feel, and you
should support them if you like their work.
Life remains lifelike. The kind woman that I was dating for the
bulk of the summer and I have parted ways with much mutual affection,
kindness, and clarity. It was not unforeseen, but that doesn't make it
any less bittersweet. My life is not for everyone; it never has been,
and to ask another person to fold into it is not something that I
do. A person just has to kind of already be there. But I've benefited
from the time that we spent together, and have come to re-realize that
taking care of the day to day realities of living can be among the
most fulfilling parts of life. My long dormant homemaking skills have
seen a recent resurgence, for example. It's a good thing.
Parenthood remains delightful, and confusing, and confounding and
exasperating and fun. Ryan's twelve now, and I am sure that if
he could get a cybernetic brain implant that would allow him to
directly interface to the computer, he'd jump at the chance. But we're
getting out of the house a bit more now, and our time together is
good. I make him pick up these things called "books"—they're
like a static set of computer screens that you can carry around with
you—and he "reads" them. There's a place called the "library" that
has a bunch of them, and we visit it every week. We joke and have fun
and do homework and try to navigate the casual brutalities that comprise
Middle School, together.
You know, when I think of all of the personal changes of the last
year, it is simply astounding. When I think of all of the changes of
the last four years, I don't really know how I came through it
at all. But I did. It's been a long period of extreme stresses;
massive,
tectonic changes in emotion and lifestyle and livelihood and
outlook and attitude. Huge life-affirming victories and gut-ripping
frustrations and soul-crushing failures. Just this awesome collection
of conflicts and resolutions and, well, life, in all of its myriad
glories. I wouldn't have it any other way. But a steady diet of
hurricane-force living will make a person tired after a while.
Happily, my son came to live with me permanently a year ago this
week. But the changes associated with that (and unrelated changes even
larger) have been a near-constant since that time. It is only now
that I am seeing the waters begin to calm a bit. I am
finally—finally—able to look a bit ahead, beyond
the next crisis.
And you know what? It's all okay; the long storm has been
weathered, and my boat is still afloat. I can see the future that I
want to have and navigate towards it; I can awake to the world with
the knowledge that the world is a pretty neat place to awake to. And
this is especially good, because this world needs our help right now,
desperately.
I am doing some of the best work of my life at the moment, and it's
all getting better a little at a time. I have a feeling of balance and
wholeness that has been missing for quite a long time, and I feel a
time of creativity and accomplishment dawning.
Let's all get our strength back and turn this thing
around. There's not much time; I'll write more on that stuff in a day
or two.
