NOTE: this blog is no longer active as of 12/07. New one: http://blog.kirchhof.com
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur.
Wed, 25 Oct 2006
Hell Hath No Fury...
...like a political junkie scorned.
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.
Go and vote for Chris Bell if you'd like to see change in Texas
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.
r
Another addendum, Thursday: Welcome fellow Burnt Orange
Report readers!
Again: Chris Bell's website. Go
and drop a couple of bucks on him.
Posted at 19:39 by Randy Kirchhof [Permalink]
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