| Thursday night, the film "Along Came Kinky" debuts at a 7:30pm showing at the Paramount in downtown Austin as part of the SXSW Film Festival. I learned about it from reading the following article from KXAN: Hartstein certainly had an interesting person for his subject matter. Kinky Friedman was running for governor clad in a cowboy hat, boots and chomping a cigar. Friedman had many reasons to take on the task, and Hartstein wanted to show that in his documentary. "If we keep nominating the same generic Democrat, we're going to keep having the same generic Democratic loss," Kinky Friedman says now, gnawing the cigar. Friedman felt it was time to change the face of Texas politics. He mentioned people like Molly Ivons and Ann Richards, and how the Democratic Party of Texas had not been excited since then. He was hoping with his campaign, he could garner a grassroots base and get Texas Democrats "excited again." "For a while, the Democrats were looking like a pale imitation of the Republican party," said Friedman. Friedman hoped to ride a rising wave of populism he had noticed and take the Governor's Mansion by storm.
We all know that the "wave of populsim" didn't happen. The reasons for why, however -- and I haven't seen the film so this is based on the article discussion -- are dismissed as if they are trivial in the article, which is quite disappointing, though not surprising. The article goes on to talk about the "polished political machines" Friedman hated so much, and how they hurt his campaign: The main problem was some racist accusations on the campaign trail that came from Friedman's earlier acts, which poked fun at racists. Many of the most public accusations were lobbed by Democrats who were angry at him for joining the race, and who admitted privately that they knew Kinky wasn't being racist. They just found it an easy to way to use his words out of context to bolster their own candidate, who they felt was endangered by Kinky's presence in the race. "The racist accusations were so out of line," said Stromberg. "Kinky Friedman is many things, and some of them are not pretty, but a racist he is not." Friedman admitted: "Looking back, I probably should have done a race speech like Obama did. That's the difference between being a human being and being a politician."
Here was my reaction to reading that: - I never admitted that Kinky wasn't being racist, and I'm the one who released the tapes and led the accusations. So I don't know who these Democrats are who were privately admitting whatever, but it's nice to see that the media is still just as happy to buy into the Kinky Friedman spin-machine now as it was back then.
I was the person who actually put his name to any of this stuff -- me, KT, and this site, Burnt Orange Report. That none of us were interviewed -- either for this article or for the documentary in question -- speaks volumes about how much bored, lazy reporters and bored, lazy movie-makers love to use Friedman (and how he, in turn, likes to use them) to sell their story, with complete disregard of the facts.
- President Obama's race speech was incredibly inspiring. It confronted the idea of race head on, with truth and compassion. It was thoughtful, contemplative, moving, and honest. It was the very best way a human being could have confronted the issue.
But Friedman labels that speech the work of a "politician." Which I think says everything about him. For Friedman, the racist jokes he made (you can go back and listen to them here) were his way of "being a human." And here I thought Obama was the one who was being a human by speaking with maturity and respect on the matter.
- I posted those clips because they gave historical context to other racial remarks he'd made:
- There was his remark in November 2005 that making a prisoner "listen to a Negro talk to himself" was punishment. (Source)
- And when asked about those remarks by Gardner Selby in April 2007, Friedman just said that he said he used the word "Negro" because it was more poetic than saying "drug addict." As if those two should be interchangeable. (Source)
- There was his description of Hurricane Katrina evacuees as "thugs and crackeads" in early September 2006. (Source)
Without that context, sure -- I can understand how posting the audio of a comedy show from 1980 would be seen as pure politics. But it wasn't. It was providing context to recent remarks made by a candidate for Governor. That Friedman didn't take himself seriously -- he repeatedly boasted that he "had no 'specific plans' when it came to the issues in Texas" (Source) -- was his own arrogance. Just because he didn't care doesn't mean that we're not supposed to.
- There were plenty of people who thought that Friedman's remarks were unacceptable. Newspapers wrote editorials. (Source) And more and more newspapers wrote editorials. (Source) Even the wonderfully sharp-tongued Molly Ivins admitted that Friedman was only in the game so long because of free media from bored reporters. (Source)
I'm not surprised that the Kinky Friedman marketing machine continues to churn out his promotional material. Unlike Friedman, I'm not naive -- I know money talks, and there is a market for those 12.43% of Texans that just think of politics as a joke, and nothing more. Kinky Friedman is the poster child for political apathy -- and apparently apathy sells. Good on him for marketing himself and making a successful life for himself. But when he enters the public forum, then there are more important things than making a buck and getting a laugh. The public forum of a political campaign is a place where ideas are discussed and celebrated. Punchlines have their place, and humor can be a valuable tool for any message, but comedy can't replace commitment. Jokes aren't enough for votes. I doubt the movie will care about any of that, though. It's out to make money, and money I'm sure it will make. But: - Will it interview any of the former Friedman supporters who admit now that they were extremely frustrated with his campaign?
- Will it talk about how Friedman became a different candidate when Dean Barkley, Jesse Ventura's former campaign manager, came down to run his race? (A statement I have heard many former Friedman staffers admit to me on numerous occassions)
- Will it discuss race at all, with any substance whatsoever, or dismiss it as "smears from political machines" the way Friedman did in his joke? (And yes, I read his book about the campaign -- it took me all of a half hour while sitting inside of Book People over Christmas break.]
My guess is -- probably not. Jokes are great for a fun documentary -- and I'm sure "Along Came Kinky" will have all kinds of cool stories about the campaign. [7:20pm - I should add, albeit late, that I haven't seen the film and am happy to be proven wrong about this]. Will the movie, much like the man, dismiss the substance in favor of the flash? Or will it discuss the issues honestly? I'm curious to see how they will treat someone who once said: "All the little issues you're talking about are all (expletive)," he said. "It's all (expletives)."
What a human being. |
