Kinky Friedman might have come out of a juicer if Donald Trump’s populism, Ron Paul’s unreformed libertarianism, Jesse Ventura’s midlevel star power, and Ross Perot’s Texas twang had been put in a blender.
The singer- singer, gentleman of letters, adopted child of the Lone Star State, and kind of major political contender died on June 27 at the age of 79.
Unscrupulous individuals looking for the most important social indicators of the current political climate could do worse than to get a long-term look at the Texas presidential election of 2006. That month, incumbent Republican Gov. Chris Bell, a Democrat challenger, Carole Keeton Strayhorn, and the now renowned Friedman faced fierce opposition from Rick Perry.  ,
Born in Chicago in 1944 to counselor Thomas Friedman and his wife, Minnie, Richard Samet Friedman ( as he was then known ) probably had much conscious memory of his home: While he was a pretty little infant, his parents, who were Jewish, pulled up bets for the Texas Hill Country. They then established Echo Hill Ranch, a 266-acre station for kids that, which still has operation today. He spoke of his culture with sincere gratitude.
Perry managed to remain in residence at the Texas Governor’s Mansion, but Strayhorn and Friedman, between them, amassed 30.5 % of the vote. And, in a larger, more serious method, the do n’t- provide- a- damned outsider politics of Friedman have extremely supplanted the play- it- healthy insider politics of Perry and his ilk. Can anyone question Friedman’s ability to perform better than the extremely subpar presidential hopeful Perry afterwards did if he had apparently won the presidency and felt compelled to make a idealistic White House operate?  ,
Kinky Friedman had forged a career out of giving American dogmas and phrases a trenchant teasing long before he gave National democratic politics a pleasant kick in the pants. In his capacity as a cheeky, intentionally offensive country- rock singer- songwriter, Friedman sent up both his times and his chosen genre.  ,
In a 2012 interview with journalist Simon Marks, Friedman stated,” I was bar mitzvahed in Houston and went to Hebrew school. ” I was raised as a Jew in Texas, even though people on the East Coast do n’t think that’s possible”. He added,” It’s a good thing to grow up in a minority. … It also helps to have a good eye for the world.
Friedman did stints at the University of Texas, from which he received a bachelor’s degree in 1966, and in the Peace Corps. Then he found an artistic outlet for his naturally acerbic personality: country music that was sometimes poetic, frequently profane, and surprisingly popular. In his prime in the 1970s, Friedman recorded songs with titles like” Arsehole from El Paso” and” Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in the Bed,” which included lines undoubtedly written with the sole intention of inciting vitriol from feminists:” You’d better occupy the kitchen/ Liberate the sink.”
By the 1980s, Friedman had begun the process of diversifying his repertoire, which might be expected to last for a short while. He became an unlikely specialist in quasi- comic, semi- autobiographical mystery novels, including Greenwich Killing Time ( 1986 ), Elvis, Jesus and Coca- Cola ( 1993 ), and Armadillos and Old Lace ( 1994 ), and his views on modern life were given unfiltered expression in a column for Texas Monthly. As much as Fran Lebowitz, Friedman became less known for any single work of art, literary or otherwise, than for incarnating a certain disaffected comic persona.
Friedman’s 2006 gubernatorial campaign melded actual policy ideas ( an inimitable Texas-style stew that included legalizing marijuana and beefing up border security ) with the more general goal of underscoring, through his presence, the flaws of the politicians around him. It was this attitude of cynical comic candor that Friedman brought to his. During a debate with his fellow candidates, Friedman defined “politics” this way:”‘ Poli’ means more than one]and ] ‘ ticks’ are blood- sucking parasites”, he said. And, defending his outre language in past public utterances, he said,” If you ai n’t offending somebody, you ai n’t getting anything done”. That Perry’s rejoinder to Friedman, something about how “words matter”, sounds so lame is a sign of how Friedman- style bluntness has become the coin of the realm.
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However, his pugnaciousness and political incorrectness should not be his entire legacy: Entirely unfaked was his commitment to keeping his parents ‘ camp, which centered on providing for his dogs, one of whom he gave the name Winston Randolph Spencer Churchill, in a name that he named Winston Randolph Spencer. ( Entirely unfaked, too, was his admiration, frequently repeated, for the greatest of all British prime ministers. )
I had the pleasure of speaking with Friedman by phone in 2015 while he was promoting his new album, The Loneliest Man I Ever Met. His politics were, as ever, ecumenical. ” I would n’t mind voting for, of the group, Ben Carson, Trump, and Bernie Sanders”, he told me back then. ” You’ve got three men who I know are not corrupt”. Other than that, though, he was not optimistic. ” They’re the Crips and the Bloods, the Republicans and Democrats”, he said. Additionally, I like the idea of having elected officials serve only one term in office and one sentence in prison.
The Washington Examiner magazine’s contributing writer is Peter Tonguette.  ,
