Bell needs to Re Frame as a Vote for Change' cuz those are the votes

[Melissa G]

Kinky is getting from him. AND DAGNABIT IT NEEDS TO REALLY BE TRUE!!!

Had to bite my tongue at work today with another customer who said we needed to vote for Kinky 'cuz we needed a change. Well, we need a change, but we need a good and thoughtful, experienced change which i hope like hell Bell can give us. Kinky is Not a reasonable solution to our problem.

There is a deep desire to 'Vote the Rascals Out' that is driving this independent wave. God knows we need a change. Bell needs to Step in and Step up and show that he can lead this wave for change.

Some DUer who the Bell camp might listen to please tell them!

[RufusEarl]

1. Hold out for hope!

I got it figured this way. Me thinks that both Kinky and Strayhorn will pull votes from Good hair, and thats going to let Gov. Bell slide right into the governor's chair.

[Melissa G]

2. I wish that were true but my current experience is that they are both

pulling from lots of my Dem friends and relations. GRRRRR!!!
That's why i am saying Bell needs to lead the reform charge!

[RufusEarl]

3. I'm sure you've tried to reason,

with friends and family and i know how frustrating that can be. Bell needs to hit the road and speak to any and everyone that'll listen, i heard him speak last fall before the primary and i was convinced he'd make a great governor.

I guess we'll just have to work harder, although i don't know what else i could do for Texas democrats. I give them my money my time and my vote, but we need to stay positive as hard as that is at times.

[Czolgosz]

5. I send friends leaning toward Kinky or Strayhorn to these blogs:

http://stopkinky.blogspot.com/

http://anyonebutc4n3p.blogspot.com/

Both blogs make the case that no progressive (or even moderate) voter should consider Kinky or Strayhorn, respectively.

[Melissa G]

6. Great resources! i have been passing them around to friends

and family..Customers are a bit trickier to get the info to but i may manage yet!

Chris' website really needs to show his change reform position though cuz what folks really DON"T want is more of the same!

Thanks, Czolgosz!

[RufusEarl]

8. Thanks for the links, i haven't seen them.

Living in Texas i don't have many friends that vote for Dem's anymore, so i'm trying to convince the reds to vote for anyone other the gov. good hair.

I'm trying to play both ends against the middle,and get voters that would never vote for Bell to throw their vote away.

I can only hope they fall for my game, are just stay home on election day.

[Czolgosz]

9. I sometimes send GOP voters with doubts about Perry to these blogs

For GOP voters with doubts about Perry but who would never consider Bell but who might consider Strayhorn:

http://hangingshingle.blogspot.com/
http://realrepublicansforstrayhorn.blogspot.com/
http://texansforgrandmastrayhorn.blogspot.com/

For GOP voters with doubts about Perry but who would never consider Bell but who might consider Kinky:

http://www.isodes.blogspot.com/
http://kinkyisawesome.blogspot.com/
http://crapomatic.blogspot.com/

[Czolgosz]

4. Kinky and Strayhorn on the ballot will have one interesting effect which

hasn't been discussed much.

KBH can try to duck BAR and avoid a debate debacle as a result of the mismatch from a twinkie versus a candidate with a vice-like grip on the issues because BAR has no one to debate if KBH ducks out.

Perry may have to debate because if he skips the debate, Bell, Kinky, and Strayhorn will just hold the debate without him. If he skips the debate, he's a loser afraid of competition and there is no one to try to spin his failures as governor. If he comes to the debate, we get a battle of competing ideas, which greatly favors Bell. Perhaps having Kinky in the race will even have the effect of raising the viewership for the debates because who doesn't want to watch a shameless ham with absolutely no filter between his pot-addled brain and his cigar-laden mouth (not to mention a bitchy old lady who's demonstrated a keen fondness for half-true cheap shots)?

As people become aware that this is a race between three Republicans and a Democrat, votes will come home to Bell.

[Melissa G]

7. LOL! It should make for some good TV, with or without Goodhair! n/t

[Czolgosz]

10. Anyone know what the freepers think of Perry, c4n3p, and Kinky? I suspect

they condemn Perry as a "moderate", c4n3p as a "traiter", and Kinky as a "non-Christian".

[muse]

11. here's a blogpost about kinky that makes me unhappy

http://jobsanger.blogspot.com/2006/06/hurrah-kinkys-on-ballot.html

These bloggers were at our state convention blogging from the convention floor. They support all of our state slate except Bell.

It's frustrating, to put it mildly.

We are doomed to four more years of Bell unless these Democratic voters who are supporting Kinky snap out of it before Nov. 7th and get a bigger picture of what the next four years will be like.

[NoPasaran]

12. I think this relates to what Molly Ivins calls "having some Elvis"

Let's face it, Chris Bell is a nice guy but he has about much Elvis as a high school guidance counselor. I think we need to accept that there will be a certain bloc of voters who are attracted to Friedman by the Elvis factor and who simply cannot be reasoned with to change their mind about the governor's race. That's fine with me if they support the rest of our ticket. And we've got plenty of ELvis on the ticket: Hank Gilbert---plenty of ELvis; David Van Os---more Elvis than even Elvis had; Fred Head---okay, not so much...:boring:

Chris Bell probably can win with 40 percent of the vote. The rest of our candidates are going to need majorities. I honestly believe that the Kinky voters can provide the margins we need. Some of his voters CAN BE turned to support Bell... but let's not alienate those who can't by calling them idiots.

[Czolgosz]

13. The Elvis factor works best in an election without much discussion of the

issues (e.g., the California recall election which progressed on a shortened time frame and with so many candidates that in depth issue coverage was wanting). We need to do what we can to make this election more about issues and less about whether candidates will appear on the ballot with their "brand-name" nicknames.

What issues? Among the four major candidates:

1. Bell is the only candidate who has endorsed and voted for other Democrats over the past decade,

2. Bell is the only candidate who didn't vote for Bush/Cheney,

3. Bell is the only candidate who hasn't flip-flopped with regard to his political party,

4. Bell is the only candidate who supports raising the minimum wage,

5. Bell is the only candidate who respects the First Amendment's separation of church and state,

6. Bell is the only candidate who would stop the practice where Texas actively misinforms women about their reproductive health,

7. Bell is the only candidate who hasn't been a cheerleader for Bush's Iraq foreign policy debacle,

8. Bell is the only candidate who did anything to bring down the DeLay empire of corruption,

9. Bell is the only candidate who has successfully fought lobbyist abuses and the improper influence of unregulated political action committee money on public policy, and

10. Bell is the only candidate who favors raising teacher pay $6,000 to bring Texas teacher pay up to the national average.

[Melissa G]

14. Hey muse, I think it refers to having a blank slate to project upon

You know like a first date when you are deluded about someone 'cuz you insist on projecting all your hopes and dreams on that person..
No matter that you hate the smell of smoke and he smokes cigars..Once he is in office..he will quit and start to smell good.
No matter that he has a history of not giving a bleep about politics to even muster enough energy to vote..Once he gets in office he will be an immediate policy wonk and make amazingly astute decisions.
No matter that he has never held political office or administrated anything of import. Once we elect him CEO of our state he will hit the the ground running listening to all the right people making all the right decions..
Ah yes, projection...That is what makes first dates and selling bridges from London so appealing.

[Czolgosz]

15. That is the saddest blog post I have seen in a long time. This poor guy

explains his support for Kinky as follows:

"Why do I support Kinky? For me, it's a matter of trust....Of the four candidates, Kinky is the one I trust.... This year I'm voting for someone I trust. It's been a long time since I could say that."

This is especially sad for two reasons.

First, I can't believe that someone who holds himself out as a political activist could say "it's been a long time since I could say ... I'm voting for someone I trust." How can this guy remain a so-called political activist if he has fallen into the routine practice of supporting candidates he does not trust? If I felt that way, I hope I'd know it was time to support a new group of candidates. Moreover, if I was a candidate who campaigned with this guys in the past, that statement would just break my heart.

Second, if this guy is a Democrat and he trusts Kinky, I'm afraid that he's got a lot more disappointment coming his way in the near future. I don't like Perry and I dislike Strayhorn, and I can name a hundred ways in which their promises have fallen flat and their statements have proved to be untrue. Still, as low and Perry and Strayhorn are and as often as they fill their promises with half-truths and weasel words, there are still not very many occasions where they have been caught in a straight up lie.

Kinky is a straight up liar. He lied to the people of Texas generally and lied to Democrats in particular. Moreover, his lie was politically motivated. Everybody knows that Kinky has run for office in the past as a Republican so Democrats rightly have cause to ask Kinky why he should be considered an "independent." If Kinky says he's no longer a Republican, Democrats have the right to ask Kinky when he has voted for the Democratic candidates we have all worked for, voted for, and hoped for. Whenever Democrats asked Kinky these questions, Kinky was always very quick to say that he voted for Ann Richards and Al Gore. Those were lies. Kinky did not vote for Gore or Richards, and we know this because Kinky's public voting records reflect that he didn't even bother to vote when Gore and Richards needed his vote (Kinky also didn't bother to vote when the Texas constitutional ban on civil unions was on the ballot either so his support for that community is also nothing more than mere lip service).

Kinky has tried to create the impression that he's "independent" by telling the people of Texas that he'd voted for Bush/Cheney in 2004 but that he'd also voted for Richards and Gore. Well, Kinky's voting records confirm that he was apparently telling the truth when he said he had voted for Bush/Cheney, but Kinky was lying when he told us that he had voted for Gore and Richards. This is a lie Kinky has told repeatedly, and this lie goes to the very heart of Kinky's claim to be an "independent" candidate.



I feel nothing but sadness when I read about a self-proclaimed political activist who otherwise leans toward Democratic candidates say that he supports Kinky because Kinky is the one he "trusts."