Saturday, September 30, 2006

Celebrating My Birthday With Kinky And Bell

Today was my birthday, and I celebrated it by going to see Chris Bell and Kinky Friedman speak at the Health Care Forum on the campus of the University of Texas at Arlington. The forum was sponsored by AARP, National Health Policy Council, and National Coalition on Health Care. All of the candidates for governor were invited, but Perry was a no-show [obviously afraid to be on the same stage as Kinky and Bell] and Grandma Strayhorn could not be there until after 4:00pm.

Outside Texas Hall, where the forum was being held, there were three candidate tables set up - for Kinky Friedman, Grandma, and Judge Bill Moody [Democratic candidate for the Texas Supreme Court]. Judge Moody and his wife were manning their own table, shaking hands and passing out literature. They were getting a moderate amount of traffic, and I took the opportunity to meet Judge Moody and his wife. They were both VERY nice people and we had a good little chat. The only thing I regret is that I had a camera with me and didn't think to get a photo with them. Judge Moody is the candidate walking across Texas to meet the voters.

The Kinky Friedman table was buzzing with people buying T-shirts, caps, and buttons. It quickly became obvious that there were a lot of Kinky supporters attending the forum. My daughter braved the crowd and bought me a birthday Kinky T-shirt. I love it, and can't wait to wear it.

I felt sorry for the two women at the Strayhorn table. We were out there about 15 minutes, and I never saw a single person stop by their table. Doesn't look like Grandma has a lot of support in this area.

Going into the forum, I saw Anna of the blog Annatopia. Anna and I don't support the same candidate for governor, but she and her husband are exceptionally nice people, and I really enjoyed chatting with her for a few minutes.

The forum started with a short speech by Patricia Schoeni, National Director of the National Coalition on Health Care. She submitted the following facts for our consideration:

a) Texas has more people uninsured for health care than any other state in the Union.
b) 5.5 million people, 24% of the population, are uninsured in the state of Texas.
c) The United States spends twice as much on health care as any other industrialized nation, and yet is the only industrialized nation that does not have universal coverage for health care.
d) The U.S. ranks near the bottom of the industrialized nations in many health care areas, such as infant mortality.
e) Sub-standard health care is the third largest killer in this country.

Then the candidates spoke. Chris Bell went first, and was immediately followed by Kinky Friedman. Each was given 30 minutes. Bell came out to polite applause from the crowd, even the Kinky supporters applauded. But when Kinky came out, the applause was louder and more raucus. It looked like about 2/3 of the crowd were Kinky supporters.

Bell got the crowd's attention and enthusiastic applause from everyone, when he stated that he was in favor of universal health care coverage. Then he dashed our hopes by saying that it was a problem that must be solved on the federal level. All he could do as governor was use his "bully pulpit" to encourage the federal government to solve the problem.

Kinky, however, had a plan to cover all Texans with health insurance. He wants to institute a Texas version of Minnesota's health care coverage program - Minnesota Care. Under this program, a 1% surcharge would be levied on medical procedures, hospitals, and insurance companies. This would raise about $1.5 billion, which would be used to help all Texans purchase health care coverage.

After the forum, Kinky stayed around and chatted with his supporters. Pictures were taken and will be posted when they are developed. I was able to chat with Kinky, and his right-hand man, Little Jewford. Kinky was also nice enough to sign my copy of "Armadillos & Old Lace".

All things considered, it was a great birthday!

10 comments:

  1. This was a great event. Did you attend? I ask because your discussion of the forum is bizarre to say the least. Not only was your discussion of Kinky peculiarly biased in his favor, but your discussion of Strayhorn's supporters is equally biased against her (and I'm not even a fan of her's, but she definitely had a good flow of people at her table whenever I happened to walk by).

    Frankly, I came away with the impression of Kinky that this event was more an opportunity for him to gather footage for his movie than for him to promote a campaign for governor.

    For those not intoxicated on the Kinky-Flavored-Kool-Aid, there is a fact-base discussion of this same forum by Anna here.

    Everyone (and I literally mean all 14 or the 14 people I talked to afterward) with an interest and background in health care walked away knowing that Bell was the only person with real solutions and not just one liners.

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  2. Yes, I am a supporter of Kinky. I've made no secret of that. But I still did not hear of a plan by Bell to cover all Texans with health insurance.

    I stand by what I wrote.

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  3. Jobsanger,

    I know about 15 or 20 Kinky supporters (and about half of them are registered to vote). Whenever we talk politics, none of my Kinky-supporting friends have any specific views on any other races (actually, one friend says he will vote mainly Republican elsewhere on the ballot and one other says she will vote for all Democrats except Bell, but all the others have no thoughts on other races).

    You seem to be the only Kinky supporter I can find whose interest extends beyond the governor's race. Based on your experience with Kinky supporters, will they vote, and if so, how will they vote?

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  4. moodyfan -

    You just hit on the most important question of this election. Will they show up at the polls? I wish I knew. Kinky himself says if his supporters go to the polls, he will win, and if they don't, Perry will win. I agree with this.

    Who will they vote for down-ballot? I was hoping they would vote Democratic in the other races, but after all the attacks on Kinky by the Democrats, I now doubt that will happen. Too bad.

    I guess you could tell from my post, but I have also become a Bill Moody fan. Wouldn't he look great in the robes of a justice of the Texas Supreme Court?

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  5. hey jobsanger -
    i'm just popping by to wish you a happy belated birthday.

    plus, i wanted to see what you wrote about the forum.

    i agree that the place was packed with kinky supporters. he definitely got his people out. i guess though, that i was disappointed with what i perceive to be a lack of substance in his address yesterday.

    he told a lot of jokes during his intro, and i guess i expected more policy. even the staff of the event was disappointed that he didn't bring more wonkishness to the forum.

    that being said, the minnesota care idea was intriuging. i will give him credit for at least throwing that out. but was i the only one who noticed his "chris bell's idea is a good one" mantra?

    i actually tried to ask kinky a question after the forum and he flipped out on me. i know you like the guy - and honestly i do agree with some of the things he's saying - but after what happened yesterday i have to say my mind is now closed to him. i'm sorry - i don't want to rain on your parade, but i was really disappointed by the way he treated me yesterday.

    all that aside - it was wonderful to see you and your daughter! i am glad that you had a geat birthday and wish you many, many more!

    -anna

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  6. Anna -

    Thanks for the birthday wishes. It means a lot to me.

    As for the forum, I did hear Kinky say he liked Bell's idea of a Commissioner of Insurance. I'm proud that my candidate is not so close-minded that he cannot recognize a good idea by one of his opponents.

    I'm not completely on board with the Minnesota Care idea, but I think it's a good starting place for a discussion of how to cover all Texans.

    I'm sorry that your time with Kinky was not as pleasant and enjoyable as mine was.

    Did you get a chance to meet Judge Moody? That little guy really impressed me yesterday.

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  7. no, i didn't get to meet moody because i was already on the clock at the forum. however, the monkey got to meet him and walked away very impressed. he even bought a tshirt. =)

    -anna

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  8. Jobsanger,

    I'm disappointed that some Kinky fans (I couldn't tell if this group included you or not) blame only Democrats for Kinky's recent attention in the media (apparently assuming that Strayhorn's supporters, Perry's supporters, the scandal-loving media, and Kinky himself played no role in this).

    I have spoken with both Bell and Kinky about this, and they both expressed nothing but respect for one another.

    Kinky said that the comments are what the comments are and if those comments offend anyone, then those people who are offended should select another candidate. Kinky also said he did not see anyone "behind" this issue which he said he's anticipated making the news from day-one of his campaign. He also said that if we think this was big news, we should just wait till the newspapers all simultaneously jump on his comments about Baptists.

    Bell said that he cannot support Kinky's comments but that he doubts Kinky is a racist, and Bell even referred to Kinky as someone he'd become friends with over the course of the campaign.

    At any rate, if you think only Democrats have it out for Kinky, you might want to search freerepublic.com for discussions of Kinky Friedman. Now and again, someone will voice some support for the man and immediately the knives will come out attacking Kinky on everything from his position on issues to his ethnicity to his physical appearance.

    Also, I don't suppose that you read Democratic Underground much anymore, but I just read some thoughts there which made a sensible argument that Kinky may have been behind the recent re-disclosure of comments which have drawn so much media attention.

    Here's a thought: if you still support Moody and Radnofsky and Van Os and the rest, you might want to discuss this matter with some of your fellow Kinky fans before you guys make any downballot decisions.

    In the governor's race, I'm voting for whichever candidate besides Perry is standing highest in the polls on election day.

    I suspect it will be Bell, but no matter whether it's Bell or Kinky or Strayhorn, that's who I'll be voting for. At least that's my current plan, but when I hear about either Strayhorn supporters or Kinky supporters voting Republican downballot, it makes me wonder if I can get comfortable voting for Strayhorn or Kinky. I'm not immune to the argument about being judged by the company you keep.

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  9. You guys are badly missing the point with your chatter about "whose to blame" for the media coverage of Kinky's politically incorrect comments!

    This is the BEST THING that has happened to Kinky since the campaign began.

    Take a deep breath and answer three questions:

    1. Since when do political candidates not want wall-to-wall media coverage like Kinky has been getting over these politically incorrect comments?

    2. Picture in your mind all of the people who will vote against Kinky because of these politically incorrect comments, and then ask yourself were these people ultimately going to vote for Kinky or for Bell?

    3. Picture in your mind all of the people whose response to all of this media has been "hell, yeah, I'm voting for Kinky!" and then ask yourself if these "hell, yeah" people for the de-wussification of Texas are a bigger voter group than those folks who are offended by a politically incorrect joke (and keep in mind that the politically correct folks were probably going to vote for Bell anyway just like they "almost" voted for Nader but then voted for Chris-Bell-Clone Al Gore)?

    Also, if you read In the Pink, you will see that Laura Stromberg has personally confirmed that High Times magazine reprinted most of the politically incorrect statements that people are getting fussy about two months ago and High Times reprinted those statements with Kinky’s own permission.

    No one is "out to get Kinky" by revealing these politically incorrect statements. Kinky is the one who is revealing these statements. Kinky is doing this to make a point about the de-wussification of Texas and the war against political correctness. Trust me, Kinky wins ten votes for every vote he loses over this issue.

    Don't seek to "blame" people for releasing politically incorrect statements which Kinky expressly authorized for re-publication just two months ago!

    Rejoice, because we're going to win!

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