Parlor Spider...Step In, Little Fly

Insightful thoughts and/or rants from atop the soapbox from one who wishes to share the "right" opinion with everyone.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Expected and Unexpected Losers


It was not hard to predict that Kinky would lose his bid to become governor of Texas. Kinky Friedman, whose books included titles such as "They Don't Make Jews Like Jesus No More," finished fourth in a four-person race to be the top banana in the state of Texas. Having friends like Jimmy Buffett and Willie Nelson might play big in Austin, but not necessarily in the rest of "Big Awl" country. I can see the Texas (though not originally) Bush clan being amused but hardly willing to vote for a guy whose bumper sticker shouted "Why the Hell Not?" Still, it was a definite change from business as usual politics. You almost have to root for a guy who was not pro-choice or pro-life but pro-football. Even Jesse Ventura couldn't help get the kinkster anywhere near the top. I guess one-liners aren't good as a steady diet on the campaign trail.
I was surprised, however, to find out that Jim Ryun had been unseated in the 2nd Congressional District in the state of Kansas. I believe he had served five terms in office as a conservative Republican before finally being defeated yesterday by Nancy Bayda, a person whom he defeated two years ago by fifteen percentage points. Swept out in a wave of anti-Bush, anti-Iraq, anti-something, Ryun is now relegated to history. A genuinely nice man (he even talked to me...twice!) of religious conviction, he must be proof that Kansas is not as conservative as it once was, despite the evolution/intelligent design furor that has raged there during the last year.
Kinky is gone and probably soon forgotten, but Jim Ryun will always be a part of my memory as long as his autographed picture remains posted here and my son Ryun still comes to see me once in a while.

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