And you thought the Governator was bad? Texas’s race is shaping up to be a real battle of the nicknames:
Writer and musician Kinky Friedman, who once sang “They Ain’t Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore,” may include the name by which he is best known on the ballot to choose Texas’ next governor in November, the state’s top election official said on Monday.
Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams said Friedman’s nickname was not a slogan and thus did not violate state law. His name will appear on election ballots as Richard “Kinky” Friedman.
But Williams, a Republican, said Carole Keeton Strayhorn, who is also running as an independent against incumbent Republican Gov. Rick Perry, cannot include “Grandma” as a nickname on the ballot.
Strayhorn’s campaign advertising calls her “One Tough Grandma.”
Well, say what you will, but Kinky is certainly no Dubya:
“I support gay marriage,” Friedman said in 2005. “I believe they have a right to be as miserable as the rest of us.”
Let’s hear it for equality!