Kinky and Dave: Together again for the first time
11/02/06 12:30 PM
By ED BARK
David Letterman clearly is more charmed by Kinky Friedman than Bill O'Reilly.
"If I were in Texas, I'd vote for you," Letterman tells him in an interview to be broadcast Friday (Nov. 3) on CBS' Late Show. "I hope you come back (to the show) as governor."
"Well, I hope so, too," says Friedman. "And may the God of your choice bless you, David."
Friedman's longshot independent campaign to unseat Republican Gov. Rick Perry will be determined by poll turnout Tuesday, the candidate says. "Last time they spent 100 million bucks to drive 71% of Texans away from the polls. Only 29% voted in the last governor's race."
"Wow, that's amazing, isn't it?" Letterman replies.
"It's pathetic. So if we can get that number up in the 40s, I'm going to be the governor of Texas."
Friedman later draws applause by telling Letterman that decriminalizing marijuana is a high priority.
"That's a rather conservative view," he says. "I mean, any FBI or DEA agent would agree with that, that we've lost the war on drugs and Texas has so many people in its prisons right now that we need to get some of them out, the non-violent ones out so we can put the bad guys (in), the politicians and the pedophiles, you know."
Letterman again laughs appreciatively. Friedman is anything but a dullard, but would his act really play in the governor's mansion? In a telephone interview Thursday, Hardball host Chris Matthews wondered about that.
"If he somewhere between Pat Paulsen and the real thing?" Matthews asked. "The cigar, the hat, you know, shtick."
But Jesse Ventura was "a cartoon character" in Matthews' view, "and he won (the Minnesota governorship). "So where do you draw the line?"
Not that he expects Friedman to pull off a stunning upset. At best, "I definitely think he's harmless," said Matthews, who also has a weekly Sunday public affairs show (11:30 a.m. locally on NBC5).
Matthews is far more enamored of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the rising star Democrat who's been hinting at a presidential campaign while also hawking his new autobiography.
"I think it's great. I hope he runs," Matthews said.
Obama "may be the best writing politician we've ever had," he enthused. "He writes with texture and honesty. It's such rich writing ... He's honest as hell. He doesn't b.s. you."
Still, "I don't see whites voting for blacks that much," Matthews said. "But the weird American exception right now is the superstar."
Matthews equates Obama with the likes of Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods, whose popularity transcends race. But in the end, "it's the old folks that vote, not the kids," he said. "And they vote conservative."
He fully intends to keep casting ballots, despite some who say that journalists shouldn't.
"I'm a citizen of this country," Matthews said. "I think we've got to stop this idea that we're wearing chastity belts."
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