Manuel Rosales

You may not have heard of him, but as December 3 nears, his name is going to be seen almost daily in U.S. newspapers.

Rosales is the challenger to Hugo Chavez in the Venezuelan Presidential Election scheduled for the 3rd of December.

I don't know much about him, but he's got to be a better choice than Chavez, who seems to want to be the next Castro. Rosales may have a chance of winning as long as Jimmy Carter isn't involved in validating the election results this time.

I won't be surprised if Rosales is the target of an assassination attempt before the election. Hugo isn't going to give up his stardom easily, and the Cubans he rented from Castro for the (supposedly rigged) recall election a couple of years ago would come in handy if Rosales gets to be too popular.

If Rosales survives and wins the election, you can expect to hear accusations that the U.S. (CIA) was involved in rigging the elections. Sadly, most of those accusations will probably come from those Americans who hate Bush - you know, leftists.

Texas Gubernatorial Debate

Photo by Smiley N. Pool, AP

I watched the debate last night and I'm still not really sure of who to vote for. Many of the questions asked by the panel seemed to be of the "gotcha" variety (especially the trivia questions), and didn't really leave me feeling informed about the candidates.

My critique of the candidates:

Chris Bell reminded me of a Baptist preacher - very neat in appearance, but essentially uninteresting in what he had to say. All of his comments and answers were standard lines from the politicians' handbook, designed to placate the voters, but just vague enough to protect him from criticism about his views.

His style of rhetoric seems, in my opinion, to be typical of the Democrats nowadays. They just don't seem to have any concrete solutions for the problems we face today. They say they will solve the problems, but they don't say how.

Kinky Friedman should concentrate on standing still when he's speaking from behind a podium instead of shifting his weight and rocking from side to side. He didn't seem to have the self-assurance of the other candidates, but he was the only one who would speak honestly about his views.

The other candidates are long-time politicians and are careful to follow the rules of Political Correctness. That bothers me.

Rick Perry came across as very slick. He is probably the most accomplished of the group when it comes to speaking before an audience, but I got the impression that the answers he gave were intended to simply impress the voters and calculated to be unverifiable - in other words, safe political rhetoric. Still, his demeanor was impressive and consistent with someone with strong leadership skills.

A different hair style might be a good idea.


Carole Strayhorn needs to avoid gesticulating with her hands so much - it's distractive. She was more convincing in her answers than the other candidates and demonstrated a superior knowledge of financial issues. She obviously did her homework on most of the other issues that were discussed, too.

She was prepared to challenge Perry on topics such as the Trans-Texas Corridor with a well-reasoned criticism of the project.


At this point, I'm inclined to think that Perry will win, and Strayhorn will come in as a fairly close second. Kinky will get a surprising number of votes that will put him in third place, and Bell will be a distant fourth. I'm not making any predictions, though. There's still time for the candidates to change a lot of minds.

Kinky, in my opinion, would make a big difference as Governor, mainly because he is not beholden to any special interest groups. I also like his flamboyant style and his irreverence for sacred cows. I just haven't decided yet if that would be good or bad for Texas. I guess it would all depend on how he applied himself in office.

Strayhorn, also in my opinion, would also make a big difference as Governor by promoting a no-nonsense fiscal policy and opposing special interests that are contrary to the interests of the people of Texas.

The Republican and Democrat candidates offer politics-as-usual, which may not be all that bad as far as I know, but I tend to think that we could do better.

The Next Texas Governor

Carol Strayhorn(I), Chris Bell(D), Rick Perry(R), Kinky Friedman(I). Who to vote for?

The pundits say Perry will win easily, Bell will lose completely, and Strayhorn and Friedman will make a good showing (but still lose).

I wouldn't be too quick to predict what Texas voters will do, but I'll bet that the two Independent candidates will have the (D)'s and (R)'s biting their nails until the final tally.

Rick Perry, in spite of his "pretty-boy" appearance, seems to have done an acceptable job as governer so far, even though he signed into law that new tobacco tax ($1 more per pack). He is, however, a career politician, and more and more people seem to be less and less satisfied with those whose career paths amount to one public office after another.

Chris Bell seems like a nice enough guy, but he is a Democrat. In Texas, that is not a good selling point....nor does it seem to be anywhere else, for that matter.

Carol Strayhorn said something on one of her radio ads that struck a chord with me. She said: "I'm 67 years old. My future is not in politics. My future is my grandchildren" I like that attitude. Her goal is not to use her public office to get elected over and over again.

Kinky Friedman is the candidate for all those people who are fed up with what politics and politicians have become. For them, he is a breath of fresh air. He also seems to be the most conservative candidate on the ballot.

I'll be watching the candidates' televised debate very closely on Channel 8 (WFAA) on October 6 at 6:30pm.