WaPo: “Kinky Friedman, who became a Texas folk hero as a flamboyant singer-songwriter, satirist, raconteur and would-be politician, running for governor in 2006 while jokingly declaring that he was neither pro-life nor pro-choice, but instead “pro-football,” died June 26 at Echo Hill, his ranch outside Medina, Tex. He was 79….
He toured with Bob Dylan, played chess with Willie Nelson and palled around with presidents from both parties, befriending Bill Clinton as well as George W. Bush. When he visited the White House for a gala dinner in 1997, he brought a Cuban cigar as a gift.
“Mr. President,” he recalled telling Clinton, “don’t think of it as supporting their economy — think of it as burning their fields.”…
In his own life, Mr. Friedman decided on the manure. Living off his ranch, he became a beloved figure for a certain brand of independent-minded Texan, with former governor Ann Richards, a Democrat, calling him “one of Texas’s great natural resources.””