Charles Durning made famous, the Texas Governor’s little side-step dance in the Academy Award winning film “Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” by quickly shifting positions and dodging questions. With Sen. Wendy Davis’ attempts to side-step to the right in recent weeks, it makes one wonder if she studied Durning’s character. But recent media outlets don’t seem pleased with her slide to the right.
After coming out for open-carry gun laws and claiming to be against the post twenty-week abortions she filibustered in the Texas Senate last summer, Time Magazine said “Wendy Davis is no Ann Richards,” a reference to the last Democratic governor of Texas who left office in 1995 when George W. Bush became governor. When Davis announced in the Dallas Morning News editorial board interview, she could possibly support a ban on twenty-week abortions, The Daily Beast responded saying “Her statements on the matter came as a surprise to those in the state and nationwide who think of Wendy Davis as a champion of reproductive services.” After attempting to nuance her statement, they blasted her again at the end of the article saying, “Now Wendy Davis must stop tossing around her own views to try and score political points.” It seems The Daily Beast believes Davis should just shut up and put her pink tennis shoes back on.
Then Wendy Davis rolls out the big guns and straps them on her hip with her endorsement of the open carry of handguns for Texas residents. The Huffington Post couldn’t help themselves and immediately responded by asking, “What in the hell is she thinking?” In an article by TV political analyst James Moore, the Huffington Post blasted Davis stating, “In a country of damned-near (I like it that damned-near can be used as a compound modifier) weekly school shootings, the Texas Democratic gubernatorial hopeful told the Associated Press she favors an ‘open carry’ law for gun owners, which means, uh, she thinks people should be able to openly carry guns.” He concluded that “Pragmatism is winning over principles.”
Two other groups took exception to Davis strapping on the Second Amendment. The Texas Democratic spokesperson Emmanuel Garcia said, “There is no public safety justification for open carry.” And then the director of the Texas Chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America’s Kellye Burke said openly carrying a handgun is just about “intimidation and not protection.”
“I don’t think people are aware of it. They just haven’t seen it yet. People are completely shocked how strange and lawless it looks to have that kind of firepower in our daily life,” Burke told the AP.
The Huffington Post article then backhands Davis saying she is contradicting her own prior positions on the issue. “In the 2011 Texas legislative session, State Senator Jeff Wentworth tried greatly to get passed a “campus carry” bill that would have allowed students aged 21 to have concealed handguns on their persons while attending college. Davis was so determined to stop the bill that she almost missed her own daughter’s graduation from college. She did not leave the chamber until another senator agreed to change his vote to keep the bill from the floor while she was out of town for the day.”
James Moore concluded his article with two strong statements about Davis. “She’s lost my vote with this Open Carry crap.” And, “I’m sitting out this Texas gubernatorial election.”
From her less than truthful statements about her background reported last month in Breitbart News, to her ethics complaints, to her media-gate scandal granting special access to one media outlet, to her shifting positions on abortion and gun rights, Wendy Davis seems to be doing more damage to her own campaign than her opponents ever could.
Follow Bob Price on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX