“Greg Abbott and his folks have picked a fight with the wrong Texas gal if they think that I will shrink from working to fight for a just and right future for all Texans,” Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis told a crowd of supporters Tuesday, going on the offensive against claims that she lied about her life story.
Described by the Texas Tribune as “the most direct, personal and sustained criticism the Democratic candidate for governor has leveled at her expected Republican opponent so far,” Davis’s appearance at a campaign event last night left many with the impression that the candidate was ready to lay the aftermath of getting caught in her many lies against him. A Dallas Morning Herald story this month exposed several inconsistencies in her life story, including the facts that she was never a teenage single mother and did not pay her way through Harvard Law School (her then-husband cashed in a 410(k) to get her through).
Davis’s assault on opponent Greg Abbott – who appears not to have had anything to do with the Herald‘s reporting – has been swift and vicious. Abbott “sunk to a new low” by… allowing the Herald to research her life story, or something. Abbott had no say in whether her life story was true because he had not “walked a day in my shoes” (Abbott hasn’t walked a day in anybody’s shoes for 30 years after an oak tree fell on him and snapped his spinal cord). Abbott was “desperate” because Rush Limbaugh noted that she lied about her life story.
Last night was no different.
“Greg Abbott and his allies have had a stranglehold on power in this state for two decades, and they want to keep it,” Davis told the crowd, arguing that her supporters were making the Republican candidate hear “all of those voices they shut out and silenced for so long.” She warned that, while she was comfortable with opponents attacking her very spotty political record, “I draw the line when it comes to lying about my family.” That, apparently, is a privilege only she can exercise.
Wendy Davis declared last night that she had “had enough.” What she didn’t do, however, is direct the political conversation anywhere else – to, say, policy initiatives. Yes, Davis made a laughable attempt to paint herself as a pro-gun state senator despite her F rating from the NRA earlier this week. Meanwhile her outburst last night follows letters from both her daughters to the public calling for an end to the dissection of the life story Davis made the centerpiece of her campaign.
This new, aggressive Wendy Davis is still not explaining to constituents how she could be such a far-left progressive and donate to George W. Bush, or even simple matters like her views on education or budget administration. In attacking Greg Abbott, who still has a primary to win before facing Davis, she gives him nothing but name recognition. Abbott had better hope Davis’s campaign staff stick to this strategy, because it is not making her any more appealing as a candidate.