Meant to put this up at lunch, but Stuff. And Things.
Posts Tagged ‘Texas’
Texas vs. California Update for February 11, 2014
Tuesday, February 11th, 2014Pull The Other One, Wendy
Thursday, February 6th, 2014Normally I would applaud a member of the Democratic Party supporting Second Amendment rights. But Wendy Davis supporting open carry?
Right. Pull the other one.
After all, this is the same Wendy Davis who voted against concealed carry by authorized CHL holders on college campuses, keeping Texas campuses fictive “gun free zones.” She also tried to do what Austin is trying to do: force gun shows to impose additional background checks on private citizens.
The fact that Davis hasn’t been universally opposed to gun rights may be explained by the fact that she’s a state senator in Texas, one with significant suburban and rural constituents and who only won her last election with 51% of the vote and thus one for which a hard-left gun control position would be a career-ending exercise. It’s also possible that, like Arlen Specter, another former Republican, she may have no fixed political positions whatsoever beyond the belief she should hold political office (or perhaps none beyond support for unlimited abortion).
Davis’ open carry pander is the worst kind of pander for a politician: a ham-handed, ineffective and incompetent one. Since Davis is already running as a liberal darling, and Abbott has already embraced open carry, there’s no chance this move will win her real converts among single-issue Second Amendment supporters, but a very real chance it will alienate her national liberal fundraising base.
Wendy Davis is a credible leader on Second Amendment rights the way Danny DeVito is a credible NBA center.
The Incredible Shrinking Wendy Davis
Wednesday, February 5th, 2014The last few weeks have not been kind to Wendy Davis.
Since announcing very respectable fundraising totals in early January, it’s been all downhill since then.
First came the revelations of the many falsehoods in her biography, then doubling down on some falsehoods.
Even the lefty Texas Observer said “the Wendy Davis operation is about the worst at media relations that I’ve ever seen. Her team’s mismanagement of the press is damaging her candidacy.” (This will not be a surprise to those reading this blog.)
Also, her decent fundraising numbers appear to have evaporated:
Apples to apples (campaign vs. campaign: Jan. 1-23), Greg Abbott raised $3.1+ million, while Wendy Davis raised $288,674.
— Will Franklin (@WILLisms) February 4, 2014
Greg Abbott has roughly 3x as much cash on hand as Wendy Davis + Battleground Texas + Texas Victory Committee combined.
— Will Franklin (@WILLisms) February 4, 2014
Of course, it doesn’t help her campaign that Davis has expensive tastes.
Everything about her campaign suggests she was woefully unprepared to run a statewide race in Texas.
Rick Perry Comes Out For Marijuana Decriminalization
Friday, January 24th, 2014Rick Perry has come out for marijuana decriminalization and for states rights on legalization (though he still opposes legalization himself).
This makes Perry objectively more pro-legalization that former frequent choom-abuser Barack Obama.
This will be a great surprise to people who know Perry only from the liberal caricature of him in their head, or who haven’t been following the intellectual debate among conservatives, which has leaned toward the “legalize it, regulate it and tax it” position for almost a quarter century now.
Perry has been a staunch supporter of the Tenth Amendment and States Rights. To reiterate what I’ve said before, I oppose the War on Drugs for reasons of general principles (it’s not the purpose of government to save people from themselves), the specific application of constitutional federalism (the Commerce Clause should not apply to the regulation of drugs manufactured and sold within the confines of a single state), and for reasons of budgetary philosophy (making drugs illegal has expanded the size and power of the federal government while increasing the budget deficit; legalizing, regulating and taxing drugs would reduce both the deficit and the harm to individuals and society). My position is not uncommon among conservatives, Republicans, or members of the Tea Party.
So liberals: Stop acting shocked when conservatives come out for decriminalization and legalization. The only reason it is a shock is that you refuse to listen.
Wendy Davis Continues to Double Down on Stupid
Wednesday, January 22nd, 2014A smart politician, when caught telling a lie, apologizes, corrects the record and moves on.
Since the era of Bill Clinton, this is not the way Democrats do things. What Democrats do now is act outraged that critics and political opponents would dare point out their lies.
Rather than admit that she lied about key features of her biography, Wendy Davis is attacking the journalists that exposed her lies. But particularly baffling is her instance on embedding an obvious lie about her history smack dab in the middle of a paragraph that exposes the lie in her revised biography.
Wendy left home at 17, married when she was 18 and had her first daughter Amber when she was 19. She and her husband lived in a trailer, and Wendy continued to live there with Amber after they were separated. As a single mother at age 19, she often struggled to make ends meet. Wendy filed for divorce when she was 20 and she and Amber lived for a short time with her mother. The divorce became final when she was 21.
So:
- She married when she was 18.
- She filed for divorce when she was 20.
- Ergo, the assertion that “As a single mother at age 19, she often struggled to make ends meet” is obviously false, since she was not a single mother at age 19.
It’s like Lindsay Lohan stating “I was addicted to cocaine for several years. But fortunately, I was never addicted to cocaine.”
Again, facts are stubborn things. The smart thing to do would be for Davis to come clean completely and not try to peddle obvious lies as truth.
But her campaign gives precious little evidence that Davis is that smart…
In Which I TweetFisk Wendy Davis’ Non-Denial Denials
Wednesday, January 22nd, 2014Didn’t plan on doing two Wendy Davis pieces in a row, but her latest stream of non-denial denial tweets offered up so many slow, lazy pitches straight over the plate I felt the urge to partake of batting practice:
1. How about true attacks? 2. You mean sleazy like lying under oath? http://t.co/YMLmnoFIhd @WendyDavisTexas #tcot
— BattleSwarm (@BattleSwarmBlog) January 22, 2014
So why exactly is your ex-husband an "ally of Abbott"? @WendyDavisTexas
— BattleSwarm (@BattleSwarmBlog) January 22, 2014
1. Who is this our? 2. Even when their stories are partially fictional? @WendyDavisTexas
— BattleSwarm (@BattleSwarmBlog) January 22, 2014
And just how does importing the Blue State model that failed #Detroit and is failing California give "a better future"? @WendyDavisTexas
— BattleSwarm (@BattleSwarmBlog) January 22, 2014
A true story, that is, except for the parts that are fictional. @WendyDavisTexas
— BattleSwarm (@BattleSwarmBlog) January 22, 2014
There are other TX women who filed for divorce the day after their husbands paid off their student loans from Harvard? @WendyDavisTexas
— BattleSwarm (@BattleSwarmBlog) January 22, 2014
No, yours is the story of how a wealthy white woman got her husband to pay her way through Harvard Law then ditched him. @WendyDavisTexas
— BattleSwarm (@BattleSwarmBlog) January 22, 2014
People haven't been attacking your family, they've been attacking your lies. http://t.co/mZOYRXlMOZ @WendyDavisTexas
— BattleSwarm (@BattleSwarmBlog) January 22, 2014
Millions of Texas women who filed for divorce the day after their husbands paid off their student loans from Harvard Law? @WendyDavisTexas
— BattleSwarm (@BattleSwarmBlog) January 22, 2014
And tell me: Just when did the Dallas Morning News become part of the Abbott campaign? http://t.co/qVrldIotZh @WendyDavisTexas
— BattleSwarm (@BattleSwarmBlog) January 22, 2014
Hey @WendyforTexas, you know what I'm not seeing anywhere? A point-by-point refutation of how the DSM story is false. Did I miss that?
— BattleSwarm (@BattleSwarmBlog) January 22, 2014
When the facts are on your side, you pound the facts. Since they're obviously not, you've been pounding the table. @WendyDavisTexas
— BattleSwarm (@BattleSwarmBlog) January 22, 2014
Now a few more bonus tweets from other people:
Why do you blame Greg Abbot when the author of the piece said they emphatically did not speak w Abbot campaign @WendyDavisTexas ?
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) January 21, 2014
@DLoesch the thing is, @GregAbbott_TX would never do this. Why blame him? It makes her look like a victim.
— Kathleen McKinley (@KatMcKinley) January 21, 2014
A Ft. Worth business owner told me today "Most here knew about Davis's lie. Now the rest of the country knows it." Why the need to lie?
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) January 22, 2014
@WendyDavisTexas @BattleSwarmBlog You're wrong. Most women work hard and reach their goals w/o the assistance of a wealthy man.
— Angie Morrison (@angiequips) January 22, 2014
(Hat tip: Legal Insurrection.)
Your Obligatory “Wendy Davis is a Damn Liar” Post
Tuesday, January 21st, 2014Everyone and their dog has already chimed in on Wendy Davis’ serial prevarications by now, but hey, it is my state.
In the Dallas Morning News, political reporter Wayne Slater brought up examples of Davis’ campaign biography that don’t match up with the facts:
It is her biography — a divorced teenage mother living in a trailer who earned her way to Harvard and political achievement — that her team is using to attract voters and boost fundraising.
The basic elements of the narrative are true, but the full story of Davis’ life is more complicated, as often happens when public figures aim to define themselves. In the shorthand version that has developed, some facts have been blurred.
Davis was 21, not 19, when she was divorced. She lived only a few months in the family mobile home while separated from her husband before moving into an apartment with her daughter.
A single mother working two jobs, she met Jeff Davis, a lawyer 13 years older than her, married him and had a second daughter. He paid for her last two years at Texas Christian University and her time at Harvard Law School, and kept their two daughters while she was in Boston. When they divorced in 2005, he was granted parental custody, and the girls stayed with him. Wendy Davis was directed to pay child support.
In an extensive interview last week, Davis acknowledged some chronological errors and incomplete details in what she and her aides have said about her life.
“My language should be tighter,” she said. “I’m learning about using broader, looser language. I need to be more focused on the detail.”
Just try that “my language should be tighter” line if you ever get audited by the IRS.
Wendy Davis’ campaign biography leans heavily on her time as a single teenage mom. She was indeed all of those things, just not at the same time.
Other tidbits: When she ran for the Ft. Worth city council in 1996, she did it as a Republican and voted in GOP primaries.
Also, there’s that little bit about Davis leaving her husband the day after he paid off her Harvard loan. As one Twitter wag put it:
Husband paid off her student loan and Wendy Davis left the next day? Sounds like money well spent.
— Will Antonin (@Will_Antonin) January 19, 2014
There are a few other tiny wrinkles to Davis’ life story. The fact her ex sought a restraining order to keep her from using illegal drugs while visiting her children is one. Another is the fact that she lied about some of the details of her life story under oath.
A few more Twitter observations on the latest Wendy Davis revelations:
Wendy Davis needs a man like a fish needs a rich bicycle that will pay its way through fish law school and take full custody of its spawn.
— jon gabriel (@exjon) January 21, 2014
Shorter #WendyDavis: I don’t always lie about my personal life, but when I get caught, I blame @GregAbbott_TX.
— Ashley Sewell (@TXTrendyChick) January 21, 2014
FIFY @WendyDavisTexas: Mine is the story of millions of TX women who ditched their older husband & kids after scoring a Harvard law degree.
— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) January 21, 2014
It also doesn’t say much about her intelligence that she thought she could get away with these lies in the Internet era…
Wendy Davis Pulls in (Extends Pinky) One MILLION Dollars From Dr. Evil, er, Oliver
Thursday, January 16th, 2014I’ve been going through Wendy Davis’ finance report. I hope to report some interesting tidbits, but the Statesman beat me to the punch on one of the most interesting, reporting Davis received a hefty (raises pinky) one million dollars from a doctor Carolyn Oliver.
I’m sure liberals who complaining about the corrupting influence of money in politics will be asking her to give that back any minute now.
(Checks watch)
Any minute now…
In the meantime, here’s the Washington Post and Will Franklin on why Wendy Davis’ fundraising numbers are considerably less impressive than they seem to be.
Vote-Buying and Suicide Over a School Board Election?
Tuesday, January 14th, 2014Inexplicable goings-on down in the Valley:
“Donna school board President Alfredo Lugo hanged himself in his home on New Year’s Day, authorities confirmed Thursday.”
Donna ISD is located in the Rio Grande Valley between McAllen and Harlingen. Lugo’s reason?
“The motive for the suicide was not immediately clear, but it came shortly after federal authorities arrested three women accused of buying votes for school board candidates in the most recent Donna ISD election.”
A school board election? Really? It’s not exactly a small district, given it’s $150 million budget, but still. Why would you even rig a school board election?
Maybe for the graft? In 2011, six district officials were convicted “in a bribery scheme that that totaled more than $600,000” stretching back to at least 2002.
Also of note: former Donna schools Superintendent Andres Martinez was awarded $1.2 million in damages in 2009:
“Martinez, who served as the Donna school district’s chief administrator during part of 2001, sued the district and several of its then school board trustees, alleging they had conspired to illegally fire him because he refused to hire, promote or give raises to political operatives who supported the majority faction on the board.”
Donna also has a long-standing issue with the drug trade. Related? Maybe, maybe not.
Something stinks down in the Valley, and it’s not Mexican cheese. Attorney General Greg Abbott and/or the Texas State Board of Education (I’m unclear who would have the responsibility) might want to consider launching a full audit of the district to see just where the money has been going…
(Hat tip: Prairie Pundit.)
Flash Mob Loots Convienance Store in Bryan, Texas
Sunday, January 12th, 2014Another week, another flash mob of teenagers looting a store, this time in Bryan, Texas.
Once again, the video suggests that it’s an overwhelmingly (though not exclusively) black crowd.
You would think self-preservation would dissuade them from trying to rob someplace that obviously has video cameras…