Everybody’s Talking About It
Walleye snot nosed hissy fit:
There’s very little talk among political junkies in Texas this morning about anything else except Wendy Davis’ stunning and unexpected announcement that she favors open carry in Texas. That means strapping a gun on your hip and parading around town like something out of a damn John Wayne movie. Oh yeah, Texas needs more guys with tiny winkies strapping on holsters.
It’s pandering plain and simple. I know that no candidate is going to agree with me about 100% of things. However, I do expect the candidates I support to be honest with both me and themselves. We have lost every statewide race in Texas since Elvis died because our political consultants say we have to pander to the rightwing to win.
This is not about agreeing with me. This is about dumb campaigning. It is about a notion that the only way you can win in Texas is to be untrue to yourself. This one in particular is about sacrificing your children’s safety on the alter of winning.
Let me tell you one thing. Given a choice between a Real Republican and a Democrat who talks like a Republican, Republicans will pick the Real Republican every damn time. And your base Democrats will stay at home. I have statistics to prove that.
As Paul Begala says, “Texas is not a Republican state. Texas is a non voting state.” And the non voters are Democrats who have had nothing to vote for.
Wendy Davis did not get national attention by pandering to Republican voters. She got it by talking to the base. Hear this one thing: there is not a persuable voter universe out there. Repeatedly, it has been shown not to exist. But, there are a lot of Democrats not voting.
The Davis campaign has had a rough month. They’ve been insular and unnecessarily rude to reporters. And have paid dearly for it. I can tell you that way back last year I was involved in a fundraiser with Wendy in Galveston and her campaign threatened to not let her speak unless we got the reporter from the Galveston Daily News out of the room. Here we were with 400 people who paid $50 each to hear her and her campaign is threatening us? Holy crap, Son, what part of “me profit, you overhead” did her consultants not understand? No, we didn’t tell anybody about it because it was so damn embarrassing – to her campaign.
She up and endorses a candidate for the senate race who is rich, rich, big ole Texas rich and has lavished money on Republicans like bread on the waters. But he also lavished money on the Davis campaign’s lead consultants back when they were going hungry. The whole thing stank like a goat with two week old catfish in his back pocket.
Then Texas writers began writing. Columnists, bloggers, and tweeters asked when the hell that campaign is going to get its act together.
So in response, almost shockingly ironic, the campaign doubles down. Out of the clear blue, they come out in favor of open carry. Open damn carry. Like that’s something that helps education, health care, jobs … you know, the things Texans care about. The things Wendy is not discussing because she’s constantly having to defend herself while her consultants play audio tape games with Abbott’s campaign consultants. They are playing inside baseball when Texans need health care. It makes me want to storm in the headquarters with a paddle and threaten all the little consultants to grow up or get the hell out.
I thought her running mate, Leticia Van De Putte, summed it up best. Leticia has been Wendy’s biggest supporter and left her father’s funeral to stand beside her during the filibuster.
Asked about her position on allowing Texans with a concealed handgun license to openly tote their pistols, Van de Putte publicly broke with Davis on the issue. The Associated press reported Thursday that Davis supports open carry legislation.
“I’ve had law enforcement back home say they don’t think open carry makes their jobs easier,” she said. “This is one where Wendy and I disagree … I’m with my law enforcement on this one.”
And Van de Putte also addressed whether she’d be running a joint ticket with Davis or whether they’d have separate campaigns and strategies.
“We’re both on the Democratic ticket, but Wendy is running her campaign. Let’s face it their campaign has had a tough couple of months. But I did not put my name in the lieutenant governor race because I want to help Wendy.”
James Moore, the guy you see on MSNBC with strong liberal credentials, blew up this morning and I can hardly blame him.
Even stranger, there’s no real polling that justifies Davis’ position. Never mind the fact that this is the type of issue that the average voter isn’t even thinking about, there was not a single Democrat in the Texas house that signed onto an open carry law, and a survey by Texas Politics on gun control indicates that 72% of the state’s Republicans are either in favor of stricter gun control laws or leaving the present regulations unchanged. Where is her constituency for this ill-considered pronouncement? And why now? Or why ever?
It is mid February. If this campaign doesn’t get back on track soon, it’s over. We’ve sacrificed another Democrat to a nonexistent “persuadable Republican,” when all we had to do is excite the base in urban areas and South Texas.
I feel sure her campaign is telling her, “What’s your base going to do? Vote for Abbot? They won’t do that because he’s worse for them than you are.” No, they won’t vote for Abbott. They just won’t vote and that is the worst thing you can do to Texas.
Your base is running away, Wendy. You better find where they are going so you can led them there.
I know I’m going to get hollered at for having this hissy fit. That’s okay. I consider tar and feathers to be a fashion accessory.
Her campaign manager should be smacked up side the head. You made a good start…Ben might start barfing all over that autographed onesie if the Wendy campaign doesn’t shape up.
1Disappointing to say the very least….
2I had almost exactly the same thoughts/response. I don’t know if this is “fixable.” “fenway fran” you summed it up very well. Kind of makes it a very gloomy (and cold) day.
3For the party that is trying to bring “smart” back, this was a really dumb thing to say. I hadn’t even thought about that. No one had. So why say anything about it.
Well is there anyone else to vote for?
4I expect to see her fundraising take a nose dive very soon.
We’ll see if I’m right.
5From now on – my money and donations go to Letitia
6Wendy needs to remember she will be the nominee of the Texas Democratic Party not the Lone Star Project. She needs to plow the rows of our Democratic base on education, minimum wage, voting rights, women’s rights, health care,and environmental safety not GOP wedge issues. Open carry is poor policy as well as poor politics. Those consultants need to Let Wendy be Wendy!
7I’ve been scratching my head for the last 24 hours trying to figure out how this open carry foolishness makes sense.
Thanks for reminding me that it doesn’t.
8When I read about the “open carry” statement my anger got the best of me. Juanita’s rebuttal expresses my frustration exactly. Forrest Gump is in full agreement. Go Leticia.
9When the conversation turns to “American Exceptionalism,” I point out to my liberal friends that it’s true. America is unique in its congenital attachment to guns. Handguns have no purpose but to kill people. And when a handgun is handy, people who are upset can kill not only others but themselves. (RIP, Mike. I wish you hadn’t owned that gun.)
10I don’t know when I’ve been so disappointed in a candidate I was supporting. Now I’m not sure what to do, since Wendy has kicked her base in the teeth. Will we have a choice in the general election of “none of the above”?
11Wendy may be able to argue her reasoning for this. Frankly, I take it as a means to expose to the general public by the proliferation of deadly weapons in public and in the immediate proximity of innocent adults and children who are jeopardized. To my mind there’s not a whole lot of difference between a gun hanging out in plain view and one merely hidden underneath a piece of cloth. What’s the difference – perhaps a second – the extra time for an out-of-control gun user to bring out his firearm from hiding to try to take aim and then start firing rounds.
All that being said, Wendy has violated a fundamental campaign precept: Never adopt a campaign position that takes more than one simple sentence to present, justify and defend.
A better, clearer, simpler way to deal with this might have been the following.
Example: REQUIRE open carry and PROHIBIT concealed carry.
Tagline: Don’t let shooters hide their guns!
12Obviously, from my earlier post today, I couldn’t agree more with Juanita’s sentiment but let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater. We have to continue to stand with Wendy because she still beats the alternative but she has to hear us say how stupid we think this position is. I emailed the campaign. I posted on their Facebook page. I got no response. Maybe now that Miss Juanita Jean herownself has said what I was trying to say, someone just might possibly start to pay attention.
This is one more stupid step on a long journey. Let’s hope they figure it out soon.
13Well, now… let me be the first one to holler at you.
YOU GO, GURL! KICK “EM IN THEIR STUPID BUTTS! AND WHEN THEY GET UP, KICK “EM AGAIN!
Y’know we all love you for doing it. We’ve got your back. Hugs.
14Mebbe she wants to channel Ann Richards, who could hunt, shoot, and still be a good Texas Democrat. The landscape has changed, though, and as Ann said, “That old dog won’t hunt.”
15I am shaking my head. Part of the problem, and I’ve said it before to myself, is that inside any campaign, be it for an office as small as alderman or as large as governor, there is a tendency to over-inflate the importance of every little nuance of every little issue, sometimes at the expense of the big picture.
That’s because, in a campaign, you live in an echo chamber peopled by sleep-deprived, over-caffeinated political junkies, whose greatest joy in life is to eat, drink and breathe politics, and smoke Marlboros. But when you’re done for the day, you put it all behind you to go to a bar and talk…politics!
Like sharks, if we stop swimming, we’ll sink to the bottom and die.
During this seemingly endless, self-consuming feeding frenzy, I occasionally gain moments of lucidity and caution my candidates and compadres that none of what we talk about means ANYTHING to 98% of the people that we are trying to reach. You know, the voters? The ones we’re supposed to be serving?
Wendy’s campaign has lost perspective. If they don’t get a small ass-kicking now, they will get a much larger one later.
16Wendy should have restricted her support to training-based concealed carry of firearms. Trust me, there is a HUGE difference in the mindsets which accompany concealed carry vs. open carry: it’s the difference between a desire for personal protection vs. a need to inflict public intimidation. She’ll get my vote, but Wendy made a mistake, here.
17Calm down y’all. I agree and more that this is probably the almost dumbest move any candidate ever pulled.
No valid reason for doing it (unless it’s a case of sabotage), as stated by others here, it’s a pointless gesture. No upside (won’t change one Rep vote, and few Ind/swing ones) and only downside for Democrats, including (and maybe, especially) those running downballot.
That said, most of y’all always seem to have the same knee-jerk reaction that also hurts us gravely with the center, independent or swing, voters.
Namely holding so many incorrect beliefs WRT “guns” (yes, this is an area I generally disagree with most/many D’s, I guess, along with a few others; doesn’t mean I’m not a staunch Democrat, we just disagree).
Open carry isn’t a particularly good idea, like most I think it’s for the ‘short willie, big mouth crowd’. But it won’t have any effect on mass murder incidents or even individual ones.
Not one of the events that have occurred so far involved this issue (or Concealed Carry laws), or would have been prevented by such a law in effect or not.
The Davis campaign even bringing the issue up is just plain stupid cubed, and probably was the end of any reasonable chance of a win; due to what we have here, unfortunately.
18I thought I read that she would “allow” open carry, not that she “favored” it. That’s a big difference inside my head.
19Juanita, thank you for having *integrity* which is sorely lacking in the political realm.
Sen Davis’ campaign is off the rails and into the weeds. I hope she can get it together because the alternatives are really bad.
20I have recently “been chosen” to do an internship with Battleground Tx/Team Wendy. I was pissed over her endorsement of the Republican-donation-machine candidate for Senate. This really disappoints me more.
I have been less than kind when expressing my total exasperation with BgTx for about a year now.
Not ready for prime time….
21I have to admit I was very disappointed in the position she took as well as how scrambled her campaign appears. I fully agree that Democrats who try to run as Republicans won’t win. I originally signed up to make a small monthly donation to her campaign, but right now I seriously considering canceling the automatic payment.
22In spite of all the disillusionment here, consider the alternative…Abbott???? No way in hell! No one is perfect so let’s not go overboard in crucifying Wendy.
23Pepto Bismol is the same color as those shoes of hers…I’m thinking I’m gonna need about a case of it as my new fashion accessory 🙁
I live in the shadows of Redneck U Central, my beloved alma mater. The er, student body here has never been famed for its collective, or even separate good sense, hence the preponderance of Aggie jokes! What are we going to do with a bunch of heat packing hormone crazed half educated college students if this campus carry/open carry gun slinger silliness moves forward, which looks likely? And how many college campuses do we have here in this State??
24Kallie, I would agree with you except for one thing. We’ve done that for years and look where it has gotten us.
I think it’s damn time we stop building elections on Superstars. When that candidate fails, the entire ticket collapses. When Ann Richards lost, the whole party fell apart in Texas. Let’s build an election on ideas, goals, and a platform.
And let’s stand for something other than just getting elected.
And, as anyone in Texas knows, the Lt. Governor’s position is the power position. Just saying’ all is not lost.
25I, for one, am glad this comes out now before I contributed a nickel to the campaign.
The notion that one single gun-nut, now or ever, will vote for a Democrat is stupider than Luis Gohmert after an OD of stooopid pills!
I bet you you that stench you referred to has got to be Bob Shrum. Hey Juanita, can you dig around a bit and see if he or his minions are running Wendy’s campaign?
26I didn’t read everything written above so excuse me if I repeat something (it’s a work day).
I’d like to give Wendy the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps she and her advisors felt that open carry is topic that would be such a distraction from other issues she would like to emphasize in her campaign, that it would be best to get it off the table right from the start.
No matter what she says about women, and the poor, and Medicare, the response would always be “but she’s gonna take your guns.!” By saying she would allow open carry now, her opponent can’t use it against her and distract the voters from hearing the rest of her message.
Personally I’m not happy with her announcement either. But I’m not a political consultant, so don’t fully understand these decisions and the reasons behind them.
27I know my perspective is probably weird, but I’d rather those gun nuts wore their d**n winkies on the outside of their shirts so I know who’s packing and who isn’t.
28Oh, that’s sad. If you’re right, all her announcement that she favors open carry will do is motivate her supporters to give up and stay home. It’s one thing to lose a hard-fought election. It’s another thing entirely to give it away. Damn. I hope she wises up.
29Do y’all remember Dan Patrick’s first Democratic opponent? Turns out it was his best friend. Whole damn thing was a scam to keep him on the radio during the election. Remember when the R’s infiltrated the Green’s with money, etc.
Wendy better look at her team really good.
I was told by someone who was at Wendy’s announcement that she wasn’t anywhere near being ready for prime time. Guess he was correct.
30Not another cent from me, and I wish there was a way to get my money back.
31Reading the comments here, I have nothing substantial to add but to be on record that I can’t in good conscious support Davis for the reason being, if she did conjoin with the rich repub and expose what appears to be either a true feeling or lack of good judgement regarding open carry, how can any liberal, dem, etc.; ie, non-repub trust her to suddenly revert back into her initial positions? She won’t have a dem legislature; therefore, how far will she get into the compromise dance?
32I’m not sure the abbott excuse is that justifiable as opposed to the potential long-term damage to dems. Have we hit bottom yet with the average right-wing voter to get them to see they’ve been had by the repub machine? Will electing a flawed candidate delay any change?
I know no candidate is perfect, and a lot of people felt let down when they found out Obama couldn’t change water to wine, and just about any Democrat is better than anybody beholden to the Republican bosses, but….
Damn, I am disappointed in Wendy Davis for this. Trying to be GOP-Lite is not the way to go.
33Back up the train, please, take a deep breath and let’s reconsider what the Democratic platform for Texas should be. Education? check Health care? check Parity for women? check Please add to this meager starter list. TIA
Surrogate gohmerts worn outside the pants? debatable
While Texas did survive both the Dubya and Rick Clown, are you ready to risk Rabid Abbott? So, before tossing Wendy out with the bath water, let’s examine her missteps so early in her campaign and decide whether she can ‘walk them back.’
#1 Playing money games with the rich boys and expecting they won’t expect payback. HUGE
#2 Stumble on her background biography. Juxtaposing the day she gave hubby the boot and the date of her divorce. minor
#3 More of the same. Months in a trailer park with an infant versus years. Imagine an infant in an echoing tin can. That would seem like an eternity. Honest mistake. less than minor
Back to the fun with guns moment. Forget the Republicans, as there is no chance they would elect both a Democrat and a woman. So, my questions would be: how divided is the TX Democratic Party on the issue and can a middle ground be reached?
While rising stars tend to crash faster than super novas, let’s remember that Wendy Davis spoke her mind for rights for women. Those of you in Texas have a better ‘feel’ than we outsiders as to whether she was grandstanding or sincere. So, I’ll abstain on an opinion to that question.
Juanita Jean, I feel your pain. You want a decent candidate with integrity to move Texas forward. Best to ask all the questions sooner than later with any candidate. Best wishes to receiving the answers you need, have worked so hard to achieve and deserve.
34Wendy has done the impossible,turn Texas blue overnight. Unfortunately,this blue is the depressed color of blue. Best bet now is to throw all efforts behind the Lt. Gov candidate,wheren the power lies,anyway. For a supposed smart woman,this is a stoopid,bush league gaffe that just ended any chance she may have had. What was she thinking?
35Ms Juanita,for what it is worth,you have my deepest sympathies and condolences. This hurts as bad as finding out the Lone Ranger wasn’t really real. The old saw-expectations lead to disappointments- was never more true. Yikes!!!
36Don’t know what to say. Political suicide occurs all too often as far as Democrats are concerned.
37I didn’t know about this…oof. I only know about Wendy dating from her historic fillibuster. I was impressed. I like her. I like the lt. governor candidate immensely, too. She was very impressive that night. And for a total outsider (live in PA/Corbettland–) the night was gigantically emotional. After the cartoon people that have passed for TX politicians in the past (exc. Ann Richards, of course–)this seemed a dream team to latch onto. I am disappointed, too– But I also agree there is a big difference between “allow” and “favor.” Maybe that needs to be addressed– which is it? And giving up on Wendy seems disloyal and feels like the times I have said to myself that Obama is R-lite and I don’t like a lot of his policies, but then– I remember who they ran/are running against. Steady-on– maybe things will improve. Hang in there, salon patrons.
38We also have Ds in rural areas to whom this will NOT appeal. We ignore them, and lose those areas big time.
39Did Wendy say it to a mike in front of a camera or in a press release from the campaign headquarters? Look, we don’t want Abbott. Write it on the bathroom mirror in lipstick and repeat it every day. Make list in lipstick of what we DO want. Then write some well thought out letters that don’t insult anyone but will get attention, and send to Wendy campaign. I still think there has to be a big hunk of money behind it somewhere. We need campaign finance reform. That, and doing something about those guys in the GOP who are still acting like bullies on the playground. WE gotta get focussed and get Wendy’s attention and also get Letitia elected.
40I’ve been in a hole so I am just hearing about this. What a huge disappointment. I was beginning to cool to Miss Wendy before I read this and now I’m getting colder by the minute. I’ll put my resources behind Leticia.
41*Sigh*
42And here I was hoping it was a R dirty trick when I asked.
43I’m still behind Wendy, giving up is not an option. Van de Putte also has my vote. We need a change, don’t be too hasty with judgments here.
44Thank you for finally an explanation of the story behind the “open carry” issue. I have not seen it anywhere else.
Now, can we identify by name her advisors in this fiasco? Because something tells me they done her wrong.
45MAYBE someone had the idea that the statement would help keep Abbott from beating her up on the guns issue. Or maybe they are being that stupid. Juanita Jean, I agree with you completely.
46You can have your hissy fit because I sure had mine. I’m not a big fan of Davis but was hopeful she would motivate the base. Very disappointed.
47Who did she endorse for which senate race?
48Google tells me it’s Dr. Alameel in the US Senate race. Ugh. His history of contributions to Republicans should have made him difficult to endorse.
From the DallasNews:
“He’s used his wealth to support both parties. He’s given more than $1 million to Texas campaigns in the past decade and a half, much of it to Republican candidates, including Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Gov. Rick Perry.
In 2004 and 2005, he gave more than $15,000 to Cornyn’s campaign and political action committee.
Since then, Alameel has grown less fond of Republicans, citing what he called “a lack of compassion for the common man.” He opposes Cornyn’s stance on immigration, health care and other issues.”
49