Wendy Davis is a Meanie?
You know, for the past two decades, Republicans have called Democrats weak and soft. They portray us as tree huggers and bleeding hearts. They say we are not tough enough to stand up and govern.
Oh yes we are.
Following Greg Abbott’s use of his wheelchair as a campaign centerpiece, Wendy Davis took to the airways to remind people that Greg Abbott is so damn mean and heartless that he has kept other people in wheelchairs from suing and pocketing $10plus million like Abbott did.
He uses his wheelchair to gain sympathy and votes, yet he oddly has no sympathy for others.
Greg Abbott was hit by a falling tree in a freak accident while he was out jogging. He sued the homeowners.
If your wheelchair is a campaign star, once saying “a guy in a wheelchair can move faster than traffic” and another time saying he got strong by using his wheelchair to go up ramps in parking garages, then you threw the ball in the air and you can’t whine when she hits it.
I represent disabled Texans on the State Democratic Executive Committee, the group of people who are elected to lead and guide the Texas Democratic Party. The Texas Republican Party has no such position. In the 40 page Texas GOP platform, the word disabled or disability is only mentioned once, on page 17. That entry only refers to people with mental disabilities; physical disabilities are never mentioned. Not even once. On the other hand, the Texas Democratic platform has an entire section on Texans with disabilities on page 53.
You tell me which party cares about disabilities.
Thanks to the efforts of Greg Abbott, if a ten year old child has the wrong leg amputated by a drug addicted doctor, the most that child can recover for a lifetime is $250,000. That’s what Greg Aboott says a leg is worth to a child. Unless, of course, it’s Greg Abbott’s leg.
That, my friends, is a very legitimate campaign issue.
I will leave it to others to determine if the ad is effective but I can say with total certainty that is not mean.
Wendy Davis is not saying that Greg Abbott is not qualified to be Governor because he can’t walk. She’s saying he’s not qualified to be Governor because he can’t think.
Why are Greg Abbott’s legs worth 40 times more than your child’s legs? That is mean.
So how is the empty wheelchair any different from the empty chair that Clint Eastwood so gleefully put in front of a group of repugs.
I guess it’s OK to call Wendy Abortion Barbie and a few other really nasty names but hey be gentle on poor Greg.
1Greg Abbott is indeed denying others the opportunity he had in receiving compensation for what occurred to him. That’s being plain mean and nasty in any one’s book. Wendy Davis was right on the mark in pointing this out to the the electorate. Good for her!
2I’ve been griping about his 10 mill $ settlement for a long time. I never even knew he was in a wheelchair till he started campaigning for governor. I admire his strength and courage but really, being crippled so you need a wheelchair isn’t the only disability. And anyway, why doesn’t he have one of those electric wheelchairs?
3I have been trying to put together a reply for when GOPer’s complain about the ad. Juanita you got everything in there to shame them for even bringing the ad up. Thank you for being so eloquent on the matter, my reply had lots of #@&*$!#and %&^#$$*! involved.
4Paul Ryan benefited greatly from social security payments when his father died – yet wants to do away with social security for others.
Ted Cruz’s father bribed his way into the US – but wants to stop others from being able to come in illegally.
Anyone notice a trend here with repugs?
For Me, But Not For Thee.
5Well, I have to say that I was hoping for a harder hitting ad.
I would have started with Jesus Christ’s denunciation of hypocrites and moved on to Abbott’s invocation of sovereign immunity to deny coverage of the ADA in Texas. Might have thrown in a question or two about the smarts of a guy who jogs under trees in a wind storm. Wondered out loud if Abbott is certain the tree didn’t hit him in the head. And since it was an oak, I’m thinking it might have driven a stake through his heart, too.
But the poor dear has wilted from this affront to his virility, so I guess I should back off and cast a sympathy vote for him.
Over my dead body.
6Go Timbo! I don’t live in TX but this guy sounds like he isn’t fit to lick Wendy’s boots. So she should walk all over him instead. Was there ever a party with so many crazy/mean/thieving/stupid/weasely/dishonest/conniving (and here I quote Charlie Pierce, god save him–) ratf*kers in it??
7Hey, who is whining louder?
Abbot’s supporters or the AIG douchebag that wants to shake us down for more money?
8A Washington Post columnist headlined his column, “Wendy Davis is running one of the nastiest campaign ads you will ever see.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/10/10/wendy-davis-is-running-one-of-the-nastiest-campaign-ads-you-will-ever-see/
I saw the ad. She wasn’t attacking him for using a wheelchair. She was attacking him, and rightly so, for being a hypocrite. But a lot of the comments on that column didn’t see it that way….
@Timbo, as for the smarts of jogging under trees in a windstorm, I was hit on the skull by a falling tree in a windstorm in 2008 while I was trying to feed a stray cat. Sixty stitches and a permanently dented cranium later, I seem to be okay. Ironically I was hit because I hesitated to walk past those trees– if I’d kept walking, the one that broke would have fallen behind me. I guess by your lights I’m not too smart…?
9Even trees think Gregg Abbott is a jerk. I thought the ad was great. It was so refreshing to see a politician tell the truth.
10Enough with the negative campaigning already! There has been one, and only one advertisement that I have seen by either candidate that promises us a better future (the one by Abbott about the student graduating 20 years from now). All of the other ads have been poisonous trash from both candidates telling us how their opponent is the devil, but not telling us how they would make things better. As far as Davis, if I didn’t follow her campaign I would have NO IDEA what her platform is all about, except that she supports abortion.
11If the campaign is to place the most negative person possible in the governors seat, I will not vote for either, and neither will most people.
Wendy if you read this and want a chance to represent the people of Texas, tell us why we should vote for you, not just how much your opponent sucks.
Ditto Cheryl @5. It seems like the biggest handicap he and many other republicans face is being morally disabled.
12This NY State resident has already given to Davis’ campaign, and after seeing this “mean” ad, has decided to give more.
Being in a wheelchair doesn’t make someone a good person. It makes someone a person in a wheelchair. After volunteering in Adult Care Facilities and Nursing Homes for 26 years, I can pretty much say that without hesitation. Furthermore, I expect to be confined to a wheelchair myself before too many more years have past. When I am, it won’t change my worth as a person. I’ll still be who I am.
Abbott was fine with collecting millions for his legs, but Ms. Bankston is spot on with her question: Why are Greg Abbott’s legs worth 40 times more than your child’s legs?
Anyone who thinks Davis has no issues other than abortion, hasn’t been reading/listening/paying any attention.
13JJ,
These are some of the reasons I’ll vote for Wendy Davis.
All this whining is coming from the same people who for months labeled Senator Davis “Abortion Barbie”, and saw nothing wrong with that.
Nobody from Abbott’s campaign has said the ad is not factual. Because it is, and Republicans cannot defend against facts.
For once in my recent memory, a Democrat woman candidate has put on her big girl britches, and come out swinging against people whom, (Heaven’s knows), need to be attacked. No doubt in my mind, she will fight hard for all Texans. Not since Ann Richards have I seen that.
For decades, we have been governed by old men who would invade our privacy, keep Texans in minimum wage jobs, deny us health insurance, and who would take away our vote.
@Jorge Peralta….. Hon, if the truth bothers you. You are in the wrong place.
14Same thing going on here in a Congressional District next to mine. This time around its a guy taking hard hits at a woman (??) politician who has yet to come out and declare that any of his ads are not true. She wants to overturn Roe v Wade, backs transvaginal ultrasounds only at the most desperate times in a woman’s life, and oh yes, completely “forgot” to reveal the $$$ she took from lobbyists to push 3 laws through the state legislature (that’s her political experience). Her opponent has one ad that really captures me wherein he states “we don’t need any more (tea partiers) to tell us what to do”. JJ, the DCCC just pulled money away from the Democrat (the guy) to spend elsewhere just when he needs it the most for TV ads etc. He’s using up all the $ he still has in the pipeline to do his ad blitz just before Nov. 4th. Honestly, where is the sense in that? Did the DCCC just add something to the war on women?
15Once again, Abbott is playing the victim and his supporters are doing the whining for him with deliberate st00pid or plain willful ignorance. Anyone remotely familiar with physical challenges knows about individual goals and objectives. For example in the case of a progressive disease such as MS, maintaining with minimum support such as a cane and slowing or halting the progression to a wheel chair is important. But each person has individual needs.
As for Greg Abbott not using an electric chair, that is one of his few good points. Maintaining upper body strength is important for him, so an electric chair would not be in his best interest. On the flip side, we can count on him to act in his best interest, while denying the same to others as he did with tort “reform.”
In short, he got his, so screw everyone else which is the point of the ad.
16I don’t know if there will be anymore debates between Davis and Abbot, but if there is the following question about tort reform needs to asked:
17Why do you (Abbott) think you deserve $10 million in compensation and someone that is injured in Texas, in the exact same way as you were only deserve to collect up to $250,000?
Throw it back in his face and wait for the whiny, non-answer, that’s sure to follow!
Bullseye, Juanita. Thanks for nailing the issues so well. Go Wendy!
18I see no reason whatsoever for Wendy or her campaign to back down or apologize for this ad. It is completely true. Abbott and his supporters are whiners and can’t take the truth when it’s put out there. He and his campaign continue to run the most egregiously lying ads about so-called “issues” that have been completely debunked long ago. He doesn’t trust Texas women and he thinks Texas voters are STOOPID and will fall for his lies. I pray they’re not and will seek the truth and VOTE FOR WENDY DAVIS and LETICIA VAN DE PUTTE.
19Me, I’m just glad someone finally called Abbott on his hypocrisy. I don’t begrudge him the money, but why shouldn’t other people with injuries be entitled to similar deals?
20It is the GOP mindset that believes they are the entitled few who deserve everything, while we “slackers” deserve nothing.
21Nancy Jane Moore, Senator Davis would agree with you. The point of the ad is that Greg Abbott in his version of tort ‘reform’ denies injured parties their day in court. He decided that anyone else be confined to a cap no matter the extent of their injuries. He’s reminiscent of the other “decider” from TX, Dubya.
22BTW Can anyone recommend a safe bleacher seat to observe the Texas Teabagger heads explode with their latest faux outrage? A heap of hypocrisy over hot biscuits sounds good as a schadenfreude Sunday brunch. Yes, admittedly, I feel like sticking a metaphorical fork into them.
23@Maggie: which Congressional District is the one to which you refer? I am inclined to send a little donation to the good guy, since DCCC isn’t giving him any more $$$. They aren’t doing much for my candidate here in TX-12 either.
24I hope she gets a lot meaner. And for every statistic that is true about hunger, healthcare, infrastructure, and education, she could postulate what she plans to change. “No child left behind?” And the facts on Texas children…stuff that’s so “mean” to point out. No expansion into ACA…and the cost.
25Closing PP clinics…time to start with the dead women lists…because they are coming!! Cancers that could have been caught, STD rates, you name it, and of course a wheelchair made of coat hangers might bring the point home. Sitting in a bed of gravel, since that’s where the roads are going, with a few do not drink the water poisoned by fracking signs…or just the names of the dry towns.
This is a life or death vote. Texas truest blue or dies. That’s one way to handle the poor, the flu is another, Ebola is a chancy thing, starvation is not.
I vote Dem sometimes with my nose held, but I cannot see any Repug that I would vote for at all.
Keep fighting, Wendy! Looks like the whiners can’t handle the truth!
26I bet his expensive wheelchair (not the one is the ads) is much better than the one I used in the Rehab Clinic.
27Davis Pollster: Controversial Wheelchair Ad Working
https://www.texastribune.org/2014/10/12/davis-pollster-wheelchair-ad-working-despite-criti/
28I love the ad and am glad that Wendy is pointing out his hypocrisy. But, I’ve been wondering about this. Would there been as much complaining about it if the ad showed a clip of Abbott in his wheelchair, at a campaign event, or rolling around at an event, instead of that still of an empty wheelchair? I almost can see the critics who say that the chair itself kind of demeans someone who uses a chair. If she had shown him directly, it seems like that complaint could have been avoided.
29I voted that Wendy’s ad didn’t go far enough.
30I’m told that one of his commercials shows Abbott wheeling himself up a ramp, drenched in sweat. An acquaintance who is a paraplegic says he was puzzled by that, because according to him paraplegics can’t sweat. At least he doesn’t, and he exercises regularly and vigorously. Anyone know about this? If it’s true, it must mean that Abbott’s ad people decided that he needed to look the part of a strenuous exerciser, even if it meant having to wet him down with a water bottle. If that’s not exploiting his condition, what is?
31http://www.apparelyzed.com/temperature.html
Some sweat,some don’t.
32See, all this time I thought Mr. Potter in “It’s A Wonderful Life” was the BAD guy. Turns out, he was just misunderstood, and picked on by those mean Bailey boys because he was a cripple.
33“As my mother used to say, this is about Abbott wanting to sit on two chairs with one behind. On one hand, Abbott used his disability in several campaign ads for his advantage. On the other he claims that an ad attacking his hypocrisy when it comes to justice for people with disabilities is really about attacking his disability.”
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/10/12/fox-pundits-defend-wendy-davis-ad-republican-greg-abbotts-war-justice-texans-disabilities.html
34Senator Davis needs to smack Abbott about his drilling a well to water his lawn, when due to drought conditions other Texans were in danger of having no water. Where’s the beef? Cattle ranchers should be ready to take pitch forks to Abbott.
35Thank you!
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