Hometown newspapers are turning on Wendy Davis. After the Dallas Morning News revealed a number of discrepancies in her biography, a column in the Waco Tribune warns that electing Davis would send an administration full of her campaign staff, who are clearly comfortable with her many untruths, to Austin.
The Tribune‘s editorial staff repeatedly note their tolerance of the central story in Davis’s legend: a young single mother trying to make it to a different socioeconomic status, aided by the loyalty of the community around her, particularly her second husband. “Generally,” the editorial board writes, “we believe such matters aren’t relevant on the campaign trail.” They note they write about the subject with hesitation, but need to do so because Davis herself “[began] touting dramatic personal narratives as a way to draw respect, admiration and votes. Then that narrative becomes fair game for unrelenting scrutiny by the press and the political opposition.”
With that in mind, the board chastises Davis for not “immediately and magnanimously accept[ing] responsibility for inconsistencies in her narrative,” something that is preventing Texans from getting more in-depth views from both candidates on policy issues that actually affect them. Davis, of course, has blamed her likely opponent, Republican Greg Abbott, for the story’s getting so much play, pulling a Joe Biden and accusing the paraplegic candidate of never “walking in my shoes.” Democrats generally have accused conservatives of “swift-boating” Davis for shedding light on the truth of her backstory – which forms a significant part, if not the entirety, of her campaign platform.
The most important point the piece makes, however, is that electing Davis would not bring her to Austin alone. Alongside Davis will be her senior campaign staff, the individuals responsible for promoting her false life story, who appear to have no qualms with such open lying. “The fact her campaign staff, let alone the candidate, allowed half-truths and embellishments to flourish raises some troubling questions about their integrity if not veracity,” the editorial board write, warning that “campaign officials in successful bids often land in pivotal government posts after the election is done.”
It is a very strong point rarely made about Davis – that it takes a certain type of person to campaign for a candidate like her, and those people will have the pick of the litter in executive jobs should she win the gubernatorial election. Voters should expand their scope of judgment to Davis’s campaign staff, apparently of the sort attracted to a candidate proud of not having an ideology and one that adds and subtracts issues from her campaign platform on a whim to distract from her many lies – the kind of Democrat that donated to the George W. Bush presidential campaign.
It is a question that many have had from the bottom up of an administration already in power, the Chris Christie administration in New Jersey. What kind of culture has the governor created, so many ask, that allows for the kind of deep-seated corruption we have seen in the many scandals plaguing Trenton? If the question can be asked from the bottom up, it certainly merits conversation when the obviously corrupt figure in the group is its leader.
Davis, who continues to blame, among others, Rush Limbaugh and assorted Republican entities for her woes, has an uphill political battle before her. Now that her constituents and the media are asking the right question – what kind of government would this person bring to power? – the road to election day appears to be getting much rougher for her.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.