Wendy Davis is the Deja Victim candidate
Putting your child out on stage to cry for you is not something most of us would do.
Wendy Davis’ core political narrative was one of overcoming victimhood — an abandoned single teenage mom who struggled to raise her family in a trailer park and overcame the odds to work her way through college and Harvard Law School, and on to a successful law career, through grit and determination.
Only problem was, the narrative was misleading, at best.
Davis was a single mom of a single child for only a short time (from ages 21-23), had family to help, only lived in a trailer park for a short transition period, and quickly married a wealthy older man who paid her way way through college and law school and brought her into his business after she graduated.
She had another child with that man, Jeff Davis, and he was the primary custodial parent, so much so that when they divorced he was awarded custody of their minor child, and even Wendy’s first child from her prior marriage, then in college, chose to live with her step-father.
Jeff Davis was quoted, as to Wendy Davis leaving her 9th grade daughter in his custody:
“She did the right thing,” he said. “She said, ‘I think you’re right; you’ll make a good, nurturing father. While I’ve been a good mother, it’s not a good time for me right now.’”
Wendy moved out the day after Jeff paid her last student loan bill.
The firestorm of controversy has set Davis back on her heels.
Her first response was to play victim, accusing Greg Abbott’s campaign and the Dallas Morning News reporter of being in cahoots, something the reporter and campaign deny. In any event, what if they were in cahoots — the facts are the facts, and the fact is that Davis’ narrative of overcoming personal victimhood was misleading, at best.
Now Davis is playing victim all over again, putting her now-adult daughters forward to attest to her mothering skills, in the release by the campaign of letters from each of her children.
Davis also put her oldest daughter from her first marriage, Amber, on stage to introduce Wendy last night at a rally, attesting that Wendy was the best mother any daughter could want. Amber was tearful.
Putting your child out on stage to cry for you is not something most of us would do. Most of us would rather lose an election, than put our child through that, even if that child now is an adult We’ll fight our own battles, thank you.
Davis also is on the warpath, again accusing the Abbott campaign and anyone else who questions her narrative of smearing her:
It’s a “Look, Squirrel” rountine. Assuming Davis’ daughters love her, so what? That doesn’t make her false narrative of personal struggle true. It’s possible for Davis to be loved by her daughters and to have mislead the public about her single mom/trailer park victimhood narrative.
Is this really a becoming way for a candidate to act? Wouldn’t it just be better, so far out from the election, just to say “sorry” but vote for me anyway because [fill in the blank]?
The problem for Davis is that her personal narrative is all she has. She’s no Elizabeth Warren, who rose to fame based on policy and scholarship and for whom the false narrative was an impediment to political success.
There is no “[fill in the blank]” to be filled in that would win her the election. She’s a single issue candidate, and that single issue of late term abortion will not win her the race. Her appearance yesterday with the President of Planned Parenthood only reinforces her single issue image.
Wendy Davis may have no choice but to stand and play victim all over again.
Update – This Facebook comment hits the nail on the head:
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Stop The Presses!
Wendy Davis has indeed cloned the first human.
Take That, http://www.livescience.com/32083-cloning-people-biology.html
Talk about the restraining order
Talk about the infidelity
According to records, Wendy “Abortion Barbie” Davis’ 2nd husband successfully got a restraining order against Wendy. Word is that one of the ground for divorce was infidelity by Wendy.
Talk about the restraining order
Talk about the infidelity
That’s how Obama got Jack Ryan out of the Senate race…divorce records unsealed.
AND the drinking. AND the drug use.
A judge had to order her not to use before her scheduled visitations. There is something there.
Back in the day, the press would sniff out old friends and hangouts and find out the truth.
Nowadays, with a Democratic offender, they plead lack of manpower. Most of their news staffs are tied up kissing Obama’s posterior.
I’m sorry, but this don’t cut it. “Best mother”, my foot.
They know exactly what the people are thinking, and no amount of tears from anyone can fix what is obviously there: that she didn’t want to be a mother when her children needed her the most.
No mother ever abandons her children for her own gain. “It’s not a good time for me right now.” Of course not.
I’ve seen what happens when a child is left behind by a mom to be cared by a relative, even for a year, because “it’s not a good time” to be a mother “right now.” The wounds are deep and the scars last for decades. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. The hurt is there. The child, already an adult a few years from retirement, doesn’t speak to her mom. She thinks the relative who cared for her was her “mom.” In fact, she treated her relative better than she treated her own mom.
No amount of tears right now can salvage the damage done. Not even to salvage a political campaign. True mothers know better than that.
Addenda:
No wonder she supports abortion!
“I’ve seen what happens when a child is left behind by a mom to be cared by a relative, even for a year, because ‘it’s not a good time’ to be a mother ‘right now.'”
I have, too. It’s not a pretty picture.
The fact is, Wendy Davis’ girls were extremely lucky; they had a loving, nurturing father-figure who – by all accounts – went above and beyond to raise and care for them.
They are the exception. Which begs the question: What happens to “normal” kids who are abandoned by their parents?
Answer: They end up at my house. We’re certified foster parents, and every day we’re neck-deep in the consequences of other people’s bad decisions. Every day, we try to make the lives of the little ones a little better, a little calmer, a little more consistent. We do what we can, but there’s always emotional and mental damage; much of it doesn’t heal easily, but some of the damage doesn’t heal at all.
My take on the Wendy Davis narrative is this: She’s saying that if you’re a single mother in a trailer park, your only hope is to marry up. That’s what Wendy did, and it worked for her.
However, that’s a slap-in-the-face insult to every single mother who clawed her way out of poverty and bad or abusive situations with nothing more than sheer determination and gumption. At the end of the day, Wendy Davis succeeded on someone else’s dime – specifically, Jeff Davis’ dime; he cashed in his 401K, for cryin’ out loud! – which is an affront to individual achievement and personal responsibility.
“The wounds are deep and the scars last for decades. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. The hurt is there.”
And that hurt was on display in those tears that her daughter wept. Those tears revealed the truth about Davis’ relationship with her kids, not the words that her daughter spoke.
For a number of totally human reasons, abused children are often much more solicitous of, and show more affection to, the abusive parent.
And the only thing that would radically improve Texas schools is exposing the entire K-12 process to market forces.
“And the only thing that would radically improve Texas schools is exposing the entire K-12 process to market forces.”
Amen thank you.
From personal observation, the children that are not abused can be pretty agressive about denying any abuse took place.
How much did Palin involve Bristol in her campaign? Did Bristol even get up to say anything? Yet the news media claimed Bristol was “fair game”.
What is going to happen if Amber is given the same treatment Bristol got?
“Fair game” only applies to conservatives.
the evil conservatives will be castigated for their war on women, of course
Someone should just ask Amber WHY she chose to live with her stepfather as a college student?
Don’t load the question, just ask it and let her explain.
There should be a political cartoon from Branco.
Wendy Davis crying about her alleged struggles with her back to Abbott in his wheel chair and her heels stepping on Abbott’s toes with a balloon coming from Abbott saying, “I wish I could feel that, but I can’t.”
Below, a caption like, “Behind every grandstanding woman is a good honest man who understands real struggle.”
Part of me wants to say people should not go into the weeds of whether she sucked as a mother because we don’t really do the same with male candidates. No one really even pays attention to how many of the males who have some trophy blonde 2nd wife unless they dump number #1 on the sick bed.
But Davis is running on that meme – the struggle, how she pulled herself up in spite of all you hateful sexist men. As a woman I say STFU witch. You were stupid enough to get pregnant too young, you played the victim until you found another man to use and when you got what you wanted from him you dumped him.
Now you’re using your daughters to sing the “she was a great mom” card. If you want to know about sexist attacks and being a good parent – give Gov Palin a call.
“She was stupid enough to get pregnant too young” probably haunts Bristol Palin on many days. It’s the “Thanks for the 401-K, see ya Jeff” that’s the scandal.
“It’s the “Thanks for the 401-K, see ya Jeff” that’s the scandal.”
A lot of men have lived that. They remember what their ex-wives have done.
Every time they see Wendy, they see their ex-wives. “Hell hath no fury” goes both ways.
As far as someone who helps women and supports education is concerned, her husband (excuse me: ex-husband, another of Wendy’s personal cast-offs) has done more in those areas than she has. Of course, that’s not the kind of “help” and “support” Democrats are talking about, even though the efforts of millions of individuals like Jeff Davis outstrip anything the government can ever do in effectiveness and efficiency by orders of magnitude.
Also…. kids adapt…. Dad raising them and Mom being absent was what they thought was normal at their house. Human nature helps us cope and make excuses to absolve the absent parent.
Hopefully those girls will have their own kids one day and get to spend the time raising them that their mother didn’t. That’s when they will wake up to her short comings and hopefully not become resentful. Life’s tough when you’re holding a grudge over things that can be changed.
Wendy is running on the “Government can free you from the consequences of your actions” ticket. If she’d had government to take care of her kid, pay her bills and send her to an Ivy League school when she was young, she wouldn’t have had to rely on some bothersome sugar-daddy.
Like I said before, my aunt (Texas born, Texas raised) schlepped halfway across the country to Stanford with her THREE children to study for her master’s degree in Mathematics.
My uncle (also Texas born, Texas raised) stayed back home in Texas, working and paying all of the bills.
Aunt and kids came home when she had her degree, and she and my uncle remained married until she passed away a couple of years ago.
My mother went to college part-time for 13 years while raising my sister and me. She and my Dad just celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary.
Wendy Davis can stick her “just like other women” narrative where the sun don’t shine.
THIS Texas gal had plenty of role models growing up – and none of their stories bear any resemblance to Ms. Davis’.
If I ran for office they’d call me Couch Potato Ken, so fair’s fair.
‘Can a soufflé rise twice?” .
Seems this fluffy has peaked.
All Wendy has to offer Texas is progressivism, abortion, corruption, greed and ruin.