Wendy Davis became a national media darling after leading an unsuccessful filibuster against a Texas abortion law last summer. She’s now running for governor and trailing GOP rival Greg Abbott.
What’s a good liberal Democrat to do?
Davis chose to run an ad showing an empty wheelchair while noting that Abbott won a $10 million insurance judgment after an accident that left him a paraplegic.
It then accuses him of “working against other victims” as attorney general — as if his accident means he has to side with every other plaintiff, regardless of the merits.
Abbott’s real sin? He’s overcome difficult circumstances — and refused to sign on to the Left’s victim-based identity politics.
He’s not the first: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is regularly smeared as an Uncle Tom because he rejects affirmative action. Miguel Estrada, George W. Bush’s pick for a federal judgeship, was considered dangerous by Senate Democrats because “he is Latino.”
Former New Yorker editor Tina Brown explained the liberal orthodoxy this way right after two accomplished Republican women — former eBay CEO Meg Whitman and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina — won their California primaries for, respectively, governor and senator: “It almost feels as if all these women winning are kind of a blow to feminism.”
Davis’ entire campaign has been about identity politics. Conversely, Gregg Abbott may be a paraplegic, but he’s standing tall.