Senator Wendy Davis came prepared for her debate with Greg Abbott. In the snippets in the embedded video she shows why she is qualified and Abbott is just a shill for the plutocracy. Sen. Davis did not allow Abbott to get away with his attempt at slick answers. She successfully rebuffed and challenged him.
When Abbott was asked how he intended to pay for his desire to make the Texas education system number one in the country, his answer can be encapsulated with the phrase "do more with less." Sen. Davis used the opportunity to slam Abbott. "Mr. Abbott, you are talking out of two sides of your mouth," Davis said. "On the one hand you are fighting to keep our students in overcrowded classrooms, teachers laid off across the state, and school closings in place. And yet you say you want to make Texas number one in education. You cannot accomplish that goal without making the appropriate investment."
Sen. Davis went on to say that when Abbott talks about local control it means he is pushing the cost of education onto local communities which would cause the increase of local property taxes across the state. One of the panelists pointed out incredulously to Abbott that in effect he is saying he can make Texas schools number one at the same time that Texas spends less than the national average per pupil.
When a panelist asked about whether Abbott would accept the Medicaid Expansion to Obamacare, he said he would not. He basically decided to give away over one hundred billion Texas taxpayer dollars. Sen. Davis slammed Abbott for being less than truthful. She pointed out that if she is elected governor she would bring those dollars back to Texas because it would increase jobs, well-being, and our economy. Abbott lied about it costing Texas ten billion dollars. The first three years are free. Thereafter, states are only responsible for about 10 percent of Medicaid Expansion costs.
Please read below the fold for more on this story.
The best illustration of Abbott being beholding to the insurance industry came with a question about home insurance being too high. He could not say the rates were too high. Instead he said he did not look at the numbers. Sen. Davis said categorically that the rates were too high. She slammed Abbott on his insurance industry relationship. "I don't give cotton to people who sell out our hardworking Texans for the interest of big insurance companies," Sen. Davis said. "Mr. Abbott on the other hand has taken enormous contributions from them."
She went on to say that Abbott most recently advocated a settlement with Farmers Insurance. The judge accused him of laying down to the insurance company and refused to accept the settlement because he was selling out the claimants.
When asked about marriage equality, Sen. Davis gave full-throated support stating that if the Supreme Court does not overturn Texas' law she would support a Texas constitutional amendment to do so. Abbott was cold with his reply showing only concern about his own marriage.
Abbott stood by his stance on not allowing abortions after 20 weeks even in the case of rape and incest. Sen. Davis would use this as segue into Abbott’s insensitivity to women. "This should come as no surprise to us given that Mr. Abbott's attitude to women has revealed themselves in other ways," Davis said.
She pointed out that he paid women less than men in his attorney general's office for the same work. She pointed out that Abbott campaigned with racist sexual predator Ted Nugent.
It was evident Sen. Davis was on her game. She made Abbott look like a defenseless promoter of talking points. If Texans watch the interview, their choice will be clear.
Let’s turn Texas Blue. You can bring Wendy Davis over the finish line now.