Everyone and their dog has already chimed in on Wendy Davis’ serial prevarications by now, but hey, it is my state.
In the Dallas Morning News, political reporter Wayne Slater brought up examples of Davis’ campaign biography that don’t match up with the facts:
It is her biography — a divorced teenage mother living in a trailer who earned her way to Harvard and political achievement — that her team is using to attract voters and boost fundraising.
The basic elements of the narrative are true, but the full story of Davis’ life is more complicated, as often happens when public figures aim to define themselves. In the shorthand version that has developed, some facts have been blurred.
Davis was 21, not 19, when she was divorced. She lived only a few months in the family mobile home while separated from her husband before moving into an apartment with her daughter.
A single mother working two jobs, she met Jeff Davis, a lawyer 13 years older than her, married him and had a second daughter. He paid for her last two years at Texas Christian University and her time at Harvard Law School, and kept their two daughters while she was in Boston. When they divorced in 2005, he was granted parental custody, and the girls stayed with him. Wendy Davis was directed to pay child support.
In an extensive interview last week, Davis acknowledged some chronological errors and incomplete details in what she and her aides have said about her life.
“My language should be tighter,” she said. “I’m learning about using broader, looser language. I need to be more focused on the detail.”
Just try that “my language should be tighter” line if you ever get audited by the IRS.
Wendy Davis’ campaign biography leans heavily on her time as a single teenage mom. She was indeed all of those things, just not at the same time.
Other tidbits: When she ran for the Ft. Worth city council in 1996, she did it as a Republican and voted in GOP primaries.
Also, there’s that little bit about Davis leaving her husband the day after he paid off her Harvard loan. As one Twitter wag put it:
Husband paid off her student loan and Wendy Davis left the next day? Sounds like money well spent.
— Will Antonin (@Will_Antonin) January 19, 2014
There are a few other tiny wrinkles to Davis’ life story. The fact her ex sought a restraining order to keep her from using illegal drugs while visiting her children is one. Another is the fact that she lied about some of the details of her life story under oath.
A few more Twitter observations on the latest Wendy Davis revelations:
Wendy Davis needs a man like a fish needs a rich bicycle that will pay its way through fish law school and take full custody of its spawn.
— jon gabriel (@exjon) January 21, 2014
Shorter #WendyDavis: I don’t always lie about my personal life, but when I get caught, I blame @GregAbbott_TX.
— Ashley Sewell (@TXTrendyChick) January 21, 2014
FIFY @WendyDavisTexas: Mine is the story of millions of TX women who ditched their older husband & kids after scoring a Harvard law degree.
— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) January 21, 2014
It also doesn’t say much about her intelligence that she thought she could get away with these lies in the Internet era…