How Texas Republicans Made Wendy Davis Famous

Hardhatters ^ | 05/08/2014 | Hal Hawkins

[thetallguy24]

It’s election year once again, and, with the general election in Texas fast approaching, things are about to heat up, especially the governor’s race between Republican Greg Abbott and Democrat Wendy Davis. Abbott is currently enjoying huge leads in the polls. Despite massive amounts of money being poured into Davis’ campaign, primarily from out of state and including Chicago socialists, a series of missteps (or lies) and the dismissal of her campaign by the Democratic Governor’s Associations appear to have doomed her campaign into becoming a blip that will soon be recorded history. However, there was a time in Fall 2013 when Davis was polling much closer. How an obscure state senator (who could barely win and hold her seat) became an overnight starlet for liberal causes and then-viable threat to the Republican stronghold in Texas is not as simple as it appears.The most publicized and used answer to Davis’ skyrocketing to the national spotlight is her filibuster of the bill SB 5, which improves safety and health standards at abortion clinics and bans abortions after 20 weeks. Unfortunately, if her newly found celebrity status can be directly attributed to her filibuster and the media coverage of it, then the enabler of all of this was Republicans. How? Let’s look at the history of the legislation.

1. With the Texas Legislature failing to pass any significant laws related to pro-life causes during the regular 83^rd session, a special session was called on May 27, 2013.
2. On the same day, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst launched the special session without the two-thirds majority requirement, meaning only a simple majority was needed to approve bills.
3. Two weeks later on June 11, Perry adds the issue of passing “legislation relating to the regulation of abortion procedures, providers and facilities” to the special session agenda.
4. On the same day, Sen. Glenn Hegar (R – Katy) filed SB 5, the pro-life bill, which included a ban on abortions after 20-weeks.
5. The highly prioritized bill reaches the floor of the Senate a full week later on June 18.
6. The first amendment proposed, and only amendment submitted by a Republican (Sen. Glenn Hegar) strips the original bill of its ban on abortions after 20-weeks. Sen. Dan Patrick, Dewhurst’s opponent in the runoff for Lt. Governor, recently accused Dewhurst of encouraging Hegar to remove the abortion ban.
7. With the new amendment being offered by Sen. Hegar, the bill, instead of being passed by simple majority, sits in the Senate for over five hours as Democrats submit 19 floor amendments (Wendy Davis submitted two of those amendments) in an attempt to kill the bill.
8. Sen. Hegar’s amendment removing the abortion ban is finally adopted in the Senate. Every Republican Senator, including Sen. Dan Patrick, votes to adopt Hegar’s amendment, thus stripping SB 5 of its abortion ban.
9. Two days later on June 20, the bill is sent to the House where it is referred to the State Affairs committee.
10. The State Affairs committee amends SB 5 by reattaching the abortion ban to it on June 21.
11. The Texas House, despite having a large Republican majority, sits on the bill for three days before passing it and sending it back to the Senate (because of the amendment) on June 24, which only allows the Senate one day to pass the bill before the session ends.
12. Because there is only one day left to pass the bill, on June 25, Wendy Davis and Democrats are able to filibuster SB 5.
13. The filibuster does end with time to pass SB 5, but “anarchy”, as described by Dewhurst, prevents its passage. No senators or animals were harmed during the state of “anarchy”.

With large majorities of Republicans in both Houses, a sufficient amount of time, and only needing a simple majority in the Senate, it would seem SB 5 would have passed almost immediately. Hegar’s amendment to his own bill that eliminated the abortion ban portion, subsequent support by all of the Republican Senators, and the House’s reattachment of the ban is the main reason a filibuster was possible. Had Hegar and the Republican Senators not voted against the ban and instead kept it in the bill, it would have simply passed the Senate and the House, respectively, and been sent to the Governor’s desk. The amendment required SB 5 to return to the Senate for a 2^nd vote, and, thanks to the terrible time management by both the House and the Senate, it was returned to the Senate on the final day. This gave Wendy Davis and the Democrats the opportunity to filibuster. If the bill had been sent to the Senate earlier in the week, the likelihood of a filibuster (or a highly publicized one) would have greatly diminished. Thus, through a series of blunders, whether deliberate or not, Wendy Davis was enabled to filibuster and rise to stardom.

[thetallguy24]

So self-proclaimed "pro-lifers" like Van Taylor, Ken Paxton, Glenn Hegar, Dan Patrick, and others all voted to gut the abortion ban from the bill? Incredible.

I even looked at the bill. I was shocked to see that the 20 week ban was there in the original bill, but, the bill that left the Senate, the ban was no where to be found.

How can you be pro-life and vote against an abortion ban?

I wish I could find some genuine pro-life officials in Texas to support. It all seems like a game to them.

[Gaffer]

But the ‘famous’ part includes a reputation for gold-digging opportunist and baby killer.....not much of a rep in my book.

[bkopto]

The Stupid Party (TM) strikes again.

[thetallguy24]

Can I borrow the Stupid Party’s logo? I want to make it my gravatar lol

[SeeSharp]

Well it’s about time the Republicans started choosing candidates for the Democrats. The other side has done it to us on the national level twice in the last two election cycles.

[Slings and Arrows]

The author confuses fame and infamy.

[safeasthebanks]

"...Wendy Davis was enabled to filibuster and rise to stardom."

HAHAHAHAHAHA "rise to stardom" HAHAHAHAHA. This guy's a riot.

Oh wait, he was serious?!?!?

[Viennacon]

The baby killer’s fifteen minutes are up. She’s about to lose in a landslide. Dems are pumping a corpse at this point.

[Beagle8U]

“Can I borrow the Stupid Party’s logo?”

Sure, it’s a picture of a bucking jackass.

[thetallguy24]

I think with all the plastic surgery, shes already been pumped plenty. lol

[VRWCarea51]

Well yes, she is so famous thanks to the Republicans the DNC doesn’t even want to help finance her campaign figuring she is a lost cause.

[GeronL]

Bump

[tanknetter]

That is what the article infers, isn’t it? That TX Republicans created an atmosphere/environment where the Dems were goaded into promoting an eventual gubernatorial nominee (Davis) who is really a one trick pony and doesn’t stand much of a chance of getting elected.

Not sure I’m buying that. But it wouldn’t hurt to have the Democrats believe that the GOP was so adept at such manipulations.

[CARTOUCHE]

The final nail is about to be driven into the coffin of abortion clinics in all of the state of Texas according to articles I have read this past week. The pro-aborts are gnashing their teeth. You should be happy. So where’s your beef?

Sometimes it appears one of our guys (gals) voted counter to our desires. Some legislative maneuvers require a yes vote to get it off the table and on to the real vote that counts. Could you be confusing one of these procedural votes?

Why not call Dan Patrick and ask him about it?

[thetallguy24]

If you look at the Senate journal, you can see the adoption of the amendment submitted by Hegar. The bill is then amended by the House committee to put the abortion ban back in the bill.

This wasn’t procedural. The Senate Republicans took it out.

I am sure Dan Patrick could slither his way around it with lots of words.

[TexasCajun]

The so-called famous Wendy, “Abortion Barbie”, Davis will be luck to get 35% of the vote.

[nascarnation]

The only downside is that Abortion Barbie failed too early.

She was going to be the perfect sinkhole for national progressive campaign ca$h, but I’ve read that the national Dem party has already written off her race as unwinnable.

[thetallguy24]

Here is when Hegar’s amendment is recorded in the Senate Journal:

http://www.journals.senate.state.tx.us/sjrnl/831/pdf/83S106-18-F1.PDF#page=8

Here is when it gets voted on:
http://www.journals.senate.state.tx.us/sjrnl/831/pdf/83S106-18-F1.PDF#page=25

[CARTOUCHE]

Then, I repeat, call Hegar and Patrick and ask them to explain. Hallelujah the abortions clinics are closing!! Be Happy !!

[thetallguy24]

But not all of them, and I am not going to be happy until clinics like the abortion supercenter in Houston is closed.

The issue is, if the version the Senate passed had become law, then, yes, clinics would have closed, but the remaining ones that stayed open would have been legally permitted to perform abortions on babies older than 20 weeks.