Wendy Davis came prepared for her debate with Greg Abbott. In the snippets in the embedded video she shows why she is qualified and Greg Abbott is just a shill for the plutocracy.
Wendy Davis clobbers Greg Abbott in final gubernatorial debate
Senator Wendy Davis did not allow Greg Abbott to get away with his attempt at slick answers. She successfully rebuffed and challenged his answers.
When Greg 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’. Wendy Davis used the opportunity to slam Greg Abbott. “Mr. Abbott, you are talking out of two sides of your mouth,” Wendy 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.”
Wendy Davis went on to say that when Gregg 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 Greg 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 Greg Abbott would accept the Medicaid Expansion to Obamacare, he said he would not. He basically decided to giveaway over one hundred billion Texas tax payer dollars. Wendy 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. Greg Abbott lied about it costing Texas ten billion dollars. The first three years are free. There after states are only responsible for about 10% of Medicaid Expansion costs.
The best illustration of Greg 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. Wendy Davis said categorically that the rates were too high. She slammed Greg Abbott on his insurance industry relationship. “I don’t cotton to people who sell out our hard working Texans for the interest of big insurance companies,” Wendy Davis said. “Mr. Abbott on the other hand has taken enormous contributions from them.”
She went on to say that Greg 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, Wendy Davis gave a full throated support stating that if the Supreme Court does not overturn Texas’ law she would support a Texas constitutional amendment to do so. Greg Abbott was cold with his reply showing only concern about his own marriage.
Greg Abbott stood by his stance on not allowing abortions after 20 weeks even in the case of rape and incest. Wendy Davis would use this as segue into Greg Abbott’s insensitivity to women. “This should come as no surprise to us given that Mr. Abbott’s attitude to women have revealed themselves in other ways,” Wendy 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 Greg Abbott campaigned with racist sexual predator Ted Nugent.
It was evident Wendy Davis was on her game. She made Greg Abbott look like a defenseless promoter of talking points. If Texans watch the interview, their choice will be clear.