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Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis, who is running for governor of Texas, has admitted that some of the public details about her personal history are incomplete or inaccurate, according to a report in the Dallas Morning News.


Davis, a rising Democratic star, has touted herself as a Texas success story. She has said she was a divorced teenage mother who went from living in a mobile home, juggling low-wage jobs and going to community college to graduating from Harvard Law School.

The up-from-nowhere narrative, which emerged during an 11-hour filibuster she staged in June to oppose abortion restrictions, has been a central part of her candidacy and appeal, helping to boost her national profile and fundraising efforts.

But the Dallas Morning News reveals a more complicated narrative.

According to the paper, Davis was not a divorced working mother living in a mobile home at age 19. Instead, she was 21, and lived in a trailer for a short time. Then after a stint living with her mother, Davis moved into her own apartment.

At 24, she married Jeff Davis, a lawyer who, according to the report, helped pay for her final two years of college and cashed out his 401(k) and took out loans to help finance her Harvard law degree.

The marriage eventually ended in divorce, with Jeff Davis getting custody of the couple’s youngest daughter and Wendy Davis paying monthly child support.


She added: “Most people would identify with the fact that we tend to be defined by the struggles we came through [rather] than by the successes. And certainly for me that’s true,” she said. “When I think about who I am and how it’s reflected in the things I worked on, it comes from that place.”In an extensive interview with the paper, Davis said she had focused on general themes in her personal history, rather than being precise.

“My language should be tighter,” she said. “I’m learning about using broader, looser language. I need to be more focused on the detail.”


Davis has raised $12 million for her gubernatorial campaign, but she is trailing in her likely match-up against Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott, who has raised about $27 million.

She recently hired Joel Benenson, President Obama’s chief pollster.

A November poll by the University of Texas and the Texas Tribune showed the race within single digits — Abbott garnered 40 percent of registered voters, while Davis got 34 percent and 25 percent were undecided.

Update: Wendy Davis, who is quoted in the Dallas Morning News article, has released this statement in response to the article:

“We’re not surprised by Greg Abbott’s campaign attacks on the personal story of my life as a single mother who worked hard to get ahead. But they won’t work, because my story is the story of millions of Texas women who know the strength it takes when you’re young, alone and a mother. I’ve always been open about my life not because my story is unique, but because it isn’t.

The truth is that at age 19, I was a teenage mother living alone with my daughter in a trailer and struggling to keep us afloat on my way to a divorce. And I knew then that I was going to have to work my way up and out of that life if I was going to give my daughter a better life and a better future and that’s what I’ve done. I am proud of where I came from and I am proud of what I’ve been able to achieve through hard work and perseverance. And I guarantee you that anyone who tries to say otherwise hasn’t walked a day in my shoes.”

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In that order, the judge ordered that Wendy Davis “be immediately restrained from . . . using illegal drugs or consuming alcohol within 24 hours before or during the period of possession of or access to the child.”

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Originally posted by Niki2:
I see Geezer and his right-wing buddies have jumped on it big time:

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Originally posted by Storymark:
Geezer selectively editing to push an agenda?

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Originally posted by Niki2:
No, Kiki...he CHOSE to post only the WaPo article, one might wonder if he did so because it DIDN'T contain all the information in the original article, which one wouldn't ever know if one didn't bother to go to the original DallasNews interview. Note that the interview itself is NOT linked anywhere in the WaPo article, despite that being from where the information came...because he was kind enough to link the ORIGINAL article as an after thought, I followed up on it.

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I also didn't "dig up" "insults"...I googled to find out more about the story, the tweets came up and I found them there and other places. It's called researching a story, and by googling, it became obvious what the right wing is doing and I found specific examples.

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Originally posted by Niki2:
Her husband helped put her through college--I don't believe she ever claimed he didn't, he had no problem doing so just as millions of women have helped put their husbands through college.

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While they dated, Wendy Davis enrolled at Texas Christian University on an academic scholarship and a Pell Grant. After they married, when she was 24, they moved into a historic home in the Mistletoe Heights neighborhood of Fort Worth.

Jeff Davis paid for her final two years at TCU. “It was community resources. We paid for it together,” Wendy Davis said.

When she was accepted to Harvard Law School, Jeff Davis cashed in his 401(k) account and eventually took out a loan to pay for her final year there.

“I was making really good money then, well over six figures,” he said. “But when you’ve got someone at Harvard, you’ve got bills to pay, you’ve got two small kids. The economy itself was marginal. You do what you have to do, no big deal.”

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Again: Did I post a single thing which is inaccurate, and please show clearly how I "covered up" anything at all?

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Like any true Texan, Wendy Davis has taken on her share of tough fights.

Raised by a single mother, Wendy began working after school at age 14 to help support her mom and three siblings. By 19, she was on her way to becoming a single mother, working two jobs just to make ends meet.

Knowing that education was the only path to creating a better life for her young daughter, Wendy enrolled at Tarrant County Community College. After two years, she transferred to Texas Christian University. With the help of academic scholarships, student loans, and state and federal grants, Wendy became the first person in her family to earn a bachelor’s degree, graduated first in her class, and went on to Harvard Law School.

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I'll leave you to it; you are behaving more and more like a troll and I'm not going to encourage you further.

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Originally posted by Geezer:

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Originally posted by Storymark:
Geezer selectively editing to push an agenda?

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No. Citing the WaPo story in full, then, since WaPo didn't provide a link to the DMN, doing that.

But all you want to do is cover up for Ms. Davis' fuzzy facts.


"When your heart breaks, you choose what to fill the cracks with. Love or hate. But hate won't ever heal. Only love can do that."

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Originally posted by Storymark:

Right wingers indulging in misogynistic character assassination?

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A newspaper airing the sexist grievances of an ex-spouse has standards, and would not make the sick suggestion that Wendy Davis was somehow unfit to be around her children based on a Temporary Restraining Order

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Wendy Davis is under fire following a Dallas Morning News report that found a number of factual discrepancies in the personal narrative she has made a centerpiece of her long-shot campaign for Texas governor.

Davis, who is quoted multiple times in the article, issued a statement after its publication suggesting that her Republican opponent, Greg Abbott, was behind the “attacks.”

Davis said that for Abbott, who has been a paraplegic for nearly three decades, to question her story proves that he “hasn’t walked a day in my shoes.”

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Originally posted by SHINYGOODGUY:

You see guys, he can be taught!


SGG

hee, hee ;-)

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Wendy Davis is bigger than Texas now, and so are her mistakes.

If Republicans can’t keep their hold on Texas, they’ll never win back the White House. So every Davis misstep or misfire becomes early national campaign fodder for 2016.

That’s why, almost 20 years into her local political career, we are suddenly worried about exactly how long in 1982 the Democratic gubernatorial candidate and her newborn daughter lived in a Southeast Loop 820 mobile home park. And we’re parsing her Richland-Hills-to-riches story about a teen mother who divorced, remarried and became a wealthy title company lawyer.

Until now, not one of her often bitter political opponents ever asked whether she was truly a “single” teen mother in 1982 or only “separated” from her husband. Nor did anyone criticize her parenting of two daughters or air allegations from a divorce.

Now, she’s important enough for reporters to double-check facts in her still-too-vague campaign biography and for national Republican bloggers to rise up in finger-shaking condemnation.

A colleague from her City Council days agreed to talk about Davis.

Becky Haskin let me quote her by name. She is a Republican.

“What that comment really tells you is how hard Wendy works,” Haskin said Tuesday as networks went national with the “Wendy-Flubbed-Bio” story.

“She did what she had to do for her daughters,” said Haskin, a seven-year council colleague.

Haskin was on the council during Davis’ 2003 separation and 2005 divorce from title company lawyer Jeff Davis, who once represented Haskin’s east-side council district.

As far as Davis’ parenting or custodial role after the divorce, Haskin’s comments were succinct.

“If this involved a man running for office, none of this would ever come up,” she said. “It’s so sad. Every time I ran, somebody said I needed to be home with my kids. Nobody ever talks about men being responsible parents.”

Haskin has endorsed other Republicans this cycle but said she will support Davis.

“It’s fun to watch the people in this race scrambling,” Haskin said.

“They wouldn’t be talking about Wendy if she weren’t a threat.” http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/01/21/5503157/davis-and-trailergate-
part-campaign.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

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Originally posted by Storymark:
And really - helping pay for a single year, is "putting her through college?"

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Originally posted by whozit:
Is "fuzzy" another way of saying "lying phoney?"

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Originally posted by Niki2:

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Wendy Davis is bigger than Texas now, and so are her mistakes.
Now, she’s important enough for reporters to double-check facts in her still-too-vague campaign biography and for national Republican bloggers to rise up in finger-shaking condemnation.

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Originally posted by kpo:
One of these days Geezer will post a thread criticising a Republican.

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Originally posted by kpo:
One of these days Geezer will post a thread criticising a Republican.

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Originally posted by Geezer:

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Originally posted by Storymark:
And really - helping pay for a single year, is "putting her through college?"

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Learn to read.

"Jeff Davis paid for her final two years at TCU. “It was community resources. We paid for it together,” Wendy Davis said.

When she was accepted to Harvard Law School, Jeff Davis cashed in his 401(k) account and eventually took out a loan to pay for her final year there."


"When your heart breaks, you choose what to fill the cracks with. Love or hate. But hate won't ever heal. Only love can do that."

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Originally posted by Niki2:
Neither of those sources "condemned" her;

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Originally posted by Storymark:

Ok, so I missed one detail. My mistake.

Now, can you explain how 3 out of 7 years is putting her through school (apparently you don't count the 4 she covered... funny that).

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Davis paid for Russell's last two years at TCU and paid for his wife's education at Harvard Law School from 1990 to 1993.

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Originally posted by Niki2:
No, unlike Geezer and Rap, I do NOT want to threadjack this into a discussion of someone from the right.

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Originally posted by Niki2:
It's all so amazingly absurd, given she definitely WAS a single mother at 20 when she filed for divorce, and the right wing is all hung up on her not being officially "divorced" until she was 21, and Geezer's obsession over the details...

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Bravo for Wendy Davis, she picked herself up by her bootstraps. Funny how conservatives talk a good game about personal responsibility, and when someone achieves what she has, they call her all kinds of names .

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