Is Wendy Davis Screwing With Right-Wing Media?

by evanmcmurry

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down at the bottom of this profile on Wendy Davis, past where most stop reading, you’ll find this:

“I am pro-life,” she said, borrowing from the label anti-abortion activists assign themselves. “I care about the life of every child: every child that goes to bed hungry, every child that goes to bed without a proper education, every child that goes to bed without being able to be a part of the Texas dream, every woman and man who worry about their children’s future and their ability to provide for that future. I care about life and I have a record of fighting for people above all else.”

Wait for it…wait for it…here it is:

Davis clearly knew this was going to happen before she said the phrase. In fact, it most likely was her reason for intentionally slipping a click-bait statement into the middle of an exchange, knowing right-leaning news sites like the Examiner would scoop it up (wait until Breitbart, Red State, etc. get ahold of it), and now she’s out there screwing with definitions of “pro-life” without running a single ad or giving  Abbott ad-makers some malleable soundbite.

It’s an efficient way to complicate her image as a one-issue abortion filibusterer among centrist voters—as we learned yesterday, Texans are still learning who she is, and there’s a modest middle ground where she could gain—all while reaffirming her role as a crusader for women’s health rights. The right-wing blogs will have a field day, but they’ll be doing at least some of her work for her.