That a politician might lie is not exactly a revelation, but it's interesting to read a Democrat's own words on the subject.
Texas voters remember Wendy Davis as the pink sneakered filibusterer who stalled the Texas Legislature over an abortion vote and who was catapulted into the gubernatorial election because of it.
She didn't gain a lot of traction during the campaign, but the highlight was when she came out in favor of open gun carry legislation. Maybe some voters believed her at the time, nonetheless, Gregg Abbott beat her soundly.
Anyway, she later explained why she did that. She wanted the votes it might have brought. See Why I Caved on Guns When I Ran for Governor of Texas where she explained that the bill she favored was so watered down she thought it would never pass through the legislature. If it did but some of the restrictions she favored didn't make it to the final version then she had an easy out.
Some of us in Texas heard her say she favored open-carry back then, and we assumed it was a blatant lie. Shows how wrong we were. It was a fine tuned political calculation based on a presumption of what someone else would do. That's something to remember whenever we hear a politician take a position that seems contrary to what would be expected of them. The politician him/herself may actually believe it at the time. So in their own eyes, it isn't really a lie. Voters, however, should trust their own common sense.
Post Script. The Democrats running for their party's nomination for president are busy attacking each other over which one has the strongest anti-gun credentials. We have to wonder if, in light of the huge surge in private gun ownership across the nation, the eventual nominee will sound almost pro-gun during his/her campaign for president. If so, let's not forget Wendy Davis.
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