If there was ever any doubt that the debate over the fudged details in Wendy Davis' bio had completely jumped the shark, confirmation came this week in the form of unsolicited parenting advice the Democratic gubernatorial candidate was offered by Bristol Palin.
Yet the story continues, feeding on itself in a seemingly inexhaustible cycle of misogyny and righteous indignation.
On Tuesday, it was Davis who gave the story a couple days' more fuel, countering the right's claim that she abandoned her two daughters (they lived with their father post-divorce, and Davis was required to pay child support) with heartfelt testimonials from each.
Dru Davis, now 25, called the charges of abandonment "malicious and false" and recounts a mom who led her Brownie troop, volunteered as the field hockey team mom during high school, and never missed a school performance or parent-teacher conference.
Amber Davis, 31, spoke to the fundamental truth of Davis's story. "Yes, we lived in a trailer," she writes, adding, "I know I was my mother's first priority and that she wanted a better life for me than the one she was living. She worked 2 jobs and went to community college at night. She refused to repeat the life her family struggled in growing up."
Both letters are below, courtesy of The Dallas Morning News.
It's only natural that Davis' daughters, the subject of so much moralizing and finger-wagging, would feel the need to speak out, and that the campaign would provide them a forum. Also natural (or at least predictable) is the right's response, summed up neatly in this Fox News headline:
There's a grain of truth in that. Davis is "using" her daughters in her quest for the governor's mansion. But she's only doing so because detractors were using her daughters to attack her character. Besides, both are grown women now, more than capable of expressing an opinion without their mom pulling their puppet strings.
