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October 14, 2014      3:02 PM

Bearse: That Ad

From the Right: QR’s conservative columnist argues that Davis’ wheelchair ad, and the fallout from it, demonstrate “the lunacy of identity politics.”

Not to go all Kevorkian, but I am for campaign-assisted suicide. If Wendy Davis’ campaign wants to handle a delicate issue with a hammer instead of a scalpel, they have that right. Unfortunately, she won’t be able to recover damages for political malpractice, because Greg Abbott successfully defended caps. I’m joking. I am sure she will sue them when it is over, much like she did the newspaper in Fort Worth.

The greater issue with the Davis Campaign is their loose handling of the facts. Take the example in the ad of the doctor who botched surgeries under the influence of cocaine. They claim Abbott stepped in to help a major contributor on the hospital board. But in reality, Abbott’s role was to defend a law passed by the legislature. He was specifically defending the medical liability caps passed by the legislature, not intervening on behalf of the hospital. There is an important principle at work in many of Davis’ attacks: that Abbott should have ignored, in fact violated, his constitutional duties for the sake of empathy. The irony is he is the state’s lawyer, which includes defending the Legislature where she serves. Legislators would haul him before a committee if he took a pass on representing their interests when a lawsuit claims a statute is unconstitutional.

This line of attack is a pattern of the left. If they don’t like a law, or more specifically an outcome of the law, they expect attorneys general and justices to act against the law. They place the principle of empathy ahead of constitutional limits. Obama so much as said this when he declared in 2005, "the critical ingredient is supplied by what is in the judge's heart." But the duty of a justice is always to follow the law. They are to divorce themselves of the passions of the mob to ensure the rule of law is upheld, and endures. Once we begin to hammer at the edifice of the law, it crumbles.

Perhaps more appalling is this notion that because Greg Abbott was partially paralyzed after an accident, he is somehow duty bound to always side with people who have been victimized. But the truth is you can feel terrible for a woman who is raped and not hold a vacuum cleaner company liable for the actions of a sub-contractor. If you believe the law requires it.

The entire column from Eric Bearse can be found by clicking on R&D Department.

By Eric Bearse