Desperate times call for desperate moves by political candidates. The race for Texas governor between the incumbent, Republican Greg Abbott, and the Democrat challenger, Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke is getting particularly ugly, thanks to O’Rourke’s willingness to exploit the tragic deaths of 19 school children and 2 teachers in a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on May 24, 2022.
Robert Francis O’Rourke is running behind Governor Greg Abbott by 7 points in the 2022 gubernatorial campaign in Texas, according to the latest polling. The Real Clear Politics aggregate averaging has Abbott up by 8 points. Governor Abbott is running on border security, illegal immigration, lowering property taxes, Bidenflation, and education. O’Rourke is running on abortion. His campaign hasn’t gotten the boost from the Supreme Court ruling in the Dobbs case that he hoped would happen. So, in order to try and gain some traction, O’Rourke is now using the deaths of fourth graders and their teachers to try and win some votes. It’s despicable but this is what progressives do.
Think back to any mass shooting and you’ll remember that Democrats don’t even wait until first responders are on the scene before they begin politicizing the crime. The mantra is always the same, that guns must be grabbed out of the hands of law-abiding citizens. The bad guys aren’t going to give up their weapons so the only ones who are affected by stricter gun laws are those who legally purchase guns. You may remember that O’Rourke was willing to go to a briefing held by Texas officials, including the governor, in Uvalde following the shooting and interrupt the briefing in order to shout at Abbott that he has blood on his hands. For O’Rourke, it’s all about the drama in order to get attention. Grieving families and residents of the town were seeking information and O’Rourke was more interested in interrupting the event for attention.
O’Rourke has released a new campaign ad. It’s not about abortion, which has been the subject of his previous ads, but about a child killed in the shooting at Robb Elementary School. If her story sounds familiar, it’s because actor and Uvalde native Matthew McConaughey spoke about the same child when he addressed the White House press corps. His wife wore the same tennis shoes painted with a heart on a toe.
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In the 30-second ad that will air statewide, Ana Rodriguez tells the story of her daughter Maite Yuleana Rodriguez, who dreamed of being a marine biologist and always was wearing a pair of green hightops with a heart drawn on the right toe.
“Those shoes ended up being one way to identify her body in that classroom,” Ana Rodriguez says as videos and photos of her daughter fill the screen. “I never want another family to go through this.”
Rodriguez then turns her attention to Gov. Greg Abbott, saying he’s done nothing to stop the next shooting.
“No laws passed,” she says. “Nothing to keep kids safe in school. So I’m voting Beto for Maite.”
I can’t imagine the grief she feels over the senseless murder of her child. She is free to deal with that grief as best as she can and if that means being a part of O’Rourke’s campaign, so be it. She was a precious girl. All of the lives lost that day were precious, especially to their families and friends. But, the narrative is wrong. Abbott has acted since the mass shooting. He has not, however, called a special session for the state legislature and changed gun laws, which is what O’Rourke and other Democrats insist he do.
Abbott’s office has touted a series of steps he’s taken in Uvalde since the shooting as evidence that he is acting. That has included investing $5 million in a Family Resiliency Center in Uvalde to be a hub of community services and mental health care resources. They have also pointed to more than $1.25 million sent to the Uvalde school district for trauma counseling, crisis intervention and community outreach.
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But Abbott has made clear he doesn’t think Texas can do some of the things families have been asking for – namely raising the age to purchase weapons like the AR-15 used by the shooter in Uvalde to kill the 19 children and two teachers. The shooter in Uvalde was 18 and waited until his birthday to buy the weapon he used.
During the debate on Friday night, Abbott said he doesn’t believe it is constitutional to raise the age to buy some weapons, even though Florida, New York and California have already taken similar steps. Legal experts have disputed his claim, but Abbott said families are being given “false promises.”
O’Rourke vowed to push for the higher age during the debate.
“All we need is action, and the only person standing in our way is the governor of the state of Texas,” O’Rourke said.
Abbott and O’Rourke had their first and only debate on Friday night. The two debated in Edinburg, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley. The O’Rourke campaign, and his willing cohorts in the media, made a big stink over the fact that there was not a live audience allowed into the auditorium. The conditions of the debate excluded an audience. At the time, it seemed a little unusual but I thought maybe the organizers were trying to keep the focus on the candidates and not allow disruptions from supporters of the candidates to sidetrack the flow of the debate. Then I saw some reporting that the O’Rourke campaign was bussing in Uvalde residents to attend the debate, including parents and families of the victims. Excluding a live audience seems to have been a good decision, as who knows what the O’Rourke tried to coach the Uvalde guests to do.
The first major lawsuit has been filed over the mass shooting.
“The horrors of May 24, 2022, were only possible because so many in positions of power were negligent, careless, and reckless,” Stephanie B. Sherman, the lead attorney in the case, said in a statement.
Defendants in the federal lawsuit include the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, the city of Uvalde, former school district Police Chief Pedro “Pete” Arredondo, suspended Uvalde Police Lt. Mariano Pargas and then-Robb Principal Mandy Gutierrez.
The families also are suing Daniel Defense, the Georgia manufacturer of the assault-style rifle Salvador Ramos, 18, used in the massacre; gun accessory maker Firequest International Inc., over a mechanism that makes a semi-automatic rifle fire like an automatic; Uvalde gun shop Oasis Outback LLC, which transferred guns Ramos purchased online to the mass shooter; lock manufacturer Schneider Electric, over alleged problems with locks on Robb Elementary doors; and Motorola Solutions, over issues with a dispatch communications system that complicated the police response.
Another defendant: an unknown company, John Doe Company 1, that the lawsuit said the district contracted with to ensure security measures were in place and effective.
As far as I can tell, the family of the child referenced in O’Rourke’s campaign ad is not involved in the lawsuit.
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