On Tuesday's PoliticsNation on MSNBC, host Al Sharpton pretended that the misleading details liberal hero Wendy Davis has used to exaggerate her biography are merely "minor details" and actually suggested that it is the "right wing" who should be embarrassed by repeating the revelations as he ended his regular "Nice Try" segment by proclaiming:
Did the right wing think we wouldn't notice that their attack strategy is really what's behind their latest on Senator Davis? Nice try, but we got you.
Significant discrepancies in Wendy's account of her life were unearthed by the non-conservative Dallas Morning News. Sharpton noted that she was actually divorced at age 21, rather than the age 19 she has previously claimed.
The MSNBC host also admitted that she had a wealthy second husband who paid for much of her college and law school education, although Sharpton stopped short of relating that she left her husband right after he finished paying her debts.
Sharpton saw the inconsistencies as merely "minor details" and went after conservatives for repeating the story. Before a commercial break, Sharpton teased the segment:
She's Wendy Davis, and she's running for governor of Texas. And surprise, surprise, the right wing is after her big time. Stay tuned for that.
And later, he plugged a second time:
And the GOP's new push to take down progressive hero Wendy Davis. They won't get away with it, and it's tonight's "gotcha."
He began the segment hitting the "right wing" again:
The right wing is just itching to take down Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis. Their latest excuse, this Dallas Morning News report that said Davis, quote, "blurred some details in her dramatic life story, a teen mother who later earned her way to Harvard."
Sharpton then tried to downplay the story as he added:
Turns out Davis was 21 when she got divorced, not 19. And she said it, as she said in the past, and her ex-husband helped her pay those Harvard bills. That's it. Some minor details in a still powerful life story, but the right wing media is hyping it all up with attacks, trying to paint her as some liar.
Below is a complete transcript of the segment from the Tuesday, January 21, PoliticsNation on MSNBC:
AL SHARPTON, BEFORE COMMERCIAL BREAK: She's Wendy Davis, and she's running for governor of Texas. And surprise, surprise, the right wing is after her big-time. Stay tuned for that.
(...)
SHARPTON, BEFORE COMMERCIAL BREAK: Still ahead, right wingers trot out one of their favorite attacks on President Obama, that he's playing the race card. I'll trump their arguments tonight. And the GOP's new push to take down progressive hero Wendy Davis. They won't get away with it, and it's tonight's "gotcha."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SHARPTON: The right wing is just itching to take down Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis. Their latest excuse, this Dallas Morning News report that said Davis, quote, "blurred some details in her dramatic life story, a teen mother who later earned her way to Harvard." Turns out Davis was 21 when she got divorced, not 19. And she said it, as she said in the past, and her ex-husband helped her pay those Harvard bills. That's it. Some minor details in a still powerful life story, but the right wing media is hyping it all up with attacks, trying to paint her as some liar.
RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: There is fraud and deceit woven through her life story, which it has been discovered now has some issues. It seems when you boil it all down that Wendy Davis would have ended up being really poor and destitute were it not for a man. But that's no problem.
SHARPTON: The Drudge Report tweeted, "Texas abortion heroine lied about being a single teen mom. And a right-wing columnist tweeted, "The real question, if you wear pink shoes, how fast can you run away from your parental responsibilities?" Those pink shoes were Wendy Davis's trademark during her 11th hour filibuster of a harsh Texas abortion law last summer. And ever since she stood up in those shoes, the right wing has been fiercely trying to tear her down.
Davis said there were details in her life story she should have been clearer about, but she also says, quote, "the truth is that at age 19 I was a teenage mother, living alone with my daughter in a trailer, struggling to keep us afloat. I am proud of where I came from, and I am proud of what I've been able to achieve. Anyone who tries to say otherwise hasn't walked a day in my shoes." Especially not these shoes.
Did the right wing think we wouldn't notice that their attack strategy is really what's behind their latest on Senator Davis? Nice try, but we got you.
--Brad Wilmouth is a news analyst at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow Brad Wilmouth on Twitter.
