Here are my thoughts on Wendy Davis, in full, in total:
This is not about Abortion anymore.
This is about a government respecting its own goddamned rules.
Oh, I absolutely fucking agree that the abortion bill should have been shot on sight. I AM PRO-LIFE, but voting pro-choice is the only morally correct decision I can make. I DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO MAKE SOMEONE ELSE'S MORAL CHOICES. Okay? Okay.
But this is what happened in the TX Senate tonight:
WENDY DAVIS PLAYED FAIR, AND WAS TOLD THAT TALKING ABOUT ROE V. WADE IN A MOTHERFUCKING ABORTION DEBATE WAS GETTING OFF TOPIC.
SENATOR WATSON PLAYED FAIR. He played "Who's on first" with the entire floor, but he was within the law. EVENTUALLY HE GOT SHOUTED DOWN.
AT ELEVEN FORTY-FIVE SENATOR LETICIA VAN DE PUTTE DID THIS:
AND YOU SEE THAT PAUSE AFTER SHE IS DONE SPEAKING? YOU SEE THAT PAUSE? THAT PAUSE IS THERE BECAUSE AFTER SHE SAID "COLLEAGUES" THE CROWD WENT FUCKING WILD.
EVEN BETTER: THE LEGAL PHRASING IMMEDIATELY BEFORE THIS QUESTION MEANT THAT SHE HAD TO BE HEARD, AND THAT THIS QUESTION HAD TO BE ANSWERED.
IT WAS NOT.
THE GALLERY, THE PEOPLE INSIDE THE FUCKING LEGISLATURE SESSION, SCREAMED.
FOR TWENTY MINUTES. NON-STOP.
THEY CHEERED. THEY CHANTED WENDY'S NAME. THEY JUST PLAIN FUCKING SHOUTED FOR TWENTY GODDAMN MINUTES.
THEY MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE TEXAS SENATE TO TAKE A VOTE.
AT ELEVEN FIFTY-NINE THE CHICKEN-SHIT IN CHARGE MUMBLED SOMETHING THAT SOUNDED MAYBE LIKE A VOTE COUNT INTO THE MICROPHONE AND TRIED TO MAKE IT SOUND LIKE THE BILL HAD PASSED.
AT TWELVE OH-ONE THEY TOOK ANOTHER ROLL CALL AND ANOTHER VOTE. AND THEY TURNED THE FUCKING SOUND OFF THE LIVE STREAM TO DO IT SO THAT NO ONE KNEW IF THE VOTE HAD PASSED. BECAUSE THEY KNEW GODDAMN FUCKING WELL THAT 180,000 PEOPLE WERE WATCHING.
AT TWELVE TWENTY THE ONLINE RECORDS SHOWED THE BILL WAS MARKED AS PASSED ON 6/26.
A FEW MINUTES LATER IT WAS MARKED AS PASSED ON 6/25.
BECAUSE A VOTE AFTER MIDNIGHT IS AN ILLEGAL VOTE AND THEY FUCKING KNEW IT.
Tonight, my state did not fucking fail. Tonight, my state stood the fuck up and showed what their opinion was. They showed that they value women's rights. They showed that they valued the rights of women to control their bodies, and that they value the right of women to speak and be heard. They showed that they truly do respect and honor the rules and regulations of this government, and that they accept these rules and act within them on good faith.
THE TEXAS SENATE PROVED THAT THEY DO NOT.
But I want you to go back up and re-read those gifs. This was the shot heard 'round the state. This one moment changed my political views, and the bullshit that followed put the nails in the coffin. And if it can change my mind, it can change a lot of other people's minds, too.
I do not know what my opinion is now, but I do know that I will not and cannot support a system that will demand a political opponant speak for thirteen hours without support, food, water, or a bathroom break, and then use any bullshit loophole they think they can grab to undo the monumental thing she accomplished. Wendy Davis primed the gun, Leticia Van De Putte fired it, and the rest of Texas is now understanding what that sound meant.
THE TEXAS SENATE HAS JUST PROVEN THAT IT DOES NOT RESPECT ITS OWN RULES.
THE TEXAS SENATE HAS JUST PROVEN THAT IT CANNOT BE TRUSTED.
THE TEXAS SENATE HAS JUST PROVEN THAT ITS VOICE, WITH A FEW EXCEPTIONS, IS COMPLETELY OBSOLETE.
THE STATE OF TEXAS HAS JUST DONE SOMETHING AMAZING, AND IT WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO.
THE STATE OF TEXAS LOST THE BATTLE TONIGHT. IT JUST ENTERED THE FUCKING WAR.
There's my rambly thought. Now I am going to bed.
EDIT: According to Twitter, several dozen screen shots and many other people, the bill is now DOA. So unless and until something changes while I sleep, WENDY FUCKING WON.
THIS IS MY STATE. THESE ARE MY PEOPLE. WE. ARE. AWESOME.
It damn sure better have gone DOA because the only state I can think of that values their right to be heard and back it up with whatever sturdy object is to hand besides my state is Texas, and if the Texas government wants to go against the wishes of the citizenry it should probably retreat to a bunker to do it.
ReplyDeleteI am so excited about this - I woke up to the news that Ms. Davis and Ms. Van De Putte had made it happen and the gallery brought the house down and I have been grinning like a lunatic the whole time. Someone on tumblr said "This is what Wonder Woman must feel like all the time!"
OH MY GOD.
DeleteI tuned into the last hour and a half, and for forty minutes it was old men basically debating whose turn it was to speak about a debate about whose turn it was to speak. Lt. Governor Dewhurst was COMPLETELY FUCKING LOST and he had to constantly refer to this chick behind him, I have no idea who she was, to clarify points of parlimentary rule.
Senator Watson burned through as much time as he possibly could before he finally had to give the floor back to Dewhurst. That's when Leticia stood up and started saying "Parlimentary Inquiry", which basically means "You have to listen to and answer my question no matter how fucking stupid it happens to be" and started firing off questions about if he'd heard her call for recess, which she had, and if he understood that meant she had to be acknowledged, which it did, and he effectively said "Look, I didn't hear you, I hear you now, so shut up and let us get this over with."
Coached in polite legal terms.
THAT is when she stood up and said "Parlimentary Inquiry: At what point must a female senator...ect. ect.".
And that's when the crowd went nuts. It was a movie. It was literally like watching a movie.
And the Texas lawmakers are welcome to retreat into a bunker. They'll have to come out again when we vote them out of office.
And Dewhurst...it's like he was TRYING to be a Disney villian. He didn't understand one goddamn thing that was happening--I think because he did not have two hundred thousand twitter users leafing through rules on Texas Senate Parlimentary procedure and feeding him whatever obscure things they could--and looked continually lost and increasingly frightened as Davis and the other Dems ran the clock.
DeleteHe upheld the ruling that ROE VERSES WADE was not germane to a discussion about ABORTION.
And he's the chicken-shit that rushed the mike at eleven fifty nine and tried to make it look like a vote had gone through when it had not.
This could not have been better cast if somebody had actually written it.
If I'm reading the news correctly it looks as though someone altered the legislature's records to show that the bill passed before the deadline. Is that not illegal?
ReplyDeleteCompletely, as far as I can tell. But it's been documented and shared with thousands of people so it can't go unchallenged.
DeleteYes. They altered the time stamp to make it look like it passed on the 25th.
DeleteThe screenshots are all over twitter.
Far as I know, that is illegal as fuck.
"Oh, I absolutely fucking agree that the abortion bill should have been shot on sight. I AM PRO-LIFE, but voting pro-choice is the only morally correct decision I can make. I DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO MAKE SOMEONE ELSE'S MORAL CHOICES. Okay? Okay."
ReplyDeleteThis is the thing. Everyone has the right to make their own personal morals and to self describe their own identities and experiences. But just because someone may be pro life or vegan or whatever doesn't mean they're justified in making that choice for every other human out there.
I'm agreeing with that quoted statement, just in case that wasn't clear :)
ReplyDelete