Posted on 07/14/2013 6:52:21 PM PDT by Hojczyk
Abbott, fresh out of law school, was jogging through Houston's River Oaks neighborhood on July 14, 1984, when a 75-foot oak tree suddenly splintered at its base, striking him in the back and partially paralyzing him. Abbott sued the homeowner and a tree company that had worked in the area and collected millions.
He has since become a proponent of limiting civil litigation in Texas and capping the amount of damages that can be awarded. Opponents have called him a hypocrite, but Abbott has largely shrugged off such criticisms. He rarely speaks about his accident, but chose to Sunday.
"Piecing my life back together began with doctors piecing my vertebrae back together," he said, noting physicians inserted rods in his back. "Too often, you hear politicians talk about having a spine of steel. I actually have one."
Abbott has spent months solidifying his right flank, speaking to grass-roots organizations and tea party groups in hopes of making the governor's race a foregone conclusion. Abbott has also been cheered by many in his party for giving tea party firebrand and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz his start when he appointed him solicitor general in 2003.
Abbott promised Sunday to downsize government, set "real spending limits in Austin" and stroked social conservative fires by saying, "Our priorities are wrong when we live in a state that stops a valedictorian from mentioning God but doesn't stop drug cartels crossing our border."
But he's best known for using his office to sue the federal government 27 times during President Barack Obama's tenure, legal battles that have cost Texas at least $2.58 million. The results are decidedly mixed: Five wins, nine losses, nine pending and four where Texas dropped its complaint because of changing circumstances. His chief target was the Environmental Protection
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
I’m aware of Abbott’s ‘cult of personality.’ Look forward to watching the Pauken-Abbott Debates. How come Abbott hasn’t accepted Pauken’s debate invitation yet? Where’s that courage you’re talking about?
Those are some pretty ugly words for a newbie who claims to be from Texas. I sense you're about to fail the smell test around here.
So do I.
For further information you can click on the Pauken for Governor campaign Website, which has an additional explanation on the Abbott-Rove team.
Letting the mask slip a little early, aren't we?
Not really, Abbott hasn’t accepted Pauken’s debate invitation yet. Until then I’ll keep shooting and when there is a debate. I can walk away. I’m certain Pauken will blast Abbott pretty good in a debate, so I don’t need to do any more attacks. I don’t believe in kicking a man when he’s down. It would be unfair of me to attack Abbott after the debates. He’ll already be wounded real bad, why should I make it worse for him.
you have really shown your ignorance here sir and minimally that you’ve never ran a business here. The Texas Workforce Commission makes the IRS thugs look like a bunch of choir boys! They are reviled and hated uniformly by business owners for there abuse of power. Like the IRS thugs, the agency needs to be abolished. That Pauken was their Chairman is an “on guard” moment for anyone that knows anything about TWC.
I look forward to hearing Abbott talk about this topic in the Pauken-Abbott Debates.
I wonder who else will run
Listen bud....I've been a Freeper for a long time now. I know you think you're impressing us knuckle dragging Freepers with your lightning wit, but we've seen more slicksters come and go from here than you can shake a stick at.
Your act is well worn, and entirely predictable. Political ops like you always think they can join a group like this, just prior to a big election, then establish just enough street cred to sew seeds of doubt about our preferred candidate ahead of the vote.
It's been done too many times to count, and this community sees through such shenanigans pretty quickly.
Now, you're going to tell me that you're just an average Joe who favors some little known candidate, and that you're 'indignant' about my remarks. It's a dance we Freepers know all the steps to, so please don't bother. We tire of it.
I suspect that before you're unceremoniously escorted off the premises by the Viking Kitties, you'll post a lot more 'dazzling' and 'thought provoking' bs to impress us with. Agents like yourself always do.
Posting a photo of Abbott and Rove in the same room without context is a very old political trick.
Oh, I’m sorry. That was supposed to shut me up, wasn’t it? Ooops.
You really do think you're in a room full of hayseed rubes, don't you? LOL
As I said earlier. My email verifies my identity, but I requested to keep it confidential when I registered in May. Certainly, it sounds like a coincidence, but yes indeed I was reading Free Repubublic for 3 years until I registered in May. Thanks for saying I have “lightning wit.” If Free Republic wishes to send me another email to explain my identity again. I will be more than happy too. Now, I can understand if you want to silence an Obummer Democrat voter, or even a Rove Rino. That’s Free Republic’s prerogative. But for a fellow conservative to engage in a debate over whether Pauken or Abbott is better, sounds problematic. Certainly, if Abbott wins the GOP primary, I would support him, but until the primaries are over, I believe Republicans should have the right to defend or oppose their favorite candidates in the primaries.
And why should he? For most of us, this Pauken guy is a complete unknown - and we're about the best informed voter block you'll find anywhere.
Maybe Pauken should have climbed the ladder in state politics before trying to run for Governor, like Greg Abbott has. For all I know, he's some no name political hack who thinks his time has come because he's been around forever.
Sorry, but that doesn't translate into him deserving my notice or attention. Greg Abbott, on the other hand, has well earned my respect, my thanks, and my attention.
So as I bring Pauken to your attention, your saying I should be banned from Free Republic? Part of my argument is that Abbott is a ‘show horse’ and Pauken is a ‘work horse.’ Just because there’s a politician who doesn’t like to toot his own horn, doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve a vote.
Thanks for your nice post. You and I both have been in the Texas Republican Party for many years. Every Republican convention is always HOT in June and it takes a lot of walking during those days. It's not a fun trip. Takes some days to recover from those early mornings and late nights and the heat.
I did that so many years, I knew if the state chairman was effective, or not. There were problems when Pauken was chairman and when he was reelected in 1996, he quit in 1997 and ran for office and failed, then ran for another office, and failed, then ran for another office, and failed. That was twice for congress and once for Attorney General, I believe, if I remember right.
Once, Attorney General Abbott was at a Law organization meeting in south Texas, and the group had gotten Rove to give a speech so both of them were there. The guy in another country is using that to say Abbott and Rove were buddies. Horrors, there is even a picture of them shaking hands. Abbott is a Republican and so is Rove so certainly they know each other. They were at the same meeting and that is all, so when you hear trash talk about that, consider the source who is pushing (loser) Pauken.
Abbott is his own man and he doesn't take orders from anyone except Texas law. Usually, a debate between the candidates is on the PBS station rather than the main stations. As a result, not many people know about it or watch it. I don't recall more than two debates being held and sometimes just one. I will know when that happens and will send you a Freepmail.
And you only want my banking data so that you can transfer your late uncle's millions into it, to keep it out of the hands of the evil Nigerian dictator.
Seriously. I don't know whether to laugh, or to be embarrassed for you.
I told you your act would be predictable, didn't I?
Right on cue, you're now twisting what I said to paint yourself as a victim. You know, it would be entertaining if we hadn't seen this act so many times before.
You make a growing number of us who know the kitties are agitated and I read another one of us is smelling ozone on this thread.
For one thing, this thread is (was supposed to be about) Abbott announcing for governor, but Chinese boy has tried to turn it into a Pauken thread - I know the Viking Kitties don't appreciate that.
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