Remember back in 2018 when Beto O’Rourke, billed as “the next Obama,” took the Democratic Party by storm. Rumors of a 2020 presidential run swirled as he gave Sen. Ted Cruz a run for his money in the Texas Senate race.
After losing narrowly to Cruz, he focused on his run for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. Gracing the cover of the April 2019 issue of Vanity Fair, O’Rourke declared, “Man, I’m just born to be in it.”
Well, the once rising star has fallen from grace. But that hasn’t stopped him from jumping into the Texas gubernatorial race where he will face off against the Lone Star state’s current governor, Greg Abbott.
Abbott held a news conference on Wednesday at Uvalde High School about the previous day’s horrific mass shooting at Robb Elementary School that left 19 children, two teachers, and the gunman dead. According to The Texas Tribune, O’Rourke disrupted Abbott’s remarks shouting, “This is on you.”
The media outlet reported that O’Rourke, seated in the third row, “walked to the stage” and told Abbott, “You are doing nothing. You are offering up nothing. You said this was not predictable. This was totally predictable when you choose not to do anything.”
Seated next to Abbott onstage were Republican officials including Sen. Cruz, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin, all of whom had harsh words for O’Rourke.
Cruz snapped, “Sit down and don’t play this stunt.”
Patrick told O’Rourke was “out of line and an embarrassment.”
“I can’t believe that you’re a sick son of a bitch that would come to a deal like this to make a political issue,” Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin said.
MOMENTS AGO: Robert Francis ‘Beto’ O’Rourke interrupts Gov. Abbott’s press conference to confront him over school massacre pic.twitter.com/TTyeVgFyTp
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) May 25, 2022
According to the report, as O’Rourke was being escorted out of the auditorium by officers, he turned to Abbott and shouted, “This is on you until you choose to do something different. This will continue to happen. Somebody needs to stand up for the children of this state or they will be continue to be killed just like they were killed in Uvalde yesterday.”
He did have some supporters in the crowd. One woman was heard saying: “Let Beto speak, he has a lot to say!”
Another supporter told the Tribune, “I’m sick of this. Guns are the main weapon of choice. Why can’t we have more gun control? It’s too much. We can’t keep doing this.”
The former congressman is best remembered for his impassioned response to a question about the mandatory buyback of assault weapons he had proposed during a September 2019 Democratic primary debate.
The previous month, a shooter had killed 23 people and injured 23 others at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart. To much applause, a very animated Beto O’Rourke asserted, “Hell yes, we are going to take your AR-15, your AK-47. We’re not going to allow it to be used against our fellow Americans anymore.”
According to the RealClearPolitics average of polls in the Texas gubernatorial race, Abbott leads O’Rourke by a margin of 47 to 40.3, 6.7 percent.
Hopefully, after his 2018 defeat in the Senate race and his failed bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, a loss in November will mark the end of O’Rourke’s political aspirations.
He was a flash in the pan and the sooner he comprehends that, the better.
A previous version of this article was published on The Western Journal.
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Wow! Sending $$$ to Gov Abbott’s campaign today! & Beto is NOT the “the next Obama” (which is a plus for him…Beto that is, not Barry).
You misspelled “Beta”.
And “O’Dork.” 😛
Reference Bobby O’Rourke
The occasional governor of Louisiana, Edwin Edward’s, famously said the only way he would loose an election is to be found in bed with a live boy or a dead girl. After what Bobby pulled, Abbott could be found in bed with both a live boy and a dead girl and win.
What a real puss, runs on feelings just like a female. Is he pregnant again because his hormones are off the chart.
We already know some of the answers to the problem of politicians running their mouths: There is a camera present.
If more pols went and did their due diligence, before they got onstage behind the microphone and camera… All it accomplished in the Uvalde press conferences was to make things worse for freedom, while protecting our kids, and make it easier for the left to make a campaign issue out of it.
Having a bunch of perpetually campaigning pols perform like this was the tragedy, along with the shooting, which the perp was known ahead of time that there were problems with his behavior. That shooting should have been avoided, and the pols should have kept their mouths shut until they knew more of what they were talking about.
All the pressers about the Uvalde shooting were well premature, and poorly performed. Now, there is another problem getting the roughshod treatment from the left, with the right’s help.