Fox News contributor Erick Erickson launched his latest personal attack on Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis, whom he proudly labeled “Abortion Barbie,” by absurdly suggesting that a 1996 lawsuit in which Davis made a routine legal claim in a defamation lawsuit disqualified her to hold public office.

In a post on his conservative website RedState, Erickson highlighted a 1996 lawsuit in which Davis sued the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for defamation. Erickson seized on language from the suit, in which Davis claimed the editorial had caused “damages to her mental health,” a required element of her alternate Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress (IIED) claim, to argue Democrats would regret supporting her campaign for governor: 

Back in 1996, Wendy Davis lost an election for the Fort Worth, TX City Council. After the election, she sued the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the local newspaper, for defamation. In short, Davis did not like being criticized by the media (something she won't have to worry about this go round), so she sued for those criticisms claiming they defamed her.

The Texas Court of Appeals and then the Texas Supreme Court both threw out her case. But it is worth noting that Davis, in making her case, claimed that the nasty newspaper, by virtue of criticizing her, damaged her “mental health.”

More worrisome regarding her mental stability, Davis sued the newspaper months after losing her city council and claimed that she “ha[d] suffered and [was] continuing to suffer damages to her mental health.”

Think about that. The best candidate the Texas Democrats could find to run is a lady who admits in open court that a newspaper editorial caused her mental health to be damaged.

As explained by the Digital Media Law Project of Harvard University's Berman Center for Internet & Society, “Plaintiffs who file defamation lawsuits often add an intentional infliction of emotional distress claim as an alternative theory of liability.” Within these IIED claims, a plaintiff must prove the emotional distress, or “damages to her mental health.” In other words, Erickson wants his subscribers to “think about” the routine legal boilerplate of Wendy Davis' lawyers from 1996.  

Erickson's suggestion that Davis is unfit for public office because of a defamation lawsuit is only the latest in his string of absurd or vicious personal attacks against her. In August, Erickson labeled Davis “Abortion Barbie” after she declined to comment on the case of convicted murderer Kermit Gosnell:

Erickson later doubled down on his sexist attack, writing:

Abortion Barbie fits perfectly and I hope that moniker haunts [Wendy Davis] on the campaign trail. She is, after all, intent on building a national name for herself through abortion and pink shoes. I'm sure MSNBC will send her tampon earrings to go with the other accessories.

Erickson reacted to Davis' official announcement that she was running for governor of Texas with a similarly vicious attack, tweeting that Davis “could get 26 weeks into her campaign and still abort it with a clear conscience”: