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Former Dan Crenshaw Opponent Mocks His Eyes. Crenshaw Fires Back Perfect Response.

   DailyWire.com
Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), speaks at the 2019 American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Policy Conference, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., on Monday, March 25, 2019.
Cheriss May/NurPhoto via Getty Images

After Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) slammed Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) for claiming the GOP thinks the only way they can win is preventing Americans from voting, a Democrat who launched an unsuccessful bid for Congress in Texas for Rep. Dan Crenshaw’s seat in 2020 targeted him with an insulting tweet referencing his eyes, writing, “The reason you can’t see the objective truth isn’t because of your eyes; it’s because how far you have your nose up your Dear Leader’s a$$.”

Crenshaw, who lost his right eye to a bomb while fighting for his country in Afghanistan and has had to undergo multiple surgeries to save his remaining eye, recently was losing vision in the remaining eye, which kept him off Twitter until he underwent another surgery.

“Back in January, I had some flashes off to the corner of my vision,” Crenshaw said in mid-May. “Imagine looking at a screen too long and maybe some distortions associated with that … that blinking, that’s sort of what I saw. … I was really confronted with permanent blindness this time because a retinal detachment is very, very dangerous.”

He described what vision he was dealing with in his remaining eye:  “Wear a dive mask, put some bubble bath in it and rub the lenses with Vaseline and that’s sort of what I see.” Then he added that his situation was simply part of the deal when he signed up with the military: “Is something hard, yes? Is it hard compared to what? In compared to who? What they had to deal with? You know, that should stiffen your spine sometimes,” as KHOU reported.

After Elise Cardnell sniped at him about his eyes, Crenshaw fired back a swift response: “Actually it’s just ‘eye,’ singular.”

Cardnell then doubled down, tweeting, “Well, I ran out of characters to say ‘eyes, or lack thereof.’”

Crenshaw had a ready response for that, too: “Bless your heart. Please pray for this woman.”

As summarized by Ballotpedia, “Cardnell ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Texas’ 2nd Congressional District. She withdrew before the Democratic primary runoff on July 14, 2020. Elisa Cardnell was born in West Germany. Cardnell served in the United States Navy from 2007 to 2018.”

Crenshaw’s measured response is in line with how he has responded in the past when his eyes were mocked. After comedian and Saturday Night Live cast member Pete Davidson mocked Crenshaw’s eye-patch, stating in November 2018, “You may be surprised to hear he’s a Congressional candidate from Texas and not a hitman in a porno movie. I’m sorry, I know he lost his eye in war, or whatever,” Crenshaw responded to Davidson’s remark on Twitter, writing, “Good rule in life: I try hard not to offend; I try harder not to be offended. That being said, I hope @nbcsnl recognizes that vets don’t deserve to see their wounds used as punchlines for bad jokes.”

Crenshaw is a retired lieutenant commander with the United States Navy and former Navy SEAL. According to his campaign website’s “about” section, he “graduated from Tufts University in 2006, where he earned his Naval officer commission through Navy ROTC.” After graduation, he reported immediately to SEAL training, where he excelled, and then deployed to Fallujah, in Iraq — the first of five tours of duty serving his country overseas.

He lost his eye on his third deployment. “After six months of combat operations,” Crenshaw’s official biography notes, “Dan was hit by an IED blast during a mission in Helmand province, Afghanistan.” He lost his right eye and his left was “badly damaged.” After undergoing several surgeries, Crenshaw returned to service, deploying twice more.

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