Chad’s Morning Brief: Wendy Davis Faces Backlash Over Wheelchair Ad, Airstrikes Alone Not Holding ISIS Back, and Other Top Stories

Wend Davis released an attack ad over the weekend that upset many on both the right and the left. According to the Texas Tribune, Wendy Davis' empty wheelchair ad has many questioning her campaign.

State Sen. Wendy Davis touched off a political firestorm Friday with a 30-second TV ad that features an empty wheelchair and slams Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott for working against disabled people despite winning a settlement after he was disabled himself.

“Wendy Davis is running one of the nastiest campaign ads you’ll ever see,” The Washington Post blared.

A “historic low” is how the attack ad was described by the Abbott campaign, which saw fellow Republicans rally to his side and issue demands that she pull down the ad.

Even liberal Mother Jones magazine unloaded on Davis, a Democrat.

“It's offensive and nasty and it shouldn't exist,” wrote Ben Dreyfess. “She's basically calling Abbott a cripple.”

The ad and it's focus on an empty wheelchair had social media buzzing and even campaigns in other states weighed in.

The New Hampshire Republican Party has already made the ad an issue in a hot U.S. Senate contest, in which Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is in a tight race with Republican Scott Brown.

“Shaheen should be ashamed of her support for her disgusting campaign,” New Hampshire GOP chairman Jennifer Horn said in a email blast. “Senator Shaheen has raised money to fund this despicable ad, and she should immediately call for Wendy Davis to take it down.”

Davis spokesman Zac Petkanas said Davis had no plans to take down the ad. He declined to talk about the campaign’s decision to use the image of the wheelchair but defended the content of the spot, which he said will begin airing Saturday.

“It’s not surprising that Greg Abbott and his allies don’t like the fact that voters are seeing that he sought justice for himself by going to court, suing a home owner and a tree company, and then building a career on denying that same justice to victims throughout the state of Texas,” Petkanas said.

Petkanas and Davis continue to show they are out of touch with not only Texans, but even national pundits. Below, you will find the video that everyone seems to be talking about.

You can read the entire story by clicking the link above.

ISIS Strategy Failing

Many predicted that airstrikes alone wouldn't defeat ISIS and according to FOX News, that prediction is playing out.

Despite airstrikes from the U.S.-led coalition, Islamic State militants are in a position to wreak havoc on Baghdad after making gains in nearby territories, adding to the sense of siege in the Iraqi capital.

Yet some military experts believe that the terror group, who now control a large territory along the border of Iraq and Syria, won’t be able to defeat the forces now massed around the capital.

However their new position does give them the ability to wreak terror in Iraq's biggest city, with its suicide attacks and other assaults further eroding confidence in Iraq's nascent federal government and its troops, whose soldiers already fled the Islamic State group's initial lightning advance in June.

"It's not plausible at this point to envision ISIL taking control of Baghdad, but they can make Baghdad so miserable that it would threaten the legitimacy of the central government," Richard Brennan, an Iraq expert with RAND Corporation and former Department of Defense policymake told The Associated Press.

The siege fears in Baghdad stem from recent gains made by the Islamic State group in the so-called Baghdad Belt -- the final stretch between Anbar province, where the group gained ground in January, and Baghdad. The group has had a presence in the Baghdad Belt since spring, Iraqi officials say, but recent advances have sparked new worries.

The Islamic militants have reportedly infiltrated the Baghdad suburb of Abu Ghraib, not far from the runway perimeter of Baghdad's international airport.

Islamic State’s proximity to the airport is especially worrisome, because they are now armed with shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles with a 20-mile range, according to the Iraqi Defense Ministry. The weapons, which Islamic State has grabbed up along with tanks, helicopters and fighter planes as it has seized up vast territory in northern Syria and Iraq, could allow the militants to shut down the airport.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military said Saturday it launched an airstrike north of the town of Tal Afar, hitting a small Islamic State fighting unit and destroying an armed vehicle. It said two other airstrikes northwest of Hit in Anbar province targeted two small militant units.

Last week, Islamic State group fighters seized the towns of Hit and neighboring Kubaisa, sending Iraqi soldiers fleeing and leaving a nearby military base with its stockpile of weapons at risk of capture. The U.S.-led coalition recently launched two airstrikes northwest of Hit, U.S. Central Command said Saturday.

To the south of Baghdad, security forces fight to hold onto the town of Jurf al-Sukr, and to the north, one Sunni tribe has held onto the town of Duluiyah despite an Islamic State group's onslaught. However, Islamic State group fighters have taken over a number of towns in Diyala province, east of Baghdad.

"It's scary," said Maha Ismail, who recently visited one of Baghdad's new shopping malls. "But we have seen a lot worse than this so we are gathering despite all the warnings."

You can read the full story by clicking on the link above.