Politico's Simon falsely claimed Al Gore "raised the issue" of Willie Horton
SUMMARY: Citing the case of Willie Horton, a black man whose image as a criminal who committed crimes while on a weekend furlough from prison was used against 1988 Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, Politico's Roger Simon wrote that Al Gore "raised the issue in a New York primary debate against Dukakis." In fact, while Gore questioned Dukakis about "weekend passes for convicted criminals," Gore did not mention Horton's name, his crimes, or his race.
In a February 14 column claiming that "in a general election, no candidates get a pass on the past," Politico chief political columnist Roger Simon cited the case of Willie Horton -- a convicted criminal who, in 1987, assaulted a man and raped his fiancée while out on a weekend furlough from prison in Massachusetts. The image of Horton, who was black, was used against 1988 Democratic presidential nominee and then-Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis. But Simon falsely claimed that former Vice President Al Gore "raised the issue in a New York primary debate against Dukakis." In fact, while Gore questioned Dukakis about "weekend passes for convicted criminals" and cited two specific convicted criminals who committed murder while on a weekend furlough, Gore did not raise "the matter of Willie Horton," as Simon wrote; Gore did not mention Horton, his crimes, or his race, as both Slate columnist Timothy Noah and Daily Howler editor Bob Somerby documented. As Media Matters for America noted, it was the Bush-Quayle campaign, not Gore, that first mentioned Horton and used his image against Dukakis. Indeed, Simon wrote that "the issue ... sure came up in the general election, with a new spin" when the Bush-Quayle used the Horton case to attack Dukakis.
Media figures have repeatedly falsely asserted that Gore brought up Horton during the 1988 election.
From Simon's February 14 Politico column:
"Look, I have been written about, I have been scrubbed, I have been vetted over the last year," Obama said on "Meet the Press" in December.
But he really hasn't. Nobody has. And that is because, in presidential politics, you never get "scrubbed."
Your past is dug up, reshaped and used against you.
Just in case the name no longer rings a bell, Willie Horton was a convicted murderer who was granted 10 weekend furloughs from prison in Massachusetts under the administration of Gov. Michael Dukakis.
The 10th time, Horton fled to Maryland, broke into a home, repeatedly slashed a man with a knife and beat and raped the man's fiancée. Horton was caught and sentenced to two consecutive life terms plus 85 years.
By the time Dukakis ran for president, he had already been "vetted" and "scrubbed" on the matter of Willie Horton and was sure it could not be used against him. The Lawrence, Mass., Eagle-Tribune had done more than 200 stories about it in 1987. And when Al Gore raised the issue in a New York primary debate against Dukakis, the Democratic crowd booed Gore and applauded Dukakis.
The issue never came up again in the primaries. But it sure came up in the general election, with a new spin. "The Horton case is one of those gut issues that are value issues, particularly in the South," Lee Atwater, who was George H.W. Bush's campaign manager, told me at the time. "And if we hammer at these over and over, we are going to win."
Simple Simon explains Horton??? Childs' play compared to what we will see in the upcoming months. I'll give odds before it is over, Horton will be related to Obama. And the idiot right will fall for it.
Lee, I hope you are Atthewater while you burn in hell. Your confession wasn't good enough for all the people you ruined. Burn baby burn. Spoken like a good christian.
These are the facts:
First, Al Gore DID bring up the weekend furlough program to attack Dukakis.
Second, the weekend furlough program was INDEFENSIBLE and was a
legitimate topic.
Third - Willie Horton DID murder people while he was out on a
Dukakis weekend pass. (I'm just surprised that Dukakis didn't
personally hand Willie the knife and tell him to have a good time!)
Fourth - Obama is a great candidate and is going to be able to handle
whatever issues come up during the campaign.
Now, please, will Hillary's paid liars at MMFA stop whining and get
on with the 2008 campaign? Honestly, yesterday's losers are really embarrassing themselves.
Third - Willie Horton DID murder people while he was out on a
Dukakis weekend pass. (I'm just surprised that Dukakis didn't
personally hand Willie the knife and tell him to have a good time!) - justanotherconservative
You sure about that? Cause everything I've read about what happened while on furlough states he raped the wife and assualted her fiance. Nothing about a murder.
Gore brought up the furlough program which gave the Rs a talking point, which they took full advantage of.
Oscar, Gore brought up the furlough program he DID NOT mention Horton by name. The Republicans choose Horton. Of course Bush Sr. and his campaign did not produce the television ads of a menacing black criminal getting free, they used a 527 for that. Simply add a message to the face of a black criminal and tadaaa, instant win.
Oscar, sorry, you didn't say Gore brought up Horton. I misread part of your post.
I do believe the Horton ad was partially racial, at least I took it to be racial. Out of all of those released through the furlough program I can't believe that they could only find Willie Horton's face to put on that ad. How effective would their point be if they used the face of a white criminal vs a black criminal? Lee Atwater himself said he would "strip the bark off the little ba*tard" and "make Willie Horton Dukakis's running mate". He also used similar tactics in a 1980 congressional race in South Carolina. "Phony polls" by an so called independent pollster informing white suburbanites that Tom Turnipseed (D) was a member of the NAACP.
While I've read that Atwater was not a racist, he had no problem race baiting. While it's no longer 1988 unfortunately Atwater was a mentor to Rove so I'm sure we will continue to see gutter politics from Republicans.
Dukakis has said one of his regrets is that he didn't fight back on this issue. He pointed out that Texas (GHWBush's home state) had a similar furlough program at the same time that Massachusetts did.
But the key point here is that Gore may have raised the issue and questioned whether or not it was a good idea to furlough violent offenders. What Gore didn't do was race-bait the populous by bringing Horton into it specifically, or scary looking black offenders such as Horton into it at all. Instead, it was an "independent expenditure" group that funded an advertisement that featured Horton. They tried to get Horton to endorse Dukakis. They sent out mailers saying that Dukakis might name Horton as his running mate.
It was shameful, and it came from conservatives. Own it. It's a part of your party's heritage.
Here we go with more historical revision.
Although Gore did bring up the issue in the primary, "Willie Horton" became a household name because of the infamous "revolving doors" advertisement and the usage of that point over and over again by the campaign of Bush 1. Many analysts consider this the beginning of the domination of negative campaign ads and the abuse of 527 groups that is the hallmark of modern politics. Atwater in his later years felt so bad about using it that he apologized near the end of his life.
Gore did not make Willie Horton famous, the campaign of GHW Bush did. 20 years later many people don't even recall that Gore was in that primary race with much clarity, but lots of people can easily remember the Horton ad.