Republicans launched a hot new line of attack against Tim Kaine on Monday, proudly tweeting an article about their Willie Horton-style ad against Kaine. They deleted the tweet, perhaps deciding it was a bad look considering that the Willie Horton ad was viewed as racist back in 1988. But the attack on Kaine is going forward, all because he dared to take on death penalty appeals.
“This just goes back to Tim Kaine's record. I mean, there are rapists and murderers that he defended to keep out of prison that have done horrible things,” Spicer said on CNN’s “New Day” from Longwood University, the host of Tuesday night’s debate. “I think Part of this is Tim Kaine had previously said that someone should be judged by the totality of their record. This is the part of Tim Kaine’s record that they don't want to discuss: His defense of people who went out and murdered and raped people in the commonwealth of Virginia and elsewhere.”
Kaine is opposed to the death penalty. He’s never made that any secret.
So that’s what they’ve got on Tim Kaine: he opposes the death penalty and used his skill as a lawyer to try to do something about it, case by individual case. Also, as governor, he did not always behave with maximum vindictiveness and even commuted a sentence once because the person lacked mental competence. What a perfect Republican attack.
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