William Horton is a felon who violated a weekend furlough program in Massachusetts to commit both rape and robbery and who, at age 65, is still in prison today. In the 1988 presidential election, George H. W. Bush’s campaign seized on the image of Horton as the prototypical scary black man, and brought up both the furlough program and Horton in debates and commercials attacking Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis. The most famous ad of the campaign was the “revolving door” ad in which a stream of threatening, black men march out of prison.
It was a classic instance of pushing the idea that Democrats are soft on crime, and an even more classic instance of tying violence to race. Lee Atwater, the manager of Bush's campaign, made clear their intentions in saying, "By the time we're finished, they're going to wonder whether Willie Horton is Dukakis' running mate."
So it really says a lot about this year’s campaign that the Republicans are openly bragging about attempts to use a Willie Horton-style ad against Tim Kaine.
In a new web ad that recalls the Willie Horton attack on 1988 Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, the Republican National Committee is highlighting two of Kaine's clients when he was a defense attorney.
It shouldn’t be shocking that defense attorneys defend people. And in the case of Tim Kaine, who for a long time has had strong feelings about the death penalty, keeping his clients off death row was a particular concern.
The RNC ad also attacks Kaine for commuting the execution of a mentally handicapped man while he was governor.
Kaine said that he also took into account recent Supreme Court rulings that set some precedent for his decision-making. Specifically, the Court ruled against executing anyone who commits a capital crime under the age of 18. Walton was just one month beyond his 18th birthday when he committed his crimes. Kaine also cited Walton's most recent IQ test score of 66 -- which falls within range of the Virginia state standard for mental retardation -- as evidence of Walton's declining mental health.
The RNC ad touts Kaine as “protecting the worst kind of people”—because providing public defense is one of those things that the modern Republican Party no longer tolerates. You can imagine the ads they would have made about John Adams.
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The RNC ad treats providing defense as if the lawyer is complicit in the crime saying “Tim Kaine, he has a passion for defending the wrong people.”
That the RNC is bringing this up now is probably a pretty good preview into topics Mike Pence will try to insert in the vice-presidential debate.