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September 22, 2008 - 2:34pm
Dukakis: McCain using same race tactics as ‘Willie Horton’ ad
By Jeremy P. Jacobs
Former Gov. and 1988 Democratic Presidential nominee Michael Dukakis: Getty ImageFormer Gov. Michael Dukakis said Monday that John McCain's presidential campaign is using the same race-based tactics that were used against him in his 1988 presidential run.
The Brookline Democrat was referring to a recent McCain ad that claimed Democratic nominee Barack Obama received economic advice from Franklin Raines, the former CEO of the recently bailed out mortgage lender Fannie Mae. The ad features images of Raines and Obama, two African Americans, and then an image of an elderly white woman.
Asked if he considered the ad to be in the same vein as the infamous ‘Willie Horton' ad George H.W. Bush used in the 1988 presidential campaign, Dukakis told PolitickerMA.com: "Essentially, yes."
Bush was trailing Dukakis by a significant margin when he ran the ‘Willie Horton' ad, which featured Willie Horton, a convicted murderer. During his time in prison, Horton was released on a weekend furlough, a program that Dukakis supported as governor, and raped a white woman.
"Despite a life sentence," the narrator says in the ad, "Horton received 10 weekend passes from prison. Horton fled, kidnapped a young couple, stabbing the man and repeatedly raping his girlfriend...Weekend prison passes: Dukakis on crime."
The ad is widely credited as painting Dukakis as soft on crime, an important issue in the election.
Referring to McCain's ad, Dukakis said "the same thing is happening again this year."
First, Dukakis said, the McCain ad is based on a lie. Raines isn't one of Obama's closest economic advisors, he said. Other members from Fannie Mae have advised Obama but the McCain camp chose to focus the ad specifically on Raines, an African American.
"Why did they pick that person from Fannie Mae?" he asked rhetorically.
Asked if the Obama campaign is sufficiently responding to the McCain ad or if it needs to do more to point out its racial undertones, Dukakis said it is very difficult to accuse a rival campaign of being racist. But, he said, political observers, like himself, should cite the similarities.
"You have to be very careful with race," he said. "For us on the outside, we can point it out."
Judge the ads for yourself:
McCain's Ad here
Dukakis: McCain using same race tactics as ‘Willie Horton’ ad
By Jeremy P. Jacobs
Former Gov. and 1988 Democratic Presidential nominee Michael Dukakis: Getty ImageFormer Gov. Michael Dukakis said Monday that John McCain's presidential campaign is using the same race-based tactics that were used against him in his 1988 presidential run.The Brookline Democrat was referring to a recent McCain ad that claimed Democratic nominee Barack Obama received economic advice from Franklin Raines, the former CEO of the recently bailed out mortgage lender Fannie Mae. The ad features images of Raines and Obama, two African Americans, and then an image of an elderly white woman.
Asked if he considered the ad to be in the same vein as the infamous ‘Willie Horton' ad George H.W. Bush used in the 1988 presidential campaign, Dukakis told PolitickerMA.com: "Essentially, yes."
Bush was trailing Dukakis by a significant margin when he ran the ‘Willie Horton' ad, which featured Willie Horton, a convicted murderer. During his time in prison, Horton was released on a weekend furlough, a program that Dukakis supported as governor, and raped a white woman.
"Despite a life sentence," the narrator says in the ad, "Horton received 10 weekend passes from prison. Horton fled, kidnapped a young couple, stabbing the man and repeatedly raping his girlfriend...Weekend prison passes: Dukakis on crime."
The ad is widely credited as painting Dukakis as soft on crime, an important issue in the election.
Referring to McCain's ad, Dukakis said "the same thing is happening again this year."
First, Dukakis said, the McCain ad is based on a lie. Raines isn't one of Obama's closest economic advisors, he said. Other members from Fannie Mae have advised Obama but the McCain camp chose to focus the ad specifically on Raines, an African American.
"Why did they pick that person from Fannie Mae?" he asked rhetorically.
Asked if the Obama campaign is sufficiently responding to the McCain ad or if it needs to do more to point out its racial undertones, Dukakis said it is very difficult to accuse a rival campaign of being racist. But, he said, political observers, like himself, should cite the similarities.
"You have to be very careful with race," he said. "For us on the outside, we can point it out."
Judge the ads for yourself:
McCain's Ad here
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