Politico published an article on Monday about the release of thousands of federal prisoners that carried the provocative headline: “Has Obama set loose a new Willie Horton?”
Horton was featured in an infamous attack ad campaign that hurt Michael Dukakis’ 1988 presidential run against George H.W. Bush. The ad targeted Dukakis’ support of a weekend furlough program for prisoners. Horton, a convicted felon, committed another rape while on furlough.
The ad featured Horton’s mugshot with a voiceover that said Dukakis “allowed first degree murderers to have weekend passes from prison.” The ad was criticized for its racial overtones because Horton was black.
Politico’s article looked at the plan in which 6,000 inmates are set to be released:
Reducing the prison population is a key part of Obama’s push for criminal justice reform in his last year as president. He sees it as a way to both repair broken communities and spare taxpayers the cost of housing low-level criminals. A bipartisan coalition in Congress is on board, too.
But the mass release set to be completed Monday will test the resolve of this new consensus heading into an election year. The infamous Willie Horton ad is on the minds of activists on both sides: They haven’t forgotten how the grainy, black-and-white mug shot of a bearded black man helped sink Michael Dukakis’s 1988 presidential campaign. As Massachusetts governor, “he allowed first degree murderers to have weekend passes from prison,” says a narrator, before describing how Horton kidnapped a couple and raped the woman while out on furlough.
The people released between Friday and Monday are not first degree murderers – they’re low-level drug offenders, and almost a third are immigrants just headed for a different type of pre-deportation detention — but opponents of sentencing reform are already looking for the next Horton.
But the headline and sparked some serious backlash on Twitter:
Given that they’re nonviolent drug offenders, not murderers, I’ll go with “LOLwut.”
https://t.co/gWhjHn1o50 pic.twitter.com/PilTP1RNr4
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) November 2, 2015
This headline by @Politico @swheaton “Has Obama set loose a new Willie Horton?” is
ATROCIOUS and DEAD WRONG. https://t.co/tyNwfq00NE
— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) November 2, 2015
.@Politico attacks #POTUS in their OWN story saying release “is result of a US Sentencing Commission vote” #headdesk https://t.co/C8lUAFXgei
— sfpelosi (@sfpelosi) November 2, 2015
Really hoping @joshgerstein gets his colleagues to fix this: https://t.co/MigDIeSuKu
— Mike Riggs (@MikeRiggs) November 2, 2015
This is sensationalist, fear-mongering, garbage framing, @politico. Pathetic. https://t.co/LqdRvwnx7H (h/t @dissentingj)
— Liliana Segura (@LilianaSegura) November 2, 2015
Read Politico’s full report.
we should just lock up everyone who’s not white. You can’t be too careful when it comes to preventing crime.
And they’re all asking: “Where da white women at?” That about right?
So apparently Politico is more than willing to help the GOP smear Obama if it results in a greater number of clicks. Keep up the good “journalism” Politico!
So Politico basically published a Willie Horton campaign ad attacking Obama and the Dems and called it a “news” article?
I am shocked I tell you…shocked…
then who will cut our yards, clean our toilets, and where cute little tuxedos and serve the high society folks at this weekend’s governors’s ball?
Let’s not get too crazy with it!