Willie Horton, the Sequel
Republicans are running an old play against Roy Cooper – the “Willie Horton blitz.”
The play worked when Lee Atwater, “Poppy” Bush’s hatchet-man, ran it against Michael Dukakis in the 1988 presidential race.
It didn’t work when Jim Gardner ran it against Governor Jim Hunt in 1992.
I get why Republicans are doing it now: A poll I just worked on showed Cooper ahead of Michael Whatley 50-40%. (I’ll report more on the poll later.)
Here’s the Willie Horton (photo) play: Blow up the release of a prison inmate – preferably a scary-looking Black or Hispanic man who commits another crime – and blame it on a Democratic governor.
Dukakis, who was a hapless candidate, never responded in 1988.
In 1992, the attack flopped because Governor Hunt had a tough-on-crime record – and voters knew governors didn’t personally decide on thousands of paroles.
This time, the issue involves 51 inmates serving life sentences who were released under a 2021 COVID-era court-ordered prison settlement.
Cooper said last week, “The state was sued, and the judge ordered a significant number of prisoners to be released. What the prison officials and law enforcement officials did was take the lead from President Trump, who, during COVID, had signed a bill that released 13,000 prisoners.”
He also said that, as a former attorney general, he’s “the only candidate in this race who spent a career prosecuting violent criminals and keeping thousands of them behind bars.”
Or he could say:
“Donald Trump gave blanket pardons and commutations to 1,600 armed rioters who attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021. They assaulted police officers, hunted elected officials and tried to overturn the people’s vote. At least 33 have since committed new crimes. Does Michael Whatley agree with that decision?”
Willie Horton, the Sequel
Republicans are running an old play against Roy Cooper – the “Willie Horton blitz.”
The play worked when Lee Atwater, “Poppy” Bush’s hatchet-man, ran it against Michael Dukakis in the 1988 presidential race.
It didn’t work when Jim Gardner ran it against Governor Jim Hunt in 1992.
I get why Republicans are doing it now: A poll I just worked on showed Cooper ahead of Michael Whatley 50-40%. (I’ll report more on the poll later.)
Here’s the Willie Horton (photo) play: Blow up the release of a prison inmate – preferably a scary-looking Black or Hispanic man who commits another crime – and blame it on a Democratic governor.
Dukakis, who was a hapless candidate, never responded in 1988.
In 1992, the attack flopped because Governor Hunt had a tough-on-crime record – and voters knew governors didn’t personally decide on thousands of paroles.
This time, the issue involves 51 inmates serving life sentences who were released under a 2021 COVID-era court-ordered prison settlement.
Cooper said last week, “The state was sued, and the judge ordered a significant number of prisoners to be released. What the prison officials and law enforcement officials did was take the lead from President Trump, who, during COVID, had signed a bill that released 13,000 prisoners.”
He also said that, as a former attorney general, he’s “the only candidate in this race who spent a career prosecuting violent criminals and keeping thousands of them behind bars.”
Or he could say:
“Donald Trump gave blanket pardons and commutations to 1,600 armed rioters who attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021. They assaulted police officers, hunted elected officials and tried to overturn the people’s vote. At least 33 have since committed new crimes. Does Michael Whatley agree with that decision?”