Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Revolving Door

The ad shows a line of convicts casually walking in and out of a prison by means of a revolving door. The narration states that when governor of Massachusetts, Dukakis vetoed mandatory minimum sentencing for drug dealers, that he vetoed the death penalty, and that he gave weekend furloughs to first-degree murderers. 

The narrator goes on to point out that while furloughed, many of the convicts committed crimes including kidnapping and rape, and are still at large. The ad concludes says he wants to do for America what he's done for Massachusetts. The disclaimer at the end indicates the ad was paid for and endorsed by the campaign. 
Perhaps due to negative response from some quarters of the supposed racial undertones of the Willie Horton ad, the convicts depicted in the Revolving Door ad were overwhelmingly Caucasian. It has been noted, however, that most of the ones leaving the prison are, in fact, Black or Hispanic. 

Whether this was intentional or a chance occurrence is unknown. The percentage of poll respondents who felt Bush was tough enough on crime rose while the proportion saying Dukakis was on crime rose from during the same period. America can't afford that risk.

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