# Netflix Documentary - 13th \[Legitimacy of Willie Horton ads\]

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-documentary-13th-legitimacy-of-willie-horton-ads/768539>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [October 14, 2016, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-documentary-13th-legitimacy-of-willie-horton-ads/768539 "2016-10-14T18:53:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-documentary-13th-legitimacy-of-willie-horton-ads/768539/81 "2016-10-24T13:07:04Z")

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> [@Hocus\_Pocus](#):
>
> It’s interesting to note that republicans found it acceptable to knock Dukakis for furloughing Horton but were curiously silent towards Mike Huckabee during the primaries in 2008 regarding Maurice Clemmons (Huckabee paroled Clemmons against the advice of the parole board. Clemmons then went up to Washington state & murdered 4 Lakewood police officers).

As **Ibn Warraq** points out, you are incorrect in stating that the parole board disapproved of the clemency request. You also left out some intervening circumstances - that Clemmons was paroled on Huckabee’s recommendation, was re-arrested, sent to prison, re-paroled, re-arrested, got out on bail, was re-arrested, got bailed out again (by the delightfully named Jail Sucks Bail Bond company), and then killed the officers. So it is more than a tiny bit different from giving a first-degree murderer sentenced to life without parole the weekend off because you believe in rehabilitation.

Regards,  
Shodan -

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**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-documentary-13th-legitimacy-of-willie-horton-ads/768539/82 "2016-10-24T13:35:21Z")

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> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#):
>
> Personally, I think the second one is a pretty clear attempt to appeal to racial fears while the first one isn’t and certainly makes legitimate attacks.

The effort to frame the crime issue in a certain way (i.e., focusing on black-on-white crime and framing it as a consequence of liberalism and civil rights) has obvious roots in white supremacy and appeals to white supremacists.

But that general critique of the GOP strategy in the 1980s aside, I agree with this assessment. The Bush ad is significantly less racist than the PAC ad. And as I pointed out earlier, that was obvious at the time, since the Bush camp had to distance themselves from the PAC ad.

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**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-documentary-13th-legitimacy-of-willie-horton-ads/768539/83 "2016-10-24T15:23:21Z")

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Algher wrote: “Al Gore used the furlough program against Dukakis - and then Atwater took it further putting a human face on it. Disgusting but effective.”

Gore’s use of the issue does not excuse Bush’s use, but rather places it into proper context by demonstrating that it was possible to exploit the issue politically without resort to demagoguery.

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