Dukakis Plays The Race Card

I’ve long believed that with Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee, that the Democrats would play the race card to insulate Obama from attacks.

And, of course, who better to play the race card than Mike Dukakis, who thinks the infamous Willie Horton ad that demonstrated his poor record on crime was also a race-based attack.

Former 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 ad run by a third party group in support of George H.W. Bush in the 1988 presidential campaign, Dukakis told PolitickerMA.com: “Essentially, yes.”
[..]
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.

What Dukakis has chosen to ignore is that McCain also has an ad highlighting Obama’s ties to Jim Johnson, former FAnnie MAe CEO who also once led Obama’s VP selection team. Johnson is white. So, to ask the same question Dukakis did, “Why did they pick that person from Fannie Mae?”

Must have been Johnson’s race.

Dukakis Unable To Name A Single Specific Accomplishment of Barack Obama

Mike Dukakis, who is battling with Deval Patrick for the label of the worst governor of Massachusetts, was on with Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes after Bill Clinton’s speech to the Democratic National Convention, and when challenged by Hannity to name a specific accomplishment of Barack Obama between his years in the Illinois State Senate and the U.S. Senate, he could come up with a single thing. Nothing. Nada. Zero. Zilch.

It was classic. I hope you caught that one.

UPDATE: The Massachusetts Republican Party issued the following statement in response to John Kerry’s speech at the Democrat National Convention.

US Senate Candidate Jeff Beatty said, “America can’t afford to have Barack Obama and John Kerry bringing their remakes of the same, tired failed liberal policies of the past to Washington at a time when so much is at stake. Barack Obama is not ready to lead and John Kerry never has.”

Beatty added,“As a U.S. senator, I’ll draw on my experience as a business executive to develop and support comprehensive National Economic policies that pass the “common sense” test and I will use my leadership experience as a former FBI Special Agent, CIA counter-terrorism officer and member of the Army’s elite Delta Force to pursue National Security policies that will truly secure America’s future at home and abroad. We don’t need a weaker America with Barack Obama and John Kerry, we need a stronger America with John McCain and Jeff Beatty.”

Could Romney Be Horton-ed By Tavares?

Oh, the correlations being made lately between Daniel Tavares Jr. and Willie Horton… sounds pretty bad doesn’t it, particularly if you are Mitt Romney. Everyone is talking about the similarities between these two cases, but why isn’t anyone focusing on the differences?

Let’s look at Willie Horton’s case. Then governor Michael Dukakis, and his lieutenant governor, John Kerry, supported the Prison Furlough Program that allowed convicted criminals, including violent criminals and murderers, to be released for a period of 48 hours, unsupervised, on the honor system. Willie Horton was released onto the streets under this program on June 6, 1986. Horton never returned to the Concord Correctional Facility.

Less than year later, on April 3, 1987, Horton was in Oxon Hill, Maryland, where he attacked 28-year-old Clifford Barnes, stabbing him 22 times. When Barnes’ fianc√©e Angela Miller returned, she was gagged and raped twice by Horton. 6 months later on October 20, Horton was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences plus 85 years. The Maryland court system would not send Horton back to Massachusetts, out of the fear his being furloughed back onto the streets.

Democrats blame Dukakis’s defeat in 1988 in part to the repeated mention of the Horton case by George H. W. Bush, as well as an ad called “Weekend Passes” that ran in September 1988, which attacked Dukakis for his role in the Horton case.

Now, lets look at this case involving Daniel Tavares Jr.

Romney appointed judge Kathe M. Tuttman, who made the decision to let Tavares Jr. free after serving 16 years in prison for murdering his own mother. Today, Tavares Jr. is accused in the double-murder of Brian and Beverly Mauck.

Sure, there are correlations here–no one will deny it. It’s almost a spooky Massachusetts twist going on here. That said, the differences in the two stories should not go unnoticed.

Governor Dukakis believed in the Prison Furlough Program and believed that it was “rehabilitative.” Given the chance to let the program be banned, Dukakis vetoed the bill that would have put an end to prison furloughs for first-degree murderers in 1976. At the time, Dukakis said vetoing the bill would “cut the heart out of inmate rehabilitation.” Around 80 convicts are at still at large today due to the prison furlough program.

Mitt Romney, however, while responsible for appointing Tuttman, is not responsible for her decision to free Tavares. Looking at Romney’s record, the idea that he would permit such a release is just crazy. Romney is the only governor in modern Massachusetts history to deny every request for a pardon or commutation during his tenure (there were 100 requests for commutations, and 172 requests for pardons). What was Romney’s reason for denying those requests? Romney didn’t want to “overturn a jury.” Romney even denied the pardon request of a decorated Iraq War veteran.

Mitt Romney has a strong stance on crime issues, all of which are completely uncharacteristic of Judge Tuttman’s release of Tavares Jr. Romney would support a “One Strike, You’re Ours” law that would create lifetime GPS tracking for those convicted of preying on children with the Internet. During his 2002 campaign for governor, Romney strongly supported sentencing reform, pledging to enact strong sentencing guidelines and wanted prosecutors to have the right to appeal lenient sentences. Romney is also on the record for supporting the death penalty for convicted first-degree murderers. In his 1994 campaign for the senate, Romney favored mandatory sentencing, “three strikes and you’re out,” wanted to abolish parole, limit probation, end furloughs and release programs for violent or repeat offenders, and supported restrictions on plea bargaining.

Can anyone honestly believe that Mitt Romney would have furloughed, pardoned or commuted the sentence of Daniel Tavares Jr. if he had the choice?

Of course not.

While the person most to blame for Tavares’ behavior is Tavares, the person most deserving of backlash from Tavares’ release is Judge Tuttman. How can a governor be held accountable for the decisions of his appointees, particular when the judge does something completely out of character from the person who appointed him or her to that position?

Romney is calling for Judge Tuttman to answer for her decision to release Tavares.

Perhaps the discussion should include a debate about the rehabilitation of inmates. Let’s be honest here, is it a safe bet to say that Democrats are more likely to support and believe in inmate rehabilitation, while Republicans are less likely (hence why many Republicans support capital punishment, and Democrats not). Sixteen years of prison, some Democrats would argue, could be enough to consider someone “rehabilitated.” Democrats and their supporters are also the ones who will very likely try to use this Tavares case to damage Romney. Of course, if they do that, they will have to answer questions regarding their belief that criminals can be “rehabilitated.”

It will be very interesting to see how this plays out. Willie Horton occurred in a time before bloggers and the Internet, and Dukakis undoubtedly suffered. Romney’s campaign has been very innovative in its use of the internet, and now would be a good time for his supporters to take full advantage of its power.

It is unfortunate Romney’s appointed judge exercised extremely poor judgment with Tavares Jr., but it’s not Romney’s burden to bear. At the end of the day, I would bet it is Judge Tuttman having trouble sleeping at night over her decision to free Tavares.

The Elephant In The Room: Kirwan Served in Dukakis Administration

When Deval Patrick selected Leslie Kirwan to be his budget director there was a very interesting trend in how the media described her background. As if to trumpet the idea that this pick was an example of Deval Patrick’s desire for inclusiveness, they cited Kirwan’s experience in the Weld administration. The Boston Globe wrote:

Leslie Kirwan, who has served in state government since the Weld administration, will become secretary of administration and finance, the state’s top budget aide.

Before joining Massport, Kirwan served as undersecretary and chief of staff at the Executive Office of Administration and Finance under Governor William Weld. She began her professional career at the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, becoming deputy commissioner for the Division of Local Services in 1991.

The Associated Press headlined their story “Patrick names former Weld official as top budget adviser.”

What neither The Globe nor the AP decided to mention was her stint in the Michael Dukakis administration. The Boston Herald, however, did mention this fact:

Kirwan served at the state’s Department of Revenue under former Gov. Michael Dukakis, and also worked during the Weld administration at the office of administration and finance.

The Boston Globe hasn’t published a story linking Kirwan to Dukakis since 1999, according to their own search engine, while she has been linked to Weld in two stories following her appointment from Deval Patrick.

I certainly don’t believe that The Boston Globe is ignorant of Kirwan’s experience in the Dukakis administration, so the only reasonable conclusion is that they are deliberately omitting it from their coverage. I certainly don’t see that changing now, especially given her recent statements about raising local taxes and not cutting property taxes, linking her to Dukakis would simply prove that Kerry Healey was right in her warning that electing Deval Patrick would bring us back to the days of Dukakis. Of course, there’s also the “highly questionable banking deal at Massport” she was involved in.

The Search For The New Mass GOP Chairman

Seth Gitell, contributing editor of the New York Sun, writes about the prospects for the next chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party with some historical context that makes for quite an interesting read.

Two decades ago, the Republican Party in Massachusetts faced abject humiliation. One of its candidates for governor withdrew from the race after being caught exaggerating his Vietnam War record. Another imploded when news broke of his proclivity to occupy his office in the nude. A loyal Republican soldier, George Kariotis, stepped into the breach — only to be defeated by Michael Dukakis by almost 40 percentage points in the general election.

Mr. Dukakis used the force of that victory and the tale of the “Massachusetts Miracle” to propel himself to the Democratic nomination for president in 1988. Today, the state GOP confronts a situation that is almost as bad ‚Äî although not as embarrassing. The party failed to put up candidates for two statewide offices, secretary of state and treasurer, whereas the Green Party did. The Republican candidate for U.S. Senate lost by almost the same margin as Mr. Kariotis did in 1986. And the Republican candidate for governor, Kerry Healy [sic], fought ferociously, losing by 21 points to Deval Patrick.

With the gubernatorial defeat, the 16-year-long Republican experiment in Massachusetts, which began with the patrician William Weld in 1990 and extended through A. Paul Cellucci, Jane Swift, and the current governor, is now over. Now, amid the shambles of the present-day Republican Party, another Massachusetts governor is attempting to run for president. Only this time, his name is Mitt Romney. And he is a Republican.

For the Republican Party in Massachusetts, the defeat means a return to the political wilderness. The names of a number of prospective candidates are being raised to serve as the head of the state party. Those names include, according to the Boston Globe, Peter Torkildsen, one of two Republican congressmen who went down in defeat in 1996 leaving the delegation completely Democratic; John Racho of Ipswich, and William Barabino of Wakefield. Stephanie Davis, a financial services executive, is basing her candidacy on the need of the party to get back in touch with the grass roots, the 12.5% of the state’s electorate that identifies itself as Republican.

“I happened to have come of age during Ronald Reagan’s administration,” Ms. Davis says, lamenting the party’s fixation on holding on to the governor’s office at the expense of building up the party as a whole. “It’s like running a football. It’s not something you can do overnight, you have to do it over and over and over again.”

Read the whole article.