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To: Bill who wrote (3611)	4/14/2006 3:33:35 PM
From: epicure	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14758

Did I say he produced it? Nope. I just quoted the man, exulting in the truimph of race baiting. It was an illustration of a certain kind of willingness to use a technique well known in politics, that involves race. That he didn't actually produce the spot makes no nevermind to me. "by the time this election is over, Willie Horton will be a household name." I can't say I support that sort of thing. But I certainly understand his glee at using it- that sort of thing can work, and it did work. Great quote from your Salon article: But almost immediately after it began running, as a Brown University study of the ad revealed, GOP consultant Larry McCarthy, who worked for National Security PAC, stealthily inserted a looming mug shot of Horton in a substitute version of the ad, revealing the convict to be -- ta da! -- an African-American. McCarthy said the photo of Horton used in the ad was "every suburban mother's greatest fear." Yup that's my point. Glorying in such an ad (whether you produced it or not) is to glory in race baiting- as I said.

To: Bill who wrote (3611)	4/14/2006 3:43:29 PM
From: epicure	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14758

I had not remembered Atwater apologised: "In 1991, Bush's 1988 campaign manager, Lee Atwater, apologized to Dukakis for promising in 1988 to "make Willie Horton his [Dukakis's] running mate." According to a January 14, 1991, Associated Press report, Atwater, who was gravely ill at the time, regretted the statement "because it makes me sound racist, which I am not." I think while he may not have thought he was a racist, that sort of acceptance of using race, in that particular way, was a product of his upbringing in the racist South, and it would be hard to completely escape that. Of course he could have been a real out and out racist, and was just embarrassed about it (as he should have been), but it's impossible to know. I'll accept his claim that he didn't think he was a racist, but ended up acting/sounding like one in the campaign.