Explained: Why The RNC Briefly Tweeted About Its New 'Willie Horton-Style' Ad

The Republican National Committee released an ad Monday that attacks Virginia senator and Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine for his record as a pro bono defense attorney and staunch opponent of the death penalty.

The ad accuses Kaine of consistently protecting the worst kinds of people that is, the violent offenders whom Kaine represented in court, or on whose behalf he interceded as governor of Virginia.

Roll Call wrote up the RNCs video with the rather unusual headline Exclusive: Republicans Launch Willie Horton-Style Attack on Kaine alluding to an infamous 1988 attack ad, known as Weekend Passes, that Republicans ran against then-Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis. Weekend Passes drew a line from Dukakis to William Horton, a convicted murderer, in an attempt to paint Dukakis as soft on crime. The ad today is generally remembered for setting a new standard in racist dog whistles.

Heres the thing: The RNCs attack ad on Kaine isnt actually all that similar to the 1988 spot. Weekend Passes focused exclusively on Horton, an African-American man, and the weekend furloughs hed received from prison during Dukakis time in the Massachusetts state house. This new ad against Kaine, meanwhile, seems to go out of its way to avoid the same racial signaling. Of the four malefactors named in the ad, only one, Percy Levar Walton, is black.

You can compare the two ads for yourself.

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