Willie Horton and 41
With the passing of the 41st US President George H. W. Bush the case of Willie Horton has come back into the attention of the media. This man was a murderer who was released into the public 10 times specifically because of the policy actions of Massachusetts governor (and 1988 presidential candidate) Michael Dukakis in extending a furlough program to murders under life imprisonment. While released he failed to return and committed rape, assault, and armed robbery. Let me be very clear. These are facts. They are not disputed. There is no Fake News here. The state of Maryland imprisoned Willie Horton with the judge specifically citing that he could not be assured that the state of Massachusetts wouldn’t repeat their previous stupidity of furloughing this criminal yet again. George H. W. Bush politically exploited a serious, legitimate error in policy judgement by his opponent in the 1988 presidential race. He did so to devastating effect and won the 1988 election.
