Reply #33: The National Security Political Action Committee and Willie Horton

[starroute]

The Willie Horton ad was 1988, and the NSPAC case involving Response Dynamics was 1996, so I don't think there's a direct connection. But I'm going to try to find out more.

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/political_action_committees.htm
The National Security PAC spent $8.5 million on a campaign that simply attacked the presidential candidate Michael Dukakis (the so-called Willie Horton television advertisements) on behalf of George Bush, the Republican candidate in the 1988 campaign.

http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Willie_Horton
Beginning on September 21, 1988, the Americans for Bush arm of the National Security Political Action Committee, began running a commercial entitled "Weekend Passes," using the Horton case to attack Dukakis. The ad was produced by media consultant Larry McCarthy, who had previously worked for Ailes. After clearing the ad with television stations, McCarthy went back and added a menancing mug shot of Horton, who is African-American. He called the image "every suburban mother's greatest fear." The ad was run as an independent expenditure, and the Bush campaign claimed not to have had any role in its production.

http://www.opensecrets.org/pubs/law_bagtricks/loop4.asp
The similarities between the NSPAC ad and Bush's own TV spots, as well as a connection between a NSPAC employee and a Bush communications expert, spawned allegations that there was coordination between the Bush campaign and NSPAC. While the allegations were never proven, the questions that arose tainted the presidential election.