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1/19/2003 04:38:00 PM | Timothy The Dartmouth has no fact-checkers Mark Yohalem writes a column in The Dartmouth where he claims that "Democratic primaries are not foreign to race-baiting -- it was, after all, Al Gore who created the infamous Willie Horton ad in an effort to defeat Michael Dukakis in the Massachusetts primary." Wow. What a distortion. Al Gore never "created the infamous Willie Horton ad." What does Mark Yohalem think? That George Bush saw the ad and just re-ran it during the general election? Al Gore certainly brought up during a primary debate how Michael Dukakis allowed a man named Willie Horton on a prison furlough. But Gore did not mention the race of Horton and Gore never ran a television ad about Horton. Bush supporters, on the other hand knew what hard-core racist appeals were when they ran an ad with a closeup of Horton's face in such a way that Bush's 'tough on crime' message has very clear racial message. Even Lee Atwater (the Karl Rove for Bush the elder) later said he regretted the Willie Horton ad. Whatever Gore did (and I worked for Bill Bradley, so I know most of the lines against him), he didn't create the infamous Willie Horton ad. I would hope The Dartmouth would run a correction, but don't count on it. Oh one more example in the pathetic lack of fact-checking in Yohalem's article. He claims that there was a "lack of outspoken Democratic criticism" of Amiri Baraka. Amiri Baraka was attacked vociferiously by the Governor of New Jersey, who asked him to resign as New Jersey's poet lauriate. When Baraka refused to resign, the legislature tried to the eliminate the post. I may have time later to say more about Yohalem's mistakes and the flaws in the view he is trying to push, but perhaps I'll wait until a column similar to his comes along, one that is not a tragic demonstration of the manner in which reactionary fact-distorters have undermined open, honest, and TRUTHFUL discussion of race relations in America. perma link |
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