September 21, 1988: The "Americans for Bush" arm of the National Security Political Action Committee (NSPAC), under the auspices of Floyd Brown, begins running a campaign ad entitled "Weekend Passes," to attack the Democratic nominee for President, Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts.
It uses a mug shot of Willie Horton, a black man who had, as they used to say, "committed unspeakable acts" while on furlough from a Massachusetts State Prison. The NSPAC aired it, not the Republican National Committee or the official campaign of the Republican nominee, Vice President George H.W. Bush. This gave both the party and the nominee plausible deniability.
On October 5, 1988, a day after the "Weekend Passes" ad was taken off the airwaves and the day of the Bentsen–Quayle debate, the Bush campaign ran an official ad, titled "Revolving Door", which also attacked Dukakis over the weekend furlough program. While the advertisement did not mention Horton or feature his photograph, it depicted a variety of intimidating-looking men walking in and out of prison through a revolving door.
Three days later, when Bush and Dukakis debated, the moderator, CNN anchor Bernard Shaw, asked Dukakis a question designed to outrage him on the subject of crime. It failed. Thus, so did Dukakis. His chances of winning the election thus went from slim to almost none.
William Horton (he said in an interview that he had never gone by "Willie") remains in prison – not in Massachusetts, but in Maryland, the State where he committed his crimes on furlough. He is serving 2 consecutive life terms plus 85 years. So unless he can escape (incredibly unlikely, especially at his age), he is never getting out alive. He is not related to Willie Horton the former baseball star.
Floyd Brown would later found Citizens United, which became the plaintiff in the “money is speech” legal case in which 5 Republican-appointed Justices of the Supreme Court, in 2010, falsely said that corporations should have the same legal rights as people. Yeah, but if a corporation breaks the law, its CEO doesn’t go to prison.
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September 21, 1988 was a Wednesday. These Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 3-2 at Yankee Stadium. Catcher Don Slaught won the game with a home run in the bottom of the 12th inning. This made Dale Mohorcic the winning pitcher, after a good start by Tommy John. Jack Clark also hit a home run. Rickey Henderson went 1-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Dave Winfield was 0-for-5. Don Mattingly did not start the game, and failed to reach base as a pinch-hitter.
* The New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-3 at Shea Stadium. Sid Fernandez was the winning pitcher. Darryl Strawberry and Gregg Jeffries hit home runs. Mike Schmidt did not play. The next night, the Mets beat the Phils again, to clinch the National League Eastern Division title.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox, 1-0 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Former Baltimore ace Mike Flanagan pitched 8 innings of 4-hit shutout ball, before Duane Ward finished the 6-hit shutout.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the San Francisco Giants, 5-1 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians, 3-2 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.
* The Montreal Expos beat the Chicago Cubs, 8-5 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-0 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. John Smiley pitched a 2-hit shutout. Barry Bonds went 2-for-5.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the California Angels, 10-3 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Robin Yount went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Paul Molitor also went 1-for-5.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Texas Rangers, 6-1 at Arlington Stadium in the Arlington suburb of Dallas, Texas.
* The Houston Astros beat the Atlanta Braves, 1-0 at the Astrodome in Houston. Bob Knepper allowed just 1 hit, a single by Dale Murphy leading off the top of the 2nd. The only run of the game came in the bottom of the 8th, when Gerald Young singled Ken Caminiti home.
* A doubleheader was split at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The San Diego Padres beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 9-3 in the opener. The Dodgers won the nightcap, 6-5. They won it on a single by Mike Devereaux, scoring Jeff Hamilton, in the bottom of the 10th inning. Over the 2 games, Tony Gwynn went 4-for-7 with 2 walks and 2 RBIs.
* The Oakland Athletics beat the Minnesota Twins, 6-3 at the Oakland Coliseum.
* And the Kansas City Royals beat the Seattle Mariners, 5-4 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Bo Jackson hit 2 home runs. George Brett went 0-for-3 with a walk.
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