A long line of inmates solemnly enters and exits a prison yard through a revolving door. As the lone black inmate reenters society, he peers into the camera with a menacing glance. He is the only inmate to do so.
The ad described above was created by George H.W. Bush's campaign as part of a broad strategy to terrify America by, as psychologist and political consultant Drew Westen explains, playing on "fears of the dangerous, lawless, violent, dark black male."
While the most infamous Willie Horton ads were created by an independent organization, it was Bush's media consultant Roger Ailes who "gleefully" told Time Magazine in August of 1988, "The only question is whether we depict Willie Horton with a knife in his hand or without it."
1988 wasn't Ailes' first experience dividing Americans along racial lines. During a taping of the "Man in the Arena" series in 1968, the Nixon campaign stumbled on a problem when a panelist they thought was a physician turned out to be a psychiatrist. Ailes quickly figured out a solution. According to Rick Perlstein's Nixonland, Ailes would substitute a "good, mean, Wallaceite cab-driver. Wouldn't that be great? Some guy to sit in there and say, 'Awright, Mac, what about these n***ers?'" Perlstein added that "Nixon then could abhor the uncivility of the words, while endorsing a 'moderate' version of the opinion."
Given his history, it should be no surprise Ailes' minions at Fox News have obsessed over the discredited 18 month-old story of alleged voter intimidation by New Black Panther Party members on the day of the 2008 election. Since June 30, Fox News has spent more than eight hours of airtime and 95 segments on the story.
And no network has done more to expose Americans to the extreme and hateful politics of the New Black Panther Party, which has been designated a "hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center, than Fox, where the group's spokespeople have appeared more than 50 times since 1998.
The truth is, it was President Bush's Justice Department, not Obama's, that made the decision not to pursue criminal charges against members of the New Black Panther Party for alleged voter intimidation at a Philadelphia polling center in 2008. In fact, the Obama administration successfully obtained default judgment against Samir Shabazz, a member of the New Black Panther Party carrying a nightstick outside the polling center on Election Day.
Their mission isn't to find the truth, but to plant the seed in viewers' minds that maybe, just maybe, the President and the Attorney General are the same type of militants seen wielding a nightstick and repeatedly slurring whites on Fox News. As the Chicago Tribune's Clarence Page wrote, "Now the New Black Panthers are being used to vilify a black president as being soft on black racism. Coming soon, I am sure, to campaign attack ads near you."
Roger Ailes and Fox News -- along with the entire Republican Party -- are praying the mainstream media will cave to right wing pressure and delve into this story. As the chief communications strategist for Republicans, Ailes couldn't have scripted it better.
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Well someone's justice department pursued criminal charges & convicted all 3 before charges were dropped after the conviction in May 2009 by the current justice department - The one stick wielding defendant was injuncted not to appear at that same polling place for 2 years.
Bartle Bull, a civil rights attorney who worked with MLK in the 60s & managed a Robert Kennedy election campaign, said that he was horrified seeing the NBPanthers at the polling place & while waiting to testify in court, seven NBlack Panthers sat directly behind him & the NBP leader stood up & took Bartle's picture - Seems like their intimidation & attempts were ongoing.
These three guys were not standing in front of the polling building waiting to valet park cars, & dropping charges after their conviction was not some random act of intervention...
•Adams is a long-time right-wing activist, who is known for filing an ethics complaint against Hugh Rodham that was subsequently dismissed, served as a Bush poll watcher in Florida 2004, and reportedly volunteered for a Republican group that trains lawyers to fight "racially tinged battles over voting rights";
•Adams was hired to the Justice Department in 2005 by Bradley Schlozman, who was found by the Department of Justice Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility to have improperly considered political affiliation when hiring career attorneys -- the former head of the DOJ voting rights section reportedly said that Adams was "exhibit A of the type of people hired by Schlozman";
•Adams has admitted that he does not have first-hand knowledge of the events, conversations, and decisions that he is citing to advance his accusations;
•The Bush administration's Justice Department -- not the Obama administration -- made the decision not to pursue criminal charges against members of the New Black Panther Party for alleged voter intimidation at a polling center in Philadelphia in 2008;
•The Obama administration successfully obtained default judgment against Samir Shabazz, a member of the New Black Panther Party carrying a nightstick outside the Philadelphia polling center on Election Day 2008;
•The Bush administration DOJ chose not to pursue similar charges against members of the Minutemen, one of whom allegedly carried a weapon while harassing Hispanic voters in Arizona in 2006;
•No voters have come forward to claim that they were intimidated from voting on account of the New Black Panthers standing outside the polling center in 2008;
•The Republican vice chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, which is currently investigating the Justice Department's decision, reportedly said that the other conservatives on the Civil Rights Commission were trying to use New Black Panther case "to topple" the Obama administration. Thernston has also called the case "very small potatoes" and criticized the "overheated rhetoric filled with insinuations and unsubstantiated charges" surrounding it, and said that rhetoric has not "served the interests of the commission"; she further said that DOJ has given a "plausible argument" for not pursuing additional charges in the case.
•Adams himself testified that he had no "indication" that the decision involved anyone "higher up" than an acting assistant attorney general.
•The Obama Justice Department requested additional judgment against black leaders in Mississippi who were found to have discriminated against white voters.
The whole debate about Immigration reform going on in the Democratic party is less about morality and ethics than it is about getting millions of voters into the American electorate that will owe the Democrats for their ability to stay in the country, and therefore vote Democratic.
-I don't believe this too cool either. I'm well aware that in both cases, nobody was stopped from voting, but this just shouldn't happen. I can't imagine experiencing either case first hand without feeling intimidated. It's just too much.
-I must say though that I'm curious about that point. How far away were the Black Panthers? Did they violate the limit?
Not that either of the two people you mentioned ever committed a crime, unless you count having opinions or views that differs from yours as a crime or "taint".
The Republican News station has been playing the "scary black men" news reel with the loop button permanently engaged and the volume set to 11.
Y'all pat yourselves on the back for re-inventing crimes of the good old days
Instead we get, Fox is demonizing the black man even though we can see with our very eyes that the individual was very intimidating at the polling center! I could care less what Prez was in charge, that guy shouldn't have done that.