In the autumn of 1988, “Willie Horton” became a household name. He was a convicted felon in Massachusetts, serving a life sentence for murder. He went out on a furlough that was specifically allowed because then-Gov. Michael Dukakis had vetoed a law that would have blocked murderers from being allowed furloughs.
While on furlough Horton committed an armed robbery and a rape. He became the star of a number of commercials supporting George H.W. Bush in his run for president.
The Willie Horton ads were some of the most effective in modern political history. They totally destroyed Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis. They even led to a debate question where Dukakis was asked if he would support the death penalty if someone raped and killed his wife.
Dukakis said no and any chance he had of becoming president died with that answer.
The Republicans have their 2016 Willie Horton. His name is Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez. But there will be no 2016 Republican commercials featuring Lopez-Sanchez.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid blasted the Republicans on Wednesday about illegal immigration and Donald Trump’s comments on illegal immigration. Mr. Reid said, “I’ve heard the comments. They’re distasteful, disgusting and frankly, I’m terribly disappointed that my Republican colleagues here in leadership positions in the Senate and those running for president have basically kept their mouths shut.”
Mr. Reid is right. The Republicans are keeping their mouths shut and that is why there will be no commercials about Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez murdering Kate Steinle on a public pier in San Francisco for no apparent reason.
Harry Reid wants the Republican Party to disavow Donald Trump for telling America the truth. America is inundated in a sea of crime committed by illegal aliens.
Lopez-Sanchez had been deported five times. He had been convicted of seven felonies. The sanctuary city of San Francisco refused to honor an immigration detainer that had been placed on Lopez-Sanchez when he was in jail.
Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and George Pataki all quickly denounced Donald Trump. The problem for them is that Donald Trump is telling everyone the truth and promising to do something about the problem of illegal aliens murdering Americans.
America has truly fallen as a nation when two of the top contenders for President are more upset that Donald Trump is speaking the truth about illegal immigration than they are about American citizens losing their jobs and their lives to illegal aliens.
There will be no Lopez-Sanchez ad in the 2016 campaign because the Republicans are just like the Democrats. They want illegal immigration and they want amnesty. They want it for different reasons but they want it.
Lopez-Sanchez will not be the Willie Horton of 2016 because Harry Reid is right about the Republicans. They just want to keep their mouths shut on illegal immigration. They want to make it a non-issue so that real Americans can fight about something else. The politicians are happy when Americans fight over a flag from a war that ended 150 years ago instead of talking about illegal immigration.
Will illegal immigration be a hot button issue in the 2016 election?
Kate Steinle won’t know.
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