Revolving Door (television advertisement)

"Revolving Door" is a famous negative television commercial made for the 1988 United States Presidential Campaign. Along with the Willie Horton "Weekend Passes" advertisement, it is considered to be a prime factor in Michael Dukakis' defeat by George H. W. Bush.cite web | author=Jake Tapper | title=The Willie Horton alumni association"| format=HTML | url=http://dir.salon.com/story/politics/feature/2000/08/25/horton/index.html
accessdate=2006-10-29] The ad was produced by political consultant Roger Ailes with help by Lee Atwater, and first aired on October 5, 1988. "Revolving door syndrome" is a term used in criminology to refer to recidivism; however, in the ad, the implication is that prison sentences were of an inconsequential length.

ynopsis

The ad shows a line of convicts (portrayed by actors) casually walking in and out of a prison (filmed in Draper, Utah) by means of a revolving door. The narration states that when governor of Massachusetts, Dukakis vetoed mandatory minimum sentencing for drug dealers, that he vetoed the death penalty, and that he gave weekend furloughs to first-degree murderers. The narrator goes on to point out that while furloughed, many of the convicts committed crimes including kidnapping and rape, and are still at large. The ad concludes with the phrase: "Now Michael Dukakis says he wants to do for America what he's done for Massachusetts. America can't afford that risk!". The disclaimer at the end indicates the ad was paid for and endorsed by the Bush/Quayle campaign.

Perhaps due to negative response from some quarters of the supposed racial undertones of the "Willie Horton" ad, the convicts depicted in the "Revolving Door" ad were overwhelmingly Caucasian. It has been notedfact|date=June 2008|By whom has it been noted?, however, that most of the ones leaving the prison are, in fact, Black or Hispanicfact|date=June 2008|Source?. Whether this was intentional or a chance occurrence is unknown.

Impact

A CBS News/New York Times poll showed that of all of the political ads of the 1988 presidential campaign, this one had the greatest impact on respondents. The percentage of poll respondents who felt Bush was "tough enough" on crime rose from 23 percent in July 1988 to 61 percent in late October 1988 while the proportion saying Dukakis was "not tough enough" on crime rose from 36 to 49 percent during the same period.cite web | author=InsidePolitics | title=Candidate Ads: 1988 George Bush "Revolving Door"| format=HTML | url=http://www.insidepolitics.org/ps111/candidateads.html | accessdate=2006-10-29]

Women particularly were affected by the ad. Said Dukakis campaign manager Susan Estrich, "The symbolism was very powerful...you can't find a stronger metaphor, intended or not, for racial hatred in this country than a black man raping a white woman....I talked to people afterward....Women said they couldn't help it, but it scared the living daylights out of them."

Furlough program

The State inmate furlough program was actually signed into law by Republican Governor Francis W. Sargent in 1972. However, under Governor Sargent, convicted first-degree murderers were not eligible for furlough. After the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that this right extended to first-degree murderers, the Massachusetts legislature quickly passed a bill prohibiting furloughs for such inmates. However, in 1976, Dukakis vetoed this bill.cite news |url=http://www.newsmax.com/kessler/released_killer_romney_/2007/11/29/53111.html |title=Released Killer Won’t Be Romney’s ‘Willie Horton’ |last=Kessler |first=Ronald |publisher=Newsmax |date=2007-11-29 |authorlink=Ronald Kessler] The program remained in effect through the intervening term of governor Edward J. King and was abolished during Dukakis' final term of office on April 28, 1988. This abolition only occurred after the "Lawrence Eagle Tribune" had run 175 stories about the furlough program and won a Pulitzer Prize. [cite web |url=http://backissues.cjrarchives.org/year/95/2/pulitzers.asp |title=Columbia Journalism Review] Dukakis continued to argue that the program was 99 percent effective; yet, as the "Lawrence Eagle Tribune" pointed out, no state outside of Massachusetts, nor any federal program, would grant a furlough to a prisoner serving life without parole.

Popular culture

In the "Simpsons" episode "Sideshow Bob Roberts", Sideshow Bob runs an ad very similar to the Bush campaign ad. The narrator talks about the liberal "revolving door prison system". The narrator points out that the liberal mayor released two-time convicted attempted murderer Sideshow Bob. The ad ends insisting that the viewer vote for the aforementioned two-time convicted attempted murderer for mayor.

References

External links

* [http://www.insidepolitics.org/ps111/candidateads.html Review at InsidePolitics.org]
* [http://livingroomcandidate.movingimage.us/style/index.php?nav_action=style&nav_subaction=110 Commercial available online at The Living Rooom Candidate]