Mitt Romney’s Attack Ad … Eight Years Later

“RINO ON RINO VIOLENCE …” 

|| By FITSNEWS || This website has precisely zero use for either former “Republican” presidential nominee Mitt Romney or former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee.  The former is a shape-shifting chameleon, while the latter is a sanctimonious moralizer.

In fact, that either one of these fiscally liberal, big government “Republicans” is being taken seriously by GOP voters is yet another sad commentary on the current status of the party … which seems intent on losing its third consecutive presidential election.

Anyway … as the 2016 GOP presidential primary campaign heats up, one intrepid reporter has uncovered an attack ad Romney’s campaign produced against Huckabee way back in 2007, when the two were battling for the GOP nomination that was ultimately won by another fiscally liberal, big government “Republican” – John McCain.

The attack ad – obtained by BuzzFeed‘s McKay Coppins – focused on one of Huckabee’s many “parole problems,” which we addressed in this 2009 post.

“Throughout the 2008 presidential campaign, Huckabee was dogged by his 1999 decision to grant an early release to convicted rapist Wayne DuMond,” we wrote at the time.  “That’s because within a year of being set free, DuMond raped and murdered a woman in Missouri.”

“DuMond was frequently described during the 2008 campaign as Huckabee’s ‘Willie Horton,’ a reference to the infamous South Carolina native who was released from a Massachusetts prison under a weekend furlough program supported by then-Gov. Michael Dukakis,” we continued.

After escaping from his furlough, Horton raped a Maryland woman and savagely beat her husband – crimes which formed the basis of the remarkably effective “Willie Horton Ad” (produced by South Carolina native Lee Atwater).

Hoping to take a page out of Atwater’s book, Romney’s team filmed an advertisement starring the mother of DuMond’s victim.

“This is my daughter,” the mother says in the 30-second spot, referring to pictures of her slain child. “She was pregnant with her first child. She was murdered by a serial rapist released early from prison in Arkansas.”

The ad went on to point out Huckabee “granted 1,033 pardons and commutations” to criminals as governor of Arkansas – “including 12 murderers.”

The Romney attack ad against Huckabee never ran (and the public never even knew of its existence until 2012).  Instead, Romney wound up running a much softer ad against his rival – who won the Iowa Caucus that year with 34 percent of the vote.

Romney finished in second place with 25 percent of the vote.

So … why is this ad being leaked now?  Is Romney leaking it – looking to land the punch he pulled back in 2007?  Or is Huckabee leaking it – hoping to make Romney appear desperate?

We don’t know … nor do we especially care.

Neither of these “Republican retreads” deserves to be taken seriously.  They’ve both had their chance … multiple chances, actually … both in terms of governing at the state level and campaigning on the national level.

And have failed …

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