a judge decides nikko jenkins is responsible for all of them.od time law is a farce. brad ashford supported the good time law and still defends it, allowing criminals like nikko jenkins to be released early. the national republican congressional committee is responsible for the advertising of this. >> so why is rand paul talking about this? >> that's one candidate. >> right. >> look. you've got rand paul who is saying things as a republican that no republican is saying. so let's give him credit for that. the second thing about the quote\you ran from rand paul, i think he's right. if his party were to get behind him and stop doing ads like that and changing the way they're going about things from voter suppression laws to a whole lot of other things, the republican party could get -- but not in one election cycle. >> maybe if you all became republicans. you'd vote. anyway, thank you. [ laughter ] >> when we return, let me finish with my view about the historic challenge of changing any electorate to the other side. you're watching "hardball," a p

. >> nikko jenkins was released from prison early after serving only half his sentence. ead of the omaha police union says jenkins is the poster child for why the good-time law is a farce. it allows criminals like jenkins to be released early. >> the undertones of this ad are obvious, and it immediately brings to mind the infamous willie harton ad from the 1988 presidential campaign. >> his revolving door prison policy gave furlough to murderers not eligible for parroll. one was willie horton, weekend prison passes, dukakis on crime. >> we've seen the gop use these misleading, fear-mongering ads for years. part of the southern strategy of using racial fears and division to win election. another famous example is this ad from jesse helms 1990 senate race. >> you needed that job. and you were the best qualified. but they had to give it to a minority because of a racial quota. for racial quotas, harveyegant. against racial quotas, jesse helms. these race-baiting ads had no place in our world 30 years ago, but to use them in 2014, is inexcusable. and the gop should be ashamed

police union said jenkins is the poster child while it is a farce and allowing criminals like nikko jenkinssed early. >> it's being called the new willie horton ad, that republicans used against michael due kkakis in 1988. does this ad tell us something about the rest of his party? michael steele, what do you -- >> ad doesn't tell you anything other than consultants are stupid and that's basically -- they play to the lowest common denominator and that's part of the problem. you have sort of a forward thinking message from a potential presidential candidate, a sitting united states senator, leader within the party, who's over the last year and a half really done some really extraordinary things to try to change the dialogue and conversation. and yet at the base level where you actually meet voters and hang out with them, you run this crap. you say to yourself, what is the point of this ad. i mean, in the context of the case or the situation, yeah, okay, the member of the house supported the law. but then to put it in this frame, says something very racist in my view. >> michael, this is the