The Ghost of Lee Atwater Haunting the Election

Make no mistake: although Lee Atwater is dead, and he repented on his death bed for his ruthless and amoral strategies for running the Bush I campaign and the Republican Party itself, there remain his protegees. Karl Rove, Tucker Bounds, and those whose names we don't know, but who owe their philosophies to Atwater.

Tonight I went to see a film called Boogie Man: The Story of Lee Atwater. Here is a link to the trailer.

The film is frightening, because the Republican Party, the party that has used family and Christian values as the key to its appeal to trick people into voting against their own economic interests, has been led by amoral men who do not believe in any higher power than power itself.

Go see Boogie Man. Go see Boogie Man before the election. Get scared to death, scared enough to actually stand on line for hours on Tuesday and vote. Scared enough to make some phone calls and canvas for a few hours over the weekend. Scared enough to drive friends, family, and even strangers to the polls.

If you recall, Lee Atwater was responsible for electing Bush I, by flat out lying about the role Bush I played as vice president in the Iran Contra scandal and running one of the most racist campaigns in the history of modern politics: recall the Willie Horton ad.

Atwater was crowned chair of the GOP as a reward after Bush beat Michael Dukakis, but soon afterwards was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Before he became too ill, he was already spreading rumors about then Governor Bill Clinton whom he understood was the up and coming Democrat to beat. With Atwater dead, Clinton won in 1992, leaving Bush I with a single rather than a double term as president, and a younger Bush with a score to settle.

The seeds of deception were already sown, and for eight years Clinton was plagued by rumors, investigations, and the waste of $70 million in the Whitewater investigation that led to Monica Lewinsky, a blow job, and his impeachment.

The testing of Barack Obama, if he is elected, in the opening weeks or months of his administration, will more likely originate from the protegees of Lee Atwater's radical Republican Party than from any foreign powers.