By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Stefan Forbes
Country: united_states
Year: 2008
Running time: 86
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1262863/
Bruce says: “In many minds Lee Atwater remains one of the more despicable characters on the political landscape within the past several decades. Many think Atwater was Machiavellian. While that may sound damning to most people, one man claimed at Atwater’s funeral the “He was Machiavellian in the very best sense of the word.” That type of thinking explains his rise to become Chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) Atwater, capping a career that began when he interned for Senator Strom Thurmond. Surprisingly, Atwater was also an accomplished musician.
“Atwater was a forerunner of Karl Rove (BUSH’S BRAIN) in the dirty tricks department. He turned politics into tabloid moments. ‘People vote their fears,’ Atwater believed, and in doing so, vote against their own interests. For most campaigns he found plenty for voters to worry about, forget the fact that most fears Atwater created were based on innuendo or the hypothetical rather than having any roots in reality. His first success was destroying the political career of South Carolina congressional candidate Tom Turnipseed by suggesting he had been ‘hooked up to jumper cables’ to combat mental instability. Atwater was famous for leaking stories that were not true. By the time they were disproven, all that people remembered was the original charge rather than any disclaimers that followed. A good example is the fabricated story that John Connolly was buying black votes. False accusations got Bob Dole angry and “off his game” during the 1988 Presidential primary races. But undoubtedly Attwater’s most famous coup was to get third party money to pay for the Willie Horton ads that destroyed Michael Dukakis’ chances in 1988.
“Ed Rollins recalls how he hired Atwater to work in the Reagan administration and how Atwater stabbed him in the back to further his career. Atwater was an excellent musician, playing with B. B. King, Isaac Hayes and Percy Sledge among others. Archival footage of his band at the H. W. Bush inauguration shows him doing splits on stage while belting songs and wielding his guitar. Some black musicians in the film testify that Atwater was a true friend an enigma considering most of them must have had some inkling about his politics.
“When Atwater was diagnosed with a brain tumor his career came to a screeching halt. He bravely fought the disease and even converted to Catholicism in hopes that might save him. Atwater died at the age of 40 in 1991. Before his death he wrote many letters of apology to those he wronged as he lived in sheer terror of his impending afterlife. Much about Atwater’s personal life has been left out of the film. However, one incident sticks in my mind and others have told me they had the same reaction. As a small child Lee watched his younger 3 year old brother scald himself to death by pulling a pan of hot grease off the stove. Just how much of an accident was it? Judging by his cutthroat modus operandi as an adult, it is easy to fantasize he had a hand in the tragedy. 3.5 cats”
Tony says: “I think Mary Matalin might be the most horrifying person on earth. The Dukakis interviews were very interesting.
2.5 cats”