Lee Atwater: Master of Mass Manipulation

Last night I watched Frontline's "Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story," about the political operative who ran George Herbert Walker Bush's 1988 campaign and who had a profound influence on the campaign tactics of the Republican Party. The documentary was very interesting, providing insight into how dirty tactics work in campaigns. Atwater was a master of "framing" an opponent, creating a narrative that places the opponent in the worst possible light from which it is hard to escape. As the narrator--and some of the interviewees say in the film--Atwater destroyed Michael Dukakis. Scenes with Dukakis in his home, setting his table, retrieving milk from a refrigerator, are particularly poignant.

Winning is everything to some people; it doesn't matter how one wins. The losers are quickly forgotten, and the winners often have enough apologists and sycophants to polish their images long after they're dead.

I know that politics is a nasty business and that one needs to be tough to win and to lead, but I also think that there's a line between what can be accepted and what should not be accepted in political discourse. As interesting and complicated a man as Lee Atwater comes across in this documentary, I think he crossed that line, as have the Republican operatives who have followed in his footsteps, such as Atwater's protege Karl Rove. Fascinating documentary......