"Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story" is about to open in theaters around the country. It is still playing at the Nickelodeon through October 14. For those of you who have not heard about the movie, it chronicles the rise and fall of S.C. native Lee Atwater. Atwater made his name as a win-at-all-costs campaign manager for George H.W. Bush and later as the chairman of the RNC.
The film follows Atwater from his early days in South Carolina through his death in 1991. Throughout the film, Atwater comes across as a lovable, yet sinister figure. Atwater was eulogized by James Baker as Machiavellian "in the best sense of the word." The film portrays Atwater as someone who was fiendishly adept at manipulating others, including the press, and who would stop at nothing to gain victory for his candidate.
For anyone who plans to vote on November 4, this movie is a must see. The ugly underbelly of election politics is juxtaposed with the dying plea of one of its most successful and ruthless purveyors that the slimy tactics must stop. It really makes you think, as a voter and a human being, about the process that elections have become. It makes you wonder how we allow our politicians to get away with being liars and thieves, with shirking any moral or ethical responsibility or dodging accountability through scapegoating others.
Atwater was a villain- there is no doubt about that. However the film has a way of humanizing the villain so that we can see ourselves in him. We can see our potential for evil, we can see our glaring imperfections, we can see how pathetic a life lived like Atwater's looks in the end.
3 comments:
Good article Blue, but come, lay off Machiavelli. I am one of 10 people, of what, 10 people in SC that actually read The Prince. Good read.
Machiavelli had a lot of good things to say about governance, there's no doubt about that. However, much of his theory is based on pure power politics and, if you subscribe to all that inalienable rights malarky, then you have to reject some of his most basic premises.
I would like for our leaders to read the part about the dangers of using mercenaries in war in light of the pervasive use of "security" companies like Blackwater in Iraq.
Government is about power. The question is who has the power. The framers of the Constitution tried to design it so that the power resided in the people. Looks that that's a pipe dream nowadays.
I agree with Machiavelli on the use of mercenaries. Their loyalty is themselves. The use of Blackwater had many problems.
Did you Biden in the VP debate when he said that when it came to choosing Supreme Court judges, that now it mattered to HIM what their ideology was? That is usurping power from the people who voted for a president who was supposed to nominate judges. Yes, I know that Bush has a horrible track record of usurping power and growing the Federal govt.
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