The Boogie Man Lives
One of the very best political documentary films of the year -- and one that is terribly relevant to this election campaign -- is about a man who died in 1991. Here at the Impact Film Festival I just saw Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story, a powerful and strangely moving account of how sewer tactics became business as usual in the modern Republican Party. Avoiding the didactic tone of too many political films, director Stefan Forbes has created a fascinating biopic about the charismatic, contradictory, deeply warped figure whose remorseless attitude toward truth and decency lives on (in the persons of Karl Rove and Steve Schmidt) long after his sad demise from brain cancer. Forbes tells the tale with amazing archival footage dug up from the Bush and Reagan presidential libraries and through a series of interviews with campaign operatives, friends and journalists who discuss Atwater. In some instances, the interviewees also reveal something of their own character. Ed Rollins is a good guy. Mary Matalin, by contrast, best known these days as the "editor" of Jerome Corsi's Obama Nation, obviously learned all of Lee's lessons too well. Full disclosure: I'm in the film too.
Boogie Man provides a fresh perspective on the political history of the past generation, but it is also a warning about what is coming tomorrow, next week and next month, as Atwater's heirs unveil the distortions and distractions that they hope will elect John McCain. Don't miss it when it comes to a theatre near you this fall. (And if it doesn't then be sure to order the DVD).
A comment about the Republicans and the truth coming from a koolaid supporter of the Clintons, whose level of devotion approached worship or sexual. This coming from someone who had no problem with the thuggish antics of the Clinton smear machine that democrat David Schippers, a mob prosecutor said "made Richard Nixon look like a choirboy." Joe, get up off your knees, take off your clinton kneepads and tell the truth for a change.
Hillary is a racist cracker whore who tried to destroy not only brother Obama but also the Reverend Doctor Jeremiah Wright, who has fought for reparations and against white racism for 30 years!
The Reverend Doctor Wright took a moral stand against the
whites and Jews who enslaved the black man, stole his labor, brought crack cocaine to his neighborhoods, created AIDS to destroy him, and blew up the levees in New Orleans! And what did he get for his effort? Racist attacks from Hillary Clinton!
She tried to paint brother Obama as a Muslim even though she is actually a Jew! Do some investigation! See for yourself!
All the white Hillary supporters and black uncle toms should jump off a cliff! This is OUR party, not yours!
Reparations NOW!
Redistribution of wealth NOW!
Make racist whites like the Clintons PAY for what they have done to blacks!
OBAMA '08!!!!!!
OBAMA!
OBAMA!
Joe Conason is a hero to the radical left, but a boob to the mainstream. For him to ignore all the ugly smears that Democrats have famously leveled against their foes, and suggest that Lee Atwater is the sole source of tough tactics, is laughable.
When charges like this are levelled, you will notice one thing. Atwater will be accused of lying, but not one example will be given.
Was it a lie, when the Bush campaign (1988) ran an add which showed how the Michael Dukakis parole program led to Willie Horton commtting more murder? It was not a lie, it was the truth.
But they say it was racist, because the ads showed Horton's face (and skin color).
The most predictable behvior of the left is that when they lose elections, they will blame lies, dirty tricks, etc. It is NEVER the weakness of their candidaye or his policies.
What's going on with Mac and Richmond--did they lose the address for the Klan meeting last night?
Shiva: you unreconstructed bigot. Why don't you point out exactly in my post where I said anything that might be construed to be racial, or klan related. I am so sick of you Obama whorshippers, you guys would have gladly followed another "black leader" Jim Jones. That one turned out well, didn't it. Shiva, you are a typical democrat. You call everyone who disagrees with you racist. How about getting a handle on the real racists, the democratic party, which had in its platforms, pro slavery planks, followed by pro Jim Crow planks, and Segregationist Planks. You are a complete idiot, but it is what I would expect from people who follow their black "messiah" despite his history of corruption, association with terrorists, and identity politics. You show yourself incapable of putting together a cogent argument so you just name call.
You're all idiots.
Barack Obama has no relations to terrorists, and that is just a racist idea spread by the extreme right wing. The radical hippy he is friends with he has not known since the 60's, he is simply his next door neighbor. And that radical hippy is no longer a radical.
In response to To Hell with the Hillary Women, you are a racist pig. You also need to get your facts straight because there was never a population of jews in the american south during the years of slavery. And sorry, but I don't want to give my hard earned money away to somebody who has less than me, because chances are they aren't going to spend it wisely. Few people spend money wisely and that is why the economy is in the gutter.
1. Horton wasn't on weekend release because of Dukakis' program. It was a program started by the governor who came before him. The guy was a Republican, by the way. Fact.
2. If "To hell with the Hillary women" isn't actually a Republican/McCain supporter trolling, I'll be extremely surprised.
3. Mac, you disparage Shiva for "calling names," yet you call the author of this article "koolaid supporter" and suggest he's giving Clinton a blowjob?
That's what I love about the extreme right-wing. Hypocrisy, hypocrisy, hypocrisy.
Fess up, dude. After eight years of W., the Republican party is broken. It has been co-opted by the Christian Coalition. The ideal of less government is a myth, told as a bedtime story from the children of Reagan Republicans to THEIR children. Smaller tax burdens on everyone, especially the hardworking, law-abiding members of the middle class, are gone like a fart in the wind.
When the Republican Party regains its focus and vision, then you will come up with a candidate who is worthy of being considered the Second Coming of your Messiah, Ronnie Reagan. Until then, you put forward ambitious, moral cowards like McCain who wouldn't know an economic stimulus plan if it ran up and bit him on the ass.
Very interesting film. It learned me a lot. I liked it very much, 8/10. Watch it!
What the hell is wrong with you people (with the exception of vain, who made the only sane response...and the one before that was at least coherent as well).
To all of you salivating about "kool-aid drinkers", you should really take a lesson from Lee Atwater. After all, the guy was 10 times more rabid than you in his hatred for the opposition party...and in the end, he wrote letters to all his 'enemies', including Dukakis, apologizing for wasting his healthy years spouting hatred.
If you have an opinion, share it...but please, take a lesson from this man's life and don't waste your time vilifying those you disagree with.
And as for "To hell with Hillary women"...you have some serious issues...and you are clearly not an Obama supporter, as he runs on a platform of racial tolerance...you are more than likely an immature little brat who is trying to act like a fictional, racist black man...the kind they saw in a movie that would never write in a blog on this site. Grow up, Junior...
"Boogie Man" is one of the best political doc's I've ever seen. It shows the true duality that raged through the soul of Harvey Lee Atwater. I remember being 13 and watching Bush's inauguration party on CNN with my Dad when to our collective shock Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones came out to play guitar with Atwater. It still makes me shake my head... Atwater's tactics are alive and well; and really they were alive and well long before Atwater was born. Dirty tricks, deceptive politics and lying have always been in the toolbox of most politicians and their operatives. I've had friends who've seen this film say "Well, Karma came around for Atwater with his demise from a brain tumor." I've always rebuffed these comments and think they are naive and silly. Atwater lived more life in 40 years than most live in 80 and his all be it tainted legacy will survive for century's.