Boogie Man

By chance I caught the television debut of "Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story" on MPT last night. Now, granted I am probably by far the youngest contributor to this blog, I had never heard of Lee Atwater (pictured above right) before. The reason I was immediately fascinated by this documentary, besides its use of that awesome grainy 80's television, was that it deals with the Bush legacy and presidential campaigning in general. Atwater was a lover of blues music and befriended, even recorded with many famous blues and R & B artists. He was also the dirty political strategist and mastermind behind George H. W. Bush's 1988 campaign, and Karl Rove's idol. He changed the way campaigns our ran and they will forever be negative because of him. In a sudden turn of events during March of 1990, while seemingly on top of the world, Atwater was diagnosed with a brain tumor that rapidly led to his demise. Had he lived, Bill Clinton may have never become our president. This is a film about a man who achieved his goals at the expense of his opposition and later regretted it.