Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story

I watched a great documentary tonight on PBS called "Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story." If you don't know who Lee Atwater is, well, he was Karl Rove before Karl Rove. You know that famous Willie Horton ad in the 1988 election? All Lee Atwater, baby.

Even more fascinating, Lee Atwater died of brain tumor and before he left this earth, he renounced everything he had done as a Republican party operative:

My illness helped me to see that what was missing in society is what was missing in me: a little heart, a lot of brotherhood. The '80s were about acquiring — acquiring wealth, power, prestige. I know. I acquired more wealth, power, and prestige than most. But you can acquire all you want and still feel empty. What power wouldn't I trade for a little more time with my family? What price wouldn't I pay for an evening with friends? It took a deadly illness to put me eye to eye with that truth, but it is a truth that the country, caught up in its ruthless ambitions and moral decay, can learn on my dime. I don't know who will lead us through the '90s, but they must be made to speak to this spiritual vacuum at the heart of American society, this tumor of the soul.

I guess Karl Rove and the G.O.P. missed that part.

Anyway, I'm not sure if they'll show it again, but if you're any sort of politico like I am, you need to check it out.