Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story

Before Karl Rove, his mentor Lee Atwater was the take-no-prisoners purveyor of dirty tricks, masterminding George H.W. Bush's come-from-behind victory over Michael Dukakis through hardball tactics such as the infamous Willie Horton ad (a lowball emotional piece attacking Dukakis for supporting weekend furloughs for convicts). Stefan Forbes' feature-length documentary traces Atwater's political rise—from his early beginnings in South Carolina Republican campaign circles to his stint as the party's national chairman under Bush, ending with his untimely death from brain cancer at the age of 40 in 1991. The emphasis here is on the rambunctious, hard-driving personality of a man who loved (and played) R&B music and was utterly disdainful of principle while constructing a winning strategy for his candidates (even the widely-circulated story of his deathbed apologies to political victims is presented here with a grain of salt). And while interview time is allowed to critics of Atwater's techniques—including Sam Donaldson, Howard Fineman, Terry McAuliffe, and Dukakis (who has had ample time to reflect on what was done to him in 1988), most of the interviewees are friends and colleagues such as Mary Matalin and Ed Rollins, who may cast an occasional barb but remain largely in awe of Atwater's skill at attacking and dissembling. Still, Boogie Man offers a revealing analysis of a figure whose impact on the American political system was substantial, if not salutary. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)