Lee Atwater Apologizes
This Novak stuff got me thinking about Lee Atwater, the Henry Ford of modern day Republican smears and dirty tricks.
Turns out Atwater, when faced with death from a brain tumor, decided that lying, smearing political adversaries, degrading the national dialogue and poisoning the well of American politics was a bad idea.
This from wikipedia…
Atwater apologizes
Shortly before his death from a brain tumor, Atwater said he had converted to Catholicism, through the help of Fr. John Hardon, S.J.,[9] and, in an act of repentance, Atwater issued a number of public and written letters to individuals to whom he had been opposed during his political career, including Dukakis. In a letter to Tom Turnipseed dated June 28, 1990, he stated, “It is very important to me that I let you know that out of everything that has happened in my career, one of the low points remains the so-called ‘jumper cable’ episode,” adding, “my illness has taught me something about the nature of humanity, love, brotherhood and relationships that I never understood, and probably never would have. So, from that standpoint, there is some truth and good in everything.”[10]
In a February 1991 article for Life Magazine, Atwater wrote:
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.
Well, golly gee…that is just super-duper.
Too bad he had already passed on his tricks to his protege, Karl Rove. Too bad Rove never got Atwater’s last memo.
Yes, it is too bad, but perhaps he, too, will discover his humanity when his is in jeopardy.
And it does perhaps explain why he did not see/hear his accidental clipping of the pedestrian, as he said at the time.