South Carolina Primaries and the Ghost of Lee Atwater...
http://russdondero.squarespace.com/journal/2008/1/25/the-ghost-of-lee-atwater.html
As the voters of Sourth Carolina line up to vote in Saturday's Democratic Primary a ghost of campaigns past lurks in the shadows. Lee Atwater, an adopted son of South Carolina and a key strategist of the Bush '88 election campaign. seems to making a cameo performance.
Atwater was one of the evil geniuses of the GOP in the '80s. Atwater invented many of the techniques of modern electoral politics, including promulgating reputation-destroying rumors. His opponents have characterized him as the "happy hatchet man" and "the Darth Vader of the Republican party".
Atwater died in 1990 from a brain tumor, a grade 3 astrocytoma. On his death bed Atwater was contrite about his dubious contribution to American political life - what is known as negative advertising. He confessed - "...illness helped me to see that what was missing in society is what was missing in me: a little heart, a lot of brotherhood..."
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