Poppy Bush’s campaign manager Lee Atwater repented after he was stricken with an inoperable brain tumor at the age of thirty-nine.
“In 1988,” Mr. Atwater said, “fighting Dukakis, I said that I ‘would strip the bark off the little bastard’ and ‘make Willie Horton his running mate.’ I am sorry for both statements: the first for its naked cruelty, the second because it makes me sound racist, which I am not.”
He also said this:
“In part because of our successful manipulation of his campaign themes, George Bush won handily,” Mr. Atwater said. He conceded that throughout his political career “a reputation as a fierce and ugly campaigner has dogged me.”
“While I didn’t invent negative politics,” he said, “I am one of its most ardent practitioners.”
Noting this history, I still think Assrocket provides some context to Atwater’s most famous quote.
“You start out in 1954, by saying n*****, n*****, n*****. By 1968, you can’t say n*****, that hurts you, back-fires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states rights, and all that stuff and you’re getting so abstract. Now you’re talking about cutting taxes. We want to cut this is much more abstract than even the busing thing and a hell of a lot more abstract than n*****, n*****.”
If you look at the totality of the interview in which Atwater made that statement, it becomes clear that he wasn’t endorsing that point of view.
Yet, if you look at the totality of Atwater’s career, it doesn’t seem like it matters what he endorsed. He knew that his tactics were racist, which is why he felt guilty and why he apologized.