Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1289589 in Books
• Published on: 1996-12-30
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

Synopsis
The frantic, fascinating life of the Republican pit bull (Lee Atwater) who made politics into a blood sport.. }Lee Atwater revolutionized presidential campaigning. He helped to create a solid Republican south. And he became notorious for turning national politics back into a blood sport, not only using nasty attacks but reveling in his image as the bad boy of Washington. Then, at the age of 39, Atwater was struck by a brain tumor. In thirteen months, cancer ended the most controversial career in modern politicsthe charismatic, colorful, and contradictory life of Lee Atwater.Even today Atwater is a fallen leader Republicans love and a rival Democrats love to hate. He was the first political handler as mediagenic as his candidatescertainly the first chairman of the Republican National Committee to record a blues album. His campaigns represent the high-water mark of the GOPs postwar dominance of the presidency, and his techniques set the tone for races across the country. Watching Washington since his death, politicians and pundits still wonder, What if Lee Atwater had lived?

Bad Boy reveals how Lee Atwater began his career controlling crowds as jittery class clown, traumatized by the agonizing death of his little brother. In college he discovered the subtle intercourse of policy and public opinion and grew from party animal to party man. Bad Boy details Atwaters political strategies from the grass roots to the national level. Even more ruthless were the behind-the-scenes power games as he crossed paths, and occasionally crossed swords, with nearly every major Republican of the 1980s: Reagan, Bush, Baker, Ailes, Rollins, and many more.In Bad Boy, we also see the faces Atwater tried to spin away. He was a compulsive womanizer, climbing through windows to avoid reporters. He played radical politics but promoted big tent Republicanism. Even his last public moment is controversial. Did Atwaters deathbed words really repudiate entire campaigns, or were they twisted by political enemies and second-hand reporting? Was his repentance sincere or simply one last gasp of press manipulation? Was he responsible for the infamous Willie Horton ads, or was he unfairly blamed by 1988s losers, trying for a moral victory?

Is Lee Atwater, a master of spin, now being spun in his grave?In its sudden end, Atwaters remarkable life resembled the rise and fall of a fine political novel. With the probing insights of an expert interviewer and a rare stylistic verve, John Brady tells that whole frantic, fascinating storythe life of the baddest boy in D.C. }

Customer Reviews

Sobering portrait of a man, and his world
I read this for several reasons. I worked with Lee, and virtualy every person named in the book. It was a time in my life I'll never forget. Lee might not realize it , but he did fulfill his dream. He taught me, and so many others like me, when he didn't know it. It was a privilidge to have been one of his students. Now to the book. I never knew that one of my photos was placed in the casket by Sally. I took the christmas card picture mentioned on page xix. That is an honor. Lee had me photograph every party, mixer, event, and many trips. We even played guitar after hours occasionally. As an employee of both the RNC and the NRCC, my interaction was close and personal. Everyone who is on the course to become politically active, behind or in front of the cameras/podiums/candidates, should read this book and learn from this book. However, they should note the following: on page 237, Dick Cheney was the Representative from Wyoming, not Colorado. How do I know? I did his successor's (Craig Thomas, now a U.S. Senator) media, and was there when Craig was selected to run. And, on page 245, Ed Rollins is called the Deputy Chairman of the Republican National Congressional Committee. Wrong, it was the National Republican Congressioanl Committee. And, he was Chairman. Nitpicking? No. Lee would want information to be accurate. NSR (no spin required)

Best political book I've ever read!
As one active in politics, I've read many a political book, but have never read one that taught me so much and touched my emotions so much as well. I found myself laughing outloud at certain parts, and fighting back tears in others. Phenomenally written.

As close to a text on political consulting as you will find.
...Lee Atwater was and is my hero, he was the ne plus ultra of the business that is at the center of my soul, and I personaly saw the difference between the Lee Atwater run Bush campaign and a non Atwater Bush campaign. Lee you will never be more missed than you where in 1992.

This book captures the good and the bad of Lee Atwater. The wink and the smile that most of the press missed shines through these pages. The sheer brilliance that propelled him to the top as well as the deamons who chased him there are made known.

Most of all it explains that Lee was not the racist that Democrats made him out to be, a campaign his cancer left him unable to finish.

This text lays out the strategies and thoughts that made Lee the success that we was. I is a text on how tho plan and win campaigns. It is a text about never ever giving up and the use of grit as an instrument of victory.