A question about Lee Atwater and the GOP

[Canuckistanian]

After reading the Wiki entry for Lee Atwater - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Atwater

I wondered - have there been any other notable bad actors in the GOP who have made similar deathbed apologies to those they had harmed in similar dirty trick campaigns?

I can't think of another example of anyone ever doing this.

Interesting factoid about Atwater - he claimed to have been converted to Catholicism and liked to say that reading the 'Living Bible' helped guide his faith and redemption. But after he died they found his Bible, still wrapped in cellophane.

[BeyondGeography]

1. Boogie Man is the definitive Atwater doc

Netflix it when your stomach is feeling strong. The man was a menace. He has been gone about a quarter century and we've only now finally outgrown him, for national elections at least. He could have won statewide races in the south as long as he was breathing.

[Canuckistanian]

6. Acutally, I would like to see that movie

Apparently been called by some as the best political documentary ever made.

[BeyondGeography]

7. I've seen it 2X and I'll probably watch it again

It is a very thorough treatment of the man and his milieu. Atwater was a double-dealing evil genius who won the big one, which is our version of immortality, no matter how you get the result. What was especially good about it was the follow up with Dukakis, many years later, still living in Brookline with his loving wife, looking healthy enough to live until 100. He's the humble, earnest servant who dreamed of doing good and was torn to bits by a tormented lowlife. The contrast stood for itself; it gave the film real depth, making it almost as much about America's twisted nature as about Atwater's.

[Canuckistanian]

8. Good review

Now I really want to see it. Thanks.

[pscot]

2. Chuck Colson, one of Nixon's gang

got religion in prison. Made money off it too. I don't think he ever apologized though. I heard they buried Atwater with a wooden stake through where his heart woudda been.

[Canuckistanian]

9. Colson never publically regretted anything

He was so wrapped up in his "Prison Ministry", he failed to see the forest for the trees.

[JeffHead]

3. If there is any justice....

Karl Rove will suffer a similar fate.

[bluestate10]

4. There was republican mover that was hostile to Gays. Turned out he was gay and got AIDS.

As he was dying, there was an article where he apologized go all the gay people that he had hurt. I am not gay, but the article struck and stayed with me, I think the man's last name was something like Cohn, or Cohen.

[Canuckistanian]

5. You must mean Roy Cohn

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Cohn

He was a lawyer working with Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

But as far as I know, Cohn never made any such apologies. He seemed to deny his homosexual identity until his death.

Unless you can point to anything contrary...