Behind the Bastards: Part Two – Lee Atwater: The Political Dirty Tricks Artist Who Gave Us President(s) George Bush

Date: August 27, 2025
Host: Robert Evans
Guest: Garrison Davis
Podcast: Cool Zone Media / Behind the Bastards

Episode Overview

This episode continues the deep dive into the life and impact of Lee Atwater, the infamous Republican strategist whose mastery of underhanded tactics changed American politics—culminating with the election of George H.W. Bush and influencing the next generation of political operatives. Evans and Davis dissect Atwater's formative years and early career, highlighting his manipulative genius, the origins of "push polling," and his role as an architect of the modern conservative playbook—especially the racially charged Southern Strategy.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Atwater's Early Dirty Tricks & Psychology (05:06–11:39)

• High School Schemes:
  Atwater’s penchant for manipulation surfaces early. He orchestrates a fake school election, publishes a zine with fabricated “comedy ratings,” and even creates a “Dial-a-Slut” fake ad to hurt classmates.

  “He’s a prodigy in the evil arts of politics.” — Robert Evans (08:09)

• Understanding Influence:
  Atwater learns people will do almost anything to see their names in print or be considered ‘Number 1’—a lesson he carries into his political career.

  “Nothing taught me more cleanly and clearly that people like to see their names in the paper and people like to be number one at something. I always remembered that lesson.” — Lee Atwater, as quoted by Evans (08:24)

• Staying in the Shadows:
  Atwater prefers to orchestrate from behind the scenes, deliberately keeping himself out of the spotlight for maximum effect.

2. Race, Music, and Hypocrisy (09:18–11:06)

• Selective Sensitivity:
  In high school, Atwater uses his influence to prevent racist behavior—when it suits his musical tastes. He’s notably anti-racist when it benefits him, highlighting a lifelong habit of using racial issues instrumentally but denying personal racism.

  “He doesn’t want to be seen as racist, but he wants to be allowed to campaign as one.” — Evans (10:26)

3. Fraternity Antics & Academic Laziness (11:39–18:22)

• Fraternity Life:
  Atwater’s high school and college years are filled with excessive frat partying, cruel hazing, and questionable alcohol concoctions (“Purple Jesus” made from abandoned roadside liquor and mystery juice).

• Skating Through Academics:
  Atwater nearly fails out of school, saved only by his ability to charm authority figures face-to-face.

  “The only way to get him to actually work hard is to trigger his oppositional defiant disorder. That’s the entirety of how this guy works.” — Robert Evans (17:59)

4. Launching into Politics: Strom Thurmond & the College Republicans (27:31–36:08)

• Mentorship with Strom Thurmond
  Through family connections, Atwater interns with notorious segregationist Strom Thurmond, gaining political direction and learning the ins and outs of conservative politics.

• Opportunism over Ideology:
  Atwater is described as politically agnostic; his loyalty is to his own advancement and the game of politics, not to conservative ideology.

  “He didn’t believe in conservatism. He could have worked for either party and been just as happy. But he saw there was more of a place for him in the Republican Party.” — Evans (31:50)

• College Republican Machine:
  Atwater’s talent for mobilization is evident as he signs up 12,000 new Republican voters at college, an unprecedented feat that brings him to national attention and cements his role as the ultimate competitive operative.

5. The Southern Strategy Explained (36:08–44:09, 58:10–62:32)

• Brief History Lesson:
  Evans outlines the Democratic-to-Republican shift in the South, focusing on how the Southern Strategy used coded language (“states’ rights,” “busing,” “tax cuts”) to appeal to white voters’ racial anxieties.

• Atwater’s Own Words (60:03–61:44):
  The most infamous moment of the episode: Atwater candidly admits the insidious logic behind the Southern Strategy in a now-audio-confirmed interview:

  “You start out in 1954 by saying ‘Nigger, nigger, nigger.’ By 1968 you can’t say ‘nigger’… So you say stuff like forced busing, states’ rights and all that stuff… you’re talking about cutting taxes… [and] the byproduct of them is blacks get hurt worse than whites… if it is getting that abstract and that coded, that we’re doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me?” — Lee Atwater (61:03–61:44 audio clip)

• Rationalizing Racism:
  Atwater attempts to justify that abstraction (dog-whistle politics) somehow represents progress, though Evans and Davis remain deeply skeptical of this “less racist than before” framing.

6. Dirty Tricks Go National (44:12–54:09 / 50:18–58:10)

• Weaponizing Rumors & Push Polls:
  Atwater’s hallmark becomes sophisticated “dirty tricks”:

  • Planting damaging fake news in obscure papers, then amplifying those stories in attack ads.
  • Using third-party (spoiler) candidates to introduce antisemitic attacks discreetly—against Holocaust survivor Max Heller (44:43).
  • Push-polling tactics to stigmatize opponents on race, mental health, or other vulnerabilities—most famously against Tom Turnipseed:

    “I’m not going to respond to allegations made by someone who’s been hooked up to jumper cables.” — Atwater, referencing Turnipseed’s childhood electroshock therapy (53:34)

  • Admits to targeting the press themselves, who only learn afterward they have been manipulated:

    “Lee laughed and said, ‘Bandy, you got used.’ So he celebrates this. He likes being like—he wants you to know when he’s done this; for one, that he’s proud of it.” — Evans quoting New York Times journalist Lee Bandy (54:55)

• Architect of Republican Realignment:
  Atwater serves as Southern regional coordinator for Reagan’s 1980 campaign, steering Reagan to kick off in Philadelphia, Mississippi—a location loaded with racial significance—to send “coded” signals to southern white voters.

• Dog Whistle Politics Fully Deployed:
  Atwater refines dog-whistle tactics, advocating for issues like tax cuts under the guise of economics, while realigning Republican messaging to appeal to racially anxious white voters.

7. Lee Atwater’s Lasting Impact (Throughout)

• Atwater sets the template for all future GOP dirty tricks and the modern, performative, shameless style of attack politics. His influence reaches through the Bush dynasty and propagates to successors like Karl Rove and Roger Stone.
• Despite claiming that his generation will transcend racism, Atwater’s own career demonstrates how abstraction and coded language can be weaponized to sustain power and perpetuate inequality.

Notable Quotes

• On Media Manipulation:
  “By not being involved, I could have a lot more fun with it. I learned back then that I was just going to cool it and stay out of the scene.” — Lee Atwater (08:00 approx)
• On Justifying Dirty Tricks:
  “He just starts challenging individual votes, and he just keeps coming up with... they’re bullshit challenges...” — Robert Evans, on Atwater's tactics (40:13)
• On Adapting Racism:
  “And you’re getting so abstract now... all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things. And the byproduct of them is blacks get hurt worse than whites.” — Lee Atwater (61:10)
• On Political Amoralism:
  “He was not ideologically... He could have worked for either party and been just as happy.” — Evans (31:50)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Fake School Election & Early Trickery: 05:06–09:05
• Racial Politics in Adolescence: 09:18–11:39
• Alcohol, Fraternities & Skating Academics: 11:39–18:22
• Meeting Strom Thurmond, Start in GOP Politics: 27:31–36:08
• The Southern Strategy Explained: 36:08–44:09; 58:10–62:32
• Push Polls, Planting Attacks & Smearing Opponents: 50:18–54:55
• Atwater’s Southern Strategy Audio Clip: 61:03–61:44

Tone and Closing Remarks

The hosts’ tone is irreverent, darkly humorous, and deeply critical of Atwater’s legacy. Throughout, they underscore the grim effectiveness of Atwater’s tactics while openly wishing such political competence had gone in service of moral causes.

“He’s the Republican Party distilled into one man. It’s just pure oppositional defiance.” — Robert Evans (18:22)

The episode closes on a note of dark resignation:

“The Lee Atwater strategy: Hurt as many people as you want, as long as you’re doing something, anything to quiet the sound of your brother screaming as he boils alive in oil.” — Robert Evans (64:01)

Summary for New Listeners

If you want to understand how American politics became so brazenly cutthroat and racially coded—and why “dog whistle” tactics remain central to the GOP—Behind the Bastards’ Lee Atwater series is essential. Through tales of adolescent cruelty, collegiate chaos, and weaponized strategy, Evans and Davis illustrate how one man’s hunger to win at any cost recreated the rules of modern political warfare.