#38
View attachment 443551
Early 1984
“I don’t want that embarrassment of a revival tent scam artist on the ticket. Do something about it.”
He’d taken no official role in the Conservative Party. He wasn’t on any committee or panel, he ran for no office, he even continued to endorse right-wing Democrats and Republicans through the National Review.
And yet here he was, at once both the secret master of a political movement and its public face, a known quantity whose power had unknown parameters. An enigma: Madame Defarge knitting in the corner, Vito Corleone with his cat, a divine-right king of ultimate power and a kitchen effigy out of ancient Rome, all symbol and implied meaning, the eye passing him by without even noting his presence. He was underlord and overlord all at once and more slippery than either.
In a den of vipers as thick as the American Conservative Party, where loyalty was a currency backed with pewter and fear, how did this man- who officially sought no power- wield so much of it? Beyond the unhelpful but obvious reply,
he was William-Fucking-Francis-Fucking-Buckley, the answer was very simple:
He always demanded very little.
He always demanded it at the right time.
He always demanded it of the right people.
Lee Atwater needed little motivation to slip his leash. But he did need cover. A few words from William Buckley would suffice.
And so, in the primary season of 1984, the snake turned its hungry eyes towards its tail, and began to bite down.
----
Mid-summer, 1984
Conservative Party Headquarters. George works for Pat Robertson. Lee Atwater works for...himself, if he’s being honest.
“You’re making a mistake, Lee. You want us in this fight.”
“We
do want you in this fight, George. Are you saying you’re going to throw the match over the vice presidency?
The vice presidency?”
“You know we’ll do what we can. But to start out our relationship like this. By disrespecting our candidate?”
“George. Things came out in the campaign that just can’t-”
“Lee! I am not a man to use foul language but if you bring up that film…”
“It was more than just the film...though the film was pretty bad. Your guy is laying on hands and crying like a baby while everyone screams gibberish around him, it’s not a good visual.”
“You know d- you know your own team released that tape. And the tabloid monstrosity about the reverend’s first child. It was all you.”
“George. Whoever it was? Surely you’re good enough at your job to understand what I have to do. I know you can put yourself in my shoes. What would you do?”
“This is not how to foster unity, Lee. This is not a good start.”
“That’s why I’m here. We’re going to fix this. The senator is announcing Steiger as his running mate tomorrow afternoon. Let’s talk about first steps to showing the country that we have a unified party.”
“This isn’t how it’s always going to be, Lee. You can’t just walk all over the Christians and expect us to be the bigger men all the time. That’s a mistake the Republicans made.”
“I couldn’t agree more. That’s why today, you’re going to help me staff up. We’re running a presidential campaign now, and we need bodies.”
“We want more. We want control of the platform.”
“You’ll have full control of the platform committee at the convention. Robertson will get the most prominent spot we have behind Steiger and Buckley in the speeches. We want all of your people on board. And of course it goes without saying: if we somehow shoot the moon on this thing, if the gambit pays off? The reverend can write his own ticket.”
“Anything?”
“Sky’s the limit.”
“You’re telling me Secretary of State Pat Robertson is on the table? Party Chairman?”
“The sky, as I mentioned, is the limit.”
George looks placated by the offer. And why shouldn’t he be? It’s absurdly generous. Or it would be if they had a chance in hell of winning. Atwater knows the truth. There’s no way barring a dead girl or a live boy situation that James Buckley’s going to be the next president. Buckley knew that as well as he did. But that didn’t preclude victory. There were many ways to win in American politics. You could even win by losing…
----
Late summer, 1984
CBS Evening News.
“And so we conclude our coverage of the Conservative Party Convention here in Phoenix, where Connecticut senator James Buckley and local favorite son Governor Sam Steiger have formed the ticket that will compete in November for the presidential nomination. The speeches were fiery, the rhetoric was dialed up to ten, and the various factions paraded like gamecocks for a chance to express their views.
“Contrasted with the contention evident among the Democrats and the, to quote our friend Morley Safer, ‘concerned optimism’ among the Republicans, this week in Phoenix has been the kind of straightforward display of political pageantry we haven’t seen in this country since perhaps Eisenhower’s time. In a country long dominated by the Republicans and the Democrats, it’s clear the Conservatives are doing their best to present Americans with a viable ‘third way.’ Whether the American people are buying, we’ll find out in November. For CBS News this is Dan Rather, signing off.”