Did any of y’all see "Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story" on "Frontline" tonight?
That was the first time I’d seen it, and you know what struck me? It was the first documentary I can remember seeing in which I personally knew practically everybody who came on the screen — Lee Bandy, Tom Turnipseed, Tucker Eskew, on and on. Even leading characters I don’t know well were people I had at least met or interviewed, such as both George Bushes.
You know what that says to me? It says I’m really getting old. Forgive me for citing Stranger in a Strange Land twice in one week, but we old Boomers do that. Do you grok that? Anyway, Jubal Harshaw observed that "…one advantage of a long life was that eventually a man knew almost everybody of importance…" That meant one thing when I first read it when I was 17, something else altogether now.
I’m no Harshaw, and if the man from Mars was hanging out at my house I don’t think I’d get as far as he did calling on the powers that be. But I’ve at least met these people. I’ve sat and talked with John McCain a number of times over the years; same with Joe Biden, multiple times. I’ve only interviewed Obama that once, not counting that abortive phone thing where he tried, but my phone kept dropping the call — hey, don’t look at me; he hasn’t been around as long — but that once was impressive. Never met Sarah Palin at all — does that mean I’m out of the loop, or she is?
Maybe y’all have more relevant things to say about the film. I already told my one, short Lee Atwater story. Anyway, I’d better go to bed. We cranky old people need our rest.
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Didn’t see it.Don’t care.I’m protestin’ HDTV.Damn thing’s clear enough.And I’m sick of reading the friggin’ newspaper on TV.How’s that for crotchety?
Back in MY day, we watched TV on a 10-inch black-and-white screen that was mostly snow, with only a ghost of an image, and if you wanted to get a SECOND channel that well, somebody had to stand outside the house turning the antenna.
And we LIKED it.
Didn’t Nixon get 25 percent of the black vote in the South?