Lee Atwater

Ratfucking Part II - Ratfucking with Lee Atwater

In Part I we saw where the term “ratfucking” originated and met two of the most infamous ratfuckers. In this part we will see how ratfucking went from being a small part of GOP political campaigns during the Nixon era to being the centerpiece of campaigns under Bush I.

Harvey Leroy “Lee” Atwater (February 26, 1951 – March 29, 1991) was an advisor of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. As shown in Part I, He got his start as a ratfucker thanks to Karl Rove. Rove, then the National Chairman of the College Republicans, introduced Atwater to George H.W. Bush who was then the RNC Chairman.  Read more 

Ratfucking - A GOP Tradition

Did you ever wonder what some of the obnoxious trolls claiming to be Obama supporters are hoping to accomplish by insulting the supporters of Hillary Clinton? Their tactics aren’t likely to win converts, and seem designed to make enemies.

Maybe they aren’t really Obama supporters after all.

Maybe they are a special breed of GOP trolls called “ratfuckers.”

Part I

Ratfucking is an American slang term for political sabotage or dirty tricks. It was first brought to public attention during the Watergate scandal investigation that during the 1972 presidential campaign the Nixon campaign committee maintained a “dirty tricks” unit focused on discrediting Nixon’s strongest challengers.  Read more