Check out Lee Atwater's NAZI epitaph:

[Jara sang]

I do not choose to be a common man.
It is my God-given right to be uncommon.
I prefer the challenges of life to guaranteed security
The thrill of fulfillment to the state calm of utopia
I will never cower before any master
Save my god.

-Republican Creed

BURN IN HELL, LEE!!!

[Thtwudbeme]

1. Oh, he cowered before he died

Whined, moaned and begged forgiveness.

What a little jackass.

[LSparkle]

And then his spirit entered KKKarl

where it lives on. Let's hope it (finally) dies with THAT jackass.

[FreedomAngel82]

12. My guess is it won't

Someone will learn from Karl and continue the tradition on.

[Botany]

9. He begged for Mike Dukais (sp?????) to meet him.

And he apologized to Mike D. about the Willy Horton ads.

Mike D. was a "stand up man," and took his apology and
forgave a dying man so he might find some peace.

Guess the people who wrote his epitaph forgot about that
little piece of history.

[rpgamerd00d]

2. "I prefer the challenges of life to guaranteed security" uh... WIRETAPPING

Stupid Neocons.

[Dogmudgeon]

3. How is this Nazi?

Incidentally, "Republican" in this context undoubtedly means "republican" not "Republican Party". All Democrats are republican, and all Republicans ought to be democratic.

Yes, they've twisted our language, but we shouldn't let them get away with it.

--p!

[Jara sang]

22. "God given right to be uncommon"?

That sounds like it was taken from the pages of Mein Kampf. That has "master race" written all over it.

[RandomKoolzip]

26. Yeah, but "God-given" isn't on the actual gravestone.

[Igel]

4. I assume the "Nazi" part has to do with the last few words,

"save my God".

Written by Dean Alfange (sometimes on the net as Alfrange ... I don't know which is correct, but "Alfange" has the numerical edge over "Alfrange").

Otherwise, in full:

I do not choose to be a common man.
It is my right to be uncommon - if I can.
I seek opportunity - not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me.
I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed.
I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia.
I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat.
It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act for myself, enjoy the benefits of my creations and to face the world boldly and say, this I have done.

The Honorable Dean Alfange was an American statesman born December 2, 1899, in Constantinople (now Istanbul). He served in the U.S. Army during World War I and attended Hamilton College, graduating in the class of ’22. Hamilton offers the “Dean Alfange Essay Prizes” established by Dean Alfange and awarded to the students who write the best and second-best essays on a feature or an issue of American constitutional government.

Alfange was the American Labor candidate for governor of New York and a founder of the Liberal Party of New York.


Ooo ... one of those American Labor party Nazis. They're the worst kind. And helped found the "Liberal Party", to put forward progressive viewpoints.

Obviously Nazi.

And shows why guilt by association is a heinous habit.

(BTW, on edit: this is one of the fuller versions of this thing on the net. Presumably a print source might be a tad more authoritative.)

[BlueManDude]

5. He was a hypocrite serial philanderer - fuck him. n/t

[htuttle]

6. I'll have to remember to piss all over that...

...should I ever find myself at his gravesite.

I'll make sure and bring my dog(s), too.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

25. Work those dead blades of grass off of there.

It may take several tries!

[merbex]

7. How many people do think would like to piss on his grave?

Take a number

[Bake]

8. The man died at 40

I guess that much evil was just too much to live with.

I'll give him this much credit however: he was the only Puke I've ever seen that could actually PLAY an instrument -- in his case, it was a Stratocaster.

Bake

[rfranklin]

10. Gott mit uns!

Hey, wasn't he the sniveling coward who begged for forgiveness before he went to Hell?

[NinetySix]

11. Lee Atwater died of brain cancer.

To this day, I fail to understand how a malignant brain tumor could do any harm to such a malignant brain.

[Midlodemocrat]

13. I knew him in the 80s when he was working at

Black, Manafort and Stone. A more evil human being never existed. He makes Rove look like a kitten in comparison.

The vitriol that spilled from him regarding democrats was simply incredible. It took my breath away.

[slampoet]

14. I never saw a better use for cancer.....

,.....or a worse use for a guitar.

Hey Lee,


Stay DEAD!!


You were always a worse rapist than Wille Horton.

[noonwitch]

37. He sullied my favorite baseball player's name (Willie Horton of the Tigers

The baseball Willie Horton is a great man, had a great career, and still lives in Detroit, which is where he came from. He still gives free Tiger tickets to poor kids.

He was my favorite Tiger when I was a little kid. My older brother loved Mickey Lolich (he even copied his wind-up when pitching in Little League), but I always loved Willie.

[no_hypocrisy]

15. Sounds like something Goebbels would have liked for his epitaph.

[tritsofme]

16. I don't understand the Nazi connotation.

These seem like worthy goals one might aspire to live by.

Sure Atwater was a prick, but I don't get the controversey over this epitaph

[Jara sang]

23. That epitaph has "master race" written all over it.

And don't for get this:

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

Bob Herbert reported in the October 6, 2005 edition of the New York Times of a 1981 interview with Lee Atwater in which he explains the GOP's Southern Strategy: "You start out in 1954 by saying, 'Nigger, nigger, nigger.' By 1968 you can't say 'nigger' - that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff. You're getting so abstract now you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is blacks get hurt worse than whites.

"And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me - because obviously sitting around saying, 'We want to cut this,' is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than 'Nigger, nigger.' "

[asthmaticeog]

30. That's horsehit, there's nothing "Master Race" about that.

Shit, you hear goth kids express similar sentiments as are on that gravestone. Sure, Atwater was a knob, but there's nothing about that grave marker that would suggest that if you didn't already know anything about him.

[Jara sang]

34. You have an interesting take.

However, the last time I read about somebody making disinctions about people being "common" and "uncommon" it was 1942 and they were deciding who lives and who dies.

[onenote]

38. the guy who actually wrote these words was anything but a nazi

The author of this "creed" (not entitled a "Republican Creed" when he wrote it) was Dean Alfange, who was the American Labor candidate for governor of New York and a founder of the Liberal Party of New York. He was a vocal opponent of the Nazis and a strong supporter of Jewish causes.

You can read anything you want into anything. Hell, by your logic, ""Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" could be labelled fascist.

onenote

[Jara sang]

40. Well, the neoconservative agenda was born of the liberal party.

Thanks for the heads up though, I wasn't aware of the author, I'll have to look him up. A few "liberals" of the past behaved more like republicans of today, "Scoop" Jackson for one.

[asthmaticeog]

42. Really? That was the last time?

So the idea that some people are smart and some people are dullards is inherently fascist?

I suppose it's self-flattery for you to take that position.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

45. wow!

[GirlinContempt]

44. That's ridiculous

Your entire country is built upon the freaking idea that people can achieve uncommon levels of success if they work hard, without being born in to it. Is THAT fascist? A distinction between 'common' and 'uncommon' could maybe, MAYBE be seen as classist, but surely not Nazi propaganda. You're reaching WAY far and coming up with horse shit.

[spanone]

17. He was out of his fucking mind. He would be proud of Karl.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

18. Is There Something Wrong In The Fact I Can't Find Fault In That Anywhere?

(ignoring the fact of the source, just looking at the words themselves.)

[Jara sang]

24. Yes, yes there is.

Atwater was a racist swine, if you can't detect the racial overtones in that then there is most defintely something wrong with you. He basically saying that some people are better than others. You should have a problem with the fact that it is a "Republican Creed" anyway. Nevermind, I for got who I was talking to.

[Name removed]

27. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

33. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

28. Guess The Disclaimer Of Not Taking Into Account Who Said It Flew Right

over your head, since your opening words relate it to atwater in your reply above. :rofl:

The paragraph itself in its own boundaries is fine to me for standing on its own. But feel free to relate them to atwater again even when I declare for a second time that I mean it outside of his use of them LOL

[hyphenate]

19. He was definitely morally challenged

but he did seem to repent before he died:

In a February 1991 article for Life Magazine, Atwater wrote:

My illness helped me to see that what was missing in society is what was missing in me: a little heart, a lot of brotherhood. The '80s were about acquiring -- acquiring wealth, power, prestige. I know. I acquired more wealth, power, and prestige than most. But you can acquire all you want and still feel empty. What power wouldn't I trade for a little more time with my family? What price wouldn't I pay for an evening with friends? It took a deadly illness to put me eye to eye with that truth, but it is a truth that the country, caught up in its ruthless ambitions and moral decay, can learn on my dime. I don't know who will lead us through the '90s, but they must be made to speak to this spiritual vacuum at the heart of American society, this tumor of the soul.

[Batgirl]

29. that excerpt makes me wonder

if he may have actually undergone some sort of genuine transformative experience while dying. I choose to believe this is within the realm of possibility at least, although probably uncommon. Maybe he did have it within him to change, and maybe if he'd lived long enough he would have reevaluated things without the threat of terminal illness.

In any case, if it hadn't been Atwater, there would have been someone else. Republican chose him as their strategist because they agreed with his mindset.

[Hubert Flottz]

20. Republican KKKrud!

The guy was a fool!

[dysfunctional press]

21. it looks like it's laying fairly flat- suitable for dancing...

where's lee's final pre-hell resting place located?

i'll bring my tap shoes.

[JackRiddler]

31. This is one of the more distasteful threads I've ever seen.

And I have a good goddamn right to be uncommon, so there.

[Marr]

32. I don't see what's so bad about it.

Sounds like something I'd expect to find on Hemmingway's stone.

Atwater may have been a despicable man in life- I'll not argue that point- but that epitaph isn't bad at all.

[Jara sang]

35. My apologies, the grave marker does not read as I transcribed it.

I actually got that portion of the transcription from another website which lead me to this photo.

[benburch]

36. Where is that grave? So I can shit on it. nt

[FarLeftRage]

39. Yeah, let me know too...

I'm a fixin' to take a dump on it.

[benburch]

41. We might need to hand out numbers... nt

[adwon]

43. ?

Is there evidence he chose this epitaph?

"Right to be uncommon" doesn't sound terribly Nazi. It might be a sentiment that individual Nazis could have agreed with, but it doesn't sound like something they'd slap into the party line. It's way too individualistic and that just wasn't their objective when it came to the Volk.