Dog Whistle
Republican strategist Lee Atwater is the godfather of the modern political dog whistle. Not because he invented, or even appears to have used, the term—but because in a 1981 interview he offered a concise description.
“By 1968 you can’t say ‘[n-word]’—that hurts you, [it] backfires, so you say stuff like, uh, ‘forced busing,’ ‘states’ rights,’” Atwater explained. “You’re getting so abstract. Now you’re
