Two-faced Eddie Haskell scores No. 4 in Punditty's Pantheon of TV Greats

4. Eddie Haskell. When “Leave it to Beaver” made its TV debut in 1957, few could have predicted the long-term impact the series would have on America over the next 50-plus years.

The show was set in idyllic Mayfield, a community where everything that could go right did, even if there were a few bumps along the way. One of those “bumps” was Eddie Haskell. A schoolmate of Beaver’s older brother Wally, Haskell teemed with fake sincerity and politeness in the company of adults, but he switched gears and let his true colors show around people closer to his age.

Ken Osmond (no relation to Donny, Marie et al) delivers the goods as Haskell, but once we look inside, we see the goods are tainted. Haskell is the Coyote Trickster, the Con Man wannabe, the essence of George W. BushGeorge W. Bush’s public/private contrast all rolled into one. As a younger man, Bush noticed and appreciated the essence of the Haskell archetype.

During a two-day drunk when he was still boozing heavily, back in the early 1980s, Bush is said to have told the late Lee Atwater that he considered Eddie Haskell to be “the finest little son of a bitch in TV history. If I had 20 Eddie Haskells, I could rule the world.”*

Angelo Harpers-Ferrier, writing in his highly controversial and extremely elusive e-book “Bush and The Beaver,” informs readers that longtime scamming pal and political adviser Karl RoveKarl Rove gave the president the entire “Leave It to Beaver” DVD set in 2004 as a re-election present. On the accompanying card, Rove allegedly wrote: “20 Eddie Haskells, or 1 Karl Rove? I think we both know which choice you would make.”

Just how deeply did the Haskellian moral code permeate Bush’s concept of ethics? How many times did Bush get wasted with his drinking buddies, catch an episode of “Leave it to Beaver” and praise Haskell’s hypocrisy while chanting “Drill Here, Drill Now!” – though not in regards to oil? How many times was Bush tempted to sign one of his unconstitutional “signing statements” with the secret name from which he drew his dark inspiration? “Eddie Haskell, President of the United States.”

Perhaps we will never know. But we do know that Haskell’s influence hangs over everything George W. Bush has done or tried to do since the early 1960s. Had America known that the Eddie Haskell character was going to inspire a lying, cheating, irresponsible dried-up drunk from an Texas oil money** family to steal the White House in 2000, we can be sure TV viewers of that era would have turned off the tube and devoted more time to organizing their communities against such horrific threats.

Just as Jodie FosterJodie Foster cannot be blamed for John Hinckley’s assassination attempt on President Reagan, Osmond-as-Haskell cannot be blamed for the shameless con game George W. Bush has been running on America. In fact, it is testimony to Osmond’s acting skills that Bush/Rove/Atwater found Haskell so endearing. But the essential question remains: Did Haskell unduly influence this devious gang, or did they simply see in him a kindred spirit, albeit a fictional one?

Even more relevant to America’s future, is it true (as Harpers-Ferrier alleges) that John McCainJohn McCain and George W. Bush used to get together at least once a month during Bush’s first term to watch “Leave it to Beaver” reruns while “eating pretzels” in the West Wing? Punditty isn’t the only American who wants to know.

Punditty invites you to watch the embedded video (above) featuring clips of Haskell doing what he did best.

*Excerpt from e-book “Bush and The Beaver: Inversions, Redactions and Delusions,” by Angelo Harpers-Ferrier, secretconspiracyfreakoutwowblog.com.

** "Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H. L. Hunt (you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
(President Eisenhower, Nov. 8, 1954, in a letter to his brother)

Coming soon at No. 3: Whatever the hell they were doing, it was damned entertaining.

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The Punditty Pantheon of TV Greats can be viewed in full at:

http://www.punditty.com/tvcharacters.html