POLITICIAN WATCH : Dole’s Split Personality

As any moviegoer or TV viewer with more than a two-digit IQ would agree, Sen. Bob Dole is right when he denounces the violent trash that often emanates from Hollywood. But we doubt that the Kansas senator, wooing conservative Republicans in his bid for a presidential nomination, has great moral standing in this matter.

Venturing into the lion’s den in Los Angeles this week, he called on Hollywood to mend its ways, denouncing violent and sexually explicit films and rap music lyrics. He praised films like “The Lion King” and “The Santa Clause,” while slamming such “nightmares of depravity” as “Natural Born Killers” and “True Romance.”

Strangely, he endorsed “True Lies,” a thriller featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger fighting Muslim extremists with all the gory gratuitous violence one expects from that leading purveyor of bloody entertainment. Like Dole, Schwarzenegger is a conservative Republican. Well, Dole admits that he has not actually seen the films or heard the songs he mentioned.

Dole’s real audience, of course, was not Hollywood executives but middle-American voters. They should recall that Dole is a leader of Republicans who would repeal the ban on assault weapons, apparently preferring to see Los Angeles and Miami streets literally soaked with blood rather than Hollywood’s make-believe version. The GOP would also delete federal funding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, one of the few sources of quality television for children.

Dole has the right message. He is the wrong messenger.