Dole’s California Campaign Plays the Fear Card

As the finish line approaches in the presidential campaign, Bob Dole is concentrating on vote-rich California. Although the result of that political judgment won’t be known until Tuesday’s election, it’s immediately apparent that Dole’s advertising campaign has embraced the “us versus them” tactic. Unfortunately, the approach is one that California voters are all too familiar with, having experienced Gov. Pete Wilson’s demagogic attacks on illegal immigration and affirmative action in recent years.

Immigration and affirmative action are controversial topics that reasonable people can disagree on, and certainly these subjects should not be shielded from scrutiny and public debate. But when dealing with race and ethnicity, two of the biggest divides in the nation, responsible tone and context are everything.

Dole indicated he understood that when he spoke at the Republican National Convention in San Diego last summer, and again last week in Riverside: “ . . . if anybody believes the Republican Party is sort of a safety net for those who believe in bigotry or racism, the exits are clearly marked for you to walk out of here without compromise. This is the party of Lincoln.” This week Dole condemned prejudice, scapegoating and stereotyping and pointed out how easy it was for “the demagogues on either side to trade on fear or play on resentment.” But is the Dole campaign listening to Dole the candidate?

Consider one ad currently running on television: The viewer sees a sea of menacing Latino faces--only Latino faces--invading the state, filling its schools and prisons and victimizing a non-Latino “we.” “We pay the taxes. We are the victims. Our children get shortchanged,” the ad says as the camera zooms in on a classroom full of white teenagers.

The powerful, eerie sound effects that accompany ominous black-and-white footage of prisoners and crime victims in the Dole commercial do exactly what Dole the candidate says not to do: trade on fear and play on resentment.