roundtable: Sen. Robert Dole: The Two Faces of a Presidential Candidate

roundtable: Sen. Robert Dole: The Two Faces of a Presidential Candidate

Sen. Robert Dole: The Two Faces of a Presidential Candidate

Vigdor Schreibman - FINS (fins@access.digex.net)
Tue, 20 Jun 1995 11:32:16 -0400 (EDT) 

Date: Tue, 20 Jun 1995 11:32:16 -0400 (EDT)
From: Vigdor Schreibman - FINS <fins@access.digex.net>
To: Vigdor Schreibman - FINS <fins@access.digex.net>
Subject: Sen. Robert Dole: The Two Faces of a Presidential Candidate
Message-Id: <Pine.SUN.3.91.950620113021.26443C-100000@access4.digex.net>


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FINS SPECIAL REPORT                                           June 20, 1995
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SEN. ROBERT DOLE: THE TWO FACES OF A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
Chain of Hypocrisy From Los Angeles to US Senate

  All those "focus groups" that political managers like to use, are not
looking for the rational opinions of the voters but for their soul, the
deeply felt images that define their most vulnerable beliefs about existence.
These are the "hot buttons" that trigger emotional responses to political
discourse.  They operate on automatic pilot, easily fooled by doublespeak and
easy prey for cynical politicians running to "win" at any cost.

  George Bush won his Presidential seat based on the "hot button" of racial
fears, using his Willie Horton advertisements--of a black man who raped a
white woman--as a kind of attack video hit man, falsely depicting Michael
Dukakis as soft on crime in an environment of exploding criminal activity. 
Sen. Robert Dole (R-KS), a presidential contender, knows about such political
machinations.  In a speech given in Los Angeles, last June 1, Dole blasted
the entertainment industry for "debasing US culture with movies, music
and television programs that have produced 'nightmares of depravity'
drenched in violence and sex" [Fins-NC3.11].  The subject of Dole's attack
was a near perfect "hot button"; most Americans are deeply outraged by the
opportunistic practices of television violence programming.

  Dole portrayed himself as a protector of public morality in that speech,
reaching into the yearning of Americans for a champion of cultural
integrity. Dole did not, however, disclose at that time his intention to
give a special financial payoff to the corporations producing television
violence, by offering amendments to the Telecommunications Competition and
Deregulation Act of 1995 [S.652].  Just a week or so after his Los Angeles
speech, on June 9, Dole was on the floor of the Senate promoting his
modified amendment [No. 1255], deregulating cable rates, and making a
special deal for radio and television broadcasters, to free them from
limitations on national ownership of stations. 

  That amendment, approved by a vote of 77 yeas to 8 nays, broke the
historical commitment of the United States to community centered
broadcasting.  It was described by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), as "nothing
short of a power grab on the part of the national networks." Days later,
on June 15th, Dole introduced another amendment [No. 1341], to strike
program access provisions of the bill, originally designed to rescue small
cable operators from the stranglehold of cable operators such as Time
Warner.  They are one of the most notorious producers of television
violence rightly condemned by Dole in his Los Angeles speech.  The Dole
amendment was tailored in a quid pro quo between Time Warner and Sen.
Larry Pressler (R-SD), who carried the ball for Dole on the Senate floor. 
This was as described in a letter written by Time Warner's chief lobbyist
Timothy Boggs (June 13), later repudiated. 

  Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV), denounced that Dole amendment, as an
"outrageous illustration of the kind of influence peddling and pushing
that surrounds this legislation."  Nevertheless, it was approved by a vote
of 59 yeas to 39 nays. About $1.3 million in campaign contributions was
given to members by Time Warner during the past ten years, out of the
$39.5 million that was contributed by Telecom PACS.  Bob Dole received 
$135,950 of that corrupt payment. 

  So here's the story board.  Morality Bob criticizes the television
programming produced by cable and broadcast giants and acts like he's
being real tough on them with the support of an emotional "hot button." 
Days later he marches on to the floor of the Senate with a bill that will
deregulate cable rates, expedite the entry of cable into local telephone
service, liberate national broadcasters to grab control of the media, and
in a final deal made special for Time Warner, strips the pending bill of
protections for small cable operators being strangled by the cable giants. 

  So what are we to make of Dole in Los Angeles?  It appears he was just
providing a cover story using the "hot button" of television violence, to
mask the "outrageous ... influence peddling" on behalf of the same depraved
corporations that followed Los Angeles to the floor of the US Senate.  Andrew
Jay Schwartzman, executive director of the Media Access Project, has observed
that the legislation produced by the Dole amendments "does a lot of 'awful
things'"; perhaps, even worse than television violence. 

     Dole's acts could greatly enlarge the powers of the wrongdoer and
encourage television violence and other yet unknown outrageous conduct that
would surely follow, should the pending bill pass Congress and get signed
by the President.  Nevertheless, the people have not had their final say in
this affair, and the mask is now torn clean from the awful two faces of 
Sen. Dole, who is seeking the office of the President of the United States!

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