Dole Unleashes Blistering Attack On Hollywood’s ‘Immorality’

Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, in prepared remarks intended to demonstrate his social conservatism, let loose a slashing attack on Hollywood and the entertainment industry Wednesday for crossing the line “not just of taste, but of human dignity and decency.”

Striking deep in California Gov. Pete Wilson’s political base, Kansas Sen. Dole blamed avaricious filmmakers and greedy music moguls for “a numbing exposure to graphic violence and immorality” that smothers “our instinct for outrage.”

“We have reached the point where our popular culture threatens to undermine our character as a nation,” Dole said in a speech written for his first campaign swing through California since formally announcing his Republican presidential candidacy in April.

The speech takes specific aim at Time Warner Inc.; rap artists Ice-T, Cannibal Corpse, Geto Boys and 2 Live Crew; and director Oliver Stone’s “Natural Born Killers” and Tony Scott’s “True Romance.”

In language echoing the sermonesque speeches of televangelists Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, Dole excoriated “Hollywood’s dream factories” for turning out “nightmares of depravity.”