Dole Resumes Attack On Cinema Violence Cites Alleged Quote From Murder Suspect As Evidence

Sen. Bob Dole renewed his criticism of Hollywood violence Tuesday, citing a Massachusetts murder in which the suspects are said to have compared their crime to the movie “Natural Born Killers.”

The Senate majority leader, a Republican presidential candidate, waved a copy of Tuesday’s Boston Herald on the Senate floor and said the case was evidence that movies can inspire acts of violence.

“Those in the entertainment industry who deny that cultural messages can bore deep into the hearts and minds of our young people are deceiving themselves,” Dole said.

Dole singled out the Oliver Stone movie earlier this month in his highly publicized speech criticizing the entertainment industry, particularly what he called its promotion of graphic sex and violence in music and movies.

The Herald story reported that one suspect allegedly “bragged to a girl” that he and the other suspect compared themselves to characters in “Natural Born Killers” when they fatally stabbed Philip M. Meskinis, 65, in Avon, Mass., last Friday.

Police said the two suspects had watched the movie occasionally with friends.

In his Senate floor speech, Dole, R-Kan., said the story should send “shivers down the spines of all Americans - especially those who have criticized my call to the entertainment industry to exercise good citizenship” in their films.

“Maybe it’s high time they took a look at themselves and put profit behind common decency,” Dole added.