Lynne Throws A Fit, McCain Has Doubts, Gore Takes The Money. It's all part of an election year where civil liberties and state-church separation are under attack by political groups on both sides of the ideological divide.

n the wake of threats by Vice President Al Gore to impose sanctions on the entertainment industry for allegedly marketing certain videos and other entertainment to kids, Hollywood movers-and-shakers finally began speaking out against what some described as a wave of new McCarthyism. Key Democrats and Republicans -- from Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman to Lynne Cheyney, wife of Republican vice presidential hopeful Dick Cheney -- have spent much of the past two weeks accusing the entertainment industry of promoting violence, blasphemy and antifamily values.

    "I think it's a bunch of weasels scrambling for votes," groused Larry Kasanoff of Threshold Entertainment, the company behind much-maligned video games like Mortal Kombat and Duke Nukem. He told the New York Times that a recent study by the Federal Trade Commission about marketing of violent films to children had become a "headline-grabbing political pile-on" according to reporter Rick Lyman.

    "I think that what they're doing is reprehensible," said Kasanoff. "What they should be doing is focusing on why there is less of a family structure in America today. Instead they attack us. These guys attack the easy issue because the hard issue doesn't make for such big headlines.."

    In Tinseltown, even those who express concerns about violence in culture were more worried, even angry, over an implied threat of censorship coming from leading politicians. The Times noted that "more than a few" Hollywood insiders were dismayed that Democrats like Al Gore and vice presidential candidate Joe Lieberman were leading the charge, and sounding more and more like Republicans and religious right culture warriors.

   "When you have Al Gore saying that Hollywood has six months to get its act together, that sounds like McCarthyism to me and I find it very troubling," declared screenwriter and director Rod Lurie. "I worked for Gore in '88 and I am really taken aback by this. It's one thing to co-opt the enemy's issues, but not in a way that betrays your most fundamental values."

   ¶    Last week, senators on both side of the aisle competed in a round of one-upmanship in bashing Hollywood during a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing investigating the entertainment industry. Sen. Lieberman, reacting to the FTC report, charged that the alleged marketing of adult-oriented films and other violent material was "deceptive."    "I believe it is outrageous, and it has got to stop," said Lieberman.

    The Democratic number-two runner opined that the April, 1999 shootings at Columbine High School "was a warning that the culture of carnage surrounding our children may have gone too far, and that the romanticized and sanitized visions of violence our children are being bombarded with by the media has become part of a toxic mix that has actually now turned some of them into killers."

    Lieberman's tirade was similar to statements made several weeks ago by Republican Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) who described violent entertainment as a "public health hazard," in the same category as smoking, alcohol abuse and disease. Brownback cited as his authority "Well over 1,000 studies" which "point overwhelmingly to a causal connection between media violence and aggressive behavior in some children." According to Reason Magazine, though, University of Toronto psychologist Jonathan Freedman counts only about 200 studies, not all in agreement, and warned "Anyone who says 'over 1,000' obviously has not looked at the research."

    Also ignored at the hearing: a recent report by the National Crime Victimization Survey showing that violent crime is now at its lowest point since 1973 when the government began keeping figures. The study also showed a sharp steady decline in violent crimes involving juveniles, with crime in school dropping by more than 35% since 1993.

    Tag-teaming with Lieberman's Old Testament persona as values guardian was Lynne Cheney, former head of the National Endowment for the Humanities and wife of Republican vice presidential nominee Richard B. Cheney.

    "I think there is something to be said for the old-fashioned concept of shame," Cheney complained. "They produce this stuff and people don't hold them singly and individually accountable." Ignoring more traditional targets like the Beatles or Marilyn Manson, Cheney weighed in against rapper Eminem, and quoted lyrics from his popular song "Kill You."

    Cheney continued her assaults over the weekend with a frantic round of appearances on talk shows. She accused Gore and Lieberman of being too soft in their efforts to rein in the entertainment industry and lamented: "They know that you cannot enact legislation or regulation to take care of this matter without running afoul of the First Amendment."

    "This is wallpaper," Cheney fumed. "This is spin..."

    Lieberman proposed "vigorous self-regulation" by the entertainment industry, but did not address the growing proliferation of independent artists who, fueled by new technologies like the internet, are by-passing industry giants and distributing their music and videos directly to consumers. Lurking in the background at the Senate hearing, noted critics, was a threat of government censorship, including Al Gore's plan to use a national rating system and the power of the Federal Trade Commission to police entertainers.

   ¶    Over the weekend, the specter of censorship was causing reverberations in the media, Hollywood, and within Democratic and even Republican ranks. Sen. John McCain, chairman of the hearings, told CNN on Sunday that he was leery of the Gore/Lieberman scheme to use the FTC as a culture cop.

    "Before we embark on censorship," warned McCain, "we'd better make very sure where this all leads." McCain also told the ABC program "This Week" that he was "reluctant right now to say I'm ready to pass some kind of law that imposes some sort of censorship on the industry."

   Appearing with McCain was Danny Goldberg of Artemis Records. "The American way is to let each family make their own decision about what they want in their house," said Goldberg, "not people in Washington media or in Congress."

   "So-called self-regulation achieved by political intimidation is the equivalent of censorship," Goldberg added.

    Over at CBS, Gore's campaign chairman, William Daley, dug in to defend the Democratic proposal. Waving the prospect of state control, he gushed, "What we are trying to do is encourage the industry to take some steps soon, to do some self-regulation."

   ¶    Joe Pesci's character in the movie Goodfellas said it best: "It's always about the money."

   The day after the McCain hearings, Gore schmoozed with some Hollywood industry execs at a fundraiser at New York's Radio City Music Hall organized by Harvey Weinstein of Miramax. Miramax has released violent films like "Pulp Fiction," and titles like "The Priest" which have come under attack from Catholic groups for its depiction of homosexuality involving a church cleric. Republicans piled on.

    The Gore campaign fired back. Spokesman Jano Cabrera told reporters that George W. Bush was a member of the board of Silver Screen Management, Co. which had produced over two-dozen R-rated flicks, including the 1986 horror film "The Hitcher." CNN noted that one reviewer had described that movie as "a massacre about every 15 minutes."

    "Lynne Cheney has absolutely no credibility on this issue," said Cabrera. "If Lynne Cheney wants to be credible, she needs to talk to George W. Bush."

   ¶    Hollywood heavies have finally begun to lambaste both parties and their respective political candidates.

    Edge moviemaker John Waters told reporters that he was "furious" with the Gore-Lieberman plan for backdoor censorship, especially since Democrats often come around with outreached palms. "But I'm still going to vote for them," lamented Waters. "Who else is there?"

    Many are skeptical of the timing of the attacks, even though Lieberman -- and Al Gore's wife, Tipper -- have established reputations as cultural values crusaders.

   "I don't think that it's surprising that this is happening in an election year," said Gale Anne Hurd, head of Valhalla Motion Pictures. "Hollywood is an easy target." Others said that while isolated evidence of some studios marketing R-rated materials to youngsters was troubling, equally disturbing were the proposals and tone of the Gore campaign as well as the capitol hill hearings.

    Bud Schulberg, screenwriter and author told the Chicago Tribune, "I think two different things about it. One is that there is always a real danger in the government trying to make artistic decisions, which could lead to censorship. At the same time, I understand why they might want to, because with some of the films I've seen recently, I wish there was more self-censorship going on in Hollywood."

    "It seems to me that we have more pressing problems in this country than kids sneaking into R-rated movies," John Waters adds. "I think this is all ludicrous. You tell a kid there's something they're not allowed to see and of course they want to see it.

    "You show me a kid who's not sneaking into R-rated movies, and I'll show you a failure in the making. The future CEOs of America are all sneaking into R-rated movies."

   ¶    By Monday, Democrats began to realize that they may have taken their campaign to "take back God" and mimic the GOP and religious right a bit too far. Lieberman appeared at a star-studded Beverly Hills fundraiser and walked to the bank with $4.2 million in contributions, but not before telling his guests, "We will nudge you but we will never become censors." Entertainment luminaries like Tom Hanks, Quincy Jones, Dustin Hoffman Gary Shandling and even novelist Judith Krantz plopped down $10,000 to mingle with the Democratic candidates. The affair, organized by Director Rob Reiner served to fuel Republican accusations that Gore and Lieberman were engaged in hypocritical double-talk, taking money from the very Hollywood barons they criticized in public and on capitol hill.

   Dick Cheney groused that Gore and Lieberman "raised millions of dollars from the same media moguls who are corrupting our children."

   ¶    Not to be left behind in the effort to portray Tinseltown as the American Babylon, Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch announced that he will convene a hearing of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee to take testimony about the constitutionality of plans to intervene in what Hollywood produces. His plan is reportedly similar to the Gore-Lieberman scheme of "indirect censorship."

    "The hearing could lay the groundwork for a proposal by Hatch to push through legislation that would ... amend antitrust laws to allow the entertainment industry to unite and come up with an enforceable code," notes Variety's Pamela McClintock.

    Hatch already has legislation percolating through the U.S. Senate which would give the Federal Trade Commission power to invent new rating systems and bully the entertainment industry through a battery of civil penalties. The cosponsor is Sen. Joseph Lieberman, who says he does not want to resort to censorship.

   Many Hollywood execs did not put in an appearance at the September 13 Senate Commerce Committee hearing, so McCain has scheduled another meeting for Wednesday, September 27. Hatch's hearing will include many who did speak out at last week's panel, though, including Jack Valenti of the Motion Picture Association of America.

   Also in the Senate is a proposal by Fritz Hollings (D-S.C) that would give regulators more power to censor content on television between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. The same authority might also extend to radio broadcasts.

    While there may indeed a significance in the timing of the latest wave of Hollywood bashing, questions still remain about the threat to civil liberties and the real motives of at least some of the principals in this story -- Lynne Cheney, Joseph Lieberman (and the rest of the Empower America group he is associated with), Al and Tipper Gore and, of course, George W. Bush and his religious right supporters.

   ¶    "How far will they go?" is one question civil libertarians should be asking, especially about the Gore-Lieberman scheme to try to use the FTC as the stand-in for a government Ministry of Culture. Is it censorship, the threat of censorship, or innocent "nudging" like Mr. Lieberman told his Monday night soiree guests?

   ¶    Even with Hatch's plan to permit Hollywood studios and other outlets of cultural entertainment to consolidate for purposes of government oversight, what about the thriving array of independents? What if Eminem bucks the studio and starts his own independent label? What about rappers, movie producers and on-line cultural providers who set up their own companies and distribution networks? Will Orrin, Joe, Al and Lynne pursue them, and at what cost to the constitution?

   ¶    Democrats are acting more and more like GOP religious conservatives every day. Party strategists seem committed to pursuing their earlier effort to "take back God" from His Republican proprietors, and the result is that Americans face a tough choice in November, truly the "lesser of two evils" when issues such as civil liberties and state-church separation are concerned. Perhaps it would be a good thing if the winner, especially Al Gore, were beholden to Hollywood avatars. Perhaps the safety of the Constitution can be purchased, at least for now.

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