Sounding like a crusader, Bob Dole implored his audiences Friday to "rise up" against the nation's news organizations, which he said were protecting the Clinton administration, and be outraged that President Clinton had, in his words, violated the public trust.
"We've got to stop the liberal bias in this country," Dole told more than 9,000 people packed into the coliseum bleachers here at Southern Methodist University. "Don't read that stuff! Don't watch television! You make up your mind! Don't let them make up your mind for you!"The appreciative crowds greeting Dole in Texas, where he is in a virtual dead heat with Clinton, have given him thunderous and sustained applause, shouting along with him that they do indeed care and yelling at members of the news media as they pass by.
Listing a string of questionable practices by the administration, including accepting "laundered" cash from foreigners and obtaining confidential FBI files, Dole demanded repeatedly in Houston earlier in the day, "Where is the outrage?"
Appearing at a downtown performing arts center, where he stood before a giant mural depicting the glory days of the Lone Star State, Dole continued: "Can you imagine former President Bush doing one of those things? No! And you never imagine Bob Dole doing one of those things either. So where's the outrage? Where's the outrage? When will the voters start to focus?"
At another point he asked: "When do the American people rise up and say, `Forget the media in America! We're going to make up our minds! You're not going to make up our minds!' This is about saving our country!"
Pressing his two-day assault on the press, Dole went on: "We are not going to let the media steal this election. We're going to win this election. The country belongs to the people, not The New York Times."
In the litany of complaints detailed by Dole on Friday, there was a new charge: that the Democrats were "rushing" immigrants with criminal backgrounds into the country so they could vote for President Clinton.