Additionally, Republicans can point out, Lieberman seems to be in the process of muting many of his more moderate stands -- like, say, school vouchers -- in order to be a team player with his arguably more liberal running mate. And just Sunday, Lieberman even embraced Bill Clinton, comparing him with Moses (a sharp contrast with the Lieberman who was the first senior-level Democrat to harshly condemn President Bill Clinton for his affair with a 21-year-old White House intern.)

But Gore's campaign maintains that Lieberman's testimony will be on message with everything Gore has already said. Gore spokesman Chris Lehane says that Gore himself has "been talking about it for a while, whether it's a ratings system for television, a 'one click' that allows parents to determine what kids see on the Internet, or calling on different entities in society to take responsibility for what they put on the airwaves. Al Gore has a tremendous record to give parents the tools to strengthen their families and protect their children."

Pundits and politicos (most recently Rep. Mark Sanford in Salon) have been commenting on Gore's need for his own Sister Souljah moment. The reference is to the 1992 harsh criticisms then-Gov. Bill Clinton voiced -- at an event with the Rev. Jesse Jackson -- about the outrageous, race-baiting words of rapper Sister Souljah. Through the criticism, Clinton may have risked alienating the Democratic base of African-American voters, but he shored up the support of swing, moderate (and white) voters by showing that he was not a prisoner of traditional liberal interests.

Besides, the thinking went, Clinton wasn't really risking that black voters would suddenly turn Republican. Similarly, Gore can probably count on Hollywood taking a few licks without necessarily running to the other party. Plus, Lieberman's presence at the hearing will put him in the same room with John McCain, the Senate Commerce Committee chairman, whose presidential candidacy attracted the very same independent and swing voters Gore needs to win.

The senior Gore advisor, however, insists that Sister Souljah is "too strong" an analogy. Gore phoned "a lot of the key people in Hollywood when he named Lieberman to the ticket. And the people in Hollywood appreciate that Lieberman is a straight talker."

Hollywood power players "know that there's going to be a national debate on this issue," whether they like it or not, the advisor says. Having Lieberman in this debate will be reassuring to the Hollywood community, he says, since he's "seen as an honest broker on these issues. He has a position, but he's not someone to exploit them for his own gain; he's not someone who demagogues the issue. Lieberman's always been reasonable."

That might be wishful thinking: The report could launch a Tinseltown version of the tobacco hearings; McCain's office is reportedly contemplating calling the CEOs from entertainment conglomerates like Time Warner, Sony, Viacom, News Corp., the Walt Disney Company and Seagram to testify.

"There've been years of denial of any link between their product and violence," Gerstein says. "This is the most glaring similarity [with big tobacco] beyond the marketing practices to children. There are some within the industry who, since Columbine, have been candid and said obviously this has some influence on kids. But for the most part they've denied it."

Will they be able to any longer? The FTC -- with what has been called "reluctant cooperation" from the entertainment industries -- studied data from the industries, background information from various interest groups and a study of marketing over the Internet. It conducted an undercover survey of retailers, and surveyed parents, kids and families on their buying habits and familiarity with the various rating systems for movies, music and video games.

Even worse, many of the entertainment conglomerates labeling their own products nonetheless market content to consumers that they themselves deem too young in their voluntary ratings systems. "Movies are consistently and aggressively targeted to inappropriate audiences," the source says of the FTC report's conclusions. "Video games take out ads in magazines that are predominantly targeted to kids. Music takes out print ads and across-the-board ad placement" targeted at too-young consumers.

Interestingly, one of the conclusions in the FTC report is the failure of the voluntary music labeling system partially initiated by Gore's wife, Tipper, during her 1985 involvement with the Parents Music Resource Center.

"That's obviously not a negative reflection of PMRC or Mrs. Gore in any way," Gerstein says. "At that time it was something versus nothing. It's just that it's been clear over time that 'something' hasn't worked very well. Though we never would have had even 'something' if it hadn't been for Mrs. Gore's principled advocacy."

Recent Stories