Dole blames criminals, Clinton for unsafe nation

Addressing a rally outside the Omaha Police Headquarters, Dole declared: ``Unlike the liberals, I don't think society is to blame for
crime -- I think criminals are to blame for crime. In my view, killing is caused by killers, robbing by robbers, drug dealing by drug dealers. That's what it's all about.''

While Dole painted himself as much tougher on crime and criminals than Clinton, he offered no new solutions to the problems he described.

Dole, the prospective Republican presidential nominee, has been striving lately to delineate his differences with Clinton and to portray what his campaign calls the ``credibility gap'' between Clinton's comments and his actions. He did so again Saturday.

``Sure, President Clinton talks tough on crime, but his rhetoric doesn't match his record,'' Dole said. ``He claims he's putting 100,000 cops on the street, but the real number is only a fraction of that. He downgraded the drug czar's office and cut funding for drug interdiction. Narcotics prosecutions by the Clinton Justice Department have dropped significantly. And he appointed a surgeon general who believed the best way to deal with drugs was to legalize them.''

George Stephanopoulos, an adviser to Clinton, said Dole was off the mark.

``President Clinton has a solid record of putting cops on the street and taking guns off, despite Sen. Dole's opposition every step of the way,'' Stephanopoulos said.