Bush Takes On Democrats, Delivers Sweeping Blows

Things being what they are on the Democratic side of the political field, Vice President George Bush on Saturday unveiled an interim strategy for dealing with any eventual Democratic winner--spread the criticism around.

The Republican nominee-apparent, campaigning in Florida, painted Democratic candidates Michael S. Dukakis, governor of Massachusetts, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson with the same broad Bush brush.

Believe Same Things

“They both believe the same things on how to solve the problems of this country and they’re both wrong,” Bush said in a television interview in this Gulf Coast community.

“Both of them come out of the more liberal tradition, and it is my belief that (voters) don’t want to set the country back to an ever-powerful federal government that’s going to require more and more taxes from the American people,” he said.

The vice president, in a low-key, two-day swing through Texas and Florida, tried to deal with two big problems facing him in this pre-convention period: keeping the heat on the Democrats, even though he has yet to determine who will challenge him in the fall, and keeping enthusiasm brewing within Republican ranks.

“Yes, the pressure is off in some sense about obtaining the Republican nomination, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to relax,” he told 600 supporters at an outdoor barbecue and fund-raiser in Seminole, Fla. “We are going to be involved in a very tough race in the fall.”

Earlier Saturday, while traveling from Texas to Florida aboard Air Force Two, Bush told reporters off-handedly, “I’ve got to look more frantic.”

Concerns About Battles

The vice president also expressed some concerns that coverage of the Democratic battles leading up to what may be a contentious convention will overwhelm his efforts to keep his name in the news.

“You pick up the papers and it’s all the three campaigns there,” he said, referring to Jackson, Dukakis and Tennessee Sen. Albert Gore Jr. “And we’re finished.”

But, he added: “The spotlight’s so sharp . . . once the convention starts that you don’t worry about it.”