Jackson Assails Bush ‘Hustler’ Comment

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, firing back at Vice President George Bush for calling him a “hustler from Chicago,” suggested Saturday that Bush is too unstable and insecure to be President.

Speaking to reporters at a Cinco de Mayo parade, Jackson said that if Bush became President he would put the country “at national risk.”

Describing Bush’s comments as “beneath the dignity” of the presidency, Jackson said: “He has the tendency when he panics to reach out and attack.

‘Behavior Pattern’

“This tendency to be mean-spirited and to curse and name-call, it’s a behavior pattern by now,” Jackson added. “One who has the office (of President) must have a sense of stability and security.”

In a speech Friday in Nebraska, Bush said: “I’m not going to be outhustled by the hustler from Chicago or by that traditional liberal Democrat from Massachusetts.” The latter reference was to the Democratic front-runner, Gov. Michael S. Dukakis.

Stephen Hart, a spokesman for Bush, said the vice president “was talking about how hard he (Jackson) has hustled.” He insisted that Bush had intended “nothing derogatory.”

Jackson’s response came during a day of campaigning here and in Sacramento. The events were aimed at strengthening his appeal to Latinos and gays, two constituencies crucial to his prospects in the June 7 California primary.

Despite Dukakis’ strengthening grip on the nomination, Jackson insists that a victory in the nation’s final and biggest primary could hand him the top spot on his party’s ticket. Polls, however, show that he is running behind Dukakis by an almost 2-1 ratio.

His campaign hopes to spend $2 million in the state, although his California co-chairman, Assemblyman Tom Bates (D-Oakland), acknowledged in an interview that there is “a lot of hope in that” figure.

In a serape and red sombrero, Jackson rode as grand marshal of a parade in San Francisco celebrating the Mexican holiday.

At almost every stop in California, Jackson has denounced efforts to make English the nation’s official language and has advocated extending the deadline under which illegal aliens may apply for amnesty.

In Sacramento, Jackson addressed several thousand people at a lesbian and gay march at the state Capitol.

Gay turnout is likely to be high in next month’s primary because the ballot will include a proposition that would require doctors to report the names of all AIDS patients and those testing positive for exposure to the AIDS virus to health authorities. Members of both groups would then be subject to quarantine.

Many in the gay community mistrust Dukakis because he signed into law in Massachusetts a bill making it more difficult for homosexual couples to be foster parents.

Jackson won wide praise in the gay community as the only Democratic candidate to participate in last year’s massive gay march on Washington.

Asks for Support

“I stood with you,” Jackson told the marchers in Sacramento. “On June 7 . . . I want you to stand with me.”

Dukakis took a break from campaigning to work on gubernatorial business and have a private weekend with his family. Bush, who has sewn up the Republican nomination, also spent the weekend at home in the nation’s capital.