‘We’ve Got to Keep Our Eyes Wide Open’ : Bush Disagrees With Reagan on Soviet Changes

Vice President George Bush, continuing his attempt to forge a political identity separate from President Reagan, on Tuesday offered a tougher-than-Reagan assessment of the Soviet Union and disagreed with the President’s pronouncement that fundamental change has occurred there under Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

Bush, speaking before ABC Television Network affiliates at the Century Plaza as he closed out his California campaign, said: “We’ve got to keep our eyes wide open.”

On another foreign policy front, Bush contradicted Iran-Contra investigators and asserted that the release of three American hostages freed from Lebanon was not tied to the shipment of arms.

The vice president’s cautious stance on the Soviet Union followed by five days his assertion in a Los Angeles Times interview that he would consider the Soviet Union’s human rights record before setting a summit with Gorbachev.

Asked if World Is More Safe

On Tuesday at the affiliates meeting, Bush was asked directly if he agreed with Reagan’s statement at the close of the Moscow summit last week that the Soviet Union was no longer the “evil empire,” as Reagan referred to it years ago, and if the world was more safe as a result of recent changes.

“I don’t agree with the premise,” Bush declared. “I don’t agree that we know enough to say that there is that kind of fundamental change, a turning inward a la China, on the part of the Soviet Union.

“I don’t feel that way,” Bush added.

Bush said that the Intermediate Nuclear Forces treaty formally signed at the Moscow summit was not a representation of more concessions on the part of the Soviets. The INF treaty is commonly cited by Bush as one of the greatest accomplishments of the Reagan Administration, and he regularly tells voters he wants to “build” on its base for more arms control agreements.

‘Stylistically Different’

“It is very clear that Gorbachev is stylistically different, obviously generationally different. But I think they thought it was in their interest for a lot of complex reasons to enter into this agreement.”

The vice president did, however, acknowledge that he was “encouraged” by the recent withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan.

In recent days, Bush has made clear that he will increasingly move away from Reagan in subtle fashions. In an off-handed remark to commentator George Will, who along with Sam Donaldson, Peter Jennings and David Brinkley questioned him at the ABC meeting, Bush said, “Maybe there’s a difference there,” referring to the spate of publicity about his efforts to distance himself from the President.

Donaldson Raises Issue

Bush’s reference to the reasons for release of three American hostages from Iran came after Donaldson raised the issue of the Iran-Contra affair, which continues to linger over Bush’s campaign.

Bush repeated his long-stated position that he failed to realize the full scope of the Iran-Contra affair until after it had been publicly outlined. In response to a question, he said he was “not sure” that American hostages Benjamin Weir, Lawrence M. Jenco and David P. Jacobsen were released because of arms shipments to Iran.

The remark contradicts the conclusions of Iran-Contra investigators.

“Totally because of that? No. I think they were released because there was some inclination on the part of the hostage holders that they thought they might get something in return, or that they might elevate their own standard,” Bush added. “So it’s not all that clear.”

Bush also took the opportunity Tuesday to throw a few brickbats at Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis.

Dukakis Tax Policy

Twice he told audiences that Dukakis had refused to rule out a tax increase, as Bush has done.

“It sounds to me like the Mondale position in ‘84,” Bush said in a CBS News election night interview.

The vice president also, in an interview with Cable News Network, hinted that he would use tough “comparative ads”--Bush parlance for negative ads--as the fall campaign heats up.

“I don’t think the American people want murderers to be let out of jail,” Bush said, in a pointed reference to Dukakis’ earlier support of a prisoner furlough program that has come under fire.

Bush is scheduled to adopt a low-key campaign effort over the next several weeks as the campaign attempts to maximize attention at minimum cost. He will travel to his adopted home town of Houston Thursday for the Texas Republican convention, then make stops at a Denver Republican unity dinner and an Ohio college commencement over the weekend.

Spends Close to Limit

Bush’s campaign until the August Republican National Convention is strapped for cash, since he has spent all but $1 million of the $27 million allowed during the primary season.

On Tuesday, in fact, when he was told by an aide that he would spend July 4 campaigning in the Midwest, Bush replied: “What are we going to use for money?”