Bush Labels South Africa a Racist State : But He Doesn’t Support Breaking Diplomatic Ties

George Bush criticized South Africa today as a “racist state,” another step away from Reagan Administration policy, but he said he would not support breaking off diplomatic relations. The apparent Republican presidential nominee commented as a new poll showed he was gaining slightly on Democrat Michael S. Dukakis.

Bush was asked at the White House whether he agreed with a move by the Democrats to have their party platform brand South Africa “a terrorist state.”

“I think it’s a racist state, regrettably,” he said.

That language was stronger than President Reagan uses, but Bush’s policy recommendation was the same as the Reagan Administration has followed. He said the government must see whether “the United States can use its moral influence to change things” in South Africa.

Hired Public Relations Experts

Also today, Bush hired two seasoned public relations pros to inject new life into his campaign but put off any call for additional help from the man seen as his possible savior: Treasury Secretary James A. Baker III.

Bush named Sheila Tate and James Lake, familiar figures from the Reagan years, to top communications posts in his campaign.

Admitting a need for improvement in delivering his message to voters, Bush said Tate, a former spokeswoman for First Lady Nancy Reagan, will handle his day-to-day relations with reporters as campaign press secretary.

Lake, who served as communications director in three Reagan presidential campaigns, was named to the post of senior communications adviser with shared responsibility for broader media planning and strategy.

‘Full Confidence’ in Advisers

The appointments fill a void left by the departure of campaign communications director Peter Teeley, who was reported to have had a falling out with other members of the Bush inner circle over access and influence.

In a bid to quash speculation about problems at the top of that organization, Bush voiced “full confidence” in his senior advisers and said he feels no need to ask Baker to take over his campaign.

A new Harris poll today showed Dukakis with a 5-point lead, just within the survey’s margin of potential sampling error. That was down from a 7-point advantage in a similar poll last month.

Dukakis was supported by 49%, Bush by 44% and 7% were unsure in the poll conducted the first week of June. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.