POLITICS ’88 : Bush Praises Dukakis in Trip to Rival’s Turf : Mixed-Faith Marriage Called ‘Private Matter’

Vice President George Bush traveled to his prospective opponent’s back yard Thursday and distanced himself from conservatives who have attacked Michael S. Dukakis for having married outside his faith.

In May, a Greek-American aide to the Senate Republican leadership circulated a letter to Greek publications calling Dukakis, who was raised as a member of the Greek Orthodox church, a “pagan,” and not a loyal Greek, because his wife, Kitty, is Jewish. Some columnists have repeated the charge subsequently.

“That didn’t emanate from me,” Bush told reporters at a press conference before a speech to a Greek Orthodox conference here. “I think a person’s faith is a very private matter.”

At several points during his press conference, Bush, who has sharply attacked Dukakis in recent weeks, ducked chances to do so, saying he planned to leave such attacks to the surrogates who will campaign for him in the months between now and the election.

And later, in a speech at the convention, Bush praised Dukakis, the expected Democratic presidential nominee, saying “in all candor, I know how proud you are of Michael Dukakis. What a tribute it is to Greek-Americans, to our political system . . . that we find it totally natural that the son of an immigrant is one of two men still contending to be President of the United States.”

Bush also said he hoped “America can be the catalyst for peace between Greece and Turkey,” two NATO allies that have long been at odds, and occasionally at war, over issues such as the status of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus.

In his press conference, Bush was asked about the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s comments Wednesday that Bush had spoken in “bad taste” when he reacted to the accidental downing of an Iranian airliner by defending the captain of the Vincennes, which shot down the plane.

“If Jesse Jackson doesn’t like that, too bad,” replied Bush, saying “we have a strong difference of opinion” on U.S. policy in the Gulf.

‘Been Overshadowed’

And on Reagan, asked if he worried that the President might overshadow him on the campaign trail, Bush acknowledged that “I’ve been overshadowed from time to time.

“It’s been difficult as vice president to keep my charisma in check,” he joked. But, he added that he saw the attention Reagan will attract “as a positive.” Bush also avoided saying whether, if he were President, he would sign legislation, passed overwhelmingly Wednesday by the Senate, that would require companies to give advance notice before closing factories or laying off large numbers of workers.

He acknowledged that Democrats have scored heavily by trumpeting Reagan’s opposition to the measure, but insisted that he would be able to steer debate away from the issue in the fall by concentrating on the economic improvements of the last six years.