GOP Designing Platform as Club to Bash Dukakis : Nobody Knows Where Bush Stands, Rival Says

Fighting repeated Republican charges that he is unspecific on issues and inexperienced in foreign affairs, Michael S. Dukakis lashed back Tuesday, saying that rival George Bush “is not clear on much of anything” except his support for “this endless fiasco” in Central America.

“I don’t know where he is,” the Democratic nominee said in an interview. “What’s his position? Do you know where he stands? . . . I don’t think anybody knows where he stands.”

In addition, Dukakis figuratively embraced President Reagan six days before Republicans gather in New Orleans to choose Vice President Bush as their presidential nominee.

“The interesting thing is the President and I are closer together on U.S.-Soviet relations than he is with Bush,” Dukakis said.

When asked to explain, Dukakis said that “the only thing” Bush has done is to “express some doubts” about improved relations with the Soviets.

Dukakis praised the President for signing a treaty with the Soviets to eliminate intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Europe and for Reagan’s meeting last spring with Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev in Moscow.

And Dukakis attempted to claim a share of credit with the Administration for cease-fire agreements announced separately Monday at the United Nations to end the 8-year-old Iran-Iraq war and in South Africa to end 13 years of conflict in Angola and neighboring Namibia.

“Frankly, they’re coming a lot closer to where I am, not only on U.S.-Soviet relations, but with the (Persian) Gulf settlement and southern Africa,” Dukakis said of the Reagan Administration.

Supportive of President

“Here’s an Administration that five years ago was talking about the ‘evil empire,’ and now the President is walking arm and arm with Gorbachev in Red Square,” he said. “I’m very supportive of the President as he moves in this direction.”

At the same time, Dukakis lambasted Bush for not offering clear support of continuing U.S.-Soviet talks to reduce intercontinental nuclear missiles.

“I don’t know where Bush is on that, do you?” Dukakis asked.

Dukakis’ comments aboard his campaign jet reflected the obvious difficulty the Democrats face in battling Bush while not offending supporters of the still-popular President. Dukakis’ aides argue that he is not confusing voters by praising the President while attacking the vice president.

Not Running Against Reagan

“We’re running against George Bush, not Ronald Reagan,” said Nick Mitroupolos, a senior adviser. “The American people understand that.”

“People like Reagan,” another adviser said. “They want him to ride into the sunset. But it’s not transferable to Bush.”

The stakes are high. So-called Reagan Democrats, middle-class and blue-collar voters who helped Reagan to two landslide victories, are a critical swing group in the November election.

Moreover, with polls showing that voters tend to trust Bush more than Dukakis in foreign affairs, the Massachusetts governor must applaud the new peace agreements while fighting the perception that the Republicans deserve credit for reduced tensions in world hot spots.

To emphasize the point, Dukakis accused Bush of being on the “wrong side” in Central America, a conflict he called a “festering sore.” Bush has supported aid to the anti-Sandinista rebels in Nicaragua, but Dukakis has denounced U.S. aid to the Contras as “a failed and illegal policy.”

“I don’t think Bush’s positions are clear on much of anything,” Dukakis said. “I think what they are clear on is this endless fiasco in Central America.”

Claiming the High Ground

In political terms, the Democrats have attempted to claim the high ground in recent days, contending that they are conducting a “positive” campaign but that Bush is running a “negative” campaign filled with scurrilous attacks.

Democratic Party Chairman Paul G. Kirk Jr., for example, ridiculed Bush in an interview at the annual meeting of the National Governors’ Assn. here.

Kirk insisted that Dukakis is running a “positive campaign,” then he assailed the vice president as “a perfect yes man” who is “an embodiment of the Establishment, country-club elite of the Republican Party.”

“George Bush has yet to be heard from in any positive way about the future,” Kirk said. “He’s been running a negative campaign. . . . They don’t have an agenda for the future.”

Although polls indicate that the race apparently is tightening, Dukakis’ aides cited poll data showing that Bush continues to have high negative ratings among voters. They contended that those polls prove the vice president has yet to benefit from Reagan’s personal popularity.

‘It’s All Negative Attacks’

“No one has yet to construct a sentence on why George Bush should be President,” campaign spokesman Mark Gearan said. “It’s all negative attacks on Mike Dukakis.”