Dukakis Offers Own ‘Stubborn’ Facts

Facts, President Reagan and Michael S. Dukakis apparently agree, “are stubborn things.”

The President used the line over and over Monday night in New Orleans to excoriate the Democratic Administration he replaced in 1980. On Tuesday, the Democratic presidential nominee struck back.

“Facts are stubborn things,” Dukakis told reporters here. “Here’s the facts you didn’t hear about last night. . . . Last month, the national crime rate went up. Last week, interest rates went up. Today, the trade deficit went up. Again.”

“Facts are stubborn things,” Dukakis added, when asked about Vice President George Bush’s role in the Reagan Administration. “Iran-Contra. Noriega. Beirut. Facts are stubborn things.”

“These are the facts we’re going to be debating in the next 85 days,” the candidate said.

Points to Quayle’s Youth

Dukakis was more guarded in reacting to Bush’s vice presidential selection, Indiana Sen. Dan Quayle, but he pointed to Quayle’s youth.

He told reporters at the Statehouse in Boston that Quayle is “not very well known, but I assume and expect the vice president will make the reasons known for his picking him.” And he quickly drew the contrasts between Quayle’s inexperience and the record of his own running mate, 67-year-old Sen. Lloyd Bentsen of Texas. “He is a mature, thoughtful man with real stature, somebody who has been a leader in the U.S. Senate,” Dukakis said.

The “facts” cited by Dukakis in his reply to Reagan’s speech referred to a report last month that uniform crime statistics rose 4% from 1982 to 1987. Major banks raised their prime rate to 10% last week following an interest-rate increase by the Federal Reserve Board. And the Commerce Department released figures Tuesday showing that the U.S. trade deficit for June rose to $12.5 billion, from $9.8 billion the month before.

The Democrats long have tried to tar Bush for having a role in the Iran-Contra scandal and for White House ties to Panamanian strongman and alleged drug runner Manuel A. Noriega. But Dukakis’ remark about Beirut was his first reference in months to the 1983 incidents in which truck bombers blew up a U.S. Marine barracks and the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon, killing more than 250 people.

Tours Massachusetts

Hoping to keep his campaign visible during the GOP convention, Dukakis has spent the last two days touring central Massachusetts, promoting his state’s guaranteed health insurance, drug education, farm assistance and child care policies.

He leaves Boston this morning for a four-day campaign swing to the Midwest and Deep South, with stops in Minnesota, Florida, Alabama, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas and Tennessee. Aides said he will focus on “leadership” and “competence,” issues the campaign considers crucial for the election.

While Dukakis was restrained about the selection of Quayle, his campaign manager, Susan Estrich, was more openly critical. “I don’t think people vote on a person’s good looks,” she told reporters. “In Dan Quayle, we have a largely unknown candidate.”

In a prepared statement, Estrich scored Quayle’s relative youth and inexperience, emphasized his conservative credentials, and attacked his Senate voting record. She also took pains to point out Quayle’s blue-blood background, referring to him as “Sen. J. Danforth (Dan) Quayle.”

Quayle Voting Record

“Although we don’t know much about Sen. Quayle, we do know this: He doesn’t understand the economic realities facing American working families,” Estrich said. “He voted against the plant-closing bill. He voted for a freeze on Social Security. He voted against drought assistance for farmers. And he voted against the Civil Rights Restoration Act in 1984 and again in 1988.”

In his response to Reagan’s speech, Dukakis once again heeded his campaign strategy of taking pains to avoid alienating the President’s supporters. He pointedly praised the speech.

But senior campaign adviser Kirk O’Donnell contended that voters would not be swayed by Reagan’s “sentimental journey.” And he denied Republican charges that Dukakis is a “stealth candidate,” running on a party platform of vague generalities.

“Dukakis’ platform is his record,” O’Donnell said at a press briefing.

At a news conference at the Worcester Police Training Academy, Dukakis scoffed at Republican claims that Bush was better prepared for the Oval Office after eight years as vice president.

No On-the-Job Training

“None of us comes to the presidency with on-the-job training,” he said. “Especially vice presidents.”

Asked about the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s role in the campaign, Dukakis said he had spoken to the former presidential candidate Monday morning and over the weekend, but they have not scheduled any joint campaign trips.