Bush: Quayle Furor ‘Tempest in Teapot’ : GOP Candidates Struggle to Steer Their Campaign Back on Track

Vice President George Bush on Saturday dismissed as a “tempest in a teapot” the furor over the military record of his handpicked running mate, Indiana Sen. Dan Quayle, as Bush struggled to get his Republican presidential drive back on track.

For the first time since the controversy erupted last week, Bush strongly defended Quayle against charges that the senator had used the pull of his wealthy and influential publishing family in 1969 to gain a hard-to-come-by slot in the Indiana National Guard and escape the military draft. Guard units were far less likely to be sent to fight in Vietnam than were regular service units.

Bush said he was satisfied that Quayle had entered the Guard fairly and had served with honor. The vice president accused media critics of blowing the controversy out of proportion by “feeding in a frenzy” like a school of fish on “insidious” rumors about Quayle.

Quickly Blow Over

And, Bush insisted that the uproar would quickly blow over. “Americans are (for) fair play and so I think that it will turn out to be a tempest in a teapot,” he said.

With Quayle by his side, Bush met with reporters near the horseshoe pit at the Ohio State Fair here where the two had come to briefly join the horseshoe pitching contest for the cameras. Bush managed a few leaners, but it was the 41-year-old Quayle who got the only ringer.

The scene--and the orderly atmosphere--at the news conference were in clear contrast to a hostile standoff that took place in Quayle’s hometown, Huntington, Ind., on Friday. Thousands of Quayle supporters who had come for a campaign kickoff rally there stayed afterward to hoot and hiss as they heard reporters fire sharp and occasionally accusatory questions at Quayle, questions picked up by the public address system. Bush had left the scene before the confrontation began.

Saturday’s session took place out of earshot of several hundred supporters of the GOP candidates and there were no similar incidents. But, for the first time since they hit the campaign trail together last week, Bush and Quayle found themselves pestered by a handful of hecklers. “Sixties chicken, eighties hawk,” some of the protesters shouted from a distance. Others yelled: “Who went in your place, Danny?” and carried sarcastic signs including one that read: “Draft Dodgers for Bush/Quayle.”

Acknowledged Help

After the surprise decision by Bush last week to make the obscure lawmaker his running mate, Quayle acknowledged that influential friends and family members had made calls to help him gain admission to the Guard after he was graduated from college and lost his student draft deferment in 1969. But Quayle insisted that nothing improper had been done on his behalf, and former high-ranking officials in the Indiana Guard differ over whether there was a waiting list of men who wanted to get into the state unit at the time.

During the Vietnam era, most state units did have such lists because Guard service was widely regarded as softer duty that was less likely to land a soldier in combat. Like most Guard members, Quayle served six months on active duty and six years in the reserves.

Pressed by reporters on Saturday, Quayle said that campaign aides were in the process of retrieving his service records from military officials and would release them publicly once all the material had been gathered. He accused critics of “impugning” the motives and patriotism of men who join Guard units and dismissed the flap as politically motivated.

But it was Bush rather than Quayle who took the lead in damage control Saturday. “He did an honorable service in an honorable outfit known as the National Guard and that’s what the American people are going to be looking at,” Bush said when asked whether the controversy could hurt the credibility of the Republican ticket.

The vice president said he continues to believe that Quayle was a “good choice” to be his running mate and Bush defended his aides, who conducted background checks on Quayle and others who had been considered for the No. 2 spot on the ticket. Of Quayle, Bush said: “I looked at his whole record and saw nothing dishonorable or nothing that gave me any feeling that anything was done against the rule.”

School of Bluefish

Asked, then, why he had ordered a recheck of Quayle’s records after the controversy erupted, Bush compared the press to a school of bluefish: “Have you ever seen them when they get squirming all around and feeding in a frenzy? That’s exactly what was happening. And we were asked to run down rumor after insidious rumor and that’s what happened.”

Bush said the issue would have no lasting impact on the campaign, but some who turned out to see him Saturday were not so sure.

“This is unfortunate and it detracts from Bush,” said Pat Moore, a school administrator who watched as the vice president marched in a parade in a Dayton suburb. “ . . . It shows somebody didn’t do their homework in checking out things and I think he (Quayle) is going to--real soon, maybe this weekend--going to have to deal with the question of whether he used undue influence.”

Pat Ebright, another member of the crowd near Dayton, said she was a Democrat and had planned to vote for Michael S. Dukakis until she heard Bush make his acceptance speech Thursday at the Republican convention.

“I see nothing wrong with Quayle,” Ebright said. “He looks fine to me. I think it was a smart choice if they ever get off this National Guard thing. It takes away from Bush. It’s overblown. I want to know about Bush, I’m not worried about Quayle.”