CAMPAIGN ’88 : He ‘Tears Up Morale,’ Jackson Says of Quayle

The Rev. Jesse Jackson charged Monday that the selection of Indiana Sen. Dan Quayle as the Republican vice presidential nominee “tears up the morale” of those involved in the political process. “He has not earned the nomination, he has inherited it,” Jackson told a group of editors and reporters at The Times.

Jackson said leadership results from “a combination of struggle and suffering, sacrifice and pain. All these are foreign to him.”

Quayle’s decision to hold a press conference in front of his hometown supporters Friday was an “attempt to intimidate the media,” indicating how “green and spoiled” Quayle is, Jackson said. “He does not know America well,” Jackson added.

Jackson, who openly sought the Democratic vice presidential nomination after finishing second in the presidential stakes to Michael S. Dukakis, said the “people were cut out of the process” of selecting the running mates at the Democratic and Republican conventions.

“Maybe there will be more interest in the future in voting” on those choices, he said.