Bush’s Record on Civil Rights, Racial Issues Criticized : Politics: Sen. Bradley again charges that the President uses race to get votes in a divisive way.

Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.), hitting hard on the theme of racism that could become a central issue for the Democrats in the 1992 presidential campaign, blasted President Bush again Sunday for a willingness to take “divisive” positions on civil rights and racial matters.

Following up on a widely publicized speech critical of Bush’s handling of the civil rights bill and his 1988 campaign’s use of the negative symbolism of a black criminal who was released on furlough from prison, Bradley urged Bush not to “go down that road again” during the 1992 presidential race.

“I can’t speak about President Bush, personally. I mean, I don’t think he’s a racist, that’s for sure,” Bradley said on the NBC public affairs program “Meet the Press.”

“I do think, however, (that) he hasn’t been above using race to get votes in a divisive way in a number of points in his career.”

In his aggressive attack Sunday, Bradley was returning to a theme that has struck a raw nerve with the White House, and it appears that Bradley and other Democrats now may believe that racism has the potential to become Bush’s Achilles’ heel in 1992. His earlier speech on the Senate floor drew an angry rebuke from President Bush.

In his first speech, Bradley charged that the President had stuck the “quota” label on civil rights legislation that is now before Congress to draw on the same deep-seated racial resentment among white voters that he tapped during his 1988 campaign.

During that campaign, Bush commercials focused heavily on Willie Horton, a black who went on a crime spree after being furloughed from a Massachusetts prison while Michael S. Dukakis, the Democratic presidential candidate, was governor of the state. Bush campaign advisers insisted at the time that the Willie Horton ads were only meant to depict Dukakis as soft on crime but Democrats repeatedly charged that the real aim of the television spots was to connect blacks--and black criminals--with their party.

On Sunday, Bradley said that as President, Bush “has a unique role, and that role should be healing.”

Bradley charged that Bush’s record on civil rights and racial issues has been poor throughout his public career and that he has failed to improve it since winning the White House. “Back in 1964, when (Bush) ran for the Senate (in an unsuccessful race in Texas) he opposed the 1964 Civil Rights Act that desegregated motels and restaurants and other public accommodations,” Bradley said.

“And during the (Ronald) Reagan years, when there were a number of actions using tax subsidies for schools that practiced racial discrimination as a matter of policy, he was silent. And then, in 1988, he used Willie Horton.”

So far this year, Bradley charged, Bush has not indicated any willingness to compromise on civil rights legislation. Rather, Bradley said, “he called off American business (leaders) when they were seeking to get an agreement” on the bill.

Bush has opposed the Democrat-backed civil rights bill, saying that it would establish hiring “quotas.” Democrats argue, however, that the bill is only designed to return affirmative action law to where it was before recent court decisions restricted its impact on hiring practices.

Democratic leaders charge that the Republican decision to dub the legislation a “quota bill” is an attempt to create a code phrase for anti-black racism. They complain that Bush is playing on the fears of white voters that they will lose their jobs to minorities.

Bradley, who has been widely touted as a potential presidential candidate for several years, denied that he plans to run against Bush next year. The New Jersey senator, who narrowly escaped defeat in his reelection bid last year, said Sunday that he plans to stick to his pledge to serve his full six-year term in the Senate, which runs through 1996. “I couldn’t think of anything that could change that,” he said. Even if he does not run, however, Bradley may be laying the groundwork for other Democrats with his attacks on Bush and racism.

Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.), appearing with Bradley on “Meet the Press,” argued that Bush remains committed to civil rights.

“President Bush has told me as recently as last week that he wants to sign a civil rights bill,” Dole said. “He’s not ducking the civil rights responsibility. My view is, with the nomination of Clarence Thomas (the black conservative nominated by Bush to succeed Thurgood Marshall on the Supreme Court), and with his willingness to sign a civil rights bill, I think his record’s pretty good.”