Bush Delivers Pep Talk to GOP Senators, Vows Aggressive Fight After Convention : Politics: President sends signals he intends to blame Congress for sluggish recovery. Democrats attack him on health care.

Brandishing a pair of boxing gloves he received from the group, President Bush delivered a pep talk to Republican senators Tuesday amid signs that he intends to blame the Democrat-controlled Congress for the nation’s feeble economic recovery.

Later, in an interview with editors of USA Today, Bush described himself as a “fighter” and expressed confidence he can overcome the large lead Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton has taken in various national polls.

“I like to fight back,” Bush said in the interview, portions of which were broadcast on television stations owned by Gannett Corp.

“I like to take on the odds. . . . Let the big front-runners coast along. We’re going to fight back and win” the November election, Bush said.

Meanwhile, in the latest eruption of bipartisan slash-and-bash politics on Capitol Hill in the normally slow days of summer, 10 Democratic senators accused Bush of callous indifference to Americans’ health care needs.

Sen. John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV (D-W. Va.), a leader on the health care issue, belittled the President’s proposal to deal with the issue, saying: “It combines the compassion of his anti-recession policy with the efficiency of his savings and loan bailout . . . I look upon his actions with disdain.”

Sen. Thomas A. Daschle (D-S. D.) added: “It’s like a cancer patient being told to take a couple of aspirin.”

Bush, spotlighting health care as a major difference between him and Clinton, on Sunday had blasted the Democrat’s proposals on the issue as “a prescription for disaster.” And on Tuesday, the White House quickly arranged a news briefing to rebut the criticism from the congressional Democrats.

In his meeting with the GOP senators, Bush sought to mute mounting congressional criticism of his campaign by assuring the GOP lawmakers that he would wage an aggressive battle after the Republican Convention in Houston ends on Aug. 20.

In a good-natured gesture, Bush was given a pair of boxing gloves--one labeled “Democrat” and the other “Congress”--and a plaque with an oversize Olympic gold medal marked “heavyweight champion.”

And after the meeting, Bush’s Senate allies displayed determined optimism despite the President’s current lag in the polls and the snail-like pace of economic recovery, indicating that some degree of party unity has been achieved.

The meeting, according to one campaign aide, was “a sign that we’re finally beginning to recognize that we need to get the Republican house in order.”

According to Senate Minority Whip Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.), the President focused his fire on the Democratic majority in both houses of Congress and charged that it has blocked his economic recovery program at every turn.

Simpson also said: “George Bush is fully engaged, ready to let her rip.”

Joining Bush at the session was Vice President Dan Quayle. Although his place on the GOP ticket seemed a bit tentative only a few weeks ago, Quayle received sustained applause.

Later in the day, Quayle made a brief campaign stop in Mobile, Ala., and targeted Clinton for attack by linking him with Michael S. Dukakis, the 1988 Democratic nominee.

“They look different, they talk different but substantively there is no difference at all. As a matter of fact, Bill Clinton is going to raise taxes more than Michael Dukakis would have. Bill Clinton is going to increase federal spending more than Michael Dukakis.”

Echoing criticisms Bush has aired within the last week, Quayle also charged that under a Clinton Administration, “you’re going to see dramatic, Draconian cuts in national defense and national security. You’re going to see socialized medicine.”

Bush, in his interview with the USA Today editors, scotched talk that he might abandon his reelection campaign and angrily accused Clinton of using “sleaze and dirty campaigning” against him.

“I’m not only not going to drop out (of the presidential race), I’m confident I’m going to win,” Bush said. He added that his health was good “in spite of all these nutty rumors that float around the press room.”

Asked what kind of President the Arkansas governor would be, Bush started his reply with a compliment, saying Clinton had “done some good things.”

“Now I have to stop saying nice things and start doing what he’s been doing to me for six months--six months! He has no trouble going after me for six months, challenging me about whether I should be paying taxes in Maine, accusing me of being a tax evader.”

Bush was referring to comments Clinton has made about the President’s reasons for establishing his voting residence in a Texas hotel room even though he spends most of his time away from the White House at a vacation home in Maine.

Bush asked rhetorically: “Where’s the outrage?” over Clinton’s comments. “How many editorials showed up in USA Today or other places on sleaze and dirty campaigning?”

The issue of election tactics is a sensitive one for Bush, who Monday was forced to disavow a campaign news release that revived allegations of marital infidelity by Clinton, a topic that Bush had previously said would be off-limits.

Some Republican leaders, reflecting on the questions that have arisen about Bush’s strategy for winning reelection, said the President would have to combine a positive approach with a hard-line attack strategy to win. Bush’s own campaign aides agree and were reported to be developing a new agenda for a second term.

Sen. Arlen C. Specter (R-Pa.), who also is facing a tough reelection battle, has been telling Pennsylvania voters: “The President has to get the economy moving if he wants to win.”

Senate Democrats, believing that Bush is vulnerable on the health care issue, mounted their major drive to depict the President as callous and indifferent to the feelings of ordinary Americans.

They launched the attack even though Democrats in both the Senate and House have been unable to come to agreement yet on a single plan for providing comprehensive coverage and cost containment.

Also Tuesday, White House policy adviser Gail Wilensky appeared at a briefing to assure reporters that Bush, in fact, has a 94-page health care plan. It was announced last Feb. 6, although some parts of it have not been proposed formally.

Times staff writer Paul Richter contributed to this story.