Dukakis Doubts Quayle Is Fit for High Office

Democratic presidential nominee Michael S. Dukakis continued to step up his attacks on his Republican rivals Wednesday, suggesting for the first time that GOP vice presidential nominee Dan Quayle of Indiana is unqualified for higher office and accusing Vice President George Bush of “a pattern” of flip-flopping on major issues.

“I doubt that there are many people in this country who think he’s qualified to be President or that he was picked because he was qualified,” Dukakis said of Quayle.

“Is that the kind of person you want a heartbeat away from the presidency?” Dukakis demanded after citing Quayle’s opposition to such things as school lunch programs, civil rights and minimum wage legislation and a law passed this summer placing restrictions on plant closings, and his proposal early in the Reagan Administration to eliminate federal funds for immunization of children.

Western Campaign Swing

Dukakis made his comments in an interview with The Times as he flew from Boston to Los Angeles to begin a four-day Western campaign swing. The trip will attempt to focus attention on Dukakis’ positions on education and economic development.

After his plane landed in Los Angeles Wednesday night, Dukakis went to the Bel Air home of Democratic fund-raiser Rosalind Wyman for a private, celebrity-packed fund-raising event, the first of a series of major fund-raisers scheduled during the trip.

Dukakis’ comments on Quayle were his first direct statements on an issue that has dominated the campaign for the two weeks since Bush selected the Indiana senator as his running mate. Until Wednesday, Dukakis had deflected questions about the controversial vice presidential nominee.

Dukakis predicted a “tough, bruising fight” over the next 10 weeks and made clear that he will not shy away from responding to GOP attacks.

“It’s been three weeks of this,” Dukakis said, referring in particular to Bush’s efforts to portray him as unpatriotic.

“It’s clear this is the way they’re going to conduct their campaign,” Dukakis said. “If that’s what they want, then that’s what we’re going to have.”

Debate on Guard Service

Dukakis had avoided comments about Quayle for fear of being dragged into the emotional debate on Quayle’s service in the National Guard during the Vietnam War.

But, as attention has begun to shift to Quayle’s experience in the Senate and his positions on issues, Dukakis aides have signaled that the campaign would soon break its silence and would seek to focus attention on Quayle’s highly conservative ideology and voting record.

Democratic strategists hope to raise serious questions about Bush by attacking Quayle, an assignment that will fall chiefly to Dukakis’ running mate, Sen. Lloyd Bentsen of Texas.

The choice of Quayle raises questions about Bush’s ability to make important decisions, Dukakis charged. Bush’s “judgment is going to be a major issue in this campaign,” he said.

‘Judgment’ to Be an Issue

Democrats are hoping to use “judgment” as an overall theme to attack Bush on several fronts, raising it, for example, in connection with Bush’s role in the Iran-Contra scandal.

In a similar vein, Dukakis sought in the interview to raise doubts about Bush’s reliability by attacking him for flip-flopping on issues. He cited, particularly, recent Bush statements on the environment and offshore oil drilling and apparent shifts in the vice president’s stand on the “Star Wars” space-based missile defense program.

On Wednesday, he noted, Bush began a two-day campaign swing focused on environmental issues. But “I don’t recall a peep from the vice president as the (Environmental Protection Agency) was being destroyed” in the early years of the Reagan Administration, Dukakis said.

Bush, he charged, was “a charter member of the environmental wrecking crew,” heading the Administration’s deregulatory task force, which sought to reduce many environmental regulations during Reagan’s first term.

Offshore Oil Drilling Cited

There is “a whole sorry record,” he said. “We’re not going to let people forget.” On offshore drilling, Dukakis noted, Bush, prompted by Republican Sen. Pete Wilson, announced the week before the California primary in June that he favored new restrictions.

Last Friday, however, in East Texas, Bush spoke in favor of offshore drilling and attacked Dukakis for opposing it.

“My opponent opposes offshore drilling and I support it,” Bush said to his Texas audience.

And, on “Star Wars,” Dukakis noted, Bush endorsed a GOP platform plank that pledges rapid deployment of a space-based anti-missile shield.

Then, in an interview last week with the New York Times, Bush appeared to back away from that stand, suggesting that a decision on deployment would have to wait until further research was concluded.

The next day, Bush appeared to repudiate that view, insisting that he continued to support the program, which has been a top priority for President Reagan and a key issue for GOP conservatives.

Bush ‘Pattern’ Seen

The conflicting statements are part of “a pattern” in which Bush changes his stand as he moves around the country, Dukakis charged.

“What you see, I think, unquestionably is Bush trying to move away from those positions” he espoused during the last seven years as he seeks to attract votes, Dukakis said.

“I don’t think you go to one part of the country and say one thing and go to another part of the country and say something else.”

The “flip-flop” charge is a familiar one for Dukakis, who used it to devastating effect against Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) during the Democratic primaries.