European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 26, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns the stars and stripes George will Quayle controversy erasing gop advantage we being a Democrat pollster Peter Hart understandably relishes describing George Bush s mildewed running mate around whom there hangs Hart says an irremediable odor. However a Campaign is in crisis not when criticism of it is Savage but when de lenses of it Are As weird As new Hampshire gov. John Sununu s. He says the Quayle controversy will be a net plus for Bush because it will generate a pro Mili tary backlash against democrats. The Dukakis Campaign which knows not to speak unless speaking will improve the silence says not a syllable about Quayle whose defense is handled by Bob Dole i assume you could find better qualified people but Dan Quayle is i think As you be indicated he s a Young Man. He s a Quick  but enough testimonials. Republican effectiveness in recent presidential elections has derived from the party s ideological clarity its ability to put to the coun try an easily comprehensible message. The Quayle controversy is erasing that advantage. Furthermore the not be As mawkish As the one by which Richard Nixon role of a Bush running mate must be to attack Michael saved his place As Dwight Eisenhower s running mate 1952. However it should be equally personal. It to. I t. Dukakis. Quayle s week on banana peels has blunted his Lance. He is particularly diminished As a spokes Man on defense issues. Will he be reduced to talking about the worker retraining legislation he co authored with Ted Kennedy since 1900, 38.6 percent of the presidential Nomi nees have previously been vice presidents or vice presidential nominees. Since 1960, the figure is 57 percent. Six of the last 15 presidents were vice presidents first. Hence the growing insistence that running mates show reassuring substance. Bush perhaps divulging a hither to secret Republican criterion for vice presidential aspirants boasted to the veterans of foreign wars that Quayle has never not once burned an american Flag. But even with that virtue attested Quayle should do two things. First he should deliver a checkers  it need Quayle Hunt should reveal the Quality of the inner life beneath the candidate s comely surface. The Issue is no longer just his National guard episode. He his sensibility and Gravity is the Issue. The confused and passionate nature of the Contro Versy and the number of men now in Middle age whose lives were touched by the questions involved make the moment Ripe for a thoughtful talk. It should explore the moral ambiguities that proliferate when a democracy with much less than Universal conscription gradually enters a limited War in which the very idea of Victory is problematic and policy graduated response and All that suggests that the War might not be important enough to be Worth winning. Such a speech could serve the second task that the Bush Campaign must accomplish quickly. Quayle needs a stature transfusion. They should get him away from state fairs which Are Odd venues for shouting enthusiasm about strategic defense technologies. He should be put into More sedate settings such As the economic club of Chicago or the los Angeles world affairs Council. There he should take advantage of his new advantage the Low expectations for him and deliver himself of serious thoughts. He is Young and looks younger than he is. He has an easy manner that suggests he might have come far on social graces alone and that almost everything not just a position in the National guard has come with too Little hard work. However he has serious accomplishments. Some of his critics some of whom Are not notice ably heavier than helium say he is a lightweight. They should Sample the work he did in mounting sustained Complex technical criticism of the inf treaty the one Bush rhapsody sized Over before Reading or under standing it. Although in the end he was not one of the five senators who voted against the treaty he did much to slow the reckless Rush toward an ill considered Start agreement. That Rush was is fuelled by a simplistic notion that any Large Cut in arsenals makes the world safer. Quayle knows better. His Reward was to receive the Wrath of president Reagan who said critics like Quayle were ignorant of the facts and accept nuclear War As inevitable. The next Day Quayle delivered a scalding reply terming Rea Gan s remarks appalling  Quayle can bite. But neither Bush nor Quayle can do anything Posi Tive until the wound in their Campaign is cauterized. Between now and labor Day Quayle must accept the Rule with which Bear Bryant greeted his football play ers at the beginning of autumn be Good or be gone. C Washington Post writers group James Kilpatrick Bash alone is responsible for regrettable Choice just a few Days ago writing from new Orleans on a tuesday night this correspondent was propounding some conventional Wisdom on presidential elections. George Bush had just named sen. Dan Quayle of Indiana As his run Ning mate. The main thing Bush could ask of the Young senator i said was Sim ply Don t Hurt  famous last words. All Day wednes Day the nomination began to fall apart. Thursday morning s Streamer headline in the times Picayune read draft dodger questions dog  the National journal s convention daily led with Quayle s stumbling answers raise qualms for  since then the situation has not perceptibly improved. One liners have made it to the Midnight talk shows this Quayle won t Fly. This Quayle s a Turkey. What did Dan do at the time of Viet Nam he Quayle. If the Republican ticket were a Beer what would the Bee be called Bush Light. The Washington Post ran a photograph of the family Mailbox Back Home in Indiana the Quayle  the fellow can t even get his apostrophes straight. Even the most dedicated Liberal Democrat might shed a sympathetic tear for George Bush. Democrats endured similar pain with the naming of Tom Eagleton in 1972. They suffered water torture with Geraldine Ferraro s Nomi nation in 1984. Now the cry is poor George but let this be said for the re Cord Bush brought this political calamity on himself. He alone bears the responsibility for making this most regrettable Choice. How can this fiasco be explained it can t be explained. For All practical Pur poses Bush won the Republican presidential nomination with the primaries of super tuesday on March 8. He then had five months in which to think about his first critical decision As his party s Nomi Nee. True he wanted to see what the democrats would do at Atlanta but that was a secondary Factor. By a process of elimination bus somehow found his Way to the Junior senator from Indiana. Quayle had a Vot ing record that perfectly echoed the conservative Republican platform. He had demonstrated Campaign skills in his Home state. He had established a modes reputation in the Senate on issues of National defense and arms control. Bus would feel comfortable with him. Hindsight provides such perfect vision Bush s advisers thinking Only of television ratings became enchanted with the idea of  if the name of the vice presidential nominee were re leased before the new Orleans Conven Tion no one would watch the proceed Ings. The stratagem would have worked if Bush had chosen Bob Dole Jack Kemp Pete Domenici or some other experienced person with National recognition. It could t work with the unknown Quayle. It did t work. Quayle was rushed breathlessly in front of the to cameras on tuesday afternoon. It was As if a Rookie from a triple a club had been called up to pitch a world series game. He had no preparation for the experience. Suddenly he faced hundreds of National correspondents. The news hounds seized upon one line from a hastily printed biography from 1969-75, Quayle served in the Indiana National  alarm Bells rang. Quayle would have been 21 or 22, Ripe to be drafted for serv ice in Vietnam. By joining the National guard his risk of service could be minimized. What gives under questioning Quayle faltered. On the matter of family influence he bobbed and weaned. He insisted defensively that there is nothing unpatriotic about service in the National guard. If his unit had been called up he would have served in Vietnam. He was not try ing to avoid combat he was trying to get on with Law school. The uproar drowned out the applause Bush earned with his Superb acceptance speech thursday night. Bus was never better. All the Gool qualities the truly presidential qualities of this seasoned and decent gentleman emerged. It was a knockout of a speech fully the equal of the Fine address Michael Dukakis had delivered at Atlanta. Friday s headlines still concentrated on Dan Quayle. What now Bush May not be Able to win with Quayle but he can t win with out him. To dump Quayle now As Mcgovern dumped Eagleton in 1972, would be to acknowledge a terrible mis judgment. Presidents Are Noh supposed to make terrible misjudgments. The republicans must Pray that Quayle rises to the occasion demonstrates stature and competence and keeps out of the Way. The Hurt has been done. He must not make i worse. C Universal press Syndicate