The Republicans

By George Bush and David Beckwith

Wearing an Air Force flight jacket and nibbling on cheese and crackers, George Bush was sitting with his wife Barbara and campaign chairman James Baker when he invited TIME Correspondent David Beckwith to the forward compartment of Air Force Two last Friday for his first interview as the Republican presidential candidate. Dan Quayle and his wife were one cabin back with Bush's senior staff. Excerpts:

Q. In 1972 George McGovern said he was behind Eagleton 1,000%. Will you make a similar statement about Quayle?

Bush. You heard me support him today and yesterday. I can't do any more than that. There's no evidence of wrongdoing. If there were, I'd be happy to consider it.

Q. Has this been an overreaction by the press, a media feeding frenzy?

Bush. Yes. Damn right. But I don't know what the facts are. I have to wait and see what facts are driving this. I rode into a finance meeting ((in New Orleans)) on a fire engine, and you find reporters screaming, frantically, diesel fuel all over, "Hey, what about this?" Yes, there's been a heightened level of attention. Put it that way.

Not to interview the interviewer, but what do you think the charges are?

Q. Whether his parents used undue influence to get him into the Guard, and whether he told your people about it when asked.

Bush (shrugs)

Q. Did Quayle fail to level with your investigating lawyer, Robert Kimmitt, or was Kimmitt's investigation inadequate?

Bush. What facts are wrong? I say I'm satisfied with the facts. Now what's wrong? If you jump to the conclusion that something is wrong, then maybe you can criticize a person finding the facts. I'm not going to criticize either one of them.

Q. But your campaign aides are still attempting, two days later, to develop facts that perhaps should have been included in the background check.

James Baker (interrupting). That is so incorrect that I'd like to answer. What took us overnight -- we stayed up almost all night Wednesday, into the next day -- was an attempt to knock down rumor after rumor. That was a much bigger job than dealing with the underlying facts.

Q. But you attempted from the beginning to obtain basic facts, exactly what had occurred 20 years ago, and to obtain records. So you were apparently unsatisfied with the material developed by Mr. Kimmitt.

Baker. No, that is not true. What you had was a proliferation of various rumors, some of which related to this issue, but many of which related to other issues. Allegations like the claim that Quayle paid $50,000 to get into the National Guard.

Bush. Spread by people in your business, Dave.

Q. Senator Quayle has been reluctant to divulge whether he was originally asked directly by your investigators about family influence on the National Guard, and what his response was.

Bush. Look, he stood out there for 30 minutes answering questions. I don't know what he was doing. What questions are left? The bottom line is this: he is a man qualified to be Vice President. Is it a good selection? Am I comfortable with it in the face of these allegations? At this point, the answer is yes, I am.

Q. You billed your selection process as a test of your competence and Executive abilities. Are you happy with the results?

Bush. Exactly. And I'm prepared to stand by that. I'm very happy with the process, but I'm not happy with the rumors and malicious charges that came out, with no evidence behind them. I would think a lot of people would pause before throwing out those charges they throw out in the form of questions. If you think it's fair to pass along or circulate rumors that prove to have no basis in fact, then I'm not sure that's sound, insightful journalism.

Q. In most cases, the journalists were merely asking questions, not publishing.

Bush. What's the difference? If the question is asked publicly, impugning the man's integrity, there's no difference at all. There was all this running around, yelling "Draft dodger!" and throwing names against the person. I don't happen to think that's fair. And that's a subjective opinion from George Bush.

Q. There have been published reports that James Baker opposed Quayle's selection.

Bush. He never said that to me, in any way, ever. Is that really a rumor out there? Ridiculous.

Baker. I can take that a bit further. I only had knowledge of the choice for two hours before it was announced, and I spent those two hours working on implementation of the choice.

Q. Do you think the Quayle military-service flap will detract from the lift you otherwise would have obtained from the convention?

Bush. Well, I wish all this wasn't churning around out there. It's distracted attention from the campaign itself. But it will be under control. I suppose we'll have to wait for the polls, which I always declared meaningless. I don't know.