(C) Common Dreams
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Dukakis Asserts He Is a 'Liberal,' But in Old Tradition of His Party [1]
['Robin Toner', 'Special To The New York Times']
Date: 1988-10-31
''Yes, I'm a liberal in the tradition of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman and John Kennedy,'' he said, as the audience roared him on.
''But if my father taught me anything it was that genuine conservatives pay their bills, don't they? We've had the most liberal borrowing and spending spree in American history in the past eight years, and we're going to change that.''
Before another chanting crowd that greeted his train in Hanford, Mr. Dukakis declared, ''We need a President in the tradition - yes, the liberal tradition - of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman and John Kennedy, Presidents who were on the side of average families.''
His self-characterization puts Mr. Dukakis among a growing group of voters who, polls show, see him as a liberal. New York Times/CBS News polls show that 27 percent of registered voters said in May that they considered him a liberal, while 42 percent said so in October. A Times/CBS News Poll in early September showed that most voters would feel no differently about a public figure described as a liberal, but that of those to whom it would make a difference, 28 percent said if would make them feel less favorable about the person while 11 percent said it would make them feel more favorable.
Although public national polls still show Mr. Bush with a wide lead, Mr. Dukakis's spirits have soared as polls done for his campaign show him making some gains in a few critical states. He was full of ebullient predictions today. He reminded his audiences that Kennedy had whistle-stopped through the Central Valley 28 years ago, and declared, ''This train, like Jack Kennedy's, is ticketed all the way to the Oval Office.'' 'Bush Is Coasting'
He added: ''George Bush is coasting. We're fighting. He's reading the polls. We're taking our case to the American people.''
In Bakersfield, just before his train left in a made-for-television cascade of balloons, Mr. Dukakis declared: ''We're going to mop up that Republican red ink. We're going to give them the pink slip on the eighth of November.
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[1] Url:
https://www.nytimes.com/1988/10/31/us/dukakis-asserts-he-is-a-liberal-but-in-old-tradition-of-his-party.html
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