NEW YORK -- The head of the American Civil Liberties Union said Monday Vice President George Bush's attacks on the legal group during Sunday's televised campaign debate was 'McCarthy-like mudslinging.'
Bush, who criticized ACLU views on child pornography, movie ratings, the tax exempt status of the Roman Catholic Church and other stands 'is not only distorting our positions but pretending those issues characterize what the ACLU does,' said national executive director Ira Glasser.
'We're working on hundreds of cases on the Voting Rights act, sex discrimination, free speech and freedom of the press, privacy cases, and the rights of mentally retarded children,' Glasser said.
'If he opposes most of what we do, he opposes the Bill of Rights. Most of what we do is defend it.'
Bush, asked in Sunday's debate to explain his attacks on Gov. Michael Dukakis for his ACLU membership, said, 'I don't agree with a lot of most of the positions of the ACLU.
'I don't want to see my 10-year-old grandchild go into an X-rated movie. I like those ratings systems,' he said. 'I don't think they're right to try to take the tax exemption away from the Catholic Church. I don't want to see the kiddie pornographic laws repealed. I don't want to see 'under God' come out from under our currency,' he said.
American coins and bills actually carry the legend, 'In God we trust.'
Glasser said, 'For Bush to characterize the work of the organization with those things is to descend into McCarthy-like mudslinging.'
The group is opposed to restrictive but not voluntary movie ratings, he said.
'It's not about sending a a 10-year-old to an X-rated movie,' Glasser said. 'It's just a complete slander to suggest that.'
The ACLU also has opposed laws banning child nudity but it supports laws making it a crime to exploit children sexually, he said. 'It's outrageous to to suggest otherwise,' he said.
The ACLU is not involved in any legal battle to remove the Catholic Church's tax exempt status, Glasser said. 'We support the position (removal) but he says we are trying to have it removed. We are not trying,' he said.
The ACLU has come out in support of Lt. Col. Oliver North, claiming he was forced to testify against himself, in violation of his constitutional rights, about his role in the Iran-Contra scandal, Glasser said.
'Needless to say, we oppose everything Ollie North stands for but that's what the ACLU is about -- defending everyone's rights no matter what we think of them or who they are,' he said.
Dukakis tried Monday to soften Bush's attacks by listing several issues, including the opposition to the Roman Catholic Church's tax exempt status, where he said he disagreed with the ACLU.
