CAMPAIGN ’88 : Bush Rejects Roles for Haig, Kirkpatrick

Two prominent Republicans, former Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. and former U.N. Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, are likely to be anything but prominent at the August GOP convention in New Orleans, if Vice President George Bush has anything to say about it.

Bush, who as the presumptive nominee gets to call most of the shots at the conclave, has already passed the word to convention planners that he wants neither to play a significant role.

Haig, an unsuccessful candidate for the party’s presidential nomination, was more critical of Bush than any of his rivals during the campaign. During a televised debate, for example, he ridiculed the vice president’s claim to be President Reagan’s “co-pilot.” And when Bush was fighting for his political life in the New Hampshire primary campaign, Haig dropped out of the race and threw his support to Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas.

Dole and another former Bush rival, Pat Robertson, are expected to speak at the convention with no objection from the vice president.

As for Kirkpatrick, who also backed Dole’s candidacy, both her own associates and those of Bush say she has made little effort to disguise her contempt for Bush’s experience in foreign affairs.

Bush, for his part, was put off by her acerbic manner, occasionally referring to the former Democrat as “that crazy woman.” Kirkpatrick won a large following among party conservatives with her 1984 convention speech.