REEN BAY, Wis. - Texas Governor George W. Bush lashed out at President Clinton yesterday, calling him ''campaign manager'' for Vice President Al Gore and questioning his integrity.
At a Democratic fund-raiser in New York on Thursday, Clinton had derided Bush for a campaign television ad that questioned rival John McCain's dedication to breast cancer research. Clinton called the ad ''completely unfair.''
The president - who does not often talk about Bush - mentioned him by name five times in the speech and took the Texan to task for opposing hate-crimes legislation in his own state, where James Byrd, a black Texas man, was dragged to death from the back of a pickup truck.
''All he had to do was to lift his hand and they would have had a hate crimes bill,'' Clinton said of Bush. ''And it did not pass because [Republicans] ... do not believe that gays and lesbians should be protected by hate-crimes legislation.''
Bush was asked about the comments yesterday. He said that he had not heard the specifics of the remarks, but he noted that ''this is about the fifth or sixth time that the president of the United States ... has taken time out of his busy schedule to serve as campaign manager for Al Gore.''
Bush said the negative comments - which included criticisms of Bush's tax plan and stand against abortion - are ''typical of the kind of campaign we can expect from this administration.''
Reporters also asked Bush about a judge's decision Thursday that said the president had violated the federal Privacy Act.
''Bill Clinton promised the most ethical administration in history,'' Bush responded. ''He's fallen about 41 presidents short. America wants better.''
On Thursday a federal judge ruled that Clinton and his aides intentionally violated the rights of Kathleen Willey, a former White House volunteer, by releasing friendly letters she had written to the president. Clinton said the letters showed her allegations that he made a sexual advance toward her ''were untrue.''
