CENTRAL POINT — President George W. Bush depicted his presidency as one of “reverence and integrity” during a speech before thousands of supporters Thursday evening at the Jackson County Fairgrounds in Central Point, casting opponent Sen. John Kerry as far-left-of-center.
An estimated 20,000 Bush supporters, many of whom stood in the afternoon heat for up to eight hours, formed a boisterous sea of red, white and blue, chanting “four more years” as the president took the podium on the evening following the final presidential debate.
“It’s great to be in a part of the world where the boots outnumber the suits,” Bush said, before launching into a 40-minute speech mocking Kerry as a “Massachusetts liberal” and promoting his own steadfast leadership.
After Bush took the stage flanked by Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., and his wife, Laura Bush, the president said his time in office reflects his unwavering style of leadership.
“I’m proud of my record,” he said. “My opponent seemed to want to avoid talking about his.”
Bush joked about his reputation for bumbled sentences and mispronounced words, but said he follows through on his commitments.
“I sometimes mangle the English language,” he said. “But I tell you exactly what I’m going to do, and I keep my word.”
Bush said his tenure as president has helped Oregon. He stressed that the Healthy Forest Initiative is helping reduce “devastating wildfires” in the West and blasted Kerry for failing to take a firm stance on forest policy.
“I guess it’s not only the wildfires that shift in the wind,” he said. “My opponent says he’s in touch with the West, but sometimes I think he means Western Massachusetts.”
The president also laid out his plan for improving education, acknowledging that only one in four students attends college. He said the key to improved access to higher education is early intercession for elementary and high school students. Bush also said policies such as the No Child Left Behind Act help “end the soft bigotry of low expectations,” adding that he wants to continue to close the achievement gap for minority students and expand funding for Federal Pell Grants.

Bush also presented his economic policy, emphasizing his support for small businesses and criticizing Kerry for a “pattern” of raising taxes.
“He can run from his record, but he can’t hide,” he said.
“The problem is, to keep that promise he will have to break all his other ones,” Bush said, referring to Kerry’s promise during the last debate not to raise taxes for small businesses or the middle class.
Bush said he promised to cut taxes and kept his word, adding that he will work with Congress to keep taxes low and stressing that small businesses are the heart of the American economy.
Bush said the economy is picking up, with lower unemployment than in the past three decades and with about four million new jobs added nationally, with 40,000 new jobs in Oregon since 2002.
Bush defended his plans for the war on terrorism, saying America is leading other nations to democracy and fighting so other countries no longer “breed violence for export.”
“In defending ourselves, we have freed 50 million people,” he said.
Junior Keith Bryan, a member of the College Republicans, traveled to the event with four other University students. Bryan said he was in the front row of the VIP section and was able to shake the president’s hand.
“That’s amazing,” he said.
Bryan said it was “really well worth it” to wait all day to see the president, calling the rally “a great push for the last few weeks of the election year.”
Bryan said he thought Bush’s points about education and the economy were particularly key.
“That’s very important because it all gets lost in the Iraq talk,” he said.
Junior Annie Kyser, also a College Republican, said the rally was inspiring.
“I was crying,” she said. “It’s like the most amazing thing I’ve ever heard.”
She said students who dislike Bush should judge the president after seeing him firsthand.
“Inform yourself not just with conspiracy theories and things circulating on the Internet,” she said. “Do the research.”
She said the president spoke to average people, adding that the most moving part of Bush’s speech was when he said a 19-year-old girl was the first Afghani citizen to cast a vote in the country’s recent elections.
Meghan Wimer, 50, traveled from Sisters to attend the rally and support a man she says is “doing the best job possible.” Bush’s obvious love for his wife, Laura, is also a driving factor in her support, she said.
“I judge a man by the woman he marries,” she said.
Some people who attended the rally dissented, however. One man stood on a barricade behind the VIP section wearing an anti-Bush T-shirt and with a Bush campaign sticker taped over his mouth. Several Bush supporters held up signs to obscure the man from the podium, who was soon removed by the Secret Service.

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