BUSH: 6,000 pack coliseum, cheer vow to deliver tax reform
to eliminate "tollbooth" to prosperity
Wednesday, November 1, 2000
By Harry Esteve of The Oregonian staff
Texas Gov. George W. Bush pushed his plan for an
across-the-board tax cut Tuesday, saying it would clear the
way for working families in Oregon and elsewhere to move
into the middle class.
Speaking to more than 6,000 raucous supporters gathered
in Memorial Coliseum, Bush ridiculed Al Gore's proposal for
"targeted" tax relief, saying too many people would be left
out.
"Fifty million Americans miss the target," Bush said.
"That's not our vision for America, folks."
Looking relaxed and happy, and boasting about the size of
the crowd, Bush focused on taxes only hours after the vice
president delivered a speech a few miles away that dealt
almost exclusively with the same issue.
Bush said the tax code hits both the rich and the poor too
hard and likened the system today to a "tollbooth on the
road to the middle class" because the rates increase with
income growth.
"We're going to knock down that tollbooth," Bush said.
For Bush, a Republican vying for votes in a state that has
chosen Democrats in the past three presidential elections,
the noisy rally served as a confidence booster as the clock
begins to run down on one of the closest presidential
contests ever.
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