Bush, whose proposals have been criticized by opponents as benefits for a small percentage of the rich, said as his opening remark he was glad to join those on the "distinguished dais, better known as the top one percent."
"This is an impressive crowd of the haves and have mores," he said. "Some people call you the elite, I call you my base."
He also made light of his reputation as a non-intellectual perennial frat-boy, saying he noticed that fellow Yale man William F. Buckley Jr., the author, was on the dais. "We have a lot in common," he said. "Bill wrote a book at Yale, I read one. He started the Conservative Party, I started a few parties myself."