Former President George H.W. Bush talked about everything last night at Salem State College: the fall of the Berlin Wall, his recent friendship with Bill Clinton, and even his thoughts about Hillary's run for the White House.

He talked about everything except George W. Bush and the war in Iraq.

Sitting in an armchair on a stage inside Rockett Arena, the 82-year-old Bush family patriarch answered questions from newscaster Natalie Jacobson, who did her best to steer him toward the one subject he clearly wasn't going to talk about - the current occupant of the White House and his job performance.

Bush said he has made it a rule not to talk about other presidents, his son included. "My view is you do your job, do the best you can and get out of Dodge," he said in response to Jacobson's first question.

Later during the 45-minute question-and-answer, she asked if he was bothered by the harsh criticism his son has received over his handling of the Iraq war.

"Hell, I was hung in effigy at Yale twice," Bush said, drawing one of many laughs from the crowd of nearly 2,500. Getting serious, he said: "You talk about my son - I support him 100 percent. I know his integrity and his honor, and I know his public image is not that and it troubles me deeply.

"He's my son," Bush continued, his face projected on two large screens on either side of a large American flag. "He's my oldest boy. He's a good, honest and decent man, and he's had a tough time." After pausing for a moment, he acknowledged that not everyone agrees. "You try selling that to the New York Times," he said.

The crowd turned out in large numbers last night and didn't seem disappointed that the 41st president didn't talk much about the 43rd president.

"I think that's a hard road to walk for a parent - who happens to be the parent of a president," said Gina Deschamps, 50, a Salem State alumna and co-owner of Deschamps Printing Co. Inc. in Salem.

"I didn't expect it," said Brian Cranney, 50, president of the Cranney Companies and a series sponsor. "It's a situation where he's going to support his son, right or wrong."

Bush's visit yesterday - his third to Salem State - was in stark contrast to his 1994 appearance in the college's speaker series. That time, he walked a mile from the Hawthorne Hotel to the O'Keefe Sports Center, shaking hands with elderly women, joking with boys on bikes and giving the Secret Service a migraine headache.

Yesterday, he was driven down from his summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine, and attended two private receptions, the second a $400 a ticket rack-of-lamb dinner to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the speaker series. At the dinner, the former Yale baseball captain was given a ball autographed by Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, who spoke a few months ago at Salem State.

There were protesters last night, but it's unlikely Bush saw them. They held a rally on Lafayette Street and didn't make it to the event until after it began.

"I'm waiting for these people to show up and I don't know what's happened to them," said Harold Kramer, 73, of Marblehead, standing alone outside Rockett Arena. "I'm surprised and I'm disappointed because this is an opportunity to let people know that everybody isn't a cheerleader for this administration."

The students, joined by others, were there when the crowd exited, holding banners and signs.

Inside the hockey arena, Bush charmed the crowd with self-deprecating humor and some funny lines. Like the time Jacobson asked what he thought about a former first lady running for president.

"Put it this way," he said good-naturedly. "I can contain my enthusiasm."

Bush gave the expected answer when asked if he would do anything differently. "Yeah - read my lips, no more taxes," he said, in a nod to the infamous line from his unsuccessful 1992 campaign against Clinton.

He even apologized to Clinton, whom he has got to know from joint public appeals for aid for victims of the tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.

"I'm kind of sorry I said that Clinton knew less about foreign policy than my dog Millie," he said with a grin.

When Jacobson asked if he was disappointed more American Muslims don't condemn terrorism, Bush said many do but are drowned out by the constant stream of violent incidents.

"I don't think most of them are in favor of strapping on something ... and going to heaven and meeting 50 virgins," he said. He called for tolerance and understanding and said it was unfair to judge a religion by the "sadistic acts" of fanatics.

The former Navy combat pilot got the biggest laugh when asked about his parachute jumping, including the leap he made on his 80th birthday.

"I like to go 70 mph in a boat, and I like to jump out of planes," he said. "It gives me a surge. ... It sends a message that old people can still do stuff. You don't have to sit there drooling and playing shuffleboard."

Presidents at Salem State

1982 Gerald Ford

1984 Jimmy Carter

1994 George H.W. Bush

2001 Bill Clinton

2007 George H.W. Bush