Saturday, March 16, 2013

Bobby Jindal at the Gridiron Club


The Girdiron Club dinner is a venerable Washington tradition. The President, other politicians and journalists get together to break bread and to regale each other with the best their comedy writers could come up with.

This year, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal stole the show.

The Hot Air blog has the full text of his speech; it’s high political comedy at its best.

Here are a few excerpts:

I’m honored to be here tonight, and to have this opportunity to represent my people.

As you know, my people are one of our nation’s most accomplished minority groups – doctors…lawyers…business owners…and of course, I’m referring to the Republican Party.

And:

This of course is the night for the Washington press corps and the President to kick back, share a few laughs, not take things seriously and just generally enjoy each other’s company.

Kind of like the President’s interview on 60 Minutes.

The Gridiron Dinner used to be known as the night the media and the administration set aside their differences — back in the days when they had some.

And:

I had a meeting with a man earlier today who says that his name is Reince Priebus and he insists that he is Chairman of the Republican Party.

Hard to imagine a better name than “Reince Priebus” to connect with the working class people and show that we aren’t one-percenters.

And”

Great to see the new Senator from Massachusetts – Elizabeth Warren. My staff tells me we’ve got a lot in common.

Well from one Indian politician to another, I want to wish you all the best in your new job.

And:

You know, a lot of people warned me that if I voted for Mitt Romney, a Wall Street robber baron who hid his money in secretive Grand Cayman bank accounts would end up running the U.S. Treasury. I see Jack Lew is here tonight.

Good thing that job went to you instead, Jack.

Speaking of cabinet secretaries. Mr. President, while it was a nice bipartisan gesture, I still think it was a bad idea to have Romney’s pollsters prepare Chuck Hagel for his confirmation hearing…

And Mr. President I want to commend you on your inspired choice for Secretary of State.

Someone whose integrity and experience inform the world of your Administration’s seriousness and depth. Let’s all give Dennis Rodman a hand.

And:

People say that the President and I both have trouble laughing at ourselves.

We can’t laugh at ourselves. That would be racist.

My home state of Louisiana is of course known for colorful politicians. You may have heard that when our former Governor Edwin Edwards got out of jail last year he immediately married a woman 50 years his younger.

But you may not have read his quote about that…and I’m not making this up…he said “you’re only as young as the woman you feel.”

My wife didn’t feel that was funny.



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

George Burns was an elderly commedian in my youth. I recall him saying the line, "You're as young as the women you feel."

Sam L. said...

Those were some gooooood lines.