All the President's jokes

The Gridiron Club has been practicing its particular brand of snobbery for 128 years. Membership in this most exclusive of all insider DC journalist organizations, is by invitation only. Their parties are so private, not even journalists are allowed inside its doors without prior approval, which rarely comes. As I tweeted to Mark Knoller last night, there's no better illustration of the incestuous Beltway bubble insider culture than this club and its annual dinner. (A tweet that was weirdly retweeted by Instapundit himself this morning. Who knows how he even saw it.)

A few important politicians, including the President, are invited to this soiree. And apparently they allow one print pooler to provide the details of the entertainment -- basically a quasi-roast with jokes and skits -- to be published the next day. West Wing Report has the best transcript of President Obama's stand-up routine. It was actually pretty good. These were my two favorites:

Now I'm sure that you’ve noticed that there's somebody very special in my life who is missing tonight, somebody who has always got my back, stands with me no matter what and gives me hope no matter how dark things seem. So tonight, I want to publicly thank my rock, my foundation -- thank you, Nate Silver. (Laughter.)

With all these new faces, it’s hard to keep track of who is in, who is out. And I know it's difficult for you guys as reporters. But I can offer you an easy way of remembering the new team. If Ted Cruz calls somebody a communist, then you know they’re in my cabinet. (Laughter.)

Bobby Jindal also got to perform on the stage. He got rave reviews, but I thought his jokes were pretty lame myself.