Bush’s Jokes Are the Main Course

President Bush poked fun at himself and the press corps Saturday and offered a new reason for overhauling the Social Security system. Raising the name of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Bush said, “We have to fix it or Rumsfeld may never retire.”

Setting aside the serious news of the day, Bush noted -- with a little help -- the presence of new Cabinet members also in attendance at the Gridiron Club’s annual dinner and political roast.

Turning to Vice President Dick Cheney, the president said, “Dick, maybe you can point them out to me.”

The Gridiron event is a 120-year tradition among Washington journalists and elected officials in which, for one night, members of the press turn the tables on the powerful people they report and write about daily. Some of the press skits were about steroid use in professional sports. But when Bush’s turn came, he said that in looking out at the press corps he was confident none were on steroids.

“Those are all natural bodies,” he said.

Bush said anyone looking for a transcript of the program should call Doug Wead, the Bush family friend who recently made news by releasing tape recordings of private telephone conversations with Bush.

The president noted that former President Clinton was recovering from surgery, saying that “when he woke up he was surrounded by his loved ones” -- his wife, daughter and “my dad.”

In recent months, the former presidents have become something of an item despite their once fierce political rivalry.

It was as close to “Saturday Night Live” as Washington gets, as the president poked fun at the press, and journalists assumed the personas of politicians in song, dance and wisecracks.

The Gridiron Club’s motto is to “singe, but never burn.”

The club exists only for the annual dinner and political roast. Every president since Benjamin Harrison, except Grover Cleveland, has attended.