Imagine what the press would have done if Bill Clinton did stand up comedy routines in 1998 about Monica Lewinsky or Whitewater. Think Progress reports:

At the Alfalfa Club dinner on Saturday night, President Bush made light of Vice President Cheney’s penchant for secrecy while joking about Jenna Bush’s bridal shower earlier that day. “My sister Doro had a wedding shower for Jenna, who got lots of great stuff,” joked Bush. “Mom gave her a toaster. Karen Hughes gave her a Cuisinart. Dick [Cheney] here sent over a gift I could tell he’d picked out personally…a paper shredder.”

The message is clear: It’s OK for a Republican to joke about his vice president’s secrecy in contravention to the Constitution and health of these United States, just so long as it’s done in the comfortable surroundings of Washington’s wealth political elites, with the media elites pressing their ears against the door, hoping to hang out with the cool kids at the after party.

Who am I kidding… Bush would be given a pass by the media even if he dropped this joke into tonight’s State of the Union address.