This sounds like something from the Clinton White House, not a comedy routine you would expect to hear from Laura Bush:

Eyebrows were raised by the first lady’s bit about the president’s ranching skills, which Mrs. Bush said her husband lacked because the elite schools he attended, Andover and Yale, “don’t have a real strong ranching program.”

She then added: “He’s learned a lot about ranching since that first year when he tried to milk the horse. What’s worse, it was a male horse.”

And while we’re on the topic of ranching:

George’s answer to any problem at the ranch is to cut it down with a chainsaw — which I think is why he and Cheney and Rumsfeld get along so well.

While the milking the male horse joke may be funny, it simply does not fit the public persona that Mrs. Bush has groomed. I wonder why the change.

UPDATE: Here’s the video from Trey Jackson (via OTB and BfB) And A Typical Joe points out that the NYT has a potential answer to my musing about the reason for her racy act.

“She brought down a very tough house, and she humanized her husband, whose sagging poll numbers are no match for her own…her zingers showed how much the White House relies on her to soften her husband’s rough edges at critical moments, much as she did with her extensive travels and fund-raising in the 2004 campaign.”

Also, there is a complete transcript of the speech here. It was written by Landon Parvin, who also wrote jokes for Reagan and Schwarzenegger.

UPDATE 2: I just watched Trey’s video. And she really was great.

UPDATE 3: The Washington Times story quoted above (also quoted by Ace) has disappeared. Jack Lewis says they fell for a hoax. Others discussing the hoax: Irish Trojan, Wonkette and Little Miss Attila, who ironically enough got all excited about social conservatives being “dumb as boards” to get upset about Laura’s remarks, and yet she herself is the one that fell for the hoax. Hah!