[Luddite Patent Counsel]

You have got to be kidding. The joke goes that "he tried to milk a horse...and it was a male horse." Besides being decidedly unfunny, the "joke" clearly implies, and has always implied, precisely which part of the horse is being "milked". It is, and always has been, a horse (or bull) masturbation joke. Farmers have told this among themselves from time immemorial. They have also told bawdy versions of the "Girl from Nantucket" limerick. Do you suppose that any self-respecting farmer would tell such a joke from the podium at a Rotary meeting? Antiquity does not make such vulgar humor appropriate for the First Lady to repeat in a public forum. If you can't imagine Jackie Kennedy, Pat Nixon, or Nancy Reagan saying it from the podium, a First Lady should not be saying it. Period.

[sd-joe]

I guess your mind is where your mind is.

Thousands of people have heard this joke without jumping to the masturbation association. And it is funny when it is taken as it was meant to be taken.

It is an old "dumb city slicker" joke. It has been around forever.

I do think that self respecting country people would tell this joke at Rotary or other meetings.