California Governor Jerry Brown apparently thinks he's some kind of comedian. I would suggest that he not quit his current day job, but many readers would probably prefer he do that.

At a union-organized joint legislative conference on Monday, as reported in the Sacramento Bee, Brown told the following knee-slapper in connection with the high-speed rail project which is on track (excuse the pun) to become the mother of all public works boondoggles: "There's a lot of old people who shouldn't be driving ... They should be sitting in a nice train car working on their iPad, having a martini." More from the Bee's blog post (I would not know if it made it to the paper's print edition) follows the jump:

Capitol Alert: Jerry Brown's new push for high-speed rail: Get old people off the road

Gov. Jerry Brown has a new argument for high-speed rail: Get senior citizens off the road.

"There's a lot of old people who shouldn't be driving," the Democratic governor joked at a dinner hosted by labor leaders in Sacramento on Monday night. "They should be sitting in a nice train car working on their iPad, having a martini."

Brown, who will turn 76 next month, has other means of transportation, as he is chauffeured by a California Highway Patrol officer. He has made high-speed rail a priority of his administration, despite legal setbacks, funding uncertainty and a fall-off in public support.

Here's the reactions of Thomas Lifson at American Thinker:

I have a much cheaper proposal: let’s retire Jerry, instead of him running for re-election (as he is doing), and buy him a lifetime pass on the French TGV rail system. I’d even chip in for a few martinis.

Predictably, establishment press coverage has been very sparse. The Associated Press, as far as I can tell, has not posted a national or even a local story. At the Los Angeles Times, a blog post by Phil Willon (again, I would not know if it got into the print edition) saves the "joke" for the final paragraph.

Imagine if a Republican or conservative had ... oh, you know the rest.

Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.