Politicians jab and joust at St. Patrick's Day breakfast

Politicians quipped, jabbed, and jousted this morning at the annual St. Patrick's Day breakfast at the Boston Convention Center in South Boston, where several hundred sang along to traditional Irish tunes and chuckled at parodies and punch lines.

The two-and-a-half-hour event, a longtime staple of Boston politics, featured lighthearted back and forth between Governor Deval Patrick and House Speaker Sal DiMasi, who have clashed recently over building resort casinos.

In a joking attempt to persuade the speaker, Patrick and other casino supporters sang a sendup of "The Wonder of It All," the Foxwoods ad jingle, which was rewritten as, "Sal just think about the wonder of it all."

Then DiMasi, who took the podium right after Patrick, jested to the audience, "They should be the entertainment at the casinos, don't you think?"

"You should switch careers, Governor, you'd be a good croupier."

DiMasi later listed his top five reasons why Patrick's casino proposal would fail. Among them were "gambling bills are just like casinos, the house always wins" and "Mayor Menino is already planning the casino victory parade."

Menino, who was the target of jokes throughout the event, was serenaded to a mock version of the traditional Irish song, "Molly Malone," with the lyrics, "Oh Tom Menino, will he ever go, with hustle and muscle, he's Tom Menino."