Buck Naked Politics: Obama & McCain Bring the Comedy at the Al E. Smith Dinner

Bnpolitics4 by Damozel | Damn...Why couldn't the whole election be like this? Via Ben Smith:

At the Al Smith dinner at the Waldorf in Manhattan, where the candidates are expected to roast one another, both do. (Ben Smith)

Obama:

"There is no other crowd in America I'd rather be palling around with," he says. "Can somebody tell me what happened to the Greek columns that I requested?...

"Contrary to the rumors you may have heard, I was not actually born in a manger, I was actually born on Krypton and sent here by my father Jor-El to save the Earth." (Ben Smith)

And: "I punched a paparazzi in the face on my way out of Spagos. I even spilled my soy chai latte all over my Shih Tzu-- it was really embarrassing."

Mocking McCain, he started with his age, addressing the grandson of the former New York governor for whom the dinner was named.

"I obviously never knew your grandfather, but from everything Senator McCain has told me, the two of them had a great time together before Prohibition," he said.

He also mocked the houses: "This crisis has been eight times harder on John McCain."

And the GOP: "Whoever would have thought that a cross-dressing mayor from New York City would have had a tough time winning the Republican nomination? Tough primary you had there, John." (Ben Smith)

He also said:

"People tell me I share the politics of Alfred E. Smith and the earns of Alfred E. Neumann"...

"The last few weeks, John's been out on the campaign trail asking the question Who Is Barack Obama. I've got to admit, I was surprised by the question: the answer is right there on my Facebook page."...

"I got my name Barack from my father.... it's actually Swahili for "That one."

My middle name, it's not what you think. It's actually "Steve."

"There was a point in my life when I started palling around with a pretty ugly crowd.... that's right... I've been a member of the United States Senate."

"Fox News accused me of fathering two African-American children in wedlock." (Marc Ambinder)

Video will be posted when it's available...

Next, McCain (who was actually first up):

McCain, who spoke first, also had the crowd in stitches at times.

He mentioned that Biden had claimed that Joe the Plumber isn't rich enough for a McCain tax cut.

"What they don't know is that Joe The Plumber recently signed a lucrative contract to handle all the work on all seven of [McCain's] houses."

"I can't shake the feeling that some people here are voting for me," McCain said. "Nice to see you, Hillary." (Ben Smith)

Bill Clinton "has been hammering away with me with epithets like, "hero."

"It's going to be a long, long night at MSNBC if I manage to pull this thing off. I understand that Keith Olbermann has ordered up his very own Mission Accomplished banner. They can hang it up in his padded room"

"We know the press is really an independent-minded, civic-minded, non-partisan group, like ACORN."

A nice tribute to Obama at the end, saying that he can't "wish him luck," but he does "wish him well." (Marc Ambinder)

Here's the McCain video---since I imagine his humorless supporters won't appreciate him sharing a laugh with his rival, somebody's got to post it.