Al Smith Dinner: Obama, McCain Trade Jokes During Speeches (VIDEO)

John McCain and Barack Obama swapped self-deprecating jokes instead of campaign jabs Thursday night, the Republican saying he had replaced his team of senior advisers with "Joe the Plumber" while the Democrat claimed his own "greatest strength would be my humility."

Said Obama: "Contrary to the rumors you have heard, I was not born in a manger. I was actually born on Krypton and sent here by my father, Jor-el, to save the planet Earth," a reference to Superman.

WATCH OBAMA'S SPEECH

McCain joked that Democrats had already begun attacking Joe the Plumber, the Ohio man whom he referred to in Wednesday night's debate, and claimed "that this honest, hardworking small businessman could not possibly have enough income to face a tax increase under the Obama plan."

"What they don't know is that Joe the Plumber recently signed a very lucrative contract with a wealthy couple to handle all the work on all seven of their houses," McCain said, drawing laughter with the reference to his property holdings.

WATCH MCCAIN'S SPEECH

The two men spoke at the 63rd annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, a charity event organized by the Catholic Archdiocese of New York for the benefit of needy children. An estimated $4 million was raised.

The event often draws politicians as speakers and, by long tradition, presidential candidates appear as headliners every four years. In this case, the evening of humor came one night after an intense final debate of the presidential campaign.

McCain lampooned Obama's primary opponent, Hillary Rodham Clinton, as well as himself.

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Read more about Obama at Al Smith Dinner.

Read more about the Alfred E. Smith dinner.

Comments

[benham]

01:46 PM on 10/19/2008

I felt that John McCain's comment about a time when the presence of an African-American in the
White House would have been seen as an outrage and an offense--- was deeply insulting. I
believe he is a very angry and hostile man and that, in an attempt to make his comment appear as a compliment-- the subcontext was a dig to put Senator Obama in his" place". Senator McCain is a
spoiled man as the result of a privileged backgound who is used to having his own way. His infamous temper tantrums have come to be synonoymous with things not going his way. Then there is his tendency to " play the victim card ' as if he is saying that, because he was a prisoner of war, he has a right to be President. He also frequently makes statements that there is no on the job training when you become President --- Oh really? Does that mean he has experience as the President of the United States???

[Earthling82]

12:43 AM on 10/18/2008

I have a new hero: whoever wrote the jokes for the two candidates! What a stroke of genius: touching on such weighty, sensitive and potentially alienating differences and accusations....with outrageous humor the candidates delivered themselves! I still can't get over it--what a stroke of genius! (with a thoroughly humanitarian bent, even while directly throwing out such potentially nasty differences and accusations!)

God bless all involved with putting that event on--to me it was a welcome, bright light in the midst of recent darkness. There IS hope for us after all! I just may write in for president the name of the author(s) of those jokes or those who planned the event. Even if the candidates were simply good actors, (I think they actually showed the great qualities of a sense of humor and humility) the writer of the jokes is obviously brilliant and served up some hope and goodness to millions of us who just yesterday were in separate camps but who today laugh together. Humanitarian genius.

[SteveThomasWM]

12:19 AM on 10/19/2008

who DID write these speeches?

[biogal]

08:53 PM on 10/20/2008

So WHO DID write those speeches?? Did the canidates themselves write them? Regardless McCain gave a great performance -showing he can think creatively. He was relaxed and definitely able to put his best foot forward and show us his sense of humor is genuine.

[Vee]

03:49 PM on 10/17/2008

McCain...you're good at this. It's not to late to go into stand up as your true profession.

Quit the race and leave the presidential position to the professional. You'll be great as a commedian, BUT LOUSY as president.
Leave the presidency to someone who actually knows his stuff.

[biogal]

09:00 PM on 10/20/2008

And so you think the guy without the resume is the best pick. Give me a break!

[UKlondongal]

03:02 PM on 10/17/2008

WoW. I saw this on TV and Mc Cain is so funny in this! If only he had shown this side of himself over the last 2 months the polls could have been very different by now (tho' glad they are not - humour is no substitute for bad policies) And if he had stuck up to the GOP and insisted on his own pick for VP - well who knows...
John, you just showed that attacking your opponents CAN be done with self depreciation and a great sense of humour. Too bad this is not how you chose to go. Shows just what a disservice you have really done yourself by following the 'advice' of the A**holes who are running your campaign.
I almost feel for him now. Tough luck John, you took the wrong road and lost your way.

[biogal]

08:59 PM on 10/20/2008

Those who have taken the time to do their homework over the course of the past years and have bothered to look at the record of each know that the "real canidates" not just the ones the media have projected. Most Americans are not as shallow as the media believes. I say "let the records stand for themselves". Actions speak louder than words .

[Bobleblah1]

02:56 PM on 10/17/2008

Two globalist pees in a pod!

Good Luck everybody.

[Dawkins]

02:26 PM on 10/17/2008

Too bad neither could get correct white tie.

[tbone99]

02:21 PM on 10/17/2008

Shows that Mccain is just "modeling" anger and disrespect for Obama so Repug voters will free to do the same.

[xuaft]

02:04 PM on 10/17/2008

Regretfully, McC is funnier.
Dole was funnier. Reagan was funnier.
Even GWB has a sense of the absurd.
They're the ones who are dead sure, deep down inside, that it's all a joke.

[marymansour]

01:23 PM on 10/17/2008

That was actually a very enjoyable evening with both candidates relaxing. One thing I did notice was that McCain hit hard on the fact that Bill Clinton is luke warm in his support of Obama. Hillary obviously thought it was hilarious. I loved Obama's tongue-in-cheek humor, especially when referring to his middle name. Another quick note was the fact that Sarah Palin would have never fitted in with that ritzy crowd, so saying she had been invited.

[tbone2001]

01:07 PM on 10/17/2008

This was the first 'back and forth' that John McCain won. He was funnier than Barack by far. Kudos John!

[anghiari]

01:25 PM on 10/17/2008

john McCain made more personal attacks (albeit in a funny vein---though it got a little tense there and I think that is why so many people laughed to keep it from being an all out whine by John) Though he got some good shots in,,

What is interesting is that on the MSNBC Rachel Maddow videos of the speeches...john McCain's SPEECH runs without a GLITCH but THE OBAMA segment is disjointed...repeats the first part of his speech twice and his voice isn't matched with the screen image.....SABOTAGE!!!!

[UKlondongal]

03:22 PM on 10/17/2008

I agree - John was definitely funnier. And as an Obama supporter I am very comfortable in saying that! Too bad for John that he hasn't shown this side of himself over the last few weeks.

[paul m]

01:06 PM on 10/17/2008

Great speeches. However, Obama showed why people were a little uneasy about him...a bit too much focus on himself.

Could we be in for an iPresident?

[anghiari]

01:33 PM on 10/17/2008

DO YOU HAVE A CLUE WHAT THESE SPEECHES ARE ABOUT...self deprecating humor, taking shots at your opponent and anybody else in the room...if you listen to John McCain's speech it was a nastier speech albeit funny and again Obama chose the high road...even when he talked about John's age...he made it hilarious... and not nasty. I loved McCain's allusion about hillary being the only Democrat in the room supporting him...

John McCain has a tough job...he is trying to go nice, but also serve his base where he has been throwing them raw meat at these rallies. Thus he took fewer shots at himself and more at Barack... Obama tended to take more shots at himself and spread his shots around to Hillary, Bill, Schumer, Bloomberg and McCain...

but I was really pissed at MSNBC for serving up on its online page a clear easy to listen to McCain Speech and a disjointed hard to listen to Obama speech. Whoever the editors were they did a job on Obama's section.

[militarymomforobama]

02:53 PM on 10/17/2008

It's called humor, paul_m. Showing the absurdity. I don't have the time to explain.

[lizmchale]

11:55 AM on 10/17/2008

Please, does anyone know *who wrote* the two speeches??

[robbie44]

11:54 AM on 10/17/2008

Lets just make sure we get the last laugh.So make sure you get of your butt and vote!

[DennyCrane]

11:44 AM on 10/17/2008

Wow! Obama is hilarious. It'll be nice to have a President who can be funny and have it be intentional.

[DAMARCUSMOM2005]

11:39 AM on 10/17/2008

OBAMA LOOKS SO SEXY!