This is hilarious. An absolute must watch. The Al Smith dinner is something fans of The West Wing might know a little about from early on in season 7 of the hit show. It is an event held in New York at which the Presidential nominees from both parties speak at. Arnie Vinnick, the Republican nominee in The West Wing, didn't want to go it because he didn't want to be in a room with members of the Church. Matt Santos, the Democratic nominee for President in The West Wing called it the most "political non-political event". That is an apt description of it. Here's the clip from YouTube of Obama's speech - it is hilarious. Who needs debates on policy when this Presidential race can be decided by determining who the best stand-up comedian between them is?!
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4 comments:
Good find, LL. A competition between the respective writing teams, and US politics at its best. Personally, I think McCain shaved it.
Thanks Bar Boy. Will be interesting to see how the Al Smith dinner affects the subsequent tone of the campaigns now.
I don't know how widely the event is followed in the USA. It is certainly very popular on the coasts, but I cannot imagine it gets much attention in the flyover states. I thought the McCain speech was more astute politically and played the Clinton card superbly. Whether for good or bad, McCain also finally found that Reagan-esque quality that he seems to have been grasping for these past months.
True. I imagine Colin Powell's endorsement of Barack Obama is likely to have more of an effect on voters albeit indirectly. It may not particularly be the case that they are all so interested in Powell's thinking and verdict but the press are likely to seize on it as more evidence of McCain's failing campaign.
I left out my political wits in assessing both candidate's performance at the Al Smith dinner. I thought Obama was better though because he was able to be very funny and draw attention to lots of unwarranted attacks against himself by the Press and the McCain camp.
Sorry but McCain is hardly Reagan-esque. Aside from a few select clips of the last two Presidential debates, he hardly seems Presidential material any more.
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