While cruising Entrecard I found the following videos on Sjeltur, taken at the annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation dinner on October 16, 2008. Alfred E. Smith, a four-time governor of New York beginning in 1918, oversaw the implementation of legislation to improve factory conditions, welfare services and housing requirements during his terms as governor. The foundation named for him has raised millions of dollars since 1945 to benefit healthcare causes.
The Foundation
"Founded by His Eminence, Francis Cardinal Spellman in 1946, to honor the memory of Alfred Emanuel Smith, New York's renowned Governor and patron of the "Little People", the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation supports and aids the poor, sick, and underprivileged of the Archdiocese of New York, regardless of race, creed, or color...
Although both his state and his country generously honored Alfred E. Smith after his death in 1944, the most unusual and notable memorial to him has been an ongoing series of black-tie dinners. Sponsored by the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation, these annual fêtes were initiated by then-Archbishop (later Cardinal) Francis J. Spellman of the Archdiocese of New York in 1945...
Cardinal Spellman, capitalizing on the fact that Governor Smith died in the month of October (the peak of election season), used the dinner to remind later generations of Smith's extraordinary public career and unique role in political history by securing the participation of the leading political figures of those later generations. Over the years, the dinner has attracted the cream of modern American politics: the list of speakers and attendees reads like a who's who of the political landscape...
Today the dinner remains a true phenomenon - a living memorial to an uncommon public figure, best known as the first Roman Catholic presidential candidate, who died more than six decades ago. Doubtless the dinner's honoree would be deeply gratified that he is being remembered each year in this fashion. He would be even more gratified to know that the dinner commemorating him and his unique role in American politics has contributed millions of dollars for charitable endeavors in the city he loved so much."
Speakers at the annual dinner have included presidents, vice presidents, senators, prime ministers, journalists and secretaries of state. The featured speakers at this year's dinner were Senators John McCain and Barack Obama; I'm sure those names are familiar to you.
Both speeches conspicuously lack the venom that's been so prevalent in this campaign; McCain's remarks are kind and gracious to Obama, and show McCain for who I think he really is: a passionate man who wants to serve his country in every way possible.
But mainly, I'm posting the videos here because they're hilarious, and they offer a chance to laugh for a change, no matter which side of the aisle you find more comfortable. If you don't spit milk out of your nose at Obama's comment that he can see the Russian Tea Room from the sidewalk in front of the Waldorf Astoria, then you're a tough audience.
