Something less obscene

Apparently the candidates can be civil. They took an opportunity to attend a dinner in which they only traded wisecracks, not attacks. Here are some quotes:

McCain told the glittering Manhattan crowd at the annual Al Smith dinner, a fundraiser for area Catholic charities named after the four-term former New York governor, that he had an announcement -- he had dismissed all of his campaign advisers.

"All of their positions will now be held by a man named Joe the plumber," McCain said, citing the Ohio small business owner who McCain made an overnight sensation in Wednesday's debate.

The Arizona senator also poked fun at his reference to Obama as "that one" in an earlier debate.

"He doesn't mind at all. In fact he even has a pet name for me: George Bush," McCain said.

...

When Obama took the microphone, he said he needed to correct some misconceptions since McCain had been asking "Who is Barack Obama?"

"I was not born in a manger," he said, adding the name Barack, given by his Kenyan father, was Swahili for "that one." He also had an explanation for his middle name, Hussein.

"I got my middle name from somebody who didn't think I would ever run for president," he said.