Last night presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Barack Obama took a break from the heated rhetoric of the campaign trail, offering more lighted-hearted remarks at the 67th Annual Al Smith Dinner.
Gov. Romney’s remarks:
President Obama:
Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s closing remarks:
Update: The text of Cardinal Dolan’s remarks can be read here. A particularly memorable snippet:
Here we are: in an atmosphere of civility and humor, hosted by a Church which claims that “joy is the infallible sign of God’s presence;” men and women; young and old; of every ethnic and racial background; …
All of us reverently recalling a man of deep Catholic faith and ringing patriotism, who had a tear in his Irish eyes for what we would call, the “uns;”
– the un-employed
– the un-insured
– the un-wanted
– the un-wed mother, and her innocent, fragile un-born baby in her womb;
– the un-documented
– the un-housed
– the un-healthy
– the un-fed
– the under-educated.
Government, Al Smith believed, should be on the side of these “uns,” but a government partnering with family, Church, parish, neighborhood, organizations and community, never intruding or opposing, since, when all is said and done, it’s in God we trust, not, ultimately, in government or politics.
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