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Play of the Day: McCain the wisecracker

ASPEN, Colo. — Move over Henny Youngman, John McCain is coming through.

The Republican presidential candidate has long been known for a sense of humor that includes cornball jokes and sharp zingers aimed at friends and foes alike. At a Thursday night fundraiser in Aspen, Colo., McCain crammed nearly a dozen of his favorite one-liners into a 17-minute speech, triggering sustained laughter from a crowd that, unlike the traveling staff and media, had not heard them all before.

(enlarge photo) Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., right, participates in The Aspen Institute Conversation with Walter Isaacson Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008 in Aspen Colo. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

A sampling:

Veteran fundraiser Fred Malek, who was in the crowd, started in Calvin Coolidge's campaign.

The McCain campaign's near-collapse last summer confirmed Mao Zedong's observation that "it's always darkest before it's completely black."

"Big Red," last year's prize boar at the Iowa State Fair, is now "Pepperoni."

Arizona is so dry, "the trees chase the dogs."

When the senator agreed with a California man who suggested "you look just like John McCain," the man sympathized: "Doesn't it just make you mad as hell?"

"The good news is that we now have enough money to run the entire campaign in Colorado. The bad news is, some of that money is still in your wallets and purses."

And the always popular, "You know the difference between a lawyer and a catfish? One is a scum-sucking bottom-dweller. The other is a fish."

Bada-bing.

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Compiled by Associated Press Writer Charles Babington

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