Daily Flog: Break out the campaign! Party at the Waldorf!

Count the ways that Americans are cooked: Obama and McCain roast, the markets boil dry, Google sops up the gravy.

At last we have a slogan for this century's depression: United We Fall! Last night was a celebration of our one-party system, and what a party it was.

The Al Smith Dinner at the Waldorf was a prime example of the lame leading the blind.

Were the candidates themselves cooking?

My colleague Roy Edroso delivered the best post-dinner punch line:

Oh, SNAP! Still haven't gotten a review of the dinner from the Survivors' Network of those Abused by Priests.

But after you take a look at the photo of Cardinal Egan heartily laughing with John McCain and Barack Obama and you read the New York Times tiresome recap (like everyone else's) of the jokes, browse SNAP's library of stories about abused altar boys and shuttered churches in poor areas. Or go straight to a reprint of a 2003 Times story, "Cardinal Egan Spurns Members of Review Board Studying Abuse."

That one's a real knee-slapper.

At least Obama and McCain were funnier than John Kerry was at the 2004 dinner. Actually, Kerry didn't even get a chance to display his humorless personality because Egan didn't invite the candidates. That was because of the Catholic Kerry's stance on abortion.

And in 1996, the candidates weren't invited because Cardinal O'Connor was pissed off at Bill Clinton over abortion.

Good thing 2001 wasn't a presidential election year, Wall Street being bombed and all.

This year, Wall Street's bombing itself, and more (but slower) deaths can only result from the resulting depression into which we're sinking.

Speaking of leftovers . . .

NO PARTICULAR ORDER:

McClatchy: '3rd-party debate's only confirmed participant: the moderator'

N.Y. Daily News: 'Where you sit says a lot about where you stand at annual Al Smith dinner'

Politico: 'McCain, Obama try to be funny...on purpose'

Washington Post: 'Life's Basics More of a Stretch: Inflation, Stagnating Pay Squeeze Low-Wage Workers'

McClatchy: ' "Birthplace of Flight" is on bleeding edge of job losses'

Wall Street Journal: 'Financial Crisis May Diminish American Sway'

Wall Street Journal: 'Oil's Slide Deepens as Downturn Triggers Sharp Drop in Demand'

BBC: 'US industrial output down sharply'

McClatchy: 'Google's Net Climbs 26 Percent'

McClatchy: 'Private sector loans, not Fannie or Freddie, triggered crisis'

BBC: 'European shares lose early gains'

BBC: 'China press freedoms due to end'

N.Y. Daily News: 'Nude portrait of Sarah Palin hung in Chicago tavern'

BBC: 'Police battle police in Brazil'

Slate: 'Dubya, Stoned'