At a party for New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley in 1987, Tennessee Senator Albert Gore included a fanciful tale about the former basketball star in a speech he gave in his honor. Soon after Bradley entered the Senate, said Gore, he was invited to make a speech at a banquet and sat proudly at the head table waiting for his turn to speak.
When the waiter came over at one point and put a pat of butter on his plate, Bradley stopped him. “Excuse me,” he said, “can I have two pats of butter?”
”Sorry,” said the waiter, “one pat for a person.”
”I don’t think you know who I am,” said Bradley. “I’m BILL BRADLEY, the Rhodes Scholar, professional basketball player, world champion, United States Senator.”
”Well, maybe you don’t know who I am,” retorted the waiter.
”Well, as a matter of fact, I don’t,” admitted Bradley. “Who are you?”
”I’m the guy,” said the waiter, “who’s in charge of the butter!”
Source:
Boller, Paul F. “The Reagan Years 1981-89.” Presidential Anecdotes. New York: Oxford UP, 1981. 276. Print.
Original Source Listed:
Christopher Matthews, Hardball: How Politics is Played – By One Who Knows the Game (New York, 1988), 226.
Further Reading:
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