Bob Brady Ready to Back Biden Run, Talks About Taking Pope's Glass
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Bob Brady, Congressman and member of the Host Committee for when Philadelphia hosts the Democratic National Convention in 2016, voiced his support for Joe Biden, should he choose to enter the Presidential race, and also explained how he came to acquire the glass Pope Francis drank from during his address to Congress.
Brady told Chris Stigall on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT that he will do all he can to help the Vice President, should he choose to jump into the campaign.
"He's a personal friend for many, many years. I did tell him, whatever you need me to do, you let me know, and he says, you'll be the first to know...He's been our Senator, even though he's from Delaware, he's been our Senator for many, many years because we didn't have a Democratic Senator in the state of Pennsylvania for a long time. He came to every one of our dinners. He's just a great, great personal guy. I just want him to do what's best for him and his family. That's a pretty big undertaking...I do like Hillary Clinton, but Joe is my friend, my personal friend."
He shared his story of grabbing Pope Francis' drinking glass after he became the first Pope in history to address Congress.
"I asked permission. I asked the Parliamentarian if I could take the glass and he nodded and said 'sure, it's only going to go back into the kitchen and get washed up.' I didn't swipe it. I did ask for permission and I am going to get a bill for it. So, I'm going to pay for it. With all the news about it, when I saw the Pope last night, and what a gracious, gracious man. Unbelievable. After all the time in the United States, as he's leaving, he still has time to stop and have a conversation with every person before he got on the plane. What I said to him, I don't know whether you heard or not, but I'm the Congressman that took your water glass. He said, yeah, I did hear a little bit about that through his interpreter. I said, by the way, I wanted to make an even swap, I have a flag that was flown over the United States Capitol in your honor, and I want to give that to you for the glass. He said, good, good, good swap. Bueno, bueno."
Brady also said this is not the first time he's moved in on a glass after a famous speech.
"I did the same thing with Obama, when Obama got inaugurated, I was up on stage because I was the Chairman of the House Administration and I saw him drink from the glass and then everybody, en masse, ran off the stage and the glass was sitting there. So, I picked it up. I got Obama's glass. So naturally, when the Pope was out, I watched him drink three or four times from the glass. I said, I'm going to go get that."
