Joe Biden Tells of Meeting Naked Senators With Ted Kennedy
When Joe Biden first was elected to the Senate in 1973, Sen. Edward Kennedy took him under his wing and introduced him to the chamber’s elder statesmen.
Some of those introductions came in the Senate’s locker room, where the country’s most powerful senators changed in and out of their clothes on their way to the gym.
“I felt guilty I was fully clothed,’’ Biden said, chuckling and covering his face in mock sheepishness. “That’s a true story. Oh God, was I embarrassed.’’
Biden told that tale and others of his time with Kennedy on Monday during the opening of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate. He lauded Kennedy and said he “treated me like a little brother,’’ guiding him through the Senate in his early years there.
On Monday, Biden was on his comedy game at the Institute’s facsimile Senate chamber, too. While presiding over a pseudo-Senate proceeding, he asked the former senators visiting as guests to stand and be honored.
“Will the Kennedys all stand up? All 370 of you,’’ he joked.
Biden wasn’t the only one teasing the Kennedys and their long line of politicians. On a cold, blustery day, former Republican Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi joked about the Kennedys and their legendarily full heads of hair.
“I now know why the Kennedys have so much hair,’’ he said. “It’s to keep their head warm.’’
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