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CNN Sunday Morning

Boston Diner Serves up Burgers With Side of Political Humor

Aired May 13, 2001 - 08:57   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The hub of the universe, Athens of the West, Boston, Massachusetts is a city where there are two things that really count, the Red Sox and politics.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: As you know, because you lived there and worked there.

O'BRIEN: Yeah, yeah.

PHILLIPS: Bostonians also have quite a sense of humor and a hearty appetite.

CNN's Bill Delaney's going to tell us all about that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL DELANEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If you like your politics of the red meat variety, politically incorrect, Joe Bartly's Burger Cottage in Cambridge, Massachusetts just may be the menu for you.

JOE BARTLEY: The Ted Kennedy is a plump, liberal amount of burger with cheddar cheese, mushrooms and coleslaw and French fries. Then we have the Dick Cheney. That's a heartbeat away -- a bacon cheeseburger. The Hillary Clinton.

BILL DELANEY: Before the then-first lady even got elected, Joe says, he had a Senator Hillary Clinton burger.

BARTLEY: Mushrooms, sour cream, coleslaw and our famous onion rings. Enough to feed a village. I used to talk to people in New York, and they'd come in and they'd say, "I don't know if she's going to win or not." I said, boy she's one smart cookie. I bet that she is going to win.

It's all in fun, I've got to say. If you don't have a sense of humor at this stage of the game in politics or in life, you probably shouldn't be doing what you're doing.

DELANEY: Customers don't seem to take it all to heart, except maybe the cholesterol.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It does make it more fun.

DELANEY: Fun with politics, though, may not be quite what it used to be.

(on camera): Anyone serving up political laughs knows, as does Joe Bartley, that a delicious era has now passed: the incredibly juicy Clinton years.

(voice-over): The Clintons at Joe's place are still the whoppers. Bartley is a big fan of President Bush and has dedicated a Texas barbecued burger to him, but where's the beef?

BARTLEY: See, now look it, there's a Bush there. He's not funny, you know what I mean? He's a nice guy, but he's not funny. You can't, like, do things with him that you can do with Bill.

DELANEY: Not that some aren't quite content right now with a more low-calorie political diet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's just hope he isn't as amusing as a the past president.

DELANEY: All a matter of taste.

Bill Delaney, CNN, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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