MSNBC host Chris Matthews got really excited about the possibility of Vice President Joe Biden running for president in 2016 on “Hardball” Wednesday.
“I’m dying for a race like this,” admitted Matthews of a primary race between Biden and former secretary of State Hillary Clinton. “Every reporter in this town — left, right and center — wants this to happen.”
Also appearing on the show was Mathew Littman, a former speech writer for Biden, who urged the vice president to “consider very seriously running for president.”
“How can anybody be more qualified than Joe Biden to be president?” said Littman.
Though guest and NBC News political reporter Perry Bacon described Biden as “very qualified” for the job in the Oval Office, he added that Biden might not want to enter a primary race alongside Hillary Clinton and other candidates that he says have American Democrats excited.
“When I talk to Democratic crowds, they’re excited about [three] people. They’re excited about Hillary, Elizabeth Warren and Kristen Gillibrand,” Bacon explained.
Matthews and his guests also discussed Biden’s recent moves to distance himself from the president.
Particularly, the MSNBC host referenced Biden’s Monday speech in Detroit during which he exclaimed, “It’s time to take back America.”
“He said, ‘I’m going to take back America,'” recalled Matthews. “I kept thinking, ‘What? From Obama?”
Moreover, Matthews also spotlighted Biden’s recent assertion that the United States will “follow [ISIS] to the gates of hell” during a speech at the New Hampshire-Maine border. The “Harball” host suggested that Biden’s comment was much more forceful than Obama’s claim that we need to render ISIS a “manageable problem.”
Agreeing that Biden’s statement was “not subtle,” Bacon added that Democrats are now “attacking Obama” on the ISIS issue to raise their poll numbers.
“They’re going after him because they feel like he’s not popular, they can get their numbers up by talking about him,” asserted Bacon.
Though Matthews admitted that Hillary will be “very hard to beat” if she comes out guns blazing with powerful speeches, he held out hope that Biden the “underdog” will have a shot.
“If she comes out stiff and awkward and makes these mistakes — like Biden does — it will be more of a race,” explained Matthews.
“This could be the battle of the gaffes!” he laughed.
