MTP Transcript for April 29, 2007

MR. RUSSERT:  But Virginia Tech?  How does that relate?

SEN. BIDEN:  Oh, well, what Virginia Tech is about is the debate that come out—came out afterwards, where you had this whole debate about, you know, if everybody had a gun, this wouldn’t have happened and so on.  I mean, it wasn’t—it didn’t produce that kid, that kid was mentally deranged.  And it didn’t produce that.

But think of the—all the other things, Tim.  I mean, you cannot engage—a leader cannot engage—the leaders of the country cannot engage in this kind of, of, of talk and the way we characterize people and the hatefulness of it and think it doesn’t permeate society.  As I said earlier, you know, the famous line of Pat Moynihan, we’ve defined decency down.  I mean, look, what we’ve defined down is, is civility in this country.  I mean, things that you could say today in the public square, you would have been pilloried for saying in 1975.  It matters.

MR. RUSSERT:  You said this back in September of 1987 as sort of a diagnosis about yourself, “I exaggerate when I’m angry.”

SEN. BIDEN:  Yeah.  That’s true.  I did.  And look, and that, and that was ‘87.  And, and, and the question was related directly to a guy asking me about where I stood in my class.  And I was like—I was an immature 42-year-old guy who was acting like “Your mother wears combat boots” in response.  I thought he was challenging my—and I just went out at it, and I didn’t know where the heck I ended up in my class.  I honest to God had no—I wonder how many Americans would say, “Tell me exactly where you ended up in your class,” and they could give you a number.  And I just went out, and I was angry.  But that had—I mean, I have, a lot’s happened in my life since then.  And hopefully I’m a much—I’ve controlled that, that, that anger.  I mean, the joke was I had two craniotomies, and, you know, because I had two major aneurysms, and they had to take the top of my head off a couple times.  And as one wag in Delaware said, writing about it, the reason they had to go in a second time is they couldn’t find a brain the first time.  Well, I hope when they were in the second time, they cut the temper cord...

MR. RUSSERT:  So the exaggeration and the anger is gone?

SEN. BIDEN:  Yeah, it is gone, because all you’ve got to do is lie in a hospital bed for five months, them telling you you’re not going to make it and—to give you a new appreciation for the lack of urgency in anything other than life-and-death issues.

MR. RUSSERT:  Joe Biden said that he needed to raise $40 million to be viable in this campaign.  Thus far you’ve raised about $2 million.  You’re 2 percent in the polls.  Are you viable?

SEN. BIDEN:  Yes.  I think what I said was that I needed to be able to get through the campaign.  That’s what I had to do, not to start the campaign.  I believe to get through the first—and I have to admit to you, I admit I thought a lot more about how to be president than how to get elected president, but I think I can raise sufficient money to make me viable in the first four contests, and I think that’s going to be where the decision is made about who the next nominee’s going to be.

MR. RUSSERT:  You said in the debate whoever wishes for Hillary is making a big mistake on the Republican side.  You seem to be almost a quasi-endorsement.  Are you interested in being vice president?

SEN. BIDEN:  No.  I will not be vice president under any circumstances.

MR. RUSSERT:  How about secretary of state?

SEN. BIDEN:  Secretary of state’s a different thing, but I don’t—I won’t do that either.  Look, the bottom line is, I really resent it when they go after her or other Democrats the way they do.  I think it’s—I think part of this is being fair.  And the idea that Hillary Clinton is somehow not capable of dealing with—or any one of those candidates, or at least four of the candidates—not being able to deal with Rudy Giuliani I find—or others—I, I find not very accurate.

MR. RUSSERT:  Senator Joe Biden, we thank you for joining us...

SEN. BIDEN:  Thanks a lot.

MR. RUSSERT:  ...for this in-depth interview.  We’ll be right back after this.

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MR. RUSSERT:  That’s all for today.  We’ll be back next week, an exclusive live Sunday morning interview with the author of the new explosive book “Center of the Storm,” the former director of the CIA, George Tenet, his first Sunday morning interview right here next week.  If it’s Sunday, it’s MEET THE PRESS.

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