i imagined that conversation playing out whether it's with maureen dowd or somebody else. and maybe this is one of the details that emerges from joe biden putting his thoughts together like that. that seems plausible to me. when we look at the raw politics of this, he is facing a decision here right now. part of that is do i want to subject myself ms. and my family at this time to negative attack politics and like it or not, that's one way of reading what happened today. do you think what happened today has a bearing on his decision or will? >> i think it might. i think you were exactly right at the beginning of the show when you said that when you're out of politics, when you're not a candidate, people tend to be nicer to you. and the moment you become a candidate, then every action that you take including talking about your son hob died suddenly gets put into a political motif. and you know, i think beau biden will play a big role in this decision in his head one way or the other. on the one hand, running could be his way of answering beau biden's request that he run, a

should it be maureen dowd? no, they've known each other for 25 years well. i think that they both -- they were just having a conversation. i imagine that later, maureen went back to him or his staff and said -- >> i would hope so. >> can i use this if it's not attributed. and they probably were thinking about other things and said sure. it doesn't have the feel to me, i know it looks this way to politico but based on my own experience, it doesn't have the feel of a calculated move. >> you know what? >> by joe bide to run up a trial balloon with maureen shortly after his son died. >> let me say two things. it is unquestionably the case in the wake of i think a very genuine outpouring of grief in the wake of beau's who areally tragic death, people feel more warmly about joe biden. joe biden's favorability crosses from unfavorable to favorable right in the wake of his son's death. that's a natural expression of grief. >> right. >> the other thing i think about this is to me, it's all about the falseness of our expectation of authenticity which is to say when yo

and i don't doubt as well that he didn't have a conversation with maureen dowd. in that context, she's known him for many years. >> -- connection here, too. there is a connection among the irish. and joe biden always has the breakfast on st. patrick's day. i'm in the larger circle, not in the inner circle. but i've always been friendly with that family. and i think he feels very comfortable with maureen. >> right -- >> and i think they do talk about it that old irish thing you share. it's very much an irish thing. everybody else doesn't grieve. but i can see him in the middle of a conversation with maureen, telling this story of what beau said without some plan. >> even if you accept the politico's premise here, that there was some sort of planting a seed for a campaign, i still don't believe now that that means that the colbert appearance was false, that he has decided that he's going to run and that -- >> what's your bet right now? >> i'm still 50/50. i think if he runs for president now, he takes the legs out of hillary clinton in the middle of the campaign an

look, if maureen dowd got him on the phone, got a meeting with him, we know joe biden. he likes to talk. you listen to him on stephen colbert's show talking about his son, hitz thoughts all over the place. one anecdote to one thought to a memory. you can see in the course of talking to him for an hour, an hour and a half, a lot of stuff will come out. >> there's a new york magazine report today saying that basically the clinton campaign working on opposition research just in case joe biden gets in the race. >> sure they are. >> that's not unexpected. >> they get ready a lot and there's an important thing that happened today about the clinton campaign sending a message to biden. they released the leadership teams in three crucial states tworks of them which are very big in swing states. colorado, virginia and minnesota. here's what's interesting. basically the leadership teams are every known democrat that is worth their salt in colorado, virginia and minnesota. is on team hillary. including people that were with obama and not clinton eight years ago. michael bennet. joh

let's talk about this politico report regarding vice president biden and maureen dowd. explain what's going on here. >> well, maureen dowd wrote a piece on august 1st which was really the first piece that ended up fueling all the biden speculation for president. essentially the article that maureen dowd wrote was that joe biden owed it to his deceased son, beau biden, to give it a run. not only to give it a run, but to keep the clintons out of the white house and to have biden values in the white house. what we learned from politico citing three multiple sources is that it was joe biden himself who was the source to maureen dowd. so some very interesting maneuvers there. >> mark murray, thank you so much for joining us. we'll see you tomorrow. >>> turning now to california where governor jerry brown has signed a controversial right to die measure into law. now it makes california the fifth state to enact a law allowing terminally ill patients to end their lives with doctors prescribed drugs, along with oregon, washington, montana and vermont. the bill was inspired by br

in august, maureen dowd wrote that beau biden's dying wish was for him to enter the race. denying a report by politico that mr. biden leaked the emotional detail to dowd to lay the groundwork for a race. joining me, gloria borger and cnn political commentator dan pfeiffer who was a senior adviser to president obama. gloria, you've been calling sources again tonight. how does this politico article and the pushback from the vice president's office factor into joe biden's timetable? >> everybody i talked to who considers themselves an ally of joe biden says to me, look, there's a lot more pressure now for joe biden to make a decision sooner rather than later. i'm told there's going to be a family conversation this weekend which could be conclusive. and even his friends are saying, look, he's lost control of his own story. you know, people don't vote for someone for president because they have sympathy for you. they vote for someone for president because they have a message and they believe you're going to be a strong leader and they think he needs to get to that part of his m

with was the source of a maureen dowd column in august that talked about his late son beau and while he was dying, he urged his dad to run for president. >> we talked about it on the show. who else will be the source for that? nobody else was in the room for that conversation. of course it came from joe biden. it would be total by bizarre and insane for her to report that if it hadn't come from joe biden. >> francis, the reaction, at least among biden detractors, this was cold and calculating, as opposed to he's known her for a long time and he was just grieving, which he has been doing quite publicly. >> howie, the leak of washington in the coin of the realm. shocking that the vice president would leak his own story. the back side of this story is, quite frankly, was it a calculated moving? and what has he been doing in the last two months? very calculating. history may show this was all part of a plan to slowly get into the race. the cynic in me could believe that story. i'd like not to believe it, but -- >> whether calculating or not, we don't know at this point. historical irony,

maureen dowd's august 1st column skroibed a dying beau biden, sitting his father down trying to have his father promise to run for the white house. dowd's column instantly sparked speculation of a biden candidacy. not a fighter everyone makes him out to be, at least according to his republican counterparts. >> i never start it. bush started with me. i've been very nice to bush. i want to be nice to everybody. it's very important for the republicans to win, that they get along. i'm not looking to do this with everybody. >> now that is definitely a kinder and gentler donald trump. author and columnist jedediah, michael goodwin, fox news contributor -- i have to give you some considerable credit for being kind. not kinder. >> let's start with mccarthy. and this absurd gift that he gave hillary clinton. he has resurrected, single handedly, her campaign. >> i think it may cost him the speakership. and i think it should. i think this was a first order gaf, one that cannot be taken back or explained away. i wonder, too, if he isn't signaling that they've been the source of e-mails. how else

maureen dowd writes a lot of stuff negative about hillary clinton. is this another one of those? are we to assume it is the way it really happen? >> if indeed the vice-president and this report is true, and the vice-president was the source of this, we could infer that yes, it reveals a bit of what the vice-president would display on the campaign trail will. he would attempt to be the establishment alternative to hillary clinton. that is chlor if he jumped in the race. but the question is one of timing. modern presidential campaigns can't be turned on with a light switch. draft biden movement has been doing work and screening staffers for the campaign. but if the vice-president is doing this, he has a huge organizational hurdle to overcome. >> does it make him appear too calculating. certain people would say yes, he is calculating. and find me a person running for president not called calculating. i don't think it has a negative impact on his campaign. for him, it is a question of building that organization and make a firm decision sooner than later. >> gabby, his favorability ra

. >> but the reaction is this is cold and calculating to leak this story to maureen dowd. >> the like in washington is the point of the realm and, showing that the vice president would leak his own story. the back side of this story, quite frankly, was it calculating? what has he been doing the past two months? calculating. history may show this was part of a plan to slowly get into the race. the cynic in me could believe that story. i would like to not believe it. >> calculating or not we do not enjoy. the irony is in 1987, maureen dowd knocked him out of the presidential race by reporting allegations, or the truth that he plagiarized material from a british politician that was leakd to her by someone on the michael dukakis campaign that was fired as a result. >> ahead, donald trump on the snarky coverage of his wife, melania but hillary clinton and bernie say they will not attack each other. will it turn into a tepid affair? i'm definitely able to see savings through using the car buying on usaa. i mean, amazing savings. i was like, wow, if i could save this much, then i could actua

but if the story is to have any meaning that he's actually the one who told maureen dowd that which might make some sense if it happened. i don't think there's anything wrong with him telling her that if he wanted to. but i suppose the story raises the idea that he did it all to try to generate sympathy for hymn which would in turn make him a more popular figure if he decided to enter the race. i know joe biden. and i know what it's like to lose a son. and i don't doubt for one-on-one second the sincerity of this man's grief over that. and i don't have any doubt to think that -- and believe me, grief is innovating and that he is generally torn about this. but i think his grief is sincere and his doubt about which way to go in sincere, as well. >> the question is why are we learning about this there are other reports that hillary clinton is all in. >> she's got this enormous superstructureover organizationings and foundations and so on that are designed to support her and her husband's undertakings. and it would be absolutely surprising to me if some of those -- the people that work in tho

maureen dowd wrote that beau biden's dying wish was for joe biden to run for president. joining me now is cnn chief political analyst gloria borger and dan pfeiffer, who was a senior adviser to president obama. how does the push back from the vice president's office play in joe biden's timetable? >> everyone that i've talked to who considers joe biden an ally, there's a lot more pressure now for joe biden to make a decision sooner rather than later. i'm told there's going to be a family conversation this weekend which could be conclusive and even his friends of the sympathies for you and they believe they are going to be a strong leader and they think he needs to get to that part of the message really quickly if he's going to get in. >> dan, regardless of who told maureen what and for what reason, is there a risk that he's being seen as indicecisive? >> i think people are going to give him a very wide birth to make this decision. i don't think the public perception is an issue. what is an issue is that eventually he's going to run out of time because of the logistical nu

dowd that beau biden pleaded with his father not to let the white house, quote, revert to the clintons, and that the country would be better off with biden values. the report says people read dowd and started reaching out to those around the vice president would say by way of defensive explanation he was just answering the phone and listening. but in truth, biden had effectively placed an ad in "the new york times" asking them to call. a biden aide says the story is, quote, categorically false and the characterization is offensive. but didn't deny that biden spoke with dowd. this, as new york magazine reports that hillary clinton's campaign is readying opposition research against biden if he joins the race. the project is reportedly exploring the vice president's ties to wall street, reluctance to support the 2011 raid that killed osama bin laden, and the treatment of anita hill at the 1991 clarence thomas confirmation hearings, while he was chairman of the senate judiciary committee. >>> in an interview yesterday, top tier republican presidential candidate ben carson appeared to sugge

this morning, maureen dowd is writing about hillary clinton, and her testimony before the house select committee. she writes, no one plays the clinton.ke hillary hillary turns around and uses the sympathy. if her republican opponent's get and her face and an overbearing way, she turns around and uses sympathy, and gendered -- engendered to win a senate seat. hillary clinton is never more alluring than when a bunch of her. faced white men bully from cedar hill, texas, republican line, good morning. caller: good morning. i do not think much of the democrats in iowa, and why they always think that if they go to iowa and give speeches, and katy perry,ike hilla they will get votes. ignoret know why they the rest of america. hardly any democrats have come to texas, except for bernie sanders erie i pray he is the nominee and not hillary clinton. i feel that if he is the nominee, republicans are sure to win, which i am hoping for. give not right why they iowa so much attention. it is a full primary, you know. i think it is ridiculous how little attention is put on states like texas, and why so

dowd column. you did not give that to maureen unless you are keeping your options open. >> i believe that is what vice president biden did. >> if you watched him publicly grieving for his son had to know that he wasn't there. >> the vice president was sending mixed messages. you had him going to pennsylvania labor day parade with the youngs. second, he was on late night television where he talked about his son and how devastating theless and that is one of the biggest red flags. he was, like, well, i don't think i am ready. he made the comments that really, if the media who is picked up, they pushed it aside and said we going with our sources. >> i see zero remorse or any sense of embarrassment or we have to figure a way to not do it next time. >> they moved on. >> you are hitting on something important that it is to the point where people know they can say things and the off chance they are right, everyone said, look, you were right. if you are wrong, no one cares, just move on. >> speaking of mo

the political story joe biden talked to maureen dowd using his dead son as a political ploy to get that story out he should run for president. that is the kind of thing that hillary would want people to know that chips down at the attitude and sympathy for joe biden. that is a shot across the bough. the story came out hillary hired a major independent team to look at for opposition research to go after joe biden. these are messages to biden this is just the beginning, and they will not stop. she'll destroy him. charles: isn't there something about biden and his opposition going after osama bin laden too? >> that's part of what they're finding, he was against that raid. there's a lot of things the americans have forgotten but will be reminded by hillary. this is something she does not want him to be running because she doesn't want to work too hard for the nomination. >> do these things work for the american voter? you are experts, you follow politics. do the american people follow this? charles: i think something is resonating, she would not be a, as desperate as we all believe she is,

dowd published an explosive column saying he was thinking about running. shortly thereafter, it became that he had known elizabeth warren to come to washington and meet with him at his house privately, to have a very long talk about politics. not long after that, the vice president started to open up a bit in public about the fact that he really was thinking about it. >> i leg straightforward with you. the most relevant factor in my decision is whether my family and i have the emotional energy to run. some might think that is not appropriate, but unless i can go to my party and the american people and say that i am able to devote my whole heart and my whole soul to this endeavor, it would not be appropriate. and everybody talks about a lot of other factors -- the other people in the race, and whether i can raise the money, and whether i can put together an organization. that's not the factor. the factor is, can i do it? can my family undertake what is an arduous commitment that we would be proud to undertake in order circumstances, but the honest to god an

the speculation has increased since august when new york times columnist maureen dowd reported biden's son, beau biden, urged his father to run before his death of cancer earlier this year. this month, politico reported dowd's source for the story was joe biden himself. a longtime democratic senator from delaware, biden previously ran twice for the democratic nod. the last time was in 2008 when he ultimately became then-senator barack obama's running mate. while a new campaign would seek to capitalize on biden's two-terms as vice-president, it would also invite scrutiny of his senate record in a democratic political climate that is notably more progressive today than it was when biden last sought the nomination. biden's 1994 crime bill, while implementing sweeping gun control, also helped fuel mass incarceration with financial incentives to keep people behind bars. biden is also known for close ties to the financial industry, notably helping push through a 2005 bill that made it harder for consumers to declare bankruptcy. he represented the state of delaware. according to the "new york

. >> but what i'm saying, you don't give that to maureen dowd unless -- >> unless you are keeping your options open, which i believe what he did. at the same time, anybody who watched him, you know, publicly grieving for his late son beau had to know that he wasn't there. >> on the one hand, you had him going to pennsylvania, labor day parade, with the unions, you know, then secondly, he was on late night television where he talked about his son, and how devastating the loss. and really that was one of the biggest red flags when he did go on late night television and was like, i don't think i'm ready. he made these comments that really, if the media would've picked up on it. which they did. but, again, they kind of pushed it aside and said, nope, we're going with our sources. >> and yet, i see zero remorse or any sense of embarrassment in the media. it's like, okay, let's talk about -- >> yeah. they moved on. >> well, i think you're hitting on something important, which is they're really, i think it's gotten to the point where people know they can say things. and then on the off chance

you know, i also think there was a story out in august written by maureen dowd it was his son's dying wish for him to run for president of the united states. politico later reported that he joe biden was the source of the story. i think if you put a story out like that, forget about how cynical and how, you know, forget about that part of it. but i think how you can defy your son's dying wish and not run for president. >> i think he is watching the clock. secretary clinton, i think she is using the benghazi committee for fundraising. whoa is me, mean old republicans are after me for. this the separate investigation with the fbi into whether or not there is classified information that was an her server on her email or on her personal account. that's more important. i think that biden is trying to find out which way the wind is blowing on that and that that would make -- he may you not have enough time. >> timing here is getting crucial. i think he may have missed his moment, given that she had that great debate performance. that all the insiders are raving about there was a great perfo

. >> interesting op-ed in "the new york times" by maureen dowd this morning writing about hillary clinton specifically and this benghazi committee. i want to read part of what she said, talking about when kevin mccarthy on fox news said we committed this committee. >> at that moment hill hilary shook off her bad juju and mccarthy got it, losing his shot at being the speaker. >> is this all passed hillary clinton and moved on to the republican party. >> he did no favors by making that comment. it became a talking point. i challenge this notion this is a political committee. in all due respect to you, hillary, there is new information. june 7th we know that ambassador chris stevens needed more security. we know that hillary clinton was receiving e-mails from sidney blumenthal, an activist, in her inbox but not receiving requests for new security in libya. that's new information. she needs to be asked this, she's a chief witness in this. >> hillary, you get the next word on the other side of the break. go ahead, very quickly. >> the oversight board at the state department actually did review

according to politico, biden told maureen dowd his dying son told him he had to run because the white house, quote, should not revert to the clintons. jeff, this is a harsh report. incredibly harsh report. this conversation between biden and his son, would that be enough to get biden to run? >> it's a great question. the conversation between the vice president and his son would be the most personal of moments. we know how close this vice president was to bo biden and his brother hunter biden want the vice president to run. they think he should be serving in the white house. it is only one part of the equation though, i'm told. friends and allies of the vice president said this is one piece of the picture. you can't run on the sympathy vote. you can't run on something like this directly and only on this. it is one piece of the puzzle. it is not enough to make a candidacy out of that just entirely. >> especially now i've got allegations like this reporting. some people say if joe biden wanted to run, we would know, this isn't something you hem and haw about. what would be the strategy i

dowd. biden's office isn't confirming or denying that he talked to the columnist about his son bo's dying wish that he run for president. but they're not denying -- they are denying the suggestion that biden had political motivations in mind. i'm joined now by msnbc host and political correspondent steve kornacki. walk us through the article and the response. >> this started august 1st, the date this column ran. it was in the wake of beau biden's death. this is about the conversations as beau biden was dying. and she's quoting what she says are joe biden's thoughts. so there's a lot of mystery back then about where did she get the descriptions from, where did she get the thoughts from. politico today say they have multiple sources that this came directly from the vice president himself, that he leaked this to the "new york times," to maureen dowden. it says that in truth, biden effectively placed an ad in the "new york times," saying it was a calculated effort to drum up support for a poten

we learned this week that he himself had been a source for maureen dowd of "the new york times" revealing the story that his son on his death bed said he wanted biden values, not clinton values, in the white house. i think to anyone, you want to live up to that dying wish, and i think that's a strong pull for him. he's also been trying to lay the groundwork, making the meetings to see how to get in there. i don't know that it makes a lot of sense to get in monday before the debate. i think the ideal time would be the day after the debate, if he's going to do it. >> yeah. all the preparation and things that are going into a debate. but the other thing that's coming up, his team met with the dnc this week to talk about various parts of the campaign. and later on this month, there's a deadline in georgia for getting on the ballot. and you know, if you're not on the ballot in a state, that's going to present a problem. but the longer biden waits to get in, the more difficult it's going to be for him, even though he's joe biden, even though a lot of people know who he is. those on-the-groganiz

dowd in "the new york times," that he was the source, saying that he had been told by beau that it was his wish for him to be president. what's your reaction to that story? >> i know that beau thought his dad would be an incredible president. wi talked about 2016 often, when his dad's potential race came up, it was very brief. beau would have wanted him to be going through this deliberatative process. so i don't know what their conversation was like, but that story left a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth. >> why? >> just the way it was reported. >> because you thought it made him sound like he was being political? >> yeah, i think it is conversation between beau and his father was private. >> thank you so much. >> thank you for having me. >> that does it for this hour. i'm kate snow. "mtp daily" with chuck todd starts right now. ♪ >>> if it's wednesday, got to ask yourself, are we in heaven? no! it's iowa, and it's october. 117 days until the caucuses. just over here to the general, all the big action is in the hawkeye state. this is "mtp daily" and it starts right now. ♪ >> h

dowd "new york times" column which talked for the first time about a possible candidacy and about how beau biden on his deathbed had communicated to his dad this long-held belief that joe biden should run for president, and that that set off, of course, all the subsequent speculation in which we are still living, and this is awkward. nobody reveals sources but karen, come on. >> first of all, who did people think was the source of the verbatim from a deathbed conversation between the vice president and his son? but what i, you know, am skeptical of is the characterization of this being the vice president essentially putting an ad in the "new york times." we do not know anything, assuming he was the source which i have from the beginning and i think most people have, what the context of that conversation was. again, the vice president is very much a man whose feelings are something he wears publicly and he is in great, great pain right now. >> in fact, what the biden folks are saying is that to assume that first of all, that he himself has said he was talking to a lot of people, workin

dowd column back in early august, that said that beau biden's dying wish was for his father to run for president. after first pushing back off the record, the vp's office came back said, the bottom line of the politico story is that it is categorically false and the characterization is offensive. joining me, molly, let me start with you, that denial told you what? >> very little, basically nothing. they said it was categorically false, but not specifically false. on the other hand, this didn't seem like that much of a surprise to me, because how many people were in that room? if it wasn't -- >> it had to be a family member. >> if it wasn't joe biden himself, it was someone very, very close to him. >> exactly. >> always the theory that it was some family member and that the reason you tell that to a "new york times" columnist is to get it out there and to see how people react to it. so, you know, if it didn't come from him, it might as well have. >> unfair, this is about, do you think, this is someone -- someone clearly leaked this piece of information to damage biden. motivation is wha

maureen dowd wrote in either 2008 or 2012, i can't remember, i'm an old guy but it was in a presidential election. the test of a president is how he or she responds to unforeseen events because what they promise is never going to come to fruition. you remember george w. bush telling lehrer he was going to have a restrained foreign policy and now how do you respond to these massive unforeseen events? >> as david said, i think this is what made it so uncomfortable for barack obama. this is not the way he wanted to respond. i think what really is vexing for all of us is i think he had to do that and there's a good chance it won't work. there's a good chance in two years someone will have to say we need more. yet if we don't go, it's exactly what you said a moment ago. it's why they get all that pay for the job, i guess. >> and chris jansing gets not as much for donald trump for selling those ca caps. i don't know how he going to tack that pay cut. i read about how president obama is going to have to bow to the reality. the presidency always humbles the president. it just always does. >> whe

first reported by the "new york times" and maureen dowd. the bidens say he was a grieving father, not making a political calculation. biden is expected to make a 2016 decision sometime this month. there is new evidence at this hour that hillary clinton is ready to go on offensive should biden declare. msnbc anchor and political reporter steve cokornacky joinse now. there's one portion that reads biden has portrayed his decision about a 2016 run as purely he mogsal, a question about whether or not his family has the strength. that's a big part of it but not all of it. they go on to say he's in mourning but is also calculating. the tears are real, they definitely want to make that clear, but they say every account that is consistently on biden's mind but so are the clinton poll numbers, so are his poll numbers, too. what kind of picture is being painted here? >> they have to be. if you are seriously considering running for president, you have to make the personal calculation and the political calculation. that's true for everybody. but what m

dowd's column, and then the biden camp came back and said this is unbelievably i. we would never do that. so some say that might be a rival on the left trying to make joe biden look bad before he gets in. >> really human take and perspective on that, megyn kelly by the way. >> marco rubio and he was joking about donald trump sending him water, right? it's high quality water. well, hillary clinton yesterday took a page out of donald trump's playbook and actually sent the republicans her book called "hard choices." listen to this. here she is in iowa. >> you know, i hear the republicans talking from time to time in their debates and elsewhere, and they say things like, oh, i don't know what she accomplished as secretary of state. she didn't accomplish anything. i listen to that for awhile. and then i thought, you know, maybe they just don't know. so i have now sent each of them a copy of my book "hard choices" about what we did during those four years. >> listen, it is not a stellar record no matter how you shake it. most think that the things she left undone have fa