Joe Biden Will Make You Cry: “My Son Was Better Than Me”

Late-night interviews with politicians don't normally require a box of tissues, but Vice President Joe Biden's conversation with Stephen Colbert on the Late Show was heartbreaking and heartwarming all at once. “I was a hell of a success. My son was better than me. He was better than me in every way,” Biden said of his son Beau — who passed away in May at age 43 — as he held back tears. Biden was open about his struggle with grief over his son's death and his ambivalence about running for president. Biden has traveled the U.S. for public appearances in recent weeks and is polling well against Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. But popularity and ambition aren't enough for Biden. "I don't think any man or woman should run for president unless, number one, they know exactly why they would want to be president and, number two, they can look at folks out there and say, 'I promise you, you have my whole heart, my whole soul, my energy, and my passion to do this,'" he said. "And I'd be lying if I said that I knew I was there."

Biden also credited his family for getting him through this loss and the 1972 deaths of his wife and baby daughter. "First of all, it's a little embarrassing to make this about me. There are so many people — even in the audience — who have had losses as severe or worse than mine and didn't have the incredible support I had. I have an incredible family," he said. "And I feel so self-conscious. The loss is serious, it's consequential, but there's so many other people going through this." Whether you support Joe Biden and the Democrats or not, the whole interview is worth watching, but be ready to call your parents afterward.