Did Joe Biden use his son’s death to prime the launch of a presidential campaign? Hell yes, reports The Politico.

Stories about Biden’s potential candidacy started swirling after the heartwarming story of Biden’s partially paralyzed, dying son telling him in earnest that “the country would be better off with Biden values” first appeared in Maureen Dowd’s column on Aug. 1.

At the table, Beau told his dad he was worried about him.

My kid’s dying, an anguished Joe Biden thought to himself, and he’s making sure I’m O.K.

“Dad, I know you don’t give a damn about money,” Beau told him, dismissing the idea that his father would take some sort of cushy job after the vice presidency to cash in.

Beau was losing his nouns and the right side of his face was partially paralyzed. But he had a mission: He tried to make his father promise to run, arguing that the White House should not revert to the Clintons and that the country would be better off with Biden values.

And according to a new Politico report, the timing of that death rattle trial balloon was no accident: “according to multiple sources, it was Biden himself who talked to her.”

Since then, Biden—publicly in mourning—privately met with Elizabeth Warren, reportedly to discuss a potential challenge to Hillary. And his handlers, “several Biden loyalists” tell Politico, have been working the angle that Jill is slowly coming around to her husband’s candidacy.

So is Biden just using his son’s tragedy for his own benefit or was it a real dying wish? No real way to say, which I guess is the point: dead men tell no tales—that’s what campaign managers are for.


Image via AP. Contact the author at gabrielle@gawker.com.