I don't think Biden should run, as you could probably tell from my Slog post literally called "Don't Run, Biden, Don't Run!" But, like everyone, I had to admit to a twinge of sympathy for him because the Maureen Dowd column about Biden maybe jumping into the race was reportedly prompted by Biden's dying son's wish.

Politico reports today that the person who leaked that sympathetic story to Maureen Dowd was Joe Biden. (Subheadline: "The vice president is mourning. He’s also calculating.")

Vox makes an interesting point about this related to Hillary Clinton.

Since Joe Biden has been weighing a run for president, members of the press have repeatedly praised him for his "authenticity." This has largely been in contrast to Hillary Clinton, who is frequently pilloried by the media as secretive and calculating...

The story Biden told Dowd is indeed touching. But his apparent decision to anonymously leak it fits oddly with the media's narrative of his authenticity — indeed, it's the kind of thing a calculating, secretive politician might do.

I'm one of the few people on The Stranger's staff who's a fan of Hillary—she has foreign-policy experience and, unlike everyone else on the Democratic side, she could skin Donald Trump like a transient killer whale skinning a harbor seal—but even her non-fans have to agree: Vox is right. If she did what Biden did here, people would be apoplectic. But Biden doing it? Oh, well, it's perfectly understandable, that's just how powerful people operate.