'View' hosts welcome Joe Biden with open arms, Meghan McCain brings him to tears

The ladies of "The View" couldn't wait to begin the first televised interview with newly declared presidential candidate Joe Biden so they went ahead and brought him out before the very first commercial break during Friday's show and kept him at the table for the full hour.

With a big smile on her face, Joy Behar introduced Biden and grasped both his hands as he walked out. Ana Navarro gave him an air kiss and longtime family friend Meghan McCain greeted him with a hug.

Earlier, she said she was "thrilled" that the former vice president had chosen to do the much-coveted interview on their "all-female talk show."

McCain reminded Biden of his last visit in December 2017, when he comforted her amid her father John's battle with brain cancer. Since then, she said, she's referred to the veteran politician as the "Grief Whisper" and called him "more times that people could imagine."

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Now, eight months removed from the Arizona senator's death, she wanted to know: "Does death ever get easier?"

Biden, who lost his elder son Beau to the same form of brain cancer in 2015, told her it does, eventually.

"There will come a time when you walk by that closet or smell that fragrance or sit out on the porch at that ranch," he said, referencing shared memories of her father, who was also his friend. "You’re gonna get a smile before you get a tear, and that's when you’ll know you’re gonna make it."

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Biden, who also lost his first wife and daughter in a car crash before his first Senate term, reminded McCain, "There are lots of people who go through worse than what we have and they get up and do it every day without the help we've had."

She also wondered how much Beau, who expressed a hope that Biden would run in 2016, factored into his decision to enter the fray in 2020.

"He's not why I'm running. But I hope he's proud," he concluded, wiping away a tear.

As for "Sleepy Joe," the nickname bestowed on him by 72-year-old President Trump, Biden, 76, said, "If he looks young and vibrant compared to me, I should probably go home!" He added that he's never been referred to as sleepy before – "Hyper Joe, maybe!"

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'View' hosts welcome Joe Biden with open arms, Meghan McCain brings him to tears