Joe Biden hits back after Howard Dean’s age insult: ‘I can take him physically’

Joe Biden wants Howard Dean to know that his machismo will be just fine in 2020 if he decides to run for president.

Former President Obama’s right-hand man played coy when asked Thursday on “PBS NewsHour” if he might run for president one more time, but scoffed at the notion that his age, 75, would be an issue, particularly Mr. Dean’s take that older Democrats should “get the hell out of the way” for someone 50 years old.

“Tell Howard I can take him physically, OK?” Mr. Biden said regarding the former Democratic National Committee chairman. “This is about, you’re going to be running against a man who’s 75 years old, 76 years old at the time. Whatever [President Trump’s] age is.”

Mr. Biden told host Judy Woodruff that it makes sense for people to demand a healthy candidate, but they should also move on once a good bill of health is determined.

“I suggest people see the new [Winston] Churchill movie,” Mr. Biden said, the Washington Free Beacon reported. “I think [age is] probably the least consequential of any election because of who you’re running against, in all probability.”

Mr. Biden told an audience at Colgate University in March that he regretted not running for president and that he “could have won” a primary election against Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernard Sanders.

“I had planned on running for president and although it would have been a very difficult primary, I think I could have won,” he said. “I had a lot of data and I was fairly confident that if I were the Democratic Party’s nominee, I had a better than even chance of being president. But do I regret not being president? Yes.’