Two interesting moments came towards the end of Joe Biden's big interview on Sunday, in which the vice president first declined to deny his ambitions to be president, and later fell into a brief laughing fit when asked to assess the state of the Republican Party.
Sitting down with "Meet the Press," Biden was pressed by host David Gregory to play political prognosticator with the GOP. After a hearty chuckle and a Cheshire cat grin, the vice president noted that history has a way of bringing even the most fractious minority party back into relevancy.
"I just know there's a ferocious debate -- there appears to be ferocious debate within the Republican Party and what they're going to look like in the future," said Biden. "I was elected in 1972 as a 29-year-old kid. My party went through the exact same thing. I ran with George McGovern. He got clobbered nationally. I barely won here. For the next two and a half to four years we were in a very intense debate of the future of the party. I think it's predictable. I think the Republican Party will come out of this, I think they'll come back. They'll be strong again. The pendulum swings."
Earlier in the interview, Gregory asked Biden to assess his own political future. Recounting the arrangement that the Delaware Democrat agreed to when becoming vice president -- a roving portfolio and final or near-final consultation on all important matters -- the host asked whether proximity to the president made Biden eager to one day hold that office himself.
"We have the order of this operation correct," said Biden, who has run twice for the White House.
"But you don't want to become president?" Gregory responded.
"I didn't say that," said Biden "What I said is I think he's going to be a great president and I think he's off to a great start and I'm glad to be a part of it."
Pressed one more time whether he would rule it out, the vice president replied: "No, I won't rule it out, no."
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Biden, for the record, would be 74 years old if he were to run for office in 2016. The oldest president ever elected was Ronald Reagan, who won at the age of 69.