Maureen Dowd fired back on Tuesday at critics who’ve cast doubt on the accuracy of a recent column that seemed to depict a deathbed wish Beau Biden made for his father to run for president.
“The column is accurate,” Dowd told New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan. The accuracy the column came into question after Vice President Biden appeared on “60 Minutes” on Sunday and seemed to, without naming her, dispute Dowd’s Aug 1. column, titled “What Would Beau Do?”
Dowd denied reporting, as Biden put it, that Beau made a “Hollywood-esque” wish for him to run from his deathbed.
“I never reported a last-minute deathbed scene where Beau grabbed his father’s hand,” Dowd said. “In fact, my column recounted a conversation they had seated at a table after Beau knew his prognosis was bad. He was terminally ill for some time.”
She then cited a previous Wall Street Journal story that reported Biden and his son had a conversation about a potential presidential run days before Beau died from brain cancer.
Sullivan backed Dowd’s denial in her own piece, writing, “A re-reading of the column (and a second look at the vice president’s words on CBS) bear her out. There is no mention in the column of a deathbed conversation or hand-grabbing, and there is mention of father and son sitting at a table.”
Watch Biden deny the deathbed wish account below.