Biden plays 'Hardball' on Iraq, torture and Alito - Hardball with Chris Matthews - MSNBC.com

Biden plays 'Hardball' on Iraq, torture and Alito - Hardball with Chris Matthews - MSNBC.com: "MATTHEWS: That they don't want the American people to see vividly every night on television, for example, or in the newspapers, the real cost of the war.

BIDEN: Chris, I had families ask me to be there in Dover with them. They called me because, I guess because, not through a war, but I've lost a wife, I've lost a child like thousands of people across the country have.

And they've asked me, two families asked me, would I come and greet the body, meet the coffin, show respect with them. Do you know what? the Defense Department initially said no.

I'm on the Dover Air Force base all the time. I went to the commander of the base and said the family has called. They've called you. They want me to be there. I'll be there with the chaplain. There's no press, no anybody. And they said, well, we can't do that, Senator.

Then they had to call through to the Pentagon for me, a 33-year United States Senator, my own base in my own state, with my own constituency. Mother and father and son asking me to greet the body of their slain son. And they tried to stop me from doing that."