WATCH: Biden Praises NBC News’ Kristen Welker For Moderating ‘Much More Rational’ Debate

Former Vice President Joe Biden praised NBC News’ Kristen Welker for moderating the last presidential debate, which Biden said produced a “much more rational debate” than the one hosted by Fox News’ Chris Wallace.

Shortly after Thursday night’s presidential debate in Nashville, TN, the ex-VP spoke to reporters as he boarded a plane back to Wilmington. He began by thanking the press pool, telling them “I know it’s not very much fun when you guys just have to stand in the background but thank you.”

Biden was then asked, “How do you think the debate went?”

“Well, that’s for the public to judge,” he replied.

“I felt good about it and I thought the moderator did a great job of making it run smoothly and so it was much — much more rational debate than the first one,” Biden added, referencing Welker.

“Got a chance to speak to the American public more, so thank you all very much,” he added.

Thursday night’s muted mic-assisted debate provided quite a contrast to the first presidential debate, during which much-derided moderator Wallace presided over a chaotic spectacle that was aptly described as a “shitshow” by CNN’s Dana Bash.

Ms. Welker’s performance earned near-universal raves, even from President Donald Trump — who praised her during the debate after launching a barrage of attacks in the runup to the event.

And to Biden’s point, the result was a debate in which respondents in several polls gave the former VP a resounding victory over Trump.

Watch the clip above via CNN.