Vice President Joe Biden walked into a heated debate over New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s weight in an appearance today on ABC’s “The View.”

“Well, you look great and trim after you just heard us bashing that poor governor of New Jersey,” co-host Barbara Walters said to Biden. “You look great.”

“No comment,” Biden demurred, as he sat on the sofa between Walters and the four other daytime talk divas.

“Actually,” he said piping up, “Christie’s a good guy.  Christie is a fellow University of Delaware graduate, and a phenomenal football fan. He comes to all our home games… I like him.”

Does Biden think Christie could be a strong candidate to challenge President Obama?

“Well, New Jersey is a big important state,” he said. “He’s at the top of his game right now.”

The vice president was less sanguine when asked to respond to the already-committed 2012 Republican field, taking particular aim at the candidates’ silence in last week’s debate following the booing of a gay service member by the audience.

“I did have a visceral response,” said Biden, whose son, Beau, served in Iraq. “I know my son and all the kids with him… I don’t think they give a damn whether the guy firing the rifle to protect them is gay or straight.

“Look, this kid risked his life, this kid was there for a year — and I quite frankly, I thought it was reprehensible,” he said as emotion visibly welled up.

Biden said he sees the entirety of the GOP field, with the exception of former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, as adherents to the same “fundamentally different” ideology.

“You know, they’re beating up Perry for saying [Social Security is] a Ponzi scheme,” he said, “but yet everyone else on that stage wants to privatize it. So I don’t see much difference.”