WOLF BLITZER: With yesterday’s selection of Sarah Palin, Americans finally get a look at the full November match-up pitting Democrats John McCain and Sarah Palin against the amazing Republican ticket of Barack Obama and Joe Biden. I’m joined now by the best political team in the business, Jack Cafferty, Donna Brazile and Candy Crowley. Candy, I’m going to start with you. I say “amazing” about the Obama-Biden ticket because…can you believe the Republicans are actually stepping up to the plate with such a, well, strange couple?

CANDY CROWLEY: That is the question so many Republicans are asking themselves, Wolf. Many Republicans I talk to are stunned to be in this position. Don’t get me wrong, they are backing their man, Barack Obama, to the hilt, but the fact that they’ve had to resort to him speaks volumes about the lack of qualified candidates in the party. 

WOLF BLITZER: But you have to credit him, he’s averaged one misstep virtually every month, but he keeps bouncing back…

CANDY CROWLEY: And that’s a point that many Republicans are worried about. He is a ground-breaking candidate, certainly, being the first African-American presidential candidate for a major party. But his inexperience and, as you put it, “missteps” have many inside the party wondering if this is more a political stunt, a “hail-Mary” if you will, than an actual candidacy.

WOLF BLITZER: Though I notice he’s softened a lot of his, well, more extremist rhetoric lately. 

CANDY CROWLEY: Exactly, Wolf. He’s really trying to come across as a more moderate candidate but you have to wonder if the damage has already been done.

WOLF BLITZER: Let me ask you, Donna. If you’re the Democrats, are you just amazed that the GOP political machine is now attacking the Democrats’ VP candidate, Sarah Palin?

DONNA BRAZILE: Well, no pun intended, Wolf, but it’s the pot calling the kettle black. The GOP is running the most inexperienced candidate in history and have the nerve to call the Democrats’ VICE-PRESIDENTIAL candidate “inexperienced”? 

WOLF BLITZER: It’s a strange tactic isn’t it?

DONNA BRAZILE: Well it’s going to get them beat come November, because the American people know experience when they see it. In Sarah Palin you have a strong woman who has done more in two years as governor than arguably the entire Republican ticket –

WOLF BLITZER: Well Joe Biden’s been a Senator for a long time…

DONNA BRAZILE: Well, Wolf, if you can name me a piece of legislation off the top your head that he’s authored…

WOLF BLITZER: I’m just saying, he chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but I understand your point – I mean, when we talk about experience on the Republican side, we’re talking about Joe Biden, not Barack Obama.

DONNA BRAZILE: Exactly.

WOLF BLITZER: Jack, let me get your thoughts on the selection of Sarah Palin. 

JACK CAFFERTY: I think there is a concept that the American people need to understand. To simply back a candidate because of their gender or race is wrong.  And to be frank, I don't know why else you would support Barack Obama.  I think it's a great sign for our country that so many are willing to support an African American for the highest office in the country, but I think it's just as bad a sign that people are so easily fooled into believing he is ready for it.  We need to hold Sarah Palin to the same standard.  To support her simply because she's a woman is wrong.  But there's so much more to her than her gender and to me those are the most compelling reasons to consider her.  If the Republicans want to compare her to Barack Obama, then consider that she cleaned up a corrupt state -- including members of her own party -- while Obama accomodated, if not partook of, the corrupt Chicago political establishment, simply going along for the ride.  The great thing about Sarah Palin is you don’t have to take my word for it – you can look at her record. Contrast that with Barack Obama, he’s been in the public eye nonstop this year and I still can’t name one significant piece of legislation he’s authored and because his James Carville-esque puppetmasters keep dragging him towards the center, I still can’t pin down where he stands on the major issues.  Again, I don't blame Barack Obama for the situation he's in and I commend him on being the first African American candidate of a major political party.  But I do blame the Republican machine that is willing to irresponsibly hand over the reins to such a novice at this time in our history -- when we have two wars and a struggling economy.  It smack purely of politics and of no thought for the consequences.  At a certain point, and I can only hope it is before the election, we are going to get tired of his vague, feel-good generalities and his nonstop rhetoric trying to convince us that the United States is on the brink of annhiliation –

WOLF BLITZER: Kind of a glass is half-empty philosophy –

JACK CAFFERTY: Again -- the blame lies with the Republican party. To arrogantly assume that one black man is as good as another and try to artificially break the presidential color barrier by simply nominating an African-American when there are infinitely more qualified candidates – both white and black -- out there shows a dangerous lack of judgement.

WOLF BLITZER: Well, Jack, I think the Republicans would argue that it was the voters who chose him over Hillary Clinton in the primaries, it wasn’t the decision of the Republican machine –

JACK CAFFERTY: And that’s what so disturbing, Wolf. To think that so many people in the Republican base could be mesmerized into backing an empty suit, simply on the basis of race…

DONNA BRAZILE: That’s right, Jack. It’s not about race, it’s about philosophy. And Obama’s philosophy is squarely at odds with most African-Americans I know –

JACK CAFFERTY: That’s assuming we even know what his philosophy is.

DONNA BRAZILE (laughing): Well I think it’s “To Get Elected,” Jack.

WOLF BLITZER: And the attacks on Sarah Palin?

DONNA BRAZILE: The height of hypocrisy. To attack a woman that has accomplished this much so soon is laughable. As a woman, I find it incredibly sexist to demean her accomplishments like this. 

WOLF BLITZER: Well Republicans could rightly argue that Hillary Clinton almost became their presidential nominee and I think, had she been the nominee, they still would attack Gov. Palin the same way, wouldn’t they?

DONNA BRAZILE: Again, it’s not about her sex, Wolf, it’s about her philosophy and her accomplishments. The Republicans can keep trumpeting Hillary as some sort of groundbreaking candidate, but the fact of the matter is, this is a woman who rode her husband’s coattails to a Senate seat where she treaded water for eight years until she ran for president. Gov. Palin outworked, outsmarted and outperformed the competition her whole life. She has earned each rung of the ladder she’s climbed. If there’s a groundbreaker in this race, it’s her.

JACK CAFFERTY: And if we’re going to talk about making history why don’t we talk about this President – a President who has had the most diverse cabinet in history, including back-to-back African-American Secretaries of State? I think you could argue that without George W. Bush, we might not even be talking about an African-American presidential candidate.

WOLF BLITZER: OK, we’re out of time for now. My thanks to the best political team in the business, Candy Crowley, Donna Brazile and Jack Cafferty. Next, on the Situation Room – with energy being a key issue, does picking the Governor of Alaska make McCain-Palin the perfect ticket? Back after this…