'Meet the Press' transcript for Sept. 7, 2008

MR. TOM BROKAW: Our issues this Sunday: Senator McCain accepts the Republican Party's nomination for president of the United States.

(Videotape)

SEN. JOHN McCAIN (R-AZ): My heartfelt thanks to all of you who helped me win this nomination and stood by me when the odds were long. I won't let you down.

(End videotape)

MR. BROKAW: And his surprise vice presidential pick takes to the national stage with a mix of one-liners and attacks.

(Videotape)

GOV. SARAH PALIN (R-AK): I guess a small town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities.

(End videotape)

MR. BROKAW: Does Governor Palin's place on the GOP ticket change the Obama game plan? And how will she fare against her Democratic counterpart this fall? We'll ask him in his first Sunday morning interview as the Democratic vice presidential nominee; Senator Joe Biden of Delaware.

Plus, two big issues facing the candidates this fall: energy and climate change. What does the next administration need to do for our planet? Joining us, the author of the new book "Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution and How It Can Renew America," The New York Times award-winning columnist Tom Friedman.

But first, here this morning for an exclusive interview, the man Obama picked two weeks ago to be his running mate, Senator Joe Biden of Wilmington, Delaware.

Welcome back to MEET THE PRESS. It's, by our account, your 42nd appearance here. You were here...

SEN. JOE BIDEN (D-DE): First one, first one in Delaware. Thanks for coming up, Tom.

MR. BROKAW: Well, you were, you were here earlier this summer saying you would accept, but you didn't necessarily want the vice presidential nomination at that time.

SEN. BIDEN: Well, I told you exactly what I thought, and it was true. I, I was very satisfied in the job I had as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and I thought I could help the ticket that way. And--but Barack asked me to do it and I had committed to him, and if he wanted me--whatever he wanted me to do, I'd do, because I think this election is so critical.

MR. BROKAW: Let's talk about this past week.

SEN. BIDEN: Yeah.

MR. BROKAW: You and I were just watching Sarah Palin...

SEN. BIDEN: Yeah.

MR. BROKAW: ...with that very impressive introductory appearance that she made...

SEN. BIDEN: Yeah.

MR. BROKAW: ...at the Republican National Convention. And when she used that line, being a mayor is like being a community organizer except you have actual responsibilities, you said, "Pretty good line."

SEN. BIDEN: Yeah, it was a great line.

MR. BROKAW: She had a number of good lines.

SEN. BIDEN: She had a number of good ones. Look, she's a smart, tough politician, and so I, I think she's going to be very formidable. But you know, eventually she's going to have to sit in front of you like I'm doing and have done. Eventually she's going to have to answer questions and not be sequestered. Eventually she's going to have to answer questions about her record.

MR. BROKAW: Who was the first person you called after the speech?

SEN. BIDEN: After my speech?

MR. BROKAW: After her speech.

SEN. BIDEN: I didn't call anybody. I didn't--I happened to be--I didn't get her--I didn't see her speech, I saw part of it. I--we were, we were flying to--from Florida to Virginia, and I caught the tail end of it. And--oh, I guess I--actually, I called my wife. I called my wife.

MR. BROKAW: And what did she say?

SEN. BIDEN: She said she thought she was tough. She thought she was tough and she was a good politician. And so, you know, but who knows where this is going to go. You know, it's early in the process and the voters are going to make judgments about Sarah Palin and Joe Biden, and--but the truth is they're mostly going to make judgments about Barack Obama and John McCain. Vice presidents are useful, but we're not, we're not determinative.

MR. BROKAW: Already people are saying no one has a tougher job in the base than Joe Biden. He has to go up against this woman and she has been teed up, in many ways, by the Republican Party as someone that you just can't go after...

SEN. BIDEN: Yeah.

MR. BROKAW: ...in conventional terms. Make it tougher debating her than it would, say, Mitt Romney or Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania?

SEN. BIDEN: Well, in, in the sense I know Mitt Romney and know his positions, and I know Tom Ridge and I really respect them. And--but you know, I, I've debated an awful lot of tough, smart women. A woman who's a judge here in our superior court was one of my toughest opponents ever for the Senate. And there's a lot of very tough, smart women in the United States Senate I debate every day. So in that sense it's not new. But what is new is I have no idea what her policies are. I assume they're the same as John's. I just don't know.

MR. BROKAW: She did get off to a very fast start the day after they left St. Paul. They were out in Wisconsin, at Cedarburg, Wisconsin. Here were just some of the signs. Huge lineup of women, some of them with their daughters. "Wisconsin Loves Palin!" "Pro-Life Hockey Moms 4 Palin." "Sarah Leaves Liberals Spinning." "Read my Lipstick," that was a reference to her line, "What's the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull," and she said, "lipstick." And then we asked one of the women why she was at this debate and this was the response.

(Videotape)

Offscreen Voice: What brought you out here today?

Unidentified Woman: Sarah.

(End videotape)

MR. BROKAW: She's already so familiar to women that they're using her first name, Sarah. Does that give your ticket a problem, because there was a dust-up obviously between the Hillary Clinton supporters and the Obama campaign?

SEN. BIDEN: Well look, I, I live with a lot of smart women. My wife is a professor and hard-working person. My daughter. You know, I think it's kind of demeaning to suggest that all women are going to vote for a woman just because she's a woman even when she's diametrically opposed to everything Hillary stands for. I mean, I hear this talk about, you know, is she going to pick up Hillary voters? Well, I--so far I haven't heard one single policy position, one single position that she has in common with Hillary. So I, I just think, you know, all folks are a little more discriminating than just merely whether or not it's the same sex or the same ethnicity or whatever. But we'll see, we'll see. The truth is, I don't know.

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