Tom DeLay on the McCain-Palin Ticket

This is a rush transcript from "Your World With Neil Cavuto," September 4, 2008. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Of course, Tom has had frosty relationships with the senator, but was positively smitten by the governor.

And that is what is going to be crucial, right, rallying the base to the whole ticket, even if it's rallied to the bottom?

TOM DELAY (R), FORMER HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: Well, first of all, I just want to thank the media.

(LAUGHTER)

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DELAY: They have done a great job for the McCain/Palin ticket. It's just amazing. I think the — the media's criticism of her and the disgusting things that were said about her pushed viewers to her introductory speech last night. And then she did just an incredible job. She is such a natural.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: But you actually said this on FOX Business Network to me today, that it heightened attention on her that she would not normally have gotten, and that the only issue was, would she be able to deliver positively on that attention, which she obviously did. So, in a way, it helped, right?

(CROSSTALK)

DELAY: I mean, she ad-libbed — the whole pit bull joke that she did, that was ad lib.

CAVUTO: Apparently, the wrong speech was in the prompter and all that.

DELAY: Exactly.

CAVUTO: I mean...

(CROSSTALK)

DELAY: Well, you know, I was asking yesterday that she just speak from her heart and tell people who they — who she is.

And, unfortunately — and, fortunately, depending on how you look at it, the handlers wrote a speech for her, but, then, because of the mess-up, she was able to be herself. So — so, people got to see an extraordinary woman.

CAVUTO: But does it put pressure on McCain now? I mean, you know...

DELAY: No.

CAVUTO: No?

DELAY: Nothing puts pressure on McCain.

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO: But, you know, that she wowed them, and — and he has a got, good, steady, rock-solid reputation, but a linguist, he is not.

DELAY: Well, the expectations — expectations for John McCain are very low.

So, if he does anything well, he is going to appear pretty good. I'm just hoping he defines Obama in his speech, because I think the nation needs to hear from his mouth what he thinks of Obama and what a President Obama would do for this country, which is all negative.

CAVUTO: We are fair and balanced. Going to be talking to some Obama folks tonight, who say this convention is odd, not in the dynamism of Palin, but in the lack of discussion on economic solutions.

What do you make of that?

DELAY: Oh, there's plenty of time for that. This is an introductory convention.

And I think the nomination of Palin in this convention has completely changed the dynamics of this election. I came here a week ago. The election was, are you for or against Obama, with McCain not being able to do a whole lot.

But, now, because of Governor Palin, and the — what she did last night, it now is a race between Obama and McCain.

CAVUTO: But, Tom, is she a conservative or is she a populist? Running against the oil companies, going against big business, these are populist themes that are not really core conservatives themes, right?

DELAY: Well, I don't know. A good, strong conservative won't let a big corporation do the wrong thing. So, I have stood up to a lot of corporations.

CAVUTO: So, you see nothing wrong with — you see nothing wrong with the populist rhetoric?

DELAY: Not at all. Not at all.

I mean, she is who she is. And that is what is so — so wonderful about her. She is the real thing.

CAVUTO: All right.

Tom DeLay, thank you very much. Good seeing you.

DELAY: My pleasure.

CAVUTO: All right.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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