Ben Carson's debate strategy

Presidential hopeful shares his plan to distinguish himself #GOPDebate

This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," August 5, 2015. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
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O'REILLY: "Campaign 2016 Segment" tonight, there are two debates tomorrow. The first one 5:00 p.m. Eastern time. It will be moderated by Fox News anchors Martha MacCallum and Bill Hemmer. The candidates In that debate: Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindal, Carly Fiorina, Lindsey Graham, George Pataki and Jim Gilmore.

Then 9:00 p.m. Two-hour debate featuring 10 Republican contenders: Trump, Bush, Walker, Huckabee, Carson, Cruz, Rubio, Paul, Christie and Kasich.

Joining us now from West Palm Beach, Florida is Dr. Ben Carson. So with that big crew up there what is your plan, Doctor, to get some attention? You're going to have to get some attention. How are you going to do it?

DR. BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, interestingly enough, people have been saying that to me all along. And, yet, the attention is coming my way. I think people actually notice sometimes the content of what one is saying rather than the decibel level at which he says it. And a lot of times when people don't have a lot to say, they increase the volume.

O'REILLY: But you are a mellow guy. I mean this is what I am talking about now. You are a mellow guy. You are a thinker. People read your books. They know who you are. There is a logical pattern and progression to your life. You are an American success story who has developed his talents to the highest level possible in my opinion and that's a compliment to you. But now --

CARSON: Thank you.

O'REILLY: -- you have got a little bit of time, not a lot of time, all right? It's a two-hour debate but it's really 90 minutes or less with the commercials, the long windy questions and the follow-ups and the, you know, pointing and all of that. You are going to have to make an impression to keep your fundraising at a certain level and your poll numbers at a certain level. Do you have one thing that you think tomorrow is going to really be a stunner?

CARSON: Yes. But I don't want to tell you my stunners now.

O'REILLY: Ok. All right. And that's fair enough. That's fair enough. You don't want to take the drama away. But you in your mind have a couple of things that you are going to do on that stage to bring attention to yourself because by nature you are not an attention seeker.

You are not like me, you know, some guy on the street trying to get people to pay attention to him. That's me. That's my nature. That's Trump's nature, all right? But you and Jeb Bush.

CARSON: But the interesting --

O'REILLY: You and Jeb Bush aren't like that. Go ahead.

CARSON: The interesting thing is 50 percent of the people still don't even know who I am. And that's a tremendous advantage for me. Because they will have an opportunity to actually hear what I have to say. I'm going to say it in a way that sounds interesting because I have to. I have to move along pretty quickly to get everything in in one minute. So that will add animation to what I'm doing.

But the most important thing is they will be able to see that the narrative that he is a great doctor but he doesn't know anything about anything else. I think we will blow that one out of the water.

O'REILLY: Now, did you see my interview with Trump last night?

CARSON: I saw a part of it.

Ok. Uncharacteristically, I think he is a little nervous in this debate. And I you think that he was honest and I have got to say something about Trump. Whether you like him or you don't like him, the guy, every time I have asked him a question over the last 30 years -- I have known the man for about 30 years, ok -- he answered it. He answered it in a way maybe you don't like it. But he is not a phony, not a phony.

But I picked up last night he is a little apprehensive. Are you? Are you a little apprehensive about going up there?

CARSON: Not at all. It's not brain surgery.

O'REILLY: You are cool? No nervousness? Nothing?

CARSON: It really doesn't bother me in the slightest. But remember, you know, for the last 25 plus years I have been doing a lot of public speaking before huge audiences under all kinds of circumstances. So that's not going to be bothersome to me.

O'REILLY: All right. But this is the biggest ever. You're on the biggest stage now. Are you bringing notes? Are you going to bring notes?

CARSON: Absolutely not. All the notes will be in my head.

O'REILLY: All right. So that's good I was going to say to all the candidates. If you get caught up with the talking points and you are looking down -- the folks are going to see that right away. Because a lot of it is body language. We used to do the body language segment. A lot of that is demeanor and how -- now somebody says something that really rankles you. And again, you're a cool guy, you're not emotional. Are you going to point that out? And say listen, you know, I'm not going for that. Are you going to do that or are you just going to stay within Ben Carson?

CARSON: No I will definitely say something if somebody says something that's untrue. And that's the big advantage that I have. I only need to talk about what's true. I don't have to try to remember talking points or the multiple things that people have told me. I just need to talk about what's true. I think people will see that.

O'REILLY: All right. But you get in trouble sometimes like you said Obamacare was the worst thing that happened since slavery. You know, some people agree with you but other people say that's hyperbole statement that kind of thing. But I kind of like it. I mean I don't agree with it, but I kind of like that you said it because it shows your passion. Last word?

CARSON: Well, the key thing about some of the things that I have said is that I learned if you use inflammatory language, people are not able to hear your message. I have concentrated more on getting the message across. I think that will come through loud and clear tomorrow.

O'REILLY: All right. So you did learn a lesson from that slavery deal?

CARSON: Oh, absolutely.

O'REILLY: Yes. Because great leadership, you have to learn lessons. All great leaders learn lessons.

CARSON: You have to be humble enough to be able to learn.

O'REILLY: Right.

CARSON: That makes a big difference.

O'REILLY: That lets me out.

Ok, Doc. Good luck tomorrow tonight. We will be watching.

CARSON: Thank you.

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