Transcript: Racism or Security?

This is a partial transcript from "Your World with Neil Cavuto," April 5, 2006, that was edited for clarity.

NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: In 1998, a gunman got past security at the U.S. Capitol, just behind me, and killed two officers, including one that was attached to Tom DeLay's security detail. Now, last week, Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney claims that racial profiling was why an a Capitol Hill police officer stopped her for identification. The congresswoman is accused of striking that officer. And now authorities are looking at striking back at her.

My next guest says that Ms. McKinney is the real racist here.

Joining me now is outgoing Congressman Tom DeLay of Texas.

Congressman, good to have you.

REP. TOM DELAY, R-TEXAS: Thank you, Neil. Great to be with you.

CAVUTO: What do you think of this?

DELAY: Well, obviously, I have the utmost respect for the Capitol Hill police. People think they're tour guides. These are people that are protecting that beautiful people and all the precious people in it.

And, as you said, John Gibson died in my office protecting my employees and me. I was in the office at the time. And he did it in an incredibly courageous way. He let the shooter go by him, and he yelled at him, because he knew, if he shot him in the back, he could shoot those young people sitting at their desks.

CAVUTO: Yes.

DELAY: And, so, he took the full brunt.

CAVUTO: And he died.

DELAY: This officer in this incident didn't know Cynthia McKinney didn't have a gun, didn't know that she may have had a knife or even a bomb on her.

CAVUTO: So, you are not buying the whole racist thing?

DELAY: He still accosted her. He still showed the courage to walk up and confront her, because she had broken the protocol.

It had nothing to do with race. It had everything to do with doing his job, and doing it professionally.

CAVUTO: So, he shouldn't be punished in any way?

DELAY: Absolutely not.

In fact, we ought to pass a resolution commending him for his service and his courage. And I am sending a letter to the chief of the Capitol Police this evening to do just that.

CAVUTO: I had heard about that.

Let me ask you, when this type of an issue becomes an issue in the Capitol, congresswoman upset that, you know, claiming racism and all that, and you have got the tone and the nastiness with the whole immigration debate — and, apparently, you had your fill of all this stuff with your own dealings that you are up and leaving — it seems like everyone is getting out of Dodge.

(LAUGHTER)

DELAY: Well, it is not a pretty place. Washington and the political arena has gotten acrimonious.

Democrats have now embarked on this strategy of politics of personal destruction and character assassination. They're trying to criminalize politics, using the judicial. They know they can't win at the ballot box. So, they're attacking people.

CAVUTO: Maybe this fall, they can.

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO: Do you think that is going to happen?

DELAY: I really don't. In fact, that is what I am going to be doing. I am going to be out doing what I do best.

And that's representing the conservative agenda, and talking about it, and helping elect Republicans. I think if we tell the American people where we are headed, what we have done and where we're headed, and particularly how the Democrats will turn around this country, we will be fine.

CAVUTO: But the party is not doing that, right?

I mean, Ken Mehlman, the Republican Party chairman, said of you, you were good at not just coming up with good ideas, but making those good ideas happen. The rap against your party now, sir, is that it doesn't and it can't.

DELAY: One of our failings — and I failed at it, too — is getting our message out.

You know we had one of the most productive agendas in the 11 years we have been in the majority last year? I mean, we did tort reform. The president signed three bills. We did a comprehensive, aggressive energy bill to move us towards independence. We actually cut spending for the first time since Ronald Reagan. We reformed the entitlements for the first time since 1997. I mean, we did border security.

CAVUTO: But the rap was against this president and the leadership of the party that you bit off more than you could chew.

Now, I talk to a lot of Wall Streeters, Congressman, who say they really wanted you to succeed, and they are worried now that Republicans in general are heading for the abyss.

DELAY: I don't think so at all. I think it is exciting, where we are heading. I think it's exciting to put out there...

CAVUTO: You remember '94.

DELAY: Yes.

CAVUTO: There was great dissatisfaction with the party in power. Look at the overturn.

DELAY: Yes.

CAVUTO: The party in power, great dissatisfaction this time. You don't see the overturn?

DELAY: Well, you tell me if it is exciting.

First of all, the Republican Party, in the next 10 years, is going to protect our borders, enforce our laws, win the war on terror, eliminate the tax code in America and replace it with a fair tax. We are going to hold the judiciary accountable, protect the American family against the culture of death. I mean, these are things the American people want to see us do. And where...

CAVUTO: You don't think that message is getting muddied, that, even on the tax stuff, you can talk about many others in your party, are dancing all over it, and afraid to extend and commit to these tax cuts?

DELAY: That is because they need leadership.

CAVUTO: Well, you are leaving. You got Andy Card leaving the White House.

DELAY: No, no, no. I'm not leaving.

CAVUTO: Snow could leave at Treasury.

DELAY: I'm not leaving. I am just changing arenas.

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO: Well, what arena are you going to?

DELAY: I am going to go around the country talking about our great agenda and our vision for America and try to unify the conservative cause. And I'm going to be out there strategizing about how to elect Republicans to carry that cause forward. That's what I'm going to be doing.

CAVUTO: I mentioned Treasury Secretary Snow. Do you think he is being pushed?

DELAY: Oh, I don't know.

CAVUTO: Do you think we need a new treasury secretary?

DELAY: I am not into White House intrigue. No, I'm not going to get into all that. I know that this president is a strong moral leader. And I appreciate what he is doing and where he is taking the country.

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