Steele vs Kaine: Hand to Hand Combat

What about the brother on the corner with the grocery store? Really? Is that the argument out of the RNC, that government contract work is not a real job? Could you imagine what the unemployment rate would be like if we pulled out all of the government contracts? I know my family's life would be considerably different and I'm sure that's true for hundreds of thousands of others out there who derive some of their income and standard of living from government contracts.

hello george, your show should replace the view,let reds and blues yell at the same time, the military needs to let the private section rule on mental issues for them

George, you usually do a much better job at moderating a discussion. I was disappointed to see you let Steele repeatedly talk over every comment Kaine tried to make.

Tired of listening to Democrats and Republicans telling US what WE want? Tired of listening to both Dems and Republican!?
Time for a new Party? Time for a partyt that doesn't speak out of both sides of it's mouth. I think so!

Michael Steel is a rat without a heart for people so I was not surprise at the unproffessionalism that was shown to Mr. Kaine. The clip that was shown during the round table with Jonn Voight voicing that ridicuous rhetoric about the President being brainwashed by so-called Rev. Wright was down right distgusting. Seeing that hateful clip just caused the Republican party a voter because I am others are switching to Liberal Democrats because the Democrats are in touch with the people. Republicans are all about saving face and purse during this recession which started when Bush was in office. ABC news did a clip and broke it down of how much money would be left due to all the Bush Administration had spent. Where were all the protesters then!! The Republicans definitely have a right to be nervous because as far as me and my family who just happen to be in my home at the time of the clip we are going full force Democrat and taking more with us! The Republicans have nothing to offer but fear and disgrace!!!

I will not consider nor will I sign any bill that costs more than 900 billion I LIED.

I use to get something out of this program. But in recent sessions, GS has permitted such ridiculous banter that it becomes a unintelligible conversation. As the host, one would think he's have some power in setting ground rules. I turned off and am heading out for a walk--which is better for me anyway!

Michael Steele (RNC chairman), is such an incredible windbag! As I tried to listen to his rhetoric, his disruptive interrupting of the other guy on ABC Sunday, I realized he has not figured out which end of his expulsions smell better yet.

His and the GOP seems to think that they still have the wool pulled over American common men and that we will continue to wag our tails at GOP propaganda.

All the while, our beloved GOP representatives live in mansions of health care policies, where even their dogs get better treatment than do the common men voters and taxpayers of this country, under GOP care.

I would say to Mr. Steele - every party needs a pooper; that's why you are here!

What used to be a good program is losing my interest because of George Stephanopoulos inabilility or unwillingness to impose some order on his guests who persist in speaking over each other and over him. Todays guests, Tim Kaine and Michael Steele provided the latest sorry example. I rewound some comments several times and still couldnt always understand what is being said. If I cant understand what is spoken, I see no point in watching the show.

You let Kaine go on, we had to turn it off. There not American's as we were brought up. The 60's rule and they said this would happen in the early 60's I heard this on the radio then. What happen to everybody???

Steele vs Kaine : I watch your show for its reasoned debate. However, today it was utter chaos. Maybe it would be better to lock the two in a room and who ever comes out is now the winner. This would save time and the dead air. The idea of letting Steele having "THE LAST WORD" was funny because neither one ever stopped talking on top of each other(both Steele and Kaine) what a joke.

I dislike Steele very much, however, I have to admit that Kaine threw the first punch of interuption. After that it was on!

I agree with the many posts stating that enjoyment and learning go out the window when guests are allowed to interupt each other.

These rude guests should not be invited back. They should be warned before going on and then reminded once they're finished that they've violated rules of civility and that the majority of your viewers are very interested in information and less interested in watching a Jerry Springer show.

Charlotte, great post! I will start listening when the Republicans stop lying,fearmongering and demonizing their opponent! I would like these tv hosts to start calling out all of the lies!

George,S
I like your show, Its the only one I ever watch in television.
Very dissapointed today. You didnot do good job moderating. Steele continuously interrupted Tom. You should have laid down some groundwork before hand about rules in a debate.
Please donot force me to stop watching your show as well.
Thanks

Michael Steele made excellent points today. It's not that you can just pass a bloated mess of a bill like this and think it doesn't have consequences. We need to focus on jobs and this bill just adds massive bureacracy and 110 or so new agencies and tons of regulation that'll cripple job creation. It's like the Dems have never run a business. Why should business owners risk hiring when they're going to have all thse expensive mandates and let's just guess how much unemployment insurance is going up for employers and with obama whose to say you can even lay off workers in teh future. He'll probably make that illegal so your only choice will be to go bankrupt. Now who wants to put up with that.

Our government rejects LIMITED constitutional government, they have spent trillions and trillions of dollars that do not belong to them, ruined the banking system, the auto industry, the housing market, energy production, the education system, robbed the Social Security Trust Fund, the Medicare Trust Fund, the Highway Trust Fund, now they tell us to trust them. Well I DON'T trust these thieves who are bent on passing unconstitutional legislation. Most of these snake oil salesman (both parties) haven't even read the Constitution. They all need to go!

George, you need to get control of your guests. You let Steele rule the conversation. His rudeness, and your tolerance of it, made me turn down the volume. But he never stopped talking. I finally turned the TV off. Get control of your show or I'm gone for good. I want to learn about the issues, not listen to people talking over each other. If I wanted to listen to such discourse, I'd tune in to Fox News.

I kept waiting for Stephanopoulos to act as a proper moderator, and tell Steele he cannot keep yelling over Kaine. After all, not every news channel need fall to the level of CNBC or Fox.

Not only did Stephanopoulos fail in his job as a moderator, he even gave Steele the last word.

Shameful.

Kaine v Steele: Agree with the other comments that GS did a very poor job of moderating this. I disagree with most in that Steele “had” to interrupt because Kaine kept running on and on and on unmoderated by GS. I was hoping to hear Kaine tell me how the government will be more efficient than the private sector without resorting to the “appearance” of more efficiency by using the same deceptive accounting practice and high taxes (about 15% of your income) used by Social Security. I was hoping to hear from Steele that this is another Social Security financial “time-bomb” we are being handed. While regulation is certainly in order to make sure everyone has access to medical insurance and the people should help fund policies for those who cannot afford it (yes, medical treatment is a “right”) the Democrats are using the insurance companies as a red herring (they have only a moderate net profit and lower than most industries). The real problem is we have coupled medical insurance to our employers. Remove that coupling, give the individual regulated but market-driven choices, provide for funding from the individual, employers and government (where necessary) and you have a solution – but then we would deny the Democrats this power grab which is all this really is.

Lost a lot of respect for Michael Steele. used to be a Republican. George you need to proactively manage these discussions better. You need to be in control. That's your job

hmp49 said, "I kept waiting for Stephanopoulos to act as a proper moderator, and tell Steele he cannot keep yelling over Kaine. After all, not every news channel need fall to the level of CNBC or Fox."

Absolutely. I've noticed a trend that GS is more and more like Fox all the time. I hate it. I can only watch Fox for short periods of time. I only watch it to see what lies are being told and then I watch many other channels and read many other reports to compare notes. Fox likes to say they are the only one giving us the truth. That's so that the peope who watch nothing else will believe every word they say. They are a treasonous channel.

I'm amazed at some of the comments posted. George, I think you are doing fine. I enjoyed the exchange between Kaine and Steele. Steele does not like to be pushed around. Someone wrote that he has no heart which I think is completely false. I think he attended a monastery. That requires that you have a heart. Mr. Kaine reminded me of patients I worked with in the mental hospital. They maintain a constant grin which often masks anger and hostility. It's a technique to control it. But when he reached over and touched Steele's arm, I thought it was touching, pun intended. I just recently started watching your show. My favorite part are the round table discussions even when you have guests that I find despicable like Sharpton. Keep it going guy don't let the criticisms get you down.

The first half of your program was no more or less than an embarrassment yesterday.
Is it news or entertainment to allow a guest to talk over and drown out everyone else for 15 minutes?
Why don't you keep control of your program and inform your guest that his/her mike will be turned off if he/she will not take his/her turn and allow the other guest(s) to talk.
I finally turned your show off for 10 minutes.

I'm pleased to read that so many other regular viewers were disgusted with the way these moderated discussions are deteriorating. I, too, am a devoted viewer of This Week with GS. Every Sunday morning, 9am, I've been there for months because of the high intellectual caliber of the debate. The first time I was stunned by a change in the program was when Lynn Cheney, like the spoiled child she probably was, talked over the other guests with whom she disagreed. George S's growing tolerance of uncivil discourse on his program reached a new high when Michael Steele was permitted to literally talk right over Tim Kaine whenever his 'turn' to speak came. Although I tried to concentrate on his words through the blizzard of outraged protest issued by Steele, I could barely follow his points. I kept hearing trite and practiced "talking points" issued by the increasingly desperate Republican machine, such as "government takeover of healthcare", and "burden on future generations". I realize that these folks are accustomed to getting their way, and unaccustomed to smart opponents who have the gumption to speak up (articulately, I might add) against their fear-mongering blather. But that is no excuse for literally trying to 'shout them down'. If one needs a dose of rude men and women who shout out sensationalist and inaccurate 'outrages', we know where to go.....Hannity, Limbaugh, Fox, Coulter.
But can't we have one place where we can have civil, health debate? One more show like the Cheney and Steele trash, Mr. S., and I'll be raking leaves rather than turning on your program.
And what's with George Will lately? Is he losing it? I used to read Mr. Will's opinion pieces when I was still able to think of him as the bastion of conservative good sense. But increasingly, he has exposed himself as the obstructionist shill for Republicans that I now take him to be....the "you people" comment to Donna Brazille oozed of his latent prejudice, whether it be against people of color, liberals or Democrats is of little consequence. Cokie and Sam were in good form, salvaging an otherwise disgraceful program with their content-laden, experience-based, and ideologically balanced contributions.
Take back your program, Mr. S. It is time to demonstrate some gumption and fairness, and to use better sense on who you invite into share your hard-won viewership. You can get your numbers up, as a blip, by enticing the screaming conservatives who will continue to harp on all that is wrong with our government's current efforts to clean up the Bush mess. But your program will devolve into the same muck of sensationalist nit-picking and nay-saying, masquerading as reason, that characterizes so much of media coverage these days.

Lots of interesting viewpoints on whether GS is doing "his job" and who was rude to who in the Steele v. Kaine debacle. What bothers me most is not the shrill trumpeting of these purported leaders, but their inability to engage their opponents in a meaningful, substantive dialogue on issues that will shape this nation for the next century. Washington has become a playground for ideologues of every flavor, each pushing their narrow agenda item, and collectively accomplishing little or nothing that "we the people" would recognize as good government.