Coming Up on ‘This Week’: Ingraham, Podesta, McConnell, McCaskill
EmailIt’s been a week full of news: putting the squeeze on some Wall Street execs, movement on the public option, former Vice-President Cheney’s withering attack of President Obama, and the White House’s battle with Fox News. Plenty to talk about and debate. And we’ve got a great lineup. We’ll start with the latest update on developments from Capitol Hill on the health care front with two This Week exclusives – first, the top Republican in the Senate, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell then Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill.
Then our powerhouse roundtable. It should be a good one. Fox News Contributor and talk radio host Laura Ingraham, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Cynthia Tucker, Bloomberg News’ Al Hunt, John Podesta, CEO of the Center for American Progress and our own George Will join me for a lively debate on the week’s politics.
See you Sunday.
-George Stephanopoulos
Sen. DeMint: GOP Race Could Go Until Convention 
Obama Avoids Questions on Contraception Rule
I hope Laura Ingraham won’t be a disaster as Michelle Malkin was.
Posted by: The1337 | October 23, 2009, 6:35 pm 6:35 pm
the1337- Laura Ingraham IS a disaster! She and Malkin deserve to win the “Ann Coulter Award” for Best Performance by a Celebrity Non-Newscaster!
Posted by: john copeland | October 23, 2009, 6:48 pm 6:48 pm
Laura Ingraham should rule on “This Week” – a lively counterpoint with George Will. Glad to see Stephanopoulos isn’t afraid of the White House jihad against Fox News personnel and stands up for the First Amendment.
Posted by: PAXALLES | October 23, 2009, 10:18 pm 10:18 pm
Inviting the likes of Laura Ingraham, a right wing extreme opinion pundit is fine, however, you should have balanced her commentary by having someone from the extreme left there too. Such as Rachel Maddow. Man, that would be an interesting show featuring real contrasting views.
Posted by: Bobby Baker | October 23, 2009, 11:09 pm 11:09 pm
Please George, PLEASE! Ask Mitch McConnell why he 1- said that if they got everything they wanted in HCR they would still vote against it! And what are his thoughts that 55 Republican lawmakers are on Medicare, but still are against a public option, sighting the fact that they don’t like Government Health Care! PLEASE GEORGE, PLEASE!
Posted by: Try the truth | October 23, 2009, 11:14 pm 11:14 pm
Laura Ingraham is exactly the kind of Republican that has helped to marginalize the party. The White House wants to paint the whole party as people like her, Rush, Beck, and their ilk. George is helping them out by having her on the show, but as usual the ‘thugs are too stupid to notice what’s going on.
Posted by: laura | October 24, 2009, 1:27 am 1:27 am
Hey George, please bring back Jake Tapper. I enjoy his insight on the roundtable. Thank you.
Posted by: dave | October 24, 2009, 2:52 am 2:52 am
Sure would like to see some though questions like why is the health care bill not allowing free choice on the public option as written if you have insurance you cannot get the public option you have to keep what you have.
Posted by: earl | October 24, 2009, 7:47 am 7:47 am
i think it would be very newsworthy if you were to press senator McConnell as to how the women in his life [wife sister daughter mother neighbor etc] appreciate his support of gang rape by voting against franken’s amendment.
Posted by: michael | October 24, 2009, 10:55 am 10:55 am
Laura Ingraham is rehearsing her “zingers” into her bathroom mirror all day Saturday and cannot be reached.
Posted by: Jim Blom | October 24, 2009, 2:50 pm 2:50 pm
Why in the world invite Laura Ingraham? You have a serious conservative commentator in George Will. He at least tries to use facts to bolster his ideology. Laura Ingraham is one of those Fox commentators who prefers to operate in a “fact free zone.” Why give any sort of credence to Fox news rumor-mongers posing as journalists? I’m sorry to see this.
Posted by: laura | October 24, 2009, 6:28 pm 6:28 pm
George should put more intelligent women on the roundtables. Both Tucker and Ingraham are terrible.
Posted by: André Kenji | October 24, 2009, 6:28 pm 6:28 pm
Laura Ingraham FINALLY gets to mix it up with the lefties that usually dominate the round table. Cynthia Tucker is such a downer..doesnt seem too bright.
Posted by: Shawn | October 24, 2009, 7:28 pm 7:28 pm
Another partisan back and forth rhetoric fest?
…Honestly, I’m getting tired of hearing the party lines.
Can’t we get more substance, and less politics? Expect me to be looking for something with more mutual respect and thought…
Posted by: dlj | October 24, 2009, 11:53 pm 11:53 pm
I continue to wait for a guest who thinks the memorial to those who have fallen in Southern Asia is large enough. All the quests debate how much larger the memorial, which will be built about 20 years from now, will increase in size. Just like the Vietnam memorial we will all ask why such a loss of life and waste of taxpayer’s money. Nation building is costly and by the time it is close to finished the original reason makes no sense because Al-queda moved on to find another hole to live in.
Posted by: Singletaxonland | October 25, 2009, 4:45 am 4:45 am
To Republican Senator, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell I WILL NEVER VOTE FOR A REPUBLICAN AGAIN GEORGE W.BUSH BLEW IT FOR ME !
GOP DON’T WANT THE PUBLIC OPTION IN OUR HEALTH CARE REFORM BILL! WHY?
MITCH McConnell HOW MUCH MONEY IS THE GOP GETTING PAID FROM THE PRIVATE INSURANCE COMPANIES? TO STOP PUBLIC OPTION !
THE WORST THING THE AMERICA PEOPLE CAN DO FOR A RUINATION OF THE UNTIED STATES IS TO VOTE FOR STUPID REPUBLICAN’S WE DON’T WANT THEM TO TAKE BACK THE FLOOR IN THE U.S. CONGRESS…
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS ON THE RIGHT TRACK OF RECOVERING THE COUNTRY!
DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS TRYING TO FIXING OUR HEALTH CARE IN THE UNTIED STATES SOMETHING THE GOP NEVER WANT TO DO FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE PASTED! WHY?
REMEMBER THAT WHEN YOU GO TO THE VOTING POLLS !
Posted by: Brendett NC | October 25, 2009, 9:24 am 9:24 am
Thank God for DVR’s. I can FF through any dribble that Laura Ingraham has to offer. What a DA
Posted by: kellerl | October 25, 2009, 9:33 am 9:33 am
The reason they are going after FOX is they are the current day National Enquirer!
Posted by: kellerl | October 25, 2009, 9:38 am 9:38 am
FOX? On the round table? Really! Who thought this a good idea? And especially an enemy of the current government who twists even half truths like this Ingraham. And let us all look for advice to Cjheney she says? Oh good Lord a mighty. NOW I have heard it all. I wopn’t watch Round Table (a show which i love) the next time FOX is on the show. If I wanted my mind twisted and misinformed, I could watch Fox all day long. I do not.
Posted by: JJ | October 25, 2009, 9:45 am 9:45 am
George Will is like a “Tarp Master”. Something under the tarp look entirely different than the tarp George Will covers it with. I know it’s a “good job” Georges, but lying is not a job, lying is a profession. You all had a completely meaningless show today, and i cannot say i like you all for it.
Posted by: Spencer | October 25, 2009, 10:14 am 10:14 am
ABC News continues to demonstrate it’s very transparent bias towards the democratic party and President Obama every time it posts polling results, such as, todays poll on This Week comparing survey “trust” for Obama vs Congressional Republicans. I suspect that a survey comparing “trust” of Congressional Republicans vs Congressional Democrats would yield equally abysmal results. Just be fair!
Posted by: Tom | October 25, 2009, 10:16 am 10:16 am
Excellent program, good to hear opposing viewpoints, hopefully and eventually compromise (common sense) will out. Take time to “dither on strategy development and Afghan troop deployment. Mandate that congress be covered on health care reform plan the same as everybody else instead of their current gold standard and then watch what happens.
Posted by: AJTE2 | October 25, 2009, 10:20 am 10:20 am
Questions not asked. It is interesting that when Claire McCaskill said that the government has to offer an option because health care was getting too expensive that her response was unquestioned.
A logical followup question would be how the government playing paying for it would reduce health care costs. But no, it is just ‘assumed’ that the government would reduce costs. But in reality the government has a history of raising costs and wasting money, especially in any large program. Look at the post office, which is supposed to be independent but keeps having cost overruns and getting ‘bailouts’ from Congress, and even contracts out some of their work to FedEx, a private company making a profit. Look at the large costs of Social Security and Medicare.
Logically, the way to reduce medical costs is encourage competition and efficiencies withing health care, not for the government to pay for it. The government has to get the money from somewhere.
One way, of course, for the governemnt to reduce costs is to ration health care. This reduces the quality of health care and makes for long waiting lines for services, just like in Canada, the UK, and other government run health care systems.
If you don’t ask good questions, you don’t get good answers.
Posted by: DanAustin | October 25, 2009, 10:26 am 10:26 am
You think you’ll ever see anyone like Rachel Maddow or Keith Olbermann on the round table? I wonder where all this crap is coming from. Where is the real substance anymore? Just a bunch of right wing proverbs and a few facts quoted to give the face of real analysis. I wonder what David Brinkley would think?
Posted by: Steve | October 25, 2009, 10:28 am 10:28 am
Thank God for DVR’s. I can FF through any dribble that Laura Ingraham has to offer.
Is Laura Ingraham the best you can do for a voice from the right? In the future, see if you can find someone with a little gravitas, and let Ms Ingrham go back to urging teenagers to be celibate (fat chance of that)
Posted by: Phillip | October 25, 2009, 10:32 am 10:32 am
Laura Ingraham:
YUK
Posted by: JIm C | October 25, 2009, 11:01 am 11:01 am
Laura Ingraham is an excellent contributor to this venue – I hope she is invited back. She rivals George Will in her understanding and cool head in telling her side and view of the issues.
Posted by: Lone Star Rules | October 25, 2009, 11:23 am 11:23 am
Come on George……there’s no one that’s less deserving to sat at that roundtable than Laura Ingraham….you may as well invited Michelle Bachman too. And it’s the “senseless” arguments that they make….come on!
Posted by: sara | October 25, 2009, 11:31 am 11:31 am
Laura Ingraham???
Posted by: NtheNo | October 25, 2009, 11:33 am 11:33 am
As I read some of the entries on this blog I am struck by the short sightedness of many of the posters about the invitation of Laura Ingraham.
How does that work for liberals? On the one hand they want a broader, alternative view. On the other, if that view does not match theirs then that commentator cannot be silenced enough.
What strikes me as the reason Fox is gaining such momentum is that they are at least trying to bring opposing views to the table. Obviously, this is controversial to a lot of you that discount Fox as the puppet of the RNC.When y’all say that it is clear to me that you simply have not watched. Beck is the only commentator on Fox that doesn’t invite opposing views to the table; O’Reiley and Hannity do. So here is George bringing together a less slanted round table and the liberals are uptight about it before the show starts.
Y’all make me laugh.
Good job George. This is the second time this week I have given a ABC journalist thumbs up – Jake Trapper took a huge leap in questioning Gibbs about the administration’s marginalizing Fox as a non-news network. Keep this up and you might start encouraging guys like me – guys in the middle – to keep coming back.
Posted by: Lone Star Rules | October 25, 2009, 11:34 am 11:34 am
Laura Ingraham??? As soon as George left and moved in at Dallas, she couldn’t wait to replace him up in Cheney’s lap! And, what did she do, get into some “Pink Ladies” before the show? I mean she’s talking over the others, interrupting them; and those feet!! Everyone else is sitting there in gentlemen or lady-like fashion with their feet flat on the floor or crossed at the ankles, and she’s got those feet working like she’s using them to knit a button hole! The only thing more distracting and obnoxious is her incessant, rude, whiney speech! Please, no more !!!
Posted by: NtheNo | October 25, 2009, 11:44 am 11:44 am
Laura Ingraham fits the “script” for the “right-wingnuts”……. ‘WIRY BLEACHED BLONDE HAIR, SHORT SKIRTS”….DON’T FALL FOR THAT MESS, GEORGE
Posted by: sara | October 25, 2009, 1:06 pm 1:06 pm
This Administration has captured or Killed “real” Talibans….Ingraham in 9 months, far more than the previous administration did in 8 years.
If these people, the Republicans, have all the answers then Please tell me why our country IS in a MESS. Why did they create a “deficit” out of a Surplus? Why didn’t they pay for the Medicare Advantage program? Why didn’t they provide our troops with the proper equipment, instead of just sending them into Harm’s way. Why didn’t they KNOW that the Financial System of the Country was Falling off a Cliff? Why did the Terrorist Attack the U.S. on their watch? Why didn’t they REFORM our Healthcare System in the last 8 years? If they cared!
AND HERE’S THE QUESTION THAT FOX HAS NOT ‘INVESTIGATED”….WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MILLIONS THAT WAS CONFISCATED FROM IRAQ WHEN IT FELL…..OR THE MILLIONS TAKEN IN SUITCASES FROM SADDAM? DID THE OIL FROM IRAQ PAY FOR THE WAR?
COME ON, THEIR STRATEGY WAS TO LEAVE THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY, BE IT CLINTON, WHICH GEORGE BUSH THOUGHT WOULD WIN A MESSSSSS….AND HOPED THAT THE MAJORITY OF THE COUNTRY WOULD GIVE THEM POWER AGAIN, AFTER ALL THEIR FAILURES….IT LOOKS LIKE THEIR STRATEGY WILL NOT WORK. PERSONALLY, I’M SICK OF THEM….ALL THEY CAN SAY IS “YES” TO WARS….AND “NO” TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. AND DON’T FORGET FOR ONE MOMENT THAT THE MAJORITY OF THE REPUBLICANS ARE DRAFT DODGERS.
Posted by: sara | October 25, 2009, 1:24 pm 1:24 pm
AS A TAXPAYER, THAT IS PAYING FOR THE WAR….AS WILL MY “GRANDCHILDREN”…I WANT TO KNOW WHERE IS THIS MONEY.
Posted by: sara | October 25, 2009, 1:26 pm 1:26 pm
Laura Ingraham on this morning’s round table was (as always) simply brilliant. She ran circles around those libs Tucker, Podesta, and Hunt.
It is so refreshing to see a strong intelligent woman on the round table that is able to articulate the position of majority of Americans. Please have Laura on more often!
Posted by: Dan In SC | October 25, 2009, 1:46 pm 1:46 pm
and to you who say Republicans are inconsequential and should disappear. Shame on your ignorance.
Read below some of their accomplishments:
The First Hispanic Governor was a Republican
Republicans Freed the Slaves
Republicans Passed the 14th Amendment
Republicans Established the Buffalo Soldiers
Republicans Established Howard University
Republicans Passed the 15th Amendment
The First African-American Senator was a Republican
Republicans Outlawed the Ku Klux Klan
Republicans Passed the 1875 Civil Rights Act
A Republican Wrote the 19th Amendment
A Former Slave Chaired the 1884 Republican National Convention
First Women Mayors in the United States
A Republican President Appointed the First Jewish Cabinet Secretary
Republicans Passed the Indian Citizenship Act
The First Hispanic U.S. Senator was a Republican
The First Asian-American U.S. Senator was a Republican
The Republican Party First Called for Ending Racial Segregation in the Military
A Republican Integrated the University of Mississippi
A Republican Wrote the Brown v. Board of Education decision
Republicans Passed the 1957 Civil Rights Act
Republicans Ended Racial Segregation in Little Rock
Welfare Reform
Operation Enduring Freedom
Republican Tax Cuts
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Vouchers for DC Schoolchildren
Posted by: Emmy | October 25, 2009, 9:50 pm 9:50 pm
Blah…Blah…Nothing ever changes. Can you imagine any of these idots working a full days work. I wish they would all just shut up. Bush got us into all this mess and he walks away unscathed.
His mission accomplished is now into it’s 7th year… Thanks so much George
for all the carnage you have brought to the U.S. and the middle east…
Posted by: Albert Strickland | October 27, 2009, 6:03 pm 6:03 pm