MTP Transcript for Oct. 29

MR. RUSSERT: You endorsed No Child Left Behind at the convention in ‘04.

LT. GOV. STEELE: I sure did. And, and since that time, I sat down and I’ve talked to a thousand teachers in, in my state, and I’ve listened to them tell me what the problem is. This is the problem with Ben Washington — Ben Cardin’s world, his Washington, Ben’s Washington. I like that. This is the problem with it. They don’t listen to people. They pass policy. They implement reforms, so they say. But then they don’t go back and see if they’re working. And I want to be one of those leaders who actually goes back and follows up on the bills and on the laws and make sure that they’re having the impact that we intended.

MR. RUSSERT: Mr. Cardin, you vote against President Bush 70 percent of the time and you said to MSNBC’s “Hardball” back in September, “I think we need to investigate this president. I’m very disappointed that this Congress has not instituted any investigations of this president.” What does that mean?

REP. CARDIN: Well, first I’m trying to figure out the 30 percent where I agreed with President Bush, so I’ll try to figure those out. Let me first correct the record, state of the record.

MR. RUSSERT: You don’t think you should ever vote with the president?

REP. CARDIN: Oh, I do. I absolutely do. I’m just mak — look, I’ve, for the record, I have — my literature has Democrat on it. Just want to correct Mr. Steele on that. And for the record, I’m one of those Democrats who’s been able to work across party lines to get things done. I’ve been able to get major bills passed in a very partisan environment, because I know how to work with Republicans to bring about results for the people of Maryland. I’ve done that in health care, I’ve done that in pension changes, I’ve done that in tax code. So I know how to get things done. And I’ll stand by my record in that regard. Mr. Steele was recruited by the Bush administration. You look at what he’s, what he’s done. I’m concerned about what he will bring to Washington. He supported the president in the war in Iraq, and still supports that decision today. I think that causes pause for the voters of Maryland. I oppose that. He supported George Bush’s attempts to privatize Social Security. Marylanders do not want Social Security privatized.

LT. GOV. STEELE: You, you, you...

MR. RUSSERT: You’ve also talked about privatizing Social Security repeatedly.

REP. CARDIN: No, I didn’t.

LT. GOV. STEELE: Yes, you have.

REP. CARDIN: What I said, what I said was — what I said was, and what I did was to set up separate accounts outside of Social Security. And in fact, Portman-Cardin, our legislation has done that. I have never supported taking any money out of the Social Security system. I made that clear from day one.

MR. RUSSERT: Let me ask you again about the investigations. “I think we need to investigate the president.” About what?

REP. CARDIN: What I — what I’ve said is, Congress needs to exercise its oversight function. It needs to do — act as a check and balance on the executive branch. Yes, we need to look at what the facts are, without any predetermined...

MR. RUSSERT: On what issue?

MORE FROM MEET THE PRESS

Meet the Press Section Front

July 12: McCain, Schumer, roundtable June 28: Axelrod, Romney, Graham, roundtable June 21: Netanyahu, Nunn, Thompson, Easton, Todd June 14: Biden, Murphy, Scarborough May 31: Leahy, Sessions, Owens, Schmidt, Mulcahy, roundtable May 24: Durbin, Gingrich, political roundtable May 17: Kaine, Steele, Haass, Noonan, Brownstein   Slideshow: A look back at 60 years of 'Meet the Press' Find ‘Meet the Press’ in your area Take Two: Web only video from 'Meet the Press' Meet the Press Section Front   Add Meet the Press headlines to your news reader: