[defenderSD]

One thing I didn't like about that show--the dialog was too slick, too contrived and dramatic...too much like polished political speeches. People don't talk that way in real life. The dialog on that show was too much like a primetime soap opera, with people harshly rebuking each other in meetings in the West Wing. In real life, people are not that confrontational, especially in government. You just don't see all that conflict and drama in real business and government organizations, and people don't talk in long, smoothly flowing sentences.

Those writers needed to look at some old MASH episodes where Hawkeye, Trapper, and Henry Blake talk to each other like real people.

[John Jorsett]

I actually liked the canned campaign-type speeches, because they were invariably from a leftist perspective; it gave me an insight into what arguments were being made in Democrat circles about the issue under discussion. Valuable intel.

As for civility being more common in real life, well maybe. However, I've read enough stories and heard first-hand accounts about some of the hardball tactics the White House engages in to think that confrontation isn't that rare. Apparently Karl Rove is the master of the 'frank' discussion (the codeword for "We screamed obscenities at each other," I believe).