show host, you quote him saying president obama is more of a terrorist than hugo chavez. >> what can i say? i mean, how can you -- how can you stoop to that level? you see, i think they lose all credibility at that point, you know? when you say something so outrageous. tom tancredo also said that he thought that barack obama was more dangerous than al qaeda. now, sure, there are some crazies like our last caller who are going to believe that, but i think most of the american people just know that that's just nonsense. >> there is a narrative, though -- >> again, i come back to -- i don't know that -- sure, sure. there's legitimate criticism, again, of any president which i think is very healthy and i welcome it, and i've been part of it, right? but i don't know that anybody ever said ronald reagan was a

terrorist or george w. bush was a terrorist, right? i mean, that's where this is not just a slight difference. it's a huge difference, the level of attacks we've seen against president obama. >> but part of that criticism, this goes to another narrative, is that he's isolated, and many in him call him arrogant. address those allegations because it is out there. >> i don't see -- isolated i've heard. i guess i've heard arrogance. and i'm there almost every day. i do think they're more isolated than our reporters like. the access is not always easy with the president certainly or his top officials. and i hear that explained a lot in the white house press corps. and i think the president himself, he's not a glad hander.

he's not around washington going to all the parties. he has a very tight circle of friends. a lot of them chicago based. and i think that has hurt him in a way that he hasn't built as many friends as he could here in washington who could help him further his agenagenda. i think that's a legitimate criticism of the obama white house. >> brian, to your early point, the last caller was nuts. she just proved bill press' point. let's go to monica, columbus, ohio, good morning. democrats' line. monica, go ahead. >> caller: good morning. >> hi, monica. >> caller: hi. i would like to say i believe a lot of the attitudes towards our president is because of racism. and i remember when george bush was in office, that we were against him. and when the country singers, the girl country singers, i

can't remember their name -- >> the dixie chicks. the dixie chicks. they made comments about the war. everybody was out tearing up their cds and the music they put out. but with this president you can go and brandish a gun. it's obvious that the attitudes twar towards this and not recognize it and make statements about it. >> the dixie chicks, yeah. certainly if they were out there criticizing president obama today, they would be hailed as heroes, and i'll bet you they would have beenited to play at the cpac conference. moni monica, my book is not about racism. i do not say because i don't

think it is. i don't think everybody who agrees with obama is racist. some people not to like this president is the color of his skin. there is still a late racism out there, and i think that's true among some of the tea party peop people. you can't sweep it under the rug. some people are not comfortable that there's a black man in the white house. >> the greatest challenge would be dealing with the unprecedented barrage and back to debating public policy. from cpac yesterday, the former everyone goer of alaska, sarah palin delivering these remarks. his washington regulatory wizards, they didn't prevent the

bailout. you had to bail them out. the president says small americans, small-town americans, we bitterly cling to our religion and our guns because we're just doggone frustrated. we'll keep our god, our guns, our constitution. is he, professor obama may have forgotten the bill of rights. but we shall not forsake it. including those rights that our founders risked their lives for,

freedom of religion, our right to bear arms. we will rise up. we will defend them. the president believes that your tax dollars should subsidize, oh, planned parenthood. we believe -- we believe that every child is created equal with that right to life. >> the comments of sarah palin yesterday. and let me have you respond to their comments and this morning's front page story of "the washington post," bill press. what in the world is the matter with the republican party? this is an election year when pretty much everything should be going the gop's way. it's not so far. >> i just have to say, i'm amused by the fact that cpac brought back all the losers and gave them the spotlight. herman cain, rick perry, sarah palin. nobody cares what they say anymore. sarah palin has zero impact on the political process today. and i also have to say, you

know, if i were in that audience, i would be insulted. by her comments because she says that the obama administration is responsible for the financial meltdown. anybody with any brain knows it happened in october 2008. when george w. bush was in the white house. and if you recall, they suspended the campaign, and george w. bush called a meeting at the white house and called john mccain and barack obama, candidates, in to say, what can we do about this? whatever you say about barack obama, he did not cause the financial meltdown. he wasn't in office at all. he's still trying to dig us out of it. just a sample of where they don't care about the facts anymore. they just throw this crap out there. and you saw these people there, they love it, they stand up, they don't even think. i find it very amusing. back to your question about, look. i was really worried about president obama's re-election. because the economy not moving,

coming back as fast, unemployment up 10%. president obama, i didn't think -- he wasn't forceful enough. he was spending too much time again dealing with these republicans. he wasn't putting his message out there. he lost the fight over the debt ceiling, i thought. had to give up and extend the tax cuts for the wealthiest people. i still think he is vulnerable, but the republicans, i think -- i don't want to count my chickens before they hatch, but i think the republicans have blown a great opportunity by getting off, number one, not coming up with the strongest possible candidate. i think there are people out there, hailey barbour, chris christy, mitch daniels, jeb bush, any one of them, and i think they're putting up their weaker candidates and getting off message. they're talking about extra sepgs, home schooling, same-sex

marriage. they ought to be talking about jobs. i think they are in the process of blowing an opportunity. >> we're talking with bill press, the author of "the obama hate machine." anthony joining us from morris cove, connecticut. good morning to you, sir. >> good morning. this is anthony and i approve this message. the first thing i want to ask, the unemployment rate was 8.1. march was 8.6 and on and on. i can't let this get away either. she's got to read the book "attack the messenger," because that's all they do is blame the media because they have no other answers. in 2003, i got so tired because i have two custom made skates.

i make over a million dollars. you know, president obama gave 16 tax cuts and past credits fill a small business like mine and on and on. and like bill said, nothing compares to haley barbour or anything else. >> i'm going to stop you there only because we have just a few minutes left. thanks for approving your message. we'll see if bill presses on

this. >> i don't know that millions get tax breaks. i've gsd that on talk shows. no, that's not right. it is. and so if you believe in tax cuts, obama's your guy. >> did difficult press think that there is any kind of a -- mitt romney says i'm a businessman, i know how to make deals. well, he hasn't been age. . and i can see newt gingrich and rick santorum are not going to give up. the republicans could limp into tampa in which case katie, bar the door. it could be wide open.

and i think you might see a jeb bush, despite his last name. come out of the convention. >> is that why. could be. i don't think we've seen the end of this story. >> as you put together "the obama hat machine. >> the one thing i learned other than how -- even more widespread than i thought, the personal attacks against the president, they are the third and fourth wealthiest people in this country. david cook is the richest man in new york city. they have put more. george soros is a penny pincher compared to these guys. here in washington, heritage town addition, her damage.

coke brothers, scott walker. coke walks, and another one of their conferences in palm springs, they put together $100 million to defeat president obama. so far all the super pacs in the republican primaries have spent and and most people have never heard of them. >> bill press heard on xh sir husband. the late authorize of "the obama hate machine." >> tuesday on "washington journal," we'll examine the government's settlement with the nation's largest banks over

charges of mortgage fraud. our guest is massachusetts attorney general martha coakley. and we'll discuss the proposed budget with kevin bridi, a member of the ways and american s "washington journal" is on every day. with president obama releasing his $3.8 trillion budget proposal for fiscal year 2013, a number of his cabinet securities will be heading to capitol hill to testify about the kneely restaged. with treasury secretary tim geithner and on the defense department's 2013 budget.

it called for 54, a 1% do crease from last year. that gets under way at 9:30 eastern. there's been honest contention, spirit and disagreements, and i believe considerable hot arguments. but don't let anybody be misled by that. you have given here in this hall a moving and dramatic proof of how americans who honestly differ, close ranks and move forward for the candidates shoulder to shoulder. >> we look back at 14 men who ran for office and lost. who had a lasting impact on

american politics. >> what about you? are you now out of debt? do you have a comfortable lack b? do you really thinks can be better? they go to c-span.org/con terders. the u.s. conference of mayors held their 80th winter meeting in january. coming up, we'll show you some of the highlights. pepping to house demonation. they also discussed the agenda for 2012. first of all, let me share

with all of that you mayor nutter and smith were with us at the press conference earlier that some of you attended. they'll be here in just a moment. we were just abc with diane sawyer. and i can tell you that the message is the message that every one of you have brought to washington, d.c., and that is that the congress needs to do its job. they need to invest in job creation and move this economy along. so with that, i get the honor of introducing a friend of mine. i'm very pleased to introduce arianna huffington, an l.a. native, by the way. has lived there at least a couple decades. you know, mayors, they don't elect a mayor of the blogosphere. but if they did, i can tell you that arianna huffington would

b. she's hard charging and visionary. she's the president and editor in chief of the huffington post media group. her columns can be read in publications around the nation. and indeed the world. and if that weren't enough, she's only allowed no more than 13 books. "time" magazine named her to the 50 most influential people. not just once but twice. today is a great opportunity for us to hear from someone who's led the media charge to focus our national conversation on issues related to the middle class and jobs. she's here with us to discuss what role mayors who drive our

metro economy duringing in the national debates, please join me in welcoming arianna huffington. >> thank you so much, mayor villaraigosa. thank you all so much for inviting me to be with you today. and let me just say that i have been obsessively checking on four square and i'm not the mayor of the mayors conference. but power has not gotten to my head yet. >> i'm flat which made me really uncomfortable because ever since i moved from greece where i was born to the states and even

before that to england, i think this issue with it until i met -- he gave me his number. complete and total impresenciblity. >> mayor vail r, and interestiny enough, we can just brought out a report called "a tale of two cities with what would be of childhood poverty, and i remember antonio toeing, i'm

continuing to ignore the pool is the way to get there. now, the irony is that that says was 1991. things are much better and he's spaei tense behind spain, the skooc--

bei being, not a very good idea. indeed right here, very close by to where we are in anacostia. we are experiencing the nation's highest unemployment rate for an urban area. right here. a stone's throw away from the bhous. houston. as i'm shaur sure with over $1 trillion in debt by the time they graduate. so as we're looking at our media obsession with the presidential race, i have asked our

reporters, and we now, together with match chgs, and over 1500 reporters around america. and i have told them to focus on the border communities, what is happening to suburban poverty. in fact, today we have a great story about what's happening in south carolina. in marlboro county, that's experiencing double the national unemployment. while the candidates are in south carolina talking about all sorts of things except poverty. we want to put the spotlight which is, after all, what the bible is asking us to do. and we now have the ability to bear witness through online media. after having combined with aol,

we have over 135 million unique visitors a month. so lead -- i would like to invite you for your, mayors@patch chk. very easy, one arm, two hands at huffington post kmok. antonio has been a frequent blogger. we love to give anyies, and to

have a svrgs about what country we're going to become. not just economically but swirtually. your honor, we have been pulverized, or are we going to tap into what is best for us? when we tap into that, i speak as an immigrant to this country. i know that we know how to do it. so as everybody's talking about our deficits, i would love to spend a couple of minutes to talk about our surpluses.

because, you know, i was born in athens and lived in a one-home starmt. but my whom, whole an yoe ta-- >> even when they had -- we need to change the even among the people who are out of work, we have a lot of skilled people out of work. even with though on we can tap into time and resources to help each other. after all during hurricanes.

remember how during hurricane high honey, everybody kitsched in, and into that very american spirit. and also, the roading in our national institutions, trust is growing in our local institutions. so your role is more important now than ever. and that's why i was so grateful that you invited me to be here because i've been waiting a that i am working to materialize in our even concern.

a conversation that can begin to change the country fundamentally. he says the successful steps are remarkable similar. you need to and you need to create a world-class culture that not only attracts the best possible people but encouraged. we now have three sections we are calling it the good-news conference.

because people go to the front pages of newspapers, who wills woman? w who, and you only see examples of the human spirit at work. and then we also have a section called impact which gives people a lot of ideas of how they can help and what they can do. and the final thing that we have is a fee. so if there is anybody in your community that you want to prevoil send us their story. and i would love to profile them. they would