♪ host: the headline this morning says the president obama is no paddling the climb a bill to the senate now that the house -- is now peddling the bill. he is warning of this information concerning the bill. he wants the senate to pass that energy bill. this week we expect the united states supreme court to finish its ruling for the year, including the new haven firefighters' case that has gotten attention since the nomination of judge sonya steptotomayor. also, concerning iran's disputed election. also we will speak about the

troops pull back in iraq which we will hear a lot about this week. lots today in the paper to talk about this morning on june 28. we will begin our three-hour program with this, is there a media love affair with president obama? there is a piece and "the philadelphia inquirer" that suggests that. what do you think? with congress out and things a little quieter this week we get a chance to step back and look at the media. a gentleman named matt this piece and the philadelphia paper. he is founder of something known as the potomac strategy group. he writes, perhaps john mccain was right about barack obama being the biggest celebrity in the world. the media focused on profiting

from his celebrity have been failing to report objectively on his policies. we have seen a number of beverages examples of bias of the five months since his inauguration. he writes that before obama left for the least nbc news aired four hours of interviews in prime-time over two nights to give your support of the day in the life of the white house. cbs news weighed in last week with its "two sides. of sides" if there the first part on father's day in the second of the next day. on wednesday abc news aired "a conversation with the president ," and hourlong prime-time special on health care reform take in the east room of the white house. abc projected reasonable requests to include opposing voices during the infomercial.

matt goes on to write in this paper, with this sweep of obama's policy decisions and growing skepticism about his agenda, and biased reporting is especially border. rather than covering eight nights in personally, the media should further investigate these issues so they can better inform the public. there will probably have their turn to do so once their obama specials are over. i would your reaction to that? linking, nebraska, a republican caller first. caller: god bless america and the love affair with the media and barack obama goes without saying. i think it is worse than that given the struggle they seem to have. it is as if the white house red's the script in the morning.

the exempla wanted to give it is held the presses in the sanfo situationrd where some point there will browbeat him out of office. -- that is the simple i want to give. the did not do that to bill clinton. host: new orleans on the democrats their index caller: sure. host: what you make of this example? caller: i don't believe it is a love affair so much as he is a very articulate and intelligent man and sinkthings before he sps which is a refreshing change from the last eight years. i think that the media seize this more than anyone else and that is the reason for the exposure. his a constitutional law professor and has a lot compared to the cowboy that we just are rid of. host: on the independent line,

john, what do think? caller: i don't it is a love affair from the media to barack obama, but if you put it into the context of how the media treated george bush just after 9/11 and a look the other way as bush pushed through his policies, you put it into that context -- and with the media when after bill clinton and al gore when he ran for election, if you look at the way that the media has treated democrats and republicans suddenly the media is being easier on barack obama -- and all of a sudden everyone is accusing the media of being so easy on obama. if you put it into context you can see that maybe it is be a little easier, but considering how they have treated democrats in the past and let republican slide as with bushes really not a big deal. host: this is based on a piece from "the philadelphia inquirer."

a former abc news journalist is now communications director and the white house's office of health reform. the washington paper reported that employees of abc gave it 80 times as much in contributions to obama's campaign as they did to his republican opponent, john mccain. a study released this month by the business in media institute found that abc news had erred stories with positive reviews of obama's health care policy 55 times while it featured only 18 - stories on the subject. the coverage has not been limited to the broadcast networks. a recent study by the center for media and public affairs examined all the value to of commons and "the new york times" stories during obama's first 50 days in office and found that 73% were favorable.

this writer did press work for two politicians and now works for this particular group. caller: a just read this article. i wanted to say that i believe there's a love affair with him. how could you look past with chris matthews said in the campaign about having a tingle go down his middle leg. host: is there anything more recent you have seen? caller: yes, with kevin thomas saying that he is like god. the zip codes of most journalists, where they live, most white journalists live very insulated lives and don't have much contact with the realities of race in this country.

obama is a symbol more than a man, a symbol of the unrealized integration. most to support him live in pockets of homogeneity -- the for the they live from blacks the higher opinion they have of them. you'll find very few reports of the reality of the brown/black were going on in the inner cities in prisons and school systems. it makes people feel good to believe we have turned a corner and are living -- the attorney general was right about us being a nation of cowards. we don't live in this racial utopia in our everyday lives. obama makes these insulated white liberals feel good about themselves. i think that is the simple thing about it. i believe, as bernard goldberg said, there is a slobbering love affair. one reporter said during the

inauguration that even the seagulls were in awe. i think it is hilarious. host: you can also use twitter. you can also find the schedule and the guest lineup on twitter. we are asking about president obama's relationship with the media. one person right here in the philadelphia paper, he is from the potomac strategy group, claims that there is a love affair going on. the next caller is on the in the pimm line. caller: good morning, america. for more than one year now i have been -- senator obama, now president obama -- i want to know what president obama will do about slave descendants

reparations. that debate was just in the house and senate. a couple of things were done as far as apologies. i can give you an example that the media has protected him from that issue. right now i will tell you that this guy is a can-kicker. the gay issues, he kicks the can down the road. those folks, the slave reparations issue, is kicking that can down the road. we need to hear from this president to go on a microphone and tell us if there will be reparations. what we will do about it, how will be done if we were to do. and enough is enough. all these people, these folks, you made promises to -- we knew about the promises down cell during the campaign about reparations and now you are hiding from that. enough is enough.

-- you are hiding down south during the campaign talking about reparations and now you're hiding from them. host: here is a piece concerning this president and the previous two in office concerning their first period of time in office. they found that obama was favorably covered 42% of the time compared to 22% for bush and 27% for clinton. unlike his predecessors, obama received more favorable than skeptical treatment and newspaper opinion pages, too. we want to hear from stephanie in chicago on the democrat's lead. caller: i do not think he is getting favorable press from "the wall street journal" or fox news. i think it is balanced. i am a democrat and not

particularly satisfied with a lot of his positions. it seems he is trying to appease republicans. from the calls you have received so far it is not working. i wish you would just forget about them because if you just listen to the people who have called in so far there is nothing he will be able to do to appease the fox listeners who were talking about reparations or the wall street journal listeners who are concerned about socialism. he is a democratic president. he has, i hope the democratic agenda. if the republicans who are bashing him would take the time to look at his positions, they would probably like him because there are a lot of democrats that are really not satisfied.

host: let's move to pensacola, fla. on the republican line. caller: hello, i am concerned that the media is not giving a fair shake to anybody but president obama. obama seems to be the love boy, i cannot do any wrong. host: what is the prominent example in your mind? what is not happening there should be? caller: i think the media needs to turn around and talk about the fact that the automobile industry is now owned by the government when obama promised it would not be. i think the fact that congress just passed the tax -- past the greenhouse emissions bill, that that will be a greater tax on the middle class when he said he

would not tax the middle class. his only portrayed in a good light and never seen as having made a mistake. i think there have been mistakes with all he has handled iran, and a number of other things in his 100 days in office. host: good morning, is there a media love affair going on with the president? caller: no, not at all. what a lot of people who think this is a love affair must realize is that this is the first time we have had a president like this. and not talking about race although i am african-american -- i am sick of hearing about race. it was a problem of my parents, not mine at this time. look at what he is doing. he promised things people did

not even think he could get on the table. he has not only managed to get them on the table, but with the energy bill -- and never thought that congress would even come close in my lifetime to even thinking about an energy bill. another problem also has to do with democrats. i think the democrats are too busy telling him to ignore republicans. for me, that just fuelled more fire for the media, people on both sides. the problem with the nation is we came so far from the center, how we begin with everyone having a common goal and interesting came together -- we just live far apart over the past couple of administrations. host: where you get most of your news from? caller: i get a lot of it from the internet. i do watch cable news, but when they start their programming, so to speak, and -- i turn it

off. host: where in particular caller: on the internet when you look on google, and there are the blue links that took up, and click on them and i keep surfing and going and digging. that is really fall you must do. you have to dig to find things. like the story you have right there with the gentleman say that there's a love affair, it is sensationalism. host: we go to a little bit of legislation here -- years that have done. obama peddles the climb a bill to the senate. they said that he handled a crucial victory by the house on friday and urged the senate on saturday to disregard misinformation and to pass this bill. we have a short portion of this radio address on climate change.

>> the energy bill that passed the house will finally create a set of incentives that will spark a clean energy transformation and our economy. it will spur the development of low carbon sources of energy, everything from wind, solar, and geothermal power to sue for, nuclear energy, and clinical. it will spur a new energy sitting like efficient windows and other material to reduce heating costs and the winter and cooling costs in the summer. most importantly, it will make possible the creation of millions of new jobs. make no mistake, this is a jobs bill. we are already exceed what this is true in the clean energy investments we're making and recovery act. in california three dozen people will be employed to build a new solar plant that in turn will create 1000 permanent jobs. in michigan investment in wind turbines and technology is treated to 2600 jobs. in florida at three new solar projects are as predictable it for 200 people.

the list goes on and on, but the point is this, this legislation will finally make clean energy the profitable kind of energy which will lead to the creation of new businesses and entire new industries. it will lead to american jobs that pay well and cannot be outsourced. host: the president's saturday address there. john boehner, republican leader in the house called the crime bill a pile of -- it is a four-letter word beginning with "s." he had a few choice words when asked why he read portions of the cap and trade bill -- people deserve to know what is in this pile of "--." john boehner spent one hour reading from the 1200-plus page bill that was amended 20 hours before the lower chamber voted to approve it.

nancy pelosi is office declined to comment on the jack from john boehner. but one democratic aide said what do expect a guy who thinks global warming is caused by cow manure. go ahead, on the democrats' line. caller: no, i do not believe there's a media love affair with barack obama. i'm not surprised that because a republican wrote that article -- i would like to make a comment, and i don't want to sound rude to anyone, make a comment on an african-americans -- the person from pennsylvania who talk about the distance with you live close to african-americans are far away, i think there was a racist comment. getting back to the question, i think the media is having difficulty talking about

anything. it is like they're trying to find something that is newsworthy. if obama makes a mistake i am sure the will start talking about it. nonstop host: thanks for calling. here is one of tweet. it's as the present obama once walked into window at the white house and if there was no coverage by me. bush tried to open a locked door 1000 times. host: eric on the republican line from virginia. caller: every time that i turn on msnbc it is like watching the three monkeys, hear no evil, see no evil -- all you have to do is turn it on a prime-time. host: how about just one example? caller: take chris matthews, he hammers sarah palin and leslie, day after day.

you know why? because they are afraid of this conservative woman. another thing, this david letterman comment about sarah palin is the daughter be knocked up a ball game. if it had been obama's daughter he would have been fired the next day. i guarantee you that letterman would have been out there the following day. host: here is another message from twitter about the media. the supreme court watch this week, we take the final release coming out this week. the washington post has this photo of a judge sotomayor meeting with senators. the headline says that most americans want her on the court.

the poll indicates that 62% think that the federal judge should be confirmed by the senate. this is an abc news poll in conjunction with "the washington post." in the philadelphia paper, sotomayor role feels interest in a court battle. it concerns the new haven connecticut firefighters. it says that new haven through out a set of it 2003 promotion exams because not enough minority candidates qualify. a group of 20 firefighters, one hispanic and the rest white, alleged reverse discrimination and said. the controversy has taken on added significance because the supreme court nominee was on the appeals panel that ruled for new haven. the supreme court is due to rule tomorrow on this case. the sotomayor .

will bring some of attention. host: ok, the democrats on. caller: i do not think there particularly in love with him. i think that the difference is the man has a plan in knows how to exploit it. if you think about it, mr. president bush would come on and talk for 10 or 50 minutes and walk away with a maybe one or two sentences in a million cliches of saying the same thing. you take 15 minutes with mr. obama and he has gotten some details to a much greater degree and is willing to go back over if you do not have a. i think he explains things so much better. i think that is what people are willing to follow him more often than not. host: pennsylvania, on the independent line? caller: i think the opinion is astonishing that it is being presented -- it needs to be the

constructive. the whole article -- because it is basically sensationalism. and opinion to the extreme. each fact, i don't have the article in front of me unfortunately, because i just caught it just as you started. host: why don't you begin with your opinion? if this is one person's opinion, what is yours? caller: it is coverage for positive doings that affect most americans. i think that they see that, but i also think there is a lot of negative coverage as well. host: how would you describe - coverage? caller: i think that - coverage is facts distorted. i think that we do have a corporate media who has a bottom

line. they are not obliged to tell us the truth or the facts as it is. they are obliged to their corporate shareholders. just as each democrat and each republican by the time they get there -- i mean, i wish there would where nascar jumpsuits with all of their logos of who they're really representing once they get to washington. host: all right, let's hear from dallas on the republican line. is there a media affair with the president? caller: yes, there is. even when obama tries to explain something he gets it wrong. never do the follow up questions. people think he is so smart. if you were so smart he would release his transcripts from yale and harvard. he refuses to do that. he does not talk without a teleprompter. i do not call the real

intelligent, but nobody ever false up on live details. he definitely tells a lot of lies. the media lets it slip in never follow up on it as they did with other presidents. i think that it is shameful. host: one color touched on msnbc -- health care continues to dominate headlines this week as we await some legislation on the hill. activists are targeting democrats. here is a line from "the washington post." and says the sniping among liberals might jeopardize votes needed to pass the bill. in the high-stakes battle, a growing cadre of liberal activists is aiming its sharpest firepower against democratic senators who they accused of being insufficiently committed to the cause.

the tax branch from toward news releases to full-fledged advertising campaigns. they have elicited rebuttals from lawmakers and sparked a debate inside the party. that is the lead story there. we want to tell you about our newsmaker program today as congressman from indiana is on. it will be at 10:00 a.m. today and again at 6:00 p.m. on this network. he is the house republican conference chairman the talks about health care and other issues. >> republicans have been championing public performer over private health care insurance program for as many years as i have been in congress. health savings accounts where individuals and businesses could purchase a high deductible policies, create a fund for their first dollar benefits, could be greatly expanded. also, something called association health plans.

it is a truly cooperative idea where you would allow associations of the sake of our restaurants, or various groups to pull their employees on a national basis so that they could have affordable insurance and risk pool that would be actuarially competitive -- so that they can pool resources and employees. when we do not need is a public control in our private health insurance. americans love competition. i do too, but the federal government competes for the private sector of the way an alligator competes with a duck. it consumes it. host: representative a pence from indiana. twice today you can watch the full interview right here on c- span. atlanta, georgia is on the democrats' line now.

dana, what you make of this opinion that there is a media love affair with the president? caller: first, thank you for this kind of shipping the i feel more american when i can call in and voice my opinion. and also hear the opinion of other americans. do i think there's a love affair with the media? that may have on a few things quickly. in a way there is. i think that it is mainly because we do have a president who speaks to us and it tries to give us centers whether we believe it, i don't think anyone really trusts what we hear coming out of washington. we hope for the best. i am listening for things that affect me. i hear about the gmc and everything about the auto industry. does that affect me directly? i do not think so because i have never worked for them. i hope that things work out for