this ♪ ♪ >> good morning. it's wednesday march 28th. welcome to the bill courtpress show. liberal and proud of it. we tackle the big stories of the day every day, whether it's happening here in our nation's capitol, around the country or around the globe. and, of course, the number 1 story of washington --d.c., the supreme court debate over health care. john roberts yesterday asking: what is goingvernment going to force abeeverybody to buy a cell phone?

not everybody needs a cell phone but at some point, everybody has to have health care. if they don't have it, you and i are going to have to pay for it. >> that's what's wrong with that whole argument. we will jump into that issue and a lot of other issues together this morning and take your call calls, gu first, here in los angeles, it's jackie she canner schechner. with the update. >> here is what's current is newt gingrich is secretly -- if he is secretly your guy, you probably should find a new guy. there is news this morning he is laying off a third of his campaign staff including his campaign manager. this comes on heels of the news he is charging people for photographs and print reporters aren't following him any more. if you want to catch him, he has one event over the next three days or we haveone event a day rather. mitt romney may be the front front-runner but not winning any popularity contests according to an abc/washington post poll.

unfavorable ratings at 50%. trails president obama about 19 points. the other only republican with a more unfavorable rate something newt gingrich. >> president obama after four days in korea, if you want a little taste of what he has going on according to obama for america, he has a page on pinterest. his check him online at pintrest.com/obama. day 3 of the supreme court arguments on health care reform. by all accounts mentioned, whatit wasn't a great day for the obama administration's lawyer. we are looking at chief justice rots roberts and justice kennedy as possible swing votes. bill will have more on that as he welcomes vermont congressman peter welch.

join us on chat at current.com/billpress. we will be right back.

as i understand it in radio they can't see you, so this is big for me. >>tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's new morning news block. >>it's completely inappropriate for television. >>sharp tongue, quick wit and about all, politically direct. >>politically direct to me means no bs, the real thing, cutting through the clutter.

my show is the most important show in the world. ♪ >> braoadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv., this is the bill press show. >> all right. i am the captain of this ship and i am crazy. good morning, everybody. it is the full court press: the bill press show. good to see you on this wednesday, march 28th. we are coming to you live from our nation's capitol, washington, d.c. the most powerful city on the planet where you find us right on capitol hill in the shadow of the capitol dome, just six blocks from the capitol and six

metro stops from the white house. we got it all covered here in washington, d.c. as well as around the country and around the globe. your news show, morning show on current tv as well as continuing on all of your great progressive radio stations around the country. good to be with you today and thanks for joining us. you know we want you to join the conversation, invite you to join conversation at any time. this is your interactive full-court press. give us a call at 866-55-press. it's easy. we have an army of streamers, operators, standing by to take your call. and at 866-55-press. good to hear from you. great to see you this morning and to see our team back again today. hey, guys. >> hi, bill. >> it's a new world record. what is it now? i went to one broadway show that opened and closed on the same night. we are doing better than that. peter okayburn and sprian bold

bolding, our videographer. >> that jet blue flight % yesterday, absolutely scary. right in the i fly a lot. the one guy that you -- or girl that you always have confidence in? right? is the pilot. you walk in and you automatically just kind of look to the left, make sure there is somebody in the pilot's sweet looks reasonably sane and go take your seat and you think, it's in your hands, baby. get me there. right? not the way it happened on jet blue yesterday when the pilot started going nuts in the cockpit and the co-pilot, the hero of the day, i think says, hey, why don't you go to the bathroom and get out of here. get a drink or something. >> yeah. >> so he got him out of the cobbling pitt, persuaded him to leave the cockpit. the co-pilot changes the code so he can't get back in and then the pilot goes bearsrserk.

one of the passengers describes it. >> i thought they had technical problems and he had an emergency emergency, trying to correct the problem. but suddenly i realized he was trying to get back in the cockpit, asking for the code. i thought somebody was in the cockpit that shouldn't have been there. then he started saying, iraq iran, iran, you know we did it you know, and i knew something was wrong. >> something was wrong with him and then there were some guys on the plane. by the way there was an off-duty pilot on the plane who got into the cockpit and then helped land the plainne. and there were a lot of passengers on the plane who were going to some security conference in vegas. >> the wrong plane to have a freak-out on. >> they were the big duties?des? right? on the plane. and one described how he moved in. >> he started to curse at me and, you know, try to tell me, you better pray iraq and iran. so i said, you know what?

i am going to show you what iraq and iran is and i took him on a chokehold. >> a chokehold. i am going to show you some iran. >> i love it. >> good for those passengers for stepping up. >> yeah, let's roll. >> i always when i get on a plane, maybe this is me being goofy. i size up my fellow passengers, all right. if we need to protect the plane, i need to find out who my alliance is. >> you better start sizeing up the pilot. >> yeah. >> remember a couple of weeks ago, there was a flight attendant went nuts and started screaming wild stuff and the passengers had to subdue her. i mean going to be dangerous flying here man. i have got to tell you. well, we are going to takelk the issues with the help of pete congress welch welch and former governor eliot spitzer. you see him often on current tv. secretary of labor are a lahood cabinet secretary with

us as well as major garrett from national journal. a big line-up. but first, this is the full court press. >> a lot of stuff to talk about at the water cooler on this wednesday. how about this? actress jane fonda an out spoken liberal activist has signed onto a role playing nancy reagan variety reporting the eugene allen started working in 1952 for harry truman, worked for the rankans through 1986, forest whitaker will play the butler. >> i thought he was going to play ronald reagan. >> he is a very good actor. >> other potential cast members but not signed yet include oprah winfrey as aen's wife and john cusak as richard nixon. formeda will appear in a handful of scenes. >> i think jane formeda. i love jane formednda. she is going to drive the right-wingers crazy.

>> nuts. >> hanoi jane? >> they are going to freak out. >> you watch. >> bill, no winner last night's $366 million mega millions jackponjack jackpot. that makes it now, been going since january, this friday night, worth 467 -- $476 million with a new record for mega millions. >> all you need. all you need is one ticket and a prayer. >> a dollar and a dream. >> a dollar and a dream. >> women can now cover up on the olympic beats volleyball court. thespots ruling body thatruling that witch women who wish to follow cultural norms may wear shorts but the traditional bikini uniform is acceptal and will be likely worn. it has been an olympic sport. >> if anybodything like the team from iraq, playing beach

volleyball in a burka is tough. >> it's tough. >> you are allowed to now. >> actually, only shorts. >> seeing the ball coming, you know, it's very tough with that little slit and jumping up. all right. thank you action dan. yes, indeed. we talked yesterday. i am so outraged by this and you will be too. just wait. we talked yesterday about this smear campaign against trackvon martin, and it continues. it continues. he specially if you look at the drudge site, which i am not inviting you to do but that's where it seems most of the hat red is reflected and i am not saying drudge is putting it up there. i am not saying he is the one who is inciting it. but he is reporting it. so we talked about some of this yesterday. they accused him of -- that his school officials found an empty marijuana bag in his briefcase. duh. they accused him of wearing

saggy pants, trayvon martin. it was a fake photo. they accused him of flipping the bird in some photo. it was a fake photo. they accused him of assaulting a bus driver. police said action absolutely not true. there is no record. he has no criminal record at all, unlike george zimmerman by the way. and action of course, they accused him of wearing a hoodie as if that were a crime. right? on the other side of it, but that's the one side of it. this attempt to really tear down this poor young man who was shot and killed by george zimmerman on february 26th down in sanford, florida. the other side of it is tahey are trying to rehabilitate george zimmerman t there is this wonderful guy who is this community servant down in sanford, florida, who volunteer volunteered. all of this stuff that's coming out. it's sickening, volunteer for the neighborhood watch committee and that he was attacked, and he

only acted in self defense and he is the real victim in this case. in fact -- are you ready for this head line? he is a democrat a registered drama democrat. so so how is it that all of us liberals are being so mean to george zimmerman? i mean he is a democrat. i don't care if he's a democrat a communist, libertarian or republican. he is a murderer. at least he killed trayvon martin. so now the ultimate in this nonsense and outrage in this attempt to rehabilitate george zimmerman, this guy, joe oliver his friend that we see and we were told yesterday former t.v. anchor, that we see all over the media now, so he goes on with piers morgan last night and tells us and the day before he said we should feel sorry for

george george zimmerman because he has been crying. he can't stop crying ever since he killed trayvon martin. poor guy. he even had to move. 0 no. he had to move out of the community, and he even had to disconnect his phone. oh. god. yes. now, here is joe oliver taking it still one step further last night with piers morgan. look at this. >> i've covered stories like this where white men have shot and killed a black teenager and claimed self defense. in this particular instance, i believe that when all of the evidence comes out, this will clearly show this was a case of life or death for either trackvon or george. and sadly for the martin family it was trackvonyvon that lost. he will never be the same man. he will never be the kind giving, caring human being we have always known and loved. >> we lost george zimmerman,

too? kind? loving? caring? give me a freaking break. god, that pisses me off. i mean the idea that he thinks we would buy that b.s. i mean let's not forget. you know what we have got to do? let's just get back and keep reminding ourselves, i guess, without just getting too hangangry about it just keep coming back and reminding people about the facts in this case. okay? the facts in this case f again invite your calls at 866-55-press -- the facts in this case are that george zimmerman has a police reportcord. he assaulted a police officer, as a matter of record. the fact is he was known as being this law enforcement zel on the zealot who called police 46 times to report suspicion activity, most of which turned

out to be nothing but young black men who happened to be walking down the street like trayvon martin. the fact is, he had a gun when the man annual and the brochure whatever it is for neighborhood watch, the neighborhood watch group says, you shall not carry a weapon. you should not have a weapon period. he was violating that -- not a law but he was violating that regulation, if you will, with that rule. the fact is when he called police, he was told not to get out of his car. he did. the fact is, when he called police, he was told not to pursue this young man, which he did anyway. the fact is he confronted and started this whole thing with trayvon martin by getting out of his car and following him. and the fact is, he shot and killed him. no. you know what? we can losing george zimmerman, there is a big difference mr. oliver. do i have to point it out? trayvon martin is dead.

george zimmerman is alive. trayvon martin is in the ground. george zimmerman is drinking beer, going to mcdonald's, watching television, going to the beach, having sex with his girlfriend, god knows what. all of those things that trayvon martin will never do. 866-55-press. how dare him suggest that there is no difference between trayvon martin and george zimmerman, that we lost both of them. god, it pisses me off! ♪ >> on your radio, on t.v. the bill press show, new on current tv. >>just refreshing to hear. no other television show does that. we're keeping it real.

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is on the new news network. >>welcome to the war room. >>jennifer granholm joins current tv. >>make your voice heard. >>detremined to find solutions. >>that partnership in order to invest in our country is critical. >>driven to find the truth. >>how did romney get his groove back? >>fearless, independent and above all, politically direct. ♪

♪ ♪ >> heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the bill press show. >> 24 minutes after the hour. we are supposed to feel sorry for poor george zimmerman. he is just no longer the kind loving, caring man we used to know. yeah. maybe he should have thought about that before he pulled out his gun. kent calling from richmond virginia. hi, kent. >> bill, pleasure to visit with you. >> thank you. >> one of the central issues i wanted to remind everyone is never forget where the money and organization is coming from to fight this whole issue. the gun lobby is amazingly powerful, as we all know. they have been manipulating these stand your ground laws

and they are, of course, utilizing all these -- >> by the way, can i just interrupt for a second? >> y.e.s.es. >> alec, the american legislative, whatever council is a koch brothers-funded operation. you can read about it in my new book, "the obama hate machine." this is all part of the koch brothers as well. okay. go ahead, thanks. >> sure. but, you know, this part of what is destroying our country, bill, is the fact you have these incredibly powerful corporate entityies and whenever somebodything like this happens and it is running against their agenda, for example, which is the nra-backed effort to sell more guns is what it comes down to. you see the whole sound machine and all of the corporate money behind it being put into play, and this is just another example. >> yeah. >> how you can take a perversion of justice like this and a right-wing power machine will be

brought into play and work against the most basic efforts of the democratic principles of this country. >> kent. >> >>, thanks for the call. that's an excellent point. there is no doubt about it. the money behind this effort to smear trayvon martin is coming from the nra from the gun lobby because they know that the crooks of-- the crux of this is to question this stand your ground law in florida, which they pushed through in 2005. you know, they have even come out with hoodies now. they have come out with hoodies that have special hoodies, the nra selling hoodies that have a special pocket for your hand gun. greg is out in denver, colorado. hi, greg. >> how are you doing, bill? >> good. what's up? >> watching another network, the lawrence o'donnell show, and he and charles were talking with this guy and established that this guy only knew him for about roughly five years, knew

absolutely nothing about this guy's background. >> you mean the joe oliver is sort of like a pseudo friend is what you are saying? >> absolutely. and the clip is all over msnbc. when you go on there and look at it, it said he is from louisiana and that term of endearment, the a-c word or the c-a word. it's not. this guy is blatantly lying on national t.v. and he doesn't even really know zimmerman. he didn't know his background. >> greg, i am glad you pointed that out. yes see lawrence last night. and, yeah, there is something phony about this joe oliver to me. i just -- i just don't trust him. he is too slick. and, yeah. all we know is when george zimmerman used the phrase "soon-ass" that was not a term of endearssxweerment. >> he didn't use the term soon-ass. he just used the first part of

it. >> good morning, bill. there is only -- it's only down for you guys now. you are at the top. >> thanks, joey. you are part of the team. >> joey do you have your make up on this morning? >> no, sir. no. i don't. i don't. sir, i think george zimmerman got a bloody nose when he cold-blood cold-blooded, it hit him right in the face. and that's how he got his bloody nose because when you first shoot a weapon, that gun will recoil, and i have seen about 10 people get hit in the face with their own weapon because when they shoot it, they are not really for the recoil. >> that's how he got that bloody nose, bill. >> joey? who snowsknows? who knows? and as far as i am concerned with george zimmerman who cares? he is alive. trayvon martin is dead. supreme court battle over health care: we'll talk to congressman pete welch about that. next.

>> this is the bill press show! we're debating things like how much warming will we see in what will be the precise impacts on north america. there are still issues that are being debated, but the fact that we're warming the planet is not one of them. >> all right. that is michael mann with his book, "the hockey stick and the climate wars." coming up the power of public outcry. plus the war on women continues to rage. republicans are now going to even greatest length to take away a women's right to choose. you have to see this. and later we'll head out to the campaign front as we enter the etch-a-sketch of the gop

primary. we're just getting started at the war room and we want you to have a seat at the table. go to current.com/warroom to connect with us and make your voice heard. we'll be right back.

>> listen and watch the bill press show on your favorite radio station, and now on current tv., this is the bill press show. welcome to the spin room. >> hey how about a 33 minutes after the hour, wednesday, march 28th, coming to you live all the way across this great land of ours from radio studio on capitol hill, the full court press. join the chat room at current.com. lots of fun talk with your fellow viewers and listeners on current.com or bill press show.com while you are at our website, billpressshow.com. if you don't have a copy of my

latest book, "the obama hate machine" get a signed copy through our website at billpress billpressshow.com. tell us how you want it signed. if you want it signed to you or a friend of yours or one of your co-workers who is an extreme right-winger you may be want to enlighten him or her, all about the koch brothers and the attacks on president obama. we will be talking supreme court, health care with congressman pete welch in just a second. first jumping into the spin room, yesterday, john boehner hear his take on what's wrong with obamacare and the terrible impact its having, he says on this economy. >> lawyers are sitting on their hands because they are scared to death of what obamacare is going to mean to their business along with all of these other policies coming out of washington. >> as usually, john boehner doesn't know what he is talking about. the fact is, the affordable care act or obamacare whatever you want to call it actually gives small businesses a huge tax

break for providing health care to their employers and small businesses across the land are taking advantage of it. john obtain may be able to do a little research. you know, even in your home state of ohio before you go shooting off your mouth. so, the supreme court arguments yesterday and a lot of critical questions asked about the individual mandate. we wanted to look into that with a man who sits on the energy and commerce committee in the house of representatives, was instrumental and with that committee in writing this law, the afford airable care act. he represents vermont in the united states congress. pete welch. congressman, thank you for joining joining us. >> good to have you on capitol hill. >> and here on current tv. so congressman, what about this individual mandate? why is -- why is individual mandate so important? help us understand that. >> well, there is two things.

if everybody is going to be covered with health insurance and under this bill pretty much everybody is then everybody has to help pay. and that's the deal. you can have the mandate so all of us who are covered have to pay and it's according to the ability to pay or you could impose a tax. either way, you've got to pay for health care. so everybody isn. everybody pays. >> what if you can't afford it? >> you get -- you get subsidies or it can be free. you might be on medicaid if you can't afford it. so it's according to ability to pay. so it's not as though some of us who can't pay is going to be asked where it's beyond them, they will not have health care. there is an interesting point a lot of the critics of the individual mandate disregard, and that is the current system imposes a mandate on people who have health care coverage to pay a significant portion of their premium to cover the cost of the uninsured who just show up at the hospital or a doctor's

office and get health care. so we found when we were doing this bill that about $1,100 on the average premium was to pay for uncompensated care. so if we are going to have a system where we are all covered, or as a prac picktical matter that anybody can go to the hospital and hobsto be covered, that's what the mandate is about. >> i read this morning about one of the guys that brought this, the lawsuit. i think he is up in new york state. no. actually, he is in peninsulansylvania. so he is also under romneycare. right? he is a businessman he says he can afford it but he is just not going to pay for it because he's healthy. he exercises. he doesn't eat red meat. he doesn't smoke. he doesn't drink. so he is saying i don't need this this damn health care and i am not going to buy it. what do you say to a guy like him? >> here is what i say: he doesn't need it until he needs it. >> yeah. right. >> you do not know when you are

going to get hit by a truck acrossing the street or you don't know when you are going to get cancer. and the invincibles is the term we use when we are debateing health care. that tends to be younger people who are as not as experienced being sick. not older people who should be past the point of illusion that somehow they found the way to stay on this moretale mortal coil forever. if you go years and years and years without any health care expenses and by the way, all of us should do everything we can to be healthy. >> sure. >> just our responsibility. >> right but. >> but he will neated it at some point. >> congressman -- again talking with congressman pete welch from vermont on this wednesday morning edition of the full-court press. so, congressman, yesterday, chief justice john roberts, everybody is watching these questions, you know, to say, how what can we read into how they

are finally, going to rule? but so the chief justice says, well, what's next is the government going to order everybody to buy a cell phone? >> right. and that's sort of the taking the situation to a logical absurd degree. >> yeah. >> health care is obviously integrated into our society. it's one of the biggest parts of our economy. and one of the problems we have with health care is that it's taking up too much of our economy. but, every single one of us at some point needs access to health care health care. and it's a necessity. it's not -- so it's kind of special place. and, you know, we've made these decisions before like public education. everybody has to go. everybody has to help pay. you don't have kids in school, you are still paying property taxes to help the folks whose kids are going to school. social security is another example. we made a decision that we retirement security was so important that we were going to

establish the social security program, and people could say just like that example you gave me, hey, i will take care of my own retirement but we passed a law, very, very popular in its implementation that there is payroll deductions in order to fund the benefits that all of us receive when we get to the retirement age. >> yeah, i think it was justice ruth bader againstburg who pointed out some of the same arguments made by opponents of obamacare were made against social security at the time. right? >> that's exactly right. it was unconstitutional roosevelt was a socialist, and i don't know if they call it roosevelt rooseveltcare. who knows? but literally the same arguments were made. and basically, there has always been a battle in this country between an approach where in government, we say, hey, we all do better when we all do better. but we have to have some structures to make that possible. >> now what happens --

>> with social security. >> what happens, congressman? what if the court were to throw out the individual mandate but keep the rest of the law? is that tenable? >> it's not tenable to have everybody covered unless you have some way to have all of us help pay. now, congress, if we didn't have a mandate could impose a social security payroll tax. there would be a way to do it that probably would be harder for the court to overturn. we would have a political battle oh, my goodnessbviously, because you have got the republican presidential field and it's tougher for the republican politicians to want to repeal any health care. but they won't be able to do that because i actually think that the -- the benefits you areare starting to be received. the insurance reforms already are are but hospitals and doctors, people in the health care field know that the status quo is really busted. so the republicans want to

repeal it. but, you know, this thing is moving ahead and it's a real urgent need. this country has to do better at health care because we have to start dealing with the costs. we are paying twice as much and getting the leaset in the major industrial countries for what we spend on health care. >> finally, congressman, i have to ask you: when we -- wouldn't this be just a lot simpler, and wouldn't we be further down the road if we had just adopted a single-pair system? -- a single-payer system? >> i support that as you have explained. >> so do i. >> pardon me? >> so do i. get all of these companies out of the business and just make it sure sure everybody is covered. >> the small businesses and large businesses do not want to be in the health care business. and the contradictions to that are increasingly problematic for them. i always thought the single high payer majors the most logical sense and there are a number of us on the committee when we were

on thise committee supported a single-payer amendment but the political ability to get this done is not here i am from the state of vermont where we did vote for sing-payer and the legislature is working with the governor to take concrete steps to implement it. >> i will tell you congressman, as far as i am concerned on health care, if we put you and bernie sanders in charge, we would be a hell of a lot better off. but this bill -- >> thanks. >> isn't perfect as it is. it's a vast improvement. you got up early for us. thank you for your good work on this issue and many other issues. >> thank you. >> congressman pete welch. you can follow him online. i'm sorry,@welch.house.gov. full-court press, wednesday morning. >> this is the bill press show.

>>politically direct to me means no bs, the real thing, cutting through the clutter. my show is the most important show in the world.

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>> the latest from the world of politics, this is the bill press show. >> thirteen minutes now before the top of the hour. full-court press taking your calls at 866-55-press. we will get back on the top stories of the day. here is a good question. how many how much money do you need to earn each month? well, that's what the people at income and home would like to know. once they know they will help you achieve that goal. you heard me talk about the people at income at home.com. they are america's leading work from home business rated a-plus for their business ethics. you know what? you can do this.

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go die in the parking lot, well the individual mandate doesn't need to be there. but if we don't want to live in that kind of society, then an individual mandate seems okay. >> you know, ron, we'll never never -- that's not who we are? right? i mean it may not sound fair for fem people who are freeloaders not soto have any insurance to show up at the emergency room and get treated but we are never going to turn them away. i think it's an excellent point. it's right at the heart of this whole debate. right? the fact is we are a caring people for the most part, and no matter how poor they are, how rich they are, somebody has an accident, they show up in the emergency room, they get treated. if they don't have health insurance, you and i pay for them. >> that's why i think the individual mandate is okay. >> yeah. >> i think the supreme court is kind of off base. >> well, so far, we don't nappedknow where they are going to come down. we are going to be talking being

this with someone from slate magazine in the next hour. she knows more about this than anybody. but i am sure she will make this point that i wanted to make, which is you think you can tell from the way the questions they ask how they are going to vote? you cannot. i mean they are doing their job. they are asking devil's advocate questions for the most part. i mean, look. come on. we know how clarence thomas antoine scalila are going to vote. the others, you can't tell by their questions. one thing i wanted to point out before we move along, man, i have got to tell you, mitt romney. you know, he tries so hard to paint himself as a man of the people. he is not. he is not way like you and me. he is there is no way he can identify with your average american. the more we hear about him, the more we see that.

right? he is the ultimate pluto accuratecrat, the poster child for mr. 1%. we have heard him every time he opens his mouth, he tells you how rich he is. remember what he said about ann and all of the cadillacs she drives. >> you know, the trees are the right height. the streets are just right. i like the fact that most of the cars i see are detroit-made automobiles. i drive a mustang and a chevy pickup truck. ann drives a couple of cadillacs actually. >> a couple of cadillacs. >> i used to have a dodge truck. i used to have all three covered. >> to be fair, she doesn't drive those couple of cadillacs at the same time. >> how do you know? >> all right. you got me there. you got me there. >> all right. sorry. sorry. also remember he talked about -- he made a little bit of money on speak speaking fees last year. >> the effective rate i have been playing is probably closer to the 15% rate than anything because milany last 10 years,

i've -- my income comes overwhelmingly from investments made in the past readyather than ordinary income or rather than earned income. i got a little income from my book but i gave that away and i get speakers' fees from time to time but not very. >> not very much. last year 375,000. no. not very much. just chump change for mitt romney. you know, i don't know about you, peter. some of my best friends own nfl teams. >> but i have gota lot of good friends, the owner of the miami dolphins and new york jets. both owners are friends of mine. the latest is we just found out yesterday thanks to the "new york times", mitt romney's plans for hisotion oceanside mansion in la hoja california, it's going to build an 8100 square foot mansion. under it a 3600 square foot

basement for his grandchildren, i guess, and this is going to be a split-level garage and then the garage an elevator for the cars. a car elevator. well, i guess you have a car elevator out in germantown? >> sure. who doesn't? >> have you ever heard of anybody? i never heard of anybody with a car elevator in their home. the romney campaign says they need it in order to squeeze in more cars. yeah. you know what? the answer, if you can't get all of the cars in your garage, don't buy so damn many cars. >> that's what the answer is. >> i had to go online and look. >> the fleet. >> i had to see what a car elevator looked like. granted, they look pretty awesome. but who in the world needs one? >> yeah. but mitt romney he is a man of the people just like you and me. yeah. >> heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the

bill press show.

it's completely inappropriate for television.

♪ >> >> taking your e-mails on any topic at any time, this is the bill press show live on your radio and current tv. >> hey, on twitter on facebook and our website, billpress billpressshow.com, all of your comments appreciated. i like to recognize some of them at this time every day. how about this sort of random twitter comment that the -- what b -- @bp show are are our printtwitter

hand handle, best program smartly hip on wisdom. >> we will take it. >> suzi williams says my husband says thanks for being on t.v. my wife is in such a better mood. no more yelling at her t.v. in the morning. so keep up the great show. >> that's nice glad to bring peace to that home. and sharon armules says, i am so happy you are on in the morning with your new show as a regular msnbc watcher, i have kept my television turned off mornings in pure disgust over joe scarborough's eternal scorn, disdain and rudeness with mika. all right. so now you can instead watch me dump on peter. >> there you go. >> this is the bill press show.

♪ >> and welcome to the full-court press. this is the bill press show on current tv your new morning show on current tv. i will bill press, liberal and proud of it. good to have you with us this morning as we talk the big stories in our nation's capitol, in the around the country and around the globe. what has me upset this morning and that is this guy, joe oliver, this friend of george zimmerman's who says, you know there is really -- said on piers morgan, there is no difference between trayvon martin and george zimmerman.

we lost them both. no. no. no. no. no. no. we didn't. there is one big difference. george zimmerman is still alive. trayvon martin is dead. all right. we will talk that issue and a lot of other issues this morning. but first, let's go out to los angeles and is a good morning to jackie schechner with the current tv news update. >> hi, bill. here is what's current right now. newt gingrich is nothing if not stubborn. he refuses to go away. reports he plans to layoff a third of his campaign staff to save money. you may remember yesterday we reported he was charging support supporters $50 a pop to get their picture taken with him in order to raise money. i've got a picture with him i would like to sell back for $50. he is comt cutting down on public events in order to stretch this out to the convention in tampa. he has one event each day for the next three days. he is not winning any friends with this strategy either. a cnn/orc international poll says 6 in 10 republicans would

like him and ron paul, for that matter, to drop out of the race. the same number want rick >> lauren sanders: to keep going. >> lauren sanders: san santorum is safein lumber company and ron paul is going to speak at the university of maryland. we don't have any word yet on mitt romney's plans for the day. now, as bill has been talking about, it is the third day of or oral arguments as the supreme court weighs in on the constituteionalty of certain parts of health care reform. they will talk about the individual mandate. they are also going to talk today about the expansion of medicaid. the states are required to expand it, according to health care reform and they will figure out whether or not the federal government has the right to require them to do so. if you want to chat about this or anything else, join us online. it'sedes to do so, current.com/billpress. we will be right back after the break. bill will talk to dolly alithec from slate.com.

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as i understand it in radio they can't see you, so this is big for me. >>tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's new morning news block. >>it's completely inappropriate for television. >>sharp tongue, quick wit and about all, politically direct. >>politically direct to me means no bs, the real thing, cutting through the clutter.

my show is the most important show in the world. ♪ broadcasting across the nation, on your radio and on current tv., this is the bill press show. >> hey, rough day in the supreme court for obamacare yesterday. what do you say? good morning, everybody. welcome. welcome to this wednesday, march 28th edition of the full-court press coming to you live from coast to coast from our radio studio here in capitol hill. the bill press show talking about the issues of the day, happening here in our nation's capitol and taking your calls at 866-55-press. good to have you with us this morning. our regular team peter okayburngburn

and sibp re s.ipreon. dahlia lithwick senior editor for slate.com, slate magazine. thank you for coming in. >> thank you for having me. >> so i want to if i can see that washington post you have got here this morning, just a sec: head line justices express doubts about health care law, "new york times" headlines: sharp questions in court on health laufmandate and the hill says mandate teters in court. was it really that bad? >> i think it was really that bad. i think that -- >> this is the heart? right? >> this is it. it's the mandate -- if the mandate falls, that's goingone of the issues we are going to talk about wednesday, whether the entire bill survives if the mandate falls but yes, whether or not, as a technical/ legal

matter, this is the heart of the bill. it's the heart of the bill and the court, i think it's fair to say was very dubious about the mandate yesterday. >> so this would go to the question today, just jumping ahead sever somethingseverability meaning if the mandate falls could the rest of the bill stand up. >> there are two kind of boring technical issues after yesterday's fireworks. one is the question of sever severability. does the rest of the bill survive? the other is the medicaid expense and whether the states were commandeered by the medicaid expansion. those are the two the court hear today. >> let me jump back today one. day one was a procedural thing basically. can we decide this now or should we wait until 2014? from what it looked like the court seemed to say, no. we are ready to go now. >> that's exactly right. >> is that how you read it. >> that's right. it was a funny situation because nobody actually wanted to defend the proposition we needed to

wait until 2014. so the bringcourt had to bring in outside counsel, robert long and they proceeded to beat the heck out of him. so it was quite clear after that. >> from day one, we know that they are going to have a decision in june. right? okay. now, what do we know from day two from their questions? can -- can you -- and you have been watching court for so long and you have been in the court the last two days? correct? >> that's right. >> and at least you have a seat for today if you decide to go. >> i do. >> unless you have had enough? right? >> let's see when we are done here. >> exactly. can you listen to the questions and say, oh i know how she is going to vote. i know how he is going to vote? >> it depends upon the justice. yesterday, more than usual, i think, it's fair to say, there is no doubt the four liberals will uphold the mandate. there is no doubt, i think based on the questioning that justices antoine scalia and samuel alito want to strike it do you know. there is no doubt, even though

he did not speak that clarence thomas, based on his years of writing on these issues wants to strike it down. >> is he going to go three days without speaking? >> he has gone six years without speaking. i don't know that he is going to start now. >> okay. >> >>. >> i don't know. it may be game-up after yesterday. so that leaves, i think n most court watchers arrived at the same conclusion. that leadsves justice kennedy and the chief justice somewhat in play yesterday. they were less clear, certainly looked as though they didn't like the mandate but at least i think it's fair to say they asked tough questions of both sides and neither of them really betrayed a sense that i've decided this. i am in the tank for one side or the other. >> now justice -- chief justice roberts had the line of the day and the one that most people are talking about, which is: which is. . what are you going to do next? force me to buy a cell phone? right? i mean that's -- i think i know the answer to that, but that's a pretty good argument for him. i mean it's something people

understand. i am going to have to buy a t.v. or a car or a certain kind of car or a cell phone? right? >> that's right. that argument is really the engine that has driven this lawsuit for two years since it was filed in the lower courts. the argument that if the government can use the power to force me to do x, purchase x, that's what they say is dramatically different, that you have to buy something. what's to stop them from forcing me to purchase y, and that's the argument that the chief justice brought out. in fairness, justice scalia was the first one who said the broccoli. but i think there is no question justice sam alito said are you going to force us to buy insurance for our funeral services? so certainly, that line of agent argument, the lawyerly term for that is: give me a limiting principle. that was a big theme in the questioning of the solicitor general. >> i want you to know none of us, those of us who support obamacare and support the law

and those of us who understand why the individual mandate is so important, we don't have to worry because we had our guy making the case yesterday? don zorilli, the sol it's iter general as articulate as you can get before the supreme court. this is him at his best put together together by buzzfeed. >> insurance has become the predominant means of paying for health care in this country. because -- because the -- and because this is a market in which -- in which you -- although for the -- >> stop. >> and -- >> oh. >> the -- um. excuse me. >> train wreck.

oh, my god. was it that bad? >> no. >> that's not entirely correct. i think what that capital yourtured was he had a rocky start. his first minute was really wobbly. >> is this his first time before the supreme court? >> no. he is a seasoned veteran. i feel i have seen him knock it out of the park. and i think that it's fair to say that what he couldn't do -- that makes it sounds like he couldn't actually speak. >> i broke into a sweat just listening to that. brutal. >> that's the problem with montage montages. if you took a montage of an hour of me, it might sound could haveghy and wobbly, too. what he couldn't quite do was answer this fundamental question is: what is the limiting principal here principle here? why not broccoli? he kept looking back to something that was clearly not going to satisfactory the conservatives on the court. he kept saying because it's just different. >> yeah.

>> health insurance market is simply different. and it became clear that the chief justice didn't think that was an argument. he thought it was an assertion. he thought -- it wasn't that he bungled his way. early reports were quite hard on him. he was not able to mollify the justices. >> not to pick on verilly. but what is the answer to the cell phone or the broccoli question? >> well, i always remember elana kagan, she was asked the brock requestioncoli question. she was asked: can congress force you to pass a law -- can congress pass a law forcing you to eat broccoli. her answer was the right one: that would be a didb law. the answer has to be we have a thousand mechanisms to keep us from passing stupid laws. >> that's why we have government that responds to us. but the second answer really is i think verilly wasn't able to make the case that this is not like purchasing a car.

it is not like buying a gym membership because whether or not you purchase those things, you get them for free at some point in your life. >> that's the difference. the difference is if you go to a hospital, you will not be turned away whether or not you have health insurance. we have set up a regime in which the failure to buy health insurance doesn't preclude you from getting health care. >> that's who we are as a people. and that's not going to igchange? right? we are not going to have a law that says unless you have health insurance, you can't come to an emergency room? it's not going to happen? right? >> there was an amazing moment where justice scalia said, well, change that. >> yeah. >> and verilly, his jaw hung up and said that's a moral decision we have made in this country. we as a people don't turn people away for not having insurance. >> no matter who you are, you could get buy without-- bitget by without a cell phone. it's not essential. at some point, why doesn't verilly say that.

at some point, everybody, i don't care how healthy you are, this guy one of the plaintiffs in the case from massachusetts says i don't need to buy health care. i don't needeat red meat. i don't drink. i don't smoke. i am healthy. i don't have cancer. guess what, dude. some day, you are going to. you are going to need health care. >> that's exactly itwhat elana elana kagant i thought she was one of the best questioners. she just basically said the decision not to purchase health care is also an economic decision. it is an sxhiings decision to make the rest of our premiumseconomic decision to make the rest of our premiums go up by a thousand dollars at the end of the day. >> that's what this case pivots on and what the conservatives in the court kind of failed to understand although i will drop a footnote and say justice kellyned asked a question at the very end of the day that suggested that he understood that young uninsured people are the proximate cause. >> i heard that question last night. i thought it was a very thoughtful one and indicated you

cannot put him, i don't think, in a box yet. kennedy. >> i think that's exact right. it sucertainly suggested to those of us watching closely, this wasn't the they rememberoinfluentialingrememberonew orleans explosion -- nuclear explosion we thought. it's not like other markets. >> dahlia lithwick legislate.com is where you can follow her work on twitter twitter @dahlialithwick dahlia stipulate , lithwick. so there is a theory i want to go on about, the justchief justice knows this court is going to go down in history as a right-wing political court that's just a rubber stamp for the republican party after citizens united and after bush v. gore unless they do the right thing on health care and that he sees histhis as an

opportunity to restore the reputation of this court. therefore, some court watchers in washington anyhow are saying the court is going to come down and uphold obama kay. do you agree? >> i am one of the people who wrote a version of that last week, said, you know there is a widespread -- >> you are the one? >> i am one of the people who thought this is not, i think, the court's pet issue, that this court is not all about federal federalism. this court is not all about killing the mandate. this court is about doing all of the things they are poised to do get rid of section 5 of the voting rights act, get rid of affirmative action. they are teed up to do everything they dreamed upof so why do this. i think there is a strong argument that says chief justice roberts, his otherhero is john marshall william rehnquist. they put the court first and the estate e-mail of the court first and he cares about his legacy. he does care that he not look like the guy who did bush v. gore part 2, that said based on his questions yesterday, i am a

little less certain of that proposition than i was. >> dahlia lithwick from slate magazine, thank you for coming in. great to see you. we are very excited to welcome in studio next governor eliot spitzer here on current tv and the full court press. thanks, dahlia. good to see you. >> my pleasure. ♪ >> this is the bill courtpress show. and that's going to deliver a lot of flavor. [ cannon ] a good thick rocky head --

♪ >> heard around the country and seen on current tv. this is the bill press show. it's 23 minutes after the hour this is the full court press. your new morning show on current tv. proud to be here and excited to be here with all of you and

thank you for joining us. also, very excited to welcome a good friend in the studio this morning from new york governor eliot spitzer. we were together the last time, et i don't wanteliot on the set at "countdown" in new york in the night of the florida primary. >> that was a long time ago, the primaries that never stop, a bad movie that has too many sequels. >> that's what mitt romney is saying. get it over with. i know you were here in the control room. talking with dahlia lithwick about the supreme court. you know, they say this is all about the law and everything. this is a lot to do with politics. isn't it? >> it is a lot of politics but it is also the law. i think there is actually an easier answer to the questions that are coming from the bench, the justices on the conserveative side and ela na, justice kagan got it right saying with hecan we pass a law saying eating broccoli. she said that's a dumb law.

she says congress has the power to do a lot of things it doesn't do because congress chooses not to do that which is stupid. the fact the supreme court is being asked to report accurately or to say accurately the commerce clause gives congress the power to do lots of this stuff doesn't mean they will or they should. congress under existing constitutional juris prudentions has the -- jurisprudence has the power to do what it did. the only way the supreme court comes out the other way is to make a u-turn in constitutional jurisprudence. it's basically to ignore the legislative role to do that which is not stupid. >> congress has the power, and they use it in some cases they don't use it in others. >> exactly right. >> and thosedon't you think if this were a george w. bush, for example, in the white house, that the very same republicans would be making the argument that this is within the power of congress? they have been making the obama argument.

>> we should never for get. dahlia has written about this for slate. i right write for slate. a year ago when the health care act came up, the individual mandate, which is at the sent of ir of their challenge is an intense intensely conservative idea initially proposed by the heritage foundation, mitt romney and newt gingrich. it is sort of econ 101. you can't have an insurance program that works if people can opt out and then only come in and take the benefits when they want to. >> that's why the conservatives call this: get rid of free riders. they are basically saying get rid of welfare queens. >> get rid of free loadloaders? >> it's a conservative idea. >> i remember in 2008 during campaign this was a big issue because because between hillary clinton and barack obama and hillary was light right and barack obama was wrong. >> he opposed it. >> exactly. i kept saying no. no. hillary was right on thisat issue. >> she had lived the health care

reform proposition several years before. and understood the raw economics of this which is that if you are going to provide health care for people who do show up at the emergency room without insurance and they can get the health care, you have got to pay for it somehow. so so it means everybody else is paying for it if they don't pinch pitch in. this is a way to get everybody to pay so we can affirmedord to get everybody coverage. >> we will be gadlad to take your calls calls. not that we have exhausted health care but i have to ask you as a former governor we have talked about this case of trayvon martin down in florida. but i just want to ask from your perspective: if this had happened in knock startte and you were a governor and you see the local police department, you may not know all of the facts but they haven't done their job. what do you do? >> you bring the state's investigative power to bear and saying i am putting somebody in

charge from the state attorney general. a preeminent attorney in the private sector. you take charge. find out what happened. clearly there has been some sort of brain lock at the local level. too much time is passing. the question is: ist should have been resolved. get your arms around the evidence. get back to us in 72 hours. tell us what happened. something is going on that's amiss right now. >> at least to assure the public? right? that the proper investigation investigation -- i mean, not that your convicting the guy buzz before there has been a theilerial but police have done their job investigating it. >> you have what is by any measure a crisis. you have a kid who is dead a vigilanteism and somebody wielding a gun, shooting a gun killing who appears to be an innocent kid. >> the full court press here on current tv. we will be back, continuing our kench with your calls. clear

clear. >> this is the bill press show. whether the globe is warming, >> this is the bill press show. we're debating things like how much warming will we see in what will be the precise impacts on brought patterns in north america. there are still issues that are being debated, but the fact that we're warming the planet is not one of them. >> all right. that is michael mann with his book, "the hockey stick and the climate wars." coming up the power of public outcry. plus the war on women continues to rage. republicans are now going to even greatest length to take away a women's right to choose. you have to see this. and later we'll head out to the campaign front as we enter the etch-a-sketch of the gop primary. we're just getting started at the war room and we want you to

have a seat at the table. go to current.com/warroom to connect with us and make your voice heard. we'll be right back.

♪ have. >> thirty-three minutes after the hour on the bill press show. coming to you live coast to coast with our great progressive radio stations around the country. great to have you with us in studio, governor eliot spitzer. >> thank you for having me. >> we are very honored to welcome to the show by our news line here, the boss. i mean oh, my god, a little nervous here. >> good behavior. >> co-founder of current tv and chairman of the board, long time friend of mine a great american

and great vice president of the united states, vice president al gore. mr. vice president, good morning. >> hey, bill. welcome to current tv. i am so happy that your show is on and doing so great. and good morning, eliot. >> good morning, sir. >> i can't tell you how proud and excited we are to be here. we will do the best to carry the flag from 6:00 to 9:00. >> it's a very exciting and informative show and i am happy about it. >> i have to tell you, mr. vice president, you and i have a mutual friend in suzi bewell. >> she is great. >> she sent me an article yesterday from righters. i will read you the headlines: global warming close to becoming irreverse irreversible, scientists say. what happened? why are people talking about it? >> well, first of all, i think most scientists would probably not reach that particular conclusion yet. some of the impacts are

irreverse irreverseible unfortunately because we have raised the temperature of the earth by a degree and more is to come because the heat is stored up in the ocean but we still have a good chance to avoid the worst of the impact scientists have been warning us about. but your question is why have we failed to rally and do something about it? >> yes. congress is not talking about it. >> first of all, i want to compliment president obama for the action that his epa administrator, lisa jackson took yesterday. >> yesterday. >> you know, all of the focus is on the supreme court right now because of the health care argument arguments. but people forget that back during the final year of the bush cheney administration, the supreme court upheld a provision in the clean air act that designated -- that allowed the designation of c 02 as an air

polluteant. it's not ancient history. it is because of that law and the ruling and interpretation of the law that the epa was able to issue this historic rule yesterday that really puts limits on carbon emissions. so, you know, the action has been frustratingly slow, and there are a lot of reasons for that. it's a tough problem. garden variety denial. most importantly, there has been a massive dis information cam campaign by coal and oil companies. it's exactly like what the tobacco companies did for 40 years to mislead people and to not -- into not believeing what doctors have always said about smoking and lung cancer after the surgeon general's report. >> right. right. exactly. now, the obama administration has domne some great things there which they are not getting credit for and certainly moving us in the area of renewable

injuries. finally, mr. vice president, politically have you ever seen a republican primary or even a democratic primary as crazy as this one that we have been through cast of characters? if it must be fun for you on the shrines sidelines to watch this. >> >>. >> you know the old saying it only hurts when ityou laugh. i can't even laugh. it's not fun really, bill for this reason. i think it hurts the country. i think it's embarrassing to have, you know people, major candidates come out against public education, come out against contraception, make some of these arguments that are just ones that you think they are in the last century. and i don't think it's good for the country. i understand in a purely parti partisan sense, maybe it tilts the scales a little bit and helps democrats but for the country as a whole, i think anything i say about it is going to be heard as partisan.

i will say this at that risk: i really witchsh that the majority within the republican party who i really believe are embarrassed by this would stand up and say wait a minute. we need to offer better. and the democratic party has made so many mistakes also. you know, it's not purely a partisan divide but we need good, high-quality debates about what we need to do better in this country. and this republican primary has been just astonishing in my opinion. >> get back to the issues that really matter. mr. vice president, good of you to choyjoin us this morning. thank you for giving us a chance to be part of your team, and we are excited to be here. >> well, i am so happy you are, and keep up the great work, bill. and talk to you soon, eliot. >> yes, sir. good to hear you. >> come down and see us, mr. vice president. >> we will. >> we will have a place for you at the studio any time you are in town. >> bye-bye. >> he is a great guy. >> he is spectacular.

you know what? this environmental stuff that lisa jackson reported on, it's important. it prospect activelyively will make future power plants cleaner, a huge move to natural gas, coal plants are going to have emission rates so much lower than than they have in the past. it's a very, sigvery significant move. >> the vice president was right. there is so much attention now to this health care thing, which is that's what they are arguing. you can understand it. the epa, there is something very important about carbon emissions. >> it brings together the president and the supreme court. to show you, i teach a class and tell them 5 is the most powerful number in the united states. five justices can write the constitution, rewrite it pick a picture president. most of us think he should have been president, won the vote in florida. he never got that chance. the same supreme court that really is the fulcrum of so many big decisions. >> absolutely. this is the bush v. gore court?

>> a couple of people changed but emotionally the same. >> maybe they have a chance to redeem it. he was elected president. there is no doubt about it. >> that's right. >> it was stolen from him. so you and i were together on the florida primary which mitt romney won. he has not been able to make the deal. how does he, in your opinion, how does he come out of this? pretty weak? >> i will give you two different views. one is, yes, he is weak. i have maintained three different pieces of the republican party, the theological, which is rick santorum, the libertarian, ron paul and the sort of traditional corporate kind of moderate which is mitt romneys. he can't close the deal with the other two. they are fundamentally income pat patible. i am not sure emotionally he wants that piece but here is the other reality. at that level, et cetera weak. different perspective ofn it. those voters whom he doesn't really appeal to are going to vote for the republican nominee anyway and the romney argument -- and there is so merit to it is a pure tactical

matter is that he is stronger in the swing states because he is a slightly more moderate voice. in pennsylvania, ohio michigan i think president obama will win those states because of the economic issues but mitt romney can say to the republican party: we know membership is going to be in our camp. but santorum can't win michigan and ohio. i, mitt romney can. it's a mixed blessing. it's going through tougher battles now. he would say better than in november. >> santorum all of the sudden who said the other day and he attacked geoff but he said mitt romney is the worst republican now he is saying that he would be okay with being mitt romney's vice presidential nominee. it makes perfect sense. >> he's the wordsse guy but it gives you a little window into the mind. where is that sort of intellectual integrity that he claims he has and the purity.

go figure. >> it seems it's the last thing that rick santorum needs. i youi'm sorry. that mitt romney would want. >> issomewhat enteringinteresting but somebody cedric santorum has gone from being a credible cap date to being a heckler from the outside. he is beginning to take on the tone and sort of acid 10 occur of somebody throwing bombs from the outside. just sort of heck ling and that's a different emotional condition. >> i want to ask you one personal question and i want you to be honest with me. i know you live in new york city. >> yes, sir. >> on the upper east side? ? >> where are we going with this office yeah. >> do you have a car elevator? >> do we have a -- >> a car he will vat offerelevator? >> no. what is that? it is new to me. >> there is a report in "the new york times" that in his la joya

mansion, 8600 square feet or something, mitt romney's home includes a split legalvel garage with a car elevator so they can squeeze more cars into the garage. >> i like that. you know, i have to go home and find out why we don't. >> all right. this is his intent to be mr. every man. right? >> as you said everybody knows somebody who owns a nascar team. >> in the same category with that. all right. best best friends, n.f.l. teams, nascar teams and now a car elevator. >> my car takes the stairs. >> thank you for coming in. >> sure. >> we will see you here. >> will do. >> thank you. >> thank you. ♪ about all, politically direct. tv this is the bill press show.

my show is the most important show in the world. as i understand it in radio they can't see you, so this is big for me. >>tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's new morning news block. >>it's completely inappropriate for television. >>sharp tongue, quick wit and about all, politically direct. >>politically direct to me means no bs, the real thing, cutting through the clutter. my show is the most important show in the world.

the newest voice in cable news is on the new news network. >>jennifer granholm joins current tv. this former two term governor is politically direct.

♪ >> this is the bill press show. >> hey it's 13 minutes now before the top of the hour. this is wednesday, march 28th. it is the bill press show. full-court press. your new morning show on current tv. lots of calls about health care which we will get to, and some other issues, but first, a little reminding you about a warning, the irs warning us that if you pay your taxes electronically, you had better be careful because identity thieves know that on your

electronic returns is all of the information they need kind of to take over your life and your bank accounts your social security number, your kids' social security number, the name of your employer, home address and all of that stuff. you have got to be careful. it's one thing for the irs to warn us but then what are you going to do about it? my suggestion is that you do what i have done and sign up for life lock ultimate protection and do it now. life lock and i are on a motionission to help stop identity theft but they can't protect you if you are not a member. so call now and mention press 60 for 60 risk-free days of life lock ultimate identity theft protection. if you are not happy, call life lock within 60 days and cancel and get a refund. see lifelock lock.com for details and give them a call at 1800-356-5967 for lifelock protection.

1-800-356-5967 and in studio with us, a great leader of the california democratic party leading california women in action, christine pelosi. hi, christine. good to see you. >> good morning, bill. congratulations. >> on current tv. >> isn't that great? keeping us current, coast to coast, baseill press. >> your new book, the said he had second edition of campaign boot camp, 2.0. i like that. this is a time to get off of their butts and get out there and get active again. right? >> absolutely. this is the message. now is the time for us to get active. don't get mad. get elected. >> what do you say to people who say, you know, we did everything we could in 2008, but, you know president obama ledt us down on a couple of issues here and there, so we are just not as, you know we just don't feel the urge this year the way we did four years ago? >> look what happened in the

first two years of the obama administration versus the last year of the obama administration, when we had a progressive congress, a democrat democratic congress, health care done and i willbelieve it will be upheld. we passed a number of measures to stimulate the economy, stop stopped the hemorrhaging of jobs, losing 700,000 a month the last month of the bush presidency. that got turned around. we started to make some progress and that got reversed. what do you want? do you want women's rights or this republicans declared war on women? do you want to invest in the future? invest in education? or cut cut cut lime the romney-ryan budget? knows those are our choices. if you want a progressive president, you have to have a progressive majority to back him up. >> christine pelosi campaign boot camp 2.0, a 7-step guide to winning. we will have a link on our website at billpressshow.com. one of the things you talk about in the book is the importance of getting the message out.

progress talk radio. >> there is a plants lus con -- fabulous contributor named bill press who tells us to use the infra strk infrastructure and build on it call in to radio and support people like bill press, like current tvtion these outlets coming along are very important. if you look just over three incidents, the susan g.comekomen, sandra fluke's testimony and the trayvon martin case, those are three places where progressive social media and talk radio really drove a narrative that otherwise in the case of trayvon martin would have been ignored. >> absolutely. >> in the case of komen and sandra fluke would have been smeared. >> all of those driven by people taking advantage of social media. >> that's what people have to realize, the power. right? as you say if people don't know about it, they are not going to

act on it. you have mentioned a key word. what role -- and i know in california particularly because we worked together in california politics for so many years, that you have done such a great job organizing women around some of these issues. what role do you think women are going to play in 2012? >> women are absolutely the determineative voters in 2012. when the gender gap was large democrats won. when it was narrowed democrats lost. it's up to us, to the women, to promote women candidates for office, to promote women as high-11 campaign surrogates, policy advocates within the camera pains, women taking leadership on things like local ballot measures in the community, getting women out to vote to talk about a full range of our issues, not just health care, although that's the most e green greenous, not just attacks on medicare which are the most e green greenous, but, also, on powerour pocketbook issues. >> that's where women can play the healthiest role. i say to women take one along, don't get mad. get yourself e lend. >> you are not that you -- elected. >> not just at the national

legal? >> that's right. power. >> city council and all of those issues. so if that's true, why are we republicans wageing this war on women? >> i thinkbelieve that they are standing true to their values, which is that they hold a different legal of respect for women women that by and large the platform of the democratic party does. as individuals, you see a lot of republicans that will tepll you privately they are frustrate. they say wait a second, we supported planned parenthood dick scaithe, no less a con observetive than he wrotesaid on planned planned parenthood, they are dead wrong. i agree with him. >> in the morning, arlen speccor said the republican party is committing suicide by all of these moves against women, you know. >> it's going to be a tough race. women are going to make a difference. we have to make sure that the first concern is jobs. women are trying to hold on to family homes. they may have two or three or four generations of a family within a home.

so we have to do something about that. we have to be concerned about the opportunity for their kids to work without being saddled by enormous college debt be concerned about health care and medicare. those are the issues we are going to take to the streets and women can take to the streets very, very locally in narrativetheir communityies and i urge them to do so. >> campaign boot camp 2.0. get off your butts and get elected. >> that's my version of the book. christine pelosi a 7-step guide to winning. good luck. thank you for coming by. we will do everything we can to make sure that people follow your advice and get out to vote. we will be right back on the full-court press. >> thank you, bill. >> this is the bill press show. ♪

s. ♪ >> this is the bill press show. >> all right. three minutes before the top of the hour. president obama got back from south korea last night at 8:00 p.m. at the whitehouse. >> that's two hours ahead of schedule, and he must be pretty pooped because the president's schedule today, it just simply says, the president has no public events scheduled. jay carney hasn't even scheduled a briefing yet today. it looks like it's sort of a kick-back-and-relax day at the whitehouse. >> that's all right. he deserves it. we are not going to kick back. we have major garrett in studio with us for the next hour. we will be joined by a member of the president's cabinet transportation secretary, ray lahood. lots coming up here. >> this is the bill press show.

♪ ♪ >> good morning. welcome to the full-court press: the bill press show coming to you live from our nation's capitol. and that's me, bill press, liberal and proud of it. you your new morning show here on current tv where we tackle every morning the big stories of the day, whether it's here from our nation's capitol, around the country, or around the globe, number 1 story in washington today, of course thise supreme court and its big debate over health care reform. i mean yesterday, all of the right-wingers on the court were dumping all over the individual mandate. chief justice john roberts wanting to know: is the

government -- what's next? is the government going to force me to buy a cell phone? hey, jeffchief justice? big difference. everybody is going to need health care. not everybody does need a cell phone, believe it or not. >> that's just one of the issues we will talk this morning along with a lot of others but first, let's go out to los angeles, say good morning to jackie schechner here with the current news update. >> good morning, bill. good morning, everyone. new polling, president obama up in three key swing states, up in pennsylvania, ohio, and florida. the latest quinnipiac poll has his up 49-42, up by six points in ohio and three in pennsylvania. interesting to note he would be up three points over santorum in pennsylvania, that being santorum's home state. two months ago, obama and romney were tied in florida and ohio. obama gets much of the women vote. as the economy improves, so do his numbers. that would explain why he is on

a roll right now. as bill mentioned a couple of moments ago, the president has a quiet day today. he has meetings at the whitehouse, no public events. if you are crashveing an obama fix find him on pinterest via twitter. they have announced the president has a pinterst page. >> that's where a lot of your friends are wasting their time. you can go there to find obama-inspired recipes and obamart. at pinterest/barackobama. newt gingrich isn't dropping out of the race but he is dropping a third of his campaign staff and we are taking a look at the third day of the supreme court as they tackle health care reform, looking at the individual mandate and whether health care can survive without it. also, whether or not the federal government has the right to tell the states to expand medicaid. you can join us in chat to talk about this and everything else. current.com/billpress. we will be right back.

[ mayhem ] it's march and it's mayhem. and if you've got cut rate insurance you could be wishing it was february. so get allstate. [ dennis ] dollar for dollar nobody protects you from mayhem like allstate agents.

>>this is outrageous! [[vo]]cenk uygur calls out the mainstream media. >>the rest of the media seems like, "ho-hum, no big deal." we've have no choice, we've lost our democracy here. just refreshing to hear.

no other television show does that. we're keeping it real. ♪ >> broadcasting across the nation, on your radio, and on current tv, this is the bill press show. >> all right. i am flying this plane, and i am crazy! 0, man, i am glad i wasn't on that jet blue flight yesterday. hello, everybody. good morning. good morning. and welcome. welcome to the full-court press, the bill press show, coming to you live coast to coast from our radio factory and t.v. factory right now on capitol hill here in washington d.c. the full court press action your new morning show on current tv and still your favorite morning show on your favorite progressive radio station around the

country. good to have you with us today. we will be glad to take your calls at 866-55-press on any of the issues that we are talking about and good to have you with us this morning. and say hello to our entire vast bill press team peter ogburn. >> not that vast buddy. that was meant as -- avast. >> and ken henning and siprian bolden and sitting across the desk, a good friend, a faithful contributor to the showtiously. major garrett. what the headll are you wearing? >> a baseball cap. you should be able to figure that out. i may not know my team but the san diego padres. happy opening day. >> i have been in the owner's box when john moorses owned the term. no longer does? >> it's in transition to geoff

mored. >> what happened to the padres? >> they are in the national league west. they are still a competitive baseball term. i mean competitive sort of. 2010, we came within one game of winning the national league. last year we fell back but this year, hope springs eternal. everyone is competitive on opening day. >> keep hope alive. >> thank the padres because this is the sfooventh official baseball cap they have had. they are like the vaudevilleians. they change their costumes all the time. >> but i have to ask about that. you fly a lot. i fly a lot. >> uh-huh. >> the people on that jet blue flight yesterday b the pilot -- when the pilot went nuts here is one of the passengers describing what it was like when he was trying to figure out okay. what's going on here? imagine. >> he started to curse at me, you know, started to tell me, hey, you better pray iraq and iran. so i say, you know what?

i am going to show you what iraq and iran is and i took him on a chokehold. >> okay. somewhere there is a line for a whole t.v. show right there. >> i will show you what iraq is bud d.c. so i put him in a choke hold. >> you know, the co-pilot i think is a real hero. he notices the pilot is starting to acbizarre and says, hey, you know, maybe you ought to go to the bathroom or something and gets him out of the cockpit and changes the code so the guy couldn't come back in. there is an off-duty pilot dead heading as they say. he goes up and helps take over and land the plane. meanwhile, the passengers tackle the pilot and hold him down. >> this falls in the category of -- before 9-11 we had no generalized concerns about air travel. all of the sudden from high sxraking from the '70s from those of us were alive back then

and remember. possibly, you can, bill. >> i don't know. >> all of those set aside and now since 9-11, we have had these elevated element concerns about -- legitimate concerns not one dealing with the pilot. now, the pilot, jet glueblue has had a lot of bad public policeity. they did everything by the book and did everything proper to sub subdue the pilot. terrible pusblyty for jet blue but in every respect, they did everything right. wow the pilot freaking out. what comes next? >> you know i don't even with a the to know. the funny part is on that plane to vegas. there were lots of guys going to a security -- a conference about private security and so there were these big bruisers.

they sat on him. major garrett in the studio. we are going to talk about health care, talk about the republican primary, what's up with congress and take your calls again at 866-55-press. but first, this is the full court press. >> on this wednesday, other headlines making news as we just mentioned, baseball begins today, major league regular season getting underway in japan, the seattle mariners and oakland athletics facing each other in tokyo. first pitch. zap japan is baseball's most lucrative baseball overseas market 70% ofphon revenue. spring training wraps up in florida, in arizona for the rest of this week and the rest of the league starts the season in the u.s. >> we have and, also best player for the seattle mariners the baseball season ant the most successful japanese player to play in the major leagues, and that's a huge deal. >> we have the first pitch in the game between the mariners

and the a's. >> a strike from mccarthy. we are underway here in 2012 major league baseball season. >> hard to believe. >> all is right with the world in my view. when major league baseball starts, everything is right and balanced in the world. >> hard to believe. when is the nets first home game. >> they start on the road with the cubs so they are not here until april 10th or 11th. the padres open at the 5th. >> enough about the padres. >> against the dodgers. >> if you put down money on march madness, you are not saloon, the ncaa basketball tournament is beating out the super bowl at one sports betting plates, the first four days take in about $100 million. >> that's more than the super bowl. they are still taking bets for this weekend's final 4 match-ups, kentucky and louisville. >> i run an illegal bracket at work. >> i have two of the 14s, i am

the champ of the bracketology here at the bill press show. >> tell us how you picked lou louisville? >> ihe likes saying it. >> i like saying it, louisville. >> not a joke. actress jane fonda, an out spoken liberal has signed onto a new role playing nancy reagan in a new film causedlled "the butler," based odd eugene allen started working in 1952 started working for true mistakenbman through the rankages ask. >> forest whitaker will play reagan? >> he will play the butler. other potential cast members not signed yet include opera winfrey as aen's wife lia meson and john kusak. >> major, the right-wingers going crazy over the fact that jane fonda is going to play nancy reagan? >> it's always great to play

against cast and this could be about as much against it as i can imagine. >> martin sheen to play reagan. >> he played robert e. lee and that rank he willed civil war afficianados to be sure. it would be a bigger stretch. >> i am done. i was listening to him. >> okay. >> get out, man. get out of there. >> he's got to go. sometimes i lose count the let's start with the big story here in washington d.c. i went by the supreme court yesterday. >> not far away. >> big big circus out front, and somewhat of a circus inside. the headlines are talking about the fact that the individual mandate really came under severe questioning, which it should. >> that's a hard case. >> exactly. >> what is actually going on here in terms of you've got a piece this morning about whether this should be the court or the congress decide issues like

this. >> i wrote in my column for national journal today, it's for subscribers until noon free to everyone after noon because we have to pay some bills with national journal. i make a broader and probably to some people's minds, a very fussy point about what i think has happened in my years in washington beginning in 1990. there has become in my opinion, and it didn't just start then but the trend has accelerated and become more pronounced of punting what are largely political questions that should be teased out and solved by the ledge slay legislative and executive branch. and the point i make in my column is for anyone who believes -- and the protesters walking around on both sides of this issue have led themselves to believe that the supreme court in one way or another is going to solve the health care issue. it's not. it can't. it's not constructed to do that. the supreme court is more to adjudicate matters of constitutional law and that it is is t it's not going to solve -- bend the cost curve, change the way you either access

or don't get access to your doctor doctor. it can't solve those issues. those issues multiplest be dealt with and are properly dealt with by the legislative and executive branch. what we have done is punt and foist on the supreme court decisions that have to be made so they are durable and practicable in the political real realm, not the legal recommendalrealm. the last paragraph of my column is separation of powers is not the same thing as did i feels of labor. we are dividing our labor in my mind in a way that places far too much pressure, political and otherwise on institutions not designed to absorb it or deal with it. >> put it this way, what i hear you are saying is that whether the court upholds obamacare, which now it's -- we can all call it obamacare. i have always called it obama obamacare, a per georgejorative term. if the court up holds or over turns it t the congress will have its job to do.

>> congress will have to do it's job. exactly. why is the court being asked to deal with this? well, because a political decision that some senate democrats thought was shrewd was made in the formation of this legislation. okay? the permissionnalty for not obtaining insurance under the individual mandate was not called a tax. it was called a tax in the house. but it was not called a tax in the senate. it was called a penalty. and that legislation and that language existed after the senate democrats lost their 60 vote filibuster proof majority. so penalty is the reason this is at the court. the house called it a tax. if the senate called it a tax, we would not be having this intention constitutional squabble because clearly, the congress has the power to tax. >> yeah. >> since about the early part of the 20th century. >> that's been ajudydjudicated. so it's a decision that's now been thrown into the courts and that's one of the tension points i am talking about.

okay? because the senate democrats didn't want to tell the country they were taxing them if you didn't buy health insurance. they said we are going to pelt personalize you. they have created this entire legal loopopen line of attack. okay? well the court is now being -- is now inheriting what some senate democrats thought was a shrewd political tactic to get a please of legislation through. >> that's foisting far too much pressure and asking the court to look at the court as a political institution. it's not a political institution. >> but at the same time -- by the way by the way, you know here with major garrett from national journal and your calls always well, at 866-55-press. join the conversation and cal eng anything major says or i say. >> that's what it's all about. >> yeah. >> the court has the option. let me go back. a couple of years ago, i was emcee at a luncheon and justice scalia was the speaker.

and he was complaining about all of these cases that we have to decide. and we shouldn't have to decide things like this. and we shouldn't have to decide things like that dadada. and he asked for questions. they are afraid of a supreme court justice. i said justice if you don't want to take these cases, why do you take take them? he said we don't have a choice. i said no you could voyte no. so the court chose to take this issue? >> true. >> they could have said, this is your job, congress. but they wanted to get into this. didn't they? >> quite clearly. and they understand and there might be some in the audience who say the supreme court is stepping into these things, there he would there would be members of the audience who would say they decided the result of the 2002 election. the supreme court has polit sized it. there are distortions on both sides of this. let me give you avern example. george w. bush signed mccain feingold and said -- more or

less implied this may or may not be constitutional. we will let the court figure it out. what did we get from that? we got citizens united. exactly. okay. the supreme court deciding issues of fundamental political communication in this country because a law was sent to them originally or a bill signed into law of at least open and some could say dubious constitutional foundation that led to all sorts of other things. if you are going to send it to the court, be careful what you wish for. >> major garrett as a friend for this hour, and i want to talk about the republican primary and rick santorum saying, i would be glad to be mitt romney's vice presidential running mate. he may be the worst republican in the country but i would be glad to be his vice presidential running mate. again, your calls at 866-55-press. the full court press on this wednesday morning, march 28th. good to have you with us.

>> this is the bill press show. it's completely inappropriate for television.

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♪ >> heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the bill press show. >> you bet it is. 25 minutes after the hour here on this wednesday, march 28th. hey, focus if you haven't already gone to your vent picked up a copy of my latest book, "the obama hate machine" go to my website, billpressshow.com and tell us how you want it signed, personalized and we will get it out to you right away. all about the koch brothers and personal attacks on the president and who is behind them. in studio with us, national journal's major garrett, we have

been talking about the health care issue. major, before we move on -- >> sure. >> to republican politics -- and by the way, labor, i keep saying that, transportation secretary. >> transportation secretary. >> ray lookahood, good guy coming up here in the next segment. stan calling from rockchester new york, new york no, about health care. >> i don't think nine unelected robes have the right to kick 30 million people off health insurance that they pay for two years. let's face it. you have got to put a plan in place before you can toss this base bill out. you are taking away our right to vote. we voted for people who passed this bill. you took away our right to vote with bush v gore. now we are losing the right to our health insurance by non-unelected robes. this is nothing more than an inquisition. this is not democracy. >> all right, stan. i appreciate the comment.

>> from a didn't point of view, he has the same grievance i do from a different point of view, that the court is jumping in on this. you know i have a sense that washington is more comfortable now having the court resolve some of these issues that are properly held and dealt with in the legislative context but stan has a civsimilar grievance i do that the court shouldn't decide all of this and that, my larger point is whatever the court decides, congress has to deal with this issue. you have you have implement all of the aspects of the law, health care exchanges, everything that flows from it. the court can't guarantee you anything other than constitution constitutional adherence. it can't guarantee you access to a doctor. it can't guarantee bending the cost curve. it can't guarantee any of those things. >> what do you say to justice -- chief just incidentice john roberts saying what's next? going to make me buy a cell phone? you have 30 seconds? >> that would be an encapsulized

argument of those criticizing the law. just remember. this just because something you hear in the question session fits within your particular interpretation of the constitution does not mean that's the way the court will rule. >> it doesn't mean theat's the way the -- >> justice even thinks. >> they have to kick the tires, ask the questions. >> that's what the oralacts are about. >> very few people are better than john roberts. he is he knows how to distill an argument on both sitesdes. >> everybody is jumping to the conclusion based on the questions yesterday, this is it. it's going to go down. not necessarily. >> not necessarily. >> although it canould. the house, they can't seem to get together, get the votes for the highway bill. i am sure that our transportation secretary has something to say about that. we will find out next. >> this is the bill press show.

whether the globe is warming, we're debating things like how much warming will we see in what will be the precise impacts on brought patterns in north america. there are still issues that are being debated, but the fact that we're warming the planet is not one of them. >> all right. that is michael mann with his book, "the hockey stick and the climate wars." coming up the power of public outcry. plus the war on women continues to rage. republicans are now going to even greatest length to take away a women's right to choose. you have to see this. and later we'll head out to the campaign front as we enter the etch-a-sketch of the gop primary. we're just getting started at the war room and we want you to have a seat at the table. go to current.com/warroom to

connect with us and make your voice heard. we'll be right back.

♪ >> the rubber hits the road now here on current tv and on your progressive radio stations around the country. hello, everybody. welcome back to full-court press. thirty-three minutes after the hour, coming to you live from of our our radio factory and t.v. factory here on capitol hill. major garrett from "national journal" and the house -- congress is just about to go out of town for a long two-week recess. >> yes. >> they can't quite get their act together to pass a highway bill. what's going on with that? nobody better to ask than

transportation secretary ray lahood. mr. secretary, good to have you back on the program. >> good morning, bill. good morning, major. >> good morning, mr. secretary. >> what's going on with the house and this highway bill? you used to be a member of the house, mr. secretary. can't get the votes or what? >> i think that what's happened is, is they have got a lot of their members who have been given great -- been giving great speeches about putting people to work, knowing that the senate bill would be the way to do it a two-year, bi-partisan bill, which is paid for, which passesd the senate with 74 votes, a lot of their members would like to vote for that. and not just democrats. they would get a lot of democrat oats votes, but they would get a lot of republican votes. but unfortunately, they have this 40 to 50 very, very conservative, do-nothing republicans who came to washington to do nothing, and that's what they have done who are holding up the bill. and so, again, speaker boehner

can't, with his leadership get his troops together. he doesn't want to pass a bill with democrats because that would be embarrassing himto him and i can't he can't pass it as long as he has these 40 to 50 intransigient conservatives who don't want to do anything. what's happened is right on the brink, right on the frontend of a construction season, they are about ready to do nothing or pass an extension which let's another construction season go by. >> does this -- thathas the speaker expressed, mr. secretary, his personal support for the bill and urged his members to vote for it? >> what he has said is that we need to pass a bill. look. if they read the tea leaves every poll they read says the people want a transportation bill. the people want their friends and neighbors to go to work. they know if they go home without passing a jobs bill, a

bill that puts people to work they are going to -- a lot of their members are going to come in for hell right at the beginning of the construction season when people are ready to go to work ready to build roads, ready to build bridges and they know that there is a bill that thesy can pass a two-year bill with 74 votes, bi-partisan, from the senate. they could take it up today take politics out of everything pass the bill and the president would sign it. >> mr. secretary, major garrett here it appears the situation is even more dire than you have described. so far as i have read at "national journal" and elsewhere, the speaker can't even get votes for an extension currently. >> the reason he can't get votes for an extension is because he's got moderate republicans, people that want to pass a bill, saying, let's pass a bill. we are not going to vote for another extension. we can't go home and tell our people right at the beginning of the construction season, right at the beginning of the time when thousands of people could go to work after giving all of

these speeches about putting americans to work so his problem is people on the right and people in the middle and what he needs to do is step up and show a little leadership. he could put moderate republicans -- he could get them to vote for this bill get 100 democrats who have agreed to vote for it and pass the senate bill. that would be good for america. that would be good for putting people back to work. >> well, yeah, i was going to ask that. i mean, the speaker may not want to go without these 40 to 50 do-nothing republicans, as you have called them. but -- or members, as you call them. but it's better to have a bill. it's better to have the people get back to work even if it's democratic votes and moderate republicans than no bill at all. right, mr. secretary? >> yeah. everybody agrees that the senate really passed a goodwill bill. it funds transit, highways bridges

bridges. takes care of transportation needs for two years and puts thousands of people to work. we need the speaker to step up and say if you guys can't come to grips with passing an extension, let's pass the senate bill, probably put one 00 or more democrats on it and they can go back home and crow about the fact that they are putting people to work. >> mr. secretary, from what i understand, a couple of things stick in the craw of those chances cranks. one, the funding allocations and, two, there are no earmarks. >> yeahrepublicans. one, the funding allocations and, two, there are no earmarks. >> yeah. those have become problems within the context of this legislation. >> my point on earmarks is this: we have $48,000,000,000 in the economic stimulus bill. within two years, we spent that $48,000,000,000, 28 billion on roads and bridges, 8 billion on transit, 8 billion on high-speed rail, a billion and a half for runways and there were no

earmarks. we can do transportation today without earmarks. we proved it. two years, we put 65,000 people to work and in 15,000 projects, no boon doings no sweet hardheart deals. we know how to do that. they can't use that as an excuse any more. we can do transportation. the senate passed it with 74 votes with one of the most conservative republicans, jim inhoff. >> with he and barbara boxer, put those two together and you have something. >> yeah. >> mr. secretary i want to ask sort of a contrarian question here: why only two years? when you were in the house, these bills were what? five or six years? right? >> yeah, because -- because that's the amount of money that they could find, bill. look. these things have to be paid for now. so they took highway trust

funds, and then they found other money and they could come up with $109,000,000,000. that that gets them a two-year bill. >> that's the reason. >> that's the only reason. >> mr. secretary, this is something i find fascinating. i would like your comment because you were in the house at a time i am not going to describe. it seems fascinating to me right now in the house, you can find more votes to completely restructure medicare and medicaid under the paul ryan budget because you get out of committee and they will vote it on the floor. it's easy to find votes in the house republican majority for than than that for a treatyansportation bill. >> that's amazing. >> it is because i think most people realize i don't know if these freshmen who came here to do nothing these republicans freshman who came here to do nothing realize it, but this bill would put people to work, and, you know, even some of them have made speeches but the bottom line is they would rather go after the entitlements rather than putting people to work. >> and the truth is there are people in their districts who

would benefit from this bill. >> that's what i don't get. the way they rotevote is almost as if they believe, you know, the only benefit would be to other drifts districts districts. their constituents need this. >> every district in the country benefits, and but, bill, this is a mentality of 40 to 60 members who came here to do nothing, who don't like government, who don't want government to do anything. and they are satisfied with the fact that there is a stalemate. >> right. >> mr. secretary, i have to ask you about a related question about something that's very important to me as a californian. high-speed rail, what do you think is going to be the first high-speed rail link that's actually up and running? >> i think it will be in the middle part of the stalete bill but there is going to be an announcement tomorrow, bill, which you, as a californian are going to love to hear. they have revised the california high-speed rail plan. they are going to be making a

very, very significant announcement tomorrow. i have spent a week in california with governor brown and as new chairman of the rail board, dan richards. >> dan richards right. >> they have gone back, and they have revised the plan and it's going to be really great news. it's going to be news that high-speed rail is really going to happen. it's going to be high-speed. it's going to be 200 miles an hour, and dan has really stepped up with the governor and made some adjustments that i think are going to be really really positive news for high-speed rail in california. >> do you think that link in california is going to be the first stretch in the country that gets underway? >> yes, i do. i think it will be real high speed. it will become a test track for trains going 200 miles an hour. >> mr. secretary, will that announcement be designed to address concerns about both the timeline and the cost?

>> that's right, major, exactly right, and i think people are really going to be happy when they hear the news. i said tomorrow. i'm sorry. it was to be tomorrow. it's going to be next monday. i am actually thinking about going out there for the announcement. it's such great news. >> why don't you make it right here right now? >> you know, bill, for you as a californian, i would love to do that, but i think thefor people in california would kill me and i would probably lose my job. >> jerry brown might like to make that announcement hills. >> governors tend to make those -- like those kind of announcements. >> heyou have a lot on your plate. thank you for making time for us this morning. i hope the members of the house hear your message and get to work and get this thing passed. >> you guys are great. thanks for focusingologist a littles on transportation today. >> you got it. ray lahood it portation secretary. the only republican of the

president's cabinet. >> successful member of congress. when i was on capitol hill, he was always the one who could most readily criticize the republican leadership. >> you heard him. >> this isn't new. >> we just heard him say speaker bajner has to step up and get this bill passed and stop being led around by these 40 to 60, he called them do-nothing republicans. full-court press here with major garrett, wednesday march 28th. >> radio meets television, the bill press show now on current tv! my show is the most important show in the world. as i understand it in radio they can't see you, so this is big for me. >>tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's new morning news block. >>it's completely inappropriate for television. >>sharp tongue, quick wit and about all, politically direct. >>politically direct to me means no bs, the real thing, cutting

through the clutter. my show is the most important show in the world.

>>just refreshing to hear. no other television show does that. we're keeping it real. ♪ ♪

>> on your radio and on current tv, this is the bill press show. >> we got it covered 12 minutes before the top of the hour in studio with us major garrett covers congress and the white house for "national journal." >> indeed i do. >> good to see you proudly wearing his padres howat. >> happy opening day. >> our friends in san diego appreciate that. >> my hometown. >> a great town. >> great city. >> a lot of great friends out in san diego. boy, i have to tell you before we move on, secretary lahood, he is on fire this morning. >> totally. look. >> this is his stuff. he has work hard for this in the congress and he knows he doesn't take the b.s right? >> there has been a pendulum swing on transportation. for a long time, there was a transportation mentality, anything goes, earmarks were everywhere. it proliferated into the thousands. more money spent than was useful

now the pendulum has swung has it often does in american politics to sort of a prove to me there is any value to transportation dollars spent at all. we have sort of gone to the point at least within the house and even in the senate. look a two-year bill is dramat dramatically smaller than it ought to be. >> yeah. >> the lodgeng tradjectory of infrastructure policy, six years is what everyone needs and wants and what county planners state planners, they need the certainty of a six-year. >> these projects take a long time to build. >> two years is shorter than we are ticypically accustomed to dealing with. if you can't get extensions because extensions basically do nothing forward looking or innovative on infrastructure at all. they keep everything in a crouched and pent-up status yeah. that's what's frustrating to transportation. >> i know it's important splewhen he says he nails it. >> the speaker has to be the speak erbhe. >> the speaker can't be -- it want can't be the tail wagging

the dog. right? he said these 40 to 60 people came to washington to do nothing and that's exactly what they have done. >> on big issues, the debt ceiling and the cr, the speaker has said to them look, if i have to get democratic votes, i will do this. i am not going to shut the government down and we are not going to default. ray lahood has prioritized it in the same way. find the votes where you need them. >> the challenge to the speaker, pretty strong. major garrett, you have been on the road. we both have on the republican primary. the latest is this week rick santorum said, after winning louisiana, that mitt romney would be the worst possible republican in the entire country to run against barack obama but the next day he said but i would be glad to be his running mate. is santorum losing it? >> it's hard to not draw that conclusion. i don't draw a conclusion about where politicians are. i let voters do that. and it didn't matter that he

said that before the louisiana primary he won that very witty. i am told the poll numbers are closing in wisconsin. i was in san antonio giving a speech at usaa, the big insurance company and rick santorum had been there the week before. >> that's where he began. >> that's where he said that -- -- -- >> anyone. if you are not going to vote for me or a conservative just keep obama because obama will be no different. he had to walk that back now. mitt romney was supposed to be at usaa todayhis week. he is not because the polls have tightened in wisconsin. he is rearrangeing his schedule. that indicates there is some fear that they need to batten down the hatches in wisconsin because they don't want to lose that primary, the next big one up. the race is still fluid but for rick santorum one of the things that puts you on the ticket is delegates, winning races. and he's done that. much more so than mitt romney would like him to have done so that makes you relevant, potentially part of the conversation. but the next most important thing is you have to say

something that's not irretrieve irretrievable. saying, well, just elect obama because this guy is just as bad is irretrieveable and saying, you are the worst position ible republican. he walked that back to say just in health care but in the speech that he was questioned about which he called b.s. on, on camera, he didn't say health care. he said this would be the worst possible. >> absolutely. >> he was right to be questioned about that and what did you actually mean? you can't say those things because they are irreeftrieveirretrievable. >> uh-huh. >> no one at the top of the ticket is going to put someone next to them that says those sorts of things. george herbert walker said ronald reagan's economics whyere voodoo he did not say he would be the worst possible republican to challenge jimmy carter. reagan put him on the ticket. it was fine. these fall into the category of irretrieve irretrievable. >> my final question, a tricky one. are you ready for this 1234. >> i am ready. >> would you pay $50 to have your photo taken with newt

gingrich? >> no. >> the fact that he's charging people $50 kind of said something about his campaign? doesn't it. >> he said it would be a brand-new kind of campaign. i guess he meant it. >> broke. ridiculous. >> if i could get $50 to have someone stand next to me, you know, i give away pictures for free. >> don't hold your breath. >> exactly. major garrett, "national journal." your twitter handle? >> major@nj it used to be major at wh. i could probably put it back now that i am back there but i will keep it at major@mj. >> wrap things up with a parting shot. ♪ >> this is the bill press show. with all the hundreds i've saved on car insurance this year this meter's on me. there's a catch? there's no catch. nothing but savings.

thank you very much. have a great day. you, too. you're sexy. [ laughs ]

it's completely inappropriate for television. ♪

>> the parting shot, with bill press. this is the bill press show. >> hey hoyw about it on this wednesday, march 28th. my parting shod for today. no doubt mitt romney is rich. we just didn't know how rich. i mean, we know he made almost $400,000 in speaking fees last year which he considered spare change. we know his wife drives two cadillacs. we know some of his best friends own nascar teams and n.f.l. teams. we just didn't know how rich mitt was until we saw plans for his la jays joya ocean-front mansion, not content with the existing home and spectacular ocean views. he plans to spend $12 million tearing it down and replacing it with an 8100 square foot palace.

wait. >> that's not all. the palace also features a 3600 square foot basement and a split-level garage with its own car elevator. yes, a car elevator which is necessary, the romney campaign says in order to squeeze in more cars. well, of course there is one other way to solve the problem of a crowded garage: that is to buy for sure cars. mitt would never thing of that because as f scott fitzgerald said let me tell you about the very rich. they are different from you and me. mitt romney is different from 99% of americans. tomorrow, senator kiss kuhns from delaware and david korn from mother jones. have a great one. see you on the radio and t.v. tomorrow. >> this is the bill press show.