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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.

♪ ♪ >> taking your e-mails on any topic at any time this is the bill press show. live on your radio and current tv. >> we were talking about getting rid of the penny. how about this? here is a teacher, katherine olmstead said could you help

solve the problem for primary students and teachers, if we no longer have the penny. our coins are all based on cents. each is specifically valued at $0.01, $0.05, $0.10, da-da-da we use the penny to compare them visually. without the penny, how do we help young children understand? you might have an idea about how to do that. >> of course i have an idea about how to do that. it's pretty obvious. isn't it? if you drop the penny, then you base it all on the nextickle. here is $0.05, two nickels, a quarter is five nickels. $0.50, why is that so difficult to figure out. >> if you want a visual aid use pieces of macaroni. don't use pennies any more. problem solved. >> problem solved. mr. fix-it. bill press. >> this is the bill press show.

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♪ >> well, to the bill press show. good to see you today as we begin our morning round-up of the big stories of the day from our nation's capitol where you will find us, around the country and around the globe. one of the biggest stories we will follow this day, in florida, special prosecutor angela corer says she is no longer going to convene a jury in the trayvon martin case. we don't know exactly what that means. does it mean that she's decided she is going to drop the case

because there is not enough evidence? or does it mean she has so much evidence she doesn't need the grand jury and she is about to go out and arrest george zimmerman. let's hope that's the case. it's been too long already. we will talk about that and a whole lot more but first, the latest, this current tv news update out in los angeles, here is jacki schechner. good morning, jacki. >> good morning, bill. good morning, everyone. how do you fight a $200 million advertising onslaught? you go after the guys behind the ads. politico reporting this morning that that's how president obama's re-election campaign plans to attack american crossroads, which is the carl role funded super p.a.c. and others, to tie them to the koch brothers and other special interests, basically telling people they can't trust the attacks against obama that they see on television and they also hope that making the people behind the advertisements unpopular will help neutralize the effects of the ad. whether or not that strategy works is remains to be seen

because we haven't seen the super p.a.c.s come out like this in a presidential race so far. we will have to wait and see on that. in trayvon martin related news george zimmerman has a website called the real george zimmerman.com. he is soliciting contributions to his defense saying other sites are not giving him money. in an act of strange tone-deafness on his website, in the album sec, he has a picture of graffiti at that says long live zimmerman. it turns out to be the black cultural center. the huffington post says the graffitti has been removed but of course online on george zimmerman's web sight. the daily caller reporting that a member of zimmerman's family septa letter to eric holder asking why he hasn't prosecuted the new black panther party for threats against the zimmerman family. holder not responding. stay tuned. more bill press coming up right after the break.

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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. >> it's a full-court press. to support the buffett rule and the big senate bill that comes up for a vote monday or tuesday in the u.s. senate. what do you say? hello, everybody. we are part of that full-court press with our own full-court press hear this tuesday morning. coming to you live coast to coast, from our nation's capitol and our t.v. radio book factory right here on capitol hill. good to see you today. thank you for being part of the program as we tackle the big issues of the day and get your

comments. what it all means to you by giving us a call at 866-55-press, our roundtable, good morning. there is a seat saved at the table for you. give us a call to take that seat at 866-55-7737. hello to your part of the term. here in washington, our team peter ogburn is back from -- what was it three months' vacation. >> three months' vacation. >> a long time. >> welcome back peter. dan henning here? >> thing there? >> thanks for coming in while peter was gone with the help of stevie web, sidekick. he got up early. yeah. these two days, man we rousted him out early. >> he is not used to that. >> no. he is not. >> he is in bed. >> they like to sleep in. siprian boulding, on the job there at the tri-caster bringing pictures to you and yesterday, i was down at the briefing at the

whitehouse. it was a little quieter on our side of the white house. we go in the northwest gate than it was on the south lawn of the white house where there were 30,000 kids out for the easter egg roll. they come in waves, not all at one time. and the master of ceremonies the president, himself who actually it was not the most important person there, as he was the first to admit. >> my job is very simple. it is to introduce the powerhouse of the white house, the one truly in charge as melia, sasha and beau all know. the first lady, michelle obama. >> i thought beau was in charge he is. he was front and scepter. >> was he wearing bunny ears? >> i wasn't out there but i didn't see the bunny ears but he was sitting right there with

the president and the first lady when the president read "where the wild things are". >> came to the place where the wild things are. they roared their terrible roars. [ roars ] >> yeah, and as i mentioned last hour, one of the secret servicemen told me when i was leaving yesterday, i tweeted this. by the way, i always tweet from the white house. >> you do. >>@billpressshow. sign up. one of the secret servicemen told me in the first hour of the easter egg roll there were 13 kids reported lost. the parents reported them lost. >> mommy >> anyhow if you are going to get lost somewhere, i guess that would be a pretty good place to get lost. >> yeah. >> you know, with the secret service and all of that. >> at the end of the day, there were still six who were lost. maybe they will find them this

morning. >> sending them to guantanamo. >> hey lots to -- lots to cover, and lots of good help today. dennis van roeckel is the president of the national education association in the studio as well as it's tuesday. >> that's thinkprogress, faiz, faiz shakir, tuesdays with faiz and peter finn democratic strategist will be here as a friend of bill. but first: >> this is the full court press. >> on this tuesday, the headlights lines making news new orleans saints appeal to overturn or lessen the bounty penalties denied by the nfl yesterday. u.s.a. today reporting commissioners roger goodell is -- >> still suspended. >> upheld the coaching staff suspensions but said the possibility of reduction in fines is possible in the future if the team embraces the opportunity to help develop and implement player safety programs. remember the saints were fined $500,000. >> yeah.

and that latest audio that we had last week of the guy in the locker room. >> yeah. >> kill his head. we want his head sideways. >> senator john kerri is now a grandfather as of easter weekend, the massachusetts democrat's daughter vanessa gave birth to his first grandson, alexander kerri weighed in at 7 pounds, 11 ounces, mother, father and baby doing fine. >> good for john kerriry and the kerry family. >> the lion king is now the great white all time highest grossing show taking that title from the fantom of the opera. box office receipts totalled over $853.8 million. insiders note how remarkable that is because the phantom of the opera has been on broadway a lot longer since 1988. the lion king has been on stage since 1997. >> a bigger theater probably. i don't know. >> charging more? >> probably charging more.

it's a fun show to see once. >> yeah. you know incredible. and there are 10,000 screaming kids at every performance. >> really. >> all right. hey, dan thank you. yes, indeed some -- talked a lot about this trayvon martin case in florida and there was some movement yesterday and some action. i am not sure what it is means but i wanted to talk to you about and get your views on it this morning. as you probably heard, february 26th and it was still a couple of weeks before this came to our public attention and it came to our attention, thanks to the parents of trayvon martin, a teenager who was shot and killed on that evening, walking back as we remember from a 7 eleven with a bag. skittles for his little brother and a can of iced tea for himself shot by neighborhood

watch vigilante, george zimmerman. his parents put up a petition on line to i think it's change.org. was that it, peter? that website? >> probably. they use that for a lot of petition stuff. i will check. >> and people read about this story, read about the fact that the sanford police just let george zimmerman go. people were outraged by it. the outrage started to build, signing the petitions and those of us in the national media started talking about it. the president commented on it. and now, it is probably the number 1 most watched case in the nation and the outrage that this guy was able to commit cold-blooded murder and get away with it and there was this brief attempt to try to smear trayvon martin and rehabilitate george zimmerman. that kind of collapsed when more and more information came out there about george zimmerman's past. now, it's just this burning

eithering sort of outrage. when are we going to see justice in this case? continuing protests yesterday. it was a big march on to the sanford police department and protesters actually sat in front of the building. they were able to close it down. they had to shut the police department in sanford, florida, shut it down for several hours while the protesters were there and then the protesters, some of them were invited into the police station where they had a conference call over the speaker phone with angel corey, the special prosecutor in this case who urged them to be patient, that she was on the case and she was going to act. and that was the dramatic announcement that followed when angela corey the state prosecutor -- and this is what we have got to talk about. what does it mean? angel corey, the state prosecutor, announced that she had decided not to convene a grand jury in this case. where do we go from here

866-55-press. what do you think? there are some who speculate that this is her -- the first step towards just dropping the case, saying, there is not enough evidence here it's notworth convening a grand jury. i am not going to go through the motion. he claims he acted in self defense, and we can't prove otherwise. there is no witness that has come forward. on the other side of the ledger are those who say no, no, no. this means -- and this woman does have a reputation as being a real hard-ass and a real tough prosecutor. in the jacksonville florida case when she ran for special prosecutor, she said she would put her mother in jail if her mother did anything illegal. no secret cows. >> that's cold. >> that's cold. right. there are those who say, no, she decided there is enough evidence in this case. i don't need a grand jury. i am just going to order the

police to arrest george zimmerman, and that could come as early as today. what do you think? which way will it go? the family of trayvon martin through their attorney natalie jackson yesterday, expressed hope that it was leading toward an imminent arrest of mr. mr. zimmerman. >> we are optimistic that she will look at the evidence as the american public has looked at the evidence and decide that an arrest needs to be made in this case. >> and even the governor no flaming liberal said without indicating which way he thinks she is going to go that he is confident she will end up doing the right thing. >> i have known angela for quite awhile. she is a very qualified individual. she will do a great job. >> so i don't know about you. again, i would love to take your

calls at 866-55-press. join the conversation. i think she has got to move in this case. i think there is certainly, from what we have seen -- none of us were there. from what we have heard, of the facts of this case there is sufficient evidence to question george zimmerman's contention that he was at risk that he shot and killed trayvon martin in self defense. we come down to the basic facts. first of all remember that this kid was unarmed, that he was 17, that george zimmerman had a gun and weighed 100 pounds more than he did. we come back to the fact that george zimmerman was not supposed to be armed as a neighborhood watch person, he was not supposed to be carrying a gun. we come back to the fact that he called the police reported this

kid, suspicious, you know being guilty of what? suspicious activity, whatever that means. he was told not to pursue him. he was told not to get out of his car. he did so in defiance of a police ortder and we know that this is a man with a record of abusing his authority as a neighborhood watch and making too many false-alarm calls and a man with a record of physical violence gives his girlfriend and assaulting a police officer. with all of that it certainly demands that at least this man be brought to trial and in a courtroom facts are laid out and he is found guilty or not guilty but just to let him go without -- without that ut without our system of justice being able to do its job if you will is just unacceptable

totally unacceptable. i would think any prosecutor would see it that way. so i feel this is good news. i think we will see george zimmerman arrested within days. 866-55-press. you tell me. >> heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the bill press show. ♪ is on the new news network. >>welcome to the war room. >>jennifer granholm joins current tv. a former two-term governor. >>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.

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>>just refreshing to hear. no other television show does that. we're keeping it real. ♪ >> this is the full court press, the bill press show, live on your radio and on current tv. >> what's going on our public schools, and what's going on

about bullying? dennis van roeckel is president of the national education association. he will be in the studio in the next hour. we are talking now about the announcement by the special prosecutor, pretty surprising announcement, no grand jury in the trayvon martin indicates. good or bad for those who want to see justice in this case? gary is out in tacoma washington. good morning. >> good morning, bill. >> yeah. what do you think? >> well, what i think, i think that the special prosecutor is in a very tough position. she's between a rock and a hard place. there is so much intense scrutiny, you know, and both sides are pulling in different directions. and to me if there were enough to indict george zimmerman action he would already be in jail. i don't think she has got enough to do it at this point. >> she certainly has to have --

she certainly has to believe, right, that she has a case that she can prove without a reasonable doubt? >> correct. well, you know, she has to, in order to -- >> that's tough in this case. >> to indict -- indictment is one thing. taking it to trial being the prosecutor, she has to make a tight case and the whole investigation, if you want to call it that, was botched from the beginning. so she's really, you know, she's drawing -- she is trying to pull something out of nothing here and i don't think she's got much of a chance, you know, at this point because, you know, because of the terrible investigation. >> yeah. she started. no. no doubt about it. she started out the odds were against her because of the fact that it was almost a month and the police just did no preliminary investigations. they didn't even interview all of the people who called 9-1-1 and did no toxicity test on

george zimmerman at all. i understand your pessimism, gary. i hope you are wrong. paul is in vorhese, new jersey. >> how is it going? how do you see it? >> here is how i see it. i disagree with the previous caller. >> uh-huh. >> i think that i would like to see her cross every t, dot every i, take it to the grand jury don't leaf any openings whatsoever for an appeal by zimmerman's attorneys. i think the people in the area would do the right thing, given the opportunity to sit on the grand jury. now, one thing -- >> paul she's decided against the grand jury. so what do you think it means? >> well the concern that i have at this point is with her taking it, she is taking matters into her hands. i think she is going to move forward, you know, to try to prosecute this guy and bring it to trial but i would like to

have seen her go through the normal process, the normal channels as with any other case would have gone. this case is going to have such national ramifications and it's so emotionally charged. first, they are going to move this case out of the area. there is no way he is going to go to trial where they leaveive. i don't to see any openings given. >> i hear you. you want to be sure that as she goes forward, she proceeds on solid ground and she would be on more solid ground with a grand jury. stacy in chicago, she certainly didn't see it that way. hi, stacy. >> hey, bill. >> it's my take she is going to take the responsibility of deciding whether to arrest him or not and not go through the process of a fact-finding grand jury that she is going to have him arrested. otherwise, i think there would be more of a public outcry because there wasn't that grand jury investigation. >> yeah, you know, i kind of see it that way, too, stacy. i think it would be very very

difficult for her now to take this on herself. right? and then say, i and i alone have decided i am going to drop this case or we are not going to press any charges. right? >> right. yeah. people would not like that. i think she has already decided, and i don't know how much political stuff falls into being a special prosecutor, but i am sure she is looking out for herself, too to some degree. >> well, that's right. i think she's got to think about her own reputation if not her political future. i think it would be very very hard for her not to -- not to pursue this case. and if that is the case again, with her reputation as a special prosecutor, i think that means she is really looked at this. she knows stuff we don't know and she has decided, yeah i have got a case. i can take this to trial and i can win it. >> this is the bill press show. ♪

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♪ >> heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the bill press show. >> sorry. here we are. i am here. i just didn't have my ear phone plugged into the right little slot there. so you was blind for a few seconds. good morning. thirty-three minutes after the hour. get to work and wake up, bill. this is the full court press. i am bill press. good to have you with us today. now, we all have our biases, and i want to give you mine right up

front. okay? i am a former teacher, taught high school for three years, two years in philadelphia, one year in san francisco. i happen to think that teachers and nurses i would add, have the most important jobs and do the best work in this country. so i am particularly proud to welcome here to the studio the president of the national education association, dennis van roeckel. >> good to be here this morning. >> tell us, just a quick snap snapshot: what's the state of america's schools today, public schools? pretty good shape? >> i think we have real examples of excellence all across this country. we have a real problem with equity. we have great schools and schools that argumentsen't so great. schools that meet the needs of all of the kids who come there and don't. what we have to do is finland. their school was not excellence. it was equity. we want to make sure every child has a highly qualified and trained teacher and resources in

the programs they need to succeed. >> is there any particular place where the schools lacking equity, the schools that don't come up to par are located? are they in big cities or rural areas or in the south or the west or what? >> i think it's fair to say you could go to any state and find inequitties. it's part of the system. it's built in a way that doesn't make sure that every child gets what he or she needs. >> that's why it's so hard to change. it's a system. you can't just change one little piece and expect the whole system to change. so we are looking very much at how do you look at that whole system? what do we have to change in the system to ensure equity for every student in america. >> is it schools need more money. >> part of the problem is money. part of the problem is things that don't encourage people to be where they should be. example: in the high-needs schools, schools where serving children a lot in poverty, we have almost a revolving door of principals and teachers. >> that's wrong. we need to find a way to get

people in the schools and they need to stay there. we know what works. it's collaboration. it's when the school board management and the employees and their unions sit down together and say: what do we need to do in this school for our kids to make it work? >> is part of the answer or is the answer paying teachers more? >> when you look at the international scene and how they look at compensation they see it as under-girding the whole system. what they say is compensation has to be such that you can compete other occupations that require similar educational background. we lose in that respect. we can't compete. for example, i was a high school math teacher for 2 three years, graduated from college with a degree in math. should i go into actuary science, engineering, accounting or teaching? now, in the international leaders around the world say let's keep those okay paths that pay similar, not exactly the same but in the same range so that my choice isn't away from teaching just because of salary. >> right.

okay. in that case, in this country, the four you mentioned, teachers would be? >> by far the lowest. >> at the bottom of the totem pole? >> the gap is widening. when i started teaching many years ago, some of those careers i could maybe make twice as much. now, it's four times as much it's very difficult in math and science and it's difficult for people to say education is where i want to go. >> it probably is an unfair question but do you know what the average starting salary for a high school teacher is in this country today. >> i would say the average is somewhere around 30 to 35,000. some states are higher. some are lower. the average salary in america now is somewhere around $50,000 for all teachers. way too low. >> yeah. i mean 30,000 and plus as we know, i mean as i know, teaching is not a 9:00 to 5:00 job. >> no, you know what's hurting that more. >> a lot of responsibility?

>> and we have over 3 million members. many of those are college students preparing to be teachers. when you talk to a group of those students, say, how many of you have a debt from college? all of the hands go up. when you say how much? it ranges from 20 to $60,000. now, how do you start an occupation a career at 30,000 or $35,000 a year with a college debt of 60,000 and you still have to buy a house, you have to buy a car. it's crazy. the cost of college has gone so out of sight and so less and less of our students especially those from middle class and lower-income families, they just don't have a shot. >> shear is what i don't understand, given what you just said, why is it that for so many politicians today, teachers, and particularly the teachers' unions, you know, are the enemy? i mean they are always complaining about them campaigning against them, got to get rid of the teachers' unions. i mean all you are trying to do

is get a good break for your teachers or your members? >> and for the students. >> the students, too? >> i am sure when you started teaching, you said, i believed if i cared enough and i worked hard enough, i could deliver for all of my kids. and you soon realized that's not possible. there are so many decisions made outside of my classroom that impact my kids. for example, no child left behind, the idea that a federal law could so impact the day-to-day life of every single teacher and student in america is unbelievable. i mean they narrowed the curriculum, they put this over-emphasis on high-stakes tests. they have horrible educational practices where you really focus on the kids who are just under proficiency see and ignore the rest. it's all because of this maniac approach to high-stakes testing. so what you see when you are standing in the classroom, you see the students in fronts of you and you realize that every decision is made by a politically appointed or a politically elected person and if you want to influence that, you have to have a voice.

and when i was in the classroom, my union was my voice to get my voice to the policy makers. >> amen. dennis van roekel is the president of the national education association, their website is nea.org. he is our guest in the studio. i am sure he would be glad to, like any teacher take your calls at 866-55-press. we talked about resources and people say, well, it's just not enough money to go around. but you have been talking lately about a way where there is more money for schools without raising taxes on families. >> absolutely. you know april 15th, or this year, it's april 17th, all of us are preparing our taxes. corporations are, too. and so we started looking at the loopholes for corporations. and we found from one of the studies that if they closed seven corporate loopholes t would generate 1.5 trillion with a t, $1.5 trillion. now, what you could do with just

a portion of that, let me give you one example. with just 24% of that just less than a fourth, you could provide every impoverished child preschool education. currently in america, only about 20% of kids in that category receive it now. what a difference you could make in their life and in the future of america if we invested in those kids early with only 24% of those funds. >> are you talking about this is 1.7 trillion across the country, state by state by state? >> total nationwide. >> total federal taxes. >> okay. >> in federal, and many states make their policies on tax write--offs or tax dead dugs based upon the federal definition. it impacts states. mississippi they did a study of the 150 largest corporations that do business in mississippi. 105 don't pay any state taxes. >> whoa.

15? >> two-thirds. >> 105 out of 150? >> yeah. >> pay no state taxes. >> no state taxes. >> free loaders. >> i hear the debate they talk about the tax rate. >> yeah. >> it doesn't matter what the tax rate is if you don't pay anything. and what we need, they need to pay their fair share. what we know is when you make the right investments and the right priorities, the communities and the economy grow. and investing in education, that's the foundation. >> so what are you doing about this? you have this information. i mean do you give it to the white house? do you give it to the congress? do you raise hell or come on television and talk about it? >> we do that. one of the things we want to make sure is is that the public has a chance. we have a website, nea.org/loopholes. there is a great little video and we ask people to sign a petition. we ask them to stand up and speak for students, for schools and for public education. and we ask them to call members of congress to say, close the corporate loopholes.

>> that seems to me everybody should be on board. close the corporate loopholes. the president is talking about the buffett rule so millionaires pay their fair share. all the more reason corporations ought to pay their fair share. dennis van roekel president of the nea. join the conversation at 866-55-press. it's the full court press. and 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 >>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.

>>this is outrageous! we've have no choice, we've lost our democracy here. ♪ ♪ >> on your radio, on t.v. the bill press show, new on current

tv. >> i don't know. i am a little distracted here i looked up the monitor during the break and i saw an ad for larry cudlow spring break. he has short shorts on. >> that's the last thing. i don't want to see larry cudlow in a bikini. >> a mankini. >> or a mankini. right. no. in studio with us, more seriously, dennis van roekel is president of the national education association. we were talking about this program and this campaign to get corporations to pay their fair share. boy, there is a radical idea. right? i mean, they bitch about the corporate rate and the fact is they are not -- it's not a matter of raising it. it's a matter of just pay what it is today. right. >> that's right. >> or make an effort toward it. don't pay nothing. >> what a defense it is that i don't pay any taxes but the rate is too high. a logical argument. >> it is indeed.

and we gave you, we think, the wrong website. if you go to nea.org, that's the national education association's website, of course association's website but particularly for this campaign -- >> that's right. >> educationvotes.org/loop homes and there is a lot of other information on there. so there is information on nea.org but on educationvotes.org clark loopholes. i want everybody to sigh the petition. >> and these seven loopholes that you have identified do they include like the big -- the president has talked about the oil companies and their subsidies? >> a lot of them are oil and subsidies and these corporations are doing very well. we are giving them subsidies and tax brakes and another set of loopholes that is very common is that they did he ever they defer taxes on shore revenue, which there is an

incentive to make sure your money is shown as making it offshore so you don't have to pay taxes. >> and to keep it offshore? >> that's right. another thing they do is they allow them appreciation if when you buy equipment you get to dpreecht the life defendant equipmentepreciate the life defendant equipment equipment. they allow them to do that house earn the life of the equipment so you can write the whole thing off and use the equipment. those are plain loopholes. we need to close them. everybody pay their fair share make the right investments, and the right priorities. >> the president, i think, has had a lot of success at least in identifying the idea that millionaires should pay their fair share and they are calling it a full court press they launched today. i have -- here it is, this package i got from the white house last night embargoed until 6:00 a.m. we announced this on the buffett rule at 6:00 a.m. this morning.

this is easily identified, the buffett rule. we know what that means, that the boss should not pay a higher tax rate than the secretary. >> or vice versa. the secretary shouldn't -- >> should not pay a lower rate. >> that's right. you got it. >> so easy to understand and so difficult to articulate. is there a package now that you have, a bill, somebody in the house or the senate that will carry this for the nea with these seven loopholes. >> it isn't a specific bill a name. >> not yet. >> not yet, but we have a lot of members of congress who are interested in doing this and it's all as you mentioned, paying your fair share. if we just get everyone to pay their fair share, it really makes a difference. if you look at the years after world war ii from '47 to '79, in this country, productivity, the wages from hourly to the lowest 1/5th, all were in lockstep. they all gained about at he the same raid, a tide lifts all boats and we built this

incredible economy and incredible middle class the. if you look at 1980 to 2009, it's totally out of whack. productivity went up about 80% but those lower income the lowest 1/5, their wages went up 8% while productivity was going up 80%. meanwhile, the top 1%, their income went up 274%. so instead of the tide lifting all boats t seems like there is a lock system and the wealthy people are in the lock and everybody else. >> the others are stuck in the mud. >> that's right. >> to ask you about this, too, so much to talk about when it comes to education, i know you are one of the sponsors of the screening tonight of this new documentary on bulking. >> yes. >> i have seen it with a bully and a/through it. how serious is this. >> very serious. we started a program, ourselves, about two years. it's called bully-free: it begins with me. the point is every adult who works in the school and outside,

you have to be the one. you can't stand by and let it go. and this thing that, oh they are only kids. they will grow out of it that is the wrong approach. you need to stop it and stop it now. this movie is just heart-wrenching. >> is it -- do kids -- are you trying to tell kids they have a responsibilitity? >> absolutely. absolutely. >> first, not to pick on others and then, if they see it, maybe to intercede? >> that's right. >> tough for a kiddo? >> but if they get that kind of support from the adults around them, we can change this. we are screening this movie, and we want people to see it and to start talking about. >> is it available online? >> i don't know the answer to that, whether it's online. it is opening in theaters. >> or on youtube? >> it drew a lot of attention. one of the things that we encourage is just to have the conversation. i think there are adults all over america, in schools and out who did that that tried to stop bullying. but there are others who didn't.

and what we didn't have is conversations. so we provide training for our members out in the field to say, these are the kind of programs you can have that make everyone aware and when you make students aware that this kind of behavior just is not acceptable. it hurts kids and the consequences are so severe for these kids who have been bull ied in their younger years, it just tears your heart out to see and to listen to these kids describe what their life is and we are talking about kids who are seven, eight, nine and 10. and the weight that they carry on their shoulders every day, it just, if anyone can watch that movie add not have a tear come down their cheek, something is wrong. >> it's so important that you bring attention to this and all of the other good work that you are doing. dennis van roekel president of the national education association, nea is their website and the special program to have corporations pay their fair share, get rid of some of the seven loopholes is he hadeducation

educationvotes.org/loopholes. thanks for your good work. thank you for coming in today. >> thank you. i enjoyed it a lot. >> this is the bill press show. ♪ hershey's chocolate syrup. stir up a smile.

>>i'm a political junkie. this show is my fix. [[vo]]this former two-term governor is ...

♪ >> this is the bill press show. >> all right. in the next hour peter finn will be here as a friend of bill for the hour and it's tuesday, think progress time tuesdays with faiz faiz shakir head of thinkprogress and the president, he's playinglie nell playing willie

nelson ♪ on the road again ♪ where he will have a combination of campaign fundraising and a speech on the economy. it starts off today with a campaign event early this afternoon. and then, he goes to deliver remarks on the economy at florida atlantic university in boca raton. another campaign event in hollywood, florida, a third campaign event, racking up the bucks in florida today in golden beach beach, florida. then heads back to the -- to and driest air force base arriving at the whitehouse at 11:45 p.m. tonight. no rest for the weary. jay carney will not be giving a briefing today at the whitehouse. he will be briefing or gaggling they call it on air force one. back with faiz shakir and all of you >> this is the bill press show.

♪ welcome to the full-court press. i am bill press. this is your new morning show on current tv. good to have you with us. as we tackle the big stories of the day and even the white house now, they have stolen our name. they are starting their own full-court press. >> that's what they are calling it, a full court press on behavelf of the buffett rule named for warren buffett, of course, just the idea that millionaires should not pay a lower rate of taxes than their secretary or their driver does and they are

starting a full-court press because it's going to be a big vote on the buffett rule in the united states senate, the beginning of next week when they come back in town. nobody could possibly vote against that. could they? unless your name is mitt romney of course. >> that's one of the issues we will talk about. that and a whole lot more. let's get all of the latest here with the current tv news update out in los angeles. here is jacki schechner. hi, jacki. >> hi, bill. good morning everyone. there is a new poll from abc news and the washington post that has good news for president obama. he is up seven points right now over mitt romney 51% to 44%. he's got a big lead with women. it's a 19-point margin, his largest yet, 57% to 38%. there is a little bit of good news to come out of this for mitt romney. it's that he has pulled away with the lead amongst republican and republican-leaning independent. last month he was ahead of rick santorum by two points and now he is up by 20.

so who might help mitt romney out on the ticket as a vice presidential nominee? the hotline staff is racking rating their list, paul ryan chris christie, rob portman, marco rubio but the list leaves room at number 10 for a wild card spot citing sarah palin saying nobody saw that coming. so it could be someone we haven't thought of as of yet. as for the current vice president, joe biden kicked off campaigning on twitter this week, his handle is@joebiden. he has more than 56,000 followers. the obama campaign staff says it will run the account. if anything is signed by joe, himself, it will say so with a dash joe on it. half are about the buffett rule and tax fairness as bill mentioned. the president is going to be talking about that today. it's a focus. campaign all week. join us in chat. current.com/billpress. we will be 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. ♪ >> broadcasting across the nation, on your radio and on current t.v., this is the bill press show. ♪ >> it's a full-court press, tuesday, april 10th. welcome, welcome. good to see you today. thank you for joining us. i am bill press. we are coming to you live coast to coast from our little radio studio here on capitol hill and t.v. studio, too, i should add. now, keep forgetting. we are your new morning show on current tv, still coming to you on your favorite progressive radio station around the country. talking the big stories of the day, happening here in the nation's capitol here or around the globe. inviting you to join the conversation at any time with your calls. we save a seat at the table for you at 866-55-press.

oh, my god look here in studio with us this morning, crowded in the studio this morning. >> crowded. yeah. >> here as a friend of bill for this third hour together, toed democratic strategist peter finn. >> i have my morning bill coffee here. >> you are going to start something. >> ooh. trouble. >> since it's tuesday, it's faiz shakir, tuesdays with think progress. >> third week in a row since you have been on air, third week in a row i have been fortunate. >> you are a fixture. you are part of the program. thank you for coming in so much. thinkprogress keeps us and as i said we couldn't do our work those of us in radio, t.v. land without the good work of thinkprogress. they keep pumping stuff out for us, good stuff for us to talk about. we should also say hello, not -- they get touchy if we don't say

hello to the team. >> right here, bill. >> you know what? they can pull the plug on you. >> the lights could go out. the sound could disappear. right? unless we recognize them. peter ogburn dan henning and siprian hen can, our videographer, faiz what's hot today? you have a lot of good stuff out there i have seen in the last couple of days. we were just talking with dennis van roekel from the national education association about corporate tax loopholes they have identified. you have been doing some of the same work. let's start there. >> yeah. we put our our analysis yesterday. i showed 26 major corporations hadn't paid any federal income tax last year corporate income tax last year. i mean as part of the growing outrage about the fact there is this great disparity in america about people who have the most and pay the least and as part of that campaign, we noted that president reagan is on our side. >> yeah. i am going to get to that tape

in just a second. but the idea so first of all, why does paul ryan, then want to decrease -- right? or lower the corporate tax rate when they are not paying it to begin with? >> it's the lala land argument which is if they are not paying that much right now you need to incentive eyes them to pay so we will reduce their corporate tax rate to a very very tiny amount, at which point they will volunteer the amount and pay us their fair share. >> so we would be making more money that way than before? >> yeah. that is a big pipe dream. >> that's going back to the old system where the rich paid 70% of their income in taxes but they never did. >> yeah. >> in fact, they didn't spend, you know, 50%, a third to 20% and they basically paid next to nothing. >> what's the biggest way they are not paying these taxes? throughs keeping the money offshore or -- >> there is a variety of different ways that they reduce their tax dependency. one is the wall street firms have a carried interest loophole which allows them to basically

earn huge bonuses and not pay the regular corporate income tax or federal income tax on that money. another one is, as you mentioned, that they hold accounts overseas with the grand cayman or at its swiss banks, as mitt romney has. these kinds of -- they will earn profits overseas, not bring them back to the glanced but decrease their overall tax. >> do you want to name names? big name corks that are not paying any corporate taxes? >> i think people would be surprised by some of the ones that they feel are support progressives companies like google and apple that do a great deal of business overseas and use this ability to have the loophole where they earn profits over there, don't bring them to the united states, pay less of a tax rate here that's the kind of business we are trying to go after. >> is anybody doing anything about this? >> well, i think the public consciousness has increased. right? the fact that we are talking about it, the fact that there

are rallies in the streets about this, the president has made this, i think, a september tral campaign -- a central campaign issue. we are in that midst, if there is a curve of getting things done, we are in the curve of moving people in the direction of caring. >> and yet peter, there was a vote, before congress adjourned, a week and a half ago, in the senate to take away the tax preferences for oil companies, which the big 5 had $137,000,000,000 in profits last year and the republicans all voted against it. so did some democrats, by the way. >> the oil industry's hold on this country has been so strong for so long. and the congress especially and it really is an unbelievable situation because there is not justification for these big tax breaks. they are making huge profits, record profits and they have been for a decade and the notion

that exxon should have these loopholes is totally insane and, you know, you could say, look. if the company is struggling and trying to start up, there are reasons for a tax break, fine. but in this case there is no reason other than greed. >> two quick points on that. one, gas prices going through the roof. >> that's the same time they are getting these massive tax breaks. they are inc.ing record profits. the second is you have clean energy profits trying to break through, as petersuggests, new companies trying to work their way in and they have tax credits for those companies that are about to expire for clean energy companies while we are doling out $4,000,000,000 $6,000,000,000 to oil companies. >> and trying to renew those tax breaks? >> it's very difficult. >> you can make not just an ideological argument here and a fairness argument but a practicinggmatic argument. what would you say? what kind of tax breaks should

be given or extended right now that would really help the economy and help people? >> right. certainly, that's the, i think these clean energy tax breaks. i think renewable. >> batteries. >> end income tax credit, family tax credits. like child care tax credits. these are the kind of things i think, actually hilt middle class income pocketbooks and a couple of hundreds dollars for a family but for those families who needs those couple of hundred dollars. >> the businesses, as in the affordable health care act obamacare, businesses that are providing health care to their employees get a tax break. >> that's moving us forward? right? not just, you know rewarding them for all of these profits. but you mentioned for the wealthy paying their fair share, which is the other part of the agenda, not looking at individuals, not just corporations. this, i got this last night from the white house. this was embargoed until 6:00 a.m. this morning. >> right. from the national economic

council? >> it's from the white house, yeah, the buffett rule and they are calling this a full court press, by the way . >> all right. >> the buffett rule a basic principle of tax fairness where the president is saying as warren buffett did it doesn't make since for him to pay a lower rate of taxes than his secretary does. republicans say we could never vote for this rule. it is a bill now sheldon whitehouse has the bill in the senate, come up monday or tuesday and the republicans say we can't volt for they because ronald reagan would not want us to. ronald reagan would never, never raise taxes. he could never go along with the buffett rule thinkprogress pulled the covers back and discovered ronald reagan is actually a big supporter of the buffett rule. here is the tape that you released yesterday. >> just a moment ago, a few moments ago, i told some people inside the building here of a letter that i just received day before yesterday. it's a letter from a man out here in the country, an executive who is earning in six figures, well above $100,000 a

year. >> six figures. >> he wrote me in support of the tax plan because he said illegally able to take advantage of the present tax code, nothing dishonest, doing what the law prescribes, and wind up paying a smaller salary than my secretary gets. i mean paying a -- sorry paying a smaller tax than my secretary pays. and he wrote me the letter to tell me he would like to come to washington and testify before congress as to how that's possible for him to do and why it is wrong. >> feels bad then? it's worse now. >> so warren buffett was in the time machine? >> warren buffett? hum? >> actually the second in a series of videos. there was another reagan clip

that we posted last year in which he talked about the fact that bus drivers don't pay -- >> he said that in a speech down in i think montgomery. >> yeah. i believe that was right. so this is actually the second showing that, you know this actually was a matter of deep concern to president reagan and you are right to suggest that modern day conservatives who extol reagan like grover nor equity quist thinks he is the upholder, that reagan would never raise taxes on the wealthy, here he is passionately and elegenteligally talking about it. >> john boehner and eric cantor are lying or ignorant woefully ignorant of who ronald reagan was. he was talking about somebody was making six figures. president obama is a lot kinder and gentler than that because he is going after those making seven figures. >> that's correct. >> it is a basic principle: how could anybody vote against that

unless you are mitt romney? right? >> well, that's part of his re-election campaign. >> i actually think that 7.9%. the thing i can't understand about the romney campaign is i don't think -- and romney, himself, i do not think that they understand the passion that people feel billion this issue. they don't understand. >> they don't understand that they, themselves, when they say romney says, i had a cayman islands account. i have money in switzerland. i take advantage of these carried interest breaks, and, you know, this is huge. huge. he made $41 million in two years and paid 13.9%. now, it didn't work -- he didn't work. it was investments. the smartest thing for mitt romney to do would be to say, you know, i took advantage of it. this is it. but it's not right. i should account' be able to put money in it.

>> it happens to be one of the reasons mitt romney doesn't want to release his tax returns. we would learn and everybody would learn. it would be a great education for how the wealthy gamed the tax code, the fact he paid 13.9 that's lower than capital gains right. all of his income is pacific. he is not working so he is at 15 and he reduces it from there because of some charity he is given. >> faiz shakir at thinkprogress. check it out every day, several times a cape. we do and couldn't do without it. peter is a friend of bill. we are jumping around. we will take your calls at 866-55-press. another thing i saw this week and i think it was just yesterday we talked about a little bit earlier: you have been way, way on top of the trayvon martin case for very very early on. the latest development, not only the special prosecutor announced yesterday we are not going to have a grand jury in the indicates but george zimmerman now has his own website. >> that george zimmerman team is going bonkers. seriously, they are an amazing

bunch, out there on television spotting all kind of lies and being very aggressive about their case and touting a mythology. >> upstanding citizens. >> part of that effort, they rolled out this website called the real george zimmerman.com which has a statement from george zimmerman saying that, you know, i want to sol it's pay pal contributions from you for my legal defense fund. i maybe learning issomething from scooter libby and tom delay the way those guys used to operate. part of the context here is that supposedly sometime either this week or maybe in the near future, we are going to actually hear from angela corey, the special prosecutor taking over the indicates and she is i think, leaning in the direction of hopefully chargeing george zimmerman. >> i hope you are right and it looks that way of dismissing the grand jury. >> that's the way i read it. zimmerman must anticipate being charged and having to go to trial if he has formed this website? right. >> that's exactly it. themes that's what it seems to

be they are very panicked over there at the zimmerman camp and they are trying all last stops. >> yeah, the real george zimmerman. right? >> we noted on this website, you saw that there is this picture on george zimmerman's website and it's got long live george zimmerman, spray painted on a building where you don't know that that building was a black cultural scepter and this was graffitti in vandalsization of a black cultural center. i don't know if george zimmerman knew that but they put that saying, i have this great support out there in the world. >> are you kidding? >> no. >> yeah. >> that's the picture. >> that's the image on the george zimmerman website. >> look at all of the thugs supporting me. 20 minutes after the hour contributing to our conversation with faiz shakir peter fenn and you at 866-press. >> opinion your radio and on current tv.

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♪ >> this is the full court press, the bill press show, live on your radio and on current tv >> that's kind of the weirdest music i ever heard. >> the clash in the rock and roll hall of fame? >> no. >> that would be weird. >> peter. >> when we went to akron, peter we want to the rock and roll hall of fame and i influence back to washington. >> this is what i learned. >> there it is. >> if i only made that trip.

>> you know. >> i might have known. right. welcome back, it is the full court press with thinkprogress, faiz shakir for his weekly vitsit here bringing us up to date. peter fenn is a friend of bill press. as before we go to the calls, we were talking about the zimmerman website and the stand your ground law. i had a question earlier. some of you might know the answer whether police officers have as much leeway in their use of a gun in allegedly self defense as citizens do under the stand your ground law. >> right. the short answer is no, and the reason why this comes up is because you and i were talking about this my friend john saltzt he is going to write a post on thinkprogress this morning explaining that when he served in iraq he had lex flexibility to shoot civilians or shoot to kill anybody than

george zimmerman does under the stand your ground law. he operates under a code in which you have to shout first, like to stop and that you have to take all other precautions before engaging the weapon. in fact, you fire into the air before you fire at a person as a warning shot and police officer police often operate under these same kind of regulations. and so i think it shows the damage and the danger of putting fire apples in the hand of people with the authority to use them willy any morely. bill crosby had a great quote that says this is the power of the gun mentality. when you put firearms in the hands of ordinary people who are neighborhood watchmen and they have no idea how to use them this is the result that we would expect. >> and i might add that's why they call it the kill-at-will law. some people call it that. but in the brochure that goes out to the neighborhood watch, right, it says you are not to carry a firearm. >> right.

>> the police officer who trained the peace in this particular community said she told them specifically you are not cops. >> that's our job. >> right. >> we enforce the law. all you do is watch. >> watch and give us a call and say, hey you ought to check this out. >> when he did and they told him to back off. he did he want back off. >> he had the gun and shouldn't have had the gun in the first place. so people can find you at thinkprogress.org? >> yes, sir. as always. >> yeah, as always. others we didn't get to. next tuesday. >> we will come back. see you next week and peter, you and i have a big political front to talk about including rick santorum lost a big base of support yesterday. big, huge base of support. can't win pens without it. >> this is the bill press show. ♪

[[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.

♪ >> heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the bill press show. >> hey, so good to be with you today and thank you for joining us here. it is the full court press where we cover the news of the day. coming from our nation's capitol, a big em fas sys on politics why we are glad to have with us peter fenn. good to see you. >> good to see you. >> welcome to the party. peter, we are having an ongoing party, a book party like you have never been to before. this is a virtual book party. >> i think the last time i was here, you were talking about this. >> the"the obama hate machine" go to our website billpressshow.com

and join the party and earn courage as many of your friends or neighbors, you know, or family to buy a copy of "the obama hate manny," the more you do, the more successful you are, the more goodies you get. golf shirts tee shirts mugs ought outlined on the website and two winners. get this, top two get an all-expenses trip paid to d.c. hotel, airfare. they get to come in the studio watch the show and we are going down to fort worth, texasbrack fest breakfast to ted's bulletin cher obama took some of his bunch to lunch. >> this is great. bill, this book is so important right now. what you have seen in these primaries with mitt romney is he wins ugly and he was going crazy in pennsylvania against santorum and the moment he is done, the moment he is done, he was going to come after obama with the negative stuff and you've got crossroads who are ready to go up on the air with upwards of

$200 million. so this book, you know, for people is so important to get it because they are going to say, oh no. no. it's that mean, terrible obama. they are the nasty guys. and this. >> you know what it is about the book? keeps every day they keep throwing more fuel on the fire. like chuck grassley who calls obama stupid. karl rove calling him a thug. when karl rove was in the website if you or me or i had called george bush a thug? imagine the outcry. >> unbelievable, those darned liberals. >> yeah. >> an apol apology. let's first talk about the republican field. it looks like it's almost over but not quite. but rick santorum says -- and i want to put aside his daughter is in the hospital. she may be home now.

but he had that problem over the weekend. nothing more important than a father taking care of his kids. and but he vows that he is going to come back into pennsylvania and run through pennsylvania and he says win pennsylvania. i am not sure how he can win pennsylvania after what happened to him yesterday. this is an important block of voters yesterday who said, no way, no how could we support rick santorum. these are two of our leading porn stars. >> bi now, you have probably heard of thecial hopeful rick santorum's anti-pornography policy. >> if elected, santorum has vowed to prosecutor our industry on infrequently enforced obscenity laws. >> as porn stars and americans, we can't let that happen. picture a world without pornography. >> who wants to do that? >> who wants to picture a world without pornography? >> how could you vote for that. >> i was looking for the visual on that, bill. i didn't see it. all i got was the audio. >> here comes the visual although you have to imagine it.

here they are. describe what a world without pornography might be like. >> we can en franchise ourselves, like the bad girl i am. us, me on top. on my pool table with my (bleep) vote romney. romney. >> wait, romney is a republican too. >> so santorum because if he wins primary, he would definitely get crushed by obama. >> obama would never try to stop the porn industry. >> santorum? it's the long game. >> obama would never try to stop the porn game? this will help who are these people? they are going to get a lot of press with that. there is no question. my. that should do it for santorum. i guess he is toast. i am not going to go with any puns here thank you. i am leaving those alone. >> let's make a general segway here if we can but the only

point i think we can take -- >> >>. >> 8 wait to see this. >> this does lead to the war on women that santorum has started. >> right. >> not just porn stars, but women that are not porn stars and that mitt romney and other republicans have gleefully joined including legislation in the u.s. senate and mitch mcconnell says nobody believes it. it's just a fiction. >> right. no. this is some of the dumbest political moves, to reengage in the cultural wars of the 1960s, you have to be whacked. equal pay for equal work? you have the governor now of wisconsin kind of slipped that through. >> yeah signed the legislation scott walker. >> where is romney now? is he going to support that? is he going to support that? he didn't know what he was going to do on the senate bill. he was against it and then he was for it. >> right. >> you know the whole -- and,

you know, part of the problem with this bill is isn't just a culture war stuff. it isn't just the invasive procedures that they want in virginia and other states. it is this notion that we have a candidate who really he sticks his figurer up to theling winds and he will go whichever way the right-wing wants him to go. and it's that sense of romney. i mean i wrote a we or so ago, as the madmen new fifth season started this cans started, this guy is don draper. he is like him. the only thing he doesn't have is another name. he has got another identity. he almost seems to people. so there is an inconsistency. there is a sort of slipperiness there that and, that combined with the war on women is did you have stuff, i think. >> in the meantime newt newt is still out there.

right? >> right. >> he doesn't even pretend any more there is any juice left i don't think. but he insists, though, that it was a smart thing for him to do to run for president. here is newt over the weekend. >> turned out to be much harder than i thought it would be but it was the right thing for me to do at that point, both in my life and for where i thought the country was. >> itthe right thing for the country. my question to you is: what role do you think -- i mean he's been talking to romney. so clearly, they are cooking something up. >> right. >> is newt going to be the attack dog? >> i think definitely he will be. i mean i think that he will go on the road but you have to put him in the right places because newt's craziness backfires as we know. the real question on newt and for that mattersan santorum and ron paul even is what does that convention look like in tampa? what could they do? they feature these folks? put them on at 1:00 o'clock in

the afternoon? who gets the prime time speaking roles? i mean our friend pat buchanan really let it rip when they gave him that prime time one in san diego. and, you know -- >> houston? >> houston. '92. >> yeah. >> and it was, boy, that was a tough speech. and everybody went whoa! well, can you know, it does strike me as some of these folks are not going to let their speeches be vetted by a team of romney advisors so, you know there is if there is anger there, if there is a real push and there is bargaining going on, that could be harmful to the republicans in tampa. >> yesterday, mike huckabee launched his new radio show. everybody says he is going to be the answer to rush limbaugh. rush is going to fade, huckabee is going to come up. who knows? it's one more right-wing voice out there but mitt romney and on a -- called in on the first day and basically said 2340b can

stop me now. here is mitt romney. >> it's kind of hard for anybody to get the delegates to pass me at this stage. it looks pretty good, but, you know i know other guys are in there. so we are going to keep on campaigning in each of the -- each of the early primary states until we -- until we have the nomination wrapped up. >> so i think he is right the question is: is he going to be able to unite this party and get any enthusiastic backing? because people don't trust him? do they? republicans don't trust him. >> republicans don't trust him. the numbers in the republican primaries are pretty unbelievable. the flip-flopping, changing of positions, the lack of a core what everybody talks about, the other issue, i think is tricky for him and hard tofor folks to talk about, he has not dealt with his mormon religion. he really has not. he was confronted by that guy reading from the book of mormon and he said, you know, he said

you're feeling that this is right that they shouldn't be inter marriage between african-americans and whites and he said a simple no. but, you know, at some point, you have to confront that stuff. you have to say what you agree with, what you don't agree with. and the other thing you have to do is, which he doesn't do very well is you have to weave it in to who you are. if there are positives about his religion, which he wants to talk about, he should talk about them. i mean i hate to give him advises but most people, it's mysterious. to a lot of evangelicals, it's not christian. they get all confused about: is it a cult? and, you know, it's a tough thing for him and so far, his approach to this, to to this is i am not going to talk about it. i want it to go away. it's not like he is a passive member of the church. he is an active serious member which you respect. >> that's fine. but you are going to have to explain it to people. >> democratic strat gist peter

fenn. we haven't talked about the alabama campaign and i think the fear that a lot of us have is that now that we have seen what a bunch of clowns the republicans put up and what a weak candidate that mitt romney is, particularly the difficulty in identifying with average americans, could the obama campaign be alternates too cocky and a little too over confident? we will take your calms and continue our conversation with peter fenn when we come back at 866-55-press on the full-court press. >> this is the bill press show. ♪ no bs, the real thing, cutting through the clutter. my show is the most important show in the world.

>>this is outrageous! we've have no choice, we've lost our democracy here. ♪

>> radio meets television. the bill press show now on current tv. ♪ >> how about it, 12 minutes before top of the the hour, pat crawford e-mails in: thank you for giving me a show to watch instead of morning joe, a show that is simply another republican propaganda show. please keep it going. >> damn it we are not a republican propaganda show. we are politically direct and definitely left-leaning the full court press, thank you, pat. peter fenn another lefty and proud of it. >> thank you. >> is in the studio with us here this morning. get back to our conversation and your calls but first you have heard me talk about great company called blinds.com. peter ogburn and i two people can witness how great they are to work with and what great products and great selection they offer in terms of blinds or drapes or shutters for your home. peter got new blinds with

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for your home blinds doment. so pete blinds.com. peter let's say you are addvising the obama campaign what do you tell them? what should they be doing? >> they have to acknowledge that some of these numbers that look very good right now could dissipate very fast. this is about -- >> once it engage? >> absolutely. this is going to engage very fast. >> oh, yeah karl rove and crossroads. >> way before the convention. crossroads is going to try to rip his face off to be honest with you in the 12 targeted states. they have announced that. they have close to $200 million that they are ready to go with. so before the romney campaign comes after him, it's going to have this super p.a.c. so i think it's very very important to make the contrast right away with mitt romney and it's still about the economy, stupid. romney has himself in such a box. i mean he is the candidate with more tax cuts for the welt

wealthiests and nothing for the middle class. he exemplifies that with his own personal situation. and and. >> he wrapped himself in the paul ryan budget. >> he is wrapped in the paul ryan budget. look, this ryan budget is like richard nixon's secret plan to end the war. there was no plan. there never was a plan. it was always very secret. still secret. what he has in the secret part of it is: where will he get the revenue? he will not tell you what those loopholes, he calls, are going to be closed. you know, is he going to go after the mortgage interest deductions which helps the average americans? i hope not. state and local taxes? charitable contributionss? mitt romney has bought into this line and it's more cuts from critical programs that help people and it's more money for the wealthiests of americans. people won't by that. if that's the contrast in this election, if that's what really people are going to focus on,

how to improve this economy, they will go with obama. but we have got to make that case. >> we are almost out of time but we have time for, let's say a quick hello to richard calling from chicago. hey, richard. welcome. >> good morning. i called in to say i think the way that the progressives are addressing the tax issue is very -- it's very well done. i wish we had a conservative and i can understand t i like the way they are putting pieces together from the history of conservative -- you know conservative republicans that are basically for taxation of the wealthy corporations. i have to say that, you know the way the progressives talk about the stand your ground law in the zimmerman case is really wrong. but the way you present taxes, i just wanted to say, i think it's excellent . >> all right. >> i want to know, though, if we do -- if i support you as a conservative for this progressive taxation will the democrats in california and i

will know completely screwed up those societies, those civil eyesations basically. >> well, that's a great big question. but saying, it's interesting and we have about 30 seconds, that even some conservatives and republicans understand that everybody ought to pay their fair share. >> that's what i hear richard saying. >> the middle class needs more help and what you have to do is you have to go withhere the problem is and that's what we have to convince the american people that we are not going back to the old policies but, you know, new policies are going to help. >> i think that fairness, that tax fairness is an issue, a winning issue and the president has to, to continue delivering it and carry that message on. peter, it's always great to have you here. >> great to be here. thanks for having me. >> a friend of bill peter fenn, and i will be back with today's parting shot. >> this is the bill press show.

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