blatant. >>and above all... and there's only once place you'll find us. >>weeknights on current tv. >> bill: well, good morning, everybody! it is tuesday, may 1! first day of may and here we are, the "full court press." welcome to the program this morning. i'm bill press liberal and broad of -- proud of it! starting off, a quick roundup of the stories of the day and of course taking your calls at 866-55-press. today is the first anniversary of the capture and the killing of osama bin laden. and mitt romney says hey, he

would have given the same order as barack obama oh, yeah, back at the time romney said it was a waste of time and money to go after just one man. just shows that mitt romney had been in charge, osama bin laden would still be alive today. that's one of the big stories we'll be talking a lot about this morning and a whole lot more. stay around but first, let's get the latest current tv news update from jacki schechner. >> good morning, bill. good morning everybody. if you plan to travel today or know someone who is, you can expect longer lines at airports. authorities are stepping up security both nationally and internationally with fears that al-qaeda may retaliate on the one-year anniversary of the killing of osama bin laden. specifically, officials are looking for body bombs. an allied ca group in yemen has been creating a bomb that could be implanted into someone's stomach.

there is no specific credible threat at the moment of any sort of impending attack but white house counterterrorism advisor john brennan is calling the al-qaeda group in yemen the greatest threat to the united states. osama bin laden's final words will be released to the public later this week. they'll be on an army web site. brennan says the documents seized during the raid in pakistan a year ago will be posted online by westpoint's combating terrorism center. they'll be available to the public. brennan says they'll show that bin laden was increasingly worried about the inexperience of his subordinates and their tendency to make mistake after mistake. we know that photos and videos from the raid will not be available to the public. there was a freedom of information act last week by a request made last week by judicial laws and the federal judge declined that. while mitt romney's campaign has been accusing the president of politicizing the anniversary of the death of osama bin laden the president has nothing on his schedule today.

mitt romney, however is going to make his first public appearance with rudy giuliani, the man who was mayor on september 11th. we'll be right back. we're not good enough for you. must be supermodels? what do you model gloves? brad, eat a snickers. why? 'cause you get a little angry when you're hungry. better? [ male announcer ] you're not you when you're hungry™. better. [ male announcer ] snickers satisfies.

i have the most common type of atrial fibrillation, or afib. it's not caused by a heart valve problem. i was taking warfarin, but my doctor put me on pradaxa instead to reduce my risk of stroke. in a clinical trial, pradaxa® (dabigatran etexilate mesylate) reduced stroke risk 35% better than warfarin. and unlike warfarin, with pradaxa, there's no need for regular blood tests. that's really important to me. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don't take pradaxa if you have abnormal bleeding and seek immediate medical care

for unexpected signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. pradaxa may increase your bleeding risk if you're 75 or older, have a bleeding condition like stomach ulcers, or take aspirin, nsaids, or blood thinners, or if you have kidney problems especially if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all medicines you take any planned medical or dental procedures and don't stop taking pradaxa without your doctor's approval as stopping may increase your stroke risk. other side effects include indigestion, stomach pain, upset, or burning. pradaxa is progress. having afib not caused by a heart valve problem increases your risk of stroke. ask your doctor if you can reduce your risk with pradaxa. it's go time. >>every weeknight cenk uygur calls out the mainstream media. >>the guys in the middle class the guys in the lower end got screwed again. >>i think you know which one we're talking about. the overwhelming majority of the

country says"tax the rich, don't go to war." >>just wanted to clarify that. >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: it's tuesday may 1. it's mayday! good morning comrades. time for all good communists to celebrate. welcome. welcome to the "full court press." the "bill press show" coming to you live coast-to-coast right from our radio factory and tv factory and book factory here on capitol hill in washington, d.c. where you'll find us right in the shadow of the capitol dome keeping us on eye -- well, not

much going on in congress today because the house and the senate are out -- i don't know what this vacation is all about but another week break. not much going on here. down at the white house, a lot going on. we were down there yesterday. we'll tell you all about it. great to see you today. thank you so much for joining us as we tackle the big stories of the day here from our nation's capitol, around the country and around the globe. and of course invite your calls at any time on any topic. you make the show, you make the news here by giving us a call at 866-55-press. you will join our whole team press here this morning. peter ogborn. >> hey, there. >> reporting for duty, comrade. >> dan henning. >> bill, good morning. >> cyprian bolling our great videographer. >> bill: president obama out yesterday speaking to the building and construction trades. they're having a big conference here in washington this week. i'm going to be there speaking

to the building and construction trades, whole group of them tonight. it was the president's turn yesterday. he said i admire you construction workers but i ain't one of you. >> i just barely can hammer a -- [ laughter ] a nail into the wall and my wife's not impressed with my skills when it comes to fixing up the house. right now, fortunately i'm in a rental so i don't end up having to do a lot of work. [ laughter ] >> bill: of course, president clinton used to say he's in public housing. it sounds like barack obama's -- >> not a real hammer and nail kind of guy? >> bill: no. carol is a plumber carol is an electrician. >> you're more of a hammer and

sickle kind of guy. >> bill: dylan byers will be here with us. tuesdays. he'll be in from think progress, major garrett. then we have a special guest coming in studio, henry wolf from san francisco is coming in, too. you didn't know him? >> i didn't get that. >> bill: that's right. i invited -- henry wolfe is the guy who filed a lawsuit saying after one motorcycle ride, he has had an erection for the last 20 months and it is still going on today. so, he's coming in studio today to tell us all about it. i thought that would be a fun guest, too. >> it will be stimulating. >> bill: make room for henry. >> make a lot of room for henry. [ laughter ] >> bill: but first -- >> this is the "full court press." >> on this tuesday, other headlines making news, restaurant magazine is out with

its annual list of the 50 best restaurants in the world. >> bill: can i interrupt? even viagra says after four hours it is dangerous. right. so, imagine 20 months. >> noma in copenhagen, denmark has been named the best restaurant in the world for the third straight year. top north american eatery, number six in new york. followed by chicago. madison park is 10th on the list in new york. the only three north american to be in the top. >> bill: i can't believe the top restaurant in the world is in copenhagen but the other thing is i know people who have gone to per se, i'm not going to spend $1,000 on a meal. i think it is obscene. that's what it is. i know some lobbyist, he took his wife there for her birthday. she wanted to go. they spent like $1500 on dinner. >> for two people? >> yeah. >> bill: it is ridiculous.

i'm sorry. >> peta has no problem with president obama's dog jokes from the white house correspondent's dinner. the animal-loving organization said it was not offended at obama's crack about eating pitbulls because of the obvious play on the previous sarah palin comment and it is not indicative of the president's love for dogs as family members. >> bill: all right, good for ingrid. >> good morning america did it again. the abc program beat nbc's "today" in total viewership for the second week in a row winning by 165,000 viewers. two weeks ago "today" was the number one show for over 16 years. two weeks ago when gma first won, matt lauer was on vacation but last week, he was at work four out of five days according to the "washington post." >> bill: they just signed that big new contract with matt lauer. >> not off to a good start. >> bill: maybe they should have waited a couple of weeks. yes, indeed. i'll tell you, the big story of the day.

this is, of course, the first anniversary of president obama's orders given and navy seals incredibly heroic and brilliantly executed and successful mission to track down osama bin laden in pakistan and to kill him. and that word has been going around and around, of course and it came up yesterday at the white house. i went down to this briefing, not a briefing a news conference between president obama and prime minister next ox ox -- noda of japan. there are two questions asked -- two people called on to ask questions to each one. what always happens is -- so that's four reporters. each one of them will ask a question to the prime minister

and to the president and usually you never get any answer out. but yesterday, there was actually a little fireworks over this president -- the obama/osama issue if you will. let's go back in the time machine a year ago. remember, this was the night after last year's white house correspondents dinner. the president right around 11:00 at night as i recall went before the american people at the white house and gave the news. >> i can report to the american people and to the world that the united states has conducted an operation that killed osama bin laden, the leader of al-qaeda. >> bill: that word spread around the world. there were chants of u.s.a., u.s.a. at baseball games. it was a huge crowd that gathered spontaneously on pennsylvania avenue in front of the white house. now, a year later, republicans are whining and complaining that the white house put a little video. remember we played you the sound

of it yesterday with former president bill clinton talking about the fact that this was a real show of leadership. the president -- it was a tough decision for him to make but he made the right decision. we got the right results. republicans are saying it is terrible, they're exploiting this for political reporters. one of the reporters yesterday christie parsons from "the chicago tribune" asked whether there might have been too much ex-elsive celebration over this. the president said no, he you -- you haven't seen excessive celebration around here. take a look at what happened and what some of the people who are criticizing the obama administration today, what they said at the time. the president really, really tough. i loved it. here he is. >> i just recommend that everybody take a look at people's previous statements in terms of whether they thought it was appropriate to go in pakistan and take out bin laden. i assume that people be meant

what they said when they said it. that's been at least my practice. i said that i would go after bin laden if we had a clear shot at him and i did. if there are others who have said one thing and now suggest they would do something else, then i would go ahead and let them explain it. >> bill: oh, yeah. that's the obama with a backbone i love to see. i said i would go after osama if we had a clear shot at him and i did. end of story! as far as i'm concerned. he really put down the republicans. talk about the past statements, we remember how it all started. it was back in 2007, we talked about it at the time as a candidate, here is what then senator obama said about the fact that there were terrorists,

al-qaeda members hiding in pakistan. >> let me make this clear. there are terrorists hoehled -- holed up who murdered three million americans. it was a terrible mistake. if we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and president musharraf will not act, we will. >> who once suggested bombing our ally, pakistan -- the best idea is to not broadcast what you're going to do. you work with the other country that is your ally and friend which pakistan is. you don't broadcast and say you're going to bomb a country without their permission or without consulting them. >> as senator obama said yes last summer, he basically threatened to bomb pakistan.

>> bill: of course john mccain and hillary clinton at the time were exaggerating. he said if we have actionable intelligence and musharraf will not act, we will. he didn't say we're going to bomb pakistan. but the point is they all disagreed with it at the time and so did mitt romney! that's the point. yesterday mitt romney said of course i would have given the same order. even jimmy carter would have given the same order. trying to compare barack obama to jimmy carter. hey, jimmy carter's mission remember failed! barack obama's succeeded. big, big difference! mitt romney, now he says nobody -- of course i would have done the same thick. oh yeah? that's not what he said at the time. here is wolf blitzer quoting mitt romney at the time. >> it is not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars trying to catch one

person. he was referring to the hunt for osama bin laden. what did he mean by that because it has generated a little controversy given osama bin laden's role in killing 3,000 americans on 9-11. >> bill: not worth spending millions of dollars. in fact, mitt romney, at the time said the mission to get osama bin laden, he called it ill-timed and ill-considered. mitt romney. so, if you take a look at their statement at the time, i think you can legitimately raise a question as the obama campaign did in that spot with bill clinton in it. would mitt romney have done the same thing? would he have had the could hewn hewn -- kahunas to go after osama bin laden? based on his statements last year, based on his statements four years ago, the answer is no

way would he have done so. 866-55-press. you know what really bugged me is that ariana huffington said it was despicable for president obama to show that ad. it is not despicable for president obama to show that ad. again, he did it. he can take credit for it. mitt romney would never have done the same thing. i think that's pretty clear no matter what he says to date. 866-55-press. it is the "full court press," tuesday, may 1. let's talk about it. >> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show" live on your radio and on current tv. we have a big, big hour and the i.q. will go way up. >>tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block.

we're the idea nobody wants to hear. until the truth reveals itself. and there's only one place you'll find us.

♪ >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 24 minutes after the hour. the obama campaign raising the question... would mitt romney have done the same thing? had he been president? would he have given the orders to track down -- day one that he was in the oval office, to track down osama bin laden to go after him, to find him and to dispatch him? i think it is pretty clear that -- well, let's put it this way. i don't think it is clear that mitt romney would. i think it is pretty clear from his statement that he would not. the question is it legitimate for the obama campaign to raise that question. damn straight it is. 866-55-press.

i ask you justin is out in petaluma california. hey, justin, how are you? >> caller: i'm great. great to see your show on tv. >> bill: thank you. i know petaluma well. just over the hill from inverness. >> caller: yes. very proud of our president for finding osama bin laden when bush couldn't find him throughout his two terms. >> bill: he didn't even try toward the end right. after tora bora, he pulled all of the troops out, sent them to iraq and said "who cares about osama bin laden." >> caller: i'm very proud it was done in three years what bush couldn't do in eight. but anyway, i did want to make a remark that i'm not so sure if i'm proud that we killed him without some kind of -- you know, unless he was a threat to the brave seal team.

as a democrat, i don't believe in capital punishment myself. >> bill: neither do i. neither do i justin but i don't think you have to have any regrets. look, he was armed -- we were told he was armed at the time. and i think they were prepared to bring him back if they could. they were fired upon when they arrived. so i think they took -- i think they took the right steps. this is a case where i think osama bin laden didn't want to be taken alive. hey, justin, appreciate hearing from you. mary is calling from tennessee. is it legitimate for the obama campaign to question whether or not mitt romney would have done the same thing? hi mary. >> hi, how are you? >> bill: i'm good. good morning. >> caller: good morning. i wanted to say how many times did we see george bush standing on that pile of rubble at the twin towers with his blow horn.

tell me that he didn't make as much political hay as he could out of that moment. >> bill: yes. plus remember, mary, where they held that convention that year, right and then they all talked about 9-11, 9-11, 9-11, right? yeah. >> caller: how many times did we hear rudy giuliani, he was the greatest thing in the world because he happened to be there at the time. part of their argument about romney the whole fox is saying anyone who's president would have made that decision. guess what. george bush was president and he did not! >> bill: exactly. absolutely. in fact, i forget exactly what bush said. but in effect, he said osama bin laden, i don't even think about him anymore. he totally forgot about him. you know where mitt romney is going today? no shame at all. lower manhattan to a fire

station, right this guy is antiunion, going to a union fire station with of course, rudy giuliani. chris, caller from michigan. >> caller: how you doing? >> bill: what's up? >> caller: i'm calling from the great state of michigan. i'm so pissed off that the republicans are in denial because they did not catch osama bin laden. they are so pissed that obama got him and they can't control that and another thing, there was nothing wrong with that ad. george bush ran on 9-11 for eight years. >> bill: you're right. after he said that he wouldn't. also, remember dick cheney said if you elect -- sorry. if you elect barack obama there will be another terrorist strike on the united states. he think we forget that the only terrorist strike on the united states happened under dick

cheney and george bush, right? >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." jennifer granholm is politically direct on current tv. >>the dominoes are starting to fall. (vo) granholm is live in the war room. >> what should women be doing? >> electing women to office. (vo) she's a political trailblazer. >>republicans of course didn't let facts get in the way of spin. >>do it, for america.

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." welcome to the spin room. >> bill: how about it. 33 minutes after the hour. it is the "full court press" on this tuesday may 1. coming to you live from our nation's capitol. brought to you today by the sheet metalworkers international association. good men and women of the sheet metalworker's union. under president joseph nigro giving a fair day's work for a fair day's pay. they were very involved in the construction of the new world

trade center which became the tallest building in new york yesterday. get more information about their good work at their web site, smwia.org. good to have you with us this morning and proud to welcome in media reporter for politico dylan buyers. good friend of the program. nice to know you political people get up at the crack of dawn. >> bill is always up this early. >> we normally see him jogging in front of the studio. >> always out of bed at 6:00 a.m. >> bill: we've got good media stories to talk about. let's do a little spin, we've been talking dylan, so far about this little flap as to whether or not the obama campaign is correct to raise on this anniversary of the killing of osama bin laden. >> right. >> bill: the fact that taking some credit for what was done a year ago. mitt romney was asked about it

by reporters on the campaign trail yesterday whether he thinks that's fair or whether he would have done the same thing. here is his spin. >> if you had -- would you have gone after bin laden? >> you would have given the order, governor? >> it is it criticism? >> even jimmy carter would have given that order. yeah right. any way they can try to compare barack obama to jimmy carter. >> not bad spin. >> bill: except i think there is a big difference between jimmy's leadership and barack obama-style leadership. dylan, you have been reporting on this big story over -- after bob woodward, considered to be like the role model right investigative journalism ever since watergate now there are some questions raised. what's going on?

>> first of all you're absolutely right. he's probably the biggest name in 20th centry journalism and into the 21st century. the questions being raised are off doubts at the "washington post," ben bradley raised in a 1990 interview that are coming to light now. those doubts are doubts about those doubts as well. you have ben bradley who changes his tune every now and then and then in a 2010 interview says i have complete confidence in woodward then in 2011 says i have doubts and now says i completely support woodward. >> bill: bradley has been back and forth all over the case. but the doubts raised -- so there is an article in the "new york" magazine. excerpt from a new book where i haven't poured into it the way you have. just skimming.

where bradley says the story -- it was the flag in the flowerpot. which seems like such a small detail -- here's an important thick to remember. at the end of the day richard milhous nixon resigned. but it is a small detail. it is an important detail. it is one that clearly upset woodward because he moved very fast to try to stop this thing. >> bill: woodward claimed what about the flowerpot? that's when he knew deep throat? >> exactly. the idea was that he felt deep throat -- would put a flag in the flowerpot any time you wanted to meet him deep in the garage. >> bill: bradley said he wasn't sure about the flowerpot allegedly. >> allegedly. >> bill: i guess he did say it at one time. >> he admits he doesn't know. there's no way for him to know. there are two people who know. there's deep throat and there's

woodward. deep throat is dead. >> bill: woodward says that's the way it happened. so, woodward as you pointed out, bob woodward did come out very clearly and said hey wait a minute. he said that but on the other hand, there is this other interview. what he now -- the part that he says in his book is either incomplete or wrong so does he survive this? >> yeah, i think he certainly survives it. barring someone like a carl bernstein coming forward and saying actually there was no flowerpot or something like that. yeah, i think he survives this. but i think what happens here is it raises -- this is not the first time somebody's raised questions about woodward's reporting and you know, it becomes a footnote on his biography or maybe it moves up and becomes a little bit more significant than that. then again, at the end of the day, the significant things that woodward accomplished, i don't think those are diminished by some questions over his editor's

doubts. >> bill: it is true, i think that these two young reporters for "the washington post" at the time, bob woodward and carl bernstein, they got on the story when nobody believed them. they pursued the story. and they brought down a president of the united states. >> they did. and bradley, too, was a very big part of that. that's another issue you have here which some people -- this is only speculation. some people wonder if bradley perhaps is concerned that woodward is getting all of the credit for this. when we think about watergate we think about woodward. >> bill: bradley said i'm going to print this where a lot of editors may have said hmm. >> this is the element of the story that fascinates people in washington is that there is an element of greek tragedy. there are two degrees going on. you have bradley as the meant ar to woodward who seems to be stabbing him in the back a little bit.

then you have woodward's own disciple, his former research assistant, the author of the "new york" magazine piece. there is a lot of very personal things going on. >> bill: over the years woodward has gotten a lot more credit than carl bernstein has. written all of these books about the president. >> and the simon & garfunkel thing. >> bill: dylan byers covers for the politico. the other big story we were talking about and you were writing about last week, i saw part of this interview last night. brian williams scored big time at the white house. going to be on thirty rock wednesday night. >> bill: big of getting an interview. the holy of holies. >> he's being given and emphasizing unprecedented access to the situation room.

less than a year ago wolf blitzer asked if he could interview obama and obama said sure but you can't bring the cameras and now all of a sudden on the anniversary of the bin laden raid, here are the cameras and almost everyone in that iconic photo we remember, being interviewed. secretary of state clinton, vice president biden and the interview last night admiral mullen. >> bill: access -- so you questioned the white house about access to the situation room. >> there is a serious concern it is all you're going to hear about this week is the politicization of bin laden's death. this time last year, obama was making fun of donald trump at the white house correspondent's dinner and then behind the scenes he's doing something really tremendous, a really historic moment for the country and of course for him. and now what you have is it overselling of this ad in which the obama administration's criticizing romney and then what

you get is you get romney criticizing obama and jimmy carter at the same time and what was a historic moment and a great victory for the country becomes dirty political -- >> bill: but when you challenge the white house to the national security team, what response did you get back? >> the response i got back -- >> bill: from tommy veeder. >> from tommy veeder was -- they're emphasizing how significant this event is and that you know, one thing tommy veeder said is we almost forget what it felt like on that day. so this interview -- they're emphasizing this interview is being pegged to that photograph. it is a re-creation of what happened on that day. >> bill: is that your cell phone? we always tell guests. >> do you need to get that? >> sorry. >> bill: who's tweeting you this early in the morning. >> i didn't know i knew anyone awake this early in the morning. >> bill: and i thought that

veeder said there's been other -- there have been other. >> reporter: s in the situation room right? but not cameras. that's a little bit of spin by the white house for sure. this is rare. you don't do this outside of a campaign season where you're trying to emphasize a major national security victory. >> bill: i remember being taken down to that level of the white house once and -- not as a. >> reporter: but in another life, democratic state chair -- and like shown the situation room but not allowed in it. oh, that door. that's the situation room. you couldn't even open the door and look inside. but at the same time, they do have other meetings there. >> certainly. >> bill: maybe. >> but it is a bit of a holy space in terms of media access. it is not -- like you said, they didn't even let you in. >> bill: one other media story

i want to ask about. the american prospect has reported may be on its last days. american prospect is not one of the most popular magazines around. i read it because it is a liberal magazine. i get it. but it is a sign of the times. >> it is very much a sign of the times. it is still uncertain but even if it survives, even if somebody comes through with the funding it is a sign of the times. it is really struggling. you have these magazines that need very wealthy backers to keep them afloat. you saw this two different cases for sure but you saw this recently with the new republic. you had a facebook investor, a lot of facebook founders coming in. >> bill: now they public every other week. even "time" magazine and "newsweek," there was a time i would not think of not reading "time" magazine and "newsweek." i don't even pick them up

anymore. >> the weekly magazines are suffering. they have to figure out a way to adapt to tablets to online. it is very difficult because the advertising dollars just aren't there in the same way. >> bill: what are you working on today? what's the big story today? >> more woodward. more woodward. woodward woodward, as soon as i'm done with woodward, it is back to bin laden. >> at least you get an early start today dylan. >> where's my coffee peter. >> uh-oh. >> bill: promises made. >> mr. byers didn't get his coffee. >> bill: promises not kept in this case. dylan byers, come in again soon. >> i will. >> bill: thanks for coming in. media reporter for politico. politico.com. you can follow him at dylan dylanbyers. we'll be right back here on the "full court press." >> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show" now on

current tv. how are you ever going to solve the problem if you don't look at all of the pieces? >>tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >>you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. >>sharp tongue, quick whit and above all, politically direct. >>you just think there is no low they won't go to. oh, no. if al gore's watching today...

(vo) every week night, cenk uygur calls out the mainstream >> are they worried about the politics of it before the election? of course!

♪ >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 11 minutes before the top of the hour. tuesday, may 1. your calls about mitt romney saying eh, any president would have done the same thing. it was no big deal for barack obama to give the orders to go after osama bin laden. oh, yeah? that's not what you said last year, mitt romney and that's not what george bush did when he was president. your calls welcome on that at

866-55-press. we'll get back into the program here. your calls and the issues. but first wanted to tell you again about blinds.com. this is the time of the year to be thinking about new blinds, new shutters, new drapes or whatever. new window treatment for your homes. for homes because some of that stuff, look around. some of that stuff you gotta agree may not last through this year's spring cleaning. if you're look for new window treatments, no better place than blinds.com. that's what peter, his wife discovered, carol and i discovered. and also our listener, holly who e-mails in dealing with blinds.com was a pleasure as opposed to the two weeks of hell spent trying to order blinds at a furniture store. we wanted the blinds to match our wood window trim so getting free samples was great. so many people just don't care about customer service or quality. companies like blinds.com are hard to find.

so i urge you take advantage of them. check them out online. you will be amazed at their selection. get free color samples free shipping and no sales tax in most states plus expert installers if you need one. go to blinds.com for prices that absolutely crush home improvement store prices. that's blinds.com. blinds.com for the best service and selection blinds.com. let's say hello quickly to gayle from richmond, california. hi gail. >> caller: i'm good. i'm so good. so good to speak to you. i'm so glad you're on the air. i've been listening to this -- whatever his name is. he's on my last nerve. >> bill: we're here for you. >> caller: i'm glad you're here. >> bill: what do you think about the osama bin laden videos? fair game? >> caller: i think it is

definitely fair game. i am so glad that we're able to tout our leadership and you know that it is so -- it just drives me insane. it is infuriating for them to complain that obama has done what they would do when he talked about him being a leader from behind. it is just ridiculous. it is insulting you know, to our intelligence that they can just get there say this with a straight face that we're supposed to be in a corner somewhere. >> bill: that's what i liked about -- i was there again at the white house yesterday when president obama said this. he said hey, look, i told you that if we had a good shot at osama bin laden, we would go get him. that's what i did. boom. period. end of story right? no fancy stuff. no, well, we couldn't do it for that reason or that reason. i told you i was going to do it and i did it. we got their statements on the

record when they said that this wasn't worthwhile. >> caller: and i know. that's just the really -- the incredible thing about it. that we had their statements on file. we can go back and play them. they just want to erase it like it didn't happen. >> bill: we're not going to let them get away with that, gail. appreciate the call very much. the president said yesterday again, listen to their statements. you have to assume they meant what they said back then. so let them explain it. let them defend it. you know what? they can't! all right. happy may 1! it is the "full court press." >> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show."

eliot spitzer joins the new news network. >>we will drill down on the day's top stories in search of facts that inform.

>> announcer: taking your e-mails on any topic at any time, this is the "bill press show" live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: hey, we're going to talk drones at the top of the next hour with jeff morally from slate and then it is tuesdays with faz here all up in the next hour. meanwhile, let's see. it is vassey rogers says there are two more accomplishments the president needs to mention. the pirates he killed and rescued the sailors and the bp oil spill accomplishment funds the president got for the gulf coast. good point. add that the list of things done

during the first term. steve says dick cheney said if the democrats were elected we'll get hit again. hey, the last time i checked the only time we got hit at all was on their watch. good point steve. jokes about eating dog and ann says just imagine if our president had joked about not finding any wmds in iraq after we sent our finest to justify this boondoggle. the outrage. love your show. you're even better on tv. not everybody is a fan. lisa fox e-mails in. nah, nah, nah, nah. you people better watch out because obama and all of you fagots and baby killers will be surprised when you're taken out and on your asses. this is a christian-loving country. she doesn't sound like much of a christian to me. then she says if you don't like it, why don't you just die. good christian talk, lisa!

god loves you. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

>> bill: hey, good morning everybody! it is tuesday, may 1. good morning and welcome to the "full court press." here on current tv. i'm bill press liberal and proud of it. you bet! we tackle the big issues of the day here in our nation's capitol, around the country and around the globe. and take your calls at 866-55-press. remember all of that noise people were making about gas prices just a few weeks ago? well, guess what?

today in 40 states, gas prices are lower than they were one year ago. so, a few weeks ago everybody was blaming president obama for the high gas prices. have you heard anybody giving president obama credit today for the low gas prices? just one of the things we'll be talking about here on today's "full court press." but first, we get all of the latest today's current tv news update in los angeles. here's jacki schechner. hi jacki. >> hi, bill. good morning everyone. the occupy movement is taking today, may 1st and making it a day without the 99%. they're calling for a general strike which means no work, no school, no housework no shopping and no banking. demonstrations and actions are planned in more than 135 cities across the country. you can find some details online at occupywallstreet.org. the picking up today may 1st is not an arbitrary decision. may 1st is known as international worker's day

overseas. it has it roots in the leftist movement dating back to the 19th century and has been a day of public demonstration. some of the largest events on tap include occupy guitar me where 1,000 musicians will march in new york city led by tom of rage against the machine. in los angeles, they'll hold a four wins rally where people will come in from north east, west and south and converge on the financial district. the idea is to shut down the flow of traffic to downtown where they'll hold demonstrations and actions. and san francisco, they have called off plans to shut down golden gate bridge but the ferry workers who have been in contract negotiations for about a year now and working without a contract plan to shut down ferry service. in chicago the magazine and organization that is largely credited with sparking the original occupy wall street movement is calling for protestors in chicago to stay

for a month. that's because the city is going to hold a nato conference there on may 20th. we're in chat. join us, current.com/billpress. we'll be right back. so we can describe them to our customers. [ male announcer ] red lobster's festival of shrimp starts now! for just $12.99, pair any two of 9 exciting shrimp creations like new barbeque glazed shrimp or crab stuffed shrimp. the crab-stuffed shrimp are awesome! [ woman ] very creamy. that's a keeper! [ woman ] shrimp skewer. [ woman #2 ] sweet, smoky. [ man ] delicious! [ laughter ] [ male announcer ] any combination just $12.99! [ woman ] so what are ya'lls favorites? [ group ] everything! [ laughter ] we're servers at red lobster. and we sea food differently.

i have the most common type of atrial fibrillation, or afib. it's not caused by a heart valve problem. i was taking warfarin, but my doctor put me on pradaxa instead to reduce my risk of stroke. in a clinical trial, pradaxa® (dabigatran etexilate mesylate) reduced stroke risk 35% better than warfarin. and unlike warfarin, with pradaxa, there's no need for regular blood tests. that's really important to me. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don't take pradaxa if you have abnormal bleeding and seek immediate medical care

for unexpected signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. pradaxa may increase your bleeding risk if you're 75 or older, have a bleeding condition like stomach ulcers, or take aspirin, nsaids, or blood thinners, or if you have kidney problems especially if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all medicines you take any planned medical or dental procedures and don't stop taking pradaxa without your doctor's approval as stopping may increase your stroke risk. other side effects include indigestion, stomach pain, upset, or burning. pradaxa is progress. having afib not caused by a heart valve problem increases your risk of stroke. ask your doctor if you can reduce your risk with pradaxa. it's go time. >>every weeknight cenk uygur calls out the mainstream media. >>the guys in the middle class the guys in the lower end got screwed again. >>i think you know which one we're talking about. the overwhelming majority of the country says"tax the rich,

don't go to war." >>just wanted to clarify that. >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: how about it? it is the "full court press" on tuesday, may 1. great to see you today. thank you for joining us. we're coming to you live coast-to-coast from our radio studio here and tv studio and book factory on capitol hill in washington, d.c. bringing you the big stories of the day. and inviting you to join the conversation. we always save a seat at the table for you. and you take that seat by giving us a call at 1-866-55-press.

and this is something definitely as we top off the second hour together this morning that you're going to want to talk about. we welcome to the studio, jefferson morley who is a reporter for salon.com and has been writing a lot about the whole issue of drones. and their increased use under the obama administration. jeff, good to see you this morning. thanks for coming in. >> thank you, bill. >> bill: i think you've met most of the members of our team press here. they hide behind the glass. >> because we're animals. >> bill: we have to have some separation from the talent and the rest of the crew. >> now bill, that's not nice of you to call yourself the rest of the crew. i don't think that's appropriate. >> bill: peter ogborn, dan henning and our videographer cyprian bolding.

so, i have to tell you this issue of drones is one that i've been interested in for a long time. i find there's just not enough attention to it. in the last week or so, it seems to be building. >> yeah. >> bill: we just had a big drone summit last saturday here in washington, d.c. which again, because of the white house correspondents dinner didn't get much attention but it was an important event and there was an attorney here from pakistan. >> yeah. a pakistani attorney is representing dozens of families of people killed in the u.s. drone strikes in the border regions. and he brought a lot of stories about the people who have been killed. we've heard from mr. brannan the national securityiedied advisor to the president. if you look at the evidence from the war zone, it is not carefully done. the raid of civilian casualties is extraordinary.

the new america foundation which monitors news reports on drone strikes, estimates that about 11% of the people killed in the strikes are civilians. and the bureau of investigative journalism london-based organization also does this by their count 174 children have been killed since 2004 in drone strikes in pakistan. so, i think we need to treat the obama administration's protestations on this very carefully. >> bill: is this what they call collateral damage? >> this is what they call collateral damage. >> bill: now january -- john brannan yesterday gave a speech at the woodrow wilson institute where it is reported in this morning's times, yes we do use drones to kill suspected terrorists. yes, he says, in full accordance with the law and in order to prevent terrorist attacks on the united states and he said drone strikes are "legal, ethical and

wise." what's your reporting? what is the legal justification for drones? >> the legal justification is imminent danger. i find it hard to believe. there's no way to check this claim that those are factors. in one strike that agbar talked about last october a 16-year-old boy and his 12-year-old cousin were killed. their car was hit by a hell fire missile. now, did the 16-year-old boy and the 12-year-old were they planning an attack on the united states? did they have the ability to do that? that's the claim that they're making. we have no evidence that that's true and we never will. >> bill: do you think we went after the 16-year-old or we thought it was somebody else? it was just a case of mistaken identity? who knows. >> the people who were close to

him think that he was probably targeted because he had gone to a conference in islamabad that was trying to -- that were handing out cameras to young people so they could go back and document what happens after the drone strikes. it is an eight hour drive to islamabad. three days after he left the conference, his car was destroyed. >> bill: where are -- first of all, it is true, isn't it, that under the obama administration, the use of drones has escalated. dramatically. >> yes. president obama's probably launched three to four times as many as president bush did. >> bill: where? >> in what's called the autonomous regions of pakistan, in western pakistan along the afghan border. >> bill: we're also using them in other places. yemen. >> yemen, somalia and afghanistan also. so, there are four war theatres

where drones are being used regularly. >> bill: is the authorization that we're operating under like the congressional authorization after 9-11 that we can go after terrorists wherever they happen to be? >> yes. it should be added the obama administration has actually expanded that criteria because now they claim the right to target u.s. citizens and alki was killed last year, a man born in houston, said to be planning jihadist attacks against the united states and he was killed. so maybe now the obama administration makes a claim that even bush did not make that they have the authority to execute u.s. citizens. >> bill: jeff morley from salon.com is our guest. we're talking about drones and the legality and the impact and what is -- what's a lasting kind of repercussions from the drone attacks. if you want to join the conversation or your questions at 1-866-55-press.

take a seat at the table. so are there any other -- i wonder what would happen -- this is the question i always ask if some other country developed a drone and started using drones to go after their enemies in other lands. how would we -- has anybody else developed this technology and what would our response to that be? >> outside of the united states, the biggest drone manufacturer is israel. israel uses them quite a bit in their own internal conflict. they also export drones to other countries. so i think though that one possibility that the administration is not thinking about is drones being used in terrorism against us. i think this is quite likely to happen. >> bill: terrorism against us? what do you mean us? >> us in the united states. >> bill: domestic. you've written about that. >> yes. >> bill: your latest -- posting here on salon april 10. the drones are coming to america

really? >> yes. the drone phenomena is interesting. we want to talk about it in a couple of dimensions. one, i think drones will be used in terrorism targeting americans. this will be one consequence of our escalated drone war. it is something the obama administration i don't think is taking seriously enough. a second thing domestic law enforcement agencies are beginning to adopt this technology. >> bill: i was just going to ask that question. police departments. >> about ten police departments have applied to the faa for authorization to fly drones. what they're going to use them for is not clear yet. it's only one or two have drones in the air now but they have some very good uses and nobody would object to them. search and rescue, for example. you wouldn't have to call off a search and rescue mission because of the weather or because night fell. i don't think there's any objection to that kind of thing. fire departments used them to look at a fire. where is the fire worse?

should we send in a fireman? so, there's lots of potentially benefit of beneficial things that public agencies could use. the problem is that we really have no laws governing the use of drones as surveillance. and what's happening with this technology is that it's going to become available to a lot more people. right now, there's about 19,000 police departments and public safety agencies in the united states. of those, about 300 have an aerial capacity. which is typically a helicopter. >> bill: yeah, right. >> helicopters cost from $1,000 to $3,000 an hour to operate. a drone costs about $50 an hour to operate. so a lot more police departments are going to be able to tap into this capacity and use it. we really don't have any laws controlling the use for surveillance. what happens to the data, that sort of thing. >> bill: i think i heard you say there are two cities that now have drones. >> miami-dade county has them. montgomery county, a county north of dallas in texas.

and they have a drone. and about ten other police departments have applied for a certificate of authorization which is the faa says you have permission to fly the drone. >> bill: again questions about this developing and pretty scary technology. 1-866-55-press. this -- i want to come back to the military use of these. so first of all are all of these c.i.a.-controlled drones or the pentagon have some too? >> there's two entities which run drone strikes. the c.i.a. and the special operations command. the c.i.a. is believed to control the strikes in pakistan. joint operations command controls them in afghanistan. "the washington post" has reported last week that the c.i.a. now has authorization to run the program in yemen. >> bill: okay so let's say the c.i.a., there's somebody there with a joystick, right who's directing this drone and firing the missiles. where is that person? >> that person is probably sitting across the river in

langley as best we know. >> bill: sitting here and pushing a button. this is what -- the problem i have with this. this is a new kind of warfare. if you're a soldier, i don't want to go back to world war i but if you're a soldier in a trench and you can see the trench -- the guys in the trench in front of you, it is hand to hand, sort of combat or you go from that to vietnam where they go through the jungles but you engaged at the enemy. this is like a video game. it is a real video game. >> and this is one reason why it is breeding incredible resentment and anti-americanism in pakistan is that it is regarded as grossly unfair. in the regions of pakistan where the drone strikes go on, the people can see the planes all day. they're buzzing overhead. in fact, they use the word for bee to describe the drones. he had see them -- they see them all the time. so the strikes are both

omnipresent and yet you're completely helpless. there's no way to stop them. >> bill: you can't shoot them down. can they shoot them down? >> if somebody had that kind of technology, they could. but this is what -- this sense of unfairness that is really part of what's breeding anti-american. >> bill: hasn't pakistan -- i know we had a drone strike last week. but hasn't pakistan said no more u.s. drone strikes in -- on our territory? >> the pakistani parliament has said that. the pakistani government has not said that. they want to keep the pakistani military wants to keep doing the drone strikes because that's the key to getting u.s. aid. in pakistani public opinion95% of the people are opposed to it across the political spectrum. so because of this there was a -- pakistan demanded the u.s. stop. the u.s. stopped for awhile in

order to defer to their sensibilities but they've resumed again. >> bill: jeff morley knows more about drones other than people in the c.i.a. he's a writer for salon magazine. you can follow him at salon.com or on twitter at jefferson moarmly. a lot of -- jefferson morley. a lot of you want to get into this conversation. we'll do that after we come back to the "full court press." drones coming to a city near you or to your neighborhood. god forbid. >> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >>we're here because we're independent. we will not settle for easy answers. (vo) the former governor of ny eliot spitzer, joins the new news network. >>every night we will drill down on the days top stories in search of facts that inform.

>> we don't stop until we get answers that are truthful, serious, and not based on simplistic answers. >>we're here because we're independent.

>>the dominoes are starting to fall. (vo) former two term governor, jennifer granholm, is politically direct on current tv >> what should women be doing? >> electing women to office.

♪ d current tv. >> bill: jefferson morley is our guest in studio from salon.com. we're talking drones. we realize you can't catch all three hours of the show on radio or tv. and so we've made it easier for you to catch up a little bit later. go to our web site, billpressshow.com and sign up for a podcast. that way the entire show is automatically downloaded to your iphone, your ipad, your computer, whatever you choose commercial-free. automatically, every day again go to billpressshow.com and follow the links. a lot of our viewers listeners want to get involved in the conversation. say hello to john calling from west virginia. what do you say? >> caller: hi, bill, how are you? getting out on the left side of the bed every day.

>> bill: get your day started off in the liberal way. >> caller: i'm as liberal as they come but i'm not as liberal as you guys are when you talk about killing americans. if they're plotting to kill american citizens, don't we have the right to take them out? if they have the intelligence to do so, i'm okay with that. what are we supposed to do? let them harm thousands of citizens and then take them out? >> bill: good question. >> good question. i think the key to your question is if they are planning to do it. in fact, we don't really know that the people who are killed are people who are -- >> bill: they knew about anwar alki. >> yes. and given what he had said he had certainly made himself a target. i think there the question is does the -- he's not a foreign national. he's a u.s. citizen. that puts him in a different category in terms of what are

his due process rights. so i'm not saying that people who are plotting attacks on americans should be immune from attack themselves. i'm saying we don't really know and in fact, we have lots of evidence that the people who are being hit are not planning attacks. so let me give one example john because i think this is something people don't understand about the drone war. one thing the united states now does is what are called signature strikes. there are two types of strikes. there is a profile strike where we have to profile a specific person. we attack that person because we believe or the government says that he's plotting an attack. but signature strikes are attacks on people who are engaged in behavior that we think makes them suspicious. so, for example, if a bunch of tribesmen get together in pakistan for a funeral, they can be hit and this happened a couple of years ago where u.s. missiles hit a funeral and killed 50 people. now were those 50 people plotting to mount attacks on

america? i think it is self-evident that we didn't have evidence that they were. that we were just assuming someone in that crowd must have been dangerous. therefore we hit them. that's a different matter than striking somebody who you know is plotting an attack and that's a recipe for creating hatred and people who will want to extract exact revenge on us. >> bill: anita is calling from texas. hi anita. >> caller: hi. i just love your call. i'm a proud liberal also. but what i would like to say is of course these people are going to resent americans. of course, what do you expect? especially unmanned drones. and especially coming from a president who won the nobel peace prize. i don't -- i know early in his presidency but this is just -- i

just don't understand how you know -- >> bill: it is kind of a contradiction, jeff, isn't it? >> yeah. somebody wrote a piece yesterday i think was very interesting was we should really be thinking about this drone war as the third war since 9-11. it is not happening in one specific country but it is a war like afghanistan was a war like iraq was a war and now we have obama's war which is the drone war. so really rather than ending our engagement in these other wars, we're ending our engagement in the other wars and launching a new one. >> bill: we're out of time. i really appreciate your coming in but it does seem to me that we have the technology ahead of the law here, right? >> and morality. >> bill: thank you. thank you for adding that very important element to the whole thing, yeah. absolutely. and we've gotta get this straight or there will be some real problems here. jeff morley from salon.com, way ahead on this story. thank you, jeff, for coming in

this morning. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." we will not settle for easy answers. (vo) the former governor of ny eliot spitzer, joins the new news network. >>every night we will drill down on the days top stories in search of facts that inform. >> we don't stop until we get answers that are truthful, serious, and not based on simplistic answers. >>we're here because we're independent.

♪ >> announcer: this is the "full court press," the "bill press show," live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: 33 minutes after the hour now. it is the "full court press" here on this tuesday may 1. coming to you live from our nation's capitol and brought to you today in part by the international association of ironworkers, the good men and women of the ironworker's union who put that final beam up there on top of the world trade center yesterday in new york making it the tallest building in new york city. they do such great work under

the leadership of president walter weiss. you can check out their work at www.ironworkers.org. it is tuesday. must be faz. from think progress of course and the center for american progress. nice to see you this morning. >> good overcast rainy morning to you. >> bill: is it raining? it wasn't when i came in. you know, that happens right. stuff happens. >> we got that big mayday labor protest, occupy protest across the country so hopefully it will clear up and people can get out there and demonstrate their support for workers. >> bill: mayday. it is a day all of us communists celebrate. hey, let's start with -- i was at the joint news conference yesterday with the prime minister of japan and the president of the united states and the question was raised whether or not the white house might have been engaging in some

excessive celebration over the events of exactly one year ago today. here is the president's response. pretty strong. good stuff, i thought. >> i just recommend that everybody take a look at people's previous statements in terms of whether they thought it was appropriate to go into pakistan and take out bin laden. i assume that people meant what they said when they said it. that's been at least my practice. i said that i would go after bin laiden if we had a clear shot at him. and i did. if there are others who have said one thing and now suggest they do something else, then i would go ahead and let them explain it. >> who could he be talking about? >> bill: right. he kind of laid it out there right? >> yeah.

i don't think people realize how controversial it was during the campaign, even when he was up against hillary clinton and he said, if given the opportunity to take out bin laden or senior al-qaeda leadership -- >> bill: actionable intelligence -- very carefully stated. >> he would go into pakistan and it caused a ruckus around the foreign policy community because it is violating a state sovereignty to go into their boundaries but if you feel like your eminent security threat is harmed, do you it. that was his position. it opened some eyes. not only did he state that during the campaign. he, of course, becomes president, he gets that opportunity, he follows through on his commitment. takes this action. imagine if it had gone the other way. >> bill: imagine if -- >> if it hadn't worked out. >> bill: like the jimmy carter -- >> they would be all over it. it would have been his 100% failure. now they don't want to give him any part of the success.

>> bill: then you add to that, at the time, as you pointed out not just hillary clinton but john mccain and mitt romney all stepped on and said ill-timed, ill-considered. obviously this kid who didn't know anything about foreign policy they all were very negative at the time and the proof is in the pudding. >> of course, he was announcing a shift from his predecessor president bush who had opportunities to go in and at least there were reports there was actionable intelligence particularly around tora bora where president bush pulled back, afraid that we would get mired in a situation that would work out. he did take action and obama was announcing a shift and he -- romney disagreed with it very clearly. he went out there and said hey i think the president has it wrong here. >> bill: not worth millions of dollars to go after one man. so i think the president -- they

said it. let them explain what they meant at the time. >> i would also say about president obama's quote yesterday, it is really wonderful to see democrats decide to play offense on this issue. national security issues are ones that i think we don't generally think of as like those are our bread and butter issues. we need to go and make the case and given the record that he's already established for himself i'm glad he's decided he and the campaign quite frankly who have run the ad, good, solid ad that started this conversation -- >> bill: with president clinton. a web ad by the way. they didn't spend any money putting it on television. >> a smart political move on their part. it is a political season. they're going to tout their accomplishments, rightly so. i think that kudos to them for deciding this is something that, you know, i know they get a lot of push to talk about the economy and jobs which is

critically important but this is a critical one. i'm glad they've decided we're going to get out there and push this but then the president is going to say it directly and clearly from the white house podium what he views about it. >> bill: i mentioned earlier in the program, i was there in the press corps. i've attended so many of these joint news conferences with david cameron and president this and president that and they're all pretty boring stuff. we all know we're not going to get called down there, two reporters from each side. they're decided ahead of time. they know who they are. we're just like potted plants but i usually go for the theatre. in fact, we have some photos up on our web site, billpressshow.com that i took yesterday. but when this question came up and when the president gave that answer, everybody was like whoa! he said i told you if i had a shot at him, i would take it and i did. end of story.

>> right. because most of us are used to these diplomatic affairs where people try to wait out politics. he's getting a lot of heat. the president is and the campaign is for making this a political issue. but to defend your own record and to defend and explain why you did a certain action that was difficult, led it. it had great success and that your opponent would not have done it is totally -- that is the mark of a campaign. >> bill: i think it is a legitimate question to raise. would mitt romney have made the same decision? it is not clear that he would have. that's all they're saying. it is not clear. from his statement it is pretty clear he might not have. >> today i think it will be interesting because mitt romney is standing with rudy giuliani in new york city. >> bill: they're going to a firehouse. the enemies of public employees you know. they've got the hut pa to go to

a firehouse. >> you heard his statement, of course i would have done it. of course i would have made that call. it is political season. they say and do the things they think will work for them politically regardless of whether it is true or not. that's the role of you and i and many others to say okay, actually, that's baloney. this is actually true. >> faiz is from think progress.org. check them out every day. they're on top of all of the big stories. cutting through the bs that we hear from the other side and saying okay, here are the facts. here's what you've got to know. ken is joining us from milwaukee. hi ken welcome to the conversation here. >> caller: hey thanks. i just wanted to say that romney actually said it wasn't worth it to hunt down bin laden and that

actually what wasn't worth it was an entire war in a country i mean invading afghanistan wasn't worth it. strike to get bin laden and the only reason they're complaining now about the advertisement is because the only time that anyone's ever mentioned it -- the only time president obama has ever taken a victory lap is right now. is the only time. >> bill: good point ken. faiz -- if it's not worth millions to go after one guy why was it worth billions, gazillions to invade iraq? >> right. remember that romney's record on that score was that obama was pulling out too quickly too soon, that we should have stayed in that country for a longer period of time. >> bill: only been there ten years or eight years in the case of iraq. why are we getting out so soon?

>> you get a sense of the priorities. it is looney toons. this is what romney has said. obama is right to say if you said it, i expect that you meant it. i will take you at your word. >> bill: just one of the big topics think progress is on top of us, faiz shakir in studio with us. we have a republican congressman saying barack obama only got elected, only reason he's in the white house is because he's black. we'll get into that and a few more and take your calls at 1-866-55-press when we come right back on the "full court press." >> announcer: on your radio, on tv the "bill press show," new on current tv. and there's only one place you'll find us.

we're the idea nobody wants to hear. until the truth reveals itself. and there's only one place you'll find us.

(vo) every week night, cenk uygur calls out the mainstream media. >> overwhelming majority of the country says tax the rich, don't go to war.

>> bill: in the next hour, major garrett from the national journal will be here as a friend of bill and we'll be talking gas prices among other issues. right now faiz shakir from think progress on his regular tuesday visit to the "full court press." faiz, we really appreciate your coming in again. joe walsh, republican congressman has his particular take as you have reported on how president obama was elected. let's just listen to this crazy man here. >> he was an historic figure. he's our first african-american president. the country voted for him because of that.

it made us feel good about himself. >> bill: so that's why. >> he had no merits. he wasn't actually qualified. he just happened to have a skin color that we all appreciated and liked and therefore put him into office. joe walsh, we've talked about him before. he is an artist who makes up quite a lot of nonsense on an amazingly steady basis. and he's running against tammy duckworth who is a wonderfully accomplished veteran and so i think that -- >> bill: incredibly impressive woman. a woman who lost both of her legs and badly damaged arm. helicopter pilot in iraq or afghanistan. i forget which of the two. >> joe walsh is one of -- he's amongst the worst offenders. he's one of the host of a large number of these house republican tea partiers who came in the wave of 2010 and i think probably hopefully have a short

shelf life in the house if everything goes right in 2012. >> bill: he's echoing rush limbaugh. he argues that obama was only elected because liberals would not vote against a black man when, as we know i never thought in my lifetime we would ever see an african-american elected because of the residual racial prejudice in this country. he's saying no, it is just the opposite. it is not hard for a black man to get elected. it is impossible for a black man to get defeated. to lose. >> i think that -- it undermines the challenges and the obstacles that obama faced. the fact that he actually had a campaign of ideas that won over a nation. and it just totally undermines it. walsh being a totally right wing crazy person wants people to believe that oh, president obama's agenda had no support across the nation.

when in fact, the opposite was true. those ideas that obama ran on, that he continues to campaign are the ones that are actually propelling him into office and had obama not of course emerged from that primary and it was hillary clinton, she too would have won. i don't know what joe walsh would say then. maybe it is just because she was a would. >> bill: exactly. because nobody would dare vote against a woman. one other thing you reported this week which caught my eye. the gun lobby right. wayne, the most paranoid person and also the most diabolically successful person in squeezing money out of gun nuts. he keeps putting the fear out there, right. and now the fear is that oh wait a minute, in the second term, obama's going to take your guns. >> it has been one of those long-running second amendment conspiracy theories on the right. actually that obama is going to take away your guns in the second term and therefore you have a run to the gun market. everybody is purchasing.

companies like smith & wesson get a nice bang for their buck there. >> bill: pun intended. >> pun intended, indeed. i think that -- in this situation, la pierre is not only acting as a gun market salesman but the chief critic of obama. he's out there as a spokesman. >> bill: given obama's -- i'll say this. you don't have to say it. dismal nonexistent record on gun control in his first term -- >> he's on the opposite, right? guns in parks was one of his accomplishments. assault rifle ban. >> bill: i raised this issue at a briefing last week with jay carney. i said the president of mexico says what our problem is, once you lifted the assault weapons ban in the united states, they started pouring into mexico so i asked carney what is the president's position on putting

the assault weapons ban back in place. he says his decision is clear. so, given that on what basis do they say obama is going to clamp down, change his stripes and take everybody's guns away in the second term? >> there's no basis but it makes for a good campaign so you say it. just like mitt romney. you just say it and hope nobody catches you on it. i think this is the origins of the fast and furious movement that darrell issa is continuing to push which is that oh actually, what happened there is that the administration conjured up this investigation and leaked this because what they really want to do is show that guns are having a damaging impact on the border so that they can rein in and take your guns. that's the logic that they have it on the right. that the administration is constantly looking for ways to take your guns. it works for them quite frankly in the swing districts and you

know, the appalachias and other places where you know, unfortunately, the audience there is prone to believing that people might be out for it. >> bill: they throw it out there and these people respond. it works for them. and so this fear of obama will lead them as it did to bring in a guy who mitt romney who used to be mr. gun control. >> he hunts varmint. >> bill: he hunts varmint. >> remember he gave that speech to the nra, i think he mentioned the word "guns" once in the speech. you can't think of like a person who more exemplifies the opposite of what the nra stands for. >> bill: one more issue. faiz shakir, great work. thinkprogress.org. we'll see you next tuesday. >> thank you sir. >> bill: i'll tell you what the president is up to today.

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." hey, he's right man. [ dennis ] only allstate puts their money where their mouth is. yup. [ dennis ] claim service so good, it's guaranteed. [ foreman ] so i can always count on them. unlike randy over there. that's one dumb dude. ♪ ♪ the new claim satisfaction guarantee. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate.

new 5 rpm gum. stimulate your senses. weeknights on current tv.

♪ >> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show." now on current tv. >> bill: all right. in the next hour, we're going to check in with ben labolt who is one of the senior advisors in the obama campaign out in chicago. and we'll be joined in studio for the whole hour by major garrett from the "national journal." the president's schedule today no heavy lifting at the white house today. he and the vice president will get their daily briefing.

the economic and the national security briefing at 10:30 this morning followed by a meeting with his senior advisors in the oval office. and then the president will be meeting with secretary of defense leon panetta later this afternoon at 4:30 p.m. so no public events on the calendar today. no news conference on the calendar today. and no fund-raising. no campaign events on the calendar today. jay carney will be holding his daily briefing not until 3:00 this afternoon. but if you can't be there don't worry about it. i'll be there for you. all right. so, we'll cover the waterfront with major garrett and get the latest on the obama campaign and their new campaign slogan which is forward -- no, no, no, no, not lean forward. just forward!

ben labolt will tell us all about it.

♪ >> bill: hello. happy tuesday. happy may 1! and good morning and welcome to the "full court press." your new morning show here on current tv. good to see you today. thank you so much for joining us. we've got a lot to talk about here. we'll bring you the big stories of the day here from our nation acapitol, around the country and around the globe and take your calls. your ticket to join the conversation 1-866-55-press. and today, it is the first anniversary of the capture and

the killing of osama bin laden. and mitt romney now says hey if he were president, he would have given the same order that barack obama did. oh yeah? well, at the time, mitt romney says it wasn't worth millions of dollars to chase down just one man so i think we can conclude that were he president hmm osama bin laden would still be alive today. just one of the stories we'll talk about in the next hour together. first, let's get all of the latest here with today's current tv news update out in los angeles, jacki schechner. hi jacki. >> hi, bill. good morning everyone. the obama campaign is out with a new ad in iowa, virginia and ohio. it is called swiss bank account and it hits mitt romney on outsourcing. >> as governor, he outsourced state jobs to a call center in india. he is still pushing tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. just you would expect from a guy who had a swiss bank account. >> according to politico, the ads is set to run for one week.

>> at least one of mitt romney's sons has managed to profit off of his dad's former run for president. "the new york times" reporting today that just a month after romney ended his presidential campaign in '08 his son tad was meeting with potential investors for a private equity fund. he ended up partnering with romney's top campaign fund-raiser as well as romney's major donors. the three used mitt's political backers to get the business underway. in two years, they raised more than $200 million in investments. that included a $10 million gift from mom and dad romney. tad claims his dad's political ties had little to do with gaining investors but "the new york times" reports that the lines are blurry at best. "the huffington post" reporting that governor scott walker has raised $13 million in the past three months in his bid to keep his seat as governor of wisconsin. his top two potential democratic candidates haven't even come close raising just about a million dollars each.

but that's because they've been working under stricter time constraints and stricter regulations. we're in chat online, current.com/billpress. we'll be right back.

i have the most common type of atrial fibrillation, or afib. it's not caused by a heart valve problem. i was taking warfarin, but my doctor put me on pradaxa instead to reduce my risk of stroke. in a clinical trial, pradaxa® (dabigatran etexilate mesylate) reduced stroke risk 35% better than warfarin. and unlike warfarin, with pradaxa, there's no need for regular blood tests. that's really important to me. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don't take pradaxa if you have abnormal bleeding and seek immediate medical care

for unexpected signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. pradaxa may increase your bleeding risk if you're 75 or older, have a bleeding condition like stomach ulcers, or take aspirin, nsaids, or blood thinners, or if you have kidney problems especially if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all medicines you take any planned medical or dental procedures and don't stop taking pradaxa without your doctor's approval as stopping may increase your stroke risk. other side effects include indigestion, stomach pain, upset, or burning. pradaxa is progress. having afib not caused by a heart valve problem increases your risk of stroke. ask your doctor if you can reduce your risk with pradaxa. we have a big, big hour and the i.q. will go way up. how are you ever going to solve the problem if you don't look at all of the pieces? >>tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >>you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. >>sharp tongue, quick whit and above all, politically direct.

>>you just think there is no low they won't go to. oh, no. if al gore's watching today... >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: good morning, everybody. and welcome to this tuesday may 1 edition of the "full court press." good to see you today. thank you so much for joining us. we're coming to you live coast-to-coast, of course from our combination radio it and book factory here on -- we got it all covered, here on capitol hill in washington d.c. bringing you the latest stories of the day. taking your calls at

1-866-55-press. to help us through the hour and through the issues of the day. major garrett in studio with us from national journal back again, i might add. >> good morning. good to see you. >> bill: everything good? >> except with my padres. i knew that was coming because if you didn't say it, i was. >> bill: i did ask him about where his pad days cap was. -- padres cap was. >> somehow gone missing. i've lived through a lot of miserable padres season. i'm living through another one. let's hope may brings better baseball than april. when you lead the national league in strike-outs and errors, you're also in the basement which is where my pathetic padres find themselves. nationals and orioles mid-atlantic has become a major league baseball powerhouse. >> bill: who would have thunk it. we're going to be joined by ben labolt in a couple of minutes.

but major, i don't know about you, i'm not so handy around the house, you know. thank god -- >> i'm marginally handy. >> bill: i have a wife who is a good plumber and a good electrician. >> i'm really good with scotch tape. >> bill: president obama yesterday spoke to the building and construction trades and he admitted he's not so swift either around the house. here he is. >> i just barely can hammer a -- [ laughter ] -- a nail into the wall. my wife's not impressed with my skills when it comes to fixing up the house. right now, fortunately, i'm in a rental, so i don't end up having to do a lot of work. >> the president has the benefit of one of the best supers in all of america. >> bill: right! >> they come right away when he calls. >> you bet. >> bill: he doesn't strike me as a guy who would be real

handy. >> no. that's never been anything -- the president has many skills. driving nails cutting carpet, unplugging toilets probably not high on the list. >> bill: before ben labolt joins us, you made the most of the weekend? >> i did not. i skipped the white house correspondent's dinner because i was at the university of missouri. i guess i have become enough of a name or maybe i've lived long enough that they scraped the woman -- the bottom of the barrel and so i went out there to deliver the thomas jefferson lecture and it was a great weekend. >> bill: wow, how about that. >> following in the footsteps of daniel patrick moynihan. as i told the audience, we have one thing in common, a first name, a middle name and a last name and that's about it. >> bill: it is a busy campaign season and at the end of this week, the campaign officially

gets underway with president obama holding his first official -- official campaign event right in the middle of all of this helping run the campaign, ben labolt from obama for america joining us on our news line. ben, good morning. >> good morning, gentlemen, how are you? very dynamic. >> bill: good to have you with us. i'm sorry, ben. i just ask soft questions. we had somebody in today to ask the tough questions. major garrett. ben, let me start. i was at the white house yesterday for the joint news conference with the prime minister of japan and president obama. and the question came up, of course, about perhaps a little excessive celebration over this first anniversary of the capture and killing of osama bin laden. do you think that -- and they were talking of course, about the -- ad featuring former president bill clinton. is that fair game for the campaign? >> you know, this is a

legitimate policy issue. governor romney attacks the president for saying he would go into pakistan after terrorist targets during the last campaign and made clear that he wouldn't have made the same decision. at the same time governor romney said that we shouldn't move heaven andate to get us -- and earth. the president prioritized making -- tracking down key terrorist leaders a goal. refocusing on al-qaeda. he followed through on those promises and key terrorist leaders have been taken off the battlefield including osama bin laden. so in the context of debate over who will be the best commander in chief for our nation, this is an entirely appropriate issue. >> ben, how much of this is vindication for then candidate obama? because it wasn't just mitt romney who criticized candidate obama for what he said at that debate. i remember it well. i will authorize the use of force to get osama bin laden.

hillary clinton jumped on it. hillary clinton criticized him. i believe every other democrat in the race criticized him. how much of this is about the vindication of then candidate obama saying something that he believed then and then following through it as president? >> you're right. there was criticism on both sides of the aisle. but i really think it is a discussion about the priorities that he said as commander in chief. he said that we would end the war in iraq in a responsible way. he's done that. he said we would refocus on al-qaeda and afghanistan. he's done that. the afghans are stepping up to take control of their securities. he's focused on restoring our alliances around the world. he said he would end torture. that was a very specific foreign policy vision that he laid out during the last campaign. when you take a look at what governor romney has laid out his foreign policy speech he didn't mention al-qaeda once. he laid out foreign policy agenda that is very sparse on a

detailed plan. doesn't have a plan for iraq. doesn't have a plan for afghanistan. the president laid out a foreign policy vision he followed through on as commander in chief that has strengthened our security and restored our alliances. we've heard a lot of tough talk and chest thumping from governor romney without a lot of specifics. >> why let that speak for yourself? why do you need an ad to trumpet it? >> ultimately, this is part of the dialogue. the vice president gave a speech last week laying out those foreign policy differences. this is the campaign where the american people have choices to make both in the domestic front and in terms of foreign policy. we heard a lot of chest thumping over the last year from romney and the republicans on foreign policy without any plans and i think it is our duty to point out the positions that they've taken and the lack of coherent vision that they've presented. >> bill: there's been a lot of

focus, too, on the economy and on the domestic front. now, the campaign is out with a new ad today which we want to play a little bit of, ben and then let's talk about it. >> i'm barack obama and i approve this message. >> over the top, erroneous, out of context big oil's new attack ads. president obama's clean oil initiatives that create jobs for america, not overseas. what about mitt romney? he shipped american jobs to places like mexico and china. as governor, he outsourced state jobs to a call center in india. he is still pushing tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. it is just what you would expect from a guy who had a swiss bank account. >> bill: that's the name of the ad swiss bank account. >> that's right. there are only two reasons to have a swiss bank account. one is to hedge against the dollar. another is to avoid paying u.s. taxes. romney hasn't explained why he has a swiss bank account. why he established a corporation

offshore in bermuda. why he's keeping assets in grand cayman. this could be the first president in history to have those sorts of offshore investments. his campaign hasn't answered questions about them. and they fit in the broader context. this is a candidate who both in the private sector and in the public sector was comfortable with outsourcing. he profited off of outsourcing and bankrupting companies as governor of massachusetts, he vetoed legislation that would have banned outsourcing and he cut funding at home for things like the manufacturing extension partnership. and worker training. >> bill: so mr. bain capital is your target here. >> he has asked the american people to elect him based on his tenure as a corporate buyout specialist so he doesn't talk about his tenure in massachusetts. he didn't keep a lot of the promises he made when he ran for office in '02. he said debt would be lower. it increased by 16%.

he said the size of government would be smaller. the number of public sector employees grew. government jobs were created at a six to one rate of private sector jobs. massachusetts ranked 47th out of 50th in job creation. so he's really honed in on this tenure as a corporate buyout specialist. but the truth is he wasn't a job creator. he profited off of outsourcing jobs and loading up companies with debt which eventually bankrupted many of them and caused some of them to shut down and workers to lose their jobs. >> bill: ben labolt is our guest. >> ben that's what's wrong with your perspective with governor romney. you have this 7-minute video forward which makes a case with what's right with the president's administration yet the first 30 seconds are about what he inherited. i said in my piece, forward starts in reverse. why the need still to contextualize the obama presidency based on what it

encountered on day one? >> because we face historic challenges. our nation faces historical challenges when our president came into office. we were losing 750,000 jobs a month. we were entering into a deep recession and the president turned the tide on that. we've created more than four million jobs in the private sector. but ultimately, the president believes we need to do more than just recover from the recession. we need to restore economic security for the middle class because even before the economic crisis, the wages of middle class families had stagnated. it was getting harder to send their kids to college and to pay their bills so he's focused on those core things like keeping college affordable and within reach of middle class families and restoring economic security for the middle class in the long run so a lot of what you'll hear about this weekend in the first rally in ohio and virginia are that vision for building an economy that lasts where hard

work and responsibility are rewarded and everybody from main street to wall street plays by the same set of rules. >> bill: you know, you mentioned ohio and virginia and major and i were talking about this a little earlier ben. i think it is pretty easy to see why the first two events might be ohio and virginia. i'm just wondering on like -- i'm sure you're going to say all 50 states are important right? but are there some key swing states? president was in colorado last week. north carolina last week. iowa. now ohio and virginia. what's the game plan? what are the states you think are really critical? >> a few months ago jim headed to d.c. and laid out multiple routes to victory. our view is democrats can never go back to the map we had in 2000 and 2004 where the whole race came down to one state. and so what he's done is outlined multiple paths to victory and multiple regions

around the country that lay out multiple scenarios and all of those are still on the table after the primaries. in fact, it looks like there might be an additional scenario since two polls have showed us tied with governor romney in arizona. so, there is a southern route. there is a florida route. there are many possibilities on the table and we believe that we'll preserve them all right through election day. there's no doubt that ohio and virginia are critical states that will remain key targets for both campaigns throughout the cycle. >> ben, how sensitive is the campaign to the questions being raised about the propriety of the president going to places repeatedly swing states for official events and spending a lot of time doing what appears to be campaigning and questions raised by jake tapert at abc and others about how much it is skating a very fine line between official campaign, separating the two and making sure the taxpayer is not indirectly

subsidizing what is clearly campaign politicking. >> well, had the rnc been serious about this issue and not engaged in a political stunt, i don't think they would have announced their inquiry on bright tv. but take a look last week. the president was accused of campaigning when he was out there fighting to keep the student interest rate low. the republicans had expressed no interest in keeping it low until he went out there on the trail. it wasn't something that was dealt with in the budget plan that he laid out. and he enlisted the support of the american people in keeping the student interest rate loan, subsequent to that, boehner scheduled a vote. romney expressed his support for it. suddenly republicans on board. but it required enlisting the support of the american people in that effort to get it done. >> campaigning can affect policy and therefore the taxpayers are served.

>> being with the american people and enlisting them in their efforts to pass critical legislation. the senate had a vote scheduled. the house did not. the republicans did not express interest in keeping the rate low. but after the president enlisted the support of the american people, through that travel last week the republicans finally said that they were committed to getting this done. >> bill: ben labolt is the press secretary for the obama campaign. obama for america. you can follow him of course at barack obama.com. and you can follow ben on twitter. his twitter handle is at ben labolt. ben, thanks so much for joining us this morning. come back again. >> nice talking to you. >> bill: great, we'll see you. that's a big job. press secretary of the whole campaign. >> yes indeed. but he has help. ben has plenty of help. >> bill: it is interesting what states they're targeting. you can watch official and unofficial travel. they're going into areas we know that are going to be -- >> the one thing republicans must take seriously is the reality that the obama campaign

does believe it has several paths to victory and they're not the ones that john kerry pursued. california changed the map in 2008 and the gate question of this campaign is can that map provide him more than one path to victory. and provide only one to mitt romney. >> bill: major garrett is in the studio. join the conversation at 1-866-55-press. >> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show." now on current tv. (vo) every week night, cenk uygur calls out the mainstream media. >> are they worried about the politics of it before the election? of course!

hd jennifer granholm is politically direct on current tv. >>the dominoes are starting to

fall. (vo) granholm is live in the war room. >> what should women be doing? >> electing women to office. (vo) she's a political trailblazer. >>republicans of course didn't let facts get in the way of spin. >>do it, for america. >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 26 minutes after the

hour. our fob this hour, mitch garrett. national journal. >> i've been called worse. >> bill: we were talking about the -- what was it? >> swiss bank account. >> bill: major who is never away from his blackberry discovers that romney campaign is already out with a response. >> indeed it is. for those interested, the obama campaign's response -- >> bill: romney. >> the romney campaign response, the worst job creation record in history and the slowest economic recovery, president obama's trying to distract americans from the real issues with a series of side shows. unable to defend his failed record of 23 million americans struggling for work, wasteful boondoggles like solyndra, skyrocketing national debt and high energy prices president obama has once again resorted to attacking mitt romney. the american people have suffered enough over the last

three years and deserve better. so, as to the precise issues raised by the obama for america ad stony silence from the romney campaign but that's their response. >> bill: they do have -- >> and that is going to be their response, i think writ large to almost everything that the obama campaign says is disqualifying about romney's credentials for the presidency. >> bill: don't they have to put forth their agenda? doesn't mitt romney have to say here's what i will do? >> they would argue in certain respects they have on foreign policy, on national security, on generally speaking fiscal policy, tax policy they have been somewhat specific. i think they're going to have to be much more specific and engage much more directly but for now their placeholder is going to be the obama campaign is trying to disqualify us. the president's record ought to disqualify. >> bill: all i have heard from mitt romney is obama didn't do this. obama is over his head.

but not the other side. we'll continue our conversation with major garrett here on the tuesday edition. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." we're the idea nobody wants to hear. until the truth reveals itself. and there's only one place you'll find us.

with jennifer granholm. >>i am jenniffer granholm and you are in the war room. it's a beautiful thing. >>jennifer granholm on current tv. >>i'm a political junkie. this show is my fix. >>in politics, she was a gutsy leader. in cable news, she's a game changer. >>be afraid, be very afraid. now, the two term governor from michigan is reshaping the debate with a unique perspective and a forward-thinking approach. >>our goal is to bring you behind the scenes with access to stories that you've never seen before. >>she's a trailblazer determined to find solutions. >>one of the key components of a war room is doing a bit of opposition research.

>>driven to find the thruth. >>i'm obsessed with the role of govenment. >>fearless, idependent and above all, politically direct. >>part of the mission here in our own war room is to help these candidates stay on track. make your voice heard. >> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show" now on current tv. tbil is 33 minutes after the hour. this is the "full court press." it is tuesday may 1. we're brought to you today by the communication workers of america. the good men and women of the communication workers union. the union for the information age under president larry cohen. you can check out more about their good work at cwa-union.org. major garrett covers the congress and the white house for "national journal" in studio with us. as a friend of bill this hour.

we'll take your call. we always say we save a seat for you at the table. there it is. >> take that seat by giving us a call at 1-866-55-press. major, one of the big stories -- six weeks ago that we were all up -- everybody is alarmed about gas prices. they were going through the ceiling. we were going to have $5 gas by the end of the summer. here we are -- >> in select markets. noun was predicting it -- in select markets we're close right now. >> bill: the average today is $3.83. abc reported last night that in 40 states, price of gas has actually gone down 13 cents in the last two weeks. in 40 states, it is less than it was a year ago today. so why aren't we all talking about oh, gas prices. why is it -- >> there is a sing lar trajectory to the gas price story.

it is only a story up. never a story down. and there are a couple of reasons why the gas prices have gone down. one, high gas prices reduce demand. when demand falls, prices fall because people -- look -- >> bill: they drive less. >> because it is visibly expensive. i always remark about gas prices. it is the commodity that is most visibly priced in america. there is no commodity in america more visibly priced. when i walk into the grocery store, i don't know what nilla wafers cost day to day, month to month or milk. price spikes aren't often as pronounced but they're completely invisible. i can't tell if there are six ounces of potato chips in a bag or eight. but gasoline is the most visibly priced commodity in america. >> bill: absolutely. >> i think -- in that respect we are comfortable talking about it because we think we have an expertise because we watch the

prices come up and down. i remember writing at national journal several weeks ago the obama campaign had looked at what their own energy department, that is to say the energy department was saying about the likely trajectory of gas prices. they would peak in late april and probably begin to decline sometime in may. and the debate within the white house was do we change our message and change our policy or do we ride it out? the president said we're going to ride it out because we will not overreact. we will not do something that's inconsistent with our rhetoric. when, as we expect, prices go down, we'll ride the downslope from may or june at the latest all the way to november. >> bill: so understandably, totally understand, when the prices were going up we heard a lot from romney and santorum and gingrich. this is obama's gas hike. now, isn't that sort of symptom attic of the romney campaign in that they want to make the

issue, how bad the economy is and every time there is an economic good news it sort of deflates their argument. >> not only that but i would say as a matter of context -- >> bill: the dow is well up over 13,000. >> i remember covering the 2008 primary battle between senator clinton and senator obama. you remember when there was a big gas price hike in the spring of 2008. >> bill: i remember it every year. >> when they were fighting both senator mccain and senator clinton endorsed a reduction or a temporary removal of the gasoline tax. sales tax. >> bill: yes. >> to lower prices. candidate obama said no. that's a gimmick. i'm not going to play the standard approach, political game to gas prices. he also said though he hammered the bush administration for its fidelity or relationship with big oil but candidate obama said at the time i remember looking at the video. i put a column together several weeks ago, there's no immediate

solution. gas prices go up and gas prices go down. the president doesn't have control over that. i won't, he doesn't. i think there should be fewer subsidies, basically saying the same thing he said as a candidate. therefore on this issue, deserves the credit of consistency on approaching the issue from both an economic and a political point of view. and i think internally, if you're going to evaluate how the white house did or didn't react to this, there was a coolness about the price spike the politics surrounding it and moving through it. >> bill: they didn't release any oil from the strategic reserve. >> they were questioned about it at some level of detail, the white house briefing, they had never portrayed what they were going to do but they didn't do it and it appears prices are going back down but they may go back up but what seems to me to be the one take away, there has been a consistency about the president's and canada's approach to both the politics and the policy of energy. >> bill: i had forgotten that

2008 -- now you mention it i remember it well. let's make room here at the table for del calling from freeport, illinois. what do you say? >> caller: good morning. listening in out of chicago. >> bill: good for you. great, powerful station. great friends there. >> caller: in regards to politicizing the raid that got osama bin laden, everyone seems to be forgetting that george bush dressed up in a flight suit, landed on an aircraft carrier for a speaking engagement with our troops under a mission accomplished banner and the mission wasn't accomplished and it took president obama to clean that mess up, too. >> bill: that was a moment, landing on the abraham lincoln off the coast of san diego. >> yep. >> bill: let's put it this way. i also remember president bush, probably his best moment,

standing alongside the firefighters with a blow horn at ground zero. >> a much more genuine moment. far less rehearsed. the whole abraham lincoln thing had a theatrical quality that even at the time and there was a sense that the campaign in iraq had been successful and that in the main -- the military had exceeded expectations. but even at the time, i was at the pentagon. covering that, watching that whole thing going on. there was an uneasiness in the pentagon about it because it just seemed -- at minimum cautiously triumphant. wait a minute, there is a lot of work yet to be done. the president always said and the white house always said somewhat defensively, this is about celebrating those who achieved the victory. but it didn't feel that way and it certainly didn't look that way. it looked like this was a president reminding everyone that he knew how to fly a plane and that he could land on an

aircraft carrier and that he was now sort of becoming a larger than life figure on the global stage and you better not mess with the united states and better not mess with him as commander in chief. >> strutting around in the flight uniform. i remember well because pat buchanan and i were doing our show buchanan and press and it happened during our show so we took it live and everything. pat was just gaga over him. the point i kept making was originally he was going to fly in the plane because the aircraft carrier was going to be so far offshore. as it turned out because of rough seas the aircraft carrier was like 100 yards, maybe half a mile from shore. he could have easily done it in a helicopter. >> oh, yes. >> bill: they kept turning the aircraft carrier so that the shot would not show the skyline of san diego in the background. >> the theatrical nature of it really became almost instantaneously began to wear on the american public. and within a very short period

of time, it became a metaphor for excessive and preemptive -- premature triumphantism. >> bill: kathleen is calling from chicago. >> caller: finally got through to you. >> bill: keep trying. >> caller: i got a lot and a little time to say it. it is not that the people have forgotten about what the president has done and said. they purposely do it. you know, the guy del, made a good point. this president has been cool and level-headed from day one. if you watch this president he is in control. he knows what to do. all he needs is people to work with him. and people tend not to do that. he's not a bragger. he's a doer. and it just blows my mind when mitt romney comes here and tells the president to be quiet about bin laden. why? so you can steal that the next two or three times you come out and say what the president did was your idea like he's doing in

detroit. it is hilarious. >> bill: okay. you know, she makes a point that i saw eric fernstrom who said the other day that bailing out the auto industry was mitt romney's idea. i thought romney said just the opposite, right? that we ought to let the auto industry rise or fall on its own. >> writ large, that's what romney said. there is a technical argument that the romney campaign attempts to make. it is a tough hill to climb because what they say is mitt romney said a structured bankruptcy is what would eventually be needed for the distressed auto companies and the sooner that process began the better. remember president bush put this in motion. president bush put $17 billion first. i think it is worth pointing out that was probably a larger

ideological stretch for president bush than it would have been for any democrat. hillary clinton, barack obama joe biden anyone. i went back and watched the video yesterday. there was a great look of distress on president bush's face. he said under normal circumstances, i would not do this. i would let a company fail. these companies ought to fail if they make bad choices but we're in the midst of a recession and a financial crisis and i cannot let this happen. he put $17 billion down and then that was elevated eventually to $85 billion. the romney campaign says eventually they got to a structured bankruptcy. the obama -- steve ratner, the principal advisor on autos at the time said you couldn't do a structured bankruptcy without support from the private sector. and there was no support from the private sector. the only buffer was -- >> bill: the federal government. >> and the federal taxpayer. absent that, this was not going to be a structured bankruptcy but a pure collapse. that's a more intricate economic argument but that is the toehold

that the romney campaign attempts to grasp on to in this issue. >> bill: i think the reason they're doing it is because they see now that record profits -- >> it has become a litmus test. it has become the way to which voters in ohio, indiana certainly michigan evaluate the entire romney approach to the economy. if you're so smart how come you got this one wrong? >> bill: major garrett "national journal" in studio with us. your calls welcome 1-866-55-press. i want to talk to you more about this issue about whether the obama campaign rather may be a tad over the top in talking about the capture and killing of osama bin laden when we come back here on the "full court press." hang in there. stay around. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." (vo) the former governor of ny eliot spitzer, joins the new news network. >>every night we will drill down on the days top stories in search of facts that inform.

>> we don't stop until we get answers that are truthful, serious, and not based on simplistic answers. >>we're here because we're independent.

(vo) every week night, cenk uygur calls out the mainstream media. >> overwhelming majority of the country says tax the rich, don't go to war.

♪ >> announcer: this is the "bill press show," live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: we're covering the political waterfront here. congress and the white house and the campaign with major garrett from "national journal." getting back to our conversation in just a minute but the big question is how much extra money do you need to earn each month. that's what the people at income at home want to know and then they'll help you make it. you know, told you about the income at home.com, america's leading work from home business and no matter your age education or experience, this is something you can do. you can literally earn money on your own computer from your kitchen table 24/7.

all you need is a little extra time and a little extra coaching that they will be glad to give you. so think about this. if you're sick of living paycheck to paycheck, worrying about job security or retirement, if your dream is to earn a great income from home full time or part-time check them out. they're even giving away $1,000 for somebody for checking them out. that could be you today. visit income at home.com. that's incomeathome.com. major, on the congressional front, so much to talk about in so little time as always. but ben labolt mentioned the student loan thing. >> right. >> bill: how is that going to be resolved? they are not going to allow interest rates on student loans to go up. >> when republicans did jump into the mix they signaled to democrats there is at least a position on which to negotiate. that they are unified in trying to avoid what is now a scheduled raising of the student loan interest rates back to where

they were several years ago. >> bill: in which the ryan budget would do. >> would make permanent. would make the higher rate permanent. and so now it is a question of how do you pay for it? how do you allocate that? the cuts suggested by the republicans in the house are unacceptable to democrats but at least they put together a bill and they've passed it and now there can be a dialogue about this. two weeks ago, republicans in the house had no position. didn't feel they had to have an issue. didn't feel they had to have a response. to ben's point, something happened. what was that thing? he said it was the president elevating the issue. i think you have to look at the trajectory of this debate and say that's probably more true than less true. >> bill: and public pressure.ú >> and public pressure sure. >> bill: one other issue so it does look to me somehow they'll come together on that just like they had to on the payroll tax cut. eventually. >> eventually. it is a matter of do republicans want to hold the line and pay for it.

are they doing something legislatively to put things on the table no democrats will reject but at least get them into the conversation about cutting something somewhere and coming to a meeting of the minds on that. >> bill: the violence against women act, the senate -- i was surprised with all of the rhetoric, particularly from chuck grassley saying we can't pass this because the regional act, they extend protection to three categories of women who are not originally covered same-sex marriage, native americans and undocumented workers but they passed a bill with a big margin and a lot of republicans voting for it. 68-31. >> 31 republicans voted no. that's a signal to the house that there's bipartisanship on this issue and anyone in the republican party who is either up for re-election or thinks that they might have a tough time two years from now is positioning themselves on the side of this legislation and not on the side of well, we're expanding it. we're doing it in a way that is inconsistent with our agenda. house republicans will be under greater pressure on this issue

than they were two or three months ago. >> bill: house republicans have passed a bill that would continue the violence against women act. >> as originally written. >> bill: was it the two of these come together in conference committee? >> they will. what we'll find out is what is the -- remember, the violence against women act was -- republicans are now content and defending the original democratic idea. which is sometimes what progressive often argue. we have to make a stink. make a huge issue. then we do it and then the republicans come over. and now we're expanding it again. so republicans have moved a lot farther on this issue because democrats, you could say dragged them toward this position. the old democratic position which republicans originally said is outlandish is now the consensus. >> bill: that's why it is fun to watch and it is fun to have you watching it for us and coming into the studio. major garrett, good to see you

again. >> always a pleasure. >> bill: come back again soon. >> i hope so. >> bill: i'll be back with a quick parting shot. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." while you're out catching a movie. [ growls ] lucky for me your friends showed up with this awesome bone. hey! you guys are great. and if you got your home insurance where you got your cut rate car insurance, it might not replace all this. [ electricity crackling ] [ gasping ] so get allstate. you could save money and be better protected from mayhem like me. [ dennis ] dollar for dollar, nobody protects you from mayhem like allstate.

in 2012 alone. go to our website, current.com. up next it's out to the campaign trail. a surprising new poll, and that's next right here inside "the war room." we have a big, big hour and the i.q. will go way up. >>tv and radio talk show host

stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. ♪ >> announcer: the parting shot with bill press. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: yeah, on this tuesday, may 1, my parting shot today started out as a routine news conference yesterday with the prime minister of japan and president obama. but it erupted into fireworks early on when a reporter asked whether or not republicans were right in criticizing president obama and the administration for

a little excessive celebration about the capture and killing of osama bin laden just about a year ago. the president didn't hesitate to fire back without mentioning mitt romney by name, he urged reporters to look back at what republicans had said three or four years ago or even one year ago about going into pakistan. romney was one of those who said it was the wrong thing to do. romney even said it was not right to waste millions of dollars going after just one man. but the president said i said i would go after osama bin laden if we had a clear shot at him and i did! you know what? end of story! the president wins that argument hands down! that's my parting shot for today. julie mason from sirius x.m. is in studio with us. join us again for the "full court press" tomorrow.