>> bill: good morning, everybody. thursday, may 3rd. can you believe it? here we go. the "full court press" on this thursday morning. good to see you here on current tv. politics got a lot less colorful yesterday. newt gingrich dropped out of the race. no more lunar colonies. no more fifth graders forced to

be janitors. no more tiffany revolving accounts. no more going to the zoo and getting bitten by penguins. what are we going to do for laughs from now on? i guess there's always mitt romney and his car elevator. hey, we'll get into politics and a whole lot more here. first, we go out to los angeles and say good morning to jacki schechner for this current tv news update. good morning jacki. >> good morning, bill. good morning everyone. you may remember that president obama launched his new campaign slogan forward on monday he will show the video at his first two rallies this weekend. in case you need a quick reminder, take a look. >> i believe america is on the way up. thank you. god bless you. god bless the united states of america. maybe mitt romney should have taken another quick look that the video before trying to make fun of the slogan at a fund-raiser last night. he called it progress instead of

forward. quickly catching himself saying he liked progress better and asking if forward meant forward over a cliff. but once again, mitt romney's attempt at humor fell flat. in other news, the jobs picture may be getting a lot better. "the associated press" interviewed 32 leading economists and they say they think unemployment is going to drop below 8% by election day. this is really good news for president obama because since 1956, no president has lost re-election when unemployment has dropped in the two years prior to the election and no one has won when it's gone up so predicting it will go down to 7.9% is good news for the president. also on the jobs front, the white house has i announced it is launching an initiative to help some of lower income young people find summer jobs. of course, they flood the job market come summer and in collaboration with the cities of philadelphia, san francisco and chicago, the administration's going to have private companies nonprofits and federal agencies over up some 110,000 men

torships, internships and jobs to those youngsters. we're in chat. current.com/billpress. check us out. 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.

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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: newt gingrich drops out of the race. oh man it's going to be a lot more boring from now on out in republican politics. hello, everybody. good to see you today. welcome to the "full court press." here we go. coming to you live from our nation's capital and covering all of the big stories of the day here in washington, d.c.,

across the country and around the globe. it is the "full court press." your morning roundup with the big stories of the day and your chance to talk about them. yes, give your point of view by giving us a call at 1-866-55-press. good to see you today. thank you so much for joining us. boy this week has flown by. here we are already on thursday. lots to get into today. we've got the whole team assembled today just for today. peter ogborn and dan henning and cyprian bolding. >> we're just like the avengers. >> all three of you. >> bill: just like the avengers. is that good or bad? >> it is a collection of superheroes. >> bill: okay. >> it is the big movie coming out. >> bill: i know that. >> i'm sorry. >> bill: i did know that. i didn't know how you fit in. >> who's who in the cast of the avengers? >> i think bill is captain america, clearly. >> and you're wonder woman? >> wonder woman is not part of the avengers! clearly i'm the hulk!

>> bill: i don't know much about it but if there is a title captain america, i want it! i got it! >> he doesn't have much superpowers but you're good. >> bill: i have a lot of superpowers. how does jered weaver. how is that segue? man, i still call them the philadelphia as. >> what? >> bill: now they're in anaheim. they've been there 22 years or something. last night, pitcher finally pitched a no-hit game. >> here's the pitch and it is lifted into air into right field. hunter is going back, going back and makes the catch. jared lever has just tossed a no-hitter tonight at the big a! it has taken 22 years for an angels pitcher to pitch one here at angels stadium and jared

lever puts his name in the angel record books. >> bill: 22 years worth waiting for. exciting night last night. indeed. exciting night all the way around including the fact that donald rumsfeld now is the latest one to say president obama doesn't deserve any credit for the daring raid that got osama bin laden. we'll talk about that and we're going to be joined a little bit later by carl frisch in studio. adam green, head of the progressive green change campaign will be in studio with us. we'll talk to dave zireen from the nation magazine about junior seau. sad story yesterday out of san diego. but first. >> bristol palin's ex, levi johnson has picked a name for his baby daughter on the way with his new girlfriend. he tells inside edition the baby girl will be named after his favorite pistol, his favorite gun, the baby's name, breeze

beretta. not a joke. >> bill: get out of here. >> he already has the breeze tattooed on his bicep. his girlfriend confirmed this pregnancy was completely unplanned. >> well, that's a shock! >> bill: i guess they planned the one with bristol. >> it was a as a result of them spending four days in the cabin in the alaskan wilderness and they forgot birth control. >> bill: if only they had obama care, they would have had birth control. get out of here! >> that story is too dumb. i don't know where to begin. >> bill: unplanned. i'm holed away in a cabin for four days with my girlfriend. >> what sells on the agenda? maybe pack the bit control! the birth control. that's like going on a ski trip and not bringing skis. you have nothing else to do! bring the birth control!

>> bill: i didn't plan to have sex with her. yeah, right. i'm surprised he wore clothes. >> we won't be seeing mittens on "saturday night live" this season. despite the rumors he was going to appear, political reporting executive producer lauren michaels said he did invite him to appear. there are is no room but that doesn't say he might not appear this fall. >> bill: mitt romney is afraid to do it. no matter what ann says, he's stiff as a board. he knew he would flop. >> people flying virgin atlantic can get intimately closer to the airline founder richard branson. passengers can have a drink with him in it. the airline's upper class cabs are offering ice cubes cut out in the shape of richard branson's head. they've even got his goatee carved out of the rice with laser pre-- out of the ice with laser precision.

>> bill: i thought ted turn her a big ego owning cnn. nothing like that. well, it gets worse and worse. republicans cannot just -- pardon me. start here this morning. republicans can't -- they can't bring themselves to give president obama any credit for that navy seal raid a year ago and two days that got osama bin laden. they keep trying to take credit away from him. like, for example, remember when it happened, some people said oh, george bush gets all the credit here because it was his policies that made this possible. no it wasn't! it was his policies that kept osama bin laden out there for almost ten years because we abandoned the hunt for him and we didn't go after him and george bush didn't care. he admitted that. he didn't even think about him anymore. so the exact opposite of george bush's policies.

that was bad enough. and then mitt romney gets in the act. mitt romney, the last few days has been trying to say oh, no, there was no big deal. of course. i would have made that decision. even jimmy carter he said would have made that decision. and here's mitt, day before yesterday saying of course, of course i would have. no big deal. >> a person who had done terrible harm to america and who represented a continuing threat to civilized people throughout the world and had i been president of the united states i would have made the same decision the president made which was to remove him. >> bill: that's not what he said at the time. at the time mitt romney said the president's decision was ill-timed and ill-considered. boom. it doesn't sound like somebody who said i would have done the same thing. previous to that when osama bin laden was still out there on the loose, right, mitt romney said -- can't deny it.

mitt romney says it is a waste of money. we should not be spending millions of dollars to go after just one guy. so everything that mitt romney said before the raid, everything he said at the time of the raid denies, denies the premise today that this is something else that he would do. now we get to the latest. the latest is donald rumsfeld, hey, remember him? donald rumsfeld, we should remember rummy. probably the worst defense secretary in the history of the united states. right? rummy, one of the chief architects of the war in iraq. and one of the chief architects of the war in afghanistan. so rummy he's on greta van van van susteren and he jumps on saying this is no big deal. here he is. >> you mentioned it was a tough decision. i don't think it was a tough

decision. we've seen a lot of instances where presidents over the years have had to make decisions like that. i think after spending that amount of time that number of years and that much money we increase the special operations forces by about 50%. we increase their budget. we increase their equipment and finally, when all of that comes together to not make that decision it seemed to me would just be dumbfounding. i can't imagine any president not making that decision. >> bill: can you believe it? can you believe it? not a tough decision! i mean from everything we know about it, right? first of all i mean let's go back right? that george bush had abandoned the hunt so president obama gets in. and he really wants to go after this guy. he knows how important it is to the world, to the people of this country and to our mission to destroy this mantle, al-qaeda. so he tells the -- instructs the c.i.a., he makes the decision.

he tells the c.i.a., i want you to make this a top priority. they did. took them three years almost but they tracked him down, used all of our intelligence. nothing that they got out of waterboarding, nothing, nothing, nothing. used our intelligence. they found out where he was. they thought for sure he was there. they came to the president. they said we think we've got him. we're going to come up with a plan. they came up with a plan. they told the president we're only 60% sure he's there and we're only 60% sure the mission is going to succeed. you know what happened with jimmy carter when he tried it in the desert and it was such a disaster and got egg all over the face of this country. but the president made that decision. i want you to go in and not taking any credit away from the navy seals at all. they were brilliant! and they were tough! and they were brave! and they practiced and they practiced and they got it all. but in the end one man made the decision. doesn't say that was an easy decision because what if it had gone wrong?

we know that the piles of outrage that would have descended upon barack obama and the dark cloud that would have been over this country forever. now, not a tough decision. i give credit for our friends over politico and glen is a good friend of this program for pointing out that rummy who is he to say this wasn't a tough decision. i didn't realize this. back in 2005, there was a similar operation underway by the c.i.a. it was a raid by the navy seals to go in to an al-qaeda gathering in pakistan and to get, in the same tribal area, to get al-zawahiri. he was there with his al-qaeda leaders. osama bin laden's number two guy. and the guy who is now in charge of al-qaeda. so as glen rush reports they've

located him. they've practiced this raid. the navy seals had even boarded the planes to go into pakistan. c.i.a. director porter goss said this is important. this is it. this is our next mission. we're ready. we know what we're doing. we're ready to launch. navy seals already on the planes and donald rumsfeld called it off because donald rumsfeld said it was too risky. so this chicken cs if you know what i mean, this chicken -- >> oh, i get it! >> chicken crap. >> bill: defense secretary weasels out. wimps out! folds when he's got a chance to make a tough decision like this. and then turns around says oh, barack obama ah, no tough decision. just like you know, ordering another gin and tonic.

no tough decision. first one was so good, give me a second one. give me a freakin' break. why don't these republicans just say good job mr. president. we don't approve of everything you've done but in this case, good job mr. president! why are they incapable of saying that. 1-866-55-press. you tell me! let's get into it. the ghost of donald rumsfeld is back. i thought we -- some things you don't know and some things you know you don't know and some things you don't know you don't know but you do know. whatever. here he is. back again. no tough decision my ass. >> announcer: this is the "full court press," the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv.

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.

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.

>> bill: go to our web site, billpressshow.com. tell us how you want it signed. we'll do so and get it out to you right away. let's go, 1-866-55-press. donald rumsfeld is back poo-pooing the efforts of president obama. greg, what do you say? >> caller: hi, bill. basically, the way i see it is rumsfeld had an opportunity to get bin laden at tora bora. they allowed him to escape into

pakistan. so he blew it twice! so it is a great big deal. the second thing is these guys always want to spend they're time on jimmy carter and bill clinton but as soon as we dig up george bush and his failures, they start crying like babies. i don't get it. >> bill: now, that is a good point. they'll always come back. especially romney. romney's really trying to make the jimmy carter connection, right? he said that even jimmy carter would have made this decision and then yesterday he came out and said -- compared obama's economic policies to jimmy carter's economic policies, right? now i don't want to dump on jimmy carter but barack obama's got a hel of a lot more effective in bringing this economy back than jimmy carter had been. absolutely. hey, greg, appreciate hearing from you. good points. i'm glad you added that. that in fact, if you look at the

bush/cheney team, rumsfeld, the quarterback, they did blow it twice. first at tora bora and then secondly the raid in pakistan in 2005 that glen rush wrote about. out in the state of illinois, we have gary. >> caller: good morning, how you doing? >> bill: i'm doing good. what's up? >> caller: i just wanted to comment, you guys have been talking about that thing with bush and that he bailed out on the tora bora part where he could have had him at that time. the whole thing was the war was going on. we weren't talking about getting out yet and it had been a lot easier for him to try to do something at that time without any type of blow back but again he failed to do what he was supposed to do as president of this country and the same thing with donald rumsfeld. here he is. he's not even talking about the exit strategy and again he failed to do his part as the secretary of state.

>> bill: secretary of defense. here's the case is again the c.i.a. director was saying this is it. we've got the intelligence. we've got the navy seals. they're trained. they're ready. rumsfeld said nope! pulled the plug. upset a lot of people in the military at the time. greg is out in chicago. hey, greg, what do you say? >> caller: bill, i can't help but notice 80% of the talk that's going on about obama getting bin laden is done by the republicans. it is like free press. there's no such thing as bad press. and they're bringing it up most of the time. >> bill: well, yeah. but it is interesting the way you say it, greg. because they are bringing it up all the time. and i think the effect of that is that more and more americans are reminded about what a good job obama did. because republicans are failing to take away the significance of this so it makes obama i think

look better and better. >> 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: what do you say in it is 33 minutes after the hour. how about it. this is the "full court press." taking your calls about donald rumsfeld saying that decision by president obama to send the navy seals in to prove their mission -- to approve their mission to go in and capture and kill osama bin laden donald rumsfeld said it was not a tough

decision. no. anybody would have made the same decision. he didn't when he had a chance. your calls at 1-866-55-press. we're going to be talking the sports world here in a minute. first we jump into the spin room. newt gingrich made it official yesterday. it is funny how all of the headlines said newt gingrich, finally, the word was always there, finally drops out of the race. he said you're not going to get rid of me altogether. >> i'm suspending the campaign but suspending the campaign does not mean suspending citizenship. [ laughter ] >> bill: what a jerk. >> such a newt way to drop out. >> bill: it is. like of course he's still a citizen. you're not a candidate for president anymore, you can't vote from now on. right? >> the good news is i'm no longer running for president but

i'll my work as a great human being. >> bill: but i'm still going to the moon. so there he is. back to your calls in a second. first sad news out of san diego yesterday. junior seau, great san diego chargers player found shot to death and police said right away that it was a suicide. and he is hardly the first. dave zyron is the sports editor for the nation magazine joining us on the phone this morning. >> great to be here, bill. thanks for having me. >> bill: junior seau has had a troubled life, hasn't he? it looked like he tried to commit suicide once before with his suv? >> yeah. he had a charred life until he stopped playing in the national

football league. it was a unique story. he was almost a god-like figure as a high school athlete in the san diego area and then to go from there to usc to then being a hall of fame player with the san diego chargers. it was really unbelievable. as he said when he retired from the national football league after 20 seasons he said this isn't a retirement. it is a graduation because i'm graduating to the next part of my life. but the next part of his life, as you said was very troubled. about a year and a half ago he drove his car right off a cliff in san diego. this is one of the problems with being so revered in the community is he said to the police, hey, i just fell asleep at the wheel. the reaction by everybody was whatever you say junior, sounds great. they let it go. clearly, he was much more troubled than that. >> bill: now, i was puzzled i

must admit, not following this that closely by the fact that he shot himself in the chest. we were talking about this earlier and peter pointed out. dave did the same thing saying i shot myself in the chest because i wanted them to be able to examine my brain. was junior seau sending the same message, do you think? >> we just don't know. >> bill: seems to, huh? >> we just don't know. there was no note left other than text messages that he sent to his family. impossible to say certainly although it's very logical to say that that's a very unusual way to take your own life and dave doorsen who was a huge figure among nfl players because he was a very prominent figure with the nfl players association and, of course, dave doorsen there was explicit in his suicide note was i want my brain examined because i think that --

with dorsin, it was more like a self-emlation because he wanted people to know the connection between his depression and his experience in the national football league. so that's where my thoughts went immediately to dave doorsen when i heard about the manner in which junior took his own life. impossible to say. let me tell you what is an interesting fact here, bill. junior seau played with a tremendous veracity for 20 years in the national football league. there is not one instance of him being diagnosed with a concussion over all that time. now, you can only draw one of two conclusions from that fact. the first is that he was somehow bestowed with the qualities of magic and had the ability to dance in between raindrops. the second conclusion you have to draw from that is that either

junior seau himself or the doctors on the team he was on or both of them together colluded to say my head is fine. i'm good and they never went -- they never discussed it or made records when these things took place. and that, to me, was just a jaw-dropper when i researched that. found that out. >> hey, dave. it is peter. i had a quick question. you've seen the way major league baseball has cracked down on steroids. it has become such a main focus of what they do. what has the nfl had to say about this stuff? because these former players are clearly trying to send a message that my head is not right. something happened while he was playing football. has the nfl acknowledged that at all? >> bill: and the message that this sport is really dangerous. >> yeah. >> bill: you ought to do something. >> it is not just the suicides and you're absolutely right. junior seau is the second suicide. ray easterling was the first in

a few weeks of former players but it is more than 1,000 players, including ray easterling who was a lead player who is suing the nfl on the question of head injuries. if i was the national football league, i would be doing exactly what you're infirring which is to try to tackle this, pardon the expression, head on. i would be trying to think about how can we be more honest with the public? how can we be more honest with former players. how can we settle with the former players be honest about what we knew. almost at the level of a truth and reconciliation commission about what the nfl knew and when it knew it as far as the effects of these odd head injuries. now, they're taking a very different approach to that. the approach instead is to say hey, we knew nothing. we're like the tobacco executives who thought that there was no connection between smoking and cancer. a member of congress accused roger goodell of that very thing

saying you sound like the tobacco executives because until a couple of years ago their official position was that there was no conclusive, scientific evidence to connect head injuries and concussions with playing in the national football league. so i mean it galled people when they had to sit in front of congress and discuss this. so that's one thing. but at the same time, the other approach they're having is saying look how tough we are right now. and that's, of course, to me, is like the hellaciously stiff punishment that they've leveled on the new orleans saints for bounty-gate. and to me, this is -- i think a tremendous fraud. a tremendous sham that's saying we're cracking down on violence because we're cracking down on the practice of teams paying players for doing particularly dirty hits when the root of the problem here -- i mean,

objectively is a fact that the game itself is a violent game. you could love it or you can hate it but the truth is the truth. >> bill: on another subject just before we let you go, i have to ask you should anybody believe anything that andy pettitte says when he says yesterday about roger clemmons, well 50/50. 50/50, 50% chance i heard it the way i remember it or 50% chance i didn't hear him correctly. that's pretty weak, isn't it? >> i can't see how anyone could have read or watched andy pettitte's testimony and not thought about a gentleman by the name of franky five fingers from godfather ii. and you know, all of a suddennen from the government's chief witness to being like what are you talkin' about? i hear lots of things! and that's what i thought about him. i thought my goodness. unique franky five fingers get rid of that cancerous voice that

franky had. make him a borderline hall of fame pitcher. give him a southern accent and he's andy pettitte. >> bill: dave zirin, you can follow him at the nation.com. twitter, at edge of sports. right on the cutting edge. way out on the edge. franky five fingers otherwise known as dave zirin thanks for being with us this morning. >> my privilege. >> bill: always really great. we've got lots more calls coming up about donald rumsfeld saying well yeah, sending the navy seals out on that risky mission in pakistan, yeah, that was no big deal. that was an easy decision. yeah, sure. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." the overwhelming majority of the country says"tax the rich, don't go to war." >>just wanted to clarify that.

you've heard bill's views, now let's hear yours. politically direct means no b.s. just telling you what's going on in politics today. >>at the only on-line forum with a direct line to bill press. >>it's something i've been waiting for a long time. >>join the debate now.

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 13 minutes before the top of the hour. taking your calls about donald rumsfeld poo-pooing the decision by president obama to go after osama bin laden. but first you know, this is a nice season for a little spring-cleaning and if you're looking at those blinds, shades, shutters or drapes in your home and think it is time to change them, time to get some new ones, you're looking for a great selection, great service and the lowest possible prices, you got it. go to blinds.com. carol and i have. peter and lucinda have and so has holly who e-mails in. dealing with 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 don't care about customer service or quality but companies like blinds.com are hard to find. indeed they are. you won't find any better service or selection. check them out. you can get free color samples free shipping and no sales tax in most states plus an expert installer if you need one. they make it easier for you to do it yourself. go to blinds.com for prices that absolutely crush home improvement store prices. it is blinds.com. you won't regret it. blinds.com. randy on rumsfeld. caller from georgia. hello, randy. good morning. >> caller: good morning. it is always amazing the republicans want to bring up jimmy carter being defeated by nature, a sandstorm and ronald reagan puts how many marines at risk and pulls them out like the coward he is. >> bill: we forgot about that.

we shouldn't forget about that in lebanon. >> caller: as far as newt complaining about anybody would make this decision, somebody would have to be able to have the report called in first. he didn't want to pay for it. if nobody's going to call it in, how are you going to make the decision? >> bill: good point. good point. everything they say there is no logic to it, of course, randy. appreciate the call. again i think it is just their -- either frustration with or their hate for barack obama that make them unable to give him credit for anything. john out in lakewood, new york. hey, john. >> caller: good morning, bill. >> bill: yes sir. >> caller: i was watching the program last night on another network about the situation room last night. one thing was with very, very surprising to me. that the president of the united

states asked the vice president when he was trying to make the decision go or no go and believe it or not, through his restation between the vice president and the president, the vice president basically said no, i don't believe we have enough intel and the vice president took it upon himself to think about it overnight and the following morning he said let's go, let's do it. >> bill: by the way john, it wasn't just joe biden but it was also secretary of defense robert gates at the time who said -- >> caller: that's correct. i'm glad you pointed that out. >> bill: the two of them said you know what? we just don't quite have it. the president said let me sleep on it. by the way, at the time, if you recall some people jumped -- dumped all over him for even taking overnight to think about it. but he did and again he made the decision! can't take it away. appreciate hearing from you. in elgin illinois, hi, ron.

>> caller: good morning, bill. "the chicago tribune" yesterday no liberal opinion gave all of the credit to obama. gave all of the credit to the president saying it was his watch. he made the call. no one else gets any credit. let them celebrate! >> bill: was that an editorial in the paper? >> caller: yes, it was. that was their main editorial yesterday. >> bill: glad to hear that. sometimes i check the trib. i didn't yesterday. good for them, you know! at least they recognize. i love that phrase it happened on his watch. usually they're the ones that roll that out. it happened on my watch or it happened on his watch. that means you either get the credit or the blame. well this happened -- this happened on barack obama's watch and damn it, he deserves the credit. hey, ron, good to hear from you. on a related way distant maybe but somewhat related issue as i

told you earlier, newt gingrich, you probably know this, if we're all a little sad around here today, it is because flute gingrich is no longer a candidate for president as if he ever was. he was never a serious candidate for president. when he dropped out yesterday he had -- he couldn't resist telling us how great he is. and if you don't think he's a great man, just listen to newt. ask him! he told us yesterday this is part of his farewell. our good friends at think progress put this together. >> i think we helped coinvent c-span. a 16-year period of working to develop a majority. training through go pac. founding the society. building the contract with america which led to the largest one-party increase in american history in an off-year election. and in that process, we won control of the house for the first time in 40 years and we passed welfare reform. we were the first re-elected

republican majority since 1928. i've tried to move the national debate including 24 books calista and i have done seven documentaries. i've written four novels on the civil war. thank you all very much. [ laughter ] >> wow, he's important! >> bill: that's all from a 25-minute speech yesterday. it is just incredible. i know brian lam pretty well. he's a good friend of mine. brian lam never told me that newt gingrich was a coinventor. >> have to ask him about that. >> bill: of c-span. let's call him up and find out. newt gingrich. i didn't know, brian, that you and newt did this thing together? i thought it was all yours. newt says me! i'm wonderful. just ask me! >> announcer: on your radio and on current tv. this is the "bill press show."

is what he said. and i was like "you watch your mouth. she's my friend." friend is a strong word. [ male announcer ] chocolate just got more irresistible. find the all brown bag and you could win!

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at's president obama up to today? let me tell you.

he's going to have lunch -- he's got another light schedule today. he's going to have lunch with vice president biden. and then he is at 12:30. nothing on the schedule in the morning. then he's meeting with his senior advisors at 2:00. >> he's going to iraq. he's going to iraq. >> bill: it looks like -- he's either going to ohio or iraq. probably. now i would think that except that he does have a cinco de mayo reception tonight at the white house except it is only the tres dimaio. he will be campaigning on saturday. big cinco de mayo reception at the white house tonight. jay carney, his daily briefing at the white house at 12:30. i will be there and if there's any hot news comes out of the briefing, we'll tell you all about it tomorrow. carl frisch from bullfight strategies in studio as a friend of bill for the next hour with all of you. we have a lot more to talk about. so hang around!

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

>> bill: good to see you today. welcome to the "full court press" coming to you live from our nation acapital. i'm bill press liberal and proud of it. good to you have with us this morning as we take our little survey of the day's big news stories and take your calls at 1-866-55-press. here on current tv. it is a little sad today because politics got a lot more boring yesterday after newt gingrich

finally, finally finally dropped out of the race but just think about it. i mean no more lunar colonies, no more revolving account at tiffany's, no more making fifth graders be janitors in public schools. no more going to zoos and getting bitten by penguins. i mean what are we going to laugh about now? maybe mitt romney and his car elevator? we'll talk about that and a whole lot more here. but first in los angeles with today's current tv news update, good morning to jacki schechner. hi jacki. >> hi, bill. good morning everyone. who says the right isn't into recycling? first read reporting the pro romney superpac is out with its first general election ad and it is not only the same action d it ran in the primaries, it is the same ad the romney campaign ran in 2007. take a look. see if it looks familiar. >> mitt's done a lot of things that people say are nearly impossible for for me the most

important thing is to help save my daughter. >> former romney campaign staffers from '07 run the super pac which is why this makes sense. they didn't spend money on the ad but spending $4.3 million to run it in nine swing states. speaking of advertising npr is reporting this morning that the obama campaign has spent six times more on online advertising than it has on television advertising so far. the numbers are pretty big. $19 million versus $3 million. that may change however. the campaign knows the web well because it harnessed it in 2008 for both online organizing and fund-raising. the g.o.p.'s now playing catch up with its new facebook app and both campaigns are using cookies to track supporters online. but president obama does have the advantage of not only the experience but the 13 million e-mails he collected in 2008. both democrats and republicans are asking the fcc to approve fund-raising by text message. the donations would with have to be $50 or smaller in order to comply with federal regulations

but imagine the possibilities. a candidate says take out your phone and donate and right there, it is like the high tech equivalent of passing the hat! we'll be right back.

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that inspire them to develop these important skills. how can my car go faster? maybe your child will figure it out. find out more at connectamillionminds.com >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: i know you're sad today because newt gingrich finally dropped out of the race but he says don't worry. he's still a citizen. whatever that means. hello, everybody. yeah, let's take his citizenship away, too, while we're at it. it is the "full court press." thursday, may 3rd. good to see you today. thank you for being a part of the program. here we're coming to you live from our nation's capital with our survey of the big and little stories of the day.

taking your calls at 1-866-55-press. good to have you with us today. good to welcome into the studio as a friend of bill, good friend of the program cofounder with eric burns of bullfight strategies, the one and only karl frisch. >> i don't know that he dropped out of the race as he waddled out of the race. [ laughter ] >> bill: i think he did. >> because i saw him at the correspondent's dinner and -- >> bill: did you really? i saw calista. i didn't see him. >> he wasn't really running for this presidency. he's running for the presidency of howard taft. [ laughter ] i think he's probably stuck in a bathtub as we speak. >> bill: really way up there. >> much bigger than i've ever seen him. >> bill: so he and chris christie -- >> tweedledum and tweedledee. >> bill: good to have you with us. we say good morning to the team here. peter ogborn and dan henning and

cyprian bolding. hello, guys. speaking of newt et say the one -- the people he felt sorry for yesterday were the first state that he won. remember we were there peter. >> we were. >> bill: in south carolina. and newt says oh the poor people of south carolina. >> i have to thank the voters of south carolina and i have to apologize to them. we will have broken their tradition of always picking the nominee. this will make me feel slightly guilty every time we go through south carolina. >> bill: hear that, bill? >> it is the sound of the trineny violin being crushed by pasty white fingers. >> i'm sure south carolina is sweating that one. >> bill: what the hell were they doing voting for him? >> to send a message. >> he was the flavor of the month at the right moment. who really will take it hard is calista gingrich because they have to go from having a $500,000 debt at dif -- at tiffany's to jared.

nobody has ever except for on those commercials ever said he got it at jared! [ laughter ] >> unless of course they're a sponsor in which case i apologize. >> bill: they're not one of our sponsors. karl frisch is with us. we'll be joined by derek crowe political director for the brave new foundation, works with robert greenwald. talking about the war in afghanistan and whether we're winding it down soon enough. but first -- >> this is the "full court press." >> bill: dan has the really big stories. >> the biggest story might be that bristol palin's ex, levi johnson has picked the name of his new baby daughter. >> can i guess? >> sprinkler. >> close. >> telling inside edition last night he's naming the baby girl after his favorite gun so her name, breeze beretta. >> is it named after drew brees?

>> he has breeze tattooed on his arm. he confirms the pregnancy was unplanned. it was the result of -- >> you don't say! >> surprised he didn't name her shotgun after his wedding. >> he and his girlfriend spent four days in a cabin in the alaskan wilderness and forgot their birth control and that's how it happened. >> wouldn't four days in the alaskan wilderness be birth control enough for most people? >> bill: his baby with bristol of course was planned right? what a loser. >> that was also a result of cask out, wasn't it? didn't they say they were camping out in the woods? >> i think so. >> i think i detected a pattern. don't go camping with levi. >> children of alaska! i mean that. children of alaska. do not go camping with levi johnson. >> come camping with me.

>> no, baby, no, we're just going to go camping. it is a koa. pure class all the way. >> pastel version of the famous art piece the screen by edward munch set a new world record for the world's most expensive work of art sold at auction yesterday. and an onomous buyer dropped nearly $120 million on the piece. >> you guys want to see my new art? it is one of four pieces in the world. >> bill: don't tell carol. >> i can i say really quick it is not edward munch. >> you said edward munch. >> what are you? an elitist peter? >> why don't you go back to eating your okra and your pasty peppered lettuce salad. >> bill: you did just come off as an elitist. you're an elitist. >> how can you see through your cappuccino foam? >> the eastern pronunciation.

>> you know what the best airport is? >> i know what it isn't. >> dulles is the seventh worst. >> just in america? >> when asked to rate airports in seven different categories to find the one with the most seamless travel experience all around, "travel and leisure" magazine readers voted minneapolis-st. paul international. >> that's a good one. >> that's where larry craig got his groove on. right outside of a bathroom. a stoope statue. dulles did rank first in urine smell. >> good. >> we're number one. we're number one. we're not number two. [ laughter ] >> philadelphia and l.a.x. are the two worst. >> bill: philadelphia and l.a.x. are the worst. >> if you got rid of traffic around the airport l.a.x. would be fine. the airport is great. >> bill: get rid of the mountains. it would be a nice prairie or something. all right. 12 minutes after the hour. i gotta get back to -- with karl

frisch. i gotta come back to -- do you realize what a great man newt gingrich is? do you realize how much -- >> great as in landmass? >> do you realize how much he has accomplished in his life? he told us yesterday thanks to our friends at think progress, this is -- they took this from his 25-minute farewell speech yesterday. newt telling us how great he is. >> we coinvented the opportunist society. i think we helped coinvent c-span. 16-year period of working to develop majority. developing a generation of solutions, building the contract with america which led to the largest one-party increase in american history in an off-year election and in the process, we won control of the house for the first time in 40 years and we passed welfare reform. we were the first re-elected republican majority since 1929. trying to move the national debate including 24 books.

calista and i have done seven documentaries. written four novels on the civil war. >> wow. he's a big deal. his wife must be so proud of him. >> bill: talk about an ego trip. it goes on and on. >> that's all he is. his entire campaign was an ego trip. we all felt it when he fell down. >> bill: i just love that. by the way, i mentioned earlier i know brian lam pretty well. brian never told me that newt gingrich was a coinventor of c-span. >> i think he thought going up on the floor when nobody was around blowing hot air at the cameras was coinventing c-span. if this were al gore, the media would have his head on a platter for -- you invented c-span? yeah, no! >> bill: but don't forget, newt will still be a citizen. >> just remember, newt gingrich,

we knew who he was in the '90s. the republicans got to know who he was in the 2010s. and both fractions of america said no thank you, sir. >> bill: on a more serious note, "new york times" front page article this morning about the former foreign policy advisor to the romney campaign who lasted all of two weeks. because republicans weren't happy that newt had appointed a name to his campaign or hired an openly gay man. >> no wonder mitt romney doesn't support the employment nondiscrimination act. he would like to be able to fire people because they're gay. >> bill: which he did in this case. >> it looks like that. i will say that this guy -- i think it is good when there are republicans who work in and around gay politics so they can try to change it. that being said, what i don't like is when those republicans put their party before their

simple human dignity and their civil rights because that gets messy and it hurts a lot of people. this guy in particular grinnell, claimed on twitter that the president and romney were basically the same on lgbt rights issues which is a bold-faced lie. so i hope that he realizes how wrong he was that mitt romney, president obama, democrats and republicans are not the same when it comes to lgbt rights. mitt romney felt that it was more important to appease the right wing crazies at world net daily, brian fisher from the american family association who is describing -- remember, this is a guy who got really angry and said there there were too many indian kids winning spelling bees and not enough americans. by indians he meant indian americans. but this guy is crazy and the romney campaign buckled. the story does a good job of painting the picture of a

campaign that wouldn't even stand up for him. >> bill: it really says a lot about the republican party but also says a lot about mitt romney. >> absolutely. >> bill: i would have to assert without really knowing but i don't think george bush would have fired somebody just because they happened to be gay. >> he would have lost his campaign manager if that was the case because he ran his campaign. he also was the republican national committee chairman under the president. >> bill: good point. >> whether or not he was out, i don't know. they claim bush's closest family friends in houston happen to be a gay couple. who knows. we know in 1994, he was better on gay rights than kennedy. he hasn't gotten one drop in that bucket. he's against everything that lbgt people need this country employment nondiscrimination act, marriage equality. while the president may be evolving on marriage equality, he's leaps and bounds ahead of mitt romney on every other

score. >> bill: donald rumsfeld, karl frisch saying today that well, some people are saying it was a tough decision for barack obama to decide to send the navy seals in against osama bin laden. rummy says no, it was not. >> it was easy for them to not go after bin laden. to dismantle the units looking for them. donald rumsfeld is a prick and he doesn't belong having any serious place at the table. neither does cheney. it is about partisan politics to them. the only person acting like a former leader of the free world or somebody that close to the free world at this point is president bush who has kept his mouth shut and not gotten in the middle of this effort to rebrand the bush administration. >> bill: i could swear i just heard you call donald rumsfeld a prick. i'm not sure your allowed to say

it on radio or tv. >> i meant like a needle. i apologize. >> bill: and also we found out glen rush reported from politico yesterday in 2005, there was a similar raid prepared by the navy seals then c.i.a. director porter goss comes into the pentagon and says we know where al-zawahiri is. osama bin laden's number two man who is now in charge of al-qaeda, right? we with know where he is. he's in northwest pakistan. they're having this meeting. we have the navy seals. they're on board the helicopters to go in and get him. and rumsfeld said no, too risky. we might upset pakistan. and he pulled the plug. >> remember that's what the republicans thought back then. mitt romney in 2007 said that he wouldn't send people into pakistan even if we knew we could get osama bin laden. and for anybody -- i mean this

whole notion that george w. bush never did any kind of politicking around this. he never attacked his opponent as saying that they wouldn't do this or they wouldn't do that. it took all of a couple of days to get the ads out from the bush re-election about john kerry not wanting to continue the war on terror and how we would still -- that saddam hussein would be in power still if -- >> bill: or the pictures -- the megaphone. at the world trade center. >> it is clear what we're seeing here. this is an effort to repaint history and try to soften the blow. mitt romney wouldn't have sent people into pakistan. >> bill: pretty clear. and that their inability to give obama credit for anything. speaking of president obama the big revelation of the day is there is a big publication by david moranis. he prints some of the love letters that young barack obama wrote to two girlfriends when he was going to columbia.

scandalous stuff. we'll read you some juicy excerpts. >> dear prudence. >> bill: with karl frisch when we come back here. 20 minutes after the hour. >> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show" now on current tv. >>just wanted to clarify that. 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.

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g? eliot spitzer joins the new news network. >>we will drill down on the day's top stories in search of facts that inform. >> bill: you bet we're on current tv and so is stephanie miller. karl frisch is on both of our shows. maybe he was a regular on both of our shows. karl frisch.

congratulations. >> thank you. >> bill: good to have you in studio. karl frisch with eric burns cofounder of bullfight strategies. we're talking a lot of interesting stories today. particularly on the political side. karl, this is -- sorry. you're like newt gingrich. your head is in the way. it is greg calling from up in new hampshire. hello, greg. >> caller: how you doing this morning? >> bill: all right. >> good morning, greg. >> caller: i've been watching your show for awhile. i feel there is something i need to comment on. >> bill: uh-oh. yes? >> caller: i would like to comment on the lack of a backbone that mitt romney has. >> yeah, he was born without one >> caller: mitt romney has let things go by that any normal candidate running for president wouldn't. >> bill: what particularly are you referring to? i agree with you certainly. >> caller: i'm referring to the things like rush limbaugh, the comments that were made there.

>> bill: right. >> caller: i'm referring to the ted nugent comments, also. >> greg, he stood so tall next to those trees in michigan. >> caller: but see, here's the problem. with that type of attitude. he just got rid of what i consider one of his -- would have been one of his best staff members because he was gay. because he didn't want to offend that part of his constituency. >> that might have been the only good thing about grinnell was the fact that he was a gay man who stood up for gay equality. if you dug deeper into his foreign policy, i don't know that you would agree with him on those. >> bill: the fact is that romney -- >> caller: probably wouldn't agree with him, that's right. this is what i'm saying about mitt romney. mitt romney has gotten to the point now where i will say anything, i will kiss anything -- >> greg, he's lived in that space for 20 years. >> caller: how can we allow someone like that to be president?

he doesn't have this country's best interests at heart. he has his best interests at heart. >> bill: greg, we got your point. i think that -- on so many occasions, right yeah. greg points out. failed to stand ups to ted nugent. failed to stand up to rush. failed to say i'm not going to fire this guy just because he's gay. >> failed to hold any of the positions when he had to run as a moderate. >> bill: failed to stand up to paul ryan. failed to stand up to the republicans in congress who want to double the rate on student loans, right? >> he's failed to stand up anybody who has been an antiimmigrant this time around. >> bill: totally. this is not surprising coming from mitt romney and response to greg's question, how can we elect him president of the united states? we won't. we're not going to! >> exactly.

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." her unique mix of comedy and politics to current tv. >> it's like a reality show, they're just turning cameras on and we just do our thing. >>politically direct to me means no b.s., the real thing, cutting through the clutter. i'm energized to start my show everyday because it's fun, because i care about what's going on in this country, rather than some sort of tired banter it is actual water cooler talk it's the way people really talk about these issues. we've always considered ourselves a comedy show. let me just say i am not ready for my close up. i think it's important to laugh. i think it will be exciting, because you can't script three hours of radio. what is going on? i can't tell you how many times right wingers call the show and say, "i don't agree with anything you say, but your show

is funny as hell." the only thing that can save america now, current tv. can i say that?

>> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: happy thursday, may 3rd. 33 minutes after the hour. "full court press" coming to you live coast-to-coast all the way across this great land of ours from our perch in our studio here on capitol hill in washington, d.c. in studio with us, cofounder of bullfight strategies, bullfightstrategies.org, karl frisch. >> good morning, bill. >> bill: you and i feel a little tired because we had a busy week, at least we did not have a round trip to kabul in

the middle of the week but president obama did where he went over and announced that all of our troops -- all of our troops would be out of afghanistan by -- combat troops by the end of 2014. then signed a 10-year agreement with afghanistan that we will continue to support them with training troops and financially through 2024 at least. is that good enough? we turn to derek crowe political director of the brave new foundation on our news line with us this morning. hi derek. good morning. >> hi, bill, how are you? >> bill: i know you work with robert greenwald. i've been on several shows with him. great documentary he put out rethink afghanistan. what do you think of the president's announcement and this kind of exit strategy? >> well i mean it is good that the trend is the troops are coming down.

and i think the agreement gives us some language that we can hang some activism on such as we're not seeking permanent military bases but unfortunately, the sad fact is the agreement doesn't stop u.s. night raids which are causing so much anxiety and anti-u.s. animosity. it doesn't stop the not so secret war in pakistan and it lets us retain quote-unquote access to afghan facilities through at least 2024 which they're telling us we'll probably use to facilitate keeping between 15,000 and 20,000 troops in afghanistan. so i think in one way it gives us a foot in the door to say we're not going to have permanent military bases but it is really not good enough. >> bill: well, the president says, right, that we -- for those people -- and i'm one of them i guess.

why wait until the end of 2014, we have to give the afghan government time to get up to speed and we can't leave precipitously. >> it's kind of strange to use the word precipitously when you're talking about a 10-year war. we've been there longer than any other war in u.s. history. >> bill: good point. >> you say some of the people that want the troops out. you're with 78% of people in the latest polling that want the troops home. >> bill: whoa. >> for the president to wave that away with one line of speech, if you want to talk about stability the safety office tracks the level of armed opposition group attacks in afghanistan. and they're reporting that for the first time in the first quarter of 2012, we've got a real drop compared to the same quarter for the previous year and that just happens to correspond roughly to the trend in u.s. troop levels that have been going up, up, up. only when they finally started coming down had the level of

armed attacks come down. >> bill: but that alone -- >> this is karl here. that shouldn't be the rationale for why we leave right? there is a reason are that we're there. we should stay. if there's no reason to be there, we should go home. the reaction to our presence should not be the reason that we're there or leave. >> i can agree with that. but we're thinking of things like why are we there? it has been a year since osama bin laden was killed in pakistan. and for the president to use this kind of like oh we have to stay until it is stabilized or we're almost defeating al-qaeda. we defeated quote-unquote the big move against al-qaeda was in pakistan from the last decade. so for the president to say that we're going to stay until hamid karzai government is stabilized i think just puts us in a position that americans don't support and they frankly shouldn't support. >> bill: i think the big question to me is -- the end of 2014, we get out.

will the afghan government be in a position to really take control and what shape will the taliban be in? the president was just -- no sooner out of afghan airspace when the taliban moved in to kabul and blew up a couple of buildings, right? so the taliban seems to be getting -- remaining strong. maybe not getting stronger might be too far. what do you hear of that, derrick? >> well, i think the idea that we were going to have to feed the taliban foreign occupation was never the right idea in the first place. if the prospect was ever on the table that we were going to defeat the taliban or the political force inside of afghanistan, we would have done it already by the end of the ten-year long war here. so the question is not whether or not we stay until we defeat the taliban or we leave before we beat the taliban on the field of battle. that was never on the table.

so the real question is are we able to help craft a settlement, a real political settlement that folds in all of the relevant actors in afghanistan in a way that will bring the level of violence down to a situation that is tolerable for the average person in afghanistan. >> which is pretty high. >> it is pretty high. >> you're talking about a country where more than 60% of people suffer from some form of mental disorder and that's from the world health organization, because of the constant years of conflict. so the idea that we were going to knock the taliban out as a relevant political force in afghanistan was never really on the table. >> bill: you know, again we're dealing -- i'm just skeptical about the whole operation. we're dealing with a country that has never had a central government in its -- >> we helped them boot the russians. we missed the opportunity to build schools and you know, build some kind of democracy

there then when we were so loved >> bill: as we certainly are now. before we let you go, derrick crowe is political director of the new brave foundation. everybody is jumping up and down with glee at the president's announcement from afghanistan. there are some who question whether it does the job and goes far enough. a brave new foundation.org is the web site. bravenewfoundation.org. you mention in passing derrick drone strikes in pakistan. we've talked about this the last couple of days on the show. this, to me, is yet unexplored issue that the number of drone strikes is really escalating in pakistan. and there's a lot of collateral damage. i saw a figure yesterday -- the new america foundation i think reported 17% of the people killed by the drone strikes are not militants at all. they happen to be in the

neighborhood. right? what -- john brennan was out the other day saying our use of drones is legal and wise and necessary. what is legal authority for the drone strikes derrick? >> well, it is essentially that they're not telling us about them. the drones -- it is great to hear somebody in the u.s. government finally come out and officially say yes, we have a drone war in pakistan but remember, this is the first time really that anybody's ever acknowledged it has gone on and when -- the situation, it is almost impossible for anyone including congress if they're inclined to do oversight to do any kind of oversight when the government won't even tell you what's going on. even though the new america foundation, 17% is a pretty high number but that's one of the lower estimates that's out there for the number of civilians that are killed. >> if the number was much, much, much lower, you know, to where

it mirrored human error it might be something i can get behind. it puts less of our troops in danger, et cetera. but with a number that high, you're basically talking about a fourth of the people. >> bill: yeah, one out of five. >> even if it is one out of five, that's still very high. >> understand we don't have a way of evaluating that number because you know, it is a secret program. >> sure. >> you know they are. it is not like they want to kill civilians. we know the military has probably looked at those numbers and said okay, how can we reduce this. but we have no idea what those numbers might be. if anybody has a better handle on what the actual number is, it will be the military. there is no reason why with good oversight we shouldn't know that. it is surprising the republican congress wouldn't use this as an opportunity. but at the same time, it is not terribly surprising. >> bill: i'll tell you why. because there is a drones caucus in the congress with 63 members of congress who are members and you know why?

because they have defense contracts. most of them are republicans but they're republicans and democrats. that's where they build the drones and their components so they're boosters for the drones. the u.s. is not going to go after these. >> it is a profit industry right now for these guys and as the wars wind down, there are clear industry memos talking about how they want to sell these things to domestic law enforcement. there is big concern about that. >> there are some that use them as we speak. during natural disasters fox news has used drones with cameras for their disaster coverage. >> sure. >> i think cnn as well. >> bill: you know what? that's the last thing i want. i don't want him to have a drone. it is bad enough as it is. derrick, thank you for your time this morning and your good work at the brave new foundation. >> thank you. >> bill: thank you. it is the brave new foundation.org. derrick crowe is their political

director. this whole drone thing is going to blow up one of these days. people are going to say -- especially when they come -- >> that would require americans to care about civilian deaths in other countries and that's a big leap. >> bill: they'll care when there are drones overhead. you think you hear a mosquito and you look up and it is actually a drone. >> i pick up my phone and it is rupert murdoch. >> bill: your calls coming up next. >> announcer: on your radio, on tv the "bill press show." new on current tv. >>now let's get some real news. (vo) first, news and analysis with a washington perspective from an emmy winning insider. >>you couldn't say it any more powerfully than that. >> current tv, on the roll. (vo)followed by humor and politics with a west coast edge. >>ah, thank you. >>it really is incredible.

(vo)bill press and stephanie miller, current's morning news block. weekdays six to noon.

weeknights on current tv.

>> announcer: this is the bim -- this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 13 minutes before the top of the hour. stephanie miller taking over here on your -- most of your progressive stations around the country and on current tv. karl frisch is in studio with us. right back to karl and your calls on the issues of the day. first, that nagging question, how much extra money do you need at the end of the month? that's what our friends at income at home.com would like to know and then they will help you get there. it is something you can do first of all, no matter your age education or experience. no pressure, no selling soap to your neighbors. you can literally earn money from your kitchen table on your computer 24/7. all you need is a little extra time and the coaching that the folks at income at home.com will provide. they are america's leading work from home business so they know their stuff. so 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 part-time or full time, income at home.com, check them out. they're adding my listeners in record numbers. they're giving away $1,000 to somebody just for checking them out. that could be you today! visit incomeathome.com. that's incomeathome.com. so karl frisch this story caught my eye this morning. "national journal" reports that the mayor of tampa says we're going to have a big republican convention down here right after labor day. and you know, there could be some troubles here, protests around it. so i would like to have your permission to ban guns. just for one of the -- just while the convention is in town so people can't carry their concealed weapons in tampa during that week. the governor of florida said no. >> just another reason, you

know. by the way, let's think about tampa in august. first, just another reason not to go to tampa. i love florida. my mom's from south florida. but it is tampa and it is august. and there are going to be people walking around with their concealed weapons. how many reasons do they have to give us? it is mitt romney! >> bill: well there you go, right. wouldn't you think they would just say -- >> it makes no sense. you're talking about a week. it is a week. if you can go a week without your gun then you have either separation anxiety or you've got an eviction. we're here to help. this is your intervention. >> look how long you've gone without a cigarette. >> i have not said that on the air. >> really? >> yeah. >> friday it will be a month. >> bill: i just did. >> good for you! >> good for you. >> the other big news of the day is as i mentioned a little bit ert, david moranis is out with a new book a biography of

president obama and he has uncovered some steamy, steamy love letters. >> can you read these this early? on the radio? on television? >> bill: you know, stephanie would so why can't i? peter, i don't want you to get shocked. >> i'm just going to -- afraid the window might fog up. >> bill: like jimmy kimmel said to the president cover your ears if that's physically possible. but here's an excerpt from one letter. this is barack obama then student at columbia writing to alex mcnear. quote-unquote. >> i feel like we're about to be on delilah. >> remember how i said there is a certain kind of conservatism which i respect more than bourgeois liberalism? t. s. eliot is of this type. of course the dichotomy he maintains is reactionary but it is due to a deep fatalism, not ignorance. you seem surprised at eliot's

irricken syllable ambivalence. don't you share this ambivalence yourself, alex? >> lord have mercy. >> i believe i've come down with -- [ laughter ] >> i can only imagine what proposing to michelle was like. michelle, on a i'm in this position because i have an affection for you which reminds me of a piece of encyclopedia britannica i once read and it had to do with xylophones, it was in the x section. >> bill: michelle, i love you but i can't marry you until i know your feelings about t. s. eliot. his irirrecognize konsylable. >> this is an adult feature film. >> all i have to say is i'm sure barack obama did not leak these

letters to them. >> david moranis wrote one of my favorite clinton biographies head of his class. i think he won a pulitzer for it. he's very good. if this is the kind of detail he's getting, i'm interested to see what else these report. -- what else he has to report. >> bill: he has has a play on broadway about the great coach. his name i'm blanking on. >> lombardi. i just remembered the name of the coach. and i had no idea. i just pulled a coach out of my head. [ laughter ] >> bill: nice job. karl frisch, always fun to have you in studio. we'll see you on stephanie in a little bit. thanks for coming by. come by any time. i'll be back with today's parting shot. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." [ 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.

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: you bet. and on this thursday, may 3rd my parting shot for today, i don't know about you but i couldn't believe all of the media attention yesterday to newt gingrich finally finally finally dropping out of the g.o.p. presidential contest. i mean was he ever seriously in the race? look, from the very beginning of his campaign, newt's primary run was nothing but a string of serious embarrassments. who will ever forget his $500,000 revolving contract with tiffany's, his two-week greet cruise, one week after he had announced for president.

his plan to have public school kids, fifth graders become janitors in their public schools. his pledge to have run a positive campaign and then he called mitt romney a liar the next day. and then of course his call for building a colony on the moon and probably the highlight of his campaign, visiting a zoo and getting bitten on the finger by a penguin. of course, there was the time that newt gingrich told jake tapper there is no other way to read the polls. i will be the nominee. yeah. what a joke from beginning to end. his campaign was good for only one thing. entertainment! but you know, i still have to say i'm sorry that he won't be the republican party nominee. my parting shot for today. current tv's david shuster will be here tomorrow as a friend of bill and vickie desociety tee toe here from the university of texas. have a great time. come back and see us on the radio and tv again tomorrow.