[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: what do you say? hello, everybody. it is thursday, june 7th. this is the "full court press." welcome, welcome to the program this morning. i'm bill press. good to have you with us as we tackle the big issues of the day here in our nation's capital around this great country of ours and around the globe. lots to talk about this morning. this is getting a lot of attention up in massachusetts. a teenager has been thrown in jail for a year for texting while driving. he crosses the line, runs into

another car, kills that driver and the judge said it is important to send a lesson by throwing him in jail. i think the judge did absolutely the right thing. no texting while driving! gotta be an idiot to do that. we'll talk about that and a whole lot more. we start out by getting, as always, our current news update from our good friend out in los angeles, jacki schechner. good morning. >> good morning, bill. let's start this morning in syria where there are still unconfirmed reports of another massacre. activists report that progovernment forces have killed 78 people including children in the province of hama, this would be the second massacre in less than two weeks. secretary of state clinton is at a meeting in turkey. says a group of countries friendly to the syrian people are looking to tighten sanctions more. clinton is sending her special representative to syria to moscow today to see where the russians stand. russia and china have been

resistant to removing president bashar al-assad. russia wants to bring iran into the conversation. clinton not warm to the idea. british and french allies say no. after a packed day of fund raising in california, the president will attend another fund-raiser in los angeles then he heads to vegas where he'll give a speech to unlv. he will talk about his plan to stop student rates from doubling. they can't agree on how to pay the $6 billion tab. originally republicans passed a budgets that not allow for the rate increase -- that did allow for the rate increase but now republicans have different proposals on the table. one was to take money from the healthcare fund. president obama said no to that. now tear they want to take money from medicaid and from federal pensions. the president is vetoing that as well. if congress continues to -- if

congress continues, it could be up to 6.8 northwest july. we're back with bill press. stay with us. i'm a dramatist. 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 ] mayhem is everywhere. so get an allstate agent. are you in good hands?

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what makes hershey's s'mores special? pure chocolate goodness that brings people together. hershey's makes it a s'more... you make it special. pure hershey's. 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: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: hey i'm not depressed after wisconsin. i'm fired up and ready to go. hope you are too. what do you say? hello, everybody. it is thursday. can you believe it? this week just flying by. thursday, june 7. good morning to you. great to see you today. and welcome to the program. the "full court press" here on current tv. on sirius x.m. and on all of your great local progressive talk radio stations all across

the land from seattle to chicago to asheville north carolina and buffalo, new york and all those kind of places, great places in between. thank you for joining us today. we're coming to you live from our nation's capital. you'll find us perched here on capitol hill. just down the street from the united states capitol building and six metro stops away from the white house. we've got it covered here in our nation's capital. we've got our eye on what's happening around the country and around the globe. still repercussions from the loss of tom barrett -- sad loss of tom barrett on tuesday in wisconsin. a big -- another suicide bombing in afghanistan plus a nato strike in afghanistan. got a lot of people talking here in washington, d.c. republicans repeating yesterday their broken record cry for extending the bush tax cuts as the only way to help this economy and to create jobs.

we saw what that did for eight years under george w. bush. wherever it is happening we've got it covered. we invite your calls to sound off on the issues of the day at 1-866-55-press. here to assist me bringing you the stories of the day, peter ogborn, team leader. >> hi, there. >> bill: with stevie lee webb. this is your last day on the job with us. dan's back tomorrow. >> it is. they've let him out of animal control. >> bill: out of the drunk tank in berlin. >> it has been fun. >> bill: particularly good to have you here for the jubilee week. that was important. % we say good morning to cyprian bowlding, our videographer who gets a wave. peter, i'm sure you're going to

tell us about the spurs a little bit later? >> don't even talk to me right now. it was a rough night. >> bill: you should have asked me whether you would bet on the thunder or the spurs. >> the spurs were blowing the thunder away at halftime. they were up by like 18 points. and i said all right well, this seems to be the spurs we were looking for. i'm glad they're back in fighting form. i went away from the game. >> bill: that's what happens. when the fans desert them at halftime, they lose hard. say, how about that obama man. he's on top of it. we all know, of course everybody knows that the hottest song of summer, the karly rae jepsen song, "call me maybe." >> thank you for letting me borrow your copy. >> bill: i've got it on my iphone.

♪ so call me maybe ♪ >> bill: what we know now is she doesn't have the hottest version of the song. the hottest version is by barack. ♪ hey, i just met you and this is crazy ♪ ♪ but here's my number ♪ ♪ so call me, maybe ♪ ♪ it's hard to look right ♪ here's my number ♪ ♪ so call me maybe ♪ >> bill: that's a classic video. it is so good. it pops from one word here one word there from obama speeches put together by a 19-year-old. >> a 19-year-old kid. >> it has gone crazy virally. it is very, very clever. >> bill: just google obama call me maybe. >> this will be more popular than the carlie rae jepsen song. >> bill: we'll put it on billpressshow.com.

come on, stevie, what's taking you so long? >> okay, skippers. >> bill: big day with dade jackson from "usa today" about accusations by democrats republicans and democrats on capitol hill that the white house is leaking to "the new york times." and i'll talk to the press secretary of the democratic national committee and what about president obama. is he making a mistake to a big dinner with sarah jessica parker? but first... >> this is the "full court press." >> yes, indeed here's what's making news. is that amendment fever in your pocket or happy to see me? an excavation is underway in oskaloosa after the discovery of a mammoth bones. first were discovered in july of 2010 by a man and his two teenage sons when they were walking in the woods looking for blackberries. one of his sons pointed out a

ball down in the creek below. turned out it was not a ball. it was a mammoth femur. despite discovering the bones two years ago, they were brought to the university of iowa for identification. only last month, the university of iowa museum of natural history has confirmed it. >> bill: did you see the guy carrying the femur? it is gigantic. >> yeah. bill, pop quiz. is ritalin a town in norway, a bed sold by furniture chain ikea or something that sounds uncomfortably close to getting to third base in thailand? bill ritalin is a drug. >> it is ardalin. the answer is all three. as ikea expands to discovering those hard to pronounce names on their products can have other meanings and that spells trouble in other languages. they launched a new superstore in thailand and the name have

raised eyebrows. i mentioned the radalin bed which translates to getting to third base. and the plant pot which can sound like a crude term for sex. >> bill: i don't think this is an accident that that's what they named the bed. >> that's a good point. nbc is rebooting the munsters and they just revealed who will play patriarch, herman munster. it will be jerry o'connell. he was once married to model rebecca romijn. he is married to rebecca romijn. the show will be called mockingbird lane. it will feature eddie as grandpa munster and it will be seen on nbc. >> bill: when is it coming back? >> who knows. i don't like these bastardizations of it shows. it bothers me. >> bill: it's gone. enough already. no reruns. let's get into the politics of the day.

i gotta tell you i'm really bummed and kind of turned off by what we hear -- what i heard yesterday from both republicans and also from democrats regarding president obama. and let's start with the republicans. so i'm in the car and i just had this -- i can't shake the habit if i'm in the car. it is the only time i listen to right wing talk radio. i figure let's find out what the other side is saying. so i listen -- happened to be sean hannity time. listening here in washington, d.c. on wmal. so there is hannity so is so upset on the rampage on the warpath against president obama. of course, it is what his show is every day on radio and on television. and in this case, he's going after obama because president obama is scheduling a fund-raising dinner in new york city with actress sarah jessica

parker. and sarah jessica parker has put out a little video. maybe you've seen it. this is another one of those cases where, like the dinner at george clooney's house, they have dinner at a celebrity's house and auction off two tickets if you just pay $3 to the obama campaign, you are eligible for the drawing and you may win two tickets to sarah jessica parker's house. here she is. >> okay. the guy who ended the war in iraq, the guy who says you should be able to marry anyone you want and the guy who created four million new jobs, that guy president obama and michelle are coming to my house for dinner on june 14th. and i want you to be there, too. but you have to go to joinobama.com for your chance to win and the contest ends tomorrow night. go right here right now because we need him and he needs us. >> i'm barack obama and i approve this message.

>> bill: i mean what's wrong with that? what's wrong with that? sarah jessica parker is a great actress. seen her on broadway. we've all seen her in "sex and the city." a little personal note here, when i was running for office in california 100 years ago chad lowe and his brother put together a little group -- a group of young actors and actresses who supported me. used to come to a lot of my different events. one of them was sarah jessica parker. i've known her a long time. she's great. of course, she supports the president. she's having an event at her house. she's cosponsoring that with the editor of "vogue" and winter. >> hi, i'm anna winter. i'm so lucky in my work that i'm able to meet some of the most incredible women in the world. women like sarah jessica parker and michelle obama. >> bill: you get the drift. these things are out there. they're asking people -- the right-wingers are going nuts

over this. they -- all president obama is hash he hangs out with celebrities. oh, my god, we're at war in afghanistan. he's going to dinner with sarah jessica parker. by the way, did you know that john bon jovi rode on air force i to new york with the president. oh bfd. he was performing at the waldorf astoria at the president's fund-raiser earlier this week. so he got a ride up on the plane with the president. this is the same thing remember, that john mccain tried to do in 2008. obama's nothing but a rock star. rock stars give speeches gets big crowds. he's a celebrity, he's not a man of substance at all duh. it is just like penis envy on part of these guys. it is nonsense. if it that's the best they've got. as equally upset your comment on that is welcome at

1-866-55-press. equally upset about what i'm hearing from democrats these days. here is a headline on "huffington post." "huffington post" is supposed to be the nbc of the -- the msnbcú of the blogs. it is the left-leaning blog. it is where we progressives go as the alternative to the drudge report. that's what it is supposed to be. here is a headline on "huffington post" today. obama and democrats face a cool june. oh, yeah. times are so -- obama has hit rock bottom, this article says. i mean and here's what they add up. the jobs report only 69,000 jobs. losing in wisconsin. the supreme court is going to rule on healthcare before the end of the month. that's going to be a disaster. the race is close in arizona on gaby giffords congressional seat. and to go on and on about all of

the bad news facing barack obama and basically saying it is all over for obama. there's no way he can get re-elected. this is the huffington for god's sake! you expect that on fox news. you hear it every day on fox news. what's wrong with democrats who get so easily get so depressed? look it wasn't jobs report. don't easily get so depressed. as we pointed out, average is still about 160,000 jobs a month. that's a hell of a lot more than george bush who had 11,000 jobs a month when he was president and lost eight million jobs four million under the tax cuts and four million during the recession. so you know, you put that in perspective, yeah, we lost wisconsin. tom barrett was outspent eight to one and the polls show that barack obama is ahead of mitt romney in wisconsin by 17 points.

by the way maybe they didn't realize that this week, president obama scored another coup. in terms of national security. by taking out the number two leader of al-qaeda. so all i'm saying is this is no time for democrats to throw in the towel! it is no time for democrats to say oh, it's all over! i mean if it is by the way not maybe -- if there's some bad news, this is the time to have it in june and not in october. but the other thing, obama's got a damn good record. he's got a record he can be proud of. a record to run on. a record to win on. let's not forget his opponent is mitt romney who's got a lousy record at bain capital and a lousy record as governor of massachusetts and is a lousy candidate. your comments welcome on either one. 1-866-55-press. politics 2012 and how the race

is shaping up at 1-866-55-press. nothing wrong with president obama hanging out with any celebrity he can. yesterday he was with willie mayes. anything that will help him win re-election, anybody, okay with me. the other thing is come on democrats, buck up, buttercup! don't give up! it is june! dig down! double down. don't get depressed. i'm not depressed. 1-866-55-press. president obama's going to get re-elected. easily! over mitt romney. 1-866-55-press. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on radio and on current tv. don't miss this week's

"the gavin newsom show" with special guest: hollywood icon oliver stone. >> i'm not an activist, i'm outspoken. i'm a dramatist.

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?ñ?ñ1c it's go time! >>every weeknight cenk uygur calls out the mainstream media. >>the guys in the middle-class the guys at the lower-end got screwed again! i think you know which one we're talking about. >>overwhelming majority of the county says: "tax the rich don't go to war." i just wanted to clarify.

>> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: hey, who says that congress can't get anything done on a bipartisan matter? i just want to point out that yesterday there was a new caucus announced and created in congress. the cochairs are democrat john kerry and republican scott brown both from massachusetts. this, of course is the new cranberry caucus. no, i kid you not. yes, they're out there. the lowly cranberry and standing up for cranberry juice which by the way has more sugar than soda does. they want to make sure that michael bloomberg doesn't make

it impossible to buy -- somebody has to stand up for the cranberry. even cranberries deserve representation, too. what's going on with the democrats? some of them ready to throw in the towel. arnold, our rowing ambassador down in little rock, arkansas. how are you, man? >> caller: hey, bill, how you doing, brother? >> bill: i'm doing good. what's happening? >> caller: i was a little bit down. but i'm above the ground breathing air. they can't stop me. >> bill: yeah! you gotta bounce back. >> caller: if the democrats would take time and arm themselves -- they got a bad case of not being able to get the message across to the american people. it is either too long or too short. what's wrong with barack obama going out with celebrities? i would rather see my president

hanging out with the celebrities. come on now. they make mitt romney look like a stiff poster. >> bill: you know what? it is a little penis envy. mitt romney would be happy to hang out with sarah jessica parker. she wouldn't want anything to do with him. >> bill: tim in detroit. >> i would pay $3 to have a meal with mitt romney. >> bill: i would pay a lot more than that. >> caller: it seems like the problem with the democrats is they don't play by the same rules that the republicans play when it comes to politics. >> bill: you got that right. >> caller: the rules in politics are -- there are no rules. that's the way the republicans play. they go for the throat all the time. they're constantly -- they put down everything barack obama does. >> bill: yep. you're right. and they go -- you're right they go for the jugular every time. that's what we've got to do.

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." street. >>the leadership of high finance just doesn't get it. >>(narrator) the former governor of new york, eliot spitzer is on current tv. >>somebody somewhere can listen, record, track, gather this data. >>arrangements were made. >>(narrator) independent unflinching. >>there is a wild west quality to it that permits them to do whatever they wish. >>(narrator) and above all politically direct. >>facts are stubborn things. really? no. it comes with a hat. see, airline credit cards promise flights for 25,000 miles, but... [ man ] there's never any seats for 25,000 miles. frustrating, isn't it? but that won't happen with the capital one venture card. you can book any airline, anytime. hey, i just said that. after all, isn't traveling hard enough? ow! [ male announcer ] to get the flights you want, sign up for a venture card at

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>>join the movement to help prevent teen driving deaths at facebook.com/save11 >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: hey, it is 33 minutes after the hour here on thursday, june 7th. getting closer and closer and closer and closer to our big day in chicago on saturday this coming saturday. june 9. hope to see you there at darien illinois, at the frugal muse bookstore. you can find out exactly where it is by going to billpressshow.com or to write directly to wcpt.com up in chicago, our great progressive

talk station there. we'll be there from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. saturday afternoon at the bookstore. signing copies of "the obama hate machine." you can get your own signed copy if you're not in the chicago area from billpressshow.com. but if you're anywhere in northern illinois, come on by on saturday afternoon and say hello, all of you watchers on current tv and all of you listeners on wcpt. it would be great to see you. we've been talking about some democrats ready to throw in the towel after wisconsin saying oh this is the worst time possible for barack obama during the break, i just noticed it was just announced that the obama campaign raised $60 million during the month of may. so there are hardly -- they're hardly stalled in place in this campaign. meanwhile, president is on the road again, speak about campaigning, raise money on the west coast and off to las vegas today to talk jobs again. keeping track of the president's

whereabouts in washington on the road for "usa today." david jackson. hey, dade, good morning. >> good morning, bill. >> bill: so the president sort of kept his distance from wisconsin, didn't he? >> sure did. he went there in february. they were all excited wondering if he was going to get involved. but he never went back and never talked about it much. in fact, i don't remember him -- i know he didn't talk about it on his own. they kept their distance as did mitt romney. neither one of the national candidates were too crazy about getting involved in wisconsin because the downsides -- >> bill: you may remember last week at the briefing, i asked jay carney whether the president planned to endorse tom barrett and jay carney said he didn't know. later that day by the time i got home, i had an e-mail from jay carney saying yes the president did, in fact, endorse tom barrett and then he put this footnote on the e-mail. bill, did you really not know

this? i'm not the only one who didn't know it, right? >> it was well hidden. a lot of people got chuckles out of the fact the president did tweet out. late monday. so yeah. they haven't gone out of their way to talk about the wisconsin recall, how about that. let's put it that way. >> bill: which means they probably saw like up in massachusetts, they wanted it to go one way. they weren't sure it wouldn't. they didn't want to be blamed for the fall. >> it was very similar now that i think back on it. in the days leading up to wisconsin, no one was confident barrett was going to win. they were looking at the same information and they didn't see it happening. >> bill: just like coakley in wisconsin. big story of the day, there have been two stories in "the new york times" recently about national security issues. one is that there is a kill list that the president personally approves for drone strikes. secondly, that the united states has been conducting basically

cyberwarfare against iran's nuclear program using this -- what's called the stucks net. is it a virus or a worm? >> cyberattack to dislodge iran's nuclear program. the computer systems that would run the nuclear plants that people in the west are so concerned about. >> bill: the idea of cyberwarfare, this is pretty revolutionary stuff, right? the question is how is "the new york times" getting the information. john mccain says the white house is deliberately leaking it to make him look tough. >> no, i don't think so. it all comes from a new book by david sanger, chief washington correspondent for "the new york times." if you'll recall right before obama took office, he wrote a book called "the inheritance" which talked about all of the foreign policy challenges he was going to face coming out of the bush years. basically, he's been working on a sequel. the book is called confront and conceal, obama's surprising wars

and use of american power. david has been working this for months and months and years and years. he found out about our cyberattacks on iran. it is the centerpiece of the book. he also did reporting for his own newspaper, hints the story last week that it came from book research. i don't think the obama administration leaked it to him. they may have helped him because in the interview, they wanted to make sure he got the story right so there was probably some help from the administration. but i think dade found it on his own. he's been around for years. he knows a lot of people in the intelligence world, too, which is really the key to a lot of the stories that a lot of us don't know. there are only a handful of reporters in washington who have good intelligence sources and he's one of them. i want to add too bill, dan clydeman has a book out i think it is called kill or capture. he talks about the kill list in his book as well.

>> bill: oh, really. may be the source of both of these stories. >> would not shock me. certainly in terms of the kill list, i think they're talking to the same people. clydeman and sanger books are the real reasons for the stories popping up. it is not leaking from the obama administration. >> bill: i'm fascinated by this stuck net story. the report they're asked president obama what keeps him awake at night. he said cybersecurity which threw me because i hadn't ever thought about that. he was talking about cyberattack on our computer systems or security systems. but now it turns around like we're using that same technology, right, to go after the iranians. if the story is true and nobody really denies it is true. they talked about how it leaked. again, that's pretty bold, far-reaching stuff. we're way out in front on this stuff. >> very much so. >> bill: is it working? >> there are all sorts of stuff going on with the u.s. and iran

that would be pretty hair-raising. don't forget some iranian scientists have been killed in recent years. you gotta wonder -- the death rate for iranian nuclear scientists is shockingly high. i don't think it is from natural causes, let's put it that way. i'm sure that -- >> bill: they all got the same virus. >> i'm sure there is a lot of stuff going on between u.s. and iran. after reviewing sanger's book, thomas ricks used to be national defense correspondent for "the washington post" wonders are we at war with iran? is there is a shadow going on? you have to wonder given the revelations. >> bill: well, in both cases and so -- this is really kind of new frontier stuff it seems to me. and maybe the technology -- cases where the technology is way ahead of the legality or morality.

if the unmanned drones and cyberwarfare -- this totally changes the whole picture of national defense. doesn't it? >> technology definitely -- there are some people who understand it. there's evidence that they're using it. yeah, it is a very scary thing. i'm glad you reminded me about that obama comment. early on when he was briefed by the national security people after he got elected, i started hearing about cyberterrorism. it has been a real concern from a lot of people in the intelligence community for years and years. it is interesting one of the stories that we're apparently doing cyberattacks on iran. i'm sure we're the targets of similar attacks from other people. >> bill: david jackson our guest. he covers the white house for "usa today." and see him often, almost every day except when the president is on the road. you can follow him. it is usatoday.com and your twitter handle is at dj

usatoday.com. so how did the white house fair with last friday's jobs report, do you think? it certainly was not what people expected and not what we need. how bad of a blow to the white house? >> i think there was a lot of anxiety in the white house over a lot of things, the jobs report, the wisconsin thing the general mood of the electorate has them a little concerned about the election. i think they've been surprised at how well the republicans have rallied around mitt romney. at one time, obama people thought romney could be easy meat. right now romney is looking strong. i thought it has caught some of the obamaites by surprise. >> bill: it is surprising you don't hear the criticism of romney from the conservative and from the tea parties that they would warm up to him.

they may not love him but at the same time here in the last two days, you've got both larry summers and bill clinton saying things that sounded like they were saying the bush tax cuts ought to be extended then they turned around said no, that's not what we meant. we really do agree with obama on this. there's no split between us. maybe it is just democrats being democrats. >> that's part of it. it has been very interesting the last couple of days. a lot of rigamarole and the white house and the media about what clinton and then summers said. basically, what clinton said and i think what summers said is we may have to temporarily extend the bush tax cuts while negotiate a long-term deal. the republicans saying that's exactly what we think. we should temporarily extend the tax cuts in the new tax reform. republicans are pushing this story. and then given that, clinton and summers have both said we don't mean that. we're on the same page with the

president. it is all very confusing because as you know, this whole tax cut is due to expire at the end of the year has been the biggest ones. it is slippery language on all sides. my interpretation is we may have an extension of the tax cuts because of the condition of the economy. obama is saying no, we should deal with it right now. >> bill: that seemed to be what they were saying. i think that is what they said the first time around. a temporary extension -- temporary, keyword, of all keyword, tax cuts. that's what i read. clinton. that's not what obama is saying. it keeps people like you and me busy trying to figure out what the hell they're saying. >> it is june. if there is any difference, there is not that much of a difference. it will get worked out after the election one way or another. >> bill: david enjoy it. we'll see you -- not today at the white house.

>> not today. >> enjoy your trip to chicago. >> bill: david jackson from "usa today," usatoday.com. continue our conversations. it is a lull. what gets me is again led by "huffington post" talking about oh, god, this is the end of the world for barack obama. after the jobs report in wisconsin. it is all over. come on! a little discipline on the part of democrats and a little fight. that's what we need! >> announcer: radio meets television, the "bill press show" now on current tv. >> 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.

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don't miss this week's "the gavin newsom show" with special guest: hollywood icon oliver stone. >> i'm not an activist, i'm outspoken. i'm a dramatist.

>> announcer: on your radio, on tv the "bill press show." new on current tv. >> bill: hey, how about it. 11 minutes before the top of the hour. couple of other things we wanted to mention. i can't believe by the way, how much reaction on the right wing blogs we've been getting to my comments a couple of days ago about the national anthem. everywhere i go, i was at a cocktail reception last night and this guy came up and said to me so are you going to sing the national anthem before we start? and what would you say stevie, how many e-mails have we received? >> i don't know. >> bill: 5,000? >> at least! >> bill: it is just ridiculous. >> a lot of places that people recommend that you move to. >> bill: that have better

national anthems. >> kazakhstan. >> bill: they have a great national anthem. borat. but the point of it is -- even you know fishbowl d.c. did a big story yesterday about this. i'll read you more of the e-mails in the next segment just before the end of the hour. you know, it was triggered -- the comments, right triggered by the "60 minutes" poll saying that bruce springsteen, most americans said bruce string stein should be the one to write the national anthem. that got me thinking most americans think we need a new national anthem. and my suggestions peter, were god bless america, america the beautiful, my country 'tis of thee. i wasn't suggesting replacing it

with the national anthem of cuba. they're calling me un-american. >> it was a weird sort of -- >> bill: don't like the star-spangled banner. i don't like it. i think it is a dumb, stupid, unsingable song. >> they thought that you were saying we don't need a national anthem. forget it. >> bill: i suggested several great songs. >> exactly. >> bill: we played them. >> we did. >> bill: it is kind of silly the whole thing. here is another story i was interested in. up in massachusetts, a teenager in massachusetts is the first person ever convicted of causing a traffic death vehicular manslaughter, in other words while texting. he was texting while driving 17 -- 18 years old. and he crossed the line. ran head on into another car and that driver was killed and this teenager is in jail for a year

texting while driving. but do you know ray lahood has been saying don't text while driving. do you think this is too severe? i don't. i don't. i think it is causing another man's death, not intentionally but you have to know better than to take your eyes off the road for the amount of time it takes to text. i find myself texting more and more but i would never try to text while driving. >> you have to be insane and are you not as good as you think are you if you think that you can text and drive, i promise you you're not as good at that as you think are you. there's no way you can read something on your phone and pay attention to driving. >> bill: plus, you've gotta have at least one hand on your phone. if not both thumbs on your phone and so your hands are not on the wheel. your eyes are not on the road. what do you think -- what the hell do you think is going to happen? no. i'm glad the judge did this.

maybe this will help ray lahood get the message across. no texting while driving! i know there are laws against it in most states but until you have penalties like this people aren't going to pay attention to the laws. we'll come back and let you know what some idiots think about my comments my very intelligent comments about the national anthem. >> announcer: radio meets television, the "bill press show." now on current tv.

weeknights on current tv.

>> 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: all right. hey, i must admit i have never laughed so hard in my life as i have reading some of these e-mails. so this one from got chul. it is always good when a lying liberal loser exposes himself for the true amoeba brain he is. you've done an excellent job turning former democrats into conservatives. we have a liar and hypocrite as president. millions like you are following the incompetent fraud off a cliff. too bad you weren't one of the people jumping out of the twin towers on 9-11. >> oh wow. >> quick wearing your burka in the closet and have the balls to wear it in public. >> i haven't seen you wear your burka in public. nobody wants to see you. >> bill: al says i'm glad to

know that -- sir, are you an unpatriotic moron. >> at least he said "sir." >> bill: i'm so glad to know that after november 6th you and your buddy can sit under a tree and read or maybe go rewrite the national anthem of kenya. >> whoa! i like go sit and read. >> bill: ron wright says you make me sick. do the country a favor and leave the country. go write your anthem in another country and stay there. you're not an american. frank sadler jr. these guys -- they put their names on this hateful stuff. bill press, you are a douche bag. plain and simple. >> nice. >> bill: pack your bags and get out of the country. if you don't like it. yeah. that's it. well, barack obama and i we're going to go write the new national anthem for kenya. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hey, good morning everybody. it is thursday june 7th. good to see you today. welcome to the program. the "full court press" here on current tv. so good to see you today. we've got a lot to talk about this thursday morning. and we'll cover the news from our nation's capital, around the country and around the globe. and who says there's no war on women? get this. there was a bill in the senate this week to provide women equal pay for the same work done by

men. equal pay for equal work. pretty easy, huh? no, no no. republicans, all republicans stood up and opposed it. the war on women. the republican war on women continues. we'll get into that and a whole lot more. we start out with the latest. today's current news update out in los angeles standing by, here is jacki schechner. good morning jacki. >> good morning, bill. new numbers out from the obama campaign this morning together with the dnc raised a total of $60 million in may. most of that money came from small donors with the 98% donations averaging less than $250. the average donation was under $55. the president's expected to bring in another $15 million during his two-day fund-raising swing happening right now in california and nevada. yesterday, the president attended two events in san francisco and another two here in los angeles. the lgbt community organized both of the fund-raisers in l.a.

one at the private home of glee creator ryan murphy and this one, at the beverly wilshire where supporters gave the president a standing ovation chanting four more years. the "l.a. times" is calling a who's who. ellen degeneres cher and her son chaz and current tv's own stephanie miller were in attendance. back in d.c., james clapper the director of national intelligence is heading up to capitol hill this morning to meet with members of the house and senate intelligence committees to talk about tightening up the process of investigating leaks. senators john mccain and dianne feinstein have been leading the charge after a couple of stories appeared last week. one in "the new york times" detailing president obama's personal involvement in having a drone attack kill list. another about a cyberweaponry program that the u.s. used against iranian nuclear facilities. in addition to the meeting with clapper, the congressional intelligence committees plan to hold hearings on the issues of leaks and draw up new

legislation. we're on line. join us in chat, current.com/billpress. we'll see you there. as a culinary manager i make sure our guests have an over the top experience. being hands on is key! i make sure every plate looks just right. [ male announcer ] don't miss red lobster's four course seafood feast, just $14.99. start with soup, salad and unlimited cheddar bay biscuits followed by your choice of one of 7 entrees. like new coconut and pineapple shrimp or shrimp and scallops alfredo. then finish with something sweet. all four courses just $14.99. [ reza ] it's so much food for such a good value.

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right? [ laughter ] >> 46 minutes after the hour, right back on the "stephanie miller show."

>> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: i'm black and blue today. still hurting after being attacked by sean hannity on fox news last night. hey, peter is sean hannity still on television? >> i had no idea. i guess he is. >> bill: does anybody still listen to that loser? is he still trying to be rush limbaugh when he grows up? >> sweet sean hannity. >> bill: yeah, right.

hey, sean hannity, you don't know what you're talking about on most issues and certainly on this one you don't. hello, everybody. otherwise we're in a good mood this morning. good morning and welcome to the "full court press" here on your local progressive talk radio station and on current tv. across this great land of ours. this is the place we all come together to talk about the issues of the day and interview and talk to some of the best guests that we can round up for you. those who really make news here in our nation's capital and around the country. henry cueller, congressman from texas, our leadoff guest today. very excited to have him in the studio. i'm excited to have all of you there. remember, you're part of the show. we want to hear what your take is on these issues of the day. you do that -- you tell us by giving us a call at 1-866-55-press.

in studio with us helping to ride the bus or drive the truck -- >> drive it straight into a wall. >> bill: drive the car into the ditch. peter ogborn. >> good morning, sir. >> bill: stevie lee webb. >> good morning. peter, stop texting while producing. >> bill: that's right. don't text while producing. not allowed to do that. cyprian bolding is our video engineer bringing you the video of our show. i love particularly the shot over the back of peter's head so we can see his bald spot. >> how dare you! this is not a bald spot. i have very fair hair. it is not bald. >> it is a sign of the panel for a sex machine. >> it is not a bald spot. i just want to be clear. >> bill: it just looks like one on television. last night, i know peter you're dragging because you stayed up late watching the country music awards. >> oh, yeah, sure. >> bill: the big issue there

was they couldn't decide who should be the host of the country music awards. either toby keith or the actress kristen bell so they asked a couple of people to weigh in and help them make the selection. first we go to a guy named barack. >> i want the vote. >> i thought the presidential election was a tough race but it's nothing compared to the country music awards. i propose toby and kristen cohost the show. see, i just put two people back to work. >> bill: you know it's the low moment of the political campaign when the president of the united states and the republican nominee mitt romney both have time to do a video for the

country music awards. >> you remember last election cycle? pretty pathetic. they all did one for the professional wrestling circuit too. john mccain, hillary and obama ought to do something for the professional wrestling circuit. it sort of scares me. >> bill: it gets a little silly. congressman henry cueller from texas will be joining us. we're going to talk paycheck fairness with elizabeth -- i'm sorry, with jenn benderey from "huffington post." we'll kick off this hour with melanie roussel, press secretary for the democratic committee. >> bill, here's what's making news. in myrtle beach, teen high school graduation on saturday was ruined when her excited mom was arrested for cheering. although parents were reportedly warned that they would be asked to leave the auditorium when the ceremony was held, that they applauded, cooper disagreed with the policy. >> bill: wait a minute. the kid is graduating from high school? >> they want to keep it moving. keep everybody moving.

no slowdown. when her daughter aisha crossed the stage, cooper said she got up, yeah my baby made it. that's when police handcuffed her, escorted her to a van outside of the venue and charged her with disorderly conduct. she and her daughter others were cheering and avoid protests. >> bill: that's crazy. >> we'll see what happens. >> bill: daughter's graduation. >> everything is made in china including austrian villages. a $940 million chinese clone of one of us austria's post picturesque villages recently opened its doors to visitors in the southern chinese province of of -- it sparked outrage among villagers who weren't aware of their attempt to copy their centuries old home. they said it was unacceptable. >> bill: they should take a

chinese village and put it in austria. >> you're such a dip he will matt. what a great idea. from the sports desk, bill, as you just mentioned the end of the line for the san antonio spurs after a record-breaking 20-game winning streak, they ran into a brick wall that is the oklahoma city thunder. they came back from a deficit to win four straight games to eliminate the spurs from the nba playoffs. final score was 107-99 with durant leading the way. they will face the winner of the miami heat/boston celtics series which resumes tonight. >> bill: that's tonight? >> if the celtics win tonight, it will be oklahoma city/boston celtics finals. >> bill: sorry about the spurs but you should have asked me first. what do i know? >> it is a rough loss. >> bill: yes indeed. "the huffington post" out today with an unusual story. the headline is -- obama and

democrats face a cruel june. are things really as bad as some prognosticators are saying? we want to check in with melanie roussel, the press circumstance for the democratic national committee. melanie, good to have you with us this morning. >> hey, good morning bill. thanks for having me. >> bill: all right. usually to is brad woodhouse who is in studio with us this morning bringing the news from the dnc but it is good to have you with us. >> i saw last time he did a little dance for you. >> bill: you know, you never know about brad, right? he's pretty wild. even early in the morning he is. >> even early in the morning. >> bill: all right. so what's the take on wisconsin? i noticed that the republican national chair was right there with scott walker tuesday night in wisconsin. chairman debra wasserman schultz was not there with tom barrett.

did the dnc kind of run away from wisconsin as some people are claiming? >> not at all. that's also ryan's state. he has an interest in wisconsin obviously. >> bill: he's republican state chair. >> exactly. exactly. not at all. the chairwoman was there, campaigning with mayor barrett. she hosted a fund-raiser for mayor barrett in racine, i believe it was in racine wisconsin. she campaigned with him in racine. the dnc spent nearly $1.5 million to the state. in addition to that, between dnc and infrastructure investments of staff offices, volunteers, we contributed to mayor barrett we had over 40 offices and 100 staff engaging volunteers and coordinating the get out the vote effort. we were on the ground. really contributing to this

effort. but, as you know bill, this contest came down to scott walker outspent mayor barrett $31 million to $4 million spending gap. despite that, we are coming out of it with a stronger democratic organization, more engaged supporters and volunteers and we look forward to galvanizing that operation, heading into november. and continue to energize democrats across the state. i want to make clear that $31 million, that scott walker was able to raise, he had months to do it. he was able to raise unlimited funds. the koch brothers themselves donated more money to scott walker than tom barrett was able to raise even with dnc and other outside fund-raising efforts on mayor barrett's behalf. >> bill: right. one of the factors -- and the main factor, i agree with you in wisconsin was the money particularly the special interest money.

koch brothers, foster friess sheldon adelson, all of the names we've gotten to know with the super pacs. they poured it into uistic larly after the republican primary quieted down. there is concern on the part of democrats that that super pac money, of course, is going to be there in a great big way in this presidential election. will president obama have the resources to compete with that kind of super pac money in november? >> well, it's absolutely an issue. that's why, you know we've been spending a lot of time raising money this time around. but very we have the organizing strength. in wisconsin, if you look at the power of the progressive grassroots tradition, we'll get people out to vote and right now, the president is beating romney in wisconsin by 9 points, 52% to 43%. he's maintained a leg ahead of him in the polls.

this entire time. and we always knew this was going to be a tough race. it was a close election. we're building the largest grassroots campaign in american history. also today, i can say the president announced -- the campaign announced, i should say that in the month of may we raised $60 million between the dnc and lsa and 98% of the money we raised has come from donors who are giving less than $250. average donation is right at about $55. this is a totally grassroots campaign. and you know the president is going to be going state by state, city by city to talk to the american people, our staff and volunteers are going block by block, house by house. that's what this race is going to come down to. we're going to win in november. if we run a state-based campaign. bill, what we really need from you is talk about where the

outside money is coming from. we need your listeners to know who is funding the special interests on the other side. you know. what are the koch brothers interested in and what is mitt romney going to do for them? we can probably all agree that he's going to hold them back. you know, when this is all said and done. they are paying for something. >> bill: i tell you one thing you don't have to encourage us anymore than we already do to talk about where the special interest money is coming from. >> right, i know you do. >> bill: i wrote a book about the koch brothers called "the obama hate machine." it is important to know. important to know from you and hear from you that $60 million in may is huge. that the president's going to have the resources in addition to the grassroots campaign to be competitive on television. mitt romney, of course, is out there, basically, his pitch is -- i'm a businessman.

i know what to do about the economy. and president obama doesn't. here is romney melanie. we're talking with melanie roussel, press secretary for the dnc. you can follow her on twitter at melaniednc. here's romney on the trail yesterday, melanie. >> we have a president today who doesn't really understand the fundamentals of what makes an american economy go. >> bill: basically romney's pitch is he's a nice guy but he's in over his head. he says that about obama of course. >> right. >> bill: what's the dnc say back? >> well, if you look at how romney economics work in massachusetts, it didn't work. we don't think it is going to work now. what's happened is as we've talked about mitt romney as governor of massachusetts, the romney campaign is having a tough time and is really using a double standard in how they want mitt romney's massachusetts record to be judged but how they

are judging the president's record. just this week ed gillespie senior advisor on fox news sunday said you know, we really -- it is not fair to look at mitt romney's full four years in office. his first year was really bad and it dilutes the success he had in his last year. and then on cnn this week, kerry healey said it should be viewed as a progression. looking at one number that's 47th out of 50th in job creation isn't really a fair judge. eric barn strom said mitt romney inherited a bad economy. in massachusetts. which is ironic! it is a double standard that they want to be judged by. if you look at the facts on what mitt romney walked into, he inherited a much stronger economy, one that suffered a much shallower recession. it lasted eight months and ended a year before mitt romney took office.

the president inherited an economy that was in the middle of an 18-month recession the longest since the great depression. it lasted until june of 2009. we lost more than 800,000 jobs the first month he took office. despite that, we've had 27 months of job growth. certainly the economy has grown slower than we would have liked. but romney economics didn't work in massachusetts. he plummeted to 47th out of 50th. if you look at where the state is since he left -- four years after he left, it has jumped to 11th in job creation after romney is out of office. >> bill: no wonder they don't want to talk about his record and no wonder he doesn't talk about it much on the campaign trail at all. so listen, melanie, we're glad to be partners here getting the message out. appreciate very much your time this morning. say hello to brad. >> i sure will. >> bill: love to welcome you into the studio here one of the

mornings. we're right here on capitol hill. easy to find. thanks, melanie. >> absolutely. thanks so much for having me. >> bill: melanie roussel national press serkts for the dnc. democrats.org is the web site. the battle, certainly joined now that we with know it is romney the nominee up against president obama. working hard out on the road today, raising more money for his re-election campaign. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." don't miss this week's "the gavin newsom show" with special guest: hollywood icon oliver stone. >> i'm not an activist, i'm outspoken. i'm a dramatist.

it's go time! >>every weeknight cenk uygur calls out the mainstream media. >>the guys in the middle-class the guys at the lower-end got screwed again! i think you know which one we're talking about. >>overwhelming majority of the county says: "tax the rich don't go to war." i just wanted to clarify.

>> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current it this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 26 minutes after the hour. elizabeth rose from the campaign for america's future joins us in the next segment. building quickly on what melanie said politico reporting this morning indeed the president and dnc raised over $60 million in may. mitt romney and the rnc raised $40 million. that's a big jump for obama over the $43 million they raised in april. and by the way, that includes the 60 million donations from 572,000 people and 147,000 first-time donors. the average contribution, $54.94. renaldo is calling from chicago. hey, what's going on? >> caller: i gotta be quick. i was told i only had a minute. what i don't understand with the left is you keep bringing up how much money scott walker raised.

i don't agree with mr. barrett. i think it took a lot of guts for him to run for governor, knowing what he was up against. i think the left or the democrats should be steering frustration toward obama who didn't even bother to support him, only by a tweet. now i mean, that's frustration if i was a democrat and also the union. he supposedly said he was an ally to the union. he couldn't even bother to fly into wisconsin or joe biden or anybody else but bill clinton had the guts to step up to the plate. >> bill: well, renaldo all i can say is two things, thanks for your call and i agree with you wholeheartedly. i think joe biden or president obama should have been there on the ground in wisconsin. i think it could have made a difference but i simply think even win or lose, it means you stand up for your team. you stand up for your guy and you fight the good fight. if you don't fight the good fight, of course you're not going to win. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

lieutenant governor of california, and former mayor of san francisco is on current tv. >>every night on cable news networks everyone's focusing on what's wrong. i want this show to move past that. i love creative people, and with all the vexing problems we have we need creative thinking. >>(narrator) with interviews with notables from silicon valley, hollywood, and beyond. >>at the end of the day this show's simple. it's about ideas. ideas are the best politics. ideas can bring us together. >>(narrator) the gavin newsom show. friday at 11 eastern/8 pacific. only on current tv.

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: what do you say. 33 minutes after the hour. it is the "full court press" coming out to you live coast-to-coast from our accommodation radio factory -- combination radio factory, tv factory and book factory here on capitol hill in washington, d.c. good to have you with us today june 7. only two days to go before i hit chicago on saturday, june 9. i will be out in chicago at the frugal muse bookstore in darien illinois. suburb of chicago.

you all know where it is. come on by saturday afternoon. 2:00 to 4:00. a lot of fun. i'll be signing copies of my new book, "the obama hate machine." we'll be talking politics 2012. have a good chance to just say hello. let me know what you think. i'll let you know what i think and have a good illinois town meeting. 2:00 to 4:00 at the frugal muse darien, illinois. speaking of politics, we're all still reeling from wisconsin to get a take as to what we progressives ought to be thinking about that, we're so pleased to welcome in studio, elizabeth rose the communications director for a great organization, the campaign for america's future. hi elizabeth. nice to see you. >> hi. thanks so much for having me on, bill. >> bill: you like liz, don't you? >> i do. >> bill: a lot of progressives depressed after tuesday in wisconsin. should we be? >> yes. sadly, we should be. the reality is this is a democracy. elections have major

consequences. huge consequence when walker won the first time and this is -- you know, honestly i hope there are important lessons that we can learn that we can make lemons out of lemonade. >> bill: what are the lessons we ought to learn? >> elections matter. we need to get organized get active and get out to the polls. perhaps stop vetting about not perfect candidates. this is a democracy things aren't perfect. it is really important to get out and support progressive causes progressive candidates. if we want to win. >> bill: and you know, i believe that the unions particularly public employee unions particularly did an incredible job in wisconsin. first of all they brought scott walker to his knees with the first round of protests. then they got a million signatures to launch this recall election. and they had a huge get out the vote effort. we saw more people standing in line for longer hours than ever before in wisconsin. but still didn't win because

maybe because of all of that money on the other side. so that's depressing. >> it is depressing. but i think it is an important moment to say look, the system is the system we have. it is a democracy. it is far from perfect. the supreme court has made it a lot worse with citizens united. you mentioned we were outspent something like six or seven to one. the important thing though is that people -- more people could have voted. more people could have gotten active. i think -- the reality is 30 years of anti-union work on the right have paid off. a lot of americans don't understand that unions have been working for them and not just they're own members. i think this is the time -- there is another election in five months. and you know, i would actually argue the time for gazing is after that. let's get out get active and try to change things. >> bill: i was stunned to see that in wisconsin, something like i forget now, the exact number but maybe a third or

maybe -- almost a third of union members voted for scott walker. >> i think it was union households. and so that means maybe the wife, maybe the kids, maybe the grandma. i think that's a good lesson. >> bill: if anybody, they ought to understand what he's doing to working families, not just union members working families across the board. >> maybe they're working two jobs and they don't have a pension and there's jealousy there. i think the reality is that you know, the peterson group all of the different right wing groups, the koch brothers have done a great job finding really bad examples and amplifying them. they find the one guy who is drawing four pensions or the one teacher and you know, i think there are so many exams of how unions have worked on behalf of americans. but i almost think it is not -- it is not a helpful discussion now. we need to broaden it out and talk about what is at stake. what's at stake in this election.

the supreme court really matters. who the next president is really matters. this president could lose. i think it is an important time to sort of emphasize the things that we have in common. one thing that i was thinking about is breaking down some of the silos. so you know the environmental groups, the women's groups, all of the ditch groups that make up the progressive kind of ad hoc coalition, seldom do we really work together. we work together four years ago and now it is time to work together begin. >> bill: i think that's a very good point. if you look at these silos and i talk to a lot of people in these different silos whether they're environmental people or the women's organizations or organized labor, immigration people, whatever their silo is. i think without exception in each of those silos if you talk to people there, they will express some disappointment with barack obama. he hasn't been there 100% for us

even with the gay and lesbian community or the lgbt -- >> lgbt. we got it. gay people. >> bill: i can't say it fast enough. when he's gotten rid of don't ask, don't tell and he's come out himself for same-sex marriage. they'll say he hasn't done enough to get rid of doma. in each of those groups, there's some disappointment that he hasn't been there 100%. when are we going to get over that? >> we need to look in the mirror and say have we brought public opinion. i'm an environmentalist and i am disappointed we weren't able to pass legislation that would actually do something. >> bill: about global warming. >> about climate change. but the reality, if you look at the polls, we only had 14% of americans with us. it is time for us to look at the mirror. maybe we need a solution that didn't raise energy prices in the midwest. i think progressives need to go back to the drawing table, look at our solutions and work on

public opinion. i think one of the things we need to do most, you pointed out about the union households. we need to talk to our aunts and our cousins, we need to talk to our grouchy uncles because i think what happens is the way the map works many progressives live in new york and san francisco and d.c., we're in a bubble. we moved away from minneapolis or indianapolis or wherever we were from, small towns. i think it is really important for us to kind of reach back, talk to our family and friends and explain our view of things. i think conservatives have done a little bit better job. >> bill: elizabeth rose is our guest, communications director for the campaign for america's future. our future.org is where you can follow their good work. you can join the conversation at any time in that chair right over there. that's your seat at the table. 1-866-55-press. your ticket, of course. so all of that leads up to -- i tell you one thing.

the republicans are not holding back. everything thought oh, no, mitt romney may win the nomination but boy, they're never going to rally behind him. you don't hear a peep of dissent about mitt romney right now. >> that's so true. the republican primary season, i wish we could relive it all over because it was great. >> bill: liberals and progressives continue to grumble about barack obama. is it just our nature? >> sadly, i believe it may be our nature. i think it is democrats do not fall in line. liberals don't fall in line. we're terrible at that. that's probably why we're liberals. >> bill: you have the take back america conference. >> take back the american dream. it is -- it had different names. every year we have a gathering of progressives from all over the country. this year, it is june 18-20 in washington, d.c. you can come, you can register on site. you can register on our web site, which as you said is ourfuture.org. we've got -- >> bill: this is the

progressive answer to c pac, is that right? >> it is. >> bill: that's the message for take back the american dream? what is your message to progressives in this election year 2012? >> well i think we want progressives to come and get excited and get active in the next election. we absolutely do. the time for action is now. i think the wisconsin loss is going to turn the whole conversation around. we need to really -- you know, my boss, wrote a great piece where he urged progressives not to panic. i say they should panic get their butts to d.c. and strategize and come up with some winning solutions. >> bill: bob has been on the show many times. it is a great piece. i read it yesterday. the walker recall, wisconsin's a clear warning to progressives. i guess the warning is get your butt in gear. >> right. there's one positive thing in this piece i wanted to point out. we're all pretty depressed. he does a nice analysis of the

youth vote. he calls it the millennials. according to exit polls, seniors were 18% of the vote. walker won 56% of seniors. young people aged 18 to 29 were only 16% of the vote. so he's basically arguing that if we can get young people out to vote, we can win. and so i think it is a really important point. young people were excited about the president and not just the president. some of the downballot democrats in the last election. we need to pull him away from the television set. get him off their computers for a minute and get them to come. >> bill: if there is any candidate it seems to me who can appeal to, appeal to and attract and energize young voters, it is barack obama. >> how can they not be energized? right now, the president today is going to be talking about student loans. i mean you know, the republicans didn't even want to give student loan foyeness. now they're willing to give it but they only want to do it if they can take it from lower

income people as opposed to higher. >> bill: or preventive healthcare. >> it is crazy. >> bill: why have people get mammograms or colonoscopies or annual checkups? that doesn't make any sense. let's just eliminate that. it is just insane. you're right. on the student loan program, on that one issue alone democrats are for keeping the rate at 3.4%. republicans unless they get their way on getting rid of that part of healthcare -- said let it go up to 6.8%. john boehner said it probably will double. >> this is the problem with washington. this is such a wonky hard to explain issue, student loans. it is hard to put it on a bumper sticker and yet it is so important to so many americans. not just to students but their families thairks friends, their future. >> bill: talking about the importance of 2012 and especially what -- where do progressives go and how do we

react to what happened in wisconsin with elizabeth rose, communications director for the campaign for america's future. again, your calls welcome at 1-866-55-press. we'll be right back. >> announcer: on your radio, on tv, the "bill press show." new on current tv. >>the guys in the middle-class the guys at the lower-end got screwed again! i think you know which one we're talking about. >>overwhelming majority of the county says: "tax the rich don't go to war." i just wanted to clarify.

don't miss this week's "the gavin newsom show" with special guest: hollywood icon oliver stone. >> i'm not an activist, i'm outspoken. i'm a dramatist. >> announcer: radio meets television... the "bill press show" now on current tv. >> bill: congressman henry cueller from texas coming up at the top of the next hour here on the "full court press." right now, we're visiting with elizabeth rose, the

communications director for the campaign for america's future. liz, we'll get your calls at 1-866-55-press. i gotta tell you the romney campaign is sort of off to an awkward start here. in the last week, they have had four major misspellings, peter you and i were talking about this, on their web site. the latest just reported this morning on the daily beast. so they start out by spelling america amercia. then they spell official -- >> they didn't have the i before the a. >> bill: they also invited people to go to the web site and get a sneak peek, perks-e-a-k. that's three in a row. now today, a fourth one yesterday on their web site, they talked about how mitt romney, you know, continues the

tradition of ronald reagan. they spelled it r-e-g-a-n. you know, the others -- maybe you can excuse but misspelling god's name? >> i do think what is happening to young conservatives? that's just sad they don't know how to spell. maybe we should send teachers over to teach them. they want to cut education, have a little spelling seminar perhaps with some teachers who have been given pink slips by their policies. >> bill: i suggested dan quayle was the communications director. >> that's funny. i do think misspelling reagan, if every single person does not know how to spell ronald reagan, that's really bad. >> they should know how to spell it backwards while drunk. that's something you should know. reagan, you should know. >> bill: somebody should be checking their web site before they hit send. >> in this era i'm hesitant to make fun of spelling because i myself am a terrible speller. >> bill: how do you spell

reagan? >> that i know. r-e-a. i lived through it. that's part of the reason why i want to get active is to not go through a presidency like that. also, i'm thinking about reagan today because reagan is the reason why we lost wisconsin, right? it was reagan who really put in the policies to -- i don't want to say undo -- to hurt unions in a significant way. >> bill: starting are the air-traffic controllers, of course. the legacy -- scott walker continuing the legacy. he probably -- scott walker can spell it too. let's say hello to henry up in new york city. what do you say? >> caller: hi. i thought about wisconsin. >> bill: yes. >> caller: if you looked at the cnn exit polls which i did the other night, tuesday night, 86% of the people who voted decided for whom they were going to vote before may. which means that the democrats killed themselves in the primary. and if you looked at the debate

last friday night, you saw a young, energetic scott walker sitting there against an older established democrat. the democrats should have elected a woman and she could have brought forth all of those issues about pay pay disparities, women's right to control and i think you would have turned a lot of the woman rural voters as well as other people, all you had to do was turn 100,000 votes. >> bill: you know, henry, i think you maic some excellent points. the primaries certainly hurt the democrats. first of all, they couldn't raise money like scott walker was out raising money. they were busy with their primary. they were fighting among themselves. the unions were supporting kathleen faulk. i don't know enough to know whether she would have been a stronger candidate but she would have been a different candidate. i'm always nervous when we do repeat battles about people who lost to somebody before and then think they're going to be able to -- it will be different this time around.

look at stevenson. >> this becomes an issue for progressives because many of our champions are aging. you look at nancy pelosi. you look at harry reid who have been firewalls for progressives on many really important issues from social security to i don't know, i can name 100. i think it is something we need to get young progressives out get them active. we work with a group called progressive majority which helps people run for office. i really recommend anyone who's interested, stay local national. really recommend it. we need more young, exciting progressives. at our conference, we have keith ellison coming. >> bill: he's one of our favorites. >> a couple of younger progressive leaders. they make a huge difference. they do win the races. they are attractive to people. >> bill: elizabeth rose, communications director for the campaign for america's future. thank you so much for coming in. great talking with you. you give me hope! as a progressive. our future.org is where you can follow the good work of campaign for america's future.

we'll see you again elizabeth. >> thank you bill. >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." ah, claim trouble. [ voice of dennis ] you should just switch to allstate, and get their new claim satisfaction guarantee. hey, he's right, man. [ voice of dennis ] only allstate puts their money where their mouth is. yep. [ voice of dennis ] claim service so good, it's guaranteed. [ normal voice ] so i can always count on them. unlike randy over there. that is one dumb dude. ♪ ♪ the new claim satisfaction guarantee, only from allstate. are you in good hands?

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[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: on your radio, on tv the "bill press show." new on current tv. >> bill: hey, you bet. president obama, another busy day today on the road. start off the day in los angeles where he will have yet another fund-raiser this morning. at a private home in los angeles. before leaving l.a. and flying off to las vegas. this afternoon in las vegas, he will be at the university of

nevada, talking about, as elizabeth rose just mentioned, talking about student loans. and again calling on congress we're getting close now -- they always do things at the very last minute, not to let the student loans double as they will july 1 from 3.4 to 6.8% unless congress acts. then the president hops on air force i at 2:00 p.m. las vegas time heading back to the east coast, arriving back at andrews air force base at 9:10 and back at the white house at about 9:30 tonight. jay carney will be briefing reporters on air force i. i won't be there but we will be back at the top of the next hour. henry cueller, congressman from texas. any chance of getting anything resembling immigration reform out of this congress? we'll find out. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

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[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hey, happy thursday, everybody. thursday, june 7. this is the "full court press." welcome to the program. good to see you today. here we are on current tv. and we are -- as we do every morning, tackling the big issues of the day. here in washington, d.c., around the country and around the globe. and giving. >> chance to sound off at 1-866-55-press. we'll talk about a lot of different issues including in massachusetts, a teenager has been thrown in jail for get this, texting while driving.

this 18-year-old texting while driving, crossed the line, ran into another car. killed the driver and the judge has thrown the teenager into jail for a year. did he go too far? i don't think so. i think the judge did the right thing. no texting while driving. that's just one of the issues we'll get into the last hour together. we start off by getting all of the latest today's current news update, here in los angeles, jacki schechner. hi, jacki. it is all yours. >> thanks, bill. good morning everyone. the app reports this morning that greece's unemployment rate is up to 21.9%. compare that to 15.7%, the same time last year. the country has been dealing with its recession by taking international rescue loans and also by implementing serious spending cuts and major tax hikes. it is leading to political chaos. "the new york times" says the obama administration is using greece and other economies like italy, spain portugal and britain as exams of what not to do. they warn the republican plans

mirror the austerity measures that are being taken in the euro zone and destroying it. romney and the republican allies agree that europe's in bad shape but think that it is because the austerity measures over there haven't gone far enough. we all know that potential vice presidential picks say they don't want to be v.p. but it seems like jeb bush really really, really means it. the former florida governor is putting his foot down, telling cbs in an interview airing this morning that under no circumstances would he take the job. he says he's not going to do it. he won't be asked and it is not going to happen. okay, jeb, we get it. >> that's probably good news for mitt romney because a new cnn poll says he's still incredibly unpopular. he has the lowest favorable rating of any living president. 54% of people say they have an unfavorable view of former president george w. bush. only 43% of people actually like him. interesting that it is even that high. 66% of people have a favorable view of president bill clinton. george bush sr. at 59% and

carter is at 54%. we're back with more after the break. stay with us. with special guest: hollywood icon oliver stone. >> i'm not an activist, i'm outspoken. i'm a dramatist. gaeme inc. thank gaemezilinsky, thank you for joining

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>> electing women to office. >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. sean hannity beating up on me last night on fox -- on his fox show. because i suggested that it would be well served by a new national anthem and this morning, fox and friends is attacking me. oh, my god. somebody's gotta come to my defense. good morning everybody. welcome to the "full court press" on this thursday, thursday june 7. good to see you today. we are booming at you live all the way across this great land of ours coast-to-coast. of course on current tv.

your new progressive morning show on current tv. good to have you with us on current. and also good to have you with us on your local progressive talk radio station around the land as well. we've got a lot to cover this morning. we're very pleased and proud to welcome into the studio new guest on the "full court press." congressman henry cueller represents the 28th district of texas. congressman, good to see you today. >> bill, it is a pleasure. >> bill: we're so close to the capitol. it is easy to just stop by on your way to work. >> i used to live about half a block from here. >> bill: is that right? i'm going to move this microphone a little closer to you to make sure we get you full loud and clear there. now, your district, you said southeast part of texas? >> south part of texas from san antonio to laredo to the -- it is one of those long districts in texas.

>> bill: speaking of san antonio, i don't mean to run it in but last night -- >> they won the game some years ago. they lost last night. but they won the championship some years ago. >> bill: let's hear the final call last night. here it is. >> the mighty spurs and the entire western conference have been thunderstruck, baby. the thunder made history becoming the 15th team to ever overcome an 0-2 deficit to win the best of seven series. oklahoma city is the best in the west, 2012. the western conference champion thunder will play for the nba title in the nba finals. >> bill: all right. congressman, you have to understand we recruited peter ogborn from san antonio. >> i used to live in san antonio. from the spurs for that matter. >> bill: he was saying all last week, the spurs just want -- have won 20 games in a row. they're going to go right

through the playoffs and then beat the heat and what happens? >> i agree with him. everything was going well. i saw -- i saw when the thunder beat the dallas mavericks and i said well, wait until they go up to the spurs. the spurs are going to win. the first two games were pretty good. after that unfortunately but -- san antonio did well. unfortunately they lost. >> exfs an exciting series. it was a very exciting series. >> first two games were very exciting. [ laughter ] >> bill: then they ran out of gas. so congressman, you know, you're from texas. a member of the hispanic caucus, i guess. and the house. there's been a lot of disappointment on the part of the latino community that there's been no action on immigration reform. why not? at one time, even george bush when he was president, he had a pretty good program. >> you're right. president bush did bring it up.

he talked about doing it. i remember at the very, very beginning when he had just become president in 2001. him and president talked about having immigration reform. >> bill: that was his first trip. they got together. >> then 9-11 happened, things changed, borders were closed to secure our borders a little bit more. then after that, the realities of congress just came in and very hard to pass it. because if you look at the history, the only way you can pass something like this is through a bipartisan approach. in 1986, president reagan and the democratic congress-democratic controlled congress wassed reform. it was around 2006, the senate did pass an immigration reform. that's when kennedy and mccain were working on it. interesting after 2008 mccain just runs away from immigration totally saying that the only thing you want -- he wanted to

emphasize was border control and nothing else. >> bill: so the heart of it seems to be the question is what to do about pick a number, right. five million, 10 million 12 million, people who are here who came here illegally but have been here a long time. they have their families here, they own homes, they have jobs, they're paying taxes. what is the answer? >> you're right. buchanan says send them all back to mexico. >> no. that's like getting a good size american state and putting it -- it is not going to happen. immigration reform has to have three parts. border security. most people would agree on border security. two, you have to have some sort of guest worker plan. some people start going from that. >> bill: we need it. first, give it to the american workers. >> if they don't want to do it somebody has to fill those areas. then the third part which is more difficult part, emotional

part is what do we do about the 11 or 12 million undocumented aliens we have here. >> bill: the answer is? >> i don't want to see an amnesty part of it. my father was born in mexico. he came in, became a legal resident, he followed the process, long process. needs to be streamlined. he followed the process. i think what we need to do is -- >> bill: he did not come here illegally. >> he became a legal resident than a naturalized citizen. for those folks that are here without the proper paperwork, we need to take them out of the shadows. they need to start learning english and paying taxes. we gotta get them out of the shadow and some process where they eventually become citizens but don't do the amnesty right away. i don't believe in amnesty. >> bill: pass citizenship. >> that's correct. >> bill: that's not automatic. >> that's correct. >> bill: you mention border security. if you hear some of the organizations and some of the republicans, you know, like

governor of arizona, right, they think the borders are just as porous as they always were. >> a couple of things and i live in laredo, i represent a large border part of the area. i brought my republican friends over. they've stayed over over at my house to say look, is this the wash zone some folks on fox news and others have said this is a war zone. i live there. if you look at the fbi statistics, murder rates, assaults and other statistics on crime, if you look at the border rate, according to the fbi, the crime rate on the border is lower than the national rate. if you pick laredo, mccalan and pick one of the border towns per 100,000, you compare it to washington, d.c. where we're at right now, washington has more murders than some of the border areas. now you go across the river it is a different thing. over there mexico's having a very hard time with the --

>> bill: in terms of the border itself and people coming across, are as many people coming here illegally as -- >> no. it is a lower amount. it is the lowest amount since 1972. % the people trying to cross here illegally. lowest number that we have. different reasons, bill. one, we've got 18,500 border patrol down in the southwest. >> bill: more than we've ever had. >> that's right. second, our economy is still slowing down. so there's less jobs over here. three, the demographics in mexico and other places, if you look at the growth, it is smaller than what it used to be so there's -- the population growth is smaller. then the other thing is the violence across the river on the other side, where they rape, they kidnap and they hurt people, that slows the number of people trying to come over because they're afraid for their safety. >> bill: they don't want to come to that part of mexico because they know what's happening. we gotta get the word out.

that starting i guess with the bush administration. particularly the obama administration. they really haven't done a good job about beefing up border security, department of homeland security. i've talked to janet napolitano about this. most americans don't understand that. >> since 1994, we've doubled the number of border patrol. 18,500. that's only border patrol. that doesn't include the technology and other officials we added to the border. and what we've gotta keep in mind is look at some of the numbers. the pew report, i don't know if you saw the recent pew study that came out, there is actually more mexicans that went back than actually came in for the first time. >> bill: oh, really. >> it was a very interesting report. >> bill: congressman henry cueller in studio with us. you can follow his good work in congress at cueller.house.gov. congressman, how important in this election do you believe

both at the state level and at the federal level is going to be the latino vote? >> extremely important. if you look at the number of -- the largest ethnic group growth that we've had is the hispanic latino population. >> bill: latest survey. we talked about that. >> just amazing. even for example in the state of texas right now when we look at redistricting, in the last ten years, we had 4.3 million individuals. new individuals in the state of texas. 65% of them were hispanics latinos. you add the other minorities and it was 90% of the whole growth in the last ten years in texas, we came in -- it was minorities. mainly 65% hispanics. so there is a big growth of hispanics. but the only thing is i say this, if we don't register, we don't go out to vote it really doesn't matter. this is why the potential is great but still, nevertheless, this big wave of growth in the

hispanic population is going to be very, very important for candidates locally state and federal. >> bill: president obama has good standing among latino voters. >> yes, he does. he still is up there in the high numbers. i know there are some folks a little disappointed because of the immigration. but if you have a choice i think without a doubt obama will be our choice. >> bill: every four years, the republicans make -- when i was democratic state chair of california, we call it the latino -- the sleeping giant. we did a lot in terms of voter registration. i ran voter registration drives in east los angeles, for example, when i was working for jerry brown. but it was tough getting people to register until pete wilson put that initiative on the ballot that would have stripped the rights away from a lot of latinos and then they said hey you know, we gotta get active and suddenly, they did you know. so every four years, you hear the republicans say we've gotta

reach out to the latino community, you know. and right now, mitt romney is saying maybe we'll put marco rubio on the ballot. that will get us the latino vote. will it? >> well, you know, because i think the hispanic latino community understands when it is a cosmetic dressing. look at -- i always say this. look what they're doing. when we try to bring up the dream act, they said no. when we try to talk about immigration reform, they said we're not ready for immigration reform because we have to secure the border. they kept moving the goalpost over and over and over and over and over again. so i always -- told the hispanic community look at who's on your side and who's not on your side. don't look at the cosmetic dressing where they come at the very end. put -- we're on your side. look at the actual work that they've done. >> bill: marco rubio what's your take? >> it is going to be

interesting. some folks are going to say oh, he's hispanic. they will stick with him because he's hispanic. nevertheless, the well-educated folks will look at what he stands for. is he for or against the hispanic community. i know he's trying to do a dream act. we haven't seen the details of his own but he's trying to. but i know he's going uphill against the republicans on that issue. >> bill: but you don't think automatically he brings -- the hispanic vote with him to a mitt romney. they could automatically deliver that vote? >> no. i just do not see that. there will be some folks that will say oh, there is a hispanic one out there. automatically, is he going to get the majority of the votes? no. >> bill: when congress is debating, i just wanted to play a quick clip from john boehner yesterday. the big issue is what are we going to do about this deficit? what are we going to do about the debt? what are we going to do about the debt ceiling.

here is speaker boehner yesterday. >> it is really important that we provide some certainty to job creators in our country. extending all of the current tax rates for at least a year is really important if we're going to help job creators gain a little more confidence and put americans back to work. >> bill: so this is their new line. mitch mcconnell said the same thing yesterday that the secret to this economy and the secret to creating new jobs is to extend the bush tax cuts for one more year. >> keep in mind -- i supported tax cuts. i'll say this just to be fair on what reality is. the george bush tax cuts, they came in what 2001 2003. they were all there. they were in place when the recession hit us pretty hard, when we were losing 750,000 jobs a month. in december of 2008, we were losing 750,000 jobs. under the obama administration, and some of the changes we've done, you know, we've had job

growth the last 12, 13 months, we've had job growth. i know it hasn't been the highest but instead of a downward trend, where we lost millions of jobs, at least we're moving up on this. so you know, the tax cuts might be some but i think we need to be -- we need to look at the overall picture. but just to say that the tax cuts are the only thing to look at, keep in mind they were in place in 2001 and 2003 when the recession hit us in 2006 and 2007. >> bill: would you vote to extend the bush tax cuts for another year? >> i will look at doing that but what i want to do is look at the leverage. there is a leverage right now at the end of the year. a very special leverage. we've gotta look at the big picture. we've gotta look at the -- where we have to do some cuts then the george bush tax cuts will come in. we look at them together so we all give in a little bit in both parts. >> bill: congressman henry cueller, i know you have to go. you have community hearings today. we appreciate your stopping by on the way to the capitol.

congressman henry cueller represents the 28th district of texas. it is cueller.house.gov. thanks so much congressman. >> thank you, bill. thank you so much. >> bill: come back again. >> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >>you just think there is no low they won't go to. oh, no. if al gore's watching today...

don't miss this week's "the gavin newsom show" with special guest: hollywood icon oliver stone. >> i'm not an activist, i'm outspoken. i'm a dramatist. >> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: it is 26 minutes after the hour. we're talking to jenn benderey

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out. that could be you. visit incomeathome.com. incomeathome.com. i guess i should be honored today because while we were talking to henry cueller congressman henry cueller, peter ogborn, you tell me that fox and friends had michelle on attacking me yet again just like sean hannity did last night on fox news. attacking me for saying that we need a new national anthem. we would be better served by having god bless america or america the beautiful. i mean -- >> i think you're turning your back on america, bill. >> bill: am i the new acorn? >> apparently. >> bill: am i the new barack obama? e-mails we've been getting like this one. you make me sick. do your country a favor and leave the country. go write your anthem in another country and stay there. come on. it is a dumb song! >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

we are the idea no one wants to hear until it grabs you and won't let go. we push, we prod until the truth reveals itself. we are fearless, independent trendsetters, problem solvers, and above all, we are politically direct. the young turks with cenk uygur at 7, viewpoint with eliot spitzer at 8, the war room with jennifer granholm at 9, the gavin newsom show fridays at 11. and there's only one place you'll find us: weeknights on current tv.

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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: this is the "bill press show" live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: 33 minutes after the hour. here we go. the "full court press." chugging on this thursday morning, june 7. and we are just two days away from my invasion of chicago. heading out to chicago. don't forget saturday, june 9. just hope to see a whole, big crowd of you out there. i'll be at the frugal muse bookstore in darien illinois. thanks to our good friends at wcpt in chicago. you can check out at wcpt.com and if you want the exact street

address or whatever. we'll be there from 2:00 to 4:00 saturday afternoon. come on by. we'll be talking about -- i'll be signing copies of my new book, "the obama hate machine." and we'll just talk about politics 2012 and have a good town meeting saturday afternoon. frugal muse bookstore darien, illinois. >> can you bring me back some sausages when you go? they have great sausages. >> bill: in darien? >> they should keep in your luggage for a couple of days. is that all right? >> bill: i'm not going to chicago to buy sausage. >> they have good sausage. >> bill: i'm going to chicago to talk politics. again, check out wcpt.com or billpressshow.com. check and watch the press briefings at the white house on c-span which you can do every day, if you look past the big cheese in the front row and in the second row you get back to about the fifth row is where you usually see me sitting alongside

of jenn benderey from "huffington post." and she joins us in studio right now. covering the white house and the congress for "huffington post." hi jenn. good to see you. >> good to see you. >> bill: a little more room than at the briefing room. >> we have a lot more room here. >> bill: that's amazing. when they see the briefing room they're so amazed at how small it is. >> every single person i've brought in there on a tour that's the first thing they say it does. it looks gigantic on tv. >> bill: it does. it is really crowded. then the workspace for reporters is -- >> like a hamster cage. tiny. >> bill: good way of putting it. >> it kind of smells like one, too. >> bill: it does. so i'm really glad you came in today because i wanted to talk to you about this -- some people claim, right that republicans have waged or launched a war on women. is that just democratic talking point or do you think it is real?

>> well, it depends on who you talk to. >> bill: i'm talking to you. >> i can see what they're both doing from a political standpoint, democrats obviously have latched on to this war on women for the election year. obama is on board, congressional democratic leaders are on board. in the senate where they control the democrats control the senate, they're bringing up bills whenever they can relating to women. so basically, just to have votes that on a bill that probably won't go anywhere but to show that democrats are voting for women and that republicans will oppose the bill therefore, they oppose women. so from the political standpoint yes, democrats are trying to trump up the fact that they love women and that republicans hate women but from a policy standpoint, it gets interesting because some of these bills like we were saying before we went on the air here, do have some real policy substance to them. so -- >> bill: for example let's take the latest, the violence

against women act was the first one around. let's come back to that. the latest is the paycheck fairness act. so it is equal pay for equal work. now whether the democrats bring that up for political reasons or not, what's wrong with that? >> right. so what happens -- >> bill: if you were not getting paid as much at "huffington post," right as sam stein was getting paid for the very same job, you would be pissed off. >> i would be pissed off. >> bill: rightfully so. >> yes. >> bill: how many republicans voted for the equal pay? >> no republicans voted for the paycheck fairness act. >> bill: the republican women did. >> there are five republican women in the senate and they all voted against the bill which i thought was surprising because about a week or two earlier they had a vote on the violence against women act, the last bill on women that the democrats

brought up. and all of the women voted for it. the republican women included. so i'm not sure what happens. i mean they were the only ones really to vote for it on the republican side, too. so something happened, i guess it matters more to republican women in the senate to go on record supporting a bill that prevents violence against women than it matters to them to go on record supporting a bill for equal pay for women. i'm not sure what the thinking was on the split there. they all have very curious reasons for opposing it. >> bill: what was the official republican reason as articulated by mcconnell equal pay for equal work. equal pay for equal work. i find it -- i find it difficult even to understand making an argument against it. why is this wrong for america? >> one of the arguments they make is there are already laws on the books that address this. the lilly ledbetter action comes up a lot. they passed that last year. >> bill: this would have been

an extension of lilly ledbetter. >> it addresses different aspects of the disparity between men and women's pay. so it is not like just a repeated vote on the same bill. it is like a different aspect of equal pay. so with lilly ledbetter the bill addressed the timeframe that you're allowed to go back and re-claim -- >> bill: file a lawsuit. >> it broaden the statute of limitations on how long you can go back. the new bill has a different piece to it. it prevents employers from retaliating against say female employees who want to talk about their pay openly with their coworkers. it also broadens the definition of where it counts as your workspace. is this office we're in here today or all of the building that this company that we work in, is it the whole building as our space? it is different aspects of pay discrimination that are addressed here. so the bill has its own merits

from a policy stand point. not just for political talking points. it has real weight to it. >> bill: it has some substance, i believe it is the correct approach. back to the political side of it, i do find it hard to understand in an election year when so many of the senators are up and they want to get the white house and women vote -- there are more women voters than male voters and they vote in greater numbers than men do and yet it seems the issue on bill after bill issue after issue, republicans vote against them. almost like political suicide. >> i would have liked to have been a fly on the wall in the republican conference hearing before this vote to see what the republican women senators were saying in there. they can't have been happy to be told to vote against this in lock step with the rest of the party. i tried to catch their comments from the women members after the vote. susan collins from maine -- >> bill: you would think she would be one -- >> she is a moderate. so is olympia snowe the other

senator from maine who is leaving. she would have even less reason to go along with the party line but susan collins said after the vote essentially she took that line of reasoning. there are other laws on the books that address this. lilly ledbetter act, the paycheck fairness act the original one. because this current one is building on the last one. so she kind of like embraced the line that you hear some other republican leaders saying. i'm not sure -- i just can't believe this would be something that they feel good about privately. >> bill: no. sometimes they have to fall on their sword. jenn benderey is our guest with "huffington post." we're talking paycheck fairness and other issues related to the war on women. "huffington post."com. you can follow her work and follow her on twitter at jbendery. so, let's go back to -- your calls are welcome during the conversation. it is an on-going issue.

1-866-55-press. let's go back to the violence against women act. here again, we talk about this on the show. it is an issue that is -- since 1994, it has always had bipartisan support. it has always been almost automatic when it is up for renewal. here we are again this year, up for renewal. it is not exactly just a rubber stamp, what has been there. they added three categories of women. lesbian, gay transgender relationships, women -- undocumented workers right. >> and then native americans. >> bill: native americans, right. suddenly, republicans are against it. again. maybe democrats are just raising this because they know republicans will vote against it. why are republicans voting against it? why is it okay to commit domestic violence against a lesbian? >> right. this is one of those cases where it is puzzling how they could vote against a bill like this

because on the one hand again it is democrat politicking here, bringing up votes on women for an election year message right? at the same time though, from a policy standpoint, this bill, to your point, there are different groups of women who currently are not as expressed. so this bill would cover them. it would prevent you know, women from being beaten up by their gay or lesbian partner or their lesbian partner because it is women. it would prevent native american women from being beaten up by their nonnative-american partners who are not covered under tribal laws. it is violence against women. period. that looks tearable to vote against it politically. never mind the importance of voting to help prevent this. >> bill: so it sounds like the democrats are conducting the strategy of scheduling these votes on these key issues that basically mousetrap after mousetrap after mousetrap and the republicans are taking the

bait. >> you can see how dicey it is for them, too because obviously nobody wants to at least look like they're voting against women. especially in this year where everybody's talking about women. and that's why i thought it was especially curious that all the republican senate women voted against the paycheck fairness act this week but they all voted for the violence against women act. they were the only republicans i think, if i'm correct that voted for that bill. so i don't understand the strategy. why would they vote for one but not the other. they're either going to all vote against all of them to be in lock step with the republican leaders who don't want to give any support to any bills from the democrats or they're going to vote for a good policy that helps women. so they just had it both ways. i don't get that. >> bill: you know what? there are going to be more and more votes coming up either in the senate or the house particularly in the senate on the same issues. you know these aren't the only ones. >> this is just the beginning.

i just got a press release about a new bill. we had the violence against women act. the next one is going to be the finish violence against women act, the ivaw. we're getting ready for round two. >> bill: the war against women, our topic here on the "full court press." with jenn benderey from "the huffington post." your calls welcome. take a quick break. we'll be right back. quarter to the hour here. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." i just wanted to clarify. >>every weeknight cenk uygur >>the guys in the middle-class the guys at the lower-end got screwed again! i think you know which one we're talking about. >>overwhelming majority of the county says: "tax the rich

don't go to war." i just wanted to clarify. 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 ] mayhem is everywhere. so get an allstate agent. are you in good hands?

don't miss this week's "the gavin newsom show" with special guest: hollywood icon oliver stone. >> i'm not an activist, i'm outspoken. i'm a dramatist. >> announcer: this is the "full court press."

the "bill press show" live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: it is 12 minutes before the top of the hour. here on the "full court press." this thursday, june 7. jenn bendery covers the congress and the white house for "huffington post." here in studio with us. you don't have to but do you want to weigh in on the biggest issue of the day jen, as to whether or not we need a new national anthem? my advice is stay away from it because i've been getting hammered. >> i think i'll let you take that one. >> bill: i'm not backing away. >> might have to have rose ann barr come join you in your campaign. >> bill: thank you. proves my point. that you can't sing it. but of course i'm not sure if she can sing anything. on a more serious note we're talking about this war on women. that i think is being waged on the part of the republican party. at least they are lining up on voting against all of the bills

which would help women that the democrats have put forward. i might tell you, i was telling jenn during the break, my column this week will be about a related war on women. waged by the catholic bishops against nuns. and you'll find the column. it will be up tomorrow on our web site at billpressshow.com. jen, let's say hello to sue calling from rockville maryland. hi, sue, good morning. >> caller: good morning, bill. good morning, jenn. anyone who doesn't believe the republicans are waging war to reduce women to second class is simply not paying attention. republican legislatures across the country, there are 29 republican governors, those states, every single one of them is consistently and every day trying to roll back women's rights. they simply believe women are too stupid to have control of their bodies. and shame on every republican woman and every woman who agrees with them because i would like to see them sit down and look at their daughters and their

granddaughters face-to-face sand ayou do not deserve the same rights i have. >> bill: you know, sue is absolutely right. it is not just in washington right that you see this trend. it has been happening just like the voter suppression laws happening in state after state after state. and not getting a lot of attention but these bills are being introduced. the bills are passing and these bills, most of them i think have taken effect right now. sue? >> caller: female legislator attempts to introduce a bill restricting men's rights because sperm is sacred. i refer to the catholic church especially on that issue. men get up in arms like how dare you. meanwhile, they promote bills that say even if you have rape or incest, you should be forced to carry that because again, women are simply too stupid to understand how to be in control of their own bodies. >> bill: got it. thank you, sue.

thank you for checking in. thanks for the call. have you covered this national trend? >> i think what's important to note here is that with all of this talk of the war on women, whether or not you agree with that as like a fact it doesn't change the fact this has all been going on prior to this year. this isn't some new uptick in attacking women. these kinds of bills and these kinds of votes have been happening for as long as -- i mean as long as i've been on the hill and that's only been like five years. this stuff happens all the time. it is just it is getting a lot of attention right now because there is a conscious decision to make women the issue of the year. so these kinds of votes that seem appalling or offensive to women, it is not new. >> bill: you know, it is important, it seems to me they take place at this time of the year because it is an election year. >> which is exactly why democrats have latched on to

this issue. we can go back to -- when did this officially kick off this year? was it with the darrell issa hearings when they had a hearing on contraception and they had the now famous photo, all of the men on the panel and witnesses -- >> bill: good point. >> that was definitely like one of the sparks that kind of got this thing going. then the sandra flick attacks from rush limbaugh. things have spiraled. >> bill: that's why people are not making it up. you can document case after case after case where they have lined up. and it is important to smoke them out. i think and have the votes in the election year. jenn, it goes by so fast. we're out of time. but i'll look for you not today but hopefully tomorrow, there is a briefing. jenn bendery from "the huffington post." you can follow her on twitter at jbendery -- at jbendery.

good to see you. >> you, too. >> bill: i'll be back with a quick parting shot. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

1c current tv, it's been all building up to this. >>bill shares his views, now it's your turn. >>i know you're going to want to weigh in on these issues. >>connect with "full court press with bill press" at facebook.com/billpressshow and on twitter at bpshow.

>>i believe people are hungry for it. >> announcer: the parting shot with bill press. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: on this thursday, june 7, my parting shot for today, you know you never know what's going to drive the right-wingers crazy but i sure managed to do so this week. as you probably heard i've been -- on fox news and the right wing blogs by suggesting that we should dump the star-spangled banner. i did that monday morning in response to a "60 minutes" poll

where most americans said that bruce springsteen should be selected to write us a new national anthem. well, of course, that presumes we need a new national anthem which i think we do. the star-spangled banner which wasn't adopted until 1931 as i pointed out is unsingable, the words are terrible. it is too militaristic and set to the tune of an old british drinking song. why not replace it with america the beautiful or maybe god bless america? and for that, i've been condemned as a communist anti-american socialist and unpatriotic. good grief. what's so patriotic about the star-spangled banner? look! i hate the star-spangled banner. i admit it. but i love this country and i would love it even more if we had a national anthem that we could all sing. there! i'm not backing down. see you tomorrow right here!