rator) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >>we're hogging all the sexy on our side. hello! [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: hey 26 minutes after the hour. washington is buzzing about leaks these days and on top of the national security leaks now

there are charges that the obama administration has leaked some important trade documents. lorie wallach from public citizen is going to come in the next segment and tell us about that latest flap. we're talking energy and environment with amy harder who covers energy and environment at the "national journal." i want to go back to the second -- the first part of my question which is the impact on this election of energy and environment. the economy is going to be the big issue. energy and environment are certainly related to -- central to the economy. the president's policy is all of the above. so does that include nuclear? >> yes. >> bill: does that include coal? >> yes. although that's where the administration -- >> bill: tricky. >> they really have stumbled on their support or lack thereof of

coal. i think the campaign really got some criticism when it posted a graphic to its web site touting obama's all of the above energy plan. they left out coal completely. that raised some eyebrows because coal accounts for most of our electricity right now. that number is dropping quickly because natural gas share of the pie. but still is about 40% right now of our electricity. and that's a sizable amount, the most percentagewise of all the energy types for electricity. they left it off -- the graphic altogether. then it got some criticism from republicans and in response, they added a clean coal section. but i mean that's -- the economics aren't there on unclaimed coal so it is hard for the administration to embrace coal when obama has been clearly against it as it stands now. >> bill: the question is there such a thing as clean coal. you come back and we'll talk about that the next time. amy harder, good to have you here today.

>> thanks so much. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." taxes for schools. >> i'd rather have hooligans running through the neighborrish leaving people's lungs on the sidewalk. >> stephanie: this is what comes

>> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: come on, admit it. don't you love fridays? i do! i'm glad we're at this friday. friday february -- february? >> wow! not exactly. >> bill: forward not backward right? what's obama's slogan? forward. it is june 15th. and this is the "full court press." brought to you today coming to you live coast-to-coast and brought to you today by the international brotherhood of teamsters. good men and women of the

teamsters union. doing a great job making us all live better thanks to their good work under president jim hoffa. you can find out more about their good work at their web site. it is just teamster.org. washington has been buzzing a lot about leaks the last week or so. most of the attention on two leaks to "the new york times" in the national security area. in fact, that's my column this week. posted on our web site at billpressshow.com. what would washington do without leaks? well, we still haven't resolved who leaked what when it comes to national security. we have a new leak to worry about. related to trade agreements. what's that all about? public citizen is quite concerned about it. and the director of global trade for public citizen lorie wallach joining us in studio this morning. hi. nice to see you. >> good morning. >> bill: public citizen

started by ralph nader right? how long go? >> 41 years ago. >> bill: no kidding. still out there as a good, strong consumer protection agency. >> it is the citizens lobby in washington. we litigate, research, make sure people have a contravoice in this town, not just the corporations. >> bill: when you say you lobby, do you write big checks to legislators? >> as if -- no, we don't have a pac. we don't do money. we do research. we do public organizing, education, old-fashioned living democracy. try to hold our members of congress accountable. >> bill: can you -- can that still work in this town when you have the sheldon adelsons and the foster friess' pumping in so much money or the jamie diamond? >> we need fix citizens united but it is in the case in the end. the votes count more than the dollars. the dollars can manipulate but in the fend we educate people, for instance about what this leak document could mean for our

future and we organize them to hold the member of congress accountable, people do unelect those who misrepresent them. >> bill: what was your reaction to jamie diamond's reception, the lovefest when he came to congress the other day to testify? here he is. blows $2 billion. you would think congress would say you know, you are the guy! you are the poster child for why we need strong, new tough regulation on wall street and instead, they basically kissed his butt. >> well, for myself, the thing i thought immediately was thank god for sherrod brown and jeff merkley. two senators on the entire committee not fawning over the guy and actually asked him some tough questions. and showed appropriate ire and concern and demand for accountability. the rest of the folks, it was really pretty disappointing. >> bill: it was. oh, we can't hold you responsible. man, it was sick. anyhow. so let's get to this leak of

this document. as i understand it and i'm almost in the dark about this. but this is trade negotiations that have been going on for a long time in secret. suddenly a part of it has been leaked out and it doesn't look like it is good for american consumers. take it from there. >> okay. so this is the trans pacific partnership, tpp. and i guess for most americans the way to think about it would be something like nafta the north american free-trade agreement which everyone remembers which was a really bad thing. >> bill: exactly. >> nafta on steroids for the world. so the trans pacific partnership is between the u.s. and nine other countries. malaysia vietnam australia peru chile australia new zealand and brunei. it is something bush started in 2008. obama said he would never do these dreadful job-killing sovereignty-crushing unsafe import flooding agreements like

nafta. when he first got elected they stopped the negotiations. worryingly, a year later suddenly the u.s. was back in. for the last three years in total, closed door negotiations, no public, no press and no congress, they've been putting together what is a 26 chapter megaagreement which may be the last negotiation they'll do because they want to finish this and then every other can join. a month ago, the leader negotiator said we would love to have china in this. yesterday, ladies and gentlemen nafta with china. if that weren't bad enough, it looks like they're heading the thing directly over a cliff in that it's not really going to be about trade. so 26 chapters and it appears only two of them -- >> bill: how many countries again so far? >> total nine. it looks like right now, only two of the chapters are about trade. and the other 24 are set up -- set up all sorts of binding

rules, the u.s. would have to conform our domestic laws to that constrain government regulation on food safety or give new corporate rights. there is a chapter that leaked last fall that would extend the medicine patents that could jack up medicine prices even further. the text that leaked on wednesday morning is the investment chapter. and there are three really critical things that you can see. >> bill: do we know who leaked it? >> it was posted on the web site of citizens trade campaign. a national coalition of faith farm, consumer groups like us, labor, environmental groups. it is a fair trade group. >> bill: somebody leaked it to them. >> must have. they made it publicly available thank god, because we all need to know what the heck's been going on. by the way, as a footnote, there are 600 official corporate advisors to the u.s. trade negotiators. so under the theory of he who pays the piper calls the tunes. we are seeing what happens when

600 corporate advisers have three years behind closed doors with a bunch of trade negotiators. >> bill: i want to get to exactly what this says. i have to ask you on that, how many -- is public citizen one of their advisors? >> no. >> bill: you're not in the room. >> no. >> bill: citizens watch? >> trade watch is not. >> bill: are they in the room? >> no. >> bill: how many citizens or consumer groups are in the room? >> there have off and on been one. consumers union has gotten on one of the committees. there are basically 17 contrabailing interests. handful of unions, one family farm group one health group consumer group could be in versus 600 corporations. very much a token representation of the public interest versus the very concentrated trade representation. >> bill: how can -- this just blows my mind. >> that's statutory. >> bill: how can such a big -- >> disparity?

>> bill: such a big deal, right? with such huge implications for the american economy and you know the future of the country how can that take place without congress being involved, without public hearings, without our knowing about it? >> thank you very much. what's very scary is since nixon tried to snag congress's constitutional authority over trade, trade negotiations have been done in this very anti-democratic way though heartbreakingly, this is less transparent. than any negotiation i've seen being involved in these debates for 20 years. to put this in perspective, ron widen, the senator who is the chair of the trade subcommittee, the man with legal official jurisdiction over the tpp, has been denied the ability to see even the u.s. proposals to the negotiations. i do not exaggerate.

the man who has voted for every one of the trade agreements, he's not a critic. he filed legislation at the end of may insisting shocking, that congress get to see these agreements which will bind the u.s. in perpetuity. >> bill: who is preventing congress from seeing them? >> the office of the trade representative -- >> bill: ron kirk. >> ron kirk and his office has decided that senator widen shouldn't see it and this all came to a head when security widen's staff got security clearance and wanted to see the text which has been the past practice. if congressional staff any member of congress isn't able to see it and if staff got clearance and signed agreement not to disclose, they could see it. they were denied for tpp. >> bill: the white house must go along with it. >> it is unclear if it had come to the attention of the white house. i suspect at this point it is now at their attention. >> bill: ron kirk plays golf with the president. i was just -- maybe they talked about it on the back nine. all right. before we take a break, we'll take your calls when we come back at 1-866-55-press.

if you want to weigh in on this or maybe you are concerned about it or just finding out about it, this is the mother of all trade deals. it sounds like. so this part that was leaked about investment. just in a minute, tell us why -- what was so bad about what was leaked? >> here's the part that you need to know. it is brand trade agreement. that's not what it is really about. binding provision is each country shall ensure the conformity of all laws, regulations and domestic procedures to the attached agreements. then there are 24 chapters that impose constraints on nontrade policy. this one does three things. one, it sets up special limits on how the federal and state governments in the u.s. can regulate foreign investors operating here. it sets up a requirement they get special superior rights to u.s. firms. it includes the same protections nafta has to push facilitate offshoring. takes away all of the risks the opposite of what president obama said he's trying to do. the final piece is and this is

the most alarming, it allows foreign corporations alone to skirt u.s. courts and sue the federal government in front of foreign tribunals to demand cash compensation from our tax dollars, the treasury, for any domestic action or policy that they think undermines their expected future profits. >> bill: it sounds like we're just giving away the store. >> thank you very much. >> bill: oh, my! >> this is what happens when there's three years of negotiations in total secrecy no public, no press. >> bill: what happened to transparency? i thought that's what we believed in these days. i thought that's what the obama administration believed in. we'll talk more about it. just learning about this from lorie wallach director of global trade for public citizen. and join the conversation. tell us what you think about it. 1-866-55-press. >> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show."

so check out the web site. [[vo]]joy behar is coming to current tv for one week only until the fall. what happens if you ask her to tone down her opinions? >>sorry, i can't hear you. what? [[vo]]or tell her she has to stick to a script? >>forget it. [[vo]]that will never happen on current. >>try to be a little more conservative tonight.

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>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 12 minutes before the top of the hour. eric burns from public -- wait a minute. bullfight strategies. in the next hour. as a "friend of bill." lori wallach from public citizen here now. we're talking about this amazing tpp, the trans pacific partnership we seem to be buying into without public knowledge or knowledge on the part of congress. we'll get back to lori wallach in just a moment here. i want to remind you there is maybe light at the end of the tunnel for some of you who are having a hard time making --

paying all of your bills at the end of the month. i'm talking about our good friends at income at incomeathome.com. you've heard me talk about them before. america's leading work from home business. this is something you can do no matter your age education or experience. you can literally be earning money from your kitchen table using your own laptop 24/7. all you need is a little spare time and the coaching that they will give you. so if you're sick of living paycheck to paycheck, you're worried about job security or retirement, you're looking to find a way to earn some extra money from home, part-time or full time, at least check them out. incomeathome.com. they're adding my listeners in record numbers. they're even giving away $1,000 to somebody today just for checking them out. that could be you. so go online to incomeathome.com. that's incomeathome.com. lori, hearing you talk about this and i'm so glad you came in because i wanted to learn about it. it is worse than i thought.

two words come to mind. transparency and sovereignty. i mean it sounds like we're -- giving away our sovereignty and i don't see any transparency. >> it is extremely worrisome and part of how this has gotten to this state is really what i call misbranding campaign. these kind of negotiations are branded as a free-trade agreement. thenar this pitched with a whole p.r. song and dance about expanded exports more jobs and people like me, a recovering trade attorney who basically will read the 900 pages of text and say excuse me, this actually isn't about trade. hello. this is about undermining our most basic democracy and rights. we're called protectionists or we're silly or we're wrong. and the big companies that stand to benefit from this back door deregulation because the kind of stuff that's in here is, for instance, limits on regulation for financial stability.

limits on environmental regulation having to do with land use. limits on the regulation even of what kind -- >> bill: so limiting what cities or states or counties could do right? >> because the way this works here's an example. this is -- there's a smaller version of this. >> bill: i want to take a couple of calls. >> there's a smaller version of this in nafta. a mexican municipality has a toxic waste dump that's polluting the water. it is shut down. observed by mexicans. term of sale says you have to clean it up before you can have the operating license. seems reasonable. the u.s. company goes to one of the tribunals and says excuse us but we have new investor rights under nafta. you have to pay us or allow us to open it. the city said we're treating the same as the next, clean it up and we would love for you to open it. sorry. we can't be made to have that liability. they've got $17 million out of the mexican treasury in one of the international tribunals for not having the right to operate their investment.

>> bill: does it happen under nafta? >> $350 million has been paid out to corporations and what's in the tpp is ten times broader. >> bill: bob is calling from pittsburgh pennsylvania. hello, bob. >> caller: yeah, i've been following this thing on reading it on the internet and everything and one of the really scary things about this is that there's nowhere for us to turn. obama is apparently in favor of it. congress is being excluded from it. and romney has said that this has to be passed as quickly as possible so i agree this is really scary but there's nowhere for us to go. >> but there is. >> bill: lori, where do we go? what do we do? >> very good question, bob. first thing i would recommend is go to our web site, tradewatch.org. right on the front page in the right-hand corner is a thing that says take action. it is all about secrecy. there are three things you can do right away. number one, we do the dracula

strategy. anything this rotten only seeks comfort in the darkness. we must drag it into the sunshine. in the past, when the past when the public has gotten wound up and starts screaming to the mayors governors, city councils and to their members of congress, these agreements have gotten derailed. number two, a letter to congress that congress is saying to the president right now because congress can stop this. you go to the web site. there are almost 100 members. we need the only congress to send a message to the president that whatever else you think about trade we will not give up our sovereignty and we have to have transparency. >> bill: tradewatch.org. number three? >> third thing to do, a very large national petition on the white house web site because it is a little unclear if obama knows about this or if this really is an agency using secrecy and misbranding to go running against his own policies because a lot of his domestic policies could undermine. his healthcare cost containment the bank regulation. we have to wake up the white

house and tell our friends. >> bill: number four is the next time we have a white house briefing i will ask jay carney a question about the trans pacific partnership and see if i can get an answer about where the white house stands and if they know what ron kirk may be up to. lori wallach, thank you so much for coming in this morning. >> look forward to talking to you again. >> bill: i'll be right back. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: absolutely. again, do you great work, judd. thank you. all of your colleagues at think progress. we'll see you again next >>it would be terrible if america lost faith in wall street insiders wouldn't it.

miller. >> announcer: there is a tea party in her pants and you're invited. call now, 1-800-steph-12. [music]

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: okay. eric burns in as a "friend of bill" in the next hour.

we'll be joined by lesley clark from mcclatchy newspapers to talk about the president's big speech yesterday in cleveland. he's back in town today and he's going off the reservation again at lunch today for -- to a local restaurant in washington d.c. lunch with the winners of a campaign contest. later this evening the president's going to host a reception at the white house to own gay pride month or lgbt month in the east room of the white house. and then, this is interesting the president and the first lady and malia and sasha are going off for the weekend to chicago. they'll leave the white house at 6:00. land in chicago at 7:00 tonight. and spend the night in their old home in chicago. spend the weekend there. what about bo? i hope he gets to go along too. we'll be back with eric burns.

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

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hello everybody. good morning, good friday morning. it is friday, june 15. great to see you today. thank you so much for joining us. on the "full court press." coming to you live coast-to-coast here on current tv. your new progressive morning show on current tv. we'll tell you what's happening around the country, here in our nation's capital around the globe and take your calls and how about this. have you heard? gas prices have fall ton new summer lows. less than $3 per gallon in some

states the average nationwide is $3.54. that's a long way from $5 and they blame president obama when gas prices are going up. do you hear anybody giving him credit? now that gas prices are going down? of course not. we'll get into that and a whole lot more here in our last hour together this friday morning. but we start off as always getting today's current news update in los angeles from jacki schechner. hello, jacki. good morning. >> good morning, everybody. republican lawmakers in michigan are blocking representative lisa brown from speaking on the floor of the house after the democrat expressed her passionate opposition to an antiabortion bill. it wasn't her stance but her choice of language that angered leadership. >> i have not asked to adopt and adhere to my religious beliefs. why are you asking me to adopt yours? and finally mr. speaker i'm flattered that you're all so interested in my have vagina but no

means no. >> that was wednesday. wednesday, brown was not allowed to speak out on a school employee retirement bill. republican leadership is calling her prior remarks offensive and saying they violate decorum. brown points out she used the medically correct terminology and if we with can't say the name of the body part, what are we doing legislating it. >> house republicans are blocking democratic representative bash byrum from speaking after she suggested an amendment to the anti-abortion bill that would ban vasectomies unless they were medically necessary to save a man's life. >> it was ferris bueller's night off as the president and first lady came to dinner at his house last night. matthew broderick. firms are good for workers they

say they are harmful to workers. 38% believe they help the economy and they are skeptical of the way mitt romney's experience at bain may help the economy. back with more after the break. [[vo]]joy behar is coming to current tv for one week only until the fall. what happens if you ask her to tone down her opinions? >>sorry, i can't hear you. what? [[vo]]or tell her she has to stick to a script? >>forget it. [[vo]]that will never happen on current. >>try to be a little more innovation matters now more than ever.

of sununu, you're wrong. mitt romney, you're wrong. we need more teachers, not fewer teachers and more cops and more firefighters that support our desk top, lab top, ipad. iphone. >> pleasant your hearts. >> the big one. >> stephanie: all i know, the little flower is there and it means go to meeting. i love go to meeting.

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: yep, michele bachmann takes the american flag down. replaces the american flag outside of her office with the tea party flag. isn't that a hell of a lot worse than saying we ought to replace >> bill: president obama says there's a stalemate in congress. and there's only way to break it. vote for me, he says. and he's right. good morning everybody. what do you say? friday, june 15. so good to see the fridays roll around. here on the "full court press." good to have you with us today. it is a lot going on. lots to talk about. we will be covering it all here

on this edition of the "full court press." and taking your calls of course at 1-866-55-press. if you only knew what goes on off-camera here on the "full court press" in studio. and look who's here. eric burns. good to have you back. >> great to be back. i'm great. >> bill: haven't seen you in awhile. eric burns one of the cofounders of bullfight strategies with karl frisch and a part of the "full court press." everything good? >> everything's fantastic. we've been really, really busy, you know. i'm excited to be here on the only nationally syndicated progressive morning radio show in the country. >> bill: there it is. >> exactly. i'm excited john fuglesang will be hosting a whole bunch of shows next week, you know on current. fantastic. >> bill: everybody's off. it looks like everybody's off next week except us.

>> we didn't get that memo. >> bill: john fuglesang is filling in for jennifer granholm. joy behar filling in for eliot spitzer. >> you're too valuable, bill. you don't get time off man. >> bill: let's decide right now. shall we take next week off? >> see you in july! >> what are you doing next week, eric? >> let's go. >> bill: all right. there it is. if anybody sees david bormann tell him i'm off next week. >> i think he's calling right now. >> bill: i think he is, too. i think he's pulling the plug right now. >> he's calling bill. he's calling him something. >> bill: peter ogborn and dan henning, hi, there. >> good morning. >> bill: and cyprian bowlding, our videographer. we'll leave you cyprian next week. you won't be by yourself. >> we'll hold down the fort. everything will be fine.

>> bill: so it happened in detroit yesterday before we get to the serious stuff. somebody noticed a man who had a dump truck -- anyhow, truck flatbed truck and he had tree trunks on it. stopped in the middle of an intersection in downtown detroit dumping the tree trunks into the street. a good citizen called the cops and the cops caught up with the guy and he explains for himself what he's all about. >> so you were saying that you were going back to clean up. >> oh, yes. oh yes i'm mr. cleanup. i'm not mr. clean. i'm mr. cleanup. i live in warren. i'm cleaning up detroit. go figure that one out. >> did somebody say they tried to yell the. >> to come back. >> must have been a woman. i don't listen to women yelling. i tell him to shut up. >> he was quite offensive with his answers. he maintains he wants to help people remove chunks of wood from their property.

>> i lift them by myself. old guys, disabled guys, black guys ukrainian guys, guys from mars also. >> reporter: from mars? >> that's where i'm from. mars. [ laughter ] >> ladies, i think he might be single! >> must have been a woman so i didn't listen. >> dee take no ordinaries from no women. >> especially martian women. >> my wife is at work because if she heard him, i don't know. i would have to really worry. what a charmer. >> bill: totally nuts. >> die take no orders from no woman. >> bill: what happened to him? >> who knows. >> sent him back to mars. >> bill: eric is in as a "friend of bill." >> friend of burns. >> i'm a friend of myself. personality thing. >> bill: lesley clark from mcclatchy news who was

traveling with the president will be along in about 20 minutes from now. but first -- >> this is the "full court press". >> a final check for the week. the miami heat had a 17-point lead in last night's game two of the nba finals. almost lost it but they did hang on to beat the oklahoma city thunder by 4. derrick fisher stole the ball from wade which led to a durant three-point shot that brought the thunder within 2 but miami held on. lebron james put up 32 points including two clutch free throws. 7.1 seconds left in the game to secure that win. >> bill: wow. did you know i learned in our 6:00 hour this morning east coast time, i learned that the owners of the oklahoma city thunder are the guys that put up the money for the swift vote ad against john kerry and the leading proponents of fracking in this country. >> wow, those are two horrific

things. >> i'm rooting for the miami heat. >> to be fair, the heat who have lebron james who is worse than anything else ever. that's worse than fracking. >> lance armstrong's marketability is teflon coated. for the sports marketing expert at the university of oregon says and the statement is holding true so far. none of the cyclist's major sponsors nike, oakley, 24 hour fitness or trek have pulled their support of him since the latest round of doping allegations. >> bill: am i boring? >> been up since 2:00 a.m. >> next! wow. so sponsor -- he has -- upcoming ironman triathlon in france. >> bill: you know what gets me everybody dumped tiger woods right away. why are they sticking to lance armstrong? >> i dumped lance armstrong a long time ago.

>> bill: so did i. >> was he upset when you dumped him? >> he was very upset. >> cnn's candy crowley was honor and roasted by the american news women's club wednesday night receiving 2012 award for excellence in journalism. [yawning sounds] >> i'm sorry. i didn't realize my mic was on. >> wow. candy "has been a friend and a mentor. it has been my own personal page program withouts -- [snoring sounds] >> you know what? >> bye dan. >> bill: there he goes. >> america's newsman. >> he just pulled a gretchen carlson. >> he just walked out. i've never seen that before. >> bill: he got his last paycheck a couple of hours ago. >> we're lively here this morning. i like it. >> bill: yeah, is that the word for it?

lively? or wiggy? i don't know. eric burns, here's what gets me. this has pissed me off all week from monday all the way through every time i turn around. there's a story about basically this campaign's all over. >> the end of the world for obama. >> bill: everybody's written the story. obama calls it the washington echo chamber. he's absolutely right. some idiot will say something like that. everybody picks it up and said oh my god he had such a horrible week. out with some friends for dinner last week. same thing that comes up, right. obama's lost, hasn't he? it is june for one thing. plus look at the contrast and then look at obama's record. what do you mean? why this premature panic? that's my question. >> well, first of all let's note. he's up in ohio. >> bill: ohio.

wisconsin. >> romney driving the campaign bus around and honking the horn, that's not exactly the strategy of a winning campaign that's like in the lead. >> bill: you know what it reminds me -- talking to peter about this yesterday. he's running for student council president. >> bill: in high school. getting the bus and you honk the horn. hello, he's running for president of the united states. why are democrats ready to throw in the towel? >> i think -- i was at the origination conference. it was very interesting. it was one of the things that frustrated me a little bit because there was, i think while an understanding that folks, we need to get -- we need to beat romney. but there was a little too much, you know, head bashing of the president. i really -- i think it is time today -- and i say this not as a consultant but as former president of media matters who has been a movement leader. progressives have to get behind this president.

and i think they need to call up the white house and folks are watching today on current. need to call the white house and say we're behind you mr. president. let's give him a tail wind. >> bill: plus i also think democrats have to just say look, we've got a good argument here. >> absolutely. >> bill: there is a real choice in this campaign and it is not exaggerating to say -- an exaggeration to say that mitt romney wants to take us back to the policies of george bush and dick cheney. he's put nothing forward of his own. always talking about the same old crap and we saw what happened when we had the policies in place. >> absolutely. there's no question. eight years of a bush presidency. over 14 years of republican congress that really has dominated politics for the last 10 15, 20 years in this country and they -- their policies were completely discredited. that's what led to the 2008 crash. and you know, i think that mitt romney has nothing new to offer and barack obama is -- this

economy, economic recovery is going to take time. it is going to take time. this was a huge systemic failure. >> bill: again, if democrats would put the energy that -- if they would take the energy that they're putting into feeling sorry for themselves and by the way, on june 15 or the second week in june, throwing in the towel and saying the election is over. it is idiotic. and take that energy and instead put it into making the case. for why it is important that this election -- that we succeed in this election. i think we would be a hell of a lot better off. >> romney talks about, you know, the class warfare. that's not accurate at all. it is about greed and selfishness by a very, very small group of folks that romney is a part of versus a plan and agenda by the obama administration, democrats to invest in america. to invest in this country. and that's what i think

progressives need to be getting at. what i thought was a fantastic speech by the president yesterday. echoing that message. pushing it out. and really creating some oxygen for him. >> bill: eric burns in studio with us from full bite strategy -- from bullfight strategies. you can follow him and karl frisch at bullfight strategies.com and follow eric on twitter. his twitter handle is e underscore -- that's too complicated. >> every other eric burns in the country has gotten every other formulation. we'll work on that. because it is -- underscores. no one does underscores. >> bill: you don't want underscores in a twitter handle. >> it reflects who i want to be, bill. >> bill: we'll talk about this speech yesterday. the president, he laid it out. he said there is a clear choice here. he's made that case before. i thought he did it better and

stronger yesterday. and here's just one quick clip from the speech. >> if you want to give the policies of the last decade another try then you should vote for mr. romney. >> bill: there it is. it is forward with obama or backward with romney. >> that's right. >> bill: to me, it is give more to the 1% with romney or build the middle class with president obama. i don't think there is a clearer choice. >> romney campaign is going to try to make this rough on obama and they're going to do it dishonestly, deceptively as they have been doing. and you know, what the president just did right there is he made this about romney and about the republicans and george bush and their failure and their continued failure. and you know, we are where we are today. we're there -- they're hitting on obama saying the recovery is not happening fast enough. in large part because you know, the banks are sitting on cash and they're not loaning out

money. we see all of the republican senators just running -- as fast as they can to get in the good graces of jamie diamond. >> bill: we saw that this week. as a public relations expert, i would say -- started to say genius, i don't go too far here -- but that's your business. do you think the obama campaign has done a good enough job of getting the message out as to what's at stake? >> i think they can do much better. so i don't think that. in the past. i'll tell you. he gives -- every so often -- i feel like we've had this conversation before. he'll give a great speech and get fired up. he hits the message and he actually articulates the contrast. what i loved about the speech he just delivered is he really told the story of what had happened and why. but they've gotta keep saying it. they've gotta keep pushing the message every day every progressive group out there that cares has gotta echo that message, bolster the message and

that's what's not happening. that's what's not been happening, it is the consistency and the repetition. this echo chamber media that's what you have to do. >> bill: echo chamber. the same people are saying today that it is all over for obama are the people who were saying a couple of months ago this republican primary is going to go all the way to tampa. romney will never -- the mathematics would prevent romney from getting enough delegates. they're dead wrong. they all say the same thing and then people start believing them and then they get depressed. >> we get the sensationalist media. >> bill: it is important we're here to set the record straight. >> we need to be encouraging people to turn the dial to current. democratic members of congress need to turn the dial to current in the morning. and see a real discussion happening. >> bill: yeah, right. damn straight. >> we're actually having a conversation. that doesn't happen. >> bill: you just woke me up. 1-866-55-press. >> no more yawning! [ laughter ] >> i'm only on during the

commercials. >> bill: with eric burns. take your calls next. >> announcer: on your radio, on tv the "bill press show." new on current tv. >>it would be terrible if america lost faith in wall street insiders wouldn't it.

♪ take just one more ♪ it's been dumbed down ♪ long before romney ♪ ever did ♪ >> thank you . >> stephanie: 45 minutes after the hour. we'll be back as we close "the stephanie miller show." >> on "the stephanie miller

show" in suburban america this >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: joe cirincione is our guest from the ploughshares fund >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: yep you hear it a lot these days. almost every article you read about this campaign says well, it is all over. that obama just has blown it and romney's got the momentum and they're measuring the drapes in the oval obs!

don't believe it. i don't believe it. neither does eric burns. >> absolutely not. >> bill: eric, let's say hello to andrew down in motry georgia. >> caller: first time caller, man. >> bill: thank you. >> caller: i just want to let the democrats know they need to have some balls. >> amen. >> caller: and stop being a cissy. they bow down to everything that republicans do. they act like they don't have no kind of power. you know, god knows wiener stood up to him. >> caller: this is what the democrat need. they need fighters. they don't need sissies. >> you're right. >> bill: right on. >> bill and i have been saying this for years. we can't bring a knife to a gunfight. you have to understand how far the guys on the right are

willing to go. they're willing to go as far as it takes. >> bill: andrew, i'm glad you made the point. it is across the board. first, you need people in congress like anthony weiner did. nobody was better than he was. nobody. and nobody stepped up that could take his place. not to do that other stuff from the locker room. forget that. but i mean the fights on the floor and the strong -- on the floor. but i also think president obama has to do more of that. he has to call these guys out. >> that's why i love what he did in the speech. he really defined romney, you know. they need to be doing that every day. >> bill: because romney goes out there with these lies and he says the stimulus was a total failure. that's wrong! >> he knows it is a lie bill. >> bill: of course. >> that's what's disturbing about it. that's what really troubles me. >> bill: i would really like to hear president obama say mitt romney is lying to you. lying to you. call him out on it.

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." [[vo]]joy behar is coming to current tv for one week only until the fall. what happens if you ask her to tone down her opinions? >>sorry, i can't hear you. what? [[vo]]or tell her she has to stick to a script? >>forget it. [[vo]]that will never happen on current. >>try to be a little more conservative tonight.

♪ >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 33 minutes after the hour now. here we go on this friday. friday june 15. it is the "full court press." coming to you live from our nation's capital all the way across this great land of ours and brought to you today by the international association of ironworkers, good men and women of the ironworkers. they do a great job period. the sky is the limit for them. a look at that great new building that the president visited, the world trade center yesterday put up by the

ironworkers among other great union workers. and you can find out more about the ironworkers under president walter weiss at their web site, www.ironworkers.org. president obama, a very busy day yesterday. on the road, out to ohio and then up to new york city for two fund-raisers. with the president as part of the white house pool, lesley clark who covers the white house. a colleague of mine in the briefing room. covers the white house for mcclatchy newspapers. good morning lesli. >> good morning bill. >> bill: we're joined by eric from bullfight strategies. you had a busy day yesterday. what time did you guys get back to andrews air force base? >> about 1:30 this morning. >> bill: oh, man. >> when did you leave? >> the president probably got home about 1:45 since he had his helicopter back. i got home about 2:30.

>> bill: you left d.c. yesterday morning or afternoon? i forget. >> yeah, we had a call time at 10:00. we left on air force i about noon. it was not a bad call time. >> bill: that's why you get all of the overtime from mcclatchy for days like that. >> exactly. >> bill: so the president yesterday, good crowd enthusiastic cloud of crowd in cleveland. how was that event? >> he had an incredibly enthusiastic crowd. it was a little bit of a disconnect between his long, sober speech about his vision for the economy and a crowd that was clearly ready to just launch into some cheering lines and they were just really pumped up and enthusiastic. but i think they were ready to stand up and cheer. >> bill: i saw the chant. they were chanting four more years. >> lesley, that sounds to me like there's a lot of -- clearly

a lot of enthusiasm for the president, you know, in a key state. and we've been talking about this kind of media narrative that the president's cooked, that he's done. was that your assessment being out there at the speech yesterday? >> yeah, i mean there was definitely enthusiasm. people there wearing obama 2012 t-shirts as well as having buttons from the campaign in 2008. and they leapt to their feet several times. >> bill: as you know, the last couple of days before the speech at the briefing, the white house was -- the word out was that this was going to be a major kind of turn the corner speech, right, to reset the campaign narrative as to what this election is all about.

to the extent that you were there and seeing some of the coverage, did the campaign and the president achieve its purpose do you think? >> well, they seemed pretty happy with it. i mean they definitely needed reset button after the past couple -- after the start of june, he's had a rough time. i think they saw this as a minute to pause and hopefully -- >> bill: do you think they did it? >> i haven't had a chance -- we were so busy heading out, i haven't had a chance to read any of the reports on it. i know the republicans don't think he did. it was more of the same and no new ideas. >> bill: romney's campaign is talk is cheap. >> what has romney done? >> bill: not exactly a profound commentary. so then from ohio, you went on to new york. and between the two events, pretty good haul for the campaign, wasn't it? >> yeah. there were two pretty high-end

fund-raisers one at a private home which was actress sarah jessica parker and jog editor anna wintour and a later event at the plaza hotel in new york. >> bill: a total take of $4.5 million between the two? that was in your pool report or not? >> if you do the math, it was $40,000 a couple for the sarah jessica parker reception. about 50 people there. the later one was $25,000 per and that was about 200 people in the ballroom. >> bill: all right. i want to know -- everybody wants to know did you get a peek in sarah jessica parker's house? what's it like? >> i did. i stood along with the other print poolers in her house. beautiful townhome. they had two tables of chairs, manhattan, these are not huge, sprawling places. she lives in a four story townhome in the west village.

it was kind of -- not -- it was large. but not for -- comparatively. >> bill: not a condominium. a four story -- >> townhouse. >> like a brownstone. you walked up a little flight of stairs and walked in. a little foyer. on your right is a living room. and a dining room although it was all set up with long tables and some really attractive stunning people sitting around the table. very intimate. candlelit. flowers everywhere. sarah jessica parker was talking when we walked in and she introduced the president. >> was it one of those things where she had all of her own movie posters and paraphernalia up on the walls? >> no. very tasteful. lots of art. nothing i could recognize. but it looked very nice. >> bill: how many people would you say? >> 40 to 50 people we could see.

of course we were trying to look around and spot as many celebrities as we could. >> bill: and? >> and we were able to see meryl streep. when we walked in, sarah jessica parker was standing -- she had a very elegant sweeping up do, beautiful dress, she was sitting next to the first lady. the president was standing at the time. i'm not sure where he had sat during the reception. and right across from the first lady was andy cohen from bravo. i'm trying to think. anna wintour. >> bill: one of the cohosts of the evening. >> apparently beyonce's sister was there. >> bill: wasn't aretha there? >> i didn't see her. we couldn't see into the -- there was a room in the back. the tables were long and extended. from my vantage point, up against the wall, i was two feet behind the person sitting at the

table. i couldn't really see into the entire room in the back. there could have been other celebrities there. >> the story i read on tmz is aretha was there for a matter of minutes and then she left. she hasn't been well. >> there were huge cameras outside of her house. they blocked off blocks and blocks and blocks and blocks of new york city -- they set up barricades. it was a gorgeous night out. it was gorgeous hanging out in new york and snapping pictures of the motor -- motorcade. >> bill: then he went on to the second event. at the plaza. >> at the plaza hotel. >> they couldn't go somewhere nice or something. >> bill: was it a concert? >> ma mariah carey was there. the president said alicia keyes were there. we were only told that mariah carey was there. the pool was not allowed into

it. so we're usually allowed in when the president makes a mark. so we didn't see any of the entertainment. >> bill: you just got in for the campaign remarks. >> we got in as michelle obama was introducing her husband. we got in for that and then the president. >> how were his remarks? >> very sober. very -- i guess you're used to campaign events and rhetoric and getting people excited. he didn't take the stage until about 11:00. and it was in a darkened ballroom. most of the light was -- votives on the table. very soberly very calmly, very professorial laying out his vision for the future. >> bill: by that time, he's probably ready to cash it out. the first lady was along yesterday. she picks and chooses events she wants to go to, man.

>> wouldn't you? >> bill: absolutely! she made a good choice yesterday. she went to one of the -- >> i was going to go. i gave but i tried -- >> bill: oh, right. >> $1,000. oh $40,000 man. >> bill: lesli, i know you didn't get much sleep. i appreciate very much your taking the time to join us this morning. maybe i'll see you later at the briefing at the white house today. >> absolutely. you got it. i'll be there. >> bill: leslie does a good job covering the white house for the mcclatchy newspapers. she's on pool duty two days in a row. >> that's a tough assignment. >> bill: on and off the bus and on and off the planes and on and off the motorcades. they don't give you a lot of time. >> there is pressure because everybody depends on them. >> bill: all the rest of us depend on what the pool sends out. who's at whose meeting with the president. how do you spell their names what their exact titles are. if you get something wrong

people really dump all over you. very important responsibility. >> somebody would let me write the pool reports, we would have great press. i'm kidding. >> bill: eric burns from bullfight strategies. we're going to talk about and give you our most favorite clips of the week coming back here. you'll enjoy that. >> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >>it would be terrible if america lost faith in wall street insiders wouldn't it.

we have a big, big hour and the i.q. will go way up.

how are you ever going to solve the problem if you don't look at all of the pieces? >>tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >>you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. >>sharp tongue, quick whit and above all, politically direct. >>you just think there is no low they won't go to. oh, no. if al gore's watching today... ♪ >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: it is the "full court press" with me, bill press and

eric burns from bullfight strategies here. before we get to our clips of the week, i think peter and eric and all of you friends and neighbors, this is probably the most important story of the day. out of san francisco at whole foods, they have started a new product selling a new product and it is a phenomenal success. they can't keep it on the shelves. >> it is this weed-related? >> bill: no. >> well, it is san francisco and there's some -- >> bill: this is chicken-related but it is not real chicken. it is fake chicken. it is a new meat substitute called beyond meat. and it tastes just like chicken except it's not chicken. it's all artificial for vegans who want to you know, have sort of like a -- kind of a meat experience without eating meat. >> sure. >> bill: they're also going to come out with fake beef, fake

pork and fake fish. >> isn't that kind of just like tofu? >> i'm all for this, right. >> bill: i think it is stupid. fake chicken? eat a freakin' chicken. >> that's what i'm saying. i'm for alternative meat like not eating -- basing your diet on meat. that's great and fine but they haven't found a way to make it tasty yet. >> i think alternative meat is like spam. >> that's meat by-product. >> bill: spam even has some -- who would eat fake chicken? it is just -- be real. if you're really a vegan, then be a freakin' vegan. >> it is like a mitt romney move. a pretenders movement. i'm eating chicken. oh wait, it is fake chicken. >> bill: he's a fake candidate. >> do you think they have fake chicken at kenny's smokehouse where barack obama went for lunch the other day? i don't think so. >> bill: yeah, no.

i'll have a caesar salad with fake chicken on it, please. let's go to the friday -- ♪ >> here we go. >> bill: we do this every friday. our clips of the week. start at the bottom and work our way to the top. speaking of mitt romney. he's going to -- he's got an idea about how we're going to get the keystone pipeline through. >> i'll bet he does. >> number five. >> i can guarantee you if i'm president on day one we're going to get the approval forthat pipeline from canada and if i have to build it myself to get it here, i'll get the oil into america. >> bill: he's going to build it himself. >> on day one among the 25,000 other things he says he's going to do on day one. >> bill: out there in north dakota. bang, bang bang. >> he will be on a jackhammer building the pipeline. >> is this the first specific thing he said he's going to do. i thought he was going to solve the china problem which is nebulous. >> bill: he will be available for a construction job because he won't get into the white

house. november 7th, he could sign up. louie gohmert crazy congressman from texas. he doesn't buy that bryson had a seizure. >> you got bryson out in california. it is really unusual to have a seizure cause you to have one wreck and then cause you to put your car in gear and keep going until you have another wreck. that kind of seizure is really unusual. >> what is his -- what is his role? >> commerce. >> secretary of commerce. >> keeping businesses going a guy that crashes his car from car to car. >> bill: brought to you by dr. louie gohmert right? >> louie gohmert, not the sharpest knife in the drawer. >> bill: to say the least.

chris wallace should know better. he was driving to work the other day on the phone to a talk show host. holding his cell phone in his hand. oops. >> number three. >> they say not expected to offer new jobs proposals in his economic address. and this is supposed -- >> i'm going to have a problem here. >> what's that buddy? >> talking to you on a cell phone and there is a policeman here. i probably shouldn't have been talking on the cell phone. so i'm about to get arrested. good-bye. >> the line's dead. >> bill: he's doing fox news sunday from the county jail by the way. president obama how's the economy doing? a week ago today he didn't put it quite the best way. >> number two. >> we created 4.3 million jobs over the last 27 months. over 800,000 just this year alone. the private sector is doing fine. >> bill: what he meant to say compared to the public sector.

we know that. mitt romney met a real tall guy and so he figures he's gotta be involved in sports. >> number one. >> met a guy yesterday. 7 feet tall. yeah. handsome, great big guy. 7 feet tall. name is rik miller. portland oregon. and he started a business. of course, you know, it was in basketball. but it wasn't in basketball. i mean i figured he had to be in sport but he wasn't in sport. his business is caring for seniors. ♪ >> bill: so this is going to change -- >> do you need any sort of proof this guy is awkward and out of touch? >> bill: exactly. how out of touch can you get? he reads the sport page. he follows sport. >> all of his horses, his prancing horses have sport. which i think comes from his time living in france. he speaks french. so john kerry is french. mitt romney is more french.

>> bill: he's more out of touch than any candidate we've had. eric burns always fun when you're in studio. always insightful, too. >> thank you for having me. >> bill: with bullfightstrategies.com. and i'll be back with a quick parting shot. >> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." with great taste... comes great entertainment. the amazing spider-man and twizzlers.

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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. [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> >> announcer: the parting shot with bill press. >> announcer: the parting shot with bill press. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: on this friday, june 15 my parting shot for today what's a person really like? you can tell a lot more about a person by what he does rather than what he says especially how

he treats other people. take mitt romney. he talks a lot about caring for the middle class but his actions say just the opposite. if you don't believe me, ask diane bower, owner of the main street cafe out in council bluffs iowa. she shut down her cafe last week so the romney campaign could use it for a roundtable discussion with their candidate and that's when her troubles began. according to ms. bower the arrogant romney staffers rearranged the entire cafe, broke several items ripped a hole in her roof threw tablecloths in a pile and not only that, romney himself never bothered to say hello to her or her workers. the whole experience left her wondering if that's how he treated me, how is he going to treat other people? exactly. because we learned romney doesn't care about little people. monday, we'll be joined by ed smith, melanie sloan from crew and joy behar. have a good weekend!

see you monday. to shout out. ryan grimm from "huffington post" will be here as well. comedian liz winstead has a new book out. she'll be joining us on thursday morning and current tv's joy behar next monday. so have a great day! come back and see us tomorrow.