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>> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> it is the "bill press show," the "full court press" live on your favorite progressive radio station and on current tv. join the chat room at current.com/billpress. join the other "full court pressers" there. let us know how you feel about the show. actually don't be so honest that, you know, you say something that you can't take back because i have feelings, too, dammit. bill will be back tomorrow, don't worry. joining us in studio in the next hour is noreen kahn from the "national journal." she wrote a great piece. we've had a lot of fun with mitt romney's gaffes and how screwy he is and how he screwed up on his big european trip but she makes the point these are probably not fatal mistakes. these are probably not going to

be things we're really talking about as we enter november to actually vote on this election. but this story that we're talking about now i think actually might. because it is mitt romney and his absolute most clueless. he's so weird and eloof he doesn't realize the person he hired to manage his crisis over bain capital has a crisis of her own. that flies in the face of everything that this modern conservative party republican party stands against. so 1-866-55-press. that's our phone number. is bain capital still an issue worth bringing up? our good friend, arnold is in richmond virginia. how you doing? >> caller: how you doing this morning, peter? >> thanks for calling in. >> caller: this bain capital thing, i think that the democrats and obama would be crazy not to keep pressing on because you know, it shows what he is.

and the more he does not reveal his taxes and the more that goes around thinking that people -- that he never paid taxes ten years back, i mean i love it. they should keep it going on. you know what happened in pennsylvania how they tried to whoop the vote. now it looks like the courts are going to put them in denial and yesterday i heard them saying in pennsylvania that obama is doing a double digit lead again in pennsylvania so i want to tell that one representative, done! it's done! [ laughter ] >> you're absolutely right. barack obama has major gains in swing states. we'll talk about that a little bit later on with one of our guests but he's doing very well. he's doing very well. so he's been going on bain and romney's record and it is working. it is clearly working. now, i just have to point out by the way, one quick thing, harry

reid did come out and say he's heard that mitt romney has not paid taxes in the last ten years. that may or may not be true. the thing that bothers me is harry reid immediately followed that up by going i don't know if that's true or not. why would you say it if you don't know it is true or not. we can guess and i certainly wouldn't be surprised but let's -- you know, let's play with facts here. t.j. in toronto canada. welcome from the great white north. how are you? >> caller: great. i have two things to say about mitt romney. they say mitt romney saved the olympics. he got $1.5 million from the taxpayer's money. and that money helped to build some of the roads for his friend's resort. that's a fact, okay? and one more thing sir. mitt romney -- he was not a resident of massachusetts when he cast his vote for the primary. i would like you to check into those things. have a great day. >> thank you very much, t.j.

i appreciate it. if you missed it, mitt romney realizes that he has a bain problem and the person that he hired to handle this is the person that was the right hand woman to hank paulson, the person that engineered the thing that tea partiers hate the most. the bailout. this would be like chick-fil-a realizing that they have a problem and hiring colonel sanders to help get them out of the mess that they're in. it makes absolutely no sense. 1-866-55-press. love to keep getting your calls on this. or check out the web site, billpressshow.com. you can join the chat there or at current.com. coming up next, we'll continue talking about the olympics. i'm in full-blown -- i have olympic fever. i make no bones about it. we'll be talking to jordan schultz from "the huffington post" coming up next on the "full court press." stay tuned. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

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[ ♪ theme music ♪ ] on your radio and on current tv, this is the bill press >> obama: i know how to run but they swim much fast err. -- i know how to run but they run much faster. these gymnastics folks, die understand how they do what they do. >> i'm with him. i have no idea how the hell they do it. i watched some of the all-around that the united states women won the gold in. unbelievable. it is unbelievable. this one maroney that does the -- what is it, not the pommel horse jordan schultz -- i'll ask him. she has the vault thing. she flies up i swear she gets

two feet higher than anyone else. >> it is unreal. >> she sticks like glue when she lands. it is unsane. -- it is insane. peter ogborn filling in for bill press. if you need your bill fix, he was on with stephanie miller yesterday. you could find that video at current.com. check it out there. current.com. joining us now to continue talking about the olympics, it is what everybody's talking about, "huffington post" sports columnist, jordan schultz of the blog at "huffington post." you can follow him on twitter. >> great to be here, thank you. >> i want to start first of all, before we get into the actual details of the sport so nbc's coverage, everybody seems to have an opinion on whether or not they're doing a good job or a bad job. online, a lot of people say they've been doing a bad job. what's your take on this and what are you hearing about it? >> we've been talking about this quite a bit around the office. what it comes down to is either

people hate it or love it. there is no other way to turn. they don't really care. and i think when the ratings are as unbelievable as it is and we've seen that the ratings have been terrific and that shows that. people, even if they know the results for better or worse are still going to tune in. i guess that's the bottom line. >> i know the results every day. because of the nature of what we do, we see the results as they sort of happen. but i still -- there has not been a night i haven't sat down and watched it. i cannot tell you the last time that i sat down and made appointment tv watching on network television. i haven't done that in years and yet we all sit down at 8:00 to hear the music kick in and hear the soothing tones of bob costs a every night at 8:00. >> people love to also hate bob costas. i love bob costas.

>> he is soothing. so soothing. >> not to mention he's getting young err as he goes. >> exactly. >> comcast sold i think over a billion dollars in ads for this summer's olympics in london. that gives you an idea of how successful it was. even before it started but the ratings have been through the roof. the swimming has been terrific. obviously once track and field picks up and basketball really starts to pick up that, will go higher. >> i have to say just to put my two cents in, people that complain about not being able to see everything live i find to be a little annoying because you could watch this stuff on your phone, on your ipad, online. it is available to you. and again when you talked about the ratings, if is hard to argue the formula is not working. >> yeah and they had i think i read a stat that they had 34 or 35 million viewers the first five nights which i think was the most in 35 or 40 years. so it has been really successful

for them. >> i really love the midday coverage by the way because they've got dan patrick and al michaels which is awesome. it is. awesome. >> al michaels from 1980 and then dan who is killing it as always. it is pretty cool. they've done a very good job i think. it is tough because you really do want to know -- i mean ideally, you probably not want to know but now it is so relevant. it doesn't matter. >> i so don't care. it is a good point. you mention the swimming and how exciting the swimming has been. it has been great! from all of the stuff that i've seen. michael phelps is now officially the most decorated olympian of all time. this is not his best outing i would say. >> i've spent some time with him before the olympics and he has been very adamant that he has not trained the same getting ready for beijing. he's really focused the past ei months but it is not the same for him and everything went so well. bob costas asked him about this

a couple of nights ago. everything went so well in beijing, it is almost impossible for it to go this well. he's not in the same physical condition. i still think he has an opportunity to have a great games. the 19 medals speak for itself. but i don't think he's disappointed either. i think he's content. he's enjoys the process and that's been evident. >> i can't imagine what it must be like to train the way that he did foreijing. you can't keep that up. >> no. >> i can't imagine he would have walked away from that and said here we go again. that's years of nonstop training. >> he was in sidney, people forget. athens 2004, he started really when he was really focused when he was 13 years old. he told me, he would be in the pool 11, 12 hours a day. that's not human. it is unbelievable. >> the other story that caught our eye yesterday is finally someone who's blown the cover off the cd belly of badminton.

who knew. what the hell is going on with badminton? >> this is an interesting story. people are still trying to figure it out as am i. but it sounds like a couple of things happened. one, this is the really, really jewed up part. chinese have two teams and they wanted the two teams each to play in the finals but if they were to each win, they would play each other in the semis. the same thing happened in indonesia and i believe the koreans. and you begin to see -- the issues. so i think personally, i think it was a really, really bad thing and if you watch the video, you get an idea of how bad it was. my thing is if you were going to do it, you were going to do that, at least put some effort into it. >> yeah, really. i was watching the videos and the accusations they were throwing the games to get better seats. they're just bad actors if nothing else. >> probably the worst i've ever

seen. >> terrible. one of the players i is a you this morning put out a statement saying she was done with the sport of badminton forever. she'll never play again. >> she gave a statement -- the problem is i just think you look at it and the serving which apparently, i don't know badminton but people do not miss on their serves. when they miss six in a row and the crowd is booing and they have a chair come out you begin to get an idea how bad it was. >> that's awful. begin, you mention -- again you mention the basketball team. dan patrick was called the esteemed treatment not the dream team, u.s.a. basketball. how are they looking so far? this idea that i think it was kobe that came out and said they think they can beat the original dream team. he's out of his mind. >> he is. >> but they're a very good team. >> they're very good. i follow this quite a bit. i think barcelona michael

jordan, they were young charles barkley, they were very young but at their peak. this team doesn't have that with the exception of lebron. guys haven't come into their peak or they're a little bit older plus this team does not have chris bosh and dwight howard. they don't have a big man with the exception of chandler to defend the paint. could they lose? it is very unlikely but they're a little susceptible because they're not as talented inside as they were in '92. >> i heard something yesterday i was watching one of these back and forths over who's the better team. magic johnson was running guard for the dream team. he's 6'10". >> yeah. you know, i think he's 6'8", 6'9" and you look at barkley who was a point forward for them. that is unbelievable. the closest you get to that now is 6'8" who was point forward

for them at times lebron. when magic was 32. you had bird who played a small role on the team. pippen. the interesting thing about that team was they constantly talk about their best competition was in practice. they would go really hard during the practices and then the games would be the time to take off which is interesting. >> is there anybody that could come close to beating this team? >> i looked at brazil and spain. i think both of those teams had the best opportunity. they both had terrific coaches. spain has the gasol brothers but they don't have rubio. he tore his acl. brazil has a great point guard but once again none of the teams have the athletic ability or the speed. what i think the best opportunity for the u.s. to lose would be to control them, take away their speed and basically make them play a half court slow game but once again this is a very, very talented team and i would be hard-pressed to say

that they would actually lose at any point in the game. >> what else is on the docket. we haven't made it to track and field yet. anything else, must see tv coming up here soon. >> i think peter, you look at the track. that's something that always starts late in the olympics but seems to captivate. tyson gave the american sprinter, had a terrible beijing where he tore his hamstring and then you know, was unable to qualify in the 100 and then ended up losing in the four by four. so he is a really good story because he has really worked hard to get back. he's about 30 years old which is a dinosaur for track and field guy, especially sprinter. that's an interesting story to watch. you've seen bolt who took over in beijing. has not had a great year and really has not had a great four years. he's been injured. he has not had his great times. he ran a 10.02 which for him is a terrible time. the slowest time since 2006. interesting to see in track

especially in the 100 which is the fastest -- world's fastest man. >> very good stuff. jordan schultz, "huffington post" sports columnist author of the schultz report. you can follow him at schultz underscore report. jordan, thanks for being here. >> thank you so much. >> good stuff there. it is the "full court press." peter ogborn sitting in for bill today. give us a call, 1-866-55-press. we'll be right back. >> announcer: on your radio on tv the "bill press show" new on current tv. those are facts. >>"if you ever raise taxes on the rich, you're going to destroy our economy." not true!

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start you morning with a daily dose of politics from a fresh perspective. >>i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. >>only on current tv. >> announcer: radio meets

television the "bill press show." now on current tv. >> good morning! welcome to the "full court press." peter ogborn sitting in for bill today. the "bill press show" heard on your favorite progressive radio station and right here on current tv. live. check out current.com by the way if you don't get current tv. they have a great little graphic up there. you can see exactly where you can find it. how you can get it. current.com. go check that out. 48 minutes past the hour. we were just talking to jordan schultz from "the huffington post." i forgot to ask him about today's main olympic event. dressage! >> trot, trot. >> rafalca ann romney's horse makes his olympic debut rafalca. still trying to figure out by the way how this is an olympic sport. >> let me tell you something there are a lot of olympic sports that aren't actually sports. skeet shooting, no. >> well. >> there is some skill. very skilled people.

and athletic? i could shoot a gun and be 500 pounds. >> that's a sport. dressage is a sport. back to dressage in a moment. golf not an olympic sport. >> because golf is not a sport. it is a game. >> but skeet shooting. >> i agree. golf shouldn't be an olympic sport. skeet shooting shouldn't be an olympic sport. >> this is a 52-year-old man riding rafalca today. >> it has nothing to do with your athletic prowess to ride a horse and jump a horse and make a horse dance you know? which is what dress an horses do. it is dancing horses. >> i'm in complete agreement. >> it takes real skill and talent to teach a horse and train a horse to cut a rug and dance? but it's not a sport! it's just not but i digress

because today we will see rafalca. i cannot wait. i cannot wait. it is going to be so good. i hope ann romney is going to be there. i know mitt romney -- mitt romney forgot all about this whole dressage horse this whole campaign. somebody asked him when is ann's horse -- oh, i don't know. i have no idea. really? >> boy, if he were there in the stands today -- >> not happening. >> how good of a campaign ad would that be for obama? >> he's not that terrible of a candidate. he's not that dumb. apparently i'm not the only one that thinks he's a terrible candidate. we have a new stud bye by quinnipiac. they did a poll of major swing states, important swing states to see how barack obama and mitt romney are shaping up. here's what we learned. in florida, barack obama is leading 51 to 45. in ohio, barack obama is leading 50 to 44.

in pennsylvania, mitt romney is losing to barack obama there 53 to 42. barack obama is leading mitt romney in the three most important states in this election. florida, ohio, and pennsylvania. you gotta win those! if he wins those, game over! game over. it is a done deal. it is a done deal. as peter brown from quinnipiac university says if today were november 6th, barack obama would sweep the key states of florida, ohio and pennsylvania and if history is any guide into a second term in the oval office. why is that? is it because of bain? is it because barack obama fighting against congress and saying now is the time to get it done? we can't wait. here's my post-it note list of things to do. he's running a good campaign. mitt romney is running a terrible one. is there anything we can point to say that's why he's doing well. 1-866-55-press is our phone number. meanwhile, on the tax plan, the

house voted down barack obama's plan to give a tax cut to americans making under $250,000. as peter welch congressman from vermont said yesterday, this is very interesting. i hadn't really thought about it. 100% of americans would get a tax cut. 100% of americans would get a tax cut. even those making over $250,000 would get a tax cut on the first $250,000 of the money that they make. you understand? so who hates this idea? i don't understand it. but in the middle of all of this tax talk and who has the better tax plan, a new study from the tax policy center took a look at mitt romney's tax plan. he vowed to cut tax rates by 20% across the board. repeal the estate tax which they call the death tax and get rid of taxes in investment income for those making up to $200,000. they say that that would be

very very bad. that would not -- i mean that would crush us. that would crush us. and it is also dishonest. they would not do what mitt romney says it would do. 1-866-55-press. our phone number. also online at billpressshow.com. we'll take a quick break. we'll be right back. >> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." students and to work with parents and making sure their kids get the best education and it is hurting. [ voice of dennis ] ...allstate. really? i was afraid you'd have some cut-rate policy. [ kyle ] nope, i've got... [ voice of dennis ] ...the allstate value plan. it's their most affordable car insurance -- and you still get an allstate agent. i too have... [ voice of dennis ]...allstate. [ roger ] same agent and everything. [ kyle ] it's like we're connected. no we're not.

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?ñ?ñ1c 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: taking your e-mails on any topic at any

>> announcer: take your e-mails on any topic at any time, this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> peter: it is the "full court press." peter ogborn sitting in for bill press today live on current tv and on your radio. we take your e-mails on any topic at any time at billpressshow.com. yesterday we talked an awful lot about chick-fil-a. judy writes in and says i have two things to say about honoring the owner of this establishment. first, i am a nurse so since i don't agree with this man's views on gays and lesbians, does that mean i have the right to withhold treatment when he comes into my e.r. with chest pains and difficulty breathing? no, do not take it that far. i'm just saying if you support gay rights, you can't support chick-fil-a. kirk writes in peter thanks for your support of gay marriage. i've been married for 27 years. there was a chick-fil-a in times square. i enjoy their sandwiches but now i'm back home in san francisco -- they don't

tolerate this kind of stuff in san francisco. i live back home in san francisco where we don't know of such a thing. as a member of the lgbt community, i find their policy despicable. i would imagine a lot of san franciscans agree with you on that. laverne writes in dear bill and the gang, i've been watching your show the very -- since the very first day on current. you guys are marvelous and smart. well, most of the time. your show provides -- i'm talk about bill not me. your show provides up-to-date true facts about what's going on especially the upcoming election. hey, we do what we can laverne. thank you so much for e-mailing us. you can find us on-line at billpressshow.com. by the way join the chat room there. you can join the "full court pressers" to talk about the show. we'll be talking to naureen khan from the journal.

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> peter: good thursday morning, august 2nd. welcome to current tv. it is "full court press." my name is peter ogborn sitting in for bill press today and what a show we have on tap for you today. stay tuned. we talked a lot yesterday about chick-fil-a appreciation day. how did it go? who turned up? we're going to tell you all about that. plus mitt romney and his gaffe-filled trip to europe. he managed to piss off just about every european country. how big of a deal will that be? we'll be talking to naureen khan. she wrote a piece on whether or not this will be a fatal issue

for mitt romney. we'll find out what she has to say about that in a few moments. first, live from los angeles our current news update with lisa ferguson. how are you? >> good. good morning peter. good morning everyone. we know that romney camp is pouncing on the president's you didn't build that line. using it for a new attack point that includes a web site, billboards and political ads. today the latest ad is out fighturing an office supply company in virginia. >> the comment that the president's plan has worked, i haven't seen it work. i've seen customers and companies go out of business. >> but here's the thing. romney's campaign is a little sly because many of the small business owners have benefitted from the federal spending. tanya burns featured in a romney campaign billboard in florida reading mr. president, i built my business. turns out burns owns an insurance firm which uses the affordable care act to help clients reduce their health

insurance premiums. she even has a health reform resource center on her wren site. plus the orlando business journal featured her in an article touting the benefits of the aca. leave it to team romney to do their research. in d.c., the house is setting up an election year showdown over taxes. wednesday, house republicans rejected the senate's plan to expire tax cuts. house republicans rejected on people who make more than $250,000. the house passed a bill that would keep existing tax rates for the next year. this means we will not know the fate of the bush era tax cuts until after the election. if the two parties cannot come to an agreement we'll see an automatic $600 billion worth of tax increases and spending cuts come january. coming up on "full court press" as peter mentioned naureen khan with the "national journal" and we're live in chat, current.com/billpress.

>>it's the place where democracy is supposed to be the great equalizer, where your vote is worth just as much as donald trump's. we must save the country. it starts with you.

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>> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "full court press." >> peter: good thursday morning. welcome to the "full court press," the "bill press show." i'm not bill press. i'm peter ogborn. bill will be back tomorrow. don't worry. you'll have a professional in here development but for now, you're stuck with me and we brought in some smart people to help me wade my way through the show. the first -- well, i shouldn't start out -- >> thank you so much! you say that so kindly. >> running the board is dan. he's not one of the smart people. hi dan. >> hi. >> how are you? >> just fine. >> peter: stevie lee webb will be screening your calls.

>> stevie lee webb. don't hold up any shiny coins you may distract me. >> peter: running the operations, cyprian bowlding. he can somehow put us on tv and not make us look like total idiots. we're joined by nar even khan. thank you for being here. >> good morning. >> naureen has had an interesting morning. while we have very nice studios everything around us -- you walk out our front door and it looks like karachi. there is construction. it looks like a bombed out war zone so naureen comes in, your first time here and you come in and you get -- a lot of our building is on lockdown because of all of this. >> i felt like romney must have felt during the entire time he was in europe. i got over here, was excited to start the day and then i was locked in a room and couldn't get out and had to have one of your producers rescue me. thank you.

>> peter: we found naureen yelling at one of the people kiss my ass, this is a holy site. we knew we had completely lost her. it is nice to you have here. thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> peter: the olympics continue. last night, i was glued to the television yet again. i, for one have discovered my new favorite sport. synchronized diving. if they can put synchronized diving on every sunday instead of football, i would still watch it. >> wow. >> that's a lot of judging coming from you dan. >> no, i think it is great. you watching the men in speedos that's great. >> peter: let me tell you something, when these guys or gals jump off this board, the flips and the spins and it is timed perfectly. >> it is incredibly impressive. >> peter: it is like obama was wondering, he doesn't understand gymnastics. i don't understand synchronized diving, the amount of time you have to put into coordinating with your partner.

>> it is called practice. >> peter: we're talking practice! then of course, swimming last night. another gold for the americans. nathan adrian winning the 100 meter freestyle right dan? >> yeah. >> peter: here's what it sounded like. >> will he get to the wall first? too close to call. by .001 of a second. what a race! complete shock. >> pretty tough thing to put into words. seeing the 1 next to my name is incredible. i was just trying to get on the medal stand. >> peter: are you watching the olympics? >> i'm watching the gymnastics team. hasn't happened since 1996. thinking about changing careers. i hope it is not too late for me. >> peter: barack obama was on the campaign trail. he said he understands that swimmers are just really good at swimming and he can swim. they swim faster than him. track and field, they can just

run faster than him but gymnastics is just something otherworldly. >> they get younger and younger every year. the things they do every year get crazier and crazier. >> peter: the flying squirrel, gaby. >> gaby douglas. she's got swag. >> peter: she looks like she's 12. >> she's got swag. in her post interview she's like i was confident. i knew i had it. >> peter: at 16. it is 10 minute past the hour. you mentioned mitt romney's overseas trip. you've been doing some writing about that. but first -- >> this is the "full court press." >> dan on the board there. >> making news on this thursday morning, "american idol" was not steven tyler's cup of tea. the aerosmith front man opens up about his two-year experience on the fox show. in an interview with "rolling stone" magazine saying it was simply something to do while the storm blew by referring to the feud inside aerosmith that blew

up back in 2009. overall, he said he both loved and hated the experience. he noted it was difficult for him to be critical of contestants saying producers wanted him to piss on them but that's not what he's about. he wanted to nurture the talent instead. >> peter: it was a total mistake to put him on the show. who are the new judges? >> mariah carey is sitting next to -- i'm excited about her. sitting next to randy jackson and they're still looking to fill the third seat. apparently they talked to toby keith about it and he turned it down. who knows. after the u.s. men won the gold medal in the four by 200 meter relay on monday, they had to celebrate by going to mcdonald's. ricky and connor tweeted. >> peter: how much do they get paid for that i wonder? >> they were at the mcdonald's

in the village. mcdonalds. >> peter: a couple of quarter-pounders and a big mac and a mcflurry and fries. >> since they eat so healthy all the time, they felt very gross all the way until the next morning because of the high calorie meal. >> peter: that will make you sick. if you don't eat mcdonald's and you blow it out like that that will make you sick. >> conservatives are blasting president obama for making a phone call while holding a baseball bat. and all they have to go on is a photograph. the white house released a picture of the president sitting in the oval office earlier this week talking to the prime minister of turkey with the phone in one hand and a wooden baseball bat in the other. some wonder if there is a hidden message or similar bottommic meaning behind it. press secretary jay carney was asked about it. it is fairly common for white house photographer to release behind the scenes pictures of the president. >> peter: if you are honestly concerned about this, like if

you have a real issue with him holding a baseball bat while on the phone, you should reevaluate exactly. very good at baseball down in cuba. right? what's he trying to say? he sides with cuba by holding the baseball bat? i mean come on! are we really that petty? yes. we are. i'm sorry. we are. 13 minutes past the hour. it is "full court press." peter ogborn in for bill press today. join the chat room, current.com/billpress. love to get your comments there as well as on twitter. i'm at peter ogborn and our guest, "national journal" reporter naureen khan is at naureen in d.c. >> all of the other naureen khans are taken. >> peter: you have this piece that we talked about once today. mitt romney with his european

vacation. national lampoon's mitt romney's vacation as our friends like to call it. filled with gaffes. he started out in england i think where -- if you want to go somewhere and you just get a lay-up and not screw it up, you go to england. he managed to screw that up. >> well, you know, it is kind of like -- it wasn't -- it wasn't a fatal error but it is kind of like you're going over to someone's house for dinner and you're like are cookies store bought? or you ask them -- it was no secret that the london olympics were having some problems and the british press was being brutal and they were blaring across their own headlines but it is not exactly -- it is poor form to say at an interview before you go over there oh, i find some of these events disconcerting and then david cameron and forest johnson they didn't really cut him any slack. they lit into him. just fed the narrative. >> peter: one of the greatest

putdowns, it is easy to hold the olympics in the middle of nowhere. >> i like johnson being like some guy named mitt romney doesn't think that we're ready for our olympics. are we ready? but you know, that really sort of prepped the press. it set the tone of the trip really because after that, they were primed for any other misstep that he might make. and they were on the lookout for it during the entire course of the trip. of course, there were a few more hiccups along the way. >> peter: yeah. we'll get into some of those. the name of your piece republicans on romney's trip, any damage won't be fatal which i think is a good way to look at it. i don't think he shot himself in the foot or the leg fatally here but it may have helped build a narrative over how romney is handling his campaign. >> the other thing to take away is like you said, you go over to england, one of our strongest steadiest allies, you go over to

israel where he's supposed to make the case he will be a better ally to the country than president obama is. you go to poland go to some holy sites and all he really had to do was smile for the camera. he wanted to get some good headlines out of it. not make any waves. what he came away with was all of this other peripheral stuff. are people going to be voting on what did that guy say about the olympics? i don't think people will be voting on that or even foreign policy, not when the economy is in the state that it's in. but it does -- would his campaign do this way again? i'm not really sure. that's what one of the people in the story said. he gave it a four. he works for the bush quayle campaign. >> peter: barack obama when he was running for president in 2008 he treated them well. he got favorable media coverage. he really did. he won over the media. okay. i think that the way that romney

handled this with just this disdain for the media might carry over because he pissed off a lot of people. when he kept saying he was going to shut the reporters out of the fund-raiser in israel -- >> sure, that's true. but president obama notoriously when he was campaigning, he didn't take many questions either. he was very scripted. did a stump speech at every stop. didn't put him in an open position. mitt romney, he does have something of a point in that it's a 24/7 news cycle. any little thing that he says dominates for the next 24 hours and it is hard to tell what's going to blow up and get blown out of proportion. be talked by the pundits for hours and hours and hours. so the comments about the london event, the olympics being -- some of the events leading up to it being disconcerting, it was mild compared to what the british press was saying. the comments in israel a little more -- i don't know if you could really lump that in the

gaffe category because he's kind of doubled down. he said that the economic distances between israel and palestine might have had something to do with the culture of the two nations. in poland, it was just press secretary getting really cranky. no sleep. really cranky. not really his fault. >> peter: i think you're right. it is just a matter of maybe a little disorganization. he might not have quite been as ready as he thought he was for this trip. >> it is a huge international media spotlight. you might think that you have, you know, the american press you've got that part of it locked down, handled. you go overseas and it is a whole different ball game. they're brutal over there. again with the 24/7 news cycle somebody caught his press secretary -- his spokesperson saying something a little bit off color. another one of the people i was talking to said oh, my god, you think that's bad, you should have heard the things that i said in '92.

>> peter: i hear ya. 1-866-55-press is our phone number. are these gaffes a fatal blow to mitt romney? let's get your take on that. i'm peter ogborn filling in for bill press today on the "full court press." joined in studio by "national journal" reporter naureen khan. get your questions in, 1-866-55-press. we'll take a short break. we'll be right back. >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >>tax cuts don't create jobs. the golden years as the conservatives call them, we had the highest tax rates, and the highest amount of growth, and the highest amount of jobs. those are facts. >>"if you ever raise taxes on the rich, you're going to destroy our economy." not true!

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press show." i'm peter ogborn sitting in for bill press. you all right? you threw your arm out there throwing it to me. >> i get excited. >> peter: i saw it. i think they saw it in west virginia the way you threw that at me. thanks for being here on this thursday. august 2nd. i'm peter ogborn sitting in for bill press today on the "full court press" tweeting at peter ogborn. joined by national judicial reporter naureen khan. you can follow her on twitter at naureen in d.c. naureen, thanks for being here. >> thank you. >> peter: we've been talking about your piece on whether or not mitt romney had a fatal blow when he was over in europe. blue rabbit from the chat room at current.com/billpress writes in romney's new campaign slogan, open mouth switch foot. i get that. let's go to jerry in mississippi. jerry, welcome to the "full court press." >> hello.

first time caller. >> peter: thanks for calling in. what's your take on this? >> caller: i don't think his gaffe is going to hurt him that much. remember, we did elect george bush. >> peter: that's true. >> caller: i really do think that he's two-dimensional -- his two dimensions will hurt him. >> peter: you think he has a whole two dimensions. i'm not sure he has that many. all right. jerry, thanks for the call. i appreciate it. i don't think that this is fatal. i agree with naureen. if you look at george bush, it was gaffe after gaffe after gaffe after gaffe. it became part of his character. you didn't hold it against him anymore. >> the jobs report is coming out on friday. >> peter: there's that. >> how long are we going to be talking about romney's adventures abroad or misadventures abroad when that

news comes out or you know, most americans are watching the olympics. they're not following mitt romney's every move. >> peter: if you were going to have a screwup like this, it helps to have it during the olympics. let's go to sandra in westchester, pennsylvania. thanks for calling. >> caller: i agree also that his gaffes won't hurt much. these people are walking around with rose-colored glasses. they don't think romney can do any harm. they're so against the positive that can happen with the democratic party and the president. they will vote for him anymore. >> peter: good point sandra. naureen, let me ask you about how romney sort of reigns it back in. he's going to have to have a moment here where he recaptures his mojo which i hate saying. i apologize but he's going to have to sort of recapture any sort of movement forward.

what happens next for romney? >> sure. well his -- he's going to announce his pick of vice president soon and that's a great way to change the subject and get it back on your terms. i'm sure they're going to have some kind of high production value roll-out of it. capture headlines for awhile. they'll be vetted aggressively by the media. but knowing romney and how meticulous his team is, he'll pick someone who is very, very solid and has a very clean record to the extent that you can these days and then he's got the conventions in tampa are coming up. it is the republican party's chance to show their message. it won't be filtered by the media. they get hours of prime time television for three nights, i believe. so that's sort of their chance to say this is what we -- i believe -- this is what we're offering. >> peter: that's really the

next time he can recapture this because the olympics have just completely saturated us. >> it used to be that this was a slow time during campaign season probably would run out of money at this point and you were waiting until you tied up the nomination to get things going again. if is a little unusual what we're seeing now. >> peter: all right. we'll see what happens. i appreciate you coming in. we've got this new story that shows that barack obama is leading mitt romney in florida ohio and pennsylvania. so mitt romney is clearly going to need a game change as we approach november, i think. good stuff. thanks for coming in. we'll have you back in again soon. >> thank you so much. >> peter: good luck finding your way out of here. >> can i have some help? >> peter: you're on your own. it is "full court press," peter ogborn sitting in for bill press. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

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

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> peter: "full court press." i'm not bill press. i'm peter ogborn sitting in for bill today. bill will be back tomorrow. thank you for being here. check us out online, billpressshow.com. billpressshow.com. you can check out our podcasts there. also at current.com/billpress. you can join our chat room. check it out online. we're joined in studio now by will dobson, the author of the dictator's learning curb. you can follow him at slate and twitter at williamjdobson. thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> peter: thanks for coming in with the b team. we're doing what we can. let's start out first of all i just referenced this with

naureen khan. we didn't get a chance to dig down into it. a new quinnipiac poll with cbs and "new york times" shows that barack obama is leading mitt romney in florida ohio and pennsylvania by pretty convincing numbers. this is good news for obama for sure. what do you think is -- we can attribute that to? >> the thing that's fascinating about the battleground map right now is if you actually look at sort of imagine that as this microcosm of the election, where probably the election will be decided by about 900,000 people. now you can just sort of zero in on this and you find a state like ohio where manufacturing is way up. you find unemployment is much lower than the national average. and in fact, as you travel around the battleground states, one of the things that's helping obama is the economic conditions in these particular places are actually much better than the

national picture. so -- >> peter: that's interesting. >> you have the contending forces. on the one hand, you have the national picture which sags it down. we know that romney will be hitting him on the economy generally. but locally for these people they might say well, i don't know what you mean. >> peter: right. maybe it is just an issue of not so much that obama's message is getting through. it might just be the economy. >> in some cases, it is the economy. the other thing that he has a difference like a nevada is the demographics. the other thing is organization. so what the president is relying on is better economic conditions in spots that he needs it, a. b, the demographic picture in a place like florida and nevada. and then c an organizational sort of just ground game that needs to be better. so those things together go up against what is -- a weak incumbent but who has some strong assets.

>> mr. henning, grab the clip of obama in ohio. we always make a joke here on the "full court press" that if we see the press schedule and there is an opening a large opening, he's either going to iraq or ohio. yesterday it was ohio. >> that's right. >> peter: he was out there pushing tax reform. >> obama: all i'm asking is folks like me and mr. romney go back to the rates that we paid under bill clinton. >> peter: how is that message playing in places like ohio? >> i think it is playing pretty well. i was surprised by the ohio numbers. i'm not so surprised by the pennsylvania numbers. he's got pennsylvania and wisconsin is a little bit more of a buffer. you start to see those numbers go down, he has a problem. in ohio, you know, he's got a nice-size margin with female voters. that's -- his weakness is with white male voters. that's where that message isn't trafficking quite as well. small business not doing quite as well there but in pockets across ohio, places like

northern ohio doing very well. >> peter: who would you sort of attribute some of the success to the bain attacks? because it really has been a focus of the obama campaign. it has been a lot of bain talk. how does that play out? >> because it complicates romney's story. that's what it -- romney has what could be sort of a tailor-made story given the problems in the country. look, this is my background. i'm the guy to fix it. however, so what you see the obama campaign doing is right but what we have to do is talk about what type of background you have. your business background isn't about creating jobs, it is about making money for you and others that we're working with you. not the people of massachusetts not the people of boston, necessarily. investors. that's a very different thing. it puts romney on the fence that we've seen which is now you have to sort of sway no, i'm this type of business owner not that kind of business owner. >> peter: you mention that.

want to get back to the quinnipiac poll in a second. you talk about mitt romney having to defend his background and defend his time at bain. "buzzfeed" editor ben smith reporting that the romney campaign is bringing on michelle davis to help him clean up the bain story and sort of manage that because it clearly is having effect. who is michelle davis you might ask? oh,ly tell you! michelle davis is a former top aide to treasury secretary hank paulson who was once said about her, the secretary meaning hank paulson doesn't do anything without talking to michelle. she was paulson's right hand during the 2008 financial crisis. michelle davis served at fannie mae as their vice president for regulatory policy during a time in which fannie mae was found to have doctored its earnings statements to juice executive bonuses. so the crisis team he has brought in to manage the crisis might actually need a crisis team. >> you would have to wonder whether or not they have enough sort of ability to sort of own

themselves or step outside of their own personal histories that they could look at this with the objectivity you would need out of a crisis team. >> peter: it seems like this highlights -- people talk about mitt romney being out of touch. this highlights it. someone probably told him hey you have a problem with bain so he says okay, i'll bring this person in. not realizing this person has a problem of their own. >> these are the people you know. so you turn to the people you know. they were part of the original original -- i guess you give her points for knowing the problem. i guess you can say that. but it is sort of -- the thing that i thought was incredible today, we've got the statements from harry reid about i know -- i've heard he hasn't paid his taxes. how did the campaign respond to that? oh, that's not true. he's never not paid taxes in any year. well there would an way to explain that us to which would have been showing -- it is sort of -- that type of knee-jerk

falling on the same argument -- are you going to get new arguments from the old person? we'll see. >> peter: you bring up the tax issue. we're not going to see the taxes, are we? >> at this point i actually -- you know, if i were michelle, i would think that -- you would be advising you do not show the taxes. you've been hit up beside the head for weeks about it. you've taken the beating and now you're going to show them. you get the worst of both sides because everyone will pour over it. what we would learn, we learn. he gets the negative from that as well, as well as having dragged his feet. at some point you had to have made a decision and they're sticking to it. >> peter: i wonder if there is more damage left in that weapon. when we get to the debates and barack obama brings it out will everybody be tired of hearing about it or will it restart this whole conversation? >> i think there's still more there. i don't think that's going away. because when you ask in the polling where people are asked should candidates give this

information freely, a standard set by his own father, people yes, very clearly yes. you should do this. why are you not doing it? it is inherently suspicious behavior. >> peter: exactly. exactly right. i think anybody walking away from that, even if you're a supporter, saw republicans pile on in the early days of this being pushed, it doesn't look good. >> no, it doesn't. >> peter: it doesn't look good. back to the quinnipiac poll. florida, ohio, pennsylvania, obama's winning those three. if he wins those three, that's it. it is game over. >> oh, yeah. >> peter: talking about pennsylvania in particular, mayor of philadelphia, michael nutter came out yesterday and talked about pennsylvania's voter i.d. law. we've talked about it some. what's the latest on the voter i.d. law and what does it do? >> it is in court right now. for the last several days, basically voter i.d. has been on trial in harrisburg where the state is trying to defend the law against petitioners

including the aclu and naacp and others. basically, right now i mean today is the last day of testimony and where it stands right now is the state is doing a really bad job. yesterday, basically only argument that the deputy attorney general could put forward is that look, you have to use i.d. in many facets of your life. you can't get on a plane without using your i.d. you can't get into your office building without using an i.d. but when i get into my office building or i get on a plane or i'm asked to show an i.d. in an airport, i'm not actually voting. i'm not engaging in a public act that could change your rights and privileges. >> peter: right. >> we generally want to open that up to as many people as possible. we want it to be inclusive. as the -- what happened, it has been happening over a few days is that pennsylvania state officials, when asked about how the law works can't even explain how it would be applied.

the petitioners are doing a great job of saying what happens in this case? what about this case? you could say these are examples. yes, they are but this is a law you want to use to keep people from voting. you should be able to understand it. if you can't understand it, you've got a problem. >> peter: this is a movement we're seeing in a lot of other states. not just pennsylvania. >> you're seeing this across the country. democrats would say voter suppression drives. a new sort of form of poll tax. the thing is -- i actually -- in my other world as a foreign affairs writer, i spent the last couple of years traveling around the world looking at how sophisticated authoritarian regimes control electoral environments so that basically authoritarians can stay in power through very.of sophisticated electoral strategies. actually a lot of the things we see in republican states come right out of putin's playbook. >> peter: that's terrifying. >> in the case of georgia of

republicans in georgia trying to put forward a fine that would keep you from protesting. really sort of sizable, make you pause for a moment do you want to go out in the street and raise the sign sort of fines. that's the first law that putin passed when he came in for his third term. in odd ways, it is -- there's bizarre comparisons to be made. >> peter: 1-866-55-press is our phone number. get your calls in. peter ogborn sitting in for bill press on the "full court press" joined in studio by slate politics and foreign affairs editor will dobson. we'll be right back. >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> we talk a lot about the influence of money in politics. it is the defining issue of this era. the candidate with the most money does win.

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>> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> peter: the "bill press show," the "full court press" heard on your favorite progressive radio station and live on current tv. go to current.com. find out how you can watch. they have all of the channels listed right there on the front of the web site. so you have no excuse. go to current.com and find out how you can watch at current.com. i'm peter ogborn in for bill press on the "full court press" today joined by slate politics and foreign affairs editor will dobson. you can follow him at twitter at williamjdobson. good stuff so far. i want to pick up our conversation. we were just talking about the pennsylvania voter i.d. law. this is widespread and it is only getting worse it looks like. >> this is -- you can travel across from state to state. this is going on in ohio. there is a legal challenge there. this is going on -- this has been a part of the process in

wisconsin. florida. south carolina. texas. state after state after state. again, going back to our earlier conversation about battleground states, in the states we classify as real tossups throwing 400,000 votes this way or that is meaningful stuff. so if you did have people that were barred from voting because of new rules and in some cases the state officials themselves can't even explain, then you would have a problem. you could actually talk about it affecting the result of an election. what's sort of back barring in some instances like the case of pennsylvania, that's what happened is you start monkeying around with this stuff, you don't know what way it is going to go. it is like a bullet ricocheting around a room, you don't know where it is going to ultimately hit. in the case of pennsylvania, they found a lot of suburban voters don't have updated licenses. they would probably be barred if

it remains like it is now how do they skew? they skew conservative. so i mean, in some ways, you say this probably will negatively affect minority communities and the poor. that's a safe bet. but the thing is it's not going to just affect them. you shouldn't do this at all. whole argument is based on the fact there's voter fraud. >> peter: it seems to me like lawmakers are getting dumber. you see this on the side. when we saw the personhood bills that were out there. okay so we want to make a fetus an actual citizen. so then what? do they get voting rights? do you pay taxes on the fetus? you don't think through the legislation. >> yeah, there's that critique. then there's just something more basically essential which is that if we probably have a problem in this country at all it is that there is not enough voter participation and so anything that sort of smacks of trying to reduce our actual participation is just not

healthy in general. i actually think that people on both sides they weren't acting cynically could agree to that proposition. sadly, we're having to fight it out in the courts. >> peter: let's go to corky in rochest rochester new york. welcome to the "bill press show." >> caller: hi, there. >> peter: hello sir. >> caller: this is voter suppression. it is easier to throw election with our electoral system than it is in russia the way they disparage their voters. all do you is take two states out of this mix and you throw the election. >> peter: i think that's the point that will was making earlier. good call, corky. i appreciate it. 1-866-55-press is our phone number. chantal is in jacksonville, florida. welcome. >> caller: hi, peter. hi mr. dobson. i want to say the department of justice is taking a harder look at the state of florida which i live in jacksonville. more specifically, the voter

purge. i'm proud our supervisor of election joined the other supervisor of election in the other counties to say no, we're not going to do this. but we as floridians need to try harder. i'm a precinct manager. i know how this affects people. i just feel like we need to do a whole lot more to try to curb the voter suppression. maybe take a look at changing the rules. make it a little bit easier for people to vote because there is a lot more that want to. it is just harder now. >> peter: good call. i appreciate it. florida is one of the states with the voter purge and the doj is looking into that as well. how active of a role is the doj taking? >> the doj right now doesn't have a great record in terms of -- in the last term, in the last supreme court term, the doj lost more cases than pretty much anyone remembers in the administration losing in a long time but on this issue shantel is right holder has come out months ago last year and in a speech he gave in columbia, south carolina, where he sort of

signaled that voter suppression the new poll taxes are going to be a focus of the doj and so they're pursuing that along a number of -- a number of different states along a number of different lines. in part because they think it is meaningful and in part because i think they also see that there are other areas of the law that will be vulnerable in the next supreme court term. in rights act. there is a great deal of concern the voting rights act is probably -- months away from basically being struck down by chief justice roberts next term. if that happens then these poll taxes become the only other sort of line of defense. >> peter: that's good stuff. we'll have to take a break. i appreciate you coming in. slate politics and foreign affairs editor will dobson inside the global battle of democracy. please follow him online at slate.com and on twitter at williamjdobson. nobody has talked about this voter i.d. stuff. i appreciate you coming in. take care. it is the "full court press." we'll be right back and tell

what you the president's up to today. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

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[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show" now on current tv. >> peter: it is the "full court press." peter ogborn sit fog -- sitting in for bill press today. just a few minutes before we hit the top of the hour. we wanted to tell what you the president is up to today. at 11:20 a.m., on the road again. guess where he's going. any guesses? he's off to florida. orlando, florida. he will be speaking there delivering remarks for the campaign event. he's going to be speaking and

that's at 2:40 is when he delivers his remarks. at 4:30, he will be talking to the blogger conference at rawlins college in orlando. about an hour later he hits the road and lands in virginia where he will deliver remarks at a campaign event in virginia. boy, he's got the "full court press" on and then he's going to head back to the white house getting back to the south lawn around looks like 9:00 tonight. so a busy day of campaigning for the president in all the right places. florida and virginia. he's a busy man. jay carney will be gaggling aboard air force i. no press meeting. we don't have to worry about me showing up and crashing since bill is not here. we have more of the "full court press" coming up here on current tv.

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> peter: good thursday morning, august 2nd. welcome to current tv. it is "full court press." i'm not bill press. i'm peter ogborn doing what i can to keep the ship afloat today. thanks so much for being with us. lots of stuff to talk about today. a new poll shows that barack obama is beating mitt romney in the very key states of pennsylvania ohio and florida. he wins those three states. he wins the white house. done deal. we'll see how that develops over the next couple of weeks. plus yesterday was chick-fil-a appreciation day. i for one do not appreciate chick-fil-a and i'll tell you why in just a few moments. plus a new wrinkle in the

chick-fil-a story that hits close to home. can't wait to tell you all about it. but first, it is our current news update. live in los angeles, it is lisa ferguson. good morning lisa. >> good morning, peter. good morning everyone. we're in the middle of one of the worst droughts in decades and we're now hearing cattle farmers won't get any new help from congress at least for the next five weeks. the house plans to pass a bill today giving farmers federal disaster assistance but a senate aide tells cnn lawmakers likely won't take up the bill before they leave on august recess. the drought assistance is part of a broader five-year farm bill. the senate already approved its own measure early this this summer but partisan politics are stopping congress from coming to an agreement. federal aide from the last farm bill has expired leaving livestock producers in a tough spot. the drought could have a direct impact on the november election thanks to the relationship between gas and corn. ethanol which is made from corn is a major component in gasoline sold in the u.s.

and gas prices just suffered their biggest monthly increase in more than a decade. historically, americans will let rising gas prices dictate their loading preference. a good rain in the corn belt would help gas prices but with the drought we likely won't see that happen. a new web video is out attacking president obama but this one does not come from the romney camp. it doesn't come from a super pac. it actually comes from a 6-year-old who has ten reasons not to re-elect the president. >> number four, don't take guns away from good guys. >> number three mr. and mrs. obama are not proud of america. >> something tells me his parents put him up to that. the video has gone viral with nearly 300,000 views. back with more bill after the break. we're live in chat, current.com/billpress.

>>oh really? >>tax cuts don't create jobs. the golden years as the conservatives call them, we had the highest tax rates, and the highest amount of growth, and the highest amount of jobs. those are facts. >>"if you ever raise taxes on the rich, you're going to destroy our economy." not true!

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[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> peter: good morning. welcome to the "full court press." it is peter ogborn in for bill press today on the "bill press show" live on current tv. on your favorite progressive radio station. thank you so much for being here on this thursday, august 2nd 2012. bill will be back tomorrow. we've been getting lots of e-mails. when the hell is bill coming back. who is this idiot sitting in for bill? i'm peter, i normally produce the show. you can follow me on twitter at peter ogborn. you can follow the show at bpshow. so check us out there. we're also online at

current.com/billpress if you want to join the chat room and you can go to our web site, billpressshow.com. i think i have sufficiently plugged away, is that right? >> absolutely. you were saying we got a lot of nasty e-mails about you. we've gotten one e-mail about you being a good host. >> peter: you only sent me the ones that talked about how bad i am. that's dan henning producer on the 1s and 2s, running the board. dan, thank you for being here. screening your calls is stevie lee webb, british man. he is a british man. >> i must say just to follow on from the nasty e-mails we've gotten several calls today saying that you're great as well. but i'm better. so there you go. >> great is a relative word. >> peter: people who call in talking to you so much better than the dope that normally answers the phones. >> hose horrible. >> peter: they're so excited to talk to stevie lee webb.

>> it is the accent. it is cute. you say what? >> strawberries. they love to hear me say strawberries. i don't know why. >> peter: with the olympics being in london, it is the perfect time to have you in. you can tell us all about fog jumping and all of the other sports going on there. if you're watching on tv, this is put on the air by our videographer cyprian bowlding. thank you so much for being here. we have a big hour. i'm going to follow up on chick-fil-a. we've got some news on chick-fil-a appreciation day. plus i'll be talking to comedian dave hill in just a few moments with a book called tasteful nudes. i could tell you what it is all about but i'll let dave hill tell you what tasteful nudes is all about. ♪ tasteful nudes ♪ ♪ is a book i wrote all by myself ♪ ♪ tasteful nudes ♪ ♪ about war and peace write

about profanity ♪ ♪ get back to war and peace for a second ♪ [ bleep ] >> peter: i'm excited to talk to dave hill. the book is very funny. i've been reading it. that guy has some stories in him. it will be pretty good stuff. we'll talk to him in just a few moments. but first... >> this is the "full court press." >> a check of other headlines making news on this thursday morning. scandal on the badminton court at the olympics. no steroids, just plain old cheating in reverse. eight players from china, south korea and indonesia were disqualified from the games yesterday after intentionally trying to lose their games because the way the tournament is set up, losers in the early rounds get better seeds in the final portion which then gives. >> better chance of winning the gold. fans who attended the matches aren't getting their money back. some paid over $100 for a seat. >> peter: $100 for badminton?

i would pay $100 to go see michael phelps to win the gold. >> the ticket range was $31 to $117. $30 for nosebleeds, mind you. >> peter: i wouldn't pay $30 for badminton nosebleeds. i'm glad -- no, i wouldn't. >> would you pay $30 for badminton tickets at all? >> no. this is the olympics! you're not going to see better badminton than this and i still wouldn't pay $30. i'm just glad someone finally blew the cover off the cd underbelly of the badminton racket. the racket. hey, that was unintentional. you know what? that's just for you. that's free. >> the u.s. and china continued -- >> peter: i said badminton racket. as in like a scandal -- as in the badminton -- >> the u.s. and china continue to remain strong at the olympic games. the chinese now have one more

medal than us. 30. the u.s. has 29 and the medal count. china dominated with 17 golds. u.s. has 12. japan has the third most medals, half as much as us almost. just 17. south korea france, germany and russia all have at least ten. >> peter: go u.s.a.! >> thanksgiving dinner at the zuckerberg household may be a little bit awkward this year. facebook ceo mark zuckerberg's sister has worked for a marketing software start-up company just purchased by google. so now as a google employee, she's in direct competition with her brother as google, of course, trying to push their own anti-facebook noted google plus. pass the potatoes, please. >> peter: that should be awkward. all right, dan, thank you very much for those headlines. so yesterday we talked about chick-fil-a. i'm not going to spend the whole time talking about what we talked about yesterday. but essentially, mike huckabee, america's number one christian failed presidential candidate

and former governor of arkansas, he started chick-fil-a appreciation day. yesterday he wanted everybody to go out and go visit chick-fil-a. now this was all sold on sort of a false premise. mike huckabee says that the activist gay community is trying to shut down chick-fil-a which is not the case. chick-fil-a has a history of giving money to causes that fight rights for gay people. they don't like the fact that -- they don't want to let's go people get married. they don't want to give gay people the rights that straight people have. chick-fil-a, this is key. listen carefully! takes their money money that they make and gives it to those organizations. they give it to organizations that fight gay marriage, they give it to organizations that pray the gay away. they give it to groups that say that if you are gay that they can change you. that's who they give money to.

they have donated -- i thought when i was talking about this yesterday, i knew they had donated $1 million specifically to fight gay marriage. "the huffington post" looked at all of the different things that chick-fil-a has given money to. $5 million they have given to organizations that depict gay people as pedophiles, that want to make gay behavior illegal. and say that gay people should be exported out of america. that's where chick-fil-a gives their money. it is not we believe in the bible and we want to prohibit gay people from getting married because we're religious. that is genuine hate. when you're talking about exporting people out of the country because they're gay that is hate. there is no other way around it. so when chick-fil-a was confronted with this a few weeks ago, dan cathy, their president said do you all own up to the

fact that you have an anti-gay reputation, you give money to the groups? he said guilty as charged. that's the story. yesterday, chick-fil-a appreciation day, americans rolled out and went to go give their dollar to chick-fil-a. here are some of the folks -- some of the voices you heard around the country. here's one man. >> i'm voting for free speech, if you will. i support gays but i also support the right to do business. >> peter: you you cannot support gays and support chick-fil-a. this is where there is a cloud of confusion over this whole topic. people want to say chick-fil-a has the right to free speech. yes, they do. chick-fil-a, if their president came out and said i firmly believe that gay people should be exported out of this country he should have that right. he should have that right. and it has nothing to do with me wanting to shut him down but i'm not going to give him my money. he can have free speech.

but when you take that -- the fact that the money that you give him then goes to fight those causes, then we have a different situation. here's another man who says that he's not going to be pushed around. >> we're not going to be pushed around. we're going to stand for it. for what we believe according to scripture. >> peter: i said this was being led to mike huckabee. i want to skip to his second clip. because huckabee says that people have a problem with the fact that they're against gay marriage. but it hasn't changed the way that huckabee does business with certain companies. >> the ceos of apple computers, starbucks amazon, all support same-sex marriage, have given generously to it. but i still drink starbucks i use my iphone and mac book. i order things on amazon and i'll eat ben & jerry's ice cream. i'm not buying their politics. i'm buying their products. >> peter: you're not buying their politics. i knew that chick-fil-a was a right wing christian organization.

i tend to not be right wing and i tend to not be christian but i never had any problem giving them my money when i went there -- hundreds of times over the course of my life. i've given chick-fil-a a lot of money over the years. but we made the decision a couple of years ago we were not going to give anymore money to them when it came out they were giving money to fight gay marriage. but i have to give mike huckabee a little bit of grief here. if you really believe that gay marriage is such a scourge that we should be fighting it and amazon and apple and starbucks and ben & jerry's are giving money, the money that you give them to fight those causes, then you can't stand on your own convictions. if you believe in something then you should stand up for it. that's my point. these people that want to say we're putting chick-fil-a -- we want to put chick-fil-a out of business and boycott chick-fil-a. i'm not saying that boycott chick-fil-a. i'm saying if you believe that

gay people have rights, if you believe that gay people have the right to be married and if you believe some of the groups that chick-fil-a has given money to, if you don't think that gay people are pedophiles, if you don't want to make gay behavior illegal and if you don't think that gay people should be exported out of america which is what chick-fil-a believes, if you disagree with that, you can't give chick-fil-a your money. you cannot have it both ways. because chick-fil-a is taking the money that you are giving them and putting it right back into something that you disagree with. and that is hypocritical. 1-866-55-press. that's our phone number. now, i talked about this yesterday. and i talked about my dopey friends on facebook from high school who were all about chick-fil-a, man. they have the free speech. they have the right to do this. we support chick-fil-a. that's fine. you're a dope. that's fine. look, you can go there.

you can support -- you could be against gay marriage. that's fine. i disagree with you vehemently. i think you're on the wrong side of history and i think you're a dinosaur but that's fine. you have a right to do that and the right to give chick-fil-a your money. clearly, you don't know me very well if you want to be my friend and think that i'm going to go along with that. but my family is a very right wing family. i grew up in south carolina. my family is from alabama. and so my parents, i know, went out of their way to go to chick-fil-a yesterday. i've been told that i have a gift card coming my way from chick-fil-a. bought a gift card for me to chick-fil-a. what am i going to do with that? what am i going to do with that? >> so they're doing this clearly to get under your skin. >> piss me off. what am i going to do? the money's already been spent.

i do like chick-fil-a but i can't go into chick-fil-a and spend that. >> you could send it back to them or take it and cut the gift card in half. >> i could cut the gift card in half but don't you think i could do something with that gift card? don't you think i could feed somebody with it or that i could -- i don't know, sell it or something like that. give the money to a different organization? i don't know what to do. >> sure. >> peter: i wanted to ask our friends and family here on the "full court press." 1-866-55-press. what do i do with that? >> with $100 gift card, what do you do? if you could sell it? i would say sell it, take the $100 and give that to an organization or a fast food chain if you will that you support. >> i'm not going to give it to another fast food chain. i'm generally anti-fast food. mike huckabee, who used to be like stop you on the street fat and lost a bunch of weight and wrote a book about it, about how we're slowly killing ourselves with a knife and fork and for him to be out there going you

need to go out there and eat this heavily salted fried chicken. come on, man! again, pick your message! you want us to be healthy and not -- you know, run around downing fried chicken sandwiches and waffle fries. or do you want us to be a healthy nation? 1-866-55-press is our phone number. my name is peter ogborn sitting in for bill press. quick break. we'll be right back. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> this court has proven to be the knowing, delighted accomplice

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the real world and politics collide. >> will your next doctor be a robot. gavin newsom probes for answers on "the gavin newsom show." only on current tv. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: joe cirincione is our

>> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> peter: it is the "bill press show," the "full court press" heard on your favorite progressive radio station and live on current tv. i'm peter ogborn sitting in for bill. going to take your calls on the chick-fil-a issue. i've been given a gift card. $100 to spend at chick-fil-a that was given to me my some conservative family members. what do i do with that gift card? because i can't go spend it at chick-fil-a. we've gotten some comments in the chat room. current.com/billpress. one person writes in homeless people. give it to a homeless person. you should find a gay homeless person and give it to that person. tom shaper on twitter says how about auctioning the card on ebay, giving the proceeds to glad. glen writes in says sell it, donate the money to freedom to marry. all good ideas. i'm not sure what i'm going to do with it. the fact of the matter is for my -- me, you cannot say you support the rights of gay people and that you support

chick-fil-a. you can't. you cannot. when you look at how chick-fil-a spends their money to fight the rights of gay people and want to export gay people out of the country, you can't defend it. tonya in denver, colorado. welcome to the "full court press." >> caller: hello. >> peter: hi tonya. how are you? >> caller: i'm good. i agree that you know, you can't spend your money at chick-fil-a if you don't agree with their politics because money is speech as we all know. >> peter: right. >> caller: you know, the difference with chick-fil-a and their politicizing is they know who their audience is. they are largely mormon, on a wednesday night that parking lot is wrapped around the block. but unlike others, you know, who, like for example tom hanks susan sarandon, dixie chicks, et cetera, they take the risk of turning off half of their audience if you think that half of their audience would be

conservative and half would be liberal. >> peter: you mentioned something. the dixie chicks, they did something far more tame than that. they said that they were ashamed that george bush was from texas. and republicans conservatives christians tried to ruin their career! and the dixie chicks used to be huge! and they just don't exist the way they used to. they're not the band that they used to be. they were blacklisted by radio stations. they were boycotted at record stores and it was an organized effort all because of free speech. and it was just for literally speaking their minds. they weren't taking money from their album sales and giving it to you know, organizations that went against something that you believed in. that was just free speech. really quickly let's go to rodney in north carolina. rodney welcome. >> caller: hi, peter. >> peter: thanks for calling. >> caller: i also want to say -- agree with you that it is absurd

to have opinion that it is okay to, you know, to buy food from chick-fil-a and also believe that gay and lesbians should have rights. that's a conflict of interest. >> peter: it is a total conflict of interest. i mean it is like somebody said yesterday you know, they must have missed that day back in the '60s when they had a woolworth lunch counter appreciation day. when another restaurant was on the wrong side of history. it is sad that so many people went out to chick-fil-a. but it was a record setting day for the chick-fil-a franchise all around the nation. we'll keep this up but first we're going to talk to comedian dave hill, author of the book "tasteful nudes" right here on the "full court press." >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

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

>> peter: oklahoma to -- welcome back to the "full court press." live on current tv and on your favorite radio station all around the country. we're now joined by very, very funny guy comedian dave hill. he has a new book out called "tasteful nudes" which is hilarious. i'm reading it. i'm about halfway through it right now. i can't wait to finish it. it is called "tasteful nudes "and other misguided attempts at personal growth and validation. he is comedian dave hill. how are you man? >> good. how are you? >> peter: doing really well. everybody follow dave hill on twitter right now at mr. dave

hill. he's hilarious. he's generally hilarious. we have a link up to the book at billpressshow.com. so go there and buy a copy. it is hilarious. really really funny stuff. >> thank you so much. >> peter: you've got quite a bio man. i'm reading stuff you've written for "the new york times," guitar world you've been on tv, several stand-up specials. what led you i guess to write a book? >> it is weird. i wanted to do it for -- like before i went into comedy, i was a journalist and musician primarily and so i figured i was on the path to writing a book. i thought that would be like the end goal and then i started doing comedy. and got just really sidetracked and then i thought like oh, maybe they will stop making books. like actually -- or at least the kind of book i wanted to write. i need to get on it before they stop.

this is something -- i wanted to -- my parents have never understood anything i do, you know. so i was like they would totally get it if i wrote a book. it is a physical thing. i could be like here, i wrote this. so that was another factor where i was -- it is kind of stupid. >> peter: no! i think a lot of people are like that. obviously we're always looking for approval from mom and dad but a concrete thing. i hear what you're saying. because we do radio. you can't hold on to that. >> yeah. my parents my mom you know, i remember called me at one point about three years ago and said hey, my friends saw you on hbo. that's pretty good, right? and i was like oh she's finally getting it. she's getting what i do. i was like yeah. i think so. then there was a long pause. and she says what is hbo. kind of always been that way.

>> peter: oh no. >> so the book -- yeah, it was like so totally -- they'll totally get this. they can't show their friends because there's the f word in there. i kind of blew it in the end. but anyway, then the book, you know as you'll find out a lot of it ends up being about my mom and stuff. sort of weave through there and my relationship with her and trying to make her proud of me. >> peter: yeah. >> then i sort of realized by the end of it that it is silly to even try. it doesn't matter. i sort of realized my hangups i've had about that. it has been my hangups not my parent's hangups. this is my problem. >> peter: is that something that you sort of realized writing the book that that experience or is this something that you've approached head-on and have spent a lot of time on?

because i can relate. >> yeah. not to ruin the end of the book for you -- i don't think it ruins it but you know, at the end of the book is dealing dealing with my mom dying and in the process of that, like her -- probably the last couple of months of her life, i was -- then i was like oh! none of this stupid stuff matters that i was worried about. it is like really -- it is like sitting around watching murder she wrote or whatever you're going to do. life is much simpler. hanging out and it is not you know, not trying to impress your parents. i don't know. i promise my book is most profanity. >> peter: right. >> it's not all mushy. >> peter: i don't want you to come off as deepak chopra. right off the bat, i could tell that you sort of had a

background in media and reporting. it is written in a way in the details you pick up on are so funny, the very first story in the book, you talk about going to a dinner party on a boat with nude people. >> yeah. >> peter: how do you even handle that? >> oh it was horrifying. sort of -- the fantasy of course is that it is going to be all of these really attractive people and you know, the ladies are going to be like really flirtatious -- which they were in the end. they were flirtatious. but it was really -- because it ends up being like you know, everyone was -- it is sort of a testament that most people should not be taking their clothes off in front of other people. a boat -- adrift at sea with a bunch of like cellulite-ridden, pasty 50-year-olds. >> peter: it is a classic

seinfeld episode there. is good naked and there's bad naked, you know? sitting on a boat eating with a guy that looks like a beanbag chair with legs, that's not good naked. >> no. and yeah, oh, go have some more bow tie pasta. it is disgusting, absolutely horrifying. but you know, it was interesting because when i got on it, it was this group. they do this monthly dinner. all very nice people. they're like oh, yeah, this isn't about sex and we don't look -- because i was like do you guys check out each other's packages. they're like no, no, no, no one does that. this is about being with other people of shared interests and being in our natural state. it was like they were reciting press releases or something. and then finally as the night wears on, they have a couple of drinks and they're like really -- because i took my shirt off right away because i thought that would be a nice show of solidarity.

>> peter: i would think that would be weirder to just take your shirt off. >> it definitely was. they were just like don't talk to the guy with the shirt off. and then eventually, they were egging me on and finally -- i stripped down to my boxers. oh. that's like probably the water wings of the nudists. you know. this is pretty good. and then they're like no, it is nothing. so i stripped down to be naked. once i did, it was like the gloves were off. right away, everyone was looking at my goods and i thought you guys just looked at my package. and then they were all blushing. well yeah, sure. we're going to take a peek, sure. and then of course everyone is like oh, yeah, you know. we're swingers and we have this group and we meet -- you should come out with us for one of our outings. right away, all of this stuff was coming out and also like i

was instantly one of them. like i could ask -- a woman would have her downtown real estate completely shaved. oh, that's very nice what you've done there. oh thanks, you know. >> peter: put some thought into it. >> yeah. exactly. it was -- would i do it again? i don't think so. >> peter: right exactly. there are so many situations in the book that you sort of find yourself in. i never laugh out loud at books and i found myself laughing out loud a couple of times. >> thank you. >> peter: the book is called tasteful nudes by comedian dave hill. you can find him online at dave hill online.com and on twitter at mr. dave hill. go follow him right now. dave, i really appreciate the time. good luck with the book. >> thanks for having me. >> peter: take care. tasteful nudes is the name of the book. the book is so funny. before we started talking to

dave, we were talking about chick-fil-a. yesterday was chick-fil-a appreciation day and around the country, people went out to go and spend their money at chick-fil-a which is a group that supports keeping gay people from having rights and i've been given a gift card by a conservative family member to go and spend that money at chick-fil-a. $100 gift card. what do i do with the gift card? because i can't in good conscience go there and use it. how do i screw with my family on that? adam in ohio. did i get that right? >> caller: yes. about as close as anyone else has. >> peter: what's your take on this? >> caller: sell the gift card. donate it to a progay organization in the name of that conservative family member. >> peter: perfect! i like that. >> caller: also my wife -- we're here in rural ohio and she heard a commercial on her way to work

stating that gay people are bad parents. first she thought it was a joke. they were dead serious. i am scared for the state i live in right now. all i keep getting is rush limbaugh sean hannity thank god for you guys, bill press and current tv! because i am lost in a sea of conservatives. >> peter: adam, i can't thank you enough for the call because look, we're doing what we can. and if you want to know what we're up against bill's book, toxic talk, if you don't have a copy, go find a copy because it is -- we're up against it! ya know, we're fighting the good fight. we're on the right side of the issues but it is hard out there! 43 minutes past the hour. we'll take more callsn chick-fil-a appreciation day. my name is peter ogborn sit fog for bill press today o. we'll be right back. the golden years as the

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>> peter: it is the "bill press show." peter ogborn sit fog for bill press today live on current tv and on your radio station. you can follow me at peter ogborn on twitter. follow me there. i'm doing what i can at peter ogborn. you can follow bill and the show every day at bpshow. check it out! many thanks to dave hill for joining us in the last segment. now, we're going to continue our conversation on chick-fil-a.

chick-fil-a which had their appreciation day yesterday which was led by mike huckabee. mike huckabee was on fox news a little while ago. he's chubbing back up a little bit. >> maybe eating too many of the waffle fries. >> peter: he was like orca fat jigant-a pot mouse. he lost a bunch of weight. he's back shelling for chick-fil-a. their food is not healthy. if you're going to shill for a company and get behind the company and push, use your power of the pulpit to use a product maybe greasy, salty hormone-laden, deep fried chicken is not the best thing to be pushing. because he looks a little puffy. he looks just like skinny mike huckabee but that he's been stung by a couple of dozen bees.

he's not back to stop on the street fat but he's ticklish. i'll put it that way. let's go to mike in phoenix arizona. i've been given a gift card by a conservative family member to spend at chick-fil-a. what do i do with that gift card? mike in phoenix. thanks for calling the "full court press." >> caller: good show peter. >> peter: thanks, man. >> caller: i would recommend giving it to a homeless charity shelter, something like that. because the money has already been spent like you said. what i would recommend that you do or any of the other listeners, go through the drive through, order about $40 or $50 and keep right on driving. >> peter: i hear that. i don't want to do that necessarily because i'm anti-food waste. i think we should be smart about the food that we eat. if we tell chick-fil-a we won't give them our money then they don't buy the chickens. it would feel pretty good. in our chat room, current.com/billpress, you can -- one of our very, very

smart "full court pressers" there in the chat room told us that there is a web site called plasticjungle.com. apparently if you've been given a gift card you don't want, you can go there and sell it then i could take the money and give it to whoever i want to. either i could find a gay homeless person or give it to a gay friendly charity. i'm not opposed to that. karen in carson city, michigan. welcome to the "full court press." >> caller: hello. >> peter: how are you? >> caller: fine. i'm 73 years old. i have children that i would not disrespect that way by giving them a gift like that that that they wouldn't like. >> peter: you've never met my parents. >> caller: perhaps you should give it back to them. >> peter: i think we could take this card and do something good with it. if i give it back to them, they're just going to spend it to chick-fil-a. so i would rather take the money and do something out of spite. this is the relationship i have with my parents by the way.

>> caller: i find that terribly distressing that your parents should disrespect you like that. >> peter: well look, we're dealing with the issue on our own time. let's go to aldes in madison wisconsin. >> caller: peter mcdonald's used to track how many billion hamburgers they move. >> peter: that's right. >> caller: that's because product movement is just as important as money when it comes to promoting how much your business is supported. if you sell and it comes to -- it chick-fil-a could say we move as much product after the brouhaha. we have this much support from the american people. the best thing you can do is destroy the card. >> peter: destroy the card. >> caller: because if you let it be used by you or yourself by anyone else, the problem is chick-fil-a has $100 more product they can say -- they can boast. not only do we make this much

money, we have this much support from the american people. if people like you who are put on the spot by basically conservatives who want to try to challenge you, look, the money is already spent. here's the thing. if you destroy the card, chick-fil-a then has this very strange thing on their balance sheet where they see gift cards but they're not being redeemed. this is pressure that tells them okay, so we have some people who are supporting us with money but people are really ticked off because our product is not moving. >> peter: that is have very smart comment that i hadn't thought about. because yeah you're absolutely right. i mean i would like to think that something good could come out of something that was given -- sort of in a nasty tone, not a nasty tone. it was joking. but you know, that's a good point. maybe all of this is saying we should just go the complete opposite direction, go to chick-fil-a and buy gift cards then that way they see if the product wasn't moved then maybe people are pissed off. one more quick call. rich in chicago.

>> caller: i got right back on the line. check it out. thank you america for listening today to the "bill press show." the bottom line is this. if you're listening, you're doing the right thing. and we have to continue to do the right thing because there's nobody else doing it but us. we have to take advantage of keeping all of the cards as trophies and not letting them go forward like the guy was saying. and the bottom line is that the other people do not want to do the right thing. >> peter: that's right. that's absolutely right rich. that's a very good point. look, we're trying to do the right thing. what i'm saying is if you say that you support the rights of gay people, you cannot -- you cannot -- say that you support chick-fil-a. and if you believe that it is right for gay people to be married and right for gay people to have the same rights as us, you can't give your money to

chick-fil-a because that money goes to fight what you believe in. that is called hypocrisy. 54 minutes past the hour. peter ogborn in for bill press. we'll be right back. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." dose of politics from a fresh perspective. >>i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. >>only on current tv.

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hey little guy, wake up! aw, come off it mate! geico. saving people money on more than just car insu [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> peter: it is the "bill press show." the "full court press." i'm peter ogborn in for bill press. bill will be back tomorrow! so be here. thank you all for tuning in the past couple of days while i sat in except for those of who you wrote in that told me i suck you guys can -- well, you know what you can do. we're going to be back tomorrow live again with bill and what we

have -- we'll have a lot to talk about because today we'll see the dressage competition of the olympics and rafalca, ann romney's horse will take center stage. we'll see how well the horse can dance. i'm sorry. i can't believe that that phrase just came out of my mouth. we'll see how well that horse can dance. >> because that's an olympic sport. >> peter: ay-ay-ay. on twitter, barb wrote me because i've got this chick-fil-a gift card, i'm peter ogborn on twitter. barb says buy a small lemonade and then ask them for the change in cash. i like the way you think barb! that's a good idea. on tomorrow's show, wayne from the humane society will be here in studio and bill will be back. thanks for being here. see you tomorrow. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."