[ ♪ theme ♪ ] [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> hey. hello, everybody. it's friday. how about it? friday. august 17th. great to see you today. welcome to the "full court press" here on current tv. great to see you today. we've got lots to talk about in our three hours together this morning, a little daily town hall on current tv. mitt romney yesterday said he paid taxes every year and he never paid less than 13%. now, he still won't release his tax returns. he just wants to believe him.

trust me mitt romney says. well, we don't trust him. if he lies about everything else why should we believe him about his tax return? we will talk about that and a whole lot more here on today's "full-court press." but first, let's get the latest the current news update now from lisa ferguson out in los angeles. hey, lisa. good morning. >> hi, bill. good morning, everyone. well, we know paul ryan has his own plan for the economy and for years, he has been out spokenly against president obama's stimulus plan. ryan voted against the 23r58 bill, and when claims started surfacing that he actually requested stimulus funds for wisconsin w he denied them. here he is with wcpo in cincinnati yesterday. >> i don't recall. i haven't seen this report, so i really can't comment on it. i opposed the stimulus because it doesn't work. >> well, ryan's office has now issued a statement saying he has checked into those letters, and he did request and receive

millions for companies to develop green jobs. but ryan says his letters were treated as constituent service requests and that is why he did not remember them having to do with the stimulus. and going back to what bill said earlier, mitt romney is also looking back through some old documents after claims he has paid zero taxes over the last 10 years. >> i did go back and look at my taxes. and over the past 10 years, i never paid less than 13%. >> romney's likely hoping to put those claims behind him once and for all. but the democrats aren't having it. harry reid and obama spokesman, ben lee bolt said prove it. david axelrod says romney has a sense of entitlement and penchant for secrecy. it's time for candidates to prepare for the debates. chris valuen hollen will help biden rehearse by paying paul ryan. he is a member of the budget schmidt and clark with him on the major issues.

four years ago, current tv's own jennifer gran home played sarah palein. back with more. stay with us. >>i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. >>only on current tv.

nah, he's probably got... [ dennis' voice ] allstate. they can bundle all your policies together. lot of paperwork. [ doug's voice ] actually... [ dennis' voice ] an allstate agent can help do the switching and paperwork for you. well, it probably costs a lot. [ dennis' voice ] allstate can save you up to 30% more when you bundle. well, his dog's stupid. [ dennis' voice ] poodles are one of the world's smartest breeds. ♪ ♪ bundle and save with an allstate agent. are you in good hands?

you've heard bill's views, now let's hear yours. politically direct means no b.s. just telling you what's going on in politics today.

>>at the only on-line forum with a direct line to bill press. >>it's something i've been waiting for a long time. >>join the debate now. [ ♪ theme ♪ ] [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> broadcasting across the nation, on ynd on current tv this is "the bill press show". >> the white house yesterday says damn right joe biden is staying on the ticket. it's the obama-biden ticket. and that's exactly the way it ought to be. we love joe. hey, good morning, everybody. what do you say? do you realize it's a friday. ♪ alleluia. ♪ alleluia. >> friday, august 17th. ♪ alleluia. >> friday is our favorite day around the full court press ♪ alleluia.

>> your favorite day, too. alleluia, indeed. alleluia. good to have you with us today. great to see you. it's been a fun week roller coaster week. glad to see it come to an end but not yet. not yet. catch go into the weekend before we tackle the big stories of the day today. >> that's why it's good to see you. this is current tv. this is your local progressive talk radio station, sirius xm it this hour only. don't blame me. blame them. great to see you. and we will get you involved in our conversation any time you want at 866-55-press. 866-557-7377. >> that's our toll-free number. on this friday morning here again, team press, peter ogburn and dan henning and -- >> happy friday. >> good morning. >> cyprian bowlding our videographer. it's the wave. >> we are all here. >> everything good? >> yes indeed. >> short week now, we know? >> sure. exactly. >> yeah.

>> i could get used to a 4-day week. >> an awkward day. couldn't we all. my next contract baby. >> what are you? howard stern? >> i am not going to mention othernize. there are other nationally syndicated figures who don't do a full week. david letterman doesn't do four days. five days? does he? >> he does but he tapes extra on a thursday. you could tape two shows on thursday and have friday off. a fair compromise. >> are you listening, david boreman? awkward moment yesterday on the today's show when the women's rowing team was there. they have the practice -- tradition, i guess, after their race, they toss one of the rowers, or is it the coxsw aim? >> i am not sure. somebody gets thrown into the river. >> mat lowery was saying that would be maybe not so -- not so comfortable if they were thrown into the hudson river.

but then al rockier follows up with what they do around nbc when they are tired of people being part of the term. >> and the ladies throw you in the water after winning the gold. the tradition is you throw her in the hudson river. congratulations. >> al rockier. >> different than our tradition which is throw one another under the bass. >> that's another story. >> when ann curry, i wonder if she was watching. nancy guthrie standing there. >> standing next to al. mat lowery standing next to savan a. it was weird. >> they had thrown ann under the bus. >> that's for sure. yeah. >> did you see she said something about they didn't like the way she dressed or something. i don't know. >> whatever. >> all i have got to say is in this business, radio and t.v. you can be thrown under the bus at a moment's notice.

>> yeah. >> and i have several times. >> yeah. >> and you have. >> absolutely. >> and -- >> if you have been been any business for more than a couple of years you have been thrown under the bus, kicked to the curb. it sucks but that's how it goes. >> i told my kids if you want any longevity in your career don't go to go broadcasting. >> don't do what daddy did. >> what a team? bernie sanders our favorite united states senator, as liberal as they come, god bless him, from ver hospital as long as the head of the new centre for american progress, nira nira tanden, a new exciting proposal on health care and katie paris for media matters in america. let's get right to it. first: >> this is the full court press. >> other headlines making news on this friday, michael phelps back on the wheaties serial box.

al new limited edition cover featuring the the 22-time gold medal attest. he was on the box after the the 2004 olympics. in 2008, he went to kellogg. and beach volleyball may treanor is making her debut on the wheaties box. they will be out next month for just a few months. >> that's her first cereal appearance. >> i finally, decided that had one of my life's goals will not be achieved. >> you are never going to make it on the wheaties box. >> neither will i. >> i keep that alive but i am not going to make the wheaties box. >> the cnn host and time magazine columnist accused of plagiarism is on the job, huffington post reported after one week of suspension, zakari is cleavered.

he lifted wording from a new yorker piece. they say he committed an unintentional error for which he apologized and he is welcomed back to work. >> this is totally, totally begs the question: does he deserve to have a show on cnn? no. it's the biggest, most boring snoozefestive seen on television. i can't believe it. it doesn't even belong on npr, you know. >> wow. >> that's saying something. >> you have to be pretty boring when you are too boring for nps or npr. >> another band -- >> the show on npr, gps on npr. >> whatever. boring. >> works. >> another day, another band upset with music being used on the campaign without permission the silver sun pick-up want the romney campaign to stop playing their 2009 song called "panic switch" saying they were never contacted for permission and they have no intention of

endorsing mitt romney. the band says we are approachable people. we won't bite unless you are mitt romney. stop playing our music. >> all right. he probably won't stop playing it. don't forget you can follow us on twitter at bpshow. >> that's our handle @bpshow. and join the chat room. keep the conversation going with all of your "full-court press"ers. go to current.com and click on the chat room. here, you know, we talk a lot, talked a lot about mitt romney and his taxes and what he paid in taxes. and whether or not he should release his tax returns and how do we know and all of that kind of stuff. you know what? mitt romney had a news conference yesterday, and i guess friends and neighbors, this whole -- this issue is not going is put to rest once and for all because he told us exact

now. he has gone back as he promised david muir of abc and us through david muir he has gone back and looked at his taxes. now we know exact, exactly what he paid. >> i did go back and look at my taxes. over last 10 years, i never paid less than 13%. >> by the way, it was 13% minimum. >> that's without counting mitt romney told us all of the other stuff. >> every year, i've paid at least thriftr 13%, and if you added in addition the amount that goes to charity, it never gets above 20%. >> 13% plus add back in the stuff for charities and that's at least 20%. so it's time for us to get off of his back and just move on to other issues and time to accept the fact that harry reid was just dead wrong. >> every single year. harry reid's charge is totally

false. i am sure waiting for harry to put up who it was that told him what he said they told them. i don't believe it for a minute by the way. >> harry reid has said that someone very close to bain and an investor in bain had told him that people in bain knew that mitt romney had not paid -- had paid zero taxes in some of those years, which is why he wouldn't release his tax returns. so that's it. it's all over. weng just take mitt romney at his word and move on to other issues. now we know complete what he paid in taxes every year. don't you think. don't you agree as good people and liberals and progressives to trust mitt romney? 866-55-press. >> that's it. can we move on to something else? no, we can't. no. i don't trust mitt romney. what the hell is he saying? >> crazy. trust mitt romney?

no way do we trust mitt romney. nice try mittance. but look: here is the deal: first of all, shall we point out, he is bragging about paying 13% in taxes? 13% is not a hell of a lot. 13% is one-third of what he ought to be paying which is 35%, and that's the cut rate under bush tax cuts. okay? that ought to be really 39%. so he's bragging about paying 13% when 39% is the going rate number 1. no. 2, you can't add your deductions on top of what you pay and say that's what i really paid like he says 13%, but if you add back what i gave to charities, then it's actually in the 20%. no. no. no. no. apples, oranges here, dude the

you take all of your deductions including your charitable deductions and they go somewhere else. what you pay in taxes is the 13%. you don't add back your mortgage deduction, deduction, you know, your home child care deductions or health care deductions or whatever other deductions you can possibly take. you can't -- you don't add those back and then say, what i really paid in taxes is this: no what you really paid in taxes is this. and the other thing is he raises a lot of questions. right? how did he get from the 35 or 39 down to 13? hum. how much did he -- how many houses did he have? how many home mortgage deductions? how many dress hajj horses did he have?

how about the cayman islands tax shelter? what about the swiss bank account? what about the dressage horses? how did he avoid paying 26% of taxes and pay only 13% of taxes? we don't know. we don't know. and, of course, all of those points i raised: why should we trust him? why would we trust any politician about anything unless they give us the evidence? there was a day when politicians would say, this is what i say, and we would just take that and take it to the bank. thapz that was stupid. we shouldn't do it today for anybody and certainly not mitt romney. he is lying about what barack obama would do or has done on welfare. he is out there lying about medicare. he is out there lying about the affordable care act. he is out there lying about his record as governor of massachusetts.

why should we trust him about anything? trust mitt romney? are you kidding me? there is only one way. you know what? this keeps coming back. there is only one way that mitt romney can prove how much he paid in taxes, and you know what it is and i know what it is. and he knows what it is. release his tax returns. and still, until he does i will at the tell you, there might be other reporters, might be other people, other talk show hosts who will let this drop. i am not going to. mitt romney has to release his tax returns and we have to keep the pressure on him. or am i just being too mean? 866-55-press. shall we just let this issue go away and be nice guys and bend over one more time? 866-557-7377. not me. >> heard around the country and seen on current tv this is "the bill press show." >>oh really? >>"if you ever raise taxes on

>>the rich, you're going to destroy our economy." not true! rich, chewy caramel rolled up in smooth milk chocolate. don't forget about that payroll meeting. rolo.get your smooth on. now in minis.

barack was having to work out the fact that people react to him based on his racial makeup. as barack obama seeks his second term we go back to see the people and events that shaped the life of the man who would become president. "becoming barack" followed by.. is america ready for a mormon president? between him and obama i wouldn't vote. mormonism is a cult. current tv explores the world's fastest growing religion. "becoming barack" followed by "the mormon candidate"

[ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> this is the bill press show. >> mitt romney says i am tired of talking about these tax returns, tired of getting these questions. he said anybody interested in how much he paid in taxes -- you know what he called us? "small-minded." yeah. the idea that a billionaire like him would cheat on his taxes for us to worry about that we are small minded. pay your fair share, mitt. prove it by releasing your tax

returns. he says he paid at least 13% and we just should believe him. anita in san antonio texas. >> hi, bill. i love your show. i love you. >> thank you. >> listen. i have two points to make, and i would like to make them real quick. >> go ahead. >> first of all, when he was running for governor in massachusetts, he flat-out lied and said that he had filed as a resident in massachusetts. >> uh-huh. >> and it was proven that he hadn't. and then he retroactively did that. >> i never heard that before. >> yeah. >> liehe has lied about a lot of stuff. >> he lies all the time. why should we believe a word he says. ? >> right. ond of all have you notices noticed he never mentions he nor his wife have never said income taxes? it's always taxes. sure, he pays sales taxes, property taxes. >> that's a very good point. >> that's another thing. we don't know when he said 13%

of taxes what kind of taxes. right? is that property taxes. >> right. >> property taxes in sales taxes? is he adding it together and saying when you add state tax, local tax, sales tax, property tax and income tax my total is 13? no. it's supposed to be 35% of your even under the bush tax codes of your income tax. excellent point. guilt to hear from are you. bill is in faye etteville, north carolina. >> bill, thank you for taking my call but these previous callers covered my point and the second thing that i would like to bring in what rosie o'donnell pointed out, ann romney is very much concerned that people are going to question if we disclose any more taxes. and, well i mean, what the heck is he running for? a dog catcher or something that

we should not question him? he is running for president of the united states. >> yeah. no. no. no. that's right. he says if i put out tax returns and people are just going to want more or they are going to ask questions about them. well again, as his father said -- right? one year is just kind of a fluke and rotney hasn't even put out a full year yet. so you have to see the whole thing, and if he puts them out, then romney can at least say, all right. there they are. right? there they are. >> exactly. exactly. >> now, and president obama has said, it's not a law but it has certainly become the tradition that any candidate running for president releases tax returns. obama has released 12 years. joe biden has released 12 years. and you know damn well paul ryan -- paul ryan had to give mitt romney more than one or two years when he was vetted. sue was up in fairport new york. hi, sue. >> thanks so much? >> thank you.

>> questions: 13% of what? >> yeah. >> what income? >> we don't know. >> the question. 13% of what? of $10 is what? >> uh-huh. right. >> 13% of what? 13% of what kind of taxes and 13%, what were all of the deductions that he took? right? how did he get down to 13%. >> 13% of what income. >> exactly. no. no. again, we don't know and we don't know how he was able to shave it down to 13%. but i go back to where we started: there are so many questions. it's ridiculous to think this is going to bury it or that we should swallow this. 13%? he is supposed to be paying three times that. okay? now, how is he not -- how is he able to get it down so tiny and then he brags about 13? come on. >> this is "the bill press show."

[ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >>i jump out of my skin at people when i'm upset. do you share the sense of outrage that they're doing this, this corruption based on corruption based on corruption. >>i think that's an understatement, eliot. u>> i'm not prone tot. understatement, so explain to me why that is. i think the mob learned from wall st., not vice versa.

[ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> on your radio, on t.v. "the bill press show," new on current tv. >> how about it? friday august 17th. this is the full court press coming to you live from our nation's capitol, brought to you today by the united steel workers and their dynamic international president in the studio with us just a week or so ago, leo gerrard, united steel workers, the largest industrial union rep precepting over a million active and retired members chemical check out their website at usw, usw.org.

well, we know the dates for the three presidential debates coming up in this election season. we also know the debates for the one vice presidential debate. what we haven't heard yet is when the new debate the latest debate will be is scheduled. this is a new and necessary debate. there will only be one person on stage. it will be paul ryan versus paul ryan because he has changed his mind already or tried to on so many topics. we don't know where paul ryan really stands from talking points memo. congressional correspondent, sahilltkapour has been talking about this issue and writing about it. he joins us on our line this morning. sahill, good morning. good to have you with us. >> good morning, bill. thanks for having me on. >> so let's start with -- i don't know where to start with paul ryan. let's start with the stimulus.

okay? he was on -- i want to play a quick clip for you and our viewers and listen erps. he was on a talk show in columbus, ohio, i think it was yesterday. >> uh-huh. here he was asked, so what about you and the stimulus? you oppose it now. did you ever ask for any money? here is a how a quick clip of that money went. >> you had asked for stimulus money for your district. is that accurate? is that report accurate? >> i don't recall. i haven't seen this report so i really can't comment on it. >> i got up on my computer, k kahill. this is one of four letters personally signed by paul ryan to steven chu, the secretary of energy, asking for stimulus money for projects in his district district. so is he against the stimulus or for the stimulus? what do you think? >> it's really hard to know what he was thinking by denying those letters because on one hand you have these -- you have documented evidence that he

asked for stimulus money and he won over, you know more than $20 million $20 million in his district. and i think he tried to get out of it by saying that this is a general constituent services thing that he did but, you know, it's -- i don't know. it's hard to know what he was thinking. he actually, late last night, there was a "new york times" article that he finally, owned up to it and apologized and said it was a mistake. >> forgot about it? is that what he said? something like that? >> i don't even remember exactly. >> just remember. >> used the word "mistake" and said, you know on one hand, he could have argued it wouldn't have been that hypocritical to say i opposed it but if everyone is getting money for it, i wasn't going to put my constituents at a disadvantage but he tried to have it both ways and it caught up to him. >> as peter said he miss remembered to use the fakous % phrase. >> on the stimulus he was

against it before he was for it, i guess, or whatever. also on the auto bail-out. right? it's another example where he is now railing against it saying it was one of the worst things obama ever did but he voted for it. right? >> right. with the auto bail out, it's one of those things that mitt romney is having trouble with because he wrote, he wrote an op-ed saying let detroit go bankrupt. that was the title in "the new york times." you know, that's a very important region of the country that the president and mitt romney are competing for. so paul ryan is trying to finis that as well or when he had some, you know, not -- some unflattering things to say about the auto bail-out at the time. >> he did. tell me if i am wrong, but ryan did support it. right? at the time? >> i am not aware. i am not aware that he did. he might have. >> yeah. yeah. peter is confirming. no. i read that he did. and now again, he is trying to

rail against it when in fact, he voted for it. then we get, of course, to the big issue of medicare. you know, they are attacking today -- romney and ryan are attacking president obama for cutting $1716 billion out of medicare for fraud and wait and abuse and all of that kind of stuff and paul ryan makes the same cuts in his bucket which most republicans voted for as you have reported. right? >> exactly. this is one of the more amazing things over the last week since there are a lot -- since paul ryan. it's one of the if i was lines mitt romney mentioned when he was unveiling him and they have been repeating it over and over again. i have yet to understand the context of this. everyone knows and mitt romney knows so well that this election of paul ryan is going to make it a big issue. and. >> uh-huh. >> sorry about that. the romney campaign knows paul

ryan is going to make he had care a big issue. they are eager not to let that damage them. they are deciding saying that the best defense is a good offense. what they decided to do is attack the president for slowing the growth of medicare by $716,000,000,000 over the next 10 years. but the fact is, these cuts are part of the affordable care act. it's the one part that paul ryan decided today keep that republicans voted not to repeal. >> yeah. >> they did it because this is the kind of stuff republicans always said we can get rid of as waste and fraud and abuse. right? >> exactly. >> he alternates supported these kind of cuts. >> this is the most painless way, you know, to reduce medicare spending. what they are doing, it's mostly over payment to insurance companies under medicare and

tying hospital payments to quality. >> over payments to providers and hospitals and insurance companies. so now now mitt romney is out there saying that paul ryan -- forget about -- forget about anything paul ryan ever said about medicare. now, paul ryan supports me, my plan, mitt romney. right? >> that's exactly what he is saying. and mitt romney already hitched himself to paul ryan during the primaries. he decided he had to, to win. so he supported his medicare plans conceptually. now, you know, now they are both -- he is trying to walk back some of the specifics. some are not very popular. >> yeah. he supported the plan. he supported the budget. he called it "mavelous" and said he would like to sign it on day 1 of his presidency. now he says, no. no. no. none of that is -- is no longer

viable. right? now we have changed. i've got my own plan. we don't know what that is. paul ryan supports my plan. i don't support his plan. >> pretty much it. >> pretty fancy footwork. i am not sure it will work. sahill kapur, good to have you with us. thanks for your good work, and thanks for joining us. >> thanks, bill. good to be on. >> we will be back. let's go back now to your calls about so this is all in the context, of course, of mitt romney trying to put one other issue behind him yesterday. he doesn't want to have to talk about his tax returns yesterday. he is not going to show us his tax returns. he just wants us to believe him. trust me, he says when i tell you, i paid taxes every year damn it. and i paid my full share. i paid 13%. uh-huh. and if you add the charities i gave to, all the money i gave away to charity like the mormon church, i paid like 20%.

susan in man asas park, virginia, good morning. >> good morning, bill. ? >> thanks for joining us. do you take mid romney at his word? >> i am starting to wonder. now, i have two quick comments. first of all, i work for harry reid and he is a fact checker. he doesn'tly. he doesn't embellish. when he says it, he means it. it's truthful. >> on that point, you know, when harry reid said -- he said, i am not speculating about this. it's something an investor at bain cal top told me this. right? so -- >> then take it to the bank because it's true. >> yeah. >>. >> you know he is senator boring. >> right. i believe harry reid. he is a man of great integrity. absolutely. i am sure somebody told him that and we think we know who it is. by the way, i won't mention any names, about.

yes. >> second. >> his son ran for president. let's put it that way. go ahead susan. >> secondly, when mitt romney was governor of massachusetts and said he took a dollar a year for his income does that mean he only paid $0.13 back then? >> you know what? >> an excellent question susan. of course, we don't know. the only way to know the answer is to put these tax rurpz -- i see more people want to talk about this. eturns -- i see more people want to talk about this. we will continue. mitt romney, dragging out the old politician's fallback line: trust me. trust me. you don't need the evidence. just believe me. yeah. there is one person we can't believe. we have learned that. haven't we? it's mitt romney. 866-55-press. "full-court press." >> on your radio and on current

tv this is "the bill press show." [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> this court has proven to be the knowing, delighted accomplice in the billionaires' purchase of our nation. >> and you think it doesn't affect you? think again.

joining us. >> my pleasure. thanks for having me, man.

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.

>> [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> on your radio, on t.v. "the bill press show," new on current tv. . >> all right. 13 minutes before the top of the hour. talking about mitt romney tried to get the tax issue behind him yesterday. it's interesting. this is still dogging him. right? this started way before he named paul ryan as his running mate. and he thought he would change the conversation to medicare or

to budget or to whatever but this tax question keeps coming up. it's going to continue to keep coming up until he releases his tax return. should we believe him when he said he paid taxes every year paid 13%? >> the question of the hour 866-55-press. we will get back to your calls. first, a little reminder about our good friends at incomeathome.com. if you are looking for some -- feel that you are needing what money at the end of next month to make ends meet this is something you at least ought to check out. income at home.com. they are america's leading work-from hymn home business. this is something anybody can do no matter your age education or experience, sitting at your kitchen table, using your own laptop, making extra money and doing it 24/7. if you have got a little extra time and you have got the training, incomeathome can easily give you. if you are sick of living paycheck to paycheck, worried about job security or retirement, you want to earn extra money from home part-time or full-time, you have heard me

talk about it before. maybe today is the day you ought to which he it out. incomeathome.com. they are giving away a thousand bucks to somebody today just for checking them out. that somebody could be you. visit income at home.com. income incomeathome.com. top of the next hour we are going to be talking about joe biden and whether or not president obama should keep joe biden on the ticket and katie paris from media matters will join us in the next hour as well. back to the calls about mitt romney. trust "trust me," he says. do you trust him? should we? charlie in fort collins, colorado. hey, charlie. >> hi, bill. >> good morning. >> thank you for taking my call. >> thank you for holding. good to have you with us. go ahead. >> there is actually three things regarding taxes. and then one point with the taxes. i bought a business years ago and the bank required five years

of taxes from me in buying the business. >> how about that? >> yeah. >> when i took my loan out. when i bought my house, this last house, the bank required three years of taxes. >> uh-huh. >> when i lost my company five years ago and had to learn how to drive a truck to pay the bills, the company, because he was self-employed, two different companies required under federal law five years of tax returns from me. >> there you go. >> five years. now -- >> so mitt romney couldn't get -- mitt romney couldn't get your job, charlie. >> well i guess that's part of the point. but the really point is, is that, you know, i am asking for work. he is asking for work from us. you know, it he is unemployed. he is asking for a job from us. and here is the standard i want him to live by to require each

and every one of us to have seven years of tax on handicapped. >> yeah. well, seven years or whatever it is. by the way, it's interesting that you put it that were. remember he also said that the requirements for anybody applying for president or vice president should be at least three years of experience in the private sector which, of course paul ryan doesn't have. hey, charlie good to hear from you. sheila in philadelphia. hi, sheila. >> hi. i wanted to make a point. integrity is the key word here this man has lied on every commercial, on every speech, and we are supposed to believe him about his taxes? >> yeah. right. now, excellent point. particularly, he is still running this ad out there on welfare saying president obama wants to end the welfare to work requirement when every fact-checking organization has called that a great big fatly.

absolutely right sheila. why believe mitt romney about anything? jonas in portland oregon. hey, jonas. good morning. >> hey, bill. how are you doing this morning? >> good. thanks to listening to us on kpoj. great station. >> it's great. long-time listener first-time caller. >> all right. >> point out an interesting fact. he is making billions and billions of dollars a year. correct? and i am making 9.25 an hour, and i am paying 16% of my income in taxes. how is he getting away with 13%? >> well good question. >> jonas, of course, you know first of all, usually, it works out unfortunately under our tax laws that the less you make thepire percentage you pay. i want to know how he got from 35, which is what he ought to be paying under the bush tax cuts down to 13. right? i think the american people have a right to know. >> exactly. he needs to stop hiding behind

what he is hiding behind and admit it. >> how many dressage horses do they have and how much money have they taken off for each one of them? right? >> exactly. exactly. if his horses were running in the kentucky by, i could understand. >> dancing. >> who knows what they are doing? >> how many vacation homes does he have? and how many swiss bank accounts? and how many tax shelters and where are they there is only one way to answer this. there is only one way to put issues to rest. i think it's important for all of us. we have to keep the pressure on. we have to keep demanding answers to that question. don't let this issue die. don't let mitt romney bury it with a lying news conference yesterday. >> this is "the bill press show."

everything can cost upwards of...[ whistles ] i did not want to think about that. relax, relax, relax. look at me, look at me. three words, dad -- e-trade financial consultants. so i can just go talk to 'em? just walk right in and talk to 'em. dude those guys are pros. they'll hook you up with a solid plan. they'll -- wa-- wa-- wait a minute. bobby? bobby! what are you doing, man? i'm speed dating! [ male announcer ] get investing advice for your family at e-trade.

vanguard: the documentary series that redefined tv journalism. >>we're going to places where few others are going. >>it doesn't get anymore real than this. >>occupy! >>the award winning series "vanguard" only on current tv.

[ ♪ theme music ♪ ] [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> taking your e-mails on any topic at any time. this is "the bill press show," live on your radio and current tv. >> okay. okay. lots of calls about mitt romney and his taxes and lots of e-mails, too. anita out in galveston says, i agree with you about romney and his taxes. how can he claim what he gave to charity as part of his taxes? that money did not go to the federal government. absolutely. anita, you are right.

ransom jones says romney is saying he won't release any more tax returns because he will be attacked for what the returns contain. however, she points out that president obama and vice president biden have released their returns. and nobody is attacking them. why why not in the because there is nothing to wrong. if there is nothing to hide there will be no attack. exactly. on the washington nationals, jean armstrong says congratuations on having the best team in baseball. your team is kicking butt but peter, you are wrong. the giants aren't out of it yet. uh-huh. >> they are pretty much out of it since they lost cabrera. >> she says you are wrong. sell kelvin miller wants us to know he has started watching our show on current tv in the morning. so happy that we are there.

[ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> hey. hello, everybody. what do you say? good morning on a friday august 17th. welcome to the "full-court press" here on current tv where we are going to take you through the news of the day over the next two hours and take your calls at 866-55-press. we will tell you let's bring you up to date on what's happening here in our nation's capitol, around the country and around the globe. we are taking a closer look at paul ryan, paul ryan who now says that the stimulus was a great big mistake and yet no so long ago, he was out there

begging money from the stimulus, from the obama administration for his district out in wisconsin. of course, we know that his family's whole big construction business was built on government contracts. so in other words, paul ryan is against big government except when he is getting the money. what a hypocrite. we will talk about that and more on the current -- on the "full-court press" today. but first, we check with lisa ferguson out in los angeles for today's current news update. hi, lisa. good morning. >> hi, bill. good morning, everyone. all week long, the romney campaign is attacking the president for taking $700,000,000,000 out of medicare. well, today, the obama campaign is hitting back with a new t.v. ad called "facts." take a look. >> the non-partisan aarp says obama cracks down on abuse and

the ryan plan, aarp says it would undermine medicare and could lead to higher cost for seniors. >> the congressional budget office has also analyzed ryan's plan and found that voucher system is really more of not paying for all of medicare but would leave seniors spending thousands of dollars out of pocket. the president's ad starts running today in eight key states. you probably remember romney has also ramped up the attacks against president obama's welfare reform saying he wants to just give it away instead of helping people get back to work. well, those claims aren't exactly true either. obama's plan actually aims to add 20% more back to work. the washington post and independent groups have run separate fact checks and found the same thing. but this just goes to show the effectiveness of campaign ads. most independent vote remembers siding with romney on this one according to a new survey, 32%

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

you want to save money on motorcycle insurance? no problem. you want to find a place to park all these things? fuggedaboud it. this is new york. hey little guy, wake up! aw, come off it mate! geico. saving people money on more than just car insurance.

[ ♪ theme music ♪ ] broadcasting across the nation, on your radio, and on current tv this is "the bill press show." >> hey, hello, everybody. welcome to the "full-court press" here on friday friday august 17th, great to see you today. we are coming to you live from our nation's capitol and bringing you all of the of the day. there is a lot of it to talk about mitt romney holding a news conference yesterday saying i am not going to show you my tax

returns. i paid taxes every year. i paid at least 13%. so you ought to shut up and go away. believe me. 0 yeah? guess what. >> that's not going to happen mitt. wherever it's happening in washington def, around the country, around the globe, we will let you know what's going on and take your calls at 866-55-press. good to see you today. hope you have good plans for the weekend to recharge your batteries. that's what we do around here me and peter ogburn and dan henning. hello there. >> everything good? >> happy friday. cyprian bowlding, our videographer on board as well this morning. the big issue around washington, d.c., becoming part of the national discussion is our ace pitcher, steven straussborg. we brag about the best team in

baseball, washington nationals. they are heading toward the playoffs don't jinks it. >> what's called the tommy john surgery last year. he is back and doing great, but they promised that they would om let him pitch what, dan? 160 games? >> 130 innings. 130. >> no. i'm sorry. innings. right. >> i thought it was 160. now? >> between 130 and 160. he has 30 innings left. >> he is getting close. now the question is even though we need him, do wet lem him go to save his arm or make him pitch to make the playoffs? a couple of former pitchers weighed in on that yesterday. tom plavin used to pitch for the braves. he came up with sort of an, i thought, a pretty reasonable in between solution. >> to me, a lot has to boil down to you talk to the individual

and ask him how he feels. i said it all along. if you think you ought to shut the guy down shut him down for a month right now. take a month right now. let him take a break. you can still keep throwing a little bit. he can keep himself ready. so that, if you come to the middle of set and you are still in first place, now, he can get back into the fold and get ready for the post-season and be a part of your post-season run. >> that seems an intelligent compromise, but if you shut him down now, you may not make the playoffs, i guess? >> they will make the playoffs. that does make perfect sense. the problem is the nationals have never brought that up as an option. it's always been we have got to shut him down. >> the other tommy surgery, he is the first one who had the surgery to his arm. he says, hey got to go for it when you can go for it. >> i understand that. he is the franchise.

but you know what? the golden ring only comes around on the merry-go-round maybe one time. there are no guaranties that if you keep straussborg out this year and keep him healthy for next year, next year, next year, that you are going to win. you have a chance to win. i don't say you trash the kid but what do you do? pitch him or take him out? >> i say take him out or rest for a month but there is a lot more to it. there are certain conditions they do to keep it going. >> that's part of the reason the nationals have. >> that's a good point. once you get the row terries you are pushing. if you do for a month, who knows how he will be in a month. >> here is the thing that gets steven straussborg, the other four are excellent pitch erps. they have an excellent five-pitcher rotation. to take him out is not going to kill their season at all. >> it's not going to kill their season. but it's not going to help them. you go for the win.

you go for the win. you go for the win! especially in baseball. who knows where they will be next season? the red sox won one year. next, they are in last page. >> that's how it goes in sports. >> this is becoming a national conversation pitch him. the train is leaving the station, man. it may not leave the station next year. go for the win. >> all right. here we go. >> outs voted on that one of. what a line-up? senator bernie sanders along from vermont fighting the fight katie paris vice president for media matters is going to be along as well as another organization nira tanden in studio with us but first: this

is the full court press. >> kim karda is hian and chris humphreys divorce battles lasted longer than their 72 day marriage. their attorneys were workfighting against money. kardashian spent over $250,000 in legal fees. humphreys's attorney planning to deposed 34 witnesses. the client is suing kardashiah saying she married for t.v. ratings and publicity t. >> are thet going to have a trial? >> if they do, the cameras will be there. >> you know it. >> michael j. fox is reportedly coming back to tellvulsion, spin city and back to the future store left comedy 10 years ago to concentrate on fighting parkinson's disease. the associated press is reporting that fox is working with sony to star in a comedy to be pitched for next year. >> good for him. >> that's amazing. >> that's wild.

>> and congressman chris van hollen is ready to have fun helping vice president joe biden with debate prep, reporting he will play the role of paul ryan in mock debates with biden, who he has exchanged many words many times. they have been working together on the house budget committee. vice presidential debate is october 11th lebth. >> that will be fun. >> chris hollen good friend of the program in studio with us on the phone many times, the ranking democrat on the budget committee. he knows paul ryan better than anybody and knows how to get to him. >> i would love to see the video videotape of him pretending to be paul ryan. >> we will get him in studio and see if he will do it for our cameras. >> he will have to change his haircut. >> change his haircut, work on his abs. >> the widow peak. okay. dan, thank you. you know what? here at the top of the hour i love to get your take on this.

and i want to come out, flat-out and say, if i am not the head of the joe biden fan club, i am one of the leaders. i consider myself a californiaan but i was born in delaware a proud -- still a proud delawarean, and so i got a little favorite son thing going with joe biden because we know joe and we love joe in delaware. it's just the way joe is. but i have to say as an american, i think he has been one hell of a great vice president and done a great job as vice president and he has brought a lot of experience and wisdom and just good common sense and fun to the obama at minstration. he has become -- he has again into a very very strong and

powerful counselor to the president. i think particularly in areas like in afghanistan, in iraq see joe biden hand in those sdeshingsz not taking anything away from president obama, just giving credit where it's due to the vice president. so i also, in light of that i cannot believe what people are making about this comment yes biden made three days ago and what prompted me to talk about this was going to the white house briefing yesterday, which i do whenever there is one and the questions of reporters, all they wanted to talk about was joe biden. is he going to be still on the ticket? is the president pissed off at him? did the president call him up? da da did a. on and on and on. this was 48 hours after joe biden said one little sentence. give me a break. it is ridiculous. so first of all, let's go back

before we get to the role of the media, just what joe biden said, again, put it in context. very clear the republicans have said that on day 1, they want to overturn dodd-frank. they want to -- this is their words -- unshackle wall street take all of the regulations off of the banks or unchain wall street. >> that's their promise. >> that's their campaign. in talking about that, here is what vice president biden said three days ago or four days ago down in danville virginia. >> womanneck said in the first 100 days, he is going to let the big banks once again write their own rules. unchain suite. >> they are going to put y'all back in chains. >> right. right. right some people say oh, my god, he was saying romney is going to make black people

slaves again. no, he wasn't. as jay carney pointed out yesterday at the briefing it was very clear what joe biden was talking about. people who keep raising this issue are just trying to change the subject. >> there is an attempt to distract attention from the actual suck stance of the conversation which is should we or should we not have wall street reform. >> the idea that joe biden was that you talk being slavery, jay carney: >> they know what they are saying about this is ridiculous. >> of course it's ridiculous. people came up and said, well douglas wilder, you know he was the first african-american of the country treat. he was governor of virginia. he thought joe biden's comment was unacceptable. one guy said that. he manual cleaver, who is t head of the black caucus was asked about it and said it was really clear. it was clear.

he was talking about wall street regulations. to use the word "chains" is not necessarily joe biden the first one to do it. henry gutterman, this quote. to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. >> that's nelson man delamandela. this whole thing making a big deal of that is just ridiculous. but it drives me crazy, sitting there at the briefing question after question after question was joe biden to the pointed of ed henry from toxfox news raising the question does this mean that

joe biden, as john mccain suggests should be dumped off of the ticket because of that one comment by president obama? i thought jay carney had a great answer to that one. here is ed and jay's response. >> i think that was settled a long, long time ago. while i appreciate and have grade admiration for and a long relationship with senator john mccain but one place i would not go for advises on vice presidential running mates is to senator mccain. >> smack. >> 0, smack that down. right, john mccain after sarah palin, you have no right to give advice on vice presidential candidates. to show you how silly it gets i gave you the president's schedule and you regular "full-court press"ers heard me give the president's schedule. at least once a week, you hear me say the president is having lunch with the vice president. they do it. well, yesterday happened to be,

because the president was on the road for the first three days the week. it was their first chance. april ryan of urban news radio tries to make a big deal about this lunch. >> vice president biden and the president are having lunch right now. what should we anticipate? i knew you are enterintrepid reporter but you probably got that from the published schedule. >> right. right. but he just left the president saying he. >> you guys know since you have been covering this, the president and vice president have a standing proposition lunch every week. right? every week when he is in town. obviously they are both traveling a lot more so it might not be every week but it is something that happens every week. >> by the way, i do apologize. >> laughing over everybody else.

>> you thought it was ridiculous, the question. but then, he met with secretary clinton yesterday. so everyone was putting two and two together and trying to come up with five. lunch with joe biden, meeting with hillary clinton? going to dump biden, put hillary on the ticket. give me a break. come on. just ridiculous. you know who is keeping it alive. who is keeping it alive, the media. and it's nonsense. it's total, total ridiculous. i wish they would do their job. by keeping this thing alive, sometimes i feel half the reporters in the washington white press corpse, half are on the payroll of the romney-ryan ticket. just listen to the questions they ask. look look through my notes and see question after question after question, biden, biden biden.

biden. get off of it. joe biden doing a great job. he is going to stay. hillary is going to do am great job. she is doing a great job as secretary of state. i wish she would. >> live on your radio and current tv. >>oh really? >>"if you ever raise taxes on >>the rich, you're going to destroy our economy." not true!

>> 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. this is a national crisis. [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> seen on current tv this is "the bill press show." >> 26 minutes.

friday we refee feature. the pitchers, congratulations to king felix you do indeed get it done and did this week. this feature brought to you by granger with over 900,000 products to help you get your job done. call granger click on granger.com or top by one of their branches. granger for the ones who get it done. on joe biden, ella calling from jacksonville, florida. hi, hell l.a. good morning. >> bill, only the white people are outraged by what joe biden said. black people are not outraged because they know he told the truth. >> they know what he was talking about.

>> exactly. >> that's an interesting point, ella. yeah. you hear these white commentators? right? trying to make something upof it. >> that's right. >> ella, thank you for checking in. >> the think about biden talk about unchaining somebody you could never chain joe biden. he is biden, unchained. he is probably -- i would have to think about it now if not the most one of the most authentic people people out on the political scene today because he just say what he things and doesn't, like weigh every word cable and poll test every word and he is not your blow-dried politician. he is just old joe. we love him? >> this is "the bill press show."

>>i jump out of my skin at people when i'm upset. do you share the sense of outrage that they're doing this, this corruption based on corruption based on corruption. >>i think that's an understatement, eliot. u>> i'm not prone tot. understatement, so explain to me why that is. i think the mob learned from wall st., not vice versa.

[ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> this is the full court press, "the bill press show," live on your radio and on current tv. >> what do you think i am? a robot with music like that? >> this is your ice cube mac 10 cd you gave me. this is your music. >> i never gave you that. >> you did. this is your ice cube cd. >> i don't have an ice cube cd don't blame it on me. >> this is a good fact to know about bill press. ice cube cd. i like it.

>> it's a friday. is that what's happening? >> stirred, not shaken. 33 minutes after the hour. here we are at the "full-court press" on a friday morning, august 17th. great to see you today. we are brought to you today by the american federation of teachers, a great men and women across the nation in the classroom members of the aft tunneled presidentwine weingarten. check out more about their work at the website aft.org. so it was last saturday mitt romney tapping paul ryan and immediately started gushing all over him and not for the first time. tracking the media response and the authenticity of their coverage of paul ryan. of course we depend upon our good friends at media matters.org. media matters for america. they have come through and katie

paris, vice president or are you president yet? have you taken over yet? >> i appreciate these honary promotions. orary promotions. >> back in my last spring when i released "the obama hate manny." this is what we heard about paul ryan when he released his first budget. time magazine gushed about his jet-black hair and a touch of eagle scout. the "new york times" said that he was the man with the piercing blue eyes, love for heavy metal and a reputation for putting forth ideas that are awful and -- thoughtful and seniorous. joe klein from "time" this is an act of political courage. they have always been in love with this guy for what he looks like, not what he says. it continues. right? with this announcement.

>> worse than ever. now, look the right-wing media is psyched. they are swooning. he is their rock star. >> that's a quote. i mean all over the place. rock star, rock star. he is their energizer buddy, reaganesque. at media numbers, that's another round-up, video mash-up of all of these reagan references for paul ryan because what better way to lionize this guy. they are 6ed. not just fox news. glenn beck, who if i am on a ticket trying to get all of america to elect me, i am not sure he is one i want out there singing my praises, glenbeck who has called the president a racist on national television probably not who you want out there as your spokesperson. bill you are getting at something, too the made stream media. we expect the right-wing media, of course to do the rock star

energizer bunny thing with republican vice presidential pick. >> that's the role they play. fox news is an active political player, not a neutral observer of the news. >> no. the media arm of the republican national committee. we know that. >> exactly. when it reaches beyond the right-wing media and this sort of -- it's not just the gushing actually, but i think it is the space they are creating for these republican talking points the misinformation around the romney-ryan plan for america, what their vision actually is. just repeating the talking points and letting that spin go unchecked. we had it just yesterday with the "new york times," of course, one of their talking points is that obama somehow is gutting medicare when obama is going to cut waste and abuse out of medicare. of course, romney, ryan consistent with ryan's budget they will cut benefits but they are out there trying to spin

this as an attack on obama and when you have an outlet like the "new york times" and so many other mainstream outlets just reporting that talking point outright and sure, maybe down in the article, they have gill an obama spokesperson a chance to response respond to that but the news media needs to do their job. when there is spin coming out of a political campaign play the referee. call the shots. call it like it is. we are not seeing that. >> let's go back to the right-wing media. >> all right. you did put up a very, very funny match-up between that the wording that we hear about paul ryan is not just -- doesn't just like remind you of what they said four years ago about sarah palin but word for word. >> word borrow word. >> the voices on fox, for what they said about sarah palin and what they are saying about paul ryan. >> what is not debatable is that last night sarah palin bam a big big.

>> sarah palin. i am going to tell you something. she is a rock star, a rising star, the first time the republican party has had a media star. >> he is kind of the rock star of american politics >> call her the energizer what sarah palin brings to the republican ticket. >> paul ryan is an energizer bunny. >> a new inspiring pace for the republican party. >> he is personally quite a peeling. you hear this and say to democrats and others, i think she is a keeper of the republican party. >> they call her already, the future. g.o.p. >> he is the future. he has the youthful look. >> sarah palin, rock star paul ryan. >> sarah palin, energygizer buddy. >> sarah palin, future of the party. paul ryan, future of the party. it's almost like they had in their computer, right? a little file for key words for

vice presidential pick. they filed it four years ago and they went back and changed the name. >> it is. not like we needed more evidence to confirm fox's role as a partisanling operation as opposed to a news organization. but when you look at the last vp pick and the cheerleading that follows it and then you have the next republican vp pick and it's exactly as you say almost just rinse and repeat the same thing, rinse and repeat the republican talking points it really, i think, speaks to revealing that role of being a player in this. they are going to be there like they were for the tea party movement or anything else. >> the more serious question is when the mainstream media fix this up. medicare and welfare, you mentioned medicare, on welfare, romney is still running this ad.

>> uh-huh. >> that says that president obama ends the requirement that people have to move from welfare to work. we know it's false. every fact checking organization has looked at it and said it's false. it's just the opposite. the president is saying states can do it their own way if they do 20% monthre than the president on the federal requirement. how can the media let mitt romney get away with that lie? >> there is not enough accountability. it reflects the fact that, you know, our news media covering politics has become too much like covering entertainment. he said. she said. >> romney accuses obama of this. >> that's the headline. they will report it as a straight thing and down in the story, they will say, oh by the way, it's not true. why isn't the headline saying romney repeelthsly. ? >> right. >> about swamis on welfare. >> exactly. it's a huge problem. the role of the news is supposed to be to inform the public.

>> and tell the truth? >> exactly and not just repeat. news rooms are stretched for sure. i think sometimes that's what you hear. would he didn't have time. we needed a quote from this side and a quote from that side. . you are absolutely right. it's not just repeating. it's repeating a lie. >> the president again said look at this. obama cut $716,000,000,000 out of medicare. well, the facts are, right, the 716 billion are cuts to fraud, waste, fraud, and abuse and duplicate. taxpayers' money, yeah. >> cuts that republicans had demanded in medicare because there is a lot of waste and fraud. >> ryan voted for, romney endorsed. >> paul ryan has the same cuts in his budget and almost every republican, almost 3 in the house of representatives voted

for that. they distort the fax , accuse president obama of that. the media reports it. >> there is a critical difference, not only are they now denounce, the cuts that ryan voted for romney endorsed. right put in his beaumont. >> there is a critical difference actually between those same cuts. yes action they are getting rid of waste and abuse. the que difference is what balms would do with that money is strengthen medicare strengthen health care for seniors. with romney ryan, it's benefit cuts because they will use that money. what do you think? guess. what would they use the money for? >> tax cuts for millionaires. >> that's the difference but they are criticizing the very thing that was in ryan's budget he voted for, that romney endorsed and the media is not report that key difference. >> i said in the last hour, i am going to repeat it, impart of

the white house press corp. i am convinced half are on the mitt romney payroll. sounds like it from the questions they ask. media matters for america is on it every day. katie paris senior vice president here you want to weigh in on this? i know you do. 866-55-press. it's time you take the seat at the table and join the conversation. we will be right back. >>

current tv, it's been all building up to this. >>bill shares his views, now it's your turn. >>i know you're going to want to weigh in on these issues. >>connect with "full court press with bill press" at facebook.com/billpressshow and on twitter at bpshow. >>i believe people are hungry for it. [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> heard around the country. seen on current tv this is "the bill press show." >>. >> thin minutes before the -- 13

minutes at the top of the hour. nira tanden joining us at the top of the next hour in studio. then we will be talking with senator bernie sanders from vermont who is on a tear on this 77 account anniversary of social security to make sure we profession associate security. katie president, senior vice president for media matters for america. one of the organizations along action i would say, with the center for american progress that makes it possible for us to do what we do every day which is bring you the truth and bring you the facts and ex posed lies being told by the other side. media matters for america, a great media watch down and you should check them out and make them one of your favorite spots go to every day, media matters matters.org. you have got enough to keep you

business these days with this presidential campaign. >> talking about the re of course, to the paul ryan pick. it's so interesting. rupert murdoch pushing for this pages of weekly standard all pushing for paul ryan. it came at an interesting time because there was a lot of critique from the far right of the romney campaign. i think it was a no the to the right-wing media, romney saying, i need you. so now they are all very happy about this. >> you forget what rush lim babaugh says, somebody we can be proud of? it's like a man crush. >> i think rupert murdoch tweeted swat perfect choice" >> give me a break. >> the first one on one was with

brit human of fox news. >> surprise, surprise. >> exactly let's say a quick hello to ivy calling from westminster, maryland. >> if good morning, bill. nice to have your show on for a change. >> very good. yeah. a choice in the morning now. >> i do have a choice. i don't have to listen to morning joe any more. >> no. morning blow. forget him? >> i liked your comment on the white houses press corpse? what can we do about them to get them to report the news and not put their ideas in? what can we do about them to get them to report the news and not put their ideas in. >> that's a good question. katie, i want your take on this, too. number 1, you have a clicker and choices i recently just said -- i used to watch abc news every night. i finally, got so thick of what i thought was their slanted,

anti-obama coverage i don't watch them any more. i watch brian or scott pelley instead of diane saw year and that crowd. you have a choice. yer and that crowd. you have a choice. secondly, write a letter or call and let the network know you think they are not down the middle, slanted toward romney and reporting proceed romney. >> the media has changed in a lot of ways. we have people talking about a 24 hour news assuming. it's minute to minute. we as viewers can have our own voice and give feedback and send it directly. there are social media campaigns on twitter through fooibs every day targeting producers, hosts

of various shows and these campaigns get results. i mean whether it is a direct correction of something that a host says on air on national television, i wouldn't under estimate that the day luaus of misinformation we are getting from the media, but let's not under estimate the power of our own voice to hold the media accountable. >> appreciate the call very much. >> we know you go after fox every day and weekly standard and other right-wing media outless and that's maybe your only if us. who do you trust? >> reading probably 12 different sources and figuring out, myself, from there. you know, i think that, look there are folks i think throughout the media so much different than fox, starting with the facts, building naltsdz and commentary and opinion from there as opposed to the other way around.

right? >> i trust you, bill. >> i trust you. >> if you were recommending to our viewers and listeners a couple of sites they ought to check, not even again swallow everything they see on those sites but check those sights on a daily basis, in addition to media matters.org? >> absolutely go to media matters.org. i also recommend think progress and i know those are indefensible choices from you and i would use a variety of mainstream media outlets and recommend using regional sources as well because i think oftentimes, national outlets are so quat up in the political fight that you have missed. >> i check the chicago trib,la times. >>la times is a solid source to go to for sure. we have been talking about the problem on the "new york times." the latimes got it right. if you read all 3, you would have a correct story.

>> grad you are out there on the job. thanks for coming in. good to see you. >> always a pleasure. >> i will be back to tell you what the president is up to today. >>. >> this is "the bill press show" live on your radio and current tv. >>only on current tv.

there she is ! hey, i got a leak ! yoo hoo ! wait a minute, come back ! um, miss ? up here! right. like 85% of us you have hard water stains and that cleaner's not gonna cut it. truth is, you need something powerful. you need lime-a-way. it's 4 times more effective at removing limescale than the leading bathroom cleaner. because lime-a-way is specially formulated to conquer hard water stains. for lime, calcium and rust... lime-a-way is a must.

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> this is "the bill press show." >> my latest column my weekly column is up on our wen sight at billpressshow.com. check it out. headline, the ryan-romney ticket. i got it right. the rhyme-romney ticket double trouble for the g.o.p. the president is at the

whitehouse today with a fairly light public schedule at any rate. he gets his daily briefing with the vice president today at 11 omming meeting with senior advisors shortly after that. nothing else on his public schedule. you know he is going to be very, very business behind the scenes. the briefing today will be at 12:30. it will be held today by deputy presses secretary josh earnest. the last dime he took over jay carney was taking his son to summer camp. so one has to think maybe jay carney is picking up his son from summer camp today. at any rate, earnest does a good job. he will be there today. anywherea tandennira tanden with join us as well as senator bernie sanders, so stick around. >> this is "the bill press show."

[ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> hey. hello, everybody. good friday morning. it is august 17th. good to see you today. welcome to the "full-court press" here on current tv. good to have you with us this morning as we tackle the big stories of the day here in our nation's capitol, around the country and around the globe. before we move into the weekend, lots of to talk about including the fact that mitt romney holding a news conference yesterday and insisting he paid taxes every single year and he never paid less than 13%. he says he still wonon't't r reaeacuserr en tuturnrns.s.cu rr tt v hohododo?

hing when he lies about everything else? we don't believe him about his taxes. we will talk about that and more here on this last hour together of the "full-court press." but first, today's current news update brought to us by lisa ferguson out in oklahoma oklahoma. good morning. >> hi, bill. good morning, everyone. here is a get more on the ryan response that bill mentioned last hour, the romney campaign is now touting a big fundraising boost after announcing ryan as the rp nominee. campaign press secretary andrea salz says campaign raid 3 and a half billion and 7 and a half in the first three days. that sounds like a lot. let's compare to that will the g.o.p. ticket. john mccain raised $10 million in just the three days after he announced sarah palin. the obama campaign saying if anything, ryan is actually a drag on the ticket. a recent gallup poll shows 39% of people say the choice is

excellent or good. gallup started asking people that question in 1988. and this is the lowest any vp pick has ever scored. after a touchy week of medicare debate, romney and ryan will meet back up to campaign. the two originally planned to go solo 2348 the republican national convention but now campaign strategists are saying maybe that's not such a good idea. advisers say romney has more enthusiasm alongside ryan who stopped him from feeling so isolated. the two will hold a monday morning town hall in manchester and will likely appear together later in the week. in the meantime, ryan is he had hadded to florida where he will visit his mom at her retirement home. the trip isn't all about family. ryan is hoping his mom can help him win over senior citizens. the two will be at the villages the world's largest retirement community. join us in chat current.com/bill

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

back to school time means back to school germs. that's why lysol partners with schools to help teach healthy habits habits you can reinforce by adding lysol wipes and no-touch hand soap to your back to school list. learn more at lysol.com/schools

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv. this is "the bill press show." >>. >> the white house says of course joe biden will stay on the tick. when it comes to picking vice presidential candidates, we don't take any advice from john mccain. >> that's a smart thing to say. john mccain had his chance and blew it. good morning, everybody. what do you say? it is the full court press here on current tv and on your local promisive talk radio station this friday morning, all 17, so good to see you. thank you for joining us. we are coming to you live all the way across this great land of ours on radio on television and i can taking your calls at

866-55-press, our interactive town hall meeting every friday morning. you hear me say at least a couple of times a we know that when people ask: ho do you -- i was asked this at dinner lat night. what do you do for three hours? how can you possibly fill three hours with good information every more than? i say it'sedes. we go to the center for american progress. we go though thinkprogress.org and get our information because they do such great work. the head nira tanden in studio with us. >> thank you. >> thank you for your good work on many subjects. before we get into the meat of the day, i have to tell you, yesterday, at this moment we remembered the 35th anniversary of the passing of elvis presley, the ledgegend, the king. one thinking we forgot to play was last year on this occasion the 35th anniversary, michelle

bachmann was out on the campaign trail and this is how she noted the anniversary of he willvis of elvi' death. let's all say happy birthday to elvis presley today. happy birthday. we played you a little bit of "promise land" when you pulled up. you can't do better than elvis presley. we thought we would celebrate his birthday as we get started celebrating, take our country back back. >> oops. oops. >> if that were the only mistake she had made we would have been fine. he he. >> that alone should have disqualified her for president. >> it started there and was downhill all the way. >> definitely. >> absolutely. so there we go michelle bachmann and the king, elvis. the people that turned out for a

great -- at graceland yesterday. he does in many ways still live. right? >> right. >> i want to talk to you about several things. let's start with mitt romney yesterday. he said, oh, come on. he was not very happy when one reporter asked him about his tax returns again. he said, all right. let's put it to rest once and for all. i went back. i looked at my returns. i paid taxes every year and i never paid less than 13%. so does this sort of put this issue to rest once and for all? >> well, i think the fact that mitt romney thinks 13% is like an answer is desturning when i don't pay 13%. i am sure you don't pay 13%. >> a lot more than that. >> you know average americans are paying a lot more than 13% and they don't have access to the tax lawyers he does.

>> the going rate under the tax rate is 35%? >> right. >> for his income bracket. so. >> romney also said if i could add one point here, he said, and if you add the money i give to charity to the 13%, it actually comes out like over 20%. >> f his chairrity is his church which i support the idea that churches deserve charity but it's not the same as pay taxes or addressing a broad swath. what's interesting is the lengths to which mitt romney is going to just not provide answers to this question. his answer led the evening news yesterday. it's dominating coverage. people have more and more questions about his level of trans piece. it's just an odd thing to me that he won't do the basic thing

t makes people wonder what's in those tax returns. to the extent that i mean i am beginning to wonder if he did something wrong. it's easy to clarify because he could do what everyone does and release them. >> it raises questions of how did he get from 35 to 13? how many dressage horses? >> cayman islands et cetera. >> how many home mortgages? he says no matter how many years i release, it's just going to raise questions. right? >> yeah. >> president obama and joe biden released 12 years of tax returns. do you ever hear anybody talk about their tax returns? no. there has to be something in mitt romney's returns he doesn't want us to see. >> this answer is ridiculous. ann romney gave this answer yesterday where she said, if we gave you our tax returns, we

would just have question after question. so we are not going to hand over these tax returns, which makes you ask: what's in them? i mean that seems to me a reason why you have to turn them over because obviously there are a lot of problems in there. people are going to ask you about them. it strikes me that the whole discussion is so -- the whole air about it makes me think they are so out of touch. the whole attitude they presented, it's ridiculous for the american people to be inquiring into our taxes because we have so much integrity. why would anyone question us? how could you dare think that we have done something wrong? you are asking to be president of the united states, asking for people to put their trust in you. you are going to make decisions that affect their lives seems pretty basic that you should go through some formal vetting. let me remind you, the same kind of vetting he we want true to

become, through the mccain cam feign to be the vice president there or the vetting he gave to paul ryan to look at his taxes. >> in fact romney yesterday said that the interest in his tax returns is the phrase he used, small-minded. how dare you? at the same news conference mitt mitt romney gets his big sharpie and tries to show the difference between his medicare plan and president obama's medicare plan and the problem with obama's plan is president obama cuts $1716 billion out of medicare and that's going to destroy it. >> uh-huh. >> what's the fact? >> i worked on the affordable care act and i was addn advisor to the president on the affordable care act and we worked on the medicare cuts and the big difference between president obama on health care and mitt romney is really two-fold. first of all, the president has

$715,000,000,000 of savings that he reinvested in the health care system primarily to go through things like prescription drugs for seniors in the medicare program to provide prevention services. >> to go aheadet rid of the donut? >> seniors pay for prescription drugs. that money, they don't have to pay that any more. >> where do the $1716 billion in cuts come from? >> another important point. beneficiaries, seniors citizens who paid into medicare didn't see any benefit cuts. the money came out of what we pay hospitals, providers, et cetera and most importantly, that's not just what we pay hospitals but what we really pay insurance companies for this program called medicare advantage. they had a huge during -- they were, you know, because of previous congress, they were paid more, private insurance was paid more than the tradition

medicare plan, kind of a big bonus to them and that was taken away away. this issue is easy to demagogue but at the end of the day, the primary difference between barack obama on health care and medicare and the romney-ryan plan is that president obama supports medicare as it is and has actually takentions? it will last longer and be more cost effective under the obama plan. >> aarp says that. >> yeah. you know, what this whole discussion of $700,000,000,000 is trying to hide is the fact that paul ryan and mitt romney have supported what we would, you know, bail the voucherizing of health care. you know. and neither one. i know they give a different answer every day. there is, you know some day provided one answer on the ryan

budget. monday is a different answer. throughout this week, they have continued to support the ryan -- what they call premium start, bastardizing medicare and what that is to say here is what we think the biggest problem in health care is. seniors pay too little. it will really is the case. that medicare is a driving cost. we have to lower the cost by shifting costs to the consumer. so, you know, i know the president has an ad out today that sitecites that the romney-ryan plan, seniors will pay $6,000 more for medicare. let me repeat that. $6,000 more in peopleiums. >> most can't afford that. >> because of the cost, cbs predicted a lot of people will lose medicare coverage. they won't be able to afford it. so i think that is the big difference between the president

supports medicare and romney ryan plan believes we should change medicare that we should you know, they say that consumers have to have more skin in the game. what that means is that consumers have to pay more. >> right. >> the $700,000,000,000 i know they are defensive about their actual plan of that voucher. they are trying to confuse the issue. at the end of the day, the most important difference subpoena whether medicare will be there or not as it's kufrnlth constructed. >> right. when the democrats say paul ryan would end medicare as we know it, i mean that's the fact. >> yeah because today, everyone has the traditional benefit. you know ife it's a rock-solid guarantee. and, you know, this is what people had admired what the right has admired was that he would be honest about these issues in the past. you know, in the past, he would have honestly said, look. we can't afford medicare any more. we don't think, you know, and he does it to pay for tax cuts for

the rich which i think is crazy but he actually has a view of this shall which is that the government can afford to do this. now, i believe i think president obama believes this is a fundamental promise that has been made to american 7 oz and we need to keep these promises and if everyone puts skin in the game in terms of balancing the budget, we don't have to make seniors pay for more health care in order to address our deficits. >> mitt romney saying to trust him when he says how much he paid in taxes and that in fact he paid taxes and mitt romney is saying he will protect medicare as president obama who wants to destroy it. do you believe any of those lies? 866-55-press. neara, we will take your calls. when you come back, i want to ask you and you can tell us about the plan for american progress you and others have put

forward to build on and to improve the affordable care act. a better idea than repealing it. don't you think? >> on your radio, on t.v. "the bill press show," new on current tv. >>oh really? >>"if you ever raise taxes on >>the rich, you're going to destroy our economy." not true! rich, chewy caramel rolled up in smooth milk chocolate. don't forget about that payroll meeting. rolo.get your smooth on. now in minis.

rrenttv