[ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> hey, good morning, everybody. what do you say? it is wednesday, august 22nd. great to see you today. welcome to the "full-court press" here on current tv your morning progressive show coming to you live, coast to coast, from our studio on capitol hill in washington, d.c. we will tell you what's going on today and take your calls. the republican party yesterday talking out of both sides of its mouth, party leaders starting with mitt romney demanding that

todd akin drop out of the senate race in missouri because of his comments on rape and on the very same day, the republican party adopted as its platform todd akin's policy, no exceptions on abortion for rape or incest. can anybody spell hypocracy? the republican party. >> that's what it is. we will talk about that and a whole lot more but first, we get todd's latest with the current news update lisa ferguson out in los angeles. hi, lisa. good morning. >> hi, bill. good morning, everyone. todd akin is officially still in the race this morning. he let yesterday's 5:00 p.m. deadline pass without calling it quits in a move that could cost the g.o.p. the senate and at the very least defies party leaders. romney and ryan are working quickly to distance themselves from the missouri nominee. romney is one of the many republicans asking akin to ends his run and calling his

legitimate rape remark insulting, inexcusable and frankly wrong but akin told romney to mind his own business and said he is making a bigger deal out of the rape comment than he needs to. according to a recent poll 75% of missouri voters think akin's remarks were inappropriate. so there is a decent chance he will lose the election to democrat incumbent claire mccaskill. but it could be a bigger loss for the republican party. the g.o.p. needs to pick up four seats to take control of the senate three if romney wins the white house. >> that's still possible without missouri but it won't be easy. republicans don't have good chances in maine or massachusetts. their best bet is to take states like nebraska wisconsin, and virginia. and an armed man is in federal custody this morning after they think he threatened president obama. secret service agents arrested 31-year-old anton kilory who

came to the door with a gun. anton kilory will be in court later this afternoon. more bill press coming up. we are live in chat current.com/billpress. press. >> he caved on the public option, he caved on the bush tax cuts, the guy has caved so many times there are miners trapped inside of him. (vo) this thursday and friday morning starting at 6 eastern.

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 ♪ ] >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your >> broadcasting across the nation, on your radio and on current tv this is "the bill press show". >> hey, have you heard? there is a hurricane headed for tampa next week. yeah. i am not talking about hurricane isaac. i am talking about hurricane todd. hello, everybody. what do you say? good morning. good morning. good morning. it is wednesday, august 22nd. so great to see you today. and thank you for joining us here on the "full-court press," coming to you live from our

nation's capitol, bringing you up to date as you get started this morning on your way to work or just brushing your teeth and having some breakfast or a cup of coffee or whatever. we will let you know what's going on in the big world today as you wake up and face the day. we will tell you what's happening here in washington, around the country and around the globe. yes, indeed, todd akin defining his party leaders yesterday in missouri. president obama on the campaign trail in ohio and nevada. and curiosity on the planet mars getting ready to start its big move today. they were testing out the wheels yesterday. lots you are going to want to call about 866-55 press. on this beautiful wednesday morning. peter ogburn and dan henning happened to make it in. hello. hello. hello. >> happy wednesday. >> and cyprian bowlding our

videographer with us as well. president obama out on the campaign trail yesterday, and as i mentioned, in columbus ohio. then he went on to reno nevada where he sort of made fun in front of a whole group of students of mitt romney's plan to how they should be paying for their education. governor romney told a crowd of young people just like you that if you want to be successful, if you want to go to college or you want to start a business then you can just -- and i am quoting here -- borrow money if you have to from your parents. >> uh-huh. >> yeah. so we don't need the g.i. bill, the pel grants. just hit your mom and dad up for $40,000 a year to pay for your college tuition. yeah. that's an easy way. don't you think? you know it saves all that paperwork. >> you just happen to have -- >> and saves paying them back. >> you just happen to need by the way, multi-millionaires for

parents. >> you need mitt romney as your parents. stupid thing for romney to say. but it just shows what a world he lives in. >> that's what he and all of his friends did. >> mommy. daddy. >> they never had to worry about a college fund. don't you love the fact that tropical storm isaac which could become a hurricane is headed right toward florida. >> that's amazing. >> sorry for the people of florida, but it would be so sweet if they got whacked by a hurricane. >> it's even weirder because the last election cycle four years ago. >> we were there in st. paul. we were there and they had to postpone the convention for a few days because of a hurricane. >> first day they had no sessions because the hurricane was not hitting st. paul but it was -- we got big problems. >> yeah. right. >> their problem is not isaac. their problem is todd.

todd. already. we will be talking about today first of all, with eliot spitzer, host of the "viewpoint" on current, joining us every wednesday morning. governor? where did that come from? senator sherrod brown, a tough race in ohio. we will talk with him a little bit later and covering the white house with politico. todd akins dug it deeper and deeper and deeper yesterday. but first. >> this is the full court press on this wednesday, other headlines making news, the olympics did not provide the successful launching paid for the new anchor team of math lauer. they released numbers for last week and nbc won the monday morning right after the olympics by a healthy margin, abc's good morning america won the next

four days in a row. one morning by over 500,000 viewers. gma beat "todd" for the five weeks leading up to the olympics. for day one during both weeks of the olympics. >> they have lost, you know. i think so. >> it's clear. in hollywood, katie holmes and tom cruise's divorce might be one of the cleanest and quickest in hollywood. they finalized their split in court less than two months after holmes filed for divorce papers. all details being kept private. only thing know that they will somehow share pair enting time of their 6-year-old daughter, suri. >> this kochingcould have been a block blaster. >> "new york times" reports this morning, if i could find it quickly, but that yesterday, i think, finalized salahi.

i think katie holmes had this thing planned. >> you know she did. >> white house party crashers' divorce is complete. yes. >> if they can't make it, what hope is there for young kids about to get married. >> if you have a smart phone the first thing you likely do on it is check the weather. a new online blood pressuring stud study finds 47%. >> i never check the weather on the phone call. why? i just look up. look outside. >> there you go. >> old-fashion. >> 47% of smartphone users use their phone to check the weather over any other task. watching videos, getting local news, national news and sports information round out the top five uses of the internet on the

phone. >> sireriously. >> number 1 is weather? >> i look at the weather to see what's coming and they even have radar. you can see when the storm is coming and how it's moving. but the other day, i walked by a coffee 1407. there were two guys sitting outside and the weather had gotten nicer. the guy holds up his phone and says, look. it's 72 degrees. no kidding. you are sitting outside. what do you need? confirmation that it's nice out? you have to have actual data? >> yes. apparently so. >> dan, thank you. i am telling you the saga of todd akin in missouri and i got all of your e-mails yesterday. i thought you were supposed to pronounce it missura. but republicans say missura and democrats say missouri. i'm sorry if i offended anybody saying it like that. the saga of todd akin of

missouri continues. yesterday, of course, the loud chorus of voices from mitt romney, michigan mcconnell, john cornyn and rance preibus. todd akin went on mike huckabee's radio show and said: i ain't listening. >> life is very much part of that whole thing. that's -- that's the reason we are going to continue. i believe there is a cause and a part of the message missing and a lot of people feel left out. >> not only is he going to stay in the race. the deadline is coming out. he could get out by september 21st but he has to pay the cost of reprinting all of the ballots. he says he is in it, and he is in it, he told mike huckabee to win it. >> we believe that by taking this stand that this is going to strengthen our country. it's going to strengthen

ultimately, the republican party i believe we could win this. >> it's not impossible. it's not impossible. he went on dana lowe's radio show. digging deeper. bill clinton said when you are in a hole stop digging. he dug deeper by trying to explain what he meant when he said if it's legitimate rape the woman is not going to get pregnant. he said he put the word in the wrong place and what he meant by legit legitimate rape is there are a lot of women who lie about rape just as an excuse to get an abortion. here he is. >> and i have no tolerance for them whatsoever. i have a wife and daughters. i have nothing -- no respect, nothing. there is nothing legitimate about the a rapist but to

rather, i was putting that in, in the wrong place, making the point, that there were people who use false claims like those that basically created roe versus wade. what an idiot. the two are not connected. right? the first thing he said was, quoting this doctor john wilke who is a nutball doctor. by the way, that mitt romney has as a supporter and endorser and mitt romney says he is his go-to person on issues of abortion. the same nutball that todd akin follows, and todd akin says a woman who is raped is not going to get pregnant quote, legitimate rape, which is total, total, outrageous nonsense and now he says that there are all of these women who are lying about rape to get abortions. name me one. right? i mean this is really a problem?

this is worse having no exception for rape or incest because todd akin claims that? it's just totally outrageous as i said action there are people in missouri and around the country who think he is a hero for what standing up for what he beliefs they can say whatever they want to. he made a mistake. we all make mistakes. he has apologized. i accept his apology. >> because of women, because of people like that that we get some of the idiots we have in the united states congress. whoa. here is the deal: all of these people call on -- all of the republicans calling on todd aiken to get out of the race. he refuses to do so until they say it's terrible. he is going to destroy the party. no no. he is not alone. we made this point yesterday. they confirmed it yesterday because, yesterday, the very

day, the very day that todd akin decided to stay in the race, the republican party platform committee, the platform committee of the republican national committee adopted the human life amendment yesterday. the human life amendment said there should be a constitutional amendment to ban all abortion with no exception for rape or incest. >> that's todd akin's policy, now the official policy of the republican party. it was four years ago as well. that human life amendment has been endorsed by paul ryan, todd akin and mitt romney. see the hypocracy here? they say todd, you are embarrassing. come on. now people know what we really believe. jesus, you let the cat out of the bag. get out of the race because you cause us to not get the senate. at the same time they are sxwras sxwrasingembracing his platform as

the republican party. it didn't just start now. let's talk about this. we know now who they are 866-557-7377. the "new york times" today front page, front page article says that this is the same agenda republicans in the house have been pushing for the last two years and more with the support of john boehner, with the support of eric cantor led by todd akin and paul ryan. ten different pieces of legislation that will strip women's rights away from them 10 different ways of denying women the right to control their own bodies and limiting cases where there could be an abortion and trying to redefine rape and all of this stuff. 10 different pieces of legislation, co-sponsored by todd akin and paul ryan in the united states, in the united states congress. didn't get that much attention?

did it? because we were all talking about the fiscal issues and ryan's budget and all of this stuff. but this was their hidden agenda, when he they threatened to shut down the government as part of the debt ceiling crisis if there were any money for planned parenthood. ten different ways against akin and ryan. the republican party now has as its official platform no abortion, no way, no how, no exception for rape no exception for incest. so somebody help me. somebody explain to me: okay? how is it that let's say a 12-year-old girl who is raped by her father? why is it a good idea for that little girl to have to have that baby? this is the republican party platform. this is mitt romney's platform. this is paul ryan's platform. this is todd akin's platform.

866-557-7377. >> on your radio, on t.v. "the bill press show" new on current

tv. >> radio meets television, "the bill press show" now on current tv. >> well, they are not talking jobs. now, they are not talking medicare. that was last week. now they are back to the social issues, thanks to todd akin and they are trying to debating

abortion. todd akin ex plossed the party platform. it became the official platform of the republican party yesterday. no untaxed, no way, no how, never, never, never, not even in case of rape or incest. how cool can you get. >> watching you on current. as i am watching you bill it occurs to me this todd akin character has become the whistleblower for the republican platform. >> good way to put it. >> you have to wonder if claire mccaskill knew this was actually going to happen. >> you know, she did spend $2 million in the primary which is very unusual. she spent $2 million during the

republican primary talking about how extreme todd akin was. she wanted to run against him. she got her wish. the best thing for her. >> the cat is out of the bag. we have to thank her and todd akin. we are out there. we know there is a problem. we are trying to do something about it. >> i didn't know that about springfield. the only reason republicans are mad at todd akin: we has exposed the real agenda. now, he is forcing them to stand up and defend it which they did yesterday. they embraced it yesterday.

100%. ron, elgin, illinois. what do you say? >> good morning >> i am sitting here reading the same "new york times" article. the lady it sounds like -- the sound byte you played. we have to get more people like her to start to do some more research. we have to. it's a big challenge. >> the problem, ron, is i am afraid that these people really agree. they know what's going on here. they really do agree with todd akin. they are so consumed by abortion as an issue, they would strip all all women's rights in order to deny anybody for any reason whatsoever to have an aabortion. >> that's todd akin's

positioning and that is the republican party platform. >> this is "the bill press show." [ ♪ theme music ♪ ]

[ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> heard around the country and seen on current tv this is "the bill press show". >> all right. you've got it. thirty-three minutes after the hour here happy wednesday, august 27th. good to see you with us. eliot spitzer host of the "viewpoint" on current tv in the next segment of the "full-court press." right now, we are continuing to take your calls about todd akin digging himself in deeper he says the problem is so many go out there and lie, lie lie, about a rape. it's not rape.

they are lying about it. 866-55-press. we are the full court press coming to you live on the nation's capitol brought to you today by the communication workers of america, good men and women the communication workers' union, the union for the information age, indeed. check out their good work at cwa-union.org. we told you last week about one of the good things they are doing, sponsoring legislation in the united states congress that would make it tougher for credit card companies and banks to put call centers overseas. and one of the problems with call centers overseas that's been discovered is that it's much, much easier because they don't have the protective laws overseas for people to steal your identity. identity theft has mushroomed because of these overseas call centers. watch out. you hear a story like that another case of identity theft, that reminds you.

i have. signed up for lifelock ultimate. i encourage you to do the same thing. keep track of your bank accounts. lifelock can't protect you or your bank account if you are not a member. call now and mention press 60 for 60 risk-free days of lifelock ultimate identifyty theft protection. if you are not happy, give them a call within another 60 days, ask for a -- and cancel and you will get a full refund. see lifelock.com for details and then give them a call at 18003565967. 18003965967 for lifelock ultimate. 18003565967. there is on the daily beast this mornine about todd akin not being alone. seven more crazy race statements they have got out there by republican congressmen including, of course the

most -- the most outrageous one is that there is no such thing as -- it's not just always forceable rape. right? and only in cases of forceable rape should a woman be allowed to have an abortion. that statement, of course, was made by paul ryan. yeah. standard bearer for the republican party. patricia is out in san francisco. hi, patricia. >> hi, there. >> good morning. what do you think about this? >> i think there is a pont that is continually missed in this equation. >> okay. >> regarding the republican party. the republican party is the same party that, while forcing a woman to become a vessel as opposed to a human being, therefore, forcing her to produce this child that she had no, you know, reason to want and now the child is in the

world, and on the other end of its life or during its life the republican party has absolutely no -- no reason to feel that there is a social responsibility to take care of that child if it has needs. >> that's the other end of the spectrum. they really, really, really care about life until the child was born in that head start, no college loans, on and on and on and on. no health care. on and on. right? >> bill, i have to thank you for your show. i happen to just wake up here at 3:00 in the morning and see your show for the first time but i am a woman who in my early 20s, in 1974, the year of row v. wade i was raped and did become pregnant and had an abortion.

i was disabled at the time. >> patricia, i am so sorry to hear that you had that experience, but, of course todd akin would never believe you. he would never believe you were raped and he would never believe you told the truth. john. god, makes me so mad. thanks, pat russia. good to hear from you. i will be out in san frask cisco before the day is over. john calling from fonda, iowa. how are you? >> i want to talk about your idea that it's all the republicans' mindset. my congressman steve king -- >> yeah. >> what a tool. >> what a twerp he is. he weighed in on this. >> he said i have a thought. women somehow are able to -- i don't know that crazy doctor's name. >> steve king is the one who said there are a lot of women who lie about rape.

yeah. yeah. i hope christie takes that and wraps that statement an his neck. and just get him out of there. you know what? absolutely. i mean -- >> she needs to wrap it around his neck. make clips of what the idiot says. >> i tell you, i think you can count on her to do that. i have met her a couple of times. >> she is. >> she is a great candidate, but, again john, i appreciate the call. what that really proves, again, is i keep coming back to this. and we have got to come back to this. todd akin is not alone. he is just marching in lock stead with paul -- other crazy people there. paul ryan and steve king two of them. paul ryan, i keep comeing back to that. paul ryan and this is their

agenda. it has been pursued blessed by john boehner and eric cantor and paul ryan endorsed this human life amendment. to chicago say good morning to kathleen. >> hi. how are you doing? >> good. what's up. >> you go out to do things and try to undermine people, this is what the republicans have been trying to do, trying to undermine this country all because they have a dislike for this president. so we will take everybody down with the budget, with the country, with everything. now, god is working its way back to help poor people because we need help. and working people. >> that's why i don't understand they are so mad at this. paul ryan co-wrote the book. how do you separate the author from thebook? this guy, he needs to go with him. all of the other 200-something republicans that voted for this bill. how dare you tell somebody what

they can and can't go with they body. >> that's not your place. >> oh, yeah. >> that's not your place. they want to be god, but they are not. and if they are so christian, how can they be for one thing like the lady said earlier when the kids get here when the people here, you want to take food stamps from them, don't want them to go to college. you want them to suffer because they are not born rich. how can you be christian and -- you have a none running around this country saying paul ryan's budget is immoral, and you catholics, you better listen to them. you better listen to them. >> paul ryan says, kathleen that his budget reflects the catholic policy. no, it doesn't. the nuns said that and the catholic bishops said it, too. absolutely right o good now, kathleen. i want to put kathleen out on the campaign trail. she would call them out. forget the debate between joe

biden and paul ryan. let's have it between kathleen and palm ryan. early, jerome. i think the reason that these republicans are so mad at todd akin is the fact that republicans like to work on their agendas secretly and in the dark and by shooting off his mouth like he did, he put a light on it. >> absolutely. you are so right. >> uh-huh. i am hoping that the independents in this country will really see that if you vote for these people, these are the people. people you turn to washington to run the country and make the laws in the country. >> no. absolutely. your first point, jerome, i have to tell you that's why they are mad at todd akin not because they think he is wrong. again, one more time they have just adopted his very same policy as the official policy now of the republican party.

they are mad at him because he let the cat out of the bag. they are mad at him because he said publically what they have all been trying to do. he has exposed the republican party's war on women. they are going to go into tampa next week and be the anti-woman anti-human being as far as i am concerned policy and the party of pure pure hypocracy. and nobody more hypocritical on this issue than mitt romney and paul ryan. >> this is "the bill press show." [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] in on full court press with bill press. >> he caved on the public option, he caved on the bush tax cuts, the guy has caved so many times there are miners trapped inside of him. (vo) this thursday and friday morning starting at 6 eastern.

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>> 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 ♪ ]

>> this is "the bill press show." >> it's 14 minutes before the top of the hour here on the full court press coming to you live on your local progresstive talk radio station, on sirius xm their fault, not mine. got to tell you, i am proud of our team on current tv. sort of like book ends every morning, we tell you how the day is starting out and then in the evening, eliot spitzer and jennifer granholm tell you how the day has ended and what's going on. and we are delighted to welcome back to the program this morning the host of "viewpoint," 8:00 p.m. east earn on current tv t our good friend eliot spitzer. how are you? >> the wonderful. the only thing that doesn't turn out so well. so much good news. >> i know. so last week, we were talking about the fact that suddenly the focus of the campaign hadshift from the jobs and the

economy to medicare. and now one week later, from medicare to abortion. >> not the issue that you think mitt romney wanted to be talking about. >> hardly, hardly. but thanks to todd akin and didn't you enjoy the corehorus of voices for todd akin to get out of the race. why, do you think? >> my goodness because he says out loud what too many republicans believe. it's embarrassing to them. you know, you look at the republican platform, it's todd akin's platform, not mitt romney's, and they've got this tremendous cognitive dissonance. they know they can't win with the todd akin platform but they know that's what too many of their ranks believe. their platform seems to have been taken over by the crazies. >> this is the human life amendment which they adopted again yesterday which says human life is sacred no abortion at

all, not en for rape or incest. >> yeah. >> that's todd akin's policy. it's paul ryan's policy and mitt romney has endorsed that human life amendment? >> the connection here between paul ryan and todd akin is the one that will really come back to haunt them as well i think. it's bad enough when paul ryan brought into this campaign this whole medicare debate. i think they are going to lose. and then now the more people look at paul ryan's social agenda, man, it is todd akin. and, you know, maybe their political cal cue calculus is smarter than we think. i don't know, bill but i look at this and say what century are we living in? >> absolutely. we were talking about that earlier this morning. the idea that we are having this discussion in 2012 to take the extreme example, a little girl

12-year-old girl raped by her father and becomes pregnant and the idea that good policy for her to have to have that baby? it's medieval? >> it is shocking. you know, i had a guest on the show last night who had served in the state legislature in missouri and said that todd akin really is a true believer. our guest had written an article in which he said god spoke directly to todd akin to get in the race and god will have to speak directing to him. on level you have to respect. he has views. >> that's what we are dealing with here. >> yeah. and and they are so consumed with this that they would shut down the government. they would also, for republicans, be willing to lose the senate over this issue? >> that, of course is what has most of them mainstream republicans and the leadership up in arms but it was fascinating to see. as you point out, everybody from mitch mcconnell from john cornyn

and paul ryan saying get out of the race. all of the senate candidates of course. we could take the majority here he is basically saying to them i don't care. the interesting thing is that todd akin has never run with the support of the republican leadership. >> yeah. >> he has been an insurgent. he is saying you were never with me. i have gotten where i have gotten without you. don't think you have the capacity to force me out or any persuasive skills. it's been interesting to see him thumb his nose at them. >> it will be interesting to see if he shows up in tampa. nbc with a poll, there were some interesting things, head to head which i think it meaningless but obama leads romney by four points but they asked the question: who do you think relates to average voters? barack obama or mitt romney? the response was 52%, barack obama relates to average voters.

30%, mitt romney. >> right. >> i guess people kind of know who mitt romney is. don't they? >> i think there has been an effective effort by the white house to isolate mitt romney. you know with bain it was the foreign bank accounts. in aggregate, all of these people have come together and said people don't get a sense of him as the sort of guy, you would want to have a beer with the guy. i don't think mitt romney is that person. so i think that part of campaign has been won by the white house. of course, conventions often reset that. in the is still a dog fight with everything that has happened. >> absolutely. >> we are still within, you know, low single digit did. swing states are still swing states. this thing is not over and which is kind of appalling to me when you think about how big the chasm should be between the two parties at this point. i am a little mystified which tells me quite frankly, bill, we

haven't done the sort of job communicating to the public that we should have been doing over the past couple of years to explain what this is all about. >> no. amen. amen to that. by the way, i must say that mitt romney has helped himself a lot to paint the picture of mitt romney as out-of-touch with average voters every time he talks about his buddies who own the n.f.l. teams and nativingscar teams. >> everyone should have a friend who owns a nascar team. why not in the when you open with your swiss account with a big enough check. they used to give away toasters. now you get a piece of a nascar team with a swiss bank. >> or a dressage horse. >> or a dressage horse. look. we can have fun with it, and we should and kind of laugh about these things at a certain point but we have to recognize a that a week from now we will be in the middle of a republican convention that will be well orchestrated. >> you know it. >> they will present a nice,

gauzy image of a guy and be misleading about his politics. >> he will come across warm and fuzzy. >> that's for sure. eliot spitzer at 8:00 o'clock with "viewpoint." it's always early in the morning, unfair to ask you maybe but anything in particular on your radar? >> more than on the radar, etched in stone, we have a fun second with a fellow, michael grunewald, "the new new deal." it's about the stimulus and how the stimulus has been sort of under-played. it was really a vehicle, here is the amazing data point. in real constant dollars bigger than f.d.r.'s efforts to bring back the economy. >> i didn't know that. >> that's good. >> it did amazing things. he makes the argument that if you look a lot sectors from energy to telecom to health care, the president is actually restructured things in a good way, more effectively than he has been given credit for. >> look forward to that. eliot spitzer thank you.

8:00 p.m. eastern on current tv with the "viewpoint." >> this is "the bill press show." [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] won't stain, and leaves your soft surfaces with a light, fresh scent. lysol - the number one pediatrician recommended brand. lysol. mission for health.

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: taking your e-mails on any topic at any >> christine a e-mails until t todd akin is at primary reason we need the 17th amendment. >> that's why the tea partyers are trying to abolish the 17th amendment. sherdon em.

>> this is "the bill press show."

[ ♪ theme music ♪ ] hey, good morning, everyone. it is wednesday, august 22nd. so good to see you today. welcome. welcome to the "full-court press" here on current tv. coming to you live from our nation's capitol and bringing you all of the big stories of the day here from washington, d.c., around the country, and around the globe, president obama, second day of campaigning in ohio yesterday starts out in nevada today and ends up in new york city. todd akin defying his party

leadership and staying in the race and looking ahead, man, that republican national convention in tampa could be a real train wreck. tropical storm isaac is heading to florida could hit the beginning of next week. joe biden is actually going to be in town in tampa on monday. but their worst nightmare is that todd akin should -- could show up as well. and why not? the party just adopted his official platform. so we will follow that and a whole lot more. but first, take a couple of minutes out here to get today's current news update the latest from lisa ferguson. hi, lisa. take it away. >> hi, bill. good morning, everyone. team romney is keeping up medicare attacks with a new ad called nothing's free. >> some think obama care is the same as free health care, but nothing is free. obama is raiding $716,000,000,000 from medicare changing the program forever. >> the ad goes on to say romney and ryan's medicare plan would

restore that funding and protect and strengthen medicare for the next generation. but here is the thing. according to the congressional budget office, ryan's plan does not strengthen medicare at all. it actually makes it harder for seniors to pay their bills, giving them a voucher that does not cover the entire cost of medicare. according to a pew research poll out this week, 49% of americans oppose the voucher system. om only 34 first are in favor. as we told you, you before and as several independent fact checkers pointed out president obama is cutting waste, fraud and abuse out of medicare and putting that money back into health care. ryan's plan originally supported those same cuts, although he since changed his mind saying he would restore those $716,000,000,000 to medicare. analysts say that is actually more expensive and here is why. the way things stand now, we would not run out of medicare funding until 224, but under the

ryan-romney plan, we would run out by 2016. back with more bill and we are live in chat current.com/bill press. 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.

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>> broadcasting across the nation, on your radio and on current tv this is "the bill press show". >> republicans demanned todd akin drop out of the race. they then they adopt his policy as the official party platform. a bunch of hypocrites. hello. everybody, good morning. welcome to the "full-court press" here on current tv starting off the day a progressive way. indeed, every day. for three hours, bringing you the news of the day and givetion you a chance to sound off.

we will take your calls at 866-55 press. our morning town hall coming to you live on your local ive talk station and, of course on current tvhall coming to you live on your local ive talk station and, of course, on current tv. we are here in our nation's capitol. the house and senate still on recess. president obama on the campaign trail and everything looking toward the republican convention next week in tampa. the democratic convention the week after in charlotte. we are going to skip tampa. it looks like there are going to be plenty of people in tampa including joe biden, hurricane isaac maybe. maybe todd akin. we will catch up with everybody in charlotte. great to see you today rather. thank you for joining us and say hello to our team here, peter ogburn and dan henning and videographer, cyprian bowlding. >> hey there. >> guys, ready to go? >> happy wednesday.

>> big change in the late-night line-up last night on television, announced abc is moving up to compete head to head against david letterman and jay leno jimmy kimmel, himself. >> a big name. you may have heard about this abc, our network announced today -- and i hope this wasn't a prank because it would be a cruel think -- thing to do. around our 10 year anniversary our show is moving from 10 night to 11:35. >> yeah. how do you think he will do? >> i think he will do very well. >> yeah. he is going on -- next year will be 10 years for him on the air. >> i can't believe it's been that long. >> night line getting the shaft. >> yeahline getting the shaft. >> yeah. he is a lot younger and edgier than leno and letterman. he does things newsy and political, better than either of them. it's a big deal. >> it's a new era, a new age.

>> nightline has had its day. >> dinosaur. >> when i started on television, i was doing 10:00 o'clock news, i would not leave the station in los angeles until i stayed there to watch nightline. >> wow. >> because, you know, i felt it was must-see television. no longer. senator -- here he go calling him governor again. senator sherrod brown, we will start off the hour and by the press secretary of josh mcintosh for emily's list. >> other headlines making news. what happens in vegas, tmz has

released a picture. he and friends picked up a group of women, took them upstairs to the suite. things got crazy. yes, booze was involved. the suite shows the queen of england mind you cupping the crown jewels and the other with his arms around a woman showing off his bare rear end. >> took the crowned jewels with him to vegas. what an idiot. god, i saw those photos. come on. you have to remember who you are. i mean, you know what? that would be like some congressman going skinny dipping in the sea of galilee. >> as if that would ever happen. >> no lack of serious wealth in congress. the hill has released the annual rankings of the 50 richest lawmakers which texas republican congressman michael mccall tops for the second year in a row, worth an approximately $290 million. >> that's way ahead of the number 2 man on the list

massachusetts democrat john kerry worth $199 million. >> no, he is not. his wife is. >> darryl isa, 31, republicans. >> surprise, surprise. >> that's why they want those tax cuts to continue. >> really. americans waste a lot of food. a new report out from the national resource defense council finds out we throw out nearly every other bite of food we eat. forty % of the country's annual supply is tossed in the trash. the daily beast notes that it is a total of $165,000,000,000 worth of food. >> this is appalling. about half of the food that we buy, we throw away. think what that -- i mean, i hate to come back to the eat everything on your plate and the poor starving kids in africa but think of the people that could feed. >> we have really cracked down on that because that's amazing.

half the food. >> some is they are not consuming everything they cook. a lot buy food. >> throw it away. >> bad fluid fruit yesterday i didn't get to in the last week that i threw out. >> see, dan. you are the problem. >> you are the problem. >> eat that bad fruit. >> kings are going -- kids are going to starve in africa because of you. thank you. sfrn. >> twelve minutes. 12 minutes after the hour. there has been a lot of tension the last few days of course to this senate race in missouri which -- where outside groups had poured millions and millions of dollars. maybe they won't be doing that any more after todd akin's remark. but that's not the only race in the country where outside groups have been pouring in a lot of money. what about ohio? our good friend, sherrod brown has been the focus of a lot of right-wing special super p.a.c. money.

he joins us on our lien this morning. senator, good to talk to you as always. >> good to be back. thank you. >> let's start out. before we get to what's happening on the ground in ohio, i have got to ask you about this flap over todd akin and defying the party leaders to stay in the race out there in missouri. i guess the question is: his stand, he is not alone to take the stand that he has taken about no exception for rape and incest. right? >> that's why the republicans are so fearful of it. >> that's why mitch mcconnell and mitt romney and paul ryan and all of them they swooped down on him to try to get out of the race from the other senate for missouri and three of his -- three former senator republicans came after him because he just put it in the platform no exceptions for rape and incest. if a romwoman is raped by her uncle under paul ryan's plan and under the republican platform and todd

akin and all of them and my opponent is for the same no he knewceptions. the woman has to carry it to full-term. it's barbaric their views on this. i think the public sees it. >> that's why they were so afraid of akin bringing more attention to it. but this all brought more attention to it. >> sure. he just let the cat out of the bag, so to speak? >> he was more honest about it than paul ryan. he doesn't have the you areurbanness, the safety whatever youruavity, whatever your. he doesn't have that, just apparently apparently,ied, they sprovtd theapproved the platform. >> senator, the chair of the platform committee we call him governor ultrasound from virginia, bob mcdonnell. here he is introducing the platform which includes in

human life amendment, a quick clip about what it means to them. >> the 2012 republican platform is a statement of who we are and what we believe as a party and our vision for a stronger and a freer america. >> so this is it. this is who we are. >> that's what they are saying. right? >> this is an american who doesn't believe in government being involved in businesses and regularlilation and people's lives except when they do believe that they should be involved. you know, i mean there is nothing funny about this. this is a terrible thing they are doing. akin subpoena i willllustrative of what they have done. in the kind of extremism in politics is far too common nowadays in washington. >> senator, when you look at this campaign in the last two weeks, it has veered wildly from the focus that romney was trying to keep on jobs in the economy with some traction.

right? suddenly they veer off and for the last 10 daps, it was medicare, medicare, medicare after paul ryan gets on the ticket. now, it's abortion, abortion abortion. is this what they want to run on 2012 2012? >> of course, it's not. >> that's what makes the pick of paul ryan a bit curious that he represents the extremism on abortion and medicare. not just medicare. with this whole tax cuts for the rich, which is what they do, they come back to it. they say it trickle did down. we know the first 10 years of this sent re it didn't trickle down. there was various little job growth as you know and that's what paul ryan wants to do. it will commons not just cuts in medicare but cuts in pel grants means college is so difficult for young people to get access to anyway with the cost and it's going to make it harder with this crowd if they get their way on cutting pel grants and letting student interest rates rise. >> the other reason the republicans are annoyed at todd

akin is because he may have blown their chances. he may have blown what they felt was the best chance to pick up a senate seat and claire mccaskill, if she was the number 1 target of karl rove and the super p.a.c. money, the number 2 target has always been sherrod brown in ohio. do you fear that this means, as they say, no more money for todd acebbin, it's going to be more money against you? >> they almost can't spend more. they can't spend more than they are already spending. they spent 15 million. at the end of this week, they will have passed the $15 million mark and they are television attack ads and other things. they are committed, it looks like another 8 to 10 million to ohio. i think when you have got a billionaire that can write a $50 million check, and the koch brothers that can write more than that, when you have exxon and wall street and companies that outsource jobs to big corporations and chinese interests, their money really is for all intents and purposes

unlimited. they can drop another ten or twenty million in my state or in montana or somewhere else pretty easily. so i don't think that the todd akin thing affects that. i know they are continuing this assault. you know why they do it because they are losing these debates as you know, bill, so the way they win -- >> sure. >> is huge money. the way we fight back, as you have done on your show is a citizens movement. >> that's why i ask people on your show and now to come to sherrodbrown.com and sign up. we have more than 300,000 people signed our petition on overturning citizens united. we have a lot more to do to get a different supreme court or to get a constitutional amendment. but come to sherrodbrown.com to fight back against wall street interest, companies that outsource, the koch brothers. all of this is the only real way to go here to fight back with the citizens movement. >> sherrodbrown.com is the site and it's sherrod-h-e-r-r-o-ds-h-e-r-r-o-d.

we will have a link sherrodbrown.com. senator, is there any point where they just reach a saturation point? you know ohio is not that big a state, with not that many markets. if they buy all of the time they can, a saturation point or people get sick of it? >> well i think -- i hope so. of course i hope so. what we want to put in family's minds is when they see another ad from crossroads or from concerned women of america who i would add aren't or from the chamber of commerce or from 60-plus, one of these groups, you know, it doesn't say -- that's all it says paid for by 60-plus. we want people -- and that's one of the reasons we are using our website this way in our -- and our organizing abilities and strengths to get people to think: who are these people spending this money? why are they spending it against brown? the question is, if people start

thinking it's because he stood up against the oil companies and he has the bill to break up the largest banks in wall street and stopping outsourcing of jobs by the currency bills then we win for sure. >> that's what we are trying to get across to rank and file voters. it's easy to get across to bill press listeners because they are sophisticated and paying attention. it's harder to get across to, you know, the 6 mother or somebody that's barely getting by and doesn't have time to listen to the radio, doesn't spend amount of time thinking about this. those are the hardest people to reach. >> we want to help get that message away anyway we can. sitting different groups over $15 million. and finally, senator president obama loves your state. he was back there again yesterday. how does it look for the top of the ticket in ohio? >> i think it looks good. when you asked me a couple of months ago when i was in the

studio, i was optimistic but less so than now. i think the numbers are still strong. the romney narrative is so weak. the medicare issue is starting to hurt. the auto rescue in ohio is hugely successful and increasingly seen by the public. the president was in columbus talking about afford ability and access to college loans to kids going to college. the ryan plan speaks to that. it says, sorry. if you weren't born into some -- a little bits more money, then sorry. you are not going to school. my wife went to kent state. her dad carried a union card 35 years she graduated with $1,200 in debt. the world has changed. and we've got to make college more accessible to the next generation of working class kids. >> of course, if you are in the mitt romney family, all you do is ask your parents for more money. >> borrow from your parents. probably, you know, not only can you borrow from your parents but probably your mom has an extra

cadillac you could drive to school. >> or a dressage horse to drive to school. all right. senator always good to join you. i have a feeling you will see president obama back in your state before too long. sherrod brown, don't for get. help out. this is a critical race, very very important race. there is no stronger progressive voice in the united states senate than sherrod brown from ohio. sherrodbrown.com. >> radio meets television "the bill press show." now, on current tv. in on full court press with bill press. >> he caved on the public option, he caved on the bush tax cuts, the guy has caved so many times there are miners trapped inside of him. (vo) this thursday and friday morning starting at 6 eastern.

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> this is the bill"the bill press

show" live on your radio and current tv why 26 minutes after the hour here now, we are going to talk to the press secretary for emily's list about that race in missouri and other races for democrats running for congress and around the country starting up in the next segment of the "full-court press." meanwhile, you know, a special feature of the show every week, we like to signal somebody who gets things done who gets it done sponsored by granger, of course, and today, we salute billy payne. billly payne, the new head of augusta national taking the plates of the med evil hootie johnson. he got it done. he broke the glass ceiling at augusta national and allowed the first two women members in, a big milestone in the history of golf and sports. billly payne congratulations for getting it done.

granger to help you get your job done. click on granger.com and stop by one of their branches. granger for the ones who get it done. president obama got it done yesterday going out to first columbus, ohio as we mentioned and to ren-off nevada where he said we will win the state of nevada. >> we will win nevada. we will win this election. we will finish what we started and remind the world why the united states of america is the greatest nation on earth. god bless you. god bless america. >> all right. indeed. president obama on fire there yesterday in nevada. two more key states. two more swing states. the president is taking nothing for granted. he is working his butt off, on the road, on the campaign trail at least a couple of days every week. again, yesterday in ohio and nevada and he ends up in new york city tonight. we will tell you more about that a little bit later. emily's list coming up next.

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

>> this is the full court press, "the bill press show," live on your radio and on current tv. . >> all right. 33 minutes after the hour now. the full court press continuing on your local progressive talk radio station and on current tv coming to you live all the way across this great land of ours. coast to coast from our studio on capital hill in washington, d.c. and brought to you by the laborers international union of new york america under president terri o'sullivan building a better america. indeed that's their website, liuna, liuna builds america.org.

check it out. a lot of attention to senate races around the country. more so in the last few days after one senate candidate, republican todd akin makes some pretty outrageous remarks about rape, is condemned by his party leaders on the one hand and on the other hand, they adopt his policy, no exception for rape or incest in terms of abortion as their official party platform. todd akin, of course, not alone. his views supported by paul ryan and the human life amendment supported also by mitt romney. this raises the stakes on this important issue, one that emily's list has been concerned for about for a long time. emily's list, a great organizations of workers and leaders for many, many years supporting women democratiblec women, proceed-choice democratic women running for house, senate or governor around the country.

jess mcintosh is the deputy communications director in studio? >> thank you for having me. good morning. >> thanks for coming in jess. claire mccaskill. give us a little assessment of that race a week ago and today. it's changed. >> it has. it has changed. missouri is always going to be a challenge. it's a republican state. that said, senator mccaskill is one of the best legislators that we have. >> ter ifbling? >> for her state. she is the kind of independent leader that mezearmeasure e really wants. we thought she had a fighter's chance this year for sure. >> she has been the number 1 target. >> of outside spending. they have just pumped millions from rove and the other sort of shady corporate folks are pouring money into missouri air waves. she is up against a tough crew. but she is pretty tough, herself. however, this republican who

came through the primary, todd akin is so extreme, so far to the right, i think nobody -- >> as he has proven? >> i think nobody really saw him coming. i think, you know, when it comes down to it missouri voters are going to elect somebody with a track record of actually getting results for them and not throwing bottoms from the sidelines. i can't imagine that they want -- that they want something like todd akin who is so out-of touch. >> are you saying it's in the bag for claire mccaskill for democrats, ought to just forget about this? >> absolutely not. in fact, democrats should go to emily's list.org and support claire mccaskill and the rest of the fantastic candidates. the outside money is not going to stop coming. i know folks are saying they were going to pull out. >> do you think they will support him? >> i think that was a bluff. i think they are going to continue spending money against claire mccaskill. i think that she continues to be a target. i think we need to be really sure that we are doing everything we can to make sure.

>> if it's a month or now we are into october and todd akin is like five points behind no matter what karl rove says? >> i think, you know, honestly, the senate is at stake here the stakes are really very high. we need to keep claire mccaskill in the senate. we need leaders like that given the republican war on women and how hell-bent they are on rolling back the clock we need real leaders who are, you know, who are fighting with the right priorities and claire is absolutely that. i think that we can't at all take for granted just because she is running against this guy who can't seem to get it together, that certainly doesn't mean she's got an easy race. >> what impact do you think the todd akin's remark has on other races around the country? >> i have seen it reverb rating all over. sense sundayrating all over. sense sunday. we have a lot of great candidates this year. i have seen folks have to answer

for todd akin. it's right that they should. it would be one thing if todd akin were an outlier, if these remarks came out of nowhere and we were all shocked and it was completely out of left field, but the fact is, he is right in line with the republican party today. they had a bill which redefined rape so that some mattered more than others which is exactly the comments that he made on sunday. that bill had over 200 republican co-sponsors including paul ryan. i mean this is mainstream for the republican party. >> particularly. jess mcintosh is the communications director for emily's list where you can find

on emilyslist.org. you can find out the proceed-choice candidates they are supporting around the country. todd akin's comments were more in line when they they adopted the human life amendment. this is the official policy of the republican party supported by not just todd akin but paul ryan and mitt romney. >> the idea -- >> rance priebus. they have been calling on todd akin? >> they are embracing the policies. they adopted a rule yesterday to have the government force a woman impregnated from remain to carry to term. >> raped. >> this is the party of small government. we want government forcing a woman to carry a pregnancy to term under any circumstances, no matter how hor rendous?

it's kind of mind-blowing in 2012 we are having these conversations the but we had a whole debate about birth control and when it's appropriate to use it. i think 2012 is turning out to be a stranger year than we were anticipating. >> is there a republican war on women? >> absolutely. absolutely. >> it's not an exaggeration? >> no. no. it's certainly not. we put together an interactive powerpoint where you can go through and see for the last 18 months all of the legislation that they have introduced. i mean it's pretty much the only weeks that they have not pursued an anti-woman piece of legislation in the house were the weeks they were on recess. i think no one new in 2010 what their agenned a gentry a was going to be. they ran on jobs fixing the economy and they got in and they had pulled a huge bait and switch. they started pursuing this socially device i have agenda.

u.n. >> one of the points for the listeners and viewers this morning, the "new york times" front page article about todd akin but a companion article about this agenda you just mentioned in the house of representatives over the last two years. it's been ongoing. 10 different pieces of legislation at that todd acinand paul ryan co-authored regarding a woman decisions for health care but it hasn't given attention because there is more focus on the debt ceiling debate but even during the debt ceiling debate, they said, we are willing to shut down the government if there is any money for planned parenthood. >> it shows where their priorities are. they were willing to shut the government down over planned parenthood. they don't understand what it does. they are saying it's 97 abortions which is obviously, you know, baloney. planned parenthood matters a lot

to american women. one in 5, i think, have gone. this is an institution american women understand. and we understand we use it for preventitive services, for birth control. it's part of your daily yearly health care routine. >> sure. >> to attack it, it's something that hits home for us. >> by the way, it was a announced this morning early that cecil richards the head of planned parenthood great, great woman, great american is going to be one of the speakers at thethe democratic national convention . >> she is awesome. >> the claire mccaskill race a better chance now. >> 2012 is a record number. we have a record number for women running for senate. this is exciting, that we can

say to voters, there is an alternative. we have pro-choice democratic women running with the right priorities. tammy baldwin taking on tommy thompson, a fantastic race that comes down to the wire. : shelly berkeley in nevada against dean heller who voted for the ryan budget to end medicare as we know it, said he was proud to have been the only member to have voted in both chambers as a congressman and a senator. >> there is an issue efforts horono in hawaii who is trying so hard to pretend she is not a republican but just as right-wing as the rest and elizabeth warren in massachusetts run against scott brown who is kind of doing a similar dance right now. >> are there incumbents up this year? i know dianne feinstein in california. >> this is our democratic women incumbents. >> barbara mccull ski is up. >> not this year.

hill i brand is doing well. cantwell and klobishar in minnesota is doing great. women do a good job when they get elected. >> debbie stabenow. >> running against hoekstra who is running one of the most inept and it's michigan and we have to keep a close eye on it and make sure we send debby back to the senate but the polls are looking pretty good right now. pete certainly can't -- >> she is strong? >> really strong. >> they all are. claire and debbie some of the best most effective legislators we have in the senate. we have something called the impact project which you can see on the website that shows exactly what influence democratic women in office have had. they have affected policies that we take for granted every day.

>> todd akin, has he just made the job easier perhaps of electing democratic pro-choice women around the country? and how will his comments affect congressional races and senate races and what about the republican party's hypocracy in condemning him on the one hand but embracing his policies on the other, 866-55-press. want to join the conversation? that seat at the table, that's for you. give us a call. >> this is "the bill press show." [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] perspective. >>i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. >>only on current tv. dose of politics from a fresh perspective. >>i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me.

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>> there is "the bill press show," live on your radio and current tv. >> the next hour we will be joined by washington post reporter felicia somez on the trail with the romney-ryan ticket. white house reporter for politico glen prush will be in studio with us. we are talking, i guess abortion politics, women politics with jess mcintosh the communications director of emily's list. thank you for coming in. the latest nbc wall street poll has an interesting results which reflect what we have been talking about. this is before, before today akin makes his remarks,

president obama, among women, 15.advantage over mitt romney. themental is out there? >> it's unsurprising. we are not just position, isn't it? they're not backing away from it. >> yeah. what's interesting is there's lots of talk about gaffes and you could argue obama didn't

phrase it in the right way there is a gaffe. but there is a difference between a gaffe and your actual position. what happened is romney said look, this is the lesson that we don't need. more teachers or more firefighters or more cops. and you had sununu, former governor up there in new hampshire who's the chair of his national campaign went on television yesterday and said you know, we should stop talking about this as a gaffe. he had a point. >> bill: let's listen to john sununu saying you're damn right. teachers. >> you have cities in this country in which the school population peaked 10, 15 years ago and yet the number of teachers they have maintained has not changed. i think this is a real issue and people ought to stop jumping on it as a gaffe and understand there's wisdom in the comment. >> bill: of course, john sununu doesn't give evidence of the fact there are all of these cities out there that have lost students yet have all of these

teachers right, on the payroll. >> yeah, not generally a problem that you hear about is teachers i think the reality, of course is that you know, you could use some more teachers and there's really a big shortage of specially qualified teachers in the country. >> bill: sitting right in the chair, dennis van roekel, head of the nea told us there are 450,000 fewer teachers today. that doesn't mean there are fewer students. it doesn't mean there are fewer schools. it doesn't mean there are fewer classrooms. it just means there are bigger class sizes, right. and fewer teachers to handle the workload. so sununu is dead wrong on this. let's say hello to marla calling from detroit. good morning. thanks for joining us. >> caller: hi, bill. >> bill: hi. >> caller: about voter

suppression, if rick scott denies eric holder, why can't eric holder arrest him? >> bill: well, that's a good question. i'm not a lawyer. you're a lawyer, judd. >> i am a lawyer. i think that you know, the issue is it's not -- it's not a violation that carries jail time. i mean -- i think basically what they've done is they've started enforcement to join the action and you know, there's different penalties so if you violate the voting rights act, it is just not something where you go to jail but you could, in fact, be required by the court of law -- by a court to stop and i guess at some point, if you were in contempt of court or something like that, you know, you could imagine it although generally these political matters don't get settled that way. certainly, they're in some legal hot water. >> bill: the way the process works is the federal government would drag the state of florida into court and it would be resolved in front of a judge or in front of

a jury. works. want to come back to this -- to the teachers thing. because again, we're in the middle of a campaign season but it seems that rather than saying oh, i didn't mean like president obama came right out and corrected himself to make sure people understood exactly what he meant, that the private sector relative to the public when a carpet is clean and fresh, it's irresistible. experience this in your home with resolve deep clean powder. its moist powder penetrates deep, removing three times more dirt than vacuuming alone while also neutralizing odors at their source. it's a clean you can see smell, and really enjoy. resolve deep clean powder. don't just vacuum clean, resolve clean.

(vo) john fugelsang is filling in on full court press with bill press. >> he caved on the public option, he caved on the bush tax cuts, the guy has caved so many times there are miners trapped

inside of him. (vo) this thursday and friday morning starting at 6 eastern. [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: hey, how about it. president obama, busy schedule today. doing no fewer than six fund-raisers leaving the white house this morning at about quarter to 12:00 going up to baltimore. just up the road. three fund-raisers in balmer. two at the hyatt regency hotel then he pops up to philadelphia. helicopter ride, i think.

doubt he will take air force i from baltimore to philadelphia. three fund-raisers this evening in philadelphia at the franklin institute and then coming back to the white house, arriving back from the white house at 11:20 p.m. man is busy, busy, busy. he won't let anybody get ahead of him in fund-raising.

[ ♪ theme music ♪ ] hey hey. hello everybody. monday, june 12th. great to see you today. thankful for being part of the program here, the full court press on current tv. live from our nation's capitol on your studio right here on capitol hill. we will take your calls at 866-55-press. while you may be weren't looking, guess what. republicans have launched another war. they have already launched a war against women, against students

and against gaze and lesbian s. now they have launched a war against public employees led by mitt romney who said over the weekend, we ought to just fire cops and firefighters and teachers. really? mit? we will get into that and a whole lot more. but first, we get the latest. today's latest headlines in the current news update from jackishek never out in los angeles. hi, jacki. good morning. >> good morning, good morning, everyone. it is a four-letter f word that's had the president in trouble since friday. you may remember he said this during his press conference. >> the private sector is doing fine. we are seeing weaknesses in our economy had to do with state and local government. >> it's that word "fine" that had him in some trouble t led him to have to clarify hours later. >> it is absolutely clear that the economy is not doing fine. >> that's the reason i had the press conference. >> that has not stopped the romney campaign from latching on and putting out a web video

today hammering the president on the may jobs report and the uptick in unemployment. romney had his own missteps friday has bill has been discussing when he responded to the president's call for more firefighters teachers. and obama is claiming this. >> larger class sizes. >> all of the local services, schools, fire, police, all of the basic services that we rely on are the poore from mitt romney's administration. >> this has been the most recent campaign attack on mitt romney. a new poll shows the attack a lot romney's time at bain capital may have been effective. purple strategies did a survey, 47% of people they surveyed said they don'tbly private canquity firms are good for workers they say they are harmful to workers. 38% believe they help the

economy and they are skeptical of the way mitt romney's experience at bain may help the economy. back with more after the break. 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...

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[ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> broadcasting across the nation, on your radio, and on current tv this is "the bill press show". >> republican party, republican leaders demand that todd akin get out of the race and then the republican party adopts his policies as the official party of the republican national committee. trying to have it both ways again. hello, everybody. it is wednesday, august 22nd, great to see you today. this is the "full-court press." we are coming to you live on your local progressive talk radio station and on current tv,

of course, and coming to you live from our nation's capitol in our studio right here on capitol hill, bringing you the news of the day here from warrant, around the country, around the globe, planet mars wherever news is happening, we are there. well, we will not only tell you what's going on. we will give you a chance to join the conversation. our morning townhall and give us a call to join the conversation at 866-55-press. 866-557-7377. you know, i am going to be heading out to san fran 7ing 0 at the end of the day today. no. end of the show today. i should say. not the end of the day. and very excited that john fugelsang -- you hear him often on stephanie miller see him on stephanie's show will be joining the team tomorrow to fill in for a couple of days. so there you go. >> yeah.

fugelsang, ogburn and henning. >> i love it. >> bowlding. a new team. >> we will do our best without you. >> welcome, jon, to the pack. i hope they treat you well. be kind to to him tomorrow. >> we will be all right. come on. >> he will have to make his own coffee. >> don't beat him up. like we do you. % >> and our other fill-in host. i always hear complaints about you. by the way, just yesterday, in the bookstores paperback edition of my new book, "the obama hate machine." you can pick it up in your local bookstore. the paper edition or if you want a signed copy for yourself or someone in your life go to our website, bill press show.com and let us know how you want it inscribed, how you want it signed. i don't care. i will sign whatever you want me to sign in the book and we will get it to you, send it to you, shipping, mailing, all of that kind of stuff, and the book for 16.99. >> pretty good. >> billpressshow.com.

>> such a deal. such a deal. i have got to tell you. i am not going to be in tampa next to week. we will be of course n charlotte broadcasting every day from charlotte, the democratic national convention but i think i am starting to regret we didn't sign up for tampa, too, because it looks like it's going to be 1 hell of a storm. literally. lel literally. >> as tim dan noah tells us from the national service, here comes isaac. >> it is to impact florida in some way. >> the path of isaac, tropical storm headed right to florida. >> three potential storms, isaac, akin and biden. >> joe biden on the first day of the convention holding some kind of campaign event. he is not expected to show up at the arena. >> will they let him in the door? does he get credentialed for

that. >> they are going to keep nuchains. >> that's the only way. >> joe biden would be more welcome than todd akin. >> true statement. >> you are right. >> right? >> yeah. >> tell boo todd akin as he walks in. but the freakin' hypocrites they adopted todd akin's platform as the official platform of the republican party yesterday, the human life amendment with no exception of rape or incest. >> that's exactly what todd akin preaches. so does paul ryan. so you have got it. akin equals ryan. >> that's what we are hearing a lot. felicia some ness has been reportingnez has been reporting reporting. we are talk talk to her shortly. first: >> this is the full court press. >> other headlines making news on this wednesday, one of the best-kept secrets in washington right now is the white house beer recipe. he specially that honey ale that the president gave to a voter last week brewed with honey from

the white house garden a group of home brewing enthusiasts from the country want that recipe. they have filed a freedom of information act request for it saying it should be a matter of public record. politico reports they have also started one of those petitions on the white house website where if you get 25,000 signatures they will get -- they are guaranteed a response from the administration. as of this morning, they have a little over 4,000 signatures. they are on their way. >> i think they should have to put out the recipe but it is made with white house honey. i have been at that. you can't duplicate that. the honey is not going to taste the same somewhere else. right? trying to force. >> i think they ought to release it, too. >> mitt romney's tax returns, release the damn papers.

>> mitt romney could say, i will release my tax returns if you release the beer recipe. >> there you go. >> when they had the beer summit a couple of years ago, three years ago, they didn't have white house beer at that time. >> they didn't have it then. >> a change in the late-night t.v. line-up on abc. the network is swapping jimmy kimmel live with nightline. he will go head to head with letterman and leno while "nightline" goes an hour later starting at 12:35. kimmel is celebrating 10 years on the air next year. >> abc, they are in the hunt. i think they will do well with jim jimmy kimmel. i am glad they are doing this. >> deloitte college has released its annual mindset list how students starting their freshman year of college, sxafrmz include they have never seen an airplane ticket, there has been football

in jacksonville and never in los angeles, and the twilight is vampires not rod sterling and clinton is a statesman and star wars has been an old movie, not a defense strategy. >>. >> i know. i even remember dial telephones. >> god. >> but i don't remember the horse and buggy. all right. every generation goes through this. >> exactly. >> what the hell. your kids. right? >> who knows what they will grow up with. >> they will never no an old-fashioned phone. right? >> right. all right. yes, indeed, things have changed on campaign trail. mitt romney particularly and paul ryan find themselves maybe talking about issues they really didn't want to talk about how

has it changed? felicia somnez is on the road with the romney-ryan ticket joining us from roanoke, virg. hi, felicia, good to have you on the program. >> great to be with you. >> i have been following your reports, and so let me ask you this: in august 2012, a week before the republican convention, did mitt romney really want to be out there talking about abortion? >> i think we can all say the answer to that is absolutely not. this whole todd akin controversy as thrown campaign for a loop. i was with paul. i have been with paul ryan since he was announced the nominee and doing his solo campaign 10 days ago on the trail and i have seen in the past couple of days democrats out there trying to tie into akin in ways that obviously campaign would rather not have to focus on that right

now. it's something that's going to dog him in roanoke, a place where the campaign was hoping to hone in on president obama's remarks. this is where he made the rearms but the whole akin controversy looks like it's going to push that on the back burner. >> it's not hard for democrats to tie paul ryan to todd akin because if you look in the voting record everything that akin has sponsored, paul ryan has co-sponsored when it comes to abortion rights or human life amendments or the personhood amendment or whatever. right? i mean they are joined at the hip on these issues. >> it's really a very interesting part of the way ryan has, you know, the approach that he has taken on capitol hill. he has always been on the side of the more social conservative members but he has never been among those who will sort of grandstand on the issue, hold press conferences on it, you know, the sort of very vocal

part of the party. he takes a back seat on it. >> the private side of his record. right? the private side is the ryan budget and the medicare and all of the stuff that we hear him talk about. right? >> absolutely. now, that's what's interesting. you have the perfect storm, a lot are familiar with who he is and this definitely is democrats view this as an opening for them to define him not just by his budget but now by the stand on social issues that he has held tying him to todd akin who has voted on a lot of the same things he has. >> since paul ryan has been on the ticket in the last 10 days. right? the focus has shifted first from jobs in the and the economy which is where mitt romney -- i'm sorry -- wanted to be. it shifted from that to medicare. and now, it's shifted from medicare to abortion. did they -- when he talked to the campaign staff did they think through what paul ryan might do to this ticket before

they nominated him? >> it sounds like campaign's approach to this has been wherever they have paul ryan and it's been pretty clear over the last week and a half they feel they can send him anywhere in the country, their answer was for him to just, you know, hit obama on his record but, also to sort of have one other thing to talk about, so in nevada, and yesterday in virginia and it was it's going to be you didn't pull that remark. they have given him some kind of message to drive. that hasn't been what has ended up being. with akin now, i think that there are plans of pretty much going out the window when it comes to the message. >> it seems paul ryan is driving the debate. it's his views on medicare that shifted the focus of the campaign and his affiliation and closeness with todd akin that

has shifted the focus there. so how accessible is ryan to the traveling press? >> that's a great question. the two or three to half a dozen local interviews he has yet to view his traveling press corps. that's something we have been pressing him to do as much as he can but i think it's all part of campaign's philosophy of him very much taking a back seat to romney when it comes to the national message. you have seen that even in this paul ryan does not agree with romney when it comes to exceptions in cases of rape or incest but he has acknowledged that he is at the bottom of the ticket, so he is tending to grove with romney on that. >> part of the reason i asked you -- we have been going through this at the whitehouse and fleshed him out in the and he came out in the briefing room

with us but today, i would imagine the question for ryan would be: what do you think about the human life amendment adopted by the party platform committee yesterday? this is what he and todd akin have co-sponsored in the house of representatives. right? it is todd akin's policy right down the line. no abortion, no way. no how. no exceptions for rape or incest. >> that's in direct conflict to what mitt romney says his position is. how do you square the two there? >> the best that we have been able to get so far is, you know we all sort of asked campaign folks yesterday and he sort of downplayed those differences saying this is not uncommon to have minor differences between the nominee and party platform. >> it's a pretty major difference, i think. >> right. depending upon which way you look at that. so, yeah, but again i think we are probably not likely to see much of ryan when it comes to, you know, a national traveling press conference or something like that until probably after

the convention. but in the meantime, you know, keep your eyes, i guess, on the local t.v. to try to see if they are able to ask any of these. >> with your story this morning, i saw about with, you know, we have got this possible sequestration looming over the country and over the congress the end of the year. the trillion dollar cuts, half in the pentagon and half in the social area. right across the board. paul ryan and mitt romney are trying to blame president obama on that. but it turns out that paul romney voted for that -- i mean paul ryan voted for that. how does he explain that? >> yes. he is one of the 160 or so, i think, it was, house republicans who voted for it. he is among the republicans now who are trying to turn it back and put the blame on the president, congressional democrats. it's something that, you know,

you it gets buried in the weeds on the campaign trail. i am not sure most voters are paying attention to how those negotiations went down. it under scores from a practical sper expectative, the republicans have done a good job on and the democrats, there have been radio filings. the democrats have sort of

live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: joe cirincione is our

guest from the ploughshares fund on the "full court press." joe, never have enough time. only a couple of minutes left. we were talking cyber warfare. based on the story from "the new york times" that the united states has engaged in it successfully, it appears against iran's nuclear weapons program. where is this all going, joe? >> there is a new generation of the cyber warfare just been detected, a program called flame. apparently designed by the same people who did a bigger program. several tens of megabytes that infected iranian systems but is spreading to other computers. very interesting. it doesn't disrupt the computers. it just absorbs information. not only from the computer. it can use blue trot technology to tap into nearby blackberries for example and dump and gather all of the information, photos address books, stuff like that. so it becomes -- all of a sudden computers look a lot more sinister than they do when apple is showing off the wonderful things we can do with computers.

>> bill: but it looks like the future of our nation now is not going to be in these brave warriors who go out and get their physical training and so tough. it is going to be computer geeks. >> increasingly, national security analysts turn to this threat. steven coe has a great article on it. richard clark has written a new book called cyber warfare, the security. seriously. >> bill: i guess you know my feeling, too, is if there is going to be cyber warfare, i want to be at the front lines and i want to win but i also want to do it right. that's the question. we don't have any rules for cyber warfare yet. >> we don't. as we engage in these, it is talking about it. it is something we could regret later on.

... >> 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.

♪ >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 33 minutes after the hour now, it is the "full court press." on your local progressive talk radio and on current tv. visit the ironworkers at

www.ironworkers.org. they are having a hand time finding a landing spot for his helicopter. he can land on the roof. >> sure. normally that's reserved for your private jet, but we can reserve it for mr. thresh. the campaign now switching to abortion. todd akin.

>> life is very much part of that whole thing, and that's the reason why we're going to continue because i believe there is a cause here and there is a part of the message that is missing. >> bill: yeah, the cause is me, me, me, me me. >> i thought mitt romney responded pretty level headed when he -- >> get out! >> bill: but akin insists he is not only in it, but he is in it to win it. >> we believe this will strengthen ultimately the republican party. >> bill: i believe he is saying what he believes and he should not have to quit the race for saying what he believes. because this is what the republican party believes the

whole damn bunch of them. and they adopted it yesterday as part of their party platform that the human life amendment which is no abortion no way, no time, no exception, not for rape or incest. that's the position of the republican party platform supported by all of these republicans that are crying for todd to get out of the race, they are freaking hypocrites. and then akin makes it even by going on dana lohse's show on the radio, and saying here is what i was trying to say. what i was trying to say is women just lie about being raped. >> i have a wife and daughters, i have no respect, there is nothing legitimate about a rapist, but to rather i was putting that in in the wrong

place, making the point that there were people who use false claims like those that basically created roe v. wade. >> bill: god this guy is so sick, so offensive, and so cruel, the adjectives are lacking for somebody that is this much of a caveman, but the important thing is todd akin does not stand alone. the "new york times" front page points out this has been the republican agenda for years in the united states congress, and since they have been there since i believe 2000 paul ryan and todd akin together have cosponsored every one of these measures.

these bills to restrict women's ability to control their body. they are soul brothers on this stuff, and this human life amendment is now the official policy of the republican party. it is supported by mitt romney paul ryan, todd akin mitch mcconnell, john cornen you name it. all of the republicans. this is their platform. don't think that todd akin stands alone. how are we doing? >> he is walking in in just a minute. >> bill: all right. we'll take a quick break and come back with what this all means. he has a new political e book out called obama's last stand. we'll be right back. >> announcer: on your radio, on tv, the "bill press show," new

on current tv. ♪ in on full court press with bill press. >> he caved on the public option, he caved on the bush tax cuts, the guy has caved so many times there are miners trapped inside of him. (vo) this thursday and friday morning starting at 6 eastern.

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♪ >> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show," live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: 18 minutes now before the top of the hour, wednesday august 22nd. eagle has landed. [ laughter ] >> bill: the pigeon more like. we could hear him circle overhead. glenn thrush covers the white

house for "politico." good to see you. >> good toe see you. >> bill: and author of a new book, an ebook that "politico" has just come out with. this one called "obama's last stand." making a little news because of the things you discovered about the workings of the obama campaign. he said this is his last election. i think he is probably right about that. what did you find out? two or three top things you found out? >> i think the first -- the most surprising revelation to me and it may be just a surprise to me. went in to this thinking that obama would have this tremendous problem adjusting to the mindset of 2012. 90,000 people listening to his speeches. i interviewed two dozen current

and former people around him, and they said obviously not. the transition to 2012 was hastened but this is a guy who really doesn't like mitt romney thinks mitt romney is going to destroy the country and has no qualms about kneecapping his opponent. >> bill: i hardly see you at the white house anymore, but we don't have briefings much anymore because he is on the road campaigning. >> exactly, and he has to do that, because he needs earned media, because of the huge, huge unforced error i think he made with regard not seeing the danger posed to him by these republican super pacs. he waved people off for months and months and months who wanted him to get involved. and there were taughts about getting the billionaire from

chicago involved even robert gibbs, instead of these two very nice mid-level white house staffers who are running this thing and not making a lot of money. >> bill: there has been criticism of the obama campaign that they are spending -- they spent so much money out front. they are being outraised by mitt romney for the last three months in a row, but that -- and so the obama campaign instead of hoarding its money, spent a lot to try to define mitt romney. the latestest nbc poll says that when it comes to identifying with average voters 52% say they identify with barack obama. some of that money spent seems

to have been well spent. >> what do they say? never get a second chance at a first impression. >> bill: right. >> i have been hearing for months and the data point that the romney people think about is the very substantial gap he has in the handling of the polls, right? probably more in the 7 to 8% range. but i remember a poll a couple of weeks ago, i think it was a times poll that talks about which candidate understands the middle class, and the results were very similar. but the point you make about them not having the cash i think is huge. we think we have seen a lot of this race at the end of august. most people are going to tune in after the conventions, and that's when i think the republican cash advantage is going to be decisive. >> bill: yeah, and it's no doubt it is going to be there. >> absolutely.

>> bill: how to people find the book? >> they go to the "politico" website, or you can go to amazon.com or itunes and i can tell you this was the number one amazon single for the week >> bill: oh, my god. here he is. but you can't get it at a bookstore? >> no. >> i can't wait for the sequel 50 shades of glenn. [ laughter ] >> bill: it is "obama's last stand." if you look, i have got to ask you, here we are today, what is mitt romney -- what do mitt romney and paul ryan talking about? abortion. >> yes. >> bill: is this do you think where they wanted to be a week before the republican convention. >> oh, no. >> bill: and last week medicare.

>> and medicare subsidized abortions. >> bill: so what is going on with romney and paul ryan? >> first of all there was no bump out of the ryan -- the ryan pick. >> bill: right. >> and in fairness to the romney people, i don't think they were necessarily looking for this to be a wow pick. they were looking to stabilize things. the most recent pick in recent years was john edward's pick. and we saw where that landed. >> bill: right. >> but more so than the akin thing, you have these perpetual, they are almost like the gulf oil spill, just gushers that they can't stop. i think the tax issue is one that is going to stick around, and as long as the democrats are debating the medicare stuff they are going to have the advantage.

and on the akin thing i think they came out very very early on this. but i think this has the potential to be -- that achen is the martha colclough of the gop. >> bill: we are talking about the romney campaign, and he condemned him one day, and the next day he said he ought to get out of the race. the republican platform now reflects what akin has said and the other thing is that paul ryan has cosponsored all of this stuff in the house with todd akin. so to try to separate themselves from achen is going to be -- >> yeah, they are making paul ryan out to be akin pancho.

>> bill: right. >> you remember the flap that took place earlier this year with the catholic church stuff. i'm sure they are doing the same thing now. so this is very much about shoring up the base, and if romney does not do better with women he is cooked. >> bill: and the late itself poll shows a 15% difference between obama and romney on women voters. does that mean there's any buyer's remorse, about paul ryan? >> i don't think so. i was one of those -- i wrote at the time and was mocked right after the ryan thing, that the obama people were most afraid of tim pawlenty, because he has no baggage, he is the kind of guy who can throw a punch without appearing to be really mean spirited, and that he could

potentially put a couple of midwest states into play. that's true. they were not atrade of ryan i don't think ryan is the easter basket everything is portraying him to be. because he is clearly articulate, he has energy, but he is a safe pick in retro--. >> bill: glenn thrush is our guest in studio and author of the ebook "obama's last stand." are you going to tampa? >> i am going from tampa weather permitting. i'm from brooklyn, and if there is a thunderstorm i will be either very heavily medicated or laying under my bed. [ laughter ] >> bill: and charlotte as well? >> yeah. >> bill: all right.

i want to go back to tampa. hurricane isaac -- or tropical storm isaac is headed for tampa, joe biden is headed for tampa, and todd akin is headed for tampa. this could be a train wreck. >> from my perspective this could be a lot of fun. i think actually the biden thing has the potential to boom rang. you remember at the massachusetts state capitol where axelrod got heckeled. and obama was really ticked off by that. >> bill: i thought that was out of character with the obama campaign. >> yeah, and totally against the brand. i think when you crash someone else's party, it's a risky

proposition. i agree with you on hurricane and akin i think biden could shoot himself in the foot. >> bill: yeah, not for the first time. >> yeah. >> bill: normally you disappear during the other party's convention. you don't even campaign. and i thought that's what they might do. i don't understand sending bide indown there, other than stirring up trouble. >> i think one of the things with the addition is super pac is it's rapid reaction run amuck. both campaigns think they have to respond to every single thing, and i think it wasn't work. it alienates us as reporters, and regular folks just hate it. >> bill: here we are in august and this is going on none step.

imagine what it is going to be like after labor day. let's head to canada. >> well, it's cool. >> bill: it's "obama's last stand." get it -- >> we have a link on our website, too. >> you still getting your 15%? >> yeah, as long as i get my cut, we're cool. >> bill: all right. good to see you. i'll be back with the parting shot. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ♪

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