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start you morning with a daily dose of politics from a fresh perspective. >>i'm a slutty bob hope.

the troops love me. >>only on current tv. >> announcer: taking your e-mails on any topic at any >> announcer: taking your e-mails on any topic at any time. this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: hey some comments from facebook to share with you on that 85-mile-per-hour speed limit on the stretch of toll road in texas.

ben says i am for high-speed limits so yes, it's i gree with this law. look at germany with an unlimited speed limit but the lowest accident rate. why? because they drive smarter than us. >> how about the pizza shop owner picking up the president. sheldon siegel says maybe the owner misunderstood when the president said he wants to pick up some votes in florida. and john carter says as usual obama showed poise and genuine ease with a regular guy. here's a good question. can you imagine romney in a similar situation? guy who picked up romney. romney would have made a face as if the guy was diseased or something. romney would not have known how to handle it. no doubt about it! >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

. [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hey hello everybody. good to see you today. this is tuesday, september 11th. and this is the "full court press" on current tv. welcome to the program. good to see you. we'll talk about the meaning of september 11th here, the day we have to remember and reflect upon how great it is to be americans and what a great loss we suffered 11 years ago today. also time to get into some of the other issues. 26,000 teachers on strike in chicago. this time, they're not striking against a republican governor,

scott walker or republican governor john kasich or republican governor chris christie. but democratic mayor rahm emanuel. isn't it time to give teachers the respect and the paycheck that they deserve? we'll get into that and a whole lot more here but first today's current news update from lisa ferguson out in los angeles. hi lisa. good morning. >> hi, bill. good morning everyone. mitt romney is telling his base not to worry that president obama is ahead in the polls. the most recent public polling survey has mr. obama with a 5-point lead in ohio. obviously a very critical swing state. he's also ahead in the newest polls out monday from cnn and gallup with a 6 and a 5-point lead respectively. with republicans getting nervous, romney's team rushed out a memo monday evening saying the president's new numbers are nothing more than a sugar high that won't last longer than the next few weeks.

romney's aides were counting on him to gain the lead from three events choosing a running mate, the republican convention and the upcoming debate. but obviously he's failed so far at the first two. another poll is out from abc news. this one is a little more fun. asks who would you rather have over for dinner? 52% of people would prefer president obama and just 33% said mitt romney. mr. obama also wins when it comes to who would make a more loyal friend. the "wall street journal" is also getting critical of mitt romney in a new editorial saying when he ventures into healthcare political trouble usually follows. this comes just after romney's most recent flip-flop saying on "meet the press" sunday he would support two major aspects of obama care. that is insuring people with pre-existing conditions and keeping young adults on their parent's plans. well then he quietly reversed stands a few hours later in the "wall street journal" saying romney is not giving out enough policy details and being so vague comes with its own

political risk. more bill press is coming up. stay with us. >>i jump out of my skin at people when i'm upset. do you share the sense of outrage that they're doing this, this corruption based on corruption based on corruption. >>i think that's an understatement, eliot. u>> i'm not prone tot. understatement, so explain to me why that is. i think the mob learned from wall st., not vice versa. from silver screens... to flat screens... twizzlerize your entertainment everyday with twizzlers the twist you can't resist.

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>> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: mitt romney, sunday, said he would not repeal all of obama care. he would keep parts of it that he likes. yesterday he flip-flopped again and said no, i changed my mind. i'm going to repeal all of obama care afterall. god. no wonder republicans, not even republicans trust this guy. hello, everybody. good morning, good to see you today. september 11th. tuesday.

yes, september 11th. a day we must always remember and we must always take time out to reflect on what happened 11 years ago to remember those and pray for those who lost their lives and to reflect on what a great country we live in and be grateful for the opportunities we have and the fact that we have made so much progress against our enemies since but that they're always out there trying to find ways to attack us again on our soil for sure. so we must be ever vigilant. good to see you today. whether you're here on current tv or listening on your local progressive talk radio station thanks for joining us on the full "full court press" to tackle the big issues of the day as we do every day nationwide from our studio here on capitol hill and of course, you are very much part of the program. part of the team. you make it happen. by giving us a call at 1-866-55-press. by joining us in the first

place. and also by jumping into the chat room which you can join by going to current.com. and you know, just hanging out with other people who are either watching the show or listening to the show and you guys can have your own conversation about the topics we are talking about. good to have you with us. one way or the other. peter ogborn and dan henning. are here as always. hello, guys. what's going on? >> i'm happy to be here. >> bill: you should be happy to be here. cyprian bowlding our videographer as well andrew murray stepping up -- i wouldn't say stepping up to the plate exactly. >> grand slam, home run. >> bill: home run. and the andrew -- he was always the guy that could never win anything. right? suddenly he's becoming one of the top dogs, winning the men's u.s. open yesterday. >> yeah. i think it is the steroids.

he finally started using the hgh. hey, he's on a roll. that's what happens. barry bonds used to be a just barely above average slugger. started using steroids, he started winning. >> bill: he did cry a little bit last night. he was glad to come out on top. >> you're feeling a lot of things, you know. you don't -- you know, like i was obviously very emotional. i cried you know a little bit on the court. you're not sad. you're incredibly happy. you're in a little bit of disbelief. >> bill: the john boehner of men's tennis. there he is. lots to talk about. lots of good help to do it. judd legum, think progress, tuesdays with judd. he will be here in about a half hour from now. john stanton is the washington bureau chief of the exciting new site i consider. because it is just getting into politics. "buzzfeed." they're starting up a lot. make for great parties too.

>> so i've heard. >> bill: the problem is the parties don't start until midnight. we miss them because we have to get up too damn early in the morning. we'll go out to chicago and talk to one of the leaders of the teacher's strike in chicago and find out what that's all about. and big news on don't ask don't tell. but first... >> this is the "full court press." >> other headlines making news on this tuesday seems the folks on mitt romney's web site team have no originality and find it easiest to copy other people's work and call it a day. they put up a new donation page yesterday which looks exactly like barack obama's donation page at barack obama.com. but folks at "buzzfeed" found the posting. it was basically copied word for word. how to donate electronically to the campaign from obama's web site. it's had its version up since last march. after "buzzfeed" called them out on it saying you didn't write that, the romney campaign changed the text.

blamed it on a junior staffing error. >> bill: that's unbelievable! what a bunch of amateurs. they can't reason put up their own stuff. >> buzzfeed.com has the graphic up on their page and this story word for word. >> this isn't the first time that romney's campaign has completely screwed the pooch on the technology front. they have the app the misspelling of america. they had something else. they had a couple of other things. what a mess! >> nasa is hoping the mars rover curiosity does not find water on the red planet. >> bill: i saw that. why? >> they do not want to find water as they search for signs of life that may once have existed. cbs reports the team at the jet propulsion lab are hoping it doesn't come into contact with water because of planetary pollution. they don't want any microbes from earth that may still be on the drill to contaminate what may be on mars. one of the drills the rover is using was not sterilized before launch frommate for fear of

being damaged during landing. >> bill: so we're afraid we could spread our germs to mars? >> exactly. that's exactly it. they don't want to spread germs. >> i'm all right with that. >> bill: the whole damn thing is on the planet is roaming around. what about the wheels, what about the whole thing? >> if we get our friend luther back in a couple of weeks -- >> bill: neil armstrong walked on the moon, right? >> no, no, he had purell. all over the suit. >> bill: okay. got it. >> katie couric returned to television yesterday afternoon. on the premiere of her new syndicated daytime talk show, katie. the broadcast started with a spoof on a dream where when she woke up, matt lauer was in the bed next to her. her first guess included jessica simpson and sheryl crow but she did assure the audience plenty of her shows will center around hard news shows.

she's airing in the same time slot that use to the carry oprah. >> bill: it won't be hard news. it will be fluff. i still cannot believe that oprah seeded the ground -- she owned daytime television and she just walked off right? and left it open to anderson cooper or oprah anybody else who wants a show. >> nobody's really filled that void yet. nobody's really stepped up and owned it. >> bill: katie could. >> she could. >> bill: dr. phil. >> with guests like jessica simpson, katie is not off to a rocking start. >> that's her big debut. >> bill: you start out your show in bed with matt lauer. >> pretty good idea. >> bill: sort of a sign that you're not going to be -- >> do you think that current tv might put beds in here for us? because i could probably figure out a way to do this show. >> bill: i'm not getting in bed with you.

>> separate beds! [ laughter ] >> bill: i don't think she would have me. [ laughter ] here we go. yeah, you know what? very important report that came out yesterday that i wanted to make sure you're aware of. i think it says a lot about the way we deal with issues. i think it says a lot about the way the extreme right wing and evangelical christians deal with issues. and i'm talking about a study that came out of the ucla on don't ask, don't tell. so let's -- we all i think know this issue pretty well. don't ask don't tell. sadly, sadly adopted by the united states congress at the request of president bill clinton back in 1993 which said rather than just saying gays can open -- can serve openly in the military which is what we should

have done and what clinton should have done, he was afraid of the pentagon, afraid of the generals probably could not get that passed in the congress to tell the truth at that time. so instead an open invitation for gays and lesbians to serve in the military. lgbt folks. he said here's what we're going to have. this policy, don't ask, don't tell. yes, you can serve as long as you never tell anybody you're gay. which was just dumb as hell! and it didn't work, of course. and a lot of really, really good people got thrown out of the military either because they refused to live a lie or because of the fact that somebody ratted on them, knew they had a girlfriend or boyfriend or whatever. ratted on them and they get thrown out and we lost a lot of people particularly a lot of people who spoke arabic and we were really left behind in terms

of skills that we needed before and right around 9-11. by the way. which we, again commemorate today. so bill clinton adopted the policy. it was pretty clear early on it was not working. and president obama vowed that he was going to end it. it took him three years to end it. but he did. but in that runup to ending it, remember what we heard from everybody was this is horrible. this is going to ruin the military. there was a letter signed by more than 1,000 military officers who said repeal of don't ask don't tell, would undermine recruiting efforts negatively affect troop readiness and eventually break break the all volunteer force. that's what we heard from a thousand military people before.

and of course, president obama refused to go along with that. he refused to listen to them. he had the pentagon do its own study which said that they were ready for this. and it would not have an adverse impact on recruiting, et cetera. would not get -- interfere with the ability of the military to do their job or the esprit decore of the military so he signed the repeal last september. even so, right-wingers didn't give up. remember during the primaries this was a big issue. rick santorum says no, no, no, this is just like government interfering with people's basic rights. >> don't ask don't tell, i think tries to inject social policy into the military and the military's job is to do one thing and that is to defend our country, we need to give the military which is all volunteer the ability to do so. >> bill: of course they made

the same arguments when allowing blacks in the military 40 or 50 years before that. rick santorum said you elect me president, i'll get rid of it. >> we're playing social experimentation with our military right now. and that's tragic. i would just say that going forward, we would reinstitute that policy if rick santorum was president. >> bill: in fact, the right-wingers went so far, if you recall, in that one primary debate last september i think it was on cnn i believe. because they had questions for people -- that people submitted by skype or by video and one of the questions was from a gay soldier in iraq, in uniform in iraq, who wanted to know about don't ask don't tell. listen to -- it was somewhere down south. and listen to the reaction of the crowd to one of our soldiers. >> in 2010 when i was deployed to iraq, i had to lie about who

i was because i'm a gay soldier. i didn't. to lose ply job. -- i didn't want to lose my job. my question is do you intend to circumvent the -- or gay and lesbian soldiers in the military. >> bill: before anybody could even answer, the crowd boos him. so with all of that background, this -- now this study, released yesterday by the williams institute which is part of the ucla law school. they interfered 553 generals and admirals. they interviewed many, many members of the military in all branches both gay and straight. and they found a year after okay, a year after don't ask don't tell has been repealed, get this. they found no overall negative impact on military readiness unit cohesion, recruitment

retention or morale. in other words no negative effects of the repeal of don't ask, don't tell. so all of the critics were wrong. and the point i wanted to make also is that these are the same arguments now that we're hearing about same-sex marriage. if we adopt this, if we allow this, this is going to be the end of western civilization. as we knew it. we heard those arguments against -- i'm sorry blacks in the military. against mixed racial marriages we've heard it against don't ask, don't tell and now we hear it again, same-sex marriage. it is going to destroy the institution of marriage as we know it. it will wreck our communities. it is going to increase the divorce rate. it is going to destroy families. it is all nonsense. but they go to these extremes each time, every time it looks -- we want to really make

sure that all americans enjoy their constitutional rights, we want to really make the constitution take it seriously and apply it for real, you hear the right wing extremist says nope this goes too far. this goes too far and they come out with this chicken little kind of scenario of what would happen if we go in this direction and they're wrong every damn time. they were wrong about don't ask don't tell. they're wrong about same sex marriage. 1-866-55-press. you got a comment? you want to agree or disagree, that's why we're here. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

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>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current >> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: here we go. 26 minutes after the hour. judd legum in studio with us, tuesdays with judd. from think progress. in the next segment of the "full court press" this morning. we'll get back to your calls and to the issues of the day. but first, an important question for those of you who might find it hard to make ends meet at the end of the month. how much extra money do you need? you let the friends of incomeathome.com know and they'll be able to help you make up the difference. this is something you can do with america's leading work from home business. no matter your age education or experience. you can literally earn money from your own kitchen table 24/7

just using your own computer. got a little extra time to take the training that the folks at incomeathome.com will provide. so you should at least check it out if you're sick of living paycheck to paycheck. worried about job security or retirement. looking to earn some extra money from home, part-time or full time incomeathome.com. they're adding my listeners in record numbers even giving away $1,000 to somebody just for checking them out. that somebody could be you. visit incomeathome.com. that's incomeathome.com. one other note, important to recognize this morning and that is we are back to the issue of global warming. mitt romney saying you know, his job, he said this in his speech down in tampa. his job wasn't to protect the oceans or to save the planet.

his job -- exact quote is i'm not in this race to slow the rise of the oceans or to heal the planet. he repeated that on "meet the press" on sunday. well, maybe this study might get mitt romney's attention. it was reported yesterday by noaa that so far 2012 has been the warmest year-to-date in the united states. the third hottest summer ever recorded. and for the first six months of the year the hottest ever. so every time last year was the hottest year on record, up until 2012 and it looks like 2012 is going to to beat 2011. mitt, maybe you better start taking global warming seriously.

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

ibm 33 minutes after this hour. the "full court press" coming to you from this nation's capital. the senate and house are back in session. they're eager to get off on the campaign trail. they might as well because they don't do anything while they're in town anyhow. haven't for the last couple of years. what little news there is from washington, we'll bring you as well as what's happening around the rest of the country. and around the globe.

we know what's going on because we read think progress. and you should, too. and every tuesday judd legum the head of think progress, editor in chief joins us here in studio. tuesdays with judd. we missed you in charlotte. >> glad you had fun. >> bill: it was good to be on location. it was a great convention. >> yeah. >> bill: got the president a nice bounce out of it. so in the meantime, mitt romney, i think he sees the bounce and he says we've got to change our strategy here somewhat. so to everybody's surprise, perhaps, when mitt romney appears with david gregory on "meet the press," on sunday, david gregory says really? you're going to really appeal obama care, all of it on day one? here's what that sounded like.

>> on healthcare, you say you would rescind the president's healthcare plan on day one. does that mean you're prepared to say to americans young adults and those with pre-existing conditions that they would no longer be guaranteed healthcare? >> of course not. i say we're going to replace obama care. and i'm replacing it with my own plan and even in massachusetts where i was governor, our plan there deals with pre-existing conditions and with young -- >> so you keep that as part of the federal plan. >> bill: he said he would keep the pre-existing conditions, that provision and he would keep the provision that children could stay on their parent's health plan as long as they like. he said. and so what's going on here, judd? >> it was really a fascinating moment because it is the classic politician's dilemma in that he's got a position staked out. this has been staked out extremely vigorously because it was an essential part of his primary election.

>> bill: the primaries. >> i'm going to repeal obama care completely. day one. >> bill: he repeated it in tampa. day one day one, day one. >> then david gregory essentially took it to him and said if you're going to do that, are you going to repeal the popular provisions like the one guaranteeing coverage for people with pre-existing conditions like the one that allows very popular, allows young people up to 26 to stay on their parent's healthcare plans and essentially, when faced with this instead of grappling with the actual issue and talking about what he actually would do in making a case for it, he essentially just tells david gregory, yes, i'm going to keep that stuff. it is almost flabbergasting that he would just think that he could say that and i guess in certain respect, he can say that because probably more people have watched that interview on "meet the press" very popular program than the follow-ups but very quickly thereafter, he

was -- his campaign and his spokespeople were telling all of the conservative web sites -- >> bill: this is yesterday. monday. >> the same day -- well, later that day on sunday then into monday, telling you know, conservative web sites that, in fact, know his position is the same, full repeal. and then yesterday, he was on the hugh hewitt show, i think he did a special call in. i think really just to make this statement and to hit that audience and say no, i'm for full repeal of obama care. so he's telling the national audience kind of trying to position himself as a moderate and then flips back around you know for his base and it was really -- kind of stunning in a way. hard to be surprised with politics these days but this one was particularly blatant i think, as far as just not willing to really own your position. >> bill: this is in like two

days where he's gone flip, flop, flip. doesn't it -- or does it indicate that maybe they realize that obama care, a is more popular than they thought and b is going to be harder to get rid of than they thought? >> i think so. you know, ultimately, this is the panic in the republican party this year. what's interesting about the popular parts of obama care is those are the parts that people have experience with. those are the parts that have been implemented. the unpopular parts are the parts you could demagogue and distort because well, they haven't happened yet so no one knows what it is going to be like so i think a lot of the people on the republican side and the conservatives think we've got to get obama out this year. we've got to repeal obama care now because as soon as this thing gets implemented the whole thing is going to be very difficult to unravel. so you know, i think that's where we are with that. >> bill: what's his position today on obama care?

>> as far as i can tell, his position is full repeal of obama care. you know, as he sort of drilled down to the details of oh, i'm going to keep this provision and keep that provision, his essential answer was he's not going to make any law that says people have to be guaranteed coverage. it is just that by opening up the free market, there will be options for people. so it is essentially meaningless in that he sort of hopes that people would have options but he's not going to provide any legal protections for people. >> bill: judd legum editor in chief of think progress. thinkprogress.org. now the other thing that i thought was really strange over the weekend is that romney was talking about sequestration and all of the big defense cuts and they have to hit in if congress does not reach a budget agreement which they didn't.

that cut in the beginning of the year and paul ryan voted for that plan. voted for that sequestration and the possibility of all of these extra cuts to defense across the board and cuts to social programs. romney actually said paul ryan was wrong. >> he said that these were -- he started off criticizing the president for it. saying look, obama has put in all of these defense cuts. >> bill: but he didn't. the idea is unless they were able to come up with additional cuts, there would be not just defense cuts but across the board spending cuts, domestic side and defense side, it is about 50/50 split is what they came up with. and you know, this was again on "meet the press" brought up that well, in fact, didn't the republican leadership sign off for that. paul ryan not only signed off and voted for this, which romney now says was a big mistake. he actually was the one the

point person who went back to the republican caucus, who has -- if you'll recall during this debt fight was not always willing to go along with whatever the leadership said and sold it to them and said look, we need to go for this. this is the best deal we're going to get. >> bill: ryan did. >> ryan was the point person on this. and now ryan is also participating in the same attacks on the sequestration on the defense cuts as if he never supported them and was confronted with this. he was on -- he was on cbs on sunday and said well didn't you support this? and basically said no, i was never really for that. it wasn't my idea. i have another budget where i rolled all of that back. and it really is putting him in an awkward position. and i think part of this is

romney searching and grasping, trying to find something to dig into on the foreign policy side. and he finds himself in a moment of real weakness on the foreign policy side. principally because he did not mention the troops fighting in afghanistan and didn't -- in his convention speech and it's become a continuing issue. it is one he's going to try to address today because he's giving another speech today anniversary of 9-11 to a group of veterans -- >> bill: or national guard. >> but it is a national security-oriented speech. in his essence it is a cleanup operation from his convention speech which is odd because normally you have to clean up something that was more extemporaneous rather than something you've been planning for two or three months presumably very carefully. barely mentioned foreign policy at all. >> bill: the problem is in the convention speech, he did not

salute the troops, there was no shout out to the troops and he did not mention the war in afghanistan at all. and people are saying whoa, whoa, what were you thinking, mitt? right? >> yeah, i think he recognizing his strength is on the economy. he's right about that as far as that's the issue that he's running on. but at the same time, it was fairly shocking to people and i think rightly so, you have to present yourself this i'm a potential commander in chief. i understand the full plate of issues in front of me. and so it was an unforced error. and i think that's a lot -- what a lot of this kind of desperation on the defense cut side is, which is really a bipartisan thing. it was obama and the g.o.p. leadership. like it or hate it, it was everybody because they finally cut a deal. >> bill: think progress, we're talking about some of the important issues that they're covering today here, tuesday september 11th coming to you live from our nation's capital. it is thinkprogress.org.

judd legum editor in chief in studio with us. your calls welcome at 1-866-55-press. they're doing this >> announcer: this is the "bill press show" live on your radio and current tv.

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the shaft! (vo) want more granholm? get >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: at the top of the next hour here on the "full court press," we'll be going to chicago, talk to the head of

afscme. find out what's going on on the strike there. we'll be joined by john stanton the washington bureau chief for "buzzfeed." right now, judd legum is here in studio with us. tuesdays with judd. he's the head of think progress. thinkprogress.org. just kind of related to what we were just talking about judd, in terms of mitt romney saying well, i do like this provision that kids can stay on their parent's healthcare plan. that actually has proven a lot of kids are -- young people are taking advantage of it, right? >> yeah. the new study that came out and it looked at that age group up to -- young adults up to 26 years old. it is actually the largest drop in the number of uninsured people in any age group since they've been doing these statistics.

because so many people have taken advantage of it. >> bill: that's due to -- >> it is due to this extra -- this new provision of obama care that allows parents to keep their children on their plan and i think it is something that a lot of people are taking advantage of. and it's something that will be very difficult -- i'm not sure -- at this point it is a little bit unclear how serious romney is about taking that away. certainly if they did full repeal, it would go away. all of the millions of young people wouldn't have health insurance anymore. >> bill: what romney is saying, he seems to be more generous -- at least in one comment, that with david gregory because he said young people could stay on their parent's healthcare plan as long as they like. are we talking 50, 60? >> well, again i think what he was doing in that interview which is strange when you're running for president and you're not just doing one interview is saying whatever he thought

people might like to hear. at that moment. and essentially solve the dilemma that david gregory was presenting him by just ignoring what his actual policy is. and so he has no intention of allowing young people to stay on or into their old age on to their parent's plan. but that's what he said and i think there's probably some people sitting on their sofa right now or at work and they're not listening to this show and they didn't follow up -- they're not reading think progress or anything else during the day and they're probably under the impression that oh, good, mitt romney is going to keep all of these reasonable positions that i like about obama care and he's going to get rid of this other stuff that i don't really know what it is exactly but he's going to get rid of that. i don't like that part. and that's what their impression is going to be. >> bill: with judd legum let's say hello to joe down in

boca raton florida. >> caller: good morning, bill. love your show. >> bill: you're a good man thank you. >> caller: i'm a big fan. msnbc and your programs especially. sometimes i wonder, like your guest was just saying, you wonder who is listening and who is getting the points that need to be made because this is a war on truth. >> bill: boy, it sure is. it sure is, man. it was in tampa man! >> caller: oh, right, exactly. what i want to tell you first of all, i mean really, i respect so much what you do and especially current television because what it does is -- honestly, i can't even spin past fox news. i never watched it. the base needs you and you do a tremendous service. you don't know what you do. you're keeping us together. we get frustrated like david gregory. listen, i'm a layperson. i don't get paid for this things like this. you think he would have been ready when he asked romney about

afghanistan and not mentioning it at the convention, you know what romney was going to say. he spoke the day before. what's the follow-up question? it isn't that you missed the opportunity before ten or 15 more people, the follow-up question is with all due respect, mr. romney, you only spoke 16 seconds and had nothing to do with policy. hello! but no! a fluff follow-up question. my question to you is do you think that david sort of missed that opportunity? was it on purpose? >> bill: oh, yeah, i did indeed. i thought about this when i heard it. judd, you may want to comment. at the very end of the interview, david gregory said stay safe. you know. i think when conservatives say stay safe, that's a code word for saying yeah, i'm with you. i'm with you. i don't know. i was suspicious of that. >> i don't think that -- >> bill: joe appreciate the call.

go ahead. >> i don't think that david gregory is the most aggressive interviewer and i think that in general -- >> bill: he's no tim russert. >> i think in general, these interviews could and should be a lot more aggressive. but here's the dilemma. these folks know if they're too aggressive if you seek to -- or if you end up embarrassing the candidate in some way and have a bad experience, you're not going to get that next booking. you're not going to get that next person to become a guest on your show and you're going to be viewed as a very tough interview. and that's how you make sure you don't get your interviews. >> bill: yes. >> so there's that push and pull and unfortunately i think what you end up doing is you end up -- you know, it is not just nbc, it is a lot of places. the punches get pulled sometimes. and the victim is the audience and sometimes the facts because we're trying to be neutral.

we're trying to be fair and we're trying to give the guest a good experience so that they come back. >> bill: the punches get pulled more often than not. this is a whole other discussion that we have to get into. something i've complained about for a long, long, long time and the moderator of these debates i hope they take their responsibility seriously and they're in charge and they've got to press these candidates and press them and press them, especially mitt romney and not let them hide and say he won't tell us anything. judd legum we always run out of time before we get started here. thank you so much for coming in again today. see you next tuesday. >> see ya. >> bill: thinkprogress.org. i'll tell you what p.o.t.u.s. is up to today. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." for a good clean feeling... eat. drink. chew orbit.

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>> announcer: this is the "bill >> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: president obama today 's day is filled mostly with the events marking the anniversary of september 11th. at 8:45 a.m., east coast time, the president and first lady will mark a moment of silence on the south lawn that will be carried here on current tv. then he heads over to the pentagon for another ceremony there. back to the white house and then out to walter reed national military medical center to visit with wounded troops this afternoon. the president then returns to the white house and meets with secretary of defense leon panetta late this afternoon. busy day. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

rr ♪ ember 11th. welcome to the "full court press" here on current tv. good to see you today. thank you for joining us. as we tackle the big issues of the day, here in our nation's capital, around the country and around the globe. and of course, take your calls. at 1-866-55-press. 1-866-55-press. so what's going on with mitt romney? remember he always said repeal of obama care on day one! that's my number one campaign promise until sunday. on "meet the press," he said

nope i'm not going to repeal all of it. i'm going to keep some and repeal parts of it and then yesterday, he flipped back again and said no, i'm going to repeal it all on day one. again, so it's flip, flop, flip, in just two days. no wonder republicans don't trust him. we'll give you a chance to talk about that and a whole lot more here. first, today's current news update from lisa ferguson out in los angeles. hi lisa. good morning. >> hi, bill. good morning everyone. the top priority in congress right now is making sure the government does not shut down. and we could see a vote on that as soon as this thursday. the government is set to shut down at the end of this month. unless congress can agree to a new spending deal. usually temporary funding bills like these will free spending at current levels. but lawmakers unveiled a bill monday that would actually increase spending by .6% for the next six months. that gives a bit more money to initiatives like fighting forest

fires and giving the government fiber security software. the bill should pass the house pretty easily on thursday. but congress is really tackling the bare minimum here. they will likely only stay in session through the end of next week which postpones important business like the bush tax cuts and spending increases until after the november election. and don't expect todd akin to drop out of the missouri senate race. even after criticism for his legitimate rape remark, he's telling nbc news not only is he totally in, he's also confident he can win. akin has since apologized for his rape comment but is not budging on his anti-abortion stance. and the owner of a florida pizza shop has seen a drop in business after giving the president a big bear hug on sunday. pictures are all over the internet of scott van ducer lifting up and hugging the president in his pizza joint. he said conservatives are boycotting the restaurant. we're back with more bill. stay with us.

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 ♪ ] >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: it is september 11th. we take time out to remember and to reflect and we tackle the issues of the day here on the "full court press." hello, everybody. good morning, good morning. good to see you today. good to have you with us here on the "full court press" on current tv and on your local progressive talk radio station with so much to talk about on this busy tuesday. we're coming to you live from our nation's capital with the news of the day. we are ready to take your calls and give you a chance to get involved in the conversation at 1-866-55-press.

thanks so much again for making the program a success. you do so -- we couldn't do it without you. either. listening or watching or calling or in the chat room. the chat room. go to current.com and follow the click and join your fellow "full court pressers" across the land debating the issues among yourselves as we talk about them here on the air and another reminder that this friday, i'm looking forward to seeing thousands and thousands of you up in buffalo at the talking leaves bookstore. i hear they built a new addition to the bookstore just to make sure they could handle the crowd for friday night. >> good idea. >> bill: talking leaves bookstore in buffalo. going to be there at 7:00 p.m. friday. details are at billpressshow.com. 7:00 p.m., right dan? >> yep. >> bill: anybody in buffalo anywhere in west new york,

western new york, all of my good -- i want the fellow alumni from niagara university to come on down, all right? fill the place with friends of niagara university. anybody welcome. purple eagle night at the talking leaves on friday night. and we'll be talking, of course, about the "the obama hate machine" and the politics of the day. peter ogborn, dan henning hello, guys. >> good morning. >> hi, there. >> bill: you're heading for buffalo on friday? >> they won't let me back after our last trip. i'm sure you'll have a wonderful time. >> bill: peter had a wild time last time we were in buffalo. i must admit peter and jonathan went across the border. say no more. >> the arts in canada of the canadian valet, really nice. very nice. >> bill: cyprian bowlding, our good friend and videographer here again today.

hi cyp. in case any of you are having -- this is -- to our male listeners, if any of you married male listeners are having a little difficulty with the wife. she's not being as cooperative maybe as you think. she's not being subserveiant as you think. well here's a guy who wrote a letter to pat robertson for some advice on what to do about his wife. here's the 700 club yesterday. pat robertson's sidekick is reading the letter and listen to what pat suggests is the answer. >> she has no respect for me as the head of the house. she insults me and went as far as stretching her hand to beat me. i've lost my self-confidence. her words hurt so much. she refuses to talk through our problems. please tell me what i can do. >> bill: what can i do? >> well, you could become a muslim then you could beat her. >> but in lieu of that --

>> you don't want to go to saudi arabia. >> no. >> this man has to stand up to her. he can't let her get away with this stuff and you know, i don't know -- i don't think we condone wife beating these days but something has to be done. >> bill: you think not? you think not? >> i don't think we condone wife beating. >> bill: that depends on what state you live in, doesn't it? >> exactly. the question of she doesn't do what i tell her to do. something's gotta be done. you gotta stand up to her. really? >> bill: because she's always wrong. >> my wife has an opinion. that's the first sign of trouble. >> bill: wait, she's always wrong and i'm always right because i'm the man right? that's what the bible says! that's what jesus says. right, yeah! the guy is absolutely loony tunes! we're going to start off with the teacher strike going out to chicago and talking to labor

leader out there henry bayer from the afscme council 31. a little bit later, we'll be joined in studio here by the washington bureau chief of buzz feed. john stanton. but first -- >> this is the "full court press." >> on this tuesday other headlines making news, a movie version of the best selling book by joe pazinski, the biography about joe paterno called paterno about the late penn state football coach may be coming to the big screen according to the hollywood reporter. a pitch that features al pacino starring as joe paterno is being shopped to studios this week. >> bill: why would anybody go see that movie? right? i mean seriously. the man -- >> true story. >> bill: he ended up in disgrace. come on. >> al pacino would be perfectly cast as joe paterno. however there is no reason that i would want to go see that

movie. there's none. >> bill: absolutely. i think going to see the movie would be like saying i'm a joe pa fan. you know what i mean? >> lots of buzz over a photo of vice president joe biden in an ohio diner over the weekend with a biker while it looks like the lady biker is sitting in the v.p.'s lap, that is not the case. "the associated press" photographer who took the much-talked about picture cleared things up yesterday saying she is, in fact, sitting in a chair in front of biden and he's just leaning over whispering in her ear. nothing more than that. you can see the photo on our facebook page. >> bill: i saw the photo and i thought she was sitting on his lap. >> absolutely. >> thank god it is nothing weird. it is just a biker lady sitting in front of him while he whispers in her ear. luckily it wasn't a weird shot or anything. >> you may do a double take when you see what green bay packers aaron rogers is wearing this week. a san francisco 49ers jersey as a result of a bet he made with members of the band boyz ii men who sang the national anthem

ahead of this weekend's packers 49ers game. packers lost. he's friends with guys on the team. he has to wear the san francisco jersey all week since they lost. >> bill: he can't wear it on the field. >> this week as he's milling around and back in his jersey for next weekend's game. >> for this thursday's game. >> bill: got it. the big story of the day no matter where you live in this country, the front page of "the new york times." front page of "the washington post." the teacher strike in chicago. 26,000 teachers on strike. 350,000 kids not in school. first strike in over 25 years there. to find out what's happening on the ground, what the issues are all about and i mentioned earlier, look, i'm a former teacher. i'm a proud union member.

solidarity forever. i support the teachers. i support the teacher's union. i think rahm emanuel is making a mistake. we do want to find out exactly what the issues are. henry bayer is the executive director of afscme council number 31 in chicago. henry, good to talk to you this morning. >> nice to talk to you bill. thanks for having me. >> bill: let me ask you first of all what are the latest in are negotiations still going on? did they continue into the night? where are we? >> they broke off last night around 9:00 and they're supposed to resume sometime this morning. >> bill: any idea how long the strike will go on? >> well, as long as the mayor wants it to. this is a strike that he provoked. and you know, i think it could be easily settled. it is a question of whether the mayor wants to settle it or not. admit he's made a mistake. he's a smart guy. he should realize he's made a mistake here pitting himself against the teachers and against the entire community. teachers have strong support here in chicago from parents and

other community groups and he should admit to himself he made a mistake and get this thing settled. >> bill: you said that the mayor could have avoided this. here is what the mayor said yesterday. just to play this for our audience and get your response. >> it is the wrong choice for our children. >> bill: a strike of choice he called it, henry. >> it is. he chose to strike. you know, i think -- yesterday paul ryan came out with a full endoarnlt of the mayor's position. >> bill: so did mitt romney, i believe. paul ryan even more. these guys want to cut medicare and cut social security and cut social programs. they want to support mayor emanuel. i think nothing makes more clear that mayor emanuel is wrong than paul ryan and george romney --

and mitt romney are 100% behind him. >> bill: do you believe -- henry, is it possible -- in europe, when they have a strike like this, other unions, other trades will go out in support of the striking union. so do you have a -- so they have a wider strike and they can shut things down. is that likely? >> i don't think it is likely. the laws here are different than they are in europe with respect to the rights of other unions to engage in sympathy strikes. the teachers certainly have widespread support from all of the unions. we had a big rally here on labor day. our union was there. the police union was there. the firefighter's union was there. hotel workers were there. across the spectrum, unions were out in support of the teachers. the teachers know that we're with them. >> bill: henry bayer is our guest, executive director of afscme council 31. afscme 31.org. you've heard me talk about afscme, a proud sponsor of our

show. the "full court press." so it's afscme.org. afscme31.org. henry, let me ask you this. what are the main sticking points? what are the main issues on which the teacher's union and the school district cannot get together? >> well, the main -- there's a lot of issues. the two main ones at this point are number one if schools close and the teachers there -- therefore there's not jobs for them at those schools will they have a right to jobs at other schools and the mayor is saying, no, they shouldn't have a right. if we want to hire them, we will. if not tough luck, they're out on the street. the second is in evaluating the teachers, how much weight do you give to the test scores of the students? the teachers feel very strongly that too much emphasis is being

placed on caps that we should be teaching to the student, not to the test which is what emanuel and a lot of the so-called reformers want to do. we all know that kid's success on tests have -- there's a lot of factor that is go into it. not only the quality of the instruction but you know, the kid who's coming from -- to school hungry or who lives in a violent neighborhood, all kinds of things. his ability to learn. and the mayor wants to put -- too much emphasis on those test scores in evaluating the teacher. there's a lot of other issues like the teachers saying look, you want us to teach kids. how do we teach kids. we've got too many kids in the classroom. and we're there in june and it is 90 degrees there's no air conditioning in the classroom. that's not an atmosphere conducive to learning. and we want the schools to commit to upgrading the physical

condition of the schools and limit the size of the classes so that learning can take place. and the mayor is dismissive of that. >> bill: also, it is interesting to me that you did not mention salary. so have they agreed on salary? >> i think that salary issue is -- i think that's pretty much agreed to. i think there are some details to be worked out on that. >> bill: how about -- you know i'm thinking of like scott walker and john kasich in ohio, wisconsin, where they tried to get them to knock down their pension, knock down their health benefits. are those issues -- >> i think there's an issue about how much more employees are going to pay for their family health insurance coverage. i don't think that's a major -- that's a major stumbling block. i don't think. pensions are governed by state law that the mayor has you

know, indicated he wants to gut teacher pensions but that will probably be brought out at the legislature and not at the bargaining table. >> bill: we're talking to henry bayer executive director of afscme council 31. the two main issues, whether or not again so you've got teachers who have been on the job for awhile. they're doing a good job. they close that school. shouldn't they have priority to be rehired in another school? i would say absolutely yes. and then on the test, we know that was a george bush approach to education right? test test, test are all you count. and we know that's a lot more complicated than that. if those are the only two issues, they could have resolved this. >> absolutely. the mayor could have resolved it. from the teacher's point of view, they went along with the -- they changed the state law and made a lot of reforms in the state law and the teacher's union went along with that. the mayor wanted everything.

basically -- in fact, he wanted to take away their right to strike so he could dictate the terms of their employment and fortunately, they retained the right to strike although they had to get 75% of their members to vote for a strike in order to go on strike. they got 90% of their members. not 90% of those voting, 90% of the members. this mayor has disrespected them. he has no respect for union members. basically, he is a tool of the corporations and the rich people in this town taking on the middle class and the middle class is standing up in this case. and saying to the mayor and to his corporate cronies no, you're not going to dictate policy to us. particularly education policy. your kids don't even go to our schools. your kids go to school in the suburbs or private schools and you're telling us what education policies should be. no thank you. i've got two kids who went

through chicago public schools both of them 12 years, they got fine educations. they had good teachers. their teachers worked hard. they were assessable to our kids. they would e-mail back and forth with questions in the evening. these teachers work very hard. and they've been disrespected. sending a strong message to this mayor and the corporate community that they're not going to dictate to them. >> bill: henry, we expect it from chris christie and john kasich. we expect it from scott walker. we don't expect it from a good democrat. we don't expect it from -- >> who have adopted republican program when it comes to the middle class. a lot of lip service. if the teachers aren't middle class, what are they? >> bill: now is the time to stand up. exactly. hey, henry. you're doing a great job. solidarity, my brother. >> thank you. >> bill: we stand with the teachers in chicago.

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>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: joe cirincione is our >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 27 minutes after the hour. john stanton washington bureau chief for "buzzfeed" in studio with us in the next segment. right now, we're talking about the teacher strike in chicago. bill is in chicago. hey, bill, good morning. >> caller: bill, good morning how are you? >> bill: i'm good. >> caller: the take is they're doing the right thing. the teaches are standing up for their rights because in essence we have charter schools here

like i'm sure they have around the country. the mayor would love to see all charter schools because that way he wouldn't have to deal with the teacher's issues. further motor, he calls it a strike of choice. yes, it was his choice and third, this is a prelude. he has fire and police contracts coming up as well. they can't strike. so he's trying to -- i think he's trying to really show his -- flex his muscles so to speak. >> bill: thank you bill. i appreciate it. it does seem to me that this strike is more about rahm emanuel than about the teachers. he's trying to prove he's a democrat but he's tough and he just doesn't bend over for these unions and everything. he's willing to stand up to the teachers. we had all of that crap from chris christie taking on public employees. we had enough from chris christie and john kasich and scott walker. we don't need it from rahm emanuel. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." security. seriously. >> bill: i guess you know my

feeling, too, is if there is going to be cyber warfare, i 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. [ train whistle blows ] [ ball hitting paddle ] [ orbit girl ] don't let food hang around. yeah! [ orbit trumpet ] clean it up with orbit! [ orbit glint ] fabulous! for a good clean feeling. ♪ eat, drink, chew orbit! ♪

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>> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: 33 minutes after the hour now here on this tuesday september 11th. president obama and the first lady will be stepping out on the south lawn of the white house soon to commemorate september 11th with the moment of silence and then they'll be heading over to the pentagon. here on the "full court press," we welcome to the program. they've been around for awhile. not sure exactly how long but recently, they decided to get political and since they did and since they have, they've been getting a lot of buzz in creating a lot of buzz and i'm talking about "buzzfeed." check out the site.

"buzzfeed."org about -- buzzfeed.com. how did you get a dot-com? do the organize. dot-org. it is politico.com. it is a dot-com world. >> think progress is.org. >> yeah, because they're -- >> bill: see. i'm not so dumb. >> you're absolutely right. >> bill: john stanton is the new washington bureau chief. hey, john, good to see you again in studio. >> good to be here. >> so much to talk about. i can't get over this. you covered both conventions right? >> did i indeed. >> bill: you were at both conventions. >> i was. >> you went from here to tampa -- on a greyhound bus. >> i did. i did. >> bill: why? there are planes, did you realize? >> there are in fact planes that will take you to tampa. you know, i took -- first time i took a bus trip, i was a kid, i was going to philmont sky ranch

in new mexico. >> bill: i went there. >> great place. >> bill: explorer scout. i took a bus too. >> i think it is a great way to see the country. unlike driving in a car where you're going to be talking to somebody, you're going to be driving and distracted so i like that part of it. but i also am excited that i wanted to talk to sort of the working poor and poor people along the way about the election and about both campaigns, you know and talk to them about how they feel about politics. whether or not they feel that they're being neglected. i mean both campaigns talk almost exclusively about the middle class when they talk domestic policy. there's no more war on poverty. jack concern -- there's no more jack kemp in the republican party. so i took three days, i stayed in savanna and in orlando on my way and i talked to people and you know, sort of

unsurprisingly, everyone i talked to on the bus, i talked to some church volunteers that were feeding the working poor in savannah and they all said look, nobody cares about us anymore. the idea that those of us that have the least are being protected or helped, has sort of gone out the window. i talked to one guy robert in jacksonville. he's from indiana. he had moved down to florida to try to get work as a construction -- in the construction industry. he tried to start his own small business. and he found it sort of impossible. the jobs he got paid almost nothing and he ended up on food stamps living in a weekly rent hotel on the side of route 1. he had to call his mother in indiana to get her to wire him money so he could get back to live with her. he was on his way home to indiana. >> bill: tough stories out there that we never hear about these people. it is like they don't even exist. >> right. exactly. >> bill: once you got to tampa and once you got to charlotte

now looking back, right, what was the big difference for you between the two conventions? they certainly were very different. >> they were. i think one of the biggest differences honestly was in tampa and i don't know that it was -- the republicans behind this or if it was the city or just the layout of the city or what but they created this sort of militarized zone around the convention that you had to walk three or four blocks just to get to anything within the convention. from -- through the original perimeter. and it, i think cut down on the energy level of the delegates frankly. whereas in charlotte, you know, they had -- essentially -- some places, the perimeter was on the buildings where the press file was, the convention center. delegates were coming through to go to the arena were coming through there. there were protestors, people selling stuff and there was this sort of energy there that you

didn't see in tampa. i think that was one of the biggest differences that i saw. >> bill: the difference -- i was not in tampa but certainly watched every minute of it seems is that in tampa, my take was in tampa, it was all here's why we don't like barack obama. >> right. >> bill: and charlotte was not here's why we don't like mitt romney but here's why we do like barack obama you know. there was no -- i didn't hear -- i didn't feel a lot of love for mitt romney coming out of tampa. >> no. that's true. some of the speakers, marco rubio, for instance, he tried to do a little bit of that. the second half of his speech but the first half, which was really the most energetic part of it. >> bill: was about him. >> and about obama and attacking him. you have -- you know, i think -- mitt romney is clearly sort of decided that this has to be about obama.

and so they are trying to make it that way because a lot of his base is not particularly enchanted with him. you know they feel like he may or may not be as conservative as they like or he may or may not really understand what his positions are on a lot of issues. and the democrats are certainly trying to make this more about what he wants to do in the future. you know, i talked to a couple of democrats. one of the interesting things though was the democrats were willing, particularly bill clinton, to say here's the things that are still problems. what we want to do is not going to be easy which i think was shocking to a lot of people to hear him and obama both say look, it is going to be hard. we're not selling you this -- >> bill: smart i thought because they didn't want to look like they were overselling. now, coming out of the conventions today cnn is out -- two polls that may show some problems for romney. want to get your take on it. cnn is out with the latest national tracking poll. which shows obama up 6 points

over mitt romney. 52-46. and "the hill" newspaper, it was yesterday, not today. just looking for it in today's shows that i think it's 61% of americans say that this election is a choice between barack obama and mitt romney. it is not -- which romney has been trying to make it, a referendum on the first four years of barack obama. so coming out of the convention, a little advantage obama for the time being at any rate. >> you see it in ohio. the polls there which is really the big bellwether for republicans. i think that this idea that this is a choice between the two of them is what is driving the numbers particularly in ohio. >> bill: obama has been saying that, pounding it, pounding it, pounding it. romney said look at what obama has done here or hasn't done. he's not up to the job. he's a nice job. not up to the job.

look at his record. if obama makes it a choice, he wins. >> i think republicans found themselves a bunch of times over the last couple of months debrailled frankly in their efforts to make the case just as they start to get traction, you get todd akin where suddenly, they are forced into dealing with something that's going to make it a choice. those kinds of incidents have consistently hampered their ability to sort of make the case that this is all about barack obama and about his record. >> bill: i think mitt romney might have -- putting paul ryan on the ticket because it makes it a choice about medicare. medicare or voucher care as joe biden would say. we're skipping -- touching on a lot of issues here. anything that you want to come out and comment on, ask john stanton a question, 1-866-55-press is the toll free number. today is september 11th. the president shortly will be observing this moment of silence on the south lawn. during our next break here,

carried on current tv. which raises a question of national security. mitt romney is giving a speech today. some say it is a makeup speech because in his speech in tampa he did not salute the military. and he did not mention afghanistan. so has he sort of seeded the national security issue to obama? >> i think -- i don't know that he necessarily seeded it but they have certainly not done much on it. and picking paul ryan while on the domestic side was good. paul ryan does not have any kind of serious credentials on national security. this is the first time that you have really ever seen a republican ticket without strong national security credentials. that's why bush picked cheney. he did -- in addition to being conservative, he was strong on -- >> bill: romney is not strong on the military. >> neither one. you look at romney's trip overseas. he had such a misstep there.

and it was very puzzling that he only mentioned i believe trade in one sentence in his speech. there was maybe one sort of reference, passing reference to israel. they did not have eric kantor, the house majority leader speak. the highest ranking jewish official in the united states. israel is certainly the biggest part of romney's national security platform. they didn't have him speak at the convention. it was a little jarring to see the republicans decide to stick to the domestic and not go -- >> bill: they might like to redo tampa you know. and learn from their mistakes. i'm not sure. john stanton from "buzzfeed." buzzfeed.com. your calls at 1-866-55-press. we'll be right back. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

shortly, we'll join the president and the first lady on the south lawn of the white house.

>> the president will be out shortly. we're now awaiting the moment of silence in honor of september 11th.

[ bells tolling ]

[jets flying over] ["taps" being played]

♪ >> that was the moment of silence at the white house in honor of the anniversary of september 11th. we'll be rejoining bill press momentarily. stay with us.

>> the democrats on thursday -- not only did he hit him on national security, he hit him on the flip-flopping issue which was fascinating to watch. >> bill: anybody knows how to

flip-flop. >> it is john kerry, that's for sure. the medicare thing i think is interesting. because republicans have sort of played it both ways on this issue. particularly with pre-existing conditions and allowing you know the children of -- your dependent to stay on until they're 26. we're going to repeal the entire law but we want to keep these things and so that would require them to repeal it and then pass a new law that has it and you know, they have found that full repeal polls very well with their base. when they get into an argument of we want to get rid of a whole bunch of this stuff but some we want to keep, that makes their base angry. and so they have tried to stick to this full repeal argument but when you get into like the general election now where independents don't want to see that happen, that's where you start to get sort of caught crosswise. which is what happened with romney this week. >> bill: yeah and let's face it. they know and the fact is that a

lot -- several planks that have kicked in already of obama care are very popular with people. people like the fact that they can keep their kids on their own health policy until they're 26. and they like the fact that -- insurance companies can't dump on them for pre-existing conditions. they also like the fact when it kicks in, i think it is 2014 where insurance companies cannot dump them if they're healthcare costs turn out to be a little higher than anticipated. i mean so all of these protections, people like. >> interesting thing about romney is that if you look at his plan, if you go into his web site and you look at what they've put out. this has been there for a long time. he actually has been fairly consistent in saying he that he wants the pre-existing condition protections to say and the -- to stay and the 26-year-old restrictions. he says we'll repeal it on day one on the stump. that's where campaigns start to get themselves in a little bit of trouble. this has been a pretty bad example for him i think this week. >> bill: in fact, i think if he were honest, he would have to

admit it is really impossible to repeal the whole thing and keep the parts you like. >> yes, it is. the opposite of being able to do that. >> bill: you want to destroy your -- i like the covering the backseat. the clock radio. put that in the new car. it doesn't work that way. paul ryan is coming back to washington this week. isn't that exciting? >> it is. he will be here on thursday. i guess for the vote on the continuing resolution. there's some expectation he may use his time here to reframe the medicare issue and try to sort of bring some clarity to that. >> bill: there is a rumor he might be getting a haircut too. he and i have the same hairstylist. >> is that right? >> bill: right.

>> same one you use right john? >> of course, yes. >> bill: it doesn't take as long for john. doesn't take as long for john as me. thanks for coming in. >> good to be here. >> bill: i'll be back with a quick parting shot about september 11th. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: load it up from all over the country and take it. other favorite story of the day, people said i was unpatriotic. all i said last week was that it

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: it's the "bill press show." >> announcer: the parting shot with bill press. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: on this tuesday september 11th my parting shot, it was another beautiful tuesday morning, september 11th already 11 years ago a day that none of us will never

forget. the horror of watching the planes fly into the world trade center over and over again people jumping from the buildings, the towers falling. for families of almost 3,000 victims, the shock of losing loved ones in such a brutal series of attacks for many of us the personal inconvenience that we experience and for all of us, the new reality not only were the forces out there who hated us but they had the capacity to hit us here on american soil. so it is important to take time out today to remember those who lost their lives on that tragic day. to reflect on how blessed we are to live in this great country of ours and to give thanks that we never, again have to worry about osama bin laden. my parting shot for today. eliot spitzer joins us tomorrow as well as brad woodhouse from the dnc and congressman john sarbanes. have a good one. see you tomorrow.