[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hey hello friends and neighbors and a good tuesday morning to you. what do you snay welcome to the "full court press" right here on current tv this tuesday morning june 4. so good to see you today. thank you for joining us here on the "full court press" as we come to you live across the united states of america. every corner of this great country on current tv. and inviting you to join the conversation. it is a two-way street here. we'll not only tell you what's going on we'll give you a

chance to sound off about it. tell you what it means to you and your family. you can do so by phone at 1-866-55-press. pardon me. we'll take your comments and look for your comments on twitter at bpshow. and of course, become our friend on facebook and tell us what you think at facebook.com/billpressshow. they're back! yes, congress is back in town. and darrell issa is still up to his old mccarthyite tactics. now accusing the white house of directing the i.r.s. officers to deliberately target those tea party groups but even lindsey graham republican senator from south carolina says there is no evidence to support that claim and republican john mccain tells darrell issa to back off. we'll see whether he does. meanwhile, college rep cons are out with a report that says young people are turned off by the g.o.p. today because it is

closed-minded, rigid racist and old-fashioned. i couldn't have said it better myself. all of that and more right here on current tv. coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking? we have a big big hour and the iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) 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. just be grateful current tv does

not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. [ male announcer ] this is the age of knowing what you're made of. why let erectile dysfunction get in your way? talk to your doctor about viagra. ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain; it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. side effects include headache, flushing upset stomach, and abnormal vision. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. this is the age of taking action. viagra. talk to your doctor.

>> if you believe in state's rights but still support the drug war you must be high. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> do you think that there is any chance we'll see this president even say the words "carbon tax"? >> with an open mind... >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> ...and a distinctly satirical point of view. >> but you mentioned "great leadership" so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv. this show is about analyzing criticizing, and holding policy to the fire. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night? is this personal or is it political? a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. staying in tough with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people but somehow he thinks raising the

the middle class. but we do care about them, right? vo: the war room tonight at 6 eastern nounce broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: president obama puts the spotlight on mental health at the white house. it's time to take it seriously and praises the fact that obamacare now covers mental health. good morning everybody. so good to see you today. on this tuesday morning. it is tuesday june 4. this is the "full court press." we're up and at it early this morning. so are you.

good to have you with us. we've got a lot to cover over the next three hours together here on your local progressive talk radio station. be glad you've got one and support it. we're coming to you live on sirius x.m. and all three hours on current tv, good to have you with us, whether you're watching or listening we appreciate you being part of the program. sound off let your voice be heard on the phone at 1-866-55-press. on twitter come on, you care about these issues as much as i do at bpshow. that's our handle on twitter at bpshow and how about it. on facebook. facebook.com/billpressshow. good to see you this morning. and we are one short of the team this morning.

peter ogborn is here as always. >> hey, hey, hey. >> bill: keeping us all together. >> doing what i can. >> bill: more or less in the right direction. dan henning still on his honeymoon. this is his honeymoon week. i wonder how he's enjoying detroit. or is he -- maybe he moved on from detroit. >> i have no idea. >> bill: hitting the high spots. maybe niagara falls. >> that would be perfect. >> bill: niagara falls as one of my professors used to call it, a young bride's second big disappointment. then we have alichia cruz on the phones. and cyprian bowlding on the video cam as always. cyprian gets a big wave also. so you know, yesterday we mourned the passing of jean stapleton. today, a real leader and a great

democrat and a great progressive has been suffering from cancer for some time and lost the battle yesterday. of course i'm talking about frank lautenberg. that fiery two-time governor -- senator from new jersey. he was in the senate then he left. and he missed it. and there was more stuff he wanted to do and he came back. so even though he was older of the two, he was the junior senator from new jersey to bob menendez. i knew him pretty well. he and i were friends and i thought he was just a great fiery democrat. very wealthy man. didn't matter what issue you know or what kind of opposition frank lautenberg was there for the battle. and he had a great sense of humor. carter with bob squires both

also friends of mine, ran lautenberg's first campaign and in "the washington post" this morning, carter tells the story about they took the unfinished commercials, the first commercials they shot for frank lautenberg and they took them in their rough form to show to lautenberg and somebody had snuck a porn video into this reel. >> oh, no. >> bill: and they're showing the commercial -- here's bob squire the campaign consultant. they're showing the commercials and up pops this -- is this porn video. and here they are. they're thinking oh, god we're getting fired for sure. lautenberg's response was hmm i look better than i thought i did. [ laughter ] >> that's great. >> bill: anyhow, frank lautenberg remembered for many things. one is, here is a guy he's the

one who personally pushed raising the drinking age from legal from 1 to 21 back in 1984. >> rewarded by having their young people live longer and contribute to their societies. >> bill: in 1989, frank lauten beg, god bless him for this, led the charge to ban smoke on airplanes. >> the american people are overwhelmingly in support of this suspension of smoking this prohibition, in airplanes. >> bill: now, it is a little complicated up in new jersey in terms of the law but governor christie gets to appoint someone to fill frank lautenberg's seat either for special election this year or would have to run -- who would have to run in the 2014 -- law is a little complicated. already, some people are thinking about maybe this is a job i would like to have like, can you believe jerry rivers?

>> i'm not spending too much time obsessing over that. i think it is a very, very long shot that governor christie would even think of me, appointing me. i haven't been vetted. i've toyed with the idea of running. if i ran, i have a very specific platform. listeners are becoming aware of the fact you can be a rep canada not be a tea party conservative. the fact that republicans have to modify their stance on a lot of issues like immigration like gay marriage, like the right to choose. i'm the last person i believe governor christie will consider right now. >> you keep checking your phone. every 30 seconds you're like is that him? >> i would definitely take the call. >> bill: i think geraldo can rest assured that governor christie is not going to be calling him. i don't even live in new jersey and i have as much a chance of

getting a call from chris christie as geraldo rivera. igor volsky will be here from think progress as he is every tuesday morning for the second half hour of this hour. madea benjamin was at the bradley manning hearing yesterday. she's cofounder of code pink. she will be in studio with us. jonathan's new book out about president obama will be in studio with us as well. let's talk about bradley manning. but first -- >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> yes indeed. here are other stories making news. the nba finals are set! a relatively easy win for the heat last night. lands them right back in the nba finals for the third straight year. the big three got back into fighting form and got help from ray allen who poured in 10 points last night. final score was 99-76 good enough to send the indiana pacers packing. next up is the san antonio spurs. game one is this thursday night

at 9:00 p.m. eastern time. you know what? >> bill: that was a blowout last night. are you still counting on the spurs? >> i will say this. you know -- >> bill: you're backing off. >> no, no, no. i'm pulling for the spurs. i will say this. this is as clear a sort of difference between two teams as we've seen in the nba finals in a long time. the heat are young fast-paced. the spurs are old and sort of fundamental basketball so it is worlds colliding in the finals. we'll see who can pull it off. i'm pulling for the spurs. best of seven. gotta win four games. >> bill: that goes on for another month. >> kitchenaid is coming back to america. the iconic kitchenaid stand mixter is a staple in many home cooks kitchen. 18 months ago whirlpool made a controversial announcement that they were moving a lot of the production to china.

well, they have decided to move those plants from china back to ohio. they've already built one in greenville ohio. with sales expected to rise this year, the company says they must be doing something right and they're going to move even more production back here to america. so there you go. a feel-good story. >> bill: well, that's good but my advice is buy a cuisinart. >> the kitchenaid standmixer, that's the iconic mixer. when you see those those are -- i have other cuisinart tools. come on, kitchenaid, made in america. can you picture al pacino as hans solo? that was almost a reality. pacino said the role was mine for the take but he didn't understand the script. lucky for harrison ford he did understand the script and the rest, as they say is history.

pacino passed on the role because he couldn't understand what was going on in the movie. over the years many actors have claimed to have been offered the role. james caan, kurt russell and even christopher walken. it could have been al pacino. that's what launched harrison ford's career. i can't imagine anyone else ever playing that role. >> bill: yes, indeed. yesterday, a big day in the courtroom. it was the first day of the trial, long-awaited trial of bradley manning. young army officer who is accused, of course, of leaking secrets to the enemy in fact by giving them to wikileaks. bradley manning appearing in the courtroom yesterday. again, madea benjamin was in the courtroom watching this first trial which she called a show trial. it is a very interesting case. i would love to know how you come down on it at

1-866-55-press. manning is being tried under the espionage act which means the army considers him a traitor. again, that he was aiding and abetting the enemy when he amassed and collected, must have it, by the way a lot of time on his hands on the computer over in iraq but he amassed -- iraq or afghanistan, i don't want to get that wrong, i would have to double check. one of the two. he amassed 700,000 pages of documents and passed those on to wikileaks because he says, he admits that he did so. he was disillusioned about the u.s. war in iraq. he was disillusioned about the -- what he thought was the indiscriminate killing of iraqi civilians and he wanted -- he felt that the american people

had a right to know what was going on. so he amassed this stuff some documents and video and leaked it to wikileaks whereupon it became public, of course. to put that in perspective by the way, the pentagon papers leak, it has been often compared to what daniel ellsberg did to the pentagon papers. pentagon papers was 7,000 pages with bradley manning, it was 700,000. the army is again accusing him of being a traitor. they want him court-martialed put in prison for life. eugene robinson in "the washington post" this morning saying look, what he did was wrong which i would agree with. but at the same time, he did not -- he was not trying to betray his country.

he was not trying to help the enemy. he was trying to let the american people -- he wanted the american people to know what our government was up to. and you know, i think that's important and sometimes -- i believe always we have a right to know what our government was up to. among the stuff -- i'm not saying out of 700,000 pages sure, there were some things there that should not have been leaked. there was also a lot of stuff there that should have been leaked including most famously, perhaps, a video of a u.s. apache helicopter attack at an intersection in baghdad where our officers, our soldiers were indiscriminately shooting down at the crowd civilians killed. one journalist, at least one journalist from reuters killed and this was never reported.

no action was taken. to discipline these people. these are not enemy combatants. these are civilians in downtown baghdad. we didn't know about that until that videotape came out. so i think there is a little bit maybe of cover your ass in this trial on the part of the military. i'm not saying bradley manning is a hero. but i think that the defense department, the military is going too far in how they're treating bradley manning and the punishment that they are seeking. you know, it kind of has a reflection to what we were talking about last week. a connection, i guess to what we were talking about last week with the justice department being so zealous in going after reporter james rosen from fox news and going after "associated press" and trying to find out who leaked information to them.

you know the government also trying to protect all of this information but i think as citizens we have a right to know what our government is up to. i consider daniel ellsberg a hero for what he did with the pentagon papers. i'm not saying bradley manning is the next daniel ellsberg but he's closer to daniel ellsberg than he is to an osama bin laden. he is not an enemy of the state. he's not bradley manning, an enemy of the people. i don't think he's a traitor either. 1-866-55-press. the trial started yesterday. what do you think? being excessively prosecuted or getting everything that he deserves? 1-866-55-press. >> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show."

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>> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: yes just outside of washington, d.c., fort meade maryland, the trial opened on bradley manning. there were some supporters in the courtroom yesterday including retired army colonel ann wright who told reporters afterwards, she said i think

it's important to support him. i spent 29 years in the military and what bradley manning has done is expose government corruption and brutality. manning, who testified at a pretrial hearing back in february said that he -- doesn't deny he let this information out. he said he did so to expose the american military's blood lust and disregard for human life. in iraq and afghanistan. ike calling from charleston, south carolina. here's our buddy the honorary mayor of charleston as far as we're concerned. what do you say ike? >> caller: billy boy i'm going to approach it this way. mr. manning, if he gets a fair trial, that would be nice but i don't believe that he will. >> bill: good point. >> caller: i'll put it to you this way. it seems funny to me in the bush administration, they can out a c.i.a. operative and put people at risk and nobody went to jail but yet, as usual the little

peon down at the bottom of the ranks is the one that winds up getting his head served up on a platter. >> bill: exactly. what happened to valerie plame is a lot worse than what manning did. >> caller: you go picking a man's wife in the south you'll get your head handed to you. >> bill: thank you ike. while we're down in that area, let's go to harry in asheville north carolina. good morning. >> caller: good morning, sir. all i've got to say about this situation is well, what the gentleman just said. this is going to be a kangaroo court. without a doubt in my mind's eye, manning is a whistle-blower. and so big deal. i felt that was something that our government encourages and in my mind's eye this may be a little -- >> bill: harry we got it. he's a whistle-blower, not a

traitor. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." high. cenk uygur: i think the number one thing viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. i think the audience gets that i actually mean it. michael shure: this show is about being up to date so a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. joy behar: you can say anything here. jerry springer: i spent a couple of hours with a hooker joy behar: your mistake was (vo) the day's events. four very unique points of view. tonight starting at 6 eastern.

>> announcer: connect with the "bill press show" on tweeter. tweet using the hashtag watching bp. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: how about it. 33 minutes after the hour. here we go on a tuesday morning june 4. coming to you live from our nation's capital and joining us here in studio as he does every tuesday morning i always mention you wonder where do we come up with all of the stuff we talk about. how do we keep on top of everything that's happening in

washington, d.c.? we go to think progress and there we go. there is the agenda. there it is. it is all done. all of the work is done. here is the guy who does it, igor volsky, the managing editor of think progress from the center for american progress. hello, hello. >> happy june to you. >> bill: i was -- last night had a chance to interview justice sonia sotomayor. burton awards for legal achievement here at the library of congress. but current issues in front of the supreme court were sort of off -- >> can't talk about those now. >> bill: let's start with the supreme court on a 5-4 decision yesterday. i find it a little troubling decision about when police can get dna samples right? >> it is troubling because the decision now says that a police

officer can swab someone's cheek and get their dna sample before that suspect was convicted of anything. so you're arrested and the police can acquire your sample, put it in their database and use it for whatever. and since a lot of people aren't convicted, you're going to have a lot of innocent people with their dna samples in the system and the irony is there was an earlier case where a person was convicted of a crime was trying to access his own dna samples to run tests to prove his innocence and the supreme court said no. he can't do that. because that would make a mockery out of the justice system. the justice system went through and that was the verdict and someone who was convicted of a crime can't just go ahead and start running their own tests. here, they're saying something a bit different. that police officers, law enforcement officials can take

these dna samples no matter if you're guilty or innocent ultimately, just if you're stopped and arrest and put them in a database and use them for later identification. >> bill: when i first heard about this -- i hear what you're saying. when i first heard about this decision liberal that i am, my first question was of course, if you arrest someone and you want to kind of find out whether or not they're the one who did the crime let's say right isn't the dna a good way of knowing either finding out that they did or that they didn't? right? >> but the question -- >> bill: what you're saying is if they used it and the person is found not guilty, then that should be out of the system? >> under this arrangement and the system -- right it is still in there. and the question that some of the justices -- or the analogy they tried to draw is well, a

dna sample is just like a fingerprint and so the other justices said well then are we going to take dna samples for driver's licenses, for passports, everything else you use your fingerprints for. it is a lot more real. so i think it was an interesting split. scalia joined the minority in opposing this. conservative scalia. >> bill: i didn't realize that. so kennedy was still the swing vote, wasn't he? >> i believe so, yeah. >> bill: this was -- this affected -- the state of maryland. >> state of maryland court right. >> bill: upheld it, 5-4 decision. the big case and the most anticipated verdict or decision of the supreme court i should say is the defense of marriage act which the justices have said they will announce by the end of june. >> coming later this month.

>> bill: i tried my best to get justice sonia sotomayor to comment on that last night and no, she did not. >> you couldn't do it. >> bill: she did not want to go there. we mentioned this at the top of the show. we lost a progressive giant yesterday in senator frank lautenberg from new jersey. finally succumb to cancer at the age of 89. he leaves one hell of a progressive legacy behind him. >> lautenberg is the progressive, most progressives don't know about. because this is a guy who really got things done and didn't run to the first camera to tell you about it. he took cigarettes off of -- >> bill: unlike chuck schumer? >> good way to put it. so maybe people have to run out and sell what they've just done. you're right. >> bill: he started a long time ago.

making sure domestic abusers don't have access to guns. he sponsored the ryan white act. just on a personal note, you know i -- i was born in the former soviet union. my family emigrated to this country and what lautenberg did in 1989 was attach an amendment to a defense bill that allowed soviet jews who were persecuted to come into this country and it really opened the floodgates and was a big big big deal. and you know, i knew about it when i was 5 6 years old. it was a very big deal. in our community. in the former soviet union. and so i personally have a big debt of gratitude to him. i think it is quite a legacy to leave behind over the years. that amendment has been expanded to include more people. and just a little-known part of his really tremendous

progressive legacy. >> bill: and suffering as badly as he was in the last few months, he was rarely seen in the senate but he made a special trip to come down here to vote for the background checks for gun safety part of the president's plan. and the second visit that he made was to support president obama's nominee for the environmental protection agency because environment was also a big, big cause -- special cause of his. he went out of his way to come down to the senate to be there to cast those two vote which again, shows something about his priorities. you mentioned a smoke on airplanes. peter, this is a clip from -- here's frank lautenberg in 1989. >> the american people are overwhelmingly in support of this suspension of smoking this prohibition. in airplanes. >> bill: it's hard to believe

okay now i'm old enough to remember, all right smoking on airplanes. it was hell. >> oh, god. >> bill: it was ridiculous because the way -- you're in that little aluminum tube up there at 33,000 feet. >> no way out. >> bill: there was no way out exactly. the way it worked is so the nonsmoking would be down to row 25 and then if you were in back of row 25, you could smoke. were you ever on a plane -- >> i was not on a plane then, no. but i can tell you -- >> bill: were you alive then? >> i was young, i know. >> he was still in russia. >> bill: imagine the idea that the smoke would stay in back -- the smoke would stay in back of row 25 is just absurd. of course, the smoke penetrated the entire freakin' airplane. >> just crack a window, right?

that's what romney said. >> bill: the flight attendants who had to work that aisle and work back there. they would be puffing away the entire freakin' flight. >> it is hard to imagine it really kicked off this kind of new effort of no smoking in public spaces but i have to say -- it is funny you mention this. i went back to read some of the clips back in 1989 to see how it was perceived in the press what people thought. and there was this outrage of people saying how can this be? i have to smoke. this is government overreach. now it is just accepted. nobody could even imagine you would smoke on an airplane. >> bill: the argument was how could i go from l.a. to san francisco without a smoke. because i was living in california at the time. then there was -- across the entire country? you would have to stop like three or four times. but guess what? they make it.

>> yeah. >> bill: i guess that was before nicorette. >> legislation led to some good news for nicorette and nicotine patches and stuff like that. >> i wonder if you can smoke those -- what are those vapor cigarettes? electronic cigarettes. >> bill: the other thing frank lautenberg, part of his legacy the drinking age which is 21 nationally. he was the one who moved it from 18 to 21. think of all of the lives that have been saved by that alone. so, you know, some politicians leave us and you say okay, well, maybe they were elected. what did they ever get done? with lautenberg -- we'll condition our survey of the big stories of the day. those that think progress is working on at 1-866-55-press. when we come back with igor volsky. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current

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(vo) this afternoon, current tv is the place for compelling true stories. >> jack, how old are you? >> nine. >> this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way inside. (vo) from the underworld, to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

>> bill: madea benjamin, one of the cofounders of copink, she's the woman who interrupted president obama in his speech last week at the national defense university. she's a real rebel rouser here in town. she also was at the bradley manning hearing yesterday in the courtroom. she will be here in our studio

to tell us all about it. in the next hour. dressed in pink. >> of course. that's why i did the white today. >> usual thing. that's right. >> bill: where is the plaid shirt today? >> little different. try some simple colors. back to basics, bill. >> bill: i think our viewers will be disappointed and our listeners if they only knew the loud plaid shirts that igor volsky -- >> wait until next week. >> bill: we'll be back to that. interesting, one of the things that captured my attention on think progress this morning the headline, majority of doctors would prescribe medical marijuana. >> an apple a day. i wish the folks who always say when it comes to war, you gotta listen to the generals on the ground. what are the generals on the ground saying? here i feel like you gotta tell the same lawmakers listen to what the doctors on the front lines are saying and they're

saying you've got to give people access to medical marijuana. we have 19 states that now allow access. it is still illegal. and d.c. so 20. and there is an interesting article in this morning's "new york times" about the billions of dollars that states and the federal government spend in cracking down on marijuana. they mostly go after african-americans, disproportionately after african-americans even though the use is the same in terms of percentages. and that as they crack down on marijuana more and more, the enforcement on other harder drugs is decreasing. so the priorities here are all wrong. president obama this administration has cracked down far stronger than his predecessor bush. >> bill: right. >> so it is a lot -- i think it is going to be really a big issue as we move forward and

rand paul is already kind of staking out a libertarian approach. going to take in some of the young voters. and moving with public opinion. public opinion is accepting medical marijuana use in general and i think just politically speaking, it would be, i think a smart move for lawmakers to follow that trend and to change some of these outdated, really war on drugs policies. >> bill: 76% of doctors in this country say of course if they had a patient who had a serious illness or whatever and they thought the medical -- they thought that marijuana would help, they would prescribe it. 7 6%. you mentioned young people. young people, young republicans yesterday, certainly made a little noise. they came out with their report. they have been doing their own survey on what the republican party means to young people and

why young people have been voting in such overwhelming numbers for democrats lately, particularly for president obama. and the college republican party came out yesterday. 96 pages. not very complimentary right? >> they discovered that young people support progressive policies. >> bill: whoa, what a surprise. hello. >> you know, some of the issues, marriage equality, we expect. maybe even student loans. we expect them to like plans that stabilize the rate, for instance for the democratic position. but even issues like they don't think that lower taxes will create jobs. they think that wealthy people should be taxed more. they believe that the iraq and afghanistan war blew up the deficit. issue after issue you really don't have an area where

republicans come out looking great. they think that all of these attacks on women's reproductive health and planned parenthood aren't helping anything and are actually a bad thing. so it was a really shocking report to go through it, page by page and to realize that their own report is suggesting that if the party wants to remain relevant, young people, african-americans, hispanics they can't just -- the report talks about either changing just the pizza box or changing the pizza within the box. as a party how do we move forward? this is the second report after the g.o.p. national report which really shows you gotta change the pizza not just the box. you gotta put more toppings on if you want to continue winning. >> bill: they come up with the four classic words what people kept telling them that the party was closed-minded racist, rigid

and old-fashioned. >> yeah. >> bill: kind of sums it up. all right. let us ask you again how all of our listeners and viewers can keep up -- not just after -- wait until like tuesday when you're here. >> can get instant -- >> bill: do we do it? >> thinkprogress.org. follow us on twitter at thinkprogress or me, igor volsky thinkprogress.com. we just bought it. we're so excited. after years. we're everywhere. >> bill: no better source for some good insights and good facts. that's what we need. facts to back up our opinions. it is all available at think progress. thank you, igor. thanks for coming in. look forward to the wildest plaid shirt ever next tuesday. >> gotta go shopping now.

>> bill: i'll be back and we'll dip into the mailbag here when we come back. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." cenk uygur: i think the number one thing viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. i think the audience gets that i actually mean it. michael shure: this show is about being up to date so a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. joy behar: you can say anything here. jerry springer: i spent a couple of hours with a hooker joy behar: your mistake was writing a check jerry springer: she never cashed it (vo) the day's events. four very unique points of view. tonight starting at 6 eastern. you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers

thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

we have a big big hour and the iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) 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. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> with a distinctly satirical point of view. if you believe in state's rights but still believe in the drug war you must be high.

>> only on current tv. >> 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 here we go in the next hour, madea benjamin, cofounder of code pink in studio with us.

on msnbc, we talked about this. mckenzie from politico, jean says he completely disagree with you about your remarks about msnbc. every show she said had on-going coverage during our oklahoma tornado. peter, ump watching a lot of msnbc. not necessarily. >> not necessarily. you're right. >> bill: they certainly told what was going on but they didn't cover it like cbs or some of the other -- even cable channels did. my point is -- and i was not slamming msnbc. i was reporting the fact that their ratings they're in fourth place now. one of the reasons is phil grieverren admitted this, president of nbc we do not do breaking news. jean is happy that ed is on weekends. well, i'm not. i think he ought to be on every night at 8:00. i think it was mistake to take

ed schultz off.

>> bill: good morning,er. friends and neighbors fellow americans. great to see you this tuesday morning. it is tuesday june 4. this is the "full court press" here on current tv. coming to you live from our nation's capital our studio right here on capitol hill where we bring you the news of the day. tell you what's going on here in washington, d.c., around the country and around the globe and most importantly give you a chance to talk about it yourself.

we love to hear from you by phone at 1-866-55-press. that's our toll free number. love to get your comments on twitter at bpshow and on facebook. be our friend at facebook.com/billpressshow. yes, as we warned you they're back. congress is back in town and darrell issa is still up to his old mccarthyite tricks, accusing the white house of directing the i.r.s. to deliberately target tea party groups. but even the republican senator lindsey graham says there is zero evidence to support that charge and john mccain has told darrell issa to back off. meanwhile, college republicans out with a report which calls their party closed-minded rigid, racist and old-fashioned. i couldn't have said it better myself. and the miami heat clobbering

the indiana pacers, 99-76, all of that and more right here on current tv. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night? is this personal, or is it political? a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i'm given to doing anyway, by staying in touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. in reality it's not like they actually care. this is purely about political grandstanding. i've worn lots of hats, but i've always kept this going. i've been doing politics now for a dozen years. (vo) he's been called the epic politics man. he's michael shure and his arena is the war room. >> these republicans in congress that think the world ends at the atlantic ocean border and pacific ocean border. the bloggers and the people that are sort of compiling the best of the day. i do a lot of looking at those people as well. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people, but somehow he thinks raising the

minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them right?

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>> occupy! >> we will have class warfare. (vo) true stories, current perspective. documentaries. on current tv. >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: john mccain and lindsey graham both tell darrell issa you don't know what the hell you're talking about when you say the white house told the i.r.s. to target tea party groups. glad somebody else agrees with me that darrell issa is way way out of line. good morning everybody. what do you say? great to see you today. here we go. it is the "full court press." this is it.

what you're looking for here on your local progressive talk radio station this tuesday morning. june 4. and on current tv as we boom out to you live all the way across this great land of ours from our little studio right here on capitol hill in washington, d.c. right in the heart of the action. so we can keep an eye on what congress is up to at this end of pennsylvania avenue and what president obama is up to at the other end of pennsylvania avenue. just five or six metro stops away. good to have you with us today. 1-866-55-press. our toll free number to join the conversation. we invite you to do so by phone. that's our toll free number. 1-866-55-press. on twitter, you can find us, join us, give us your comments on bpshow and on facebook, facebook.com/billpressshow.

we'll get into all of the news of the day here from washington, around the country and around the globe once we say a quick hello to our team here. peter ogborn. >> hey hey hey. >> bill: dan henning is off on his honeymoon this week. we didn't get the postcard yet. >> haven't gotten it yet. >> bill: from detroit or -- >> i think they went to iowa. moved down from toyota to iowa. >> bill: that hurricane. >> that's right. >> bill: tornado. alichia cruz has the phones covered this morning. and cyprian bowlding has us looking good on the video cam. peter, you have been very, very loyal following the nba playoffs. last night was a big big win for the eastern division. it was miami heat who got clobbered by the pacers a couple of nights ago. this game was in miami. the pacers went down there. they had the big mo as we said. but the big mo, i don't know,

ran out of gas or something. and last night, it was pretty one-sided. here's mike inglis calling it for miami. >> the clock is running down. the time has run out on the indiana pacers and for the third season in a row the miami heat are headed to the nba finals as they beat the indiana pacers 99-76. >> bill: no doubt about that one. 99-76, now on to the spurs. that game is thursday night. first game. >> 9:00. game one of the nba finals. i've been staying up and watching a lot of these playoff games. i didn't last night. i knew the heat were going to win that game. i knew it. i saw a statistic that the last time that the heat lost back-to-back games was in january. >> bill: oh, no kidding. >> they weren't going to lose again at home in a game seven situation. >> bill: they got their stuff

together. madea benjamin, one of the cofounders of code pink in studio yesterday for the first day of the bradley manning trial. at fort meade. she will be here in studio in the next half hour to tell us all about it. jonathan alter very -- one of our best journalists in the country has a brand new book out on president obama the center holds. he will be in studio with us at the top of the next hour. together with evan mcmorris santoro who covers the white house for "buzzfeed." and yes we'll take a look at what college republicans think about their own party. but first... >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> some other news going on. bill, sports heaven has a new deacon. the nfl hall-of-famer deacon jones died putting to bed one of the most legendary characters in all of the sports. he was credited with creating the term sack because of how he tackled quarterbacks on the field. he played -- sack them.

he played fierce but he also played a little dirty. legendary story is that deacon jones crafted a fake cast on his arm and mimicked a broken arm and had a doctor insert a steel rod into the cast so when he went upside player's heads on the field, they were hurt that much more. he was 74 years old. >> bill: wow. >> he was a dirty player but he was a tough guy. >> bill: probably couldn't get away with it today. >> no way. when you absolutely need your breakfast to taste like a nightmare, dunkin' donuts announced yesterday that their glazed doughnut breakfast sandwich is going nationwide starting on june 7. they take a glazed doughnut. cut it in half and put a fried egg and bacon on it. believe it or not. i know. >> bill: you can get a breakfast sandwich almost anywhere these days in a

croissant. >> or on a piece of toast like a normal human being but a glazed doughnut? here's the remarkable thing. it is only 320 calories which is less than their turkey sausage egg white breakfast sandwich because it has cheese and all of that. look, i wouldn't -- i wouldn't necessarily eat that but you could do worse, i guess. and speaking of sad americans are less happy now than they've been in years. a recent harris poll says that our happiness has gone down from 35% overall to 32% over the last two years. couple of nuggets from the study, women are slightly happier than men. 35% of the population compared to 32%. democrats and republicans are equally very happy but they are both happier than political independents who are 32% compared to 35%. there you go. >> bill: i'm happy. >> turn that frown upside down. >> bill: i'm happy.

things are good. it is a good life. it's a great country. love my job. so i love all of you. there you go. put me down. >> there you go. >> bill: happy column. i'll tell you who's not happy these days. a lot of republicans aren't happy with their own party. a lot of friends of mine aren't happy with their own party and certainly republican young people are not happy with their party as we found out yesterday we mentioned this briefly yesterday. wanted to go into a little more at the top of this hour with the college -- about the college republicans who did their own analysis. let's take a look at the party. how come people our age aren't voting with us? didn't vote for mitt romney. didn't vote for john mccain. don't really support the party overall. what's wrong? what's going on? so they've been looking at this for the last -- ever since

november 2012 and came out and issued their report yesterday. it is 96 pages long. and it ends up really echoing remember, in march the republican national committee came up. they did their own analysis of the 2012 -- november 2012 election. they called it their autopsy report. which is funny in and of itself. they came out saying here's the problem with the party. the reason we lost is because the party comes across and these are the words they heard from republicans across the country. the party comes across as scary. republicans come across as scary, as narrow-minded out-of-touch, and dominated by stuffy old white men.

that was the rnc report. yesterday, the college republican report came out. it is remarkably similar. they talked to college campus republicans. activists. these are people who identify themselves in college. identify themselves right now as republican. they came out and found -- listen to these words, that the republican leaders appear to young people as closed minded, rigid, racist and old-fashioned. here's some of the things that they said. this is a way the party comes across to several constituencies on hispanics. college republicans say latino voters tend to think the g.o.p. could not care less about them.

hmm. no wonder they're losing the latino vote. remember, mitt romney, barack obama ended up with 71% of the latina vote. on jobs, on american workers working families, college republicans concluded "we have become the party that will pat you on your back when you make it but won't offer you a hand to help you get there. so they're against the minimum wage. they're against tax breaks for the middle class or for working families. they will even raise taxes on the middle class. they're against child care or federal help for child care or for food stamps or for anything else that people need to keep

the job and to move up the ladder. this is what college republicans are saying. it appears substantial republican party. if you make it, once you're a millionaire, then we'll give you every tax break we could possibly do so. priorities and other words ass backwards. it is interesting the college republicans made three specific suggestions to the parent party if you will. saying number one in the area, if you really want to move forward and if you really want to appeal to younger people, get off this crusade driven by the religious right to oppose same-sex marriage or marriage equality. they're telling their own party this ain't working. the american people are not with you on this. the american people more and more democrats and republicans support marriage equality.

oppose discriminating against any group of people. in terms of saying that you cannot marry the person, man or woman that you love. college republicans are saying just drop it. get out of it. move on. it's over. it's no longer winning issue. on the issue of abortion, interestingly enough, they didn't say the republican party should drop its opposition to freedom of choice. but they said republicans had better just kind of basically stick to that position, don't make it their number one priority. don't make it you know, like you've got to be anti-abortion or you can't be a republican. and they also said stop talking about rape and stop talking about contraception. stop trying to link all of those together. it is turning people off. people don't believe that agenda.

finally, third suggestion which i believe is one the democrats ought to listen to as well is they said you know, what we ought to be talking about as a party, we ought to be talking about jobs and we ought to be talking about the economy. we ought to be talking about how we get this economy moving faster than it is. improving faster than it is. and how we ought to get people back to work. i gotta tell you i think it is a damn good insightful report but what i think is going to happen, you know, tell me if i'm wrong, 1-866-55-press. what i think is going to happen is just as most republicans ignored what the republican national committee recommended and its criticisms of the party last march that most republicans are just simply going to ignore this college republican report that was issued yesterday as well. you know as a democrat, i hope they do.

as an american, and one who loves the two-party system and the political system, i hope people take these two reports seriously and say you know, we've got to make some changes. i don't want to see the republican party disappear. but it looks like it's on its way to doing so. college republicans speaking out. yes. closed-minded, rigid racist and old fashioned is what they say about their party. what do you say? 1-866-55-press. let's talk about it. >> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show" live on your radio and on current tv. young turks is that we're honest. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

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john fugelsang: if you believe in states rights but still support the drug war you must be high. cenk uygur: i think the number one thing viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. i think the audience gets that i actually mean it. michael shure: this show is about being up to date so a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. joy behar: you can say anything here. jerry springer: i spent a couple of hours with a hooker

joy behar: your mistake was writing a check jerry springer: she never cashed it (vo) the day's events. four very unique points of view. tonight starting at 6 eastern. you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

i came in middle -- your middle segment but i got the gist of it. it is not new. i'm a liberal but it is nice that they're actually being objective and critical of

themselves. but they've sole poisoned their party that even a mccain, probably longs for the days of when it was just simple banter back and forth but they've so poisoned their party on every single topic. i told your producer as i came on, just yesterday, i was driving and my wife said look at that bumper sticker. it said in africa, they've got lions. we've got a lion african. it is vile. so they've done that. even darrell issa's rant -- they can't help themselves. so they've created this culture. you know how sometimes when you see an individual going the wrong way and they might acknowledge they're going the wrong way but they can't help themselves. >> bill: that will be interesting to see darryl. seriously, the republican friends i've talked to bemoan and lament what has happened to

the party. remember bob dole just a week or so ago said the republican party ought to hang up a sign, closed for repairs right? think it all through. >> caller: bill, parties go away all the time. you know, it is so interesting. it wasn't the democrats who did it. it was themselves. that's the party of lincoln believe it or not. >> bill: remember, you and i both remember when the democratic party -- may not have been this bad but certainly was falling apart and split in a lot of different directions, right. and the democratic party was able to gettity stuff together. bill clinton, i would give a lot of credit. >> for galvanizing. >> bill: so somebody's gotta step up and bring the republican party back. >> caller: as a general rule, when you practice and you put forth hate, it never works. i mean they've -- really, you think about it.

they have sufficiently alienated. >> bill: gotta run along. i appreciate the comment. good point. and greetings to denver. gavin here in washington d.c. >> caller: how you doing? i just wanted to say that i call the republican party, i call them the regressives and the reason why is because you know, we all know they want to take us back. but here's the thing. i think the college republicans did a great job on that report but i don't think, you know, the politicians, politicians will listen to them because you know, you got the rush limbaughs and the sean hannitys out there. there's a lot of money into this. they play to that base out there that want to hear this, you know what i mean. at the end of the day they talk about why they keep moving elections. they don't care as long as they're making millions playing to that base. >> bill: i'll tell you this. i don't think people pay much attention to that march report and we'll see how much attention they pay to the conference.

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>> announcer: connect with the "bill press show" on twitter. follow us at bpshow and tweet using the hashtag watching bp. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: how about it. 33 minutes after the hour now here. it's tuesday morning, june 4. the "full court press" coming to you live from our nation's capital. brought to you today by the american federation of teachers. yes, the great men and women of the aft.

teachers strong all across america under president randi weingarten taking a difference in the classroom every day. find out more about their good work at aft.org. we'll be joined by madea benjamin shortly here. you've heard me talk a lot about identity theft. here's the story. i tell you. it is happening everywhere. even in the san francisco bay area. this story. caught my attention. a man using his own child's social security number -- this is how far they'll go, in a scheme to illegally receive welfare benefits. he was caught and he was sentenced to four years in prison. another case of identity theft. another warning that you would be well-advised to protect yourself against it as i am. with lifelock ultimate. the most comprehensive i.d. theft protection out there and available.

of course, lifelock services can't protect you however or your bank account if you're not a member. visit lifelock.com or call and if you mention press 10, press 10, you'll get 10% off your lifelock ultimate membership. that number to call is 1-800-356-5967. for lifelock ultimate. bank account takeover alerts require lifelock ultimate membership. one other political news before we get together with madea benjamin here and that is the situation up in new jersey, sad passing yesterday. not just for democrats not just for liberals and progressives, especially for us, perhaps. but for all americans, the passing of senator frank lautenberg at the age of 89.

a great progressive whose legacy includes raising the drinking age from 18 to 21. his legacy includes being one of the first ones to push for gun safety legislation in the united states congress. his legacy includes banning all smoking on airplanes. even chris christie and frank lautenberg and chris christie hated each other. they were political enemies but even chris christie yesterday had some good things to say about frank lautenberg. >> i give him praise on a life well lived. i think we should all sign up today for a life like frank lautenberg had. >> bill: chris christie gets to a point and interim -- gets to appoint an interim senator. no doubt he gets to make that appointment. what's fuzzy is new jersey law can be read -- two different sections of new jersey law. under one whoever chris christie appoints would have to

run this year when christie is up for re-election and then run again in 2014 when lautenberg's term would expire. or the person he appoints would serve for a year and a half and only have to run in 2014. noke has figured it out -- nobody has figured it out yet but geraldo rivera is saying hey, what about me? anybody think of me? i'm thinking of me. >> i'm not spending too much time obsessing over that. i think it is a very, very long shot that governor christie would even think of me, appointing me. i haven't been vetted. have only kind of toyed with the idea of running although if i ran, i have a very specific platform and i think listeners of this program are becoming aware of the fact that you can be a rep canada not be a tea -- a republican and not be a tea party conservative. republicans have to moderate and modify their stance on a lot of issues like immigration like gay marriage like the right to

choose. i think i have a real important message, i'm the last person i believe governor christie will consider right now. >> you keep checking your phone. i've noticed that, every 30 seconds, you're like is that him? >> i would definitely take the call. >> bill: yeah, i think geraldo rivera is right about this. he and i agree. he's the last person that chris christie would think of calling to replace frank lautenberg in new jersey. yesterday, just outside of washington, d.c., fort meade maryland, the first day of a trial that is probably going to last all summer. it is the united states government accusing private first class bradley manning of being a traitor to his country for the leak of the 700,000 pages of documents to wikileaks. the government calls him a traitor. others call him a whistle-blower and a hero.

madea benjamin is cofounder of the great human rights group global exchange and cofounder of another great anti-war group code pink. not just anti-war. progressive group code pink. madea joins us in studio now and madea, you were in the courtroom yesterday for the first day of the trial. >> i was bill. thank you. one of only 16 people of the public. this is one of the trials of the century and it is being conducted in a little shoe box. >> bill: 16 people? >> well, the total size of that little courtroom is about 50. the prosecution wants everybody the defense wants and then there were ten journalists let into there. only 10. and 16 members of the public. >> bill: you could fill an auditorium right with the people who would want to see -- >> actually, they had an auditorium which was the overflow room but the feed kept cutting in and out.

unfortunately, the military isn't capable of getting a good feed into that auditorium. and the journalists had to be in a separate place. you would think they could have picked a courtroom that would hold a significant number of people who would want to come and see that trial. so it was very inadequate in terms of the set-up. >> bill: if you listen to the government case against bradley manning, they portray him almost as someone who was sitting alongside of obama -- osama bin laden, i'm sorry and feeding him state secrets as a traitor to his own country. what's the truth? >> well, julian assange and wikileaks, you could tell yesterday they kept mentioning julian assange's name a million times. they obviously want to go after him -- are going after him. >> bill: yes. >> you know, the defense painted a picture of a -- a young soldier who immediately, upon getting into iraq, started seeing things and was very

uncomfortable with of civilians being killed. a very sensitivefy who had humanist on the back of his dog tag and that he realized that there were a lot of things that the public should know about. and he felt obligated to release information that would open up a public debate. the defense painted a picture of somebody who is actually very careful about what was leaked, that it wasn't sensitive information that would result in the death of soldiers. that it was mainly information that was available in the public. >> bill: 700,000 pages correct? what were some of the things that were leaked? the one thing we hear about is this video of an apache helicopter attack on an intersection in baghdad where civilians -- our troops were firing on civilians one journalist among them was killed. we did not know that before this happened, right?

>> that's right. also, the poor good samaritan who came in to try to help as well. the callousness with which the soldiers were talking i think is something that disturbed bradley manning quite a lot. that is something -- that's a video that we should be able to see. how our soldiers are acting during wartime. and how many civilians are getting killed which is something that the government is constantly hiding from us. >> bill: the military says yeah, some of the secrets showed up. we found them in osama bin laden's home. >> he could have read "the new york times" and read a lot of other places that have produced this information. so to say that because something ends up in the hands of al-qaeda means that you intended it to do that which is really what espionage is all about is very far from the truth. >> bill: all right. so what's the difference between somebody in the bush white house, dick cheney, releasing the identity of an undercover

c.i.a. agent by the name of valerie plame, putting lives at risk, and what bradley manning did? bradley manning would say he did it in the public interest. by the bush administration, it was about partisan politics. >> bill: what happened to the -- to me the obvious point is they're throwing the book -- they want to put bradley manning away for life, right? >> well, that's right. >> bill: whatever happened to dick cheney or anybody in the bush administration over the outing of valerie plame? >> he gets to write a nice memoir and make a lot of money giving talks just likes rumsfeld. i think what you're seeing unfortunately is the obama administration that is going so viciously after the whistle-blowers. bradley manning is the most stark that has six cases where the government is using the espionage act or has tried to use the espionage act.

against people who are simply informing the public is a real indictment to the obama administration. >> bill: do you think bradley manning is our daniel ellsberg? >> daniel ellsberg says he is. he's been there consistently for bradley manning including at the rally at fort meade on saturday where oh probably over 1,000 people came from all over the country to show their support for bradley manning. >> bill: i called it a show trial. why? >> well, i think that the government is going to try to make this connection with osama bin laden. is going to bring in the navy seals. is going to have parts of this which is close to the public -- closed to the public. this is all trying to get what michael ratner, the attorney says another pound of flesh from poor bradley manning. has already admitted to enough counts that would land him 20 years in jail. they're not going to be able to prove espionage. that's a hard thing to prove. even if the judge agreed to that, it would be overturned in

appeal. >> bill: medea benjamin is with us, cofounder for codepink. also cofounder of global exchange. in the courtroom yesterday the first day of the bradley manning trial. i think it is a kangaroo court as well. looks like it to me. 1-866-55-press. your comments welcome when we come back here on the "full court press." >> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show." now on current tv.

i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. john fugelsang: if you believe in states rights but still support the drug war you must be high. cenk uygur: i think the number one thing viewers like about the young turks is that we're

honest. i think the audience gets that i actually mean it. michael shure: this show is of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. joy behar: you can say anything here. jerry springer: i spent a couple of hours with a hooker joy behar: your mistake was writing a check jerry springer: she never cashed it (vo) the day's events. four very unique points of view. tonight starting at 6 eastern.

>> bill: 12 minutes before the top of the hour here. we're talking about the bradley manning trial. it started yesterday. finally. the government wants him convicted under the espionage act. thrown in jail for the rest of his life. bradley manning has already admitted to charges of releasing documents that would land him 20 years in prison. medea benjamin, cofounder of codepink and global exchange was in the courtroom yesterday. she's in studio with us this morning. before we get back to that, medea, i have to ask you you made a hell of a lot of news last week at the national defense university, president obama went over to give a much heralded national security speech. he was interrupted one two or three times by you. and you were tossed out of the courtroom. first question is this is the

national defense university and the president of the united states. how the hell did you get in there? >> that's a secret i'm not at liberty to reveal. [ laughter ] >> bill: but you didn't -- you didn't sneak in like through a window right or anything? >> no. i had an invitation to get in and i was tulessening very carefully. >> bill: you had an invitation to attend. >> i had an invitation to attend. i was not necessarily planning on interrupting. i actually thought the president was going to -- >> bill: i've known. >> long time. you went there -- you went there to -- >> i went there with the possibility -- i've actually been in other situations where the president was talking and i've never said a thing. >> bill: you went without protesting? >> twice. >> bill: what prompted you to protest this time? >> i had read all of the press

reports that were predicting real policy changes and i thought i was going to hear that. i waited until he said in the last thing i'm going to talk about and it was already 45 minutes into his speech and i realized he had already gone through all of the drones, he had not made the -- the concrete changes that had been predicted. and that he was now going to talk about guantanamo and immediately started blaming it on congress again and having worked on both of these issues quite a lot, i couldn't sit there anymore and listen to him act as if he was some kind of helpless official at the mercy of the congress. and that's when i thought i had to get up and say you are commander in chief. there are things that you can do with the stroke of a pen. and you're not doing them. >> bill: didn't he though say that for drones, now we're going to stop the -- i forget, signature strikes, is that what they're called? >> he talked about it. he did not say that. he did not say we're going to

stop signature strikes. in fact, he did not even mention what had been so predicted that he was going to say that he's taking the drones out of the hands of the c.i.a. he talked -- he said that his administration's policy was to capture people instead of killing them which is absolutely wrong. they do not capture people. they just kill them. he didn't say that he was going to do anything about the innocent people who have been killed. do you know, there is a policy in afghanistan if innocent people are killed, the u.s. apologizes to the family an compensates the family. there's both a pot of money that the state department and the pentagon has for doing that. that's not done across the border in pakistan. it's not done in yemen. and so there was nothing about the issues of innocent civilians and i felt that the -- there was no commitment to just going

after the high level al-qaeda. in fact, that wasn't even mentioned. so i think it it was a justification for the program that's going on. we know that because there's been three drone strikes since that speech. >> bill: we have so much more we could talk about but we're out of time. i just want to ask you how people who believe that bradley manning did a public service that he's a whistle-blower and not a traitor. how can they make their voices known? what should they do? >> we're not far from fort meade, maryland. people should go to the trial. it is a fascinating -- >> bill: they're around the country. >> they can go on to the bradley manning support network. sign on to there contribute money for his defense team and his other actions that are listed on the web site. >> bill: bradleymaningsupportnetwork. medea benjamin you're on the front lines for the important issues coming up here today.

you see her often on the news and she makes her presence known and you're on your way to yemen now for a fact-finding trip. >> that's right. i hope you'll have me on after that. >> bill: will you stop by when you come back? >> i will. >> bill: i won't join you on that trip. medea, nice to see you. i'll come back and tell you what the p.o.t.u.s. is up to today. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were

they thinking? we have a big big hour and the iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) 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. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

>> if you believe in state's rights but still support the drug war you must be high. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> do you think that there is any chance we'll see this president even say the words "carbon tax"? >> with an open mind... >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> ...and a distinctly satirical point of view. >> but you mentioned "great leadership" so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter).

>> watch the show. >> only on current tv. this show is about being up to date, staying in touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. in reality it's not like they actually care. this is purely about political grandstanding. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. in the next hour, jonathan alter, author of the new book "the center holds" in studio

with us along with evan mcmorris santoro from "buzzfeed." today on the president's schedule, in the rose garden this morning he'll be introducing his three nominees for the united states court of appeals for the district of columbia. he follows that with a top meeting with the president of chile in the oval office. he and the vice president meet for lunch and then the president goes off to walter reed hospital in bethesda to visit the war wounded there. which he does with some regularity. back at the white house late this afternoon. jay carney will be holding his regular press briefing at 1:00 today. i will be there. yesterday, jay carney declined to get into any spat with darrell issa who called him a paid liar on cnn on sunday. back with evan mcmorris santoro and jonathan alter here

on the "full court press."

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hey, what do you say? hello, everybody. it is tuesday june 4. can you believe it? here we go. the "full court press" coming to you live from our studio right here on capitol hill. in washington, d.c. this tuesday morning. beaming out to you all the way across this great land of ours on current tv with the big stories of the day. and your chance to talk about them. here's how you do it. 1-866-55-press. that's our toll free number.

or you can join us on twitter. invite your comments on twitter at bpshow. join us on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow. they're back! yes, members of congress are back in town and darrell issa is still up to his old mccarthyite tactics now, accusing the obama white house of personally directing the i.r.s. to go after those tea party groups. but even republican senator lindsey graham says there is zero evidence to support that charge. and republican senator john mccain has told darrell issa to back off. meanwhile, college republicans took a look at their own party and came out with a scathing report yesterday saying that to young people today the republican party comes across as closed-minded, rigid racist and old-fashioned. i couldn't have said it better myself.

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cenk off air alright in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks! i think the number 1 thing than viewers like about the young turks is that were honest. they know that i'm not bsing them for some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know i'm going to be the first one to call them out. cenk on air>> what's unacceptable is how washington continues to screw the middle class over. cenk off air i don't want the middle class taking the brunt of the spending cuts and all the different programs that wind up hurting the middle class. cenk on air you got to go to the local level, the state level and we have to fight hard to make sure they can't buy our politics anymore. cenk off air and they can question if i'm right about that. but i think the audience gets that, i actually mean it. cenk on air 3 trillion dollars in spending cuts! narrator uniquely progressive and always topical the worlds largest online news show is on current tv. cenk off air and i think the audience

gets, "this guys to best of his abilities is trying to look out for us." only on current tv! >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: ladies and gentlemen hold on to your wallets and pocketbook, congress is back in town. good morning, good to see you this morning. it is tuesday. tuesday, june 4. and this is the "full court press." we're coming to you live from our studio on capitol hill in washington, d.c. look forward to hearing from

you. we'll tell you what's going on and to get your comments by phone at 1-866-55-press. on twitter at bpshow and on facebook facebook.com/billpressshow. couldn't have a more powerful start to the day today than to start off with two keen observers of the political scene. one seasoned observer. that's what we say for us older guys. seasoned. at "newsweek" for years and years. now columnist for bloomberg and author of his second book about president obama this one just out today! publication date of the center hold. obama and his enemies. jonathan alter. great to see you. >> great to see you bill. congratulations. >> thank you. >> bill: can't wait to hear your take on the president in his second term. up-and-coming young observer of the political scene, evan

mcmorris santoro joins me in the white house briefing rooms just about every day. he covers the white house for "buzzfeed". >> how are you? >> bill: you'll be here for the entire hour as a "friend of bill." >> absolutely. >> fob. >> that's a big deal. it comes with benefits, too. >> obamacare. >> bill: we want to get into this person right here. first, yesterday we mourn the passing of a great progressive. great liberal. i think a great senator for all americans. frank lautenberg dead yesterday at age 89. those of us who fly anywhere ever will be grateful to him. he's the man who said no more smoke on airplanes. back in 1989. >> he's my senator. yeah, he had an amazing career. he was tremendously vital until just the last two three months.

you would see him around and he was very involved in gun safety issues, had been for many years. and was a champion for consumers, for all new jersey citizens but really it was always focused on how does what happens in washington affect people in their daily lives whether they're flying or trying to stay safe from gun violence or a hundred other issues. he was just tireless and it is a real loss for our state. >> bill: absolutely. for the country. you know, he also was the one who championed raising the drinking age. from 18 to 21 back in 1984, right? >> my kids aren't thrilled by that one. >> bill: but now the question is what does chris christie does -- i don't want to speculate on that. there's some people putting

themselves out there saying you know, chris christie, what about me? what about me? he gets to make the appointment that interim appointment -- here's one person i don't think is going to get the call. he talked about it yesterday. jerry rivers. >> i'm not spending too much time obsessing over that. i think it is a very, very long shot that governor christie would even think of me, appointing me. i haven't been vetted. have only kind of toyed with the idea of running although if i ran, i have a very specific platform and i think listeners of this program are becoming aware of the fact you can be a republican and not be a tea party conservative. you know the fact that republicans have to moderate and have to modify their stance on a lot of issues like immigration like gay marriage, like the right to choose. so although i think i have a real important message i'm the last person -- [ laughter ] >> you keep checking your phone.

i've noticed that, every 30 seconds, you're like is that him? >> i would definitely take the call. >> bill: geraldo. >> he's become a republican quote-unquote. >> i have no interest in doing it. let me unveil my 12-point plan should i be asked. >> i've got him in the book because roger ailes called cut his mic when he was talking about benghazi and geraldo tried to denied of that what happened. i have an e-mail where he confirms it from when i was reporting the book. and i have a lot of -- quite a bit about chris christie in my book. my favorite story is when roger ailes wanted him to run for president and he had a meeting at his house at his estate in upstate new york and rush limbaugh flew in and others -- what i call the enemies. and christie is explaining why he doesn't want to run for president. he talks about -- to these very disappointed republican honchos

their family issues and he's not done doing what he wants to do. and besides guys, i like going to burger king, okay? he sort of said it as a little bit of a joke according to somebody i talked to who was in the room but none of these guys, ailes, limbaugh, the other big shots, none of them laughed at all. you could have heard a pin drop. they didn't think it was funny because they really wanted him to run for president. then later i've got fun stuff about you know, what was happening in hurricane sandy. and how christie planted a question after it seemed like he was too close to obama. and murdoch had tweeted that you know, christie better endorse mitt romney quickly. this is right before the election. and so he -- at a press briefing during hurricane sandy, he has a staff plant a question, do you still support governor romney?

and his answer is i can't believe you're asking me this question. and you know, why would you talking about politics at a time like this and of course, i support governor romney. i was one of his earliest supporters. he was able to get his message out and take a shot at the press at the same time even though he planted the question. >> makes it interesting. like the new way of doing it, i guess. >> bill: i guess it is. here's what i don't understand. why is he getting grief for doing what a governor has to do which is get all of the help that he can or she can for the people of the state? right? >> our state was really hurt after that. it was ridiculous. but it did -- you know, it didn't re-elect the president but it is true that another thing and i try in this book to get as much behind the scenes stuff in as i can. it is true that bill clinton called up mitt romney after the election and told him maybe he

was just trying to be nice that he believed that until hurricane sandy, that romney was going to win. and that's from bill clinton. and we forget now of course obama was going to win. he won by five million votes. we forget there were an awful lot of smart people who thought this was going to be a very close race. it was possible for romney to win. so you know what? the center holds is the first book out about the campaign. i just tried to jam it with as much fresh stuff as i could. >> bill: i want to start at the very beginning. you and i have covered a lot of presidential campaigns. you make this point that we always say or think or hear people say that this election is -- every election i hear that. there's more at stake in this election than there has ever been in any election. most of the time that is b.s. you say it is true about the election of 2012. why? >> so, this is -- you know, i'm

a little embarrassed to admit. the ninth presidential election i've covered because i started doing it when i was evan's age and younger. and every year, some pius candidate says it is the most -- the reason i think this one really was is that -- and the reason i called the book the center holds is not just because i like the william butler -- there was a consensus in the 20th century around certain things that really started around the time of my first book about franklin roosevelt. a consensus about a social contract and what we owe each other. and it was accepted by democrats and republicans and it included not just things like entitlement programs which probably shouldn't be called entitlement programs, social insurance programs. but also things like building the country. the infrastructure. so dwight eisenhower, he didn't challenge roosevelt's social programs. the new deal programs that

started then. and he, of course, did a lot of infrastructure. nixon did a lot of things that today would be considered radical liberal things. so there was this 20th century consensus but if you look at the ryan plan and paul ryan would have been in charge of the budget. this was determined by the transition team for mitt romney. basically does rewrite the american social contract. and they would have had the votes to get that through had romney won. because they could have used an obscure rule in the senate to get it through on 51 votes in the same way they would repeal obamacare. obamacare gotten through with 51 votes. and they would have not gotten everything they wanted but they would have gone a long way to -- as ryan said, by his own account, rewriting the american social contract so that it was no longer what he called a hammock that was coddling the

47%. >> never heard that. >> the stakes were big. and this was a class-based election. remember when romney said you know, i'm tired of people calling it class warfare and that's dangerous. and warren buffett said yeah, there is class warfare. it is people like me, the rich against everybody else. >> bill: and we're winning. >> if romney had been elected that win would have become a route. and the country would have basically just been turned over to the wealthy and even worse bill, this is the thing that i think people should focus on a little bit more now and with all of the problems that the president's having. the economy is getting better. if mitt romney were president right now everybody maybe except for you, would be saying well, the economy is getting

better because romney came in and business likes him and slashing taxes for the wealthy slashing regulations slashing programs for the poor which the ryan budget did. that's what led to the economy getting good. and so for a whole generation, it would have been mitt romney as ronald reagan, barack obama as jimmy carter and this is the way you create sustained economic growth. >> bill: it would have turned everything around. >> the way it is now. nothing bad is going to happen. maybe good stuff is not going to happen but the president has the veto pen and the ryan plan, the rest of it is a fantasy. it ain't gonna happen. liberals can sleep easy. 2017 at the earliest before any really bad stuff could happen and probably in not even then because of demographic changes in the united states. >> bill: the center holds is the book. must read. we'll have a link up on our web

site. of course, you can get it in your local bookstore and at amazon.com and all of the other sites. jonathan, i just got the book yesterday. >> just came out. >> bill: but i can't wait to get into it. but from what i've read, you're also somewhat critical of the president in shall i say like maybe not taking full advantage of the bully pulpit in his first term. >> i think that he -- i think he left some tools in the toolbox that he could have used. some of it is bully pulpit stuff. some of it is sha schmoozing, being more of a politician. i have a chapter called missing the schmooze gene and he's trying to correct that now. he's playing golf with republicans and in washington, it is all -- washington, it is all personal. and life in general these personal relationships are very

important and he is kind of detached from that. now, am i suggesting to become a creature of washington? no. in some ways it makes him more popular with the american public to not be seen as too much of a politician. but he does have to play a little bit more of an inside game i think to put more points on the board. remember, he accomplished more in his first two years legislatively than any president since lyndon johnson. everybody forgets this. a long string of new laws. that we passed. for him to be remembered as he so much wants to be as more than the first african-american president, he needs to figure out some new combinations on the lock to deal better with congress and other constituencies. i think he wants to. i think he is a very self-aware guy and i think he wants to make some adjustments so that he can have a successful second term.

i think he will. >> bill: i've read over 200 interviews you did for the book, right? >> i did. >> bill: talk about some of the other players when we come back with jonathan alter. evan mcmorris santoro here as a "friend of bill." we'll be right back. the center holds obama and his enemies. the "full court press" with jonathan alter. we'll be right back. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. (vo) she's joy behar. >>current will let me say anything.

perfectly bite sized drops of rich and creamy chocolate happiness. when the chocolate is hershey's, life is delicious.

we have a big big hour and the iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) 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. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

>> if you believe in state's rights but still support the drug war you must be high. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> do you think that there is any chance we'll see this president even say the words "carbon tax"? >> with an open mind... >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> ...and a distinctly satirical point of view. >> but you mentioned "great leadership" so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv.

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: here we go. 25 minutes after the hour now. very very important exciting new book out called -- it's out today called "the center holds obama and his enemies." jonathan alter is in the studio with us. his first book was about the first year of the obama administration. the promise as i recall, right? >> the early book on obama. i wrote one about franklin roosevelt's first couple of years, too, in the early 1930s. tried to draw you know, some of the -- in this book, i'm trying to not make straight up comparisons but every one of these stories has -- historical resonance. i tried to put obama in some historical context. put the 2012 campaign in historical context. >> bill: evan mcmorris santoro is here with us from "buzzfeed." >> you mentioned we talked in the last segment about

effectiveness and maybe you talk about schmooze deficit. i think seeing in the second term he wasn't able to get guns done. he didn't really want the sequester fight that much. seems like a big fight is going forward. the big focus is both health care and immigration. i wonder how you think the campaign changed specifically the immigration debate. >> well, i think elections have consequences, everybody knows. and this one had a big consequence which is that we're going to get immigration reform in all likelihood. when we would not have -- not only had romney won, but even if obama had gotten say 65% of the latino vote. he got 71% which scared the hell out of the republican party. they realized they had to do some things. michael steele said they couldn't put a sombrero on the party and have a couple of latino candidates out there. they needed to get serious about

addressing the issue that really resonated with latinos and that's comprehensive immigration reform. so that's why we're moving forward on this issue now in a bipartisan way. and so one of the things i tried to do in the book is to explain how did obama get 71%. jim men sino, obama's campaign manager said early on, if we dip below 60% in latinos, we lose. no matter what else we do. and so the way they did that the mechanics of the way they -- they hired the latina oprah christina who nobody in the anglo community but very few people know. in the latino community huge superstar for years. they did ten things like that in the subterranean campaign. >> bill: we'll have to let readers find out the rest of it which you should and read it.

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." to the fire. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night? is this personal, or is it political? a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i'm given to doing anyway, by staying in touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. in reality it's not like they actually care. this is purely about political grandstanding. i've worn lots of hats, but i've always kept this going. i've been doing politics now for a dozen years. (vo) he's been called the epic politics man. he's michael shure and his arena is the war room. >> these republicans in congress that think the world ends at the atlantic ocean border and pacific ocean border. the bloggers and the people that are sort of compiling the best of the day. i do a lot of looking at those people as well. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people, but somehow he thinks raising the

minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them right?

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: hey, here we go. 33 minutes after the hour now here on the "full court press." this tuesday morning. we're coming to you live from our nation's capital and brought to you by the international brotherhood of teamsters today. the good men and women of the teamsters union under president jim hoffa.

building a better america. we all live better thanks to their good work. you can find out about it on their web site, teamster.org. easy enough. continuing in studio with us, covers the white house for "buzzfeed," evan mcmorris santoro. evan you and i both -- you were out on the campaign trail a lot because we talked to you from the campaign trail. covering it mostly from in studio here but you and i both eager to read jonathan alter's book. this is the first one about the campaign and how president obama put it together. and also look forward to what we can expect in the second administration. >> he's got great insight into obama's mind and how obama is -- his first book was so good about that. how obama thinks about stuff. >> bill: it's interesting. he had several interviews with president obama for the first book. did not have access to the president for this book but the 200 people in and around president obama and just some of

the stories that jonathan told, that little story about chris christie i find fascinating. >> yeah. i mean -- >> bill: who would think that a politician would plant a question? >> but then to have -- i can't believe you asked me that. that's very chris christie. he likes to -- he's very politically aware of himself. more than people really talk about. he's a very politically aware very wiley sport political operator. >> bill: "the new york times" this morning, "the washington post," the same thing. i saw i think everybody has written the same story this morning. i hope you didn't. that the death of senator lautenberg places christie in a difficult spot. as if we're supposed to feel sorry for him. you know, chris christie, i'm sure sees this -- he's sorry about senator lautenberg's death. but politically, he sees this as a great opportunity for him. he plays this right this will be a big feather in his cap. >> i think we have to talk about

this stuff. we're political reporters. politics is important to see the next phase in politics but you know, it is important to remember that christie is sitting on a really big lead in his election. he has a lot of slack to play around with. his election will not hinge on who he appoints to the senate seat or when he has a special election. >> bill: he'll figure out what's best for him and that's what he'll do. and take advantage of it. that's what it's all about. let's go back to not the campaign, looking ahead but today, at the white house. these days, at least at the white house president obama on friday in the rose garden, friday morning. coming out with students from all across the country and saying look, we've got to do something about student loans. good issue for him. >> yeah, this is one of those things he has been talking about since the beginning of his presidency about making college easier to afford. making it easier to attend

college. speaking on student loan reform is a big part of his first term agenda. they changed a lot of stuff. how student loans worked. it is also an example of how the white house in the midst of all of the stories that some might call scandal. some call hurdles. some like to call -- >> bill: distractions. >> whatever you want to call them but all of the stories are going on. the white house has contended they're able to continue to push forward on obama's agenda and events like that one with the student loans where he's able to talk about something near and dear to his heart. a big part of his agenda. even in the midst of all of this stuff suggests the -- the white house suggested they're able to keep businesses open during this stuff. that that's been going on. so you know, i'm not certain that there's a lot of potential for legislative action on almost any topic. but student loans are something that has always been a big rallying cry for him and of course, you know, a big part of his base. >> bill: i thought it was

interesting that the president's -- the student loan issue on friday and then on monday the college republicans came out with their report and their pretty damming report on the republican party. >> i would say scathing, yeah. >> it is the latest in the round of reports from inside the g.o.p. it is fascinating because all of the reports that come out we saw reince priebus did his infamous autopsy of the election. we have this college of republican report. i think this report is intuitive for people who watched the election. it speaks about how the party is seen as a party of the elderly. does reach out and connect with youth voters. >> bill: rigid racist, closed-minded and old fashioned is what they said. >> correct. tough words. >> bill: coming from republicans. >> still no direct call for a change in stance. one thing that's interesting

about this post-2012 republican party discussion has been primarily focused on the method of the way things are communicated versus what's tule being communicated. the idea is you can still be opposed to gay marriage of just don't talk about it so much people don't care that much about -- they prefer you talk about the economy. but you can still be opposed to it. you know, democratic argument is you can't be opposed to gay marriage or this stuff any longer. even the college republican report which speaks a lot about the republican stances on these issues alienating youth voters. doesn't directly call for the party of change to be used on these issues. this is the most interesting thing for me to watch as someone who has watched the g.o.p. for awhile is how are they going to rectify this idea of everybody saying that what you believe in is making it difficult for you to expand your party base but your party base is saying don't change what you believe in. >> bill: well, it is the old

argument that -- the belief that you don't need a new pizza just you need a new pizza box. >> is that an old argument? that's good. >> bill: and that's not true, right? you need a new pizza. >> well, i mean some people have that argument. >> bill: what do we call them -- distractions or hurdles or scandals. does the president survive the big three benghazi, i.r.s. and department of justice? >> you know, survival is a word defined by so many different types of people. honestly, is he going to be impeached? no. he's not going -- i don't think that's going to happen. i think that -- >> bill: although there are tea partiers who would vote for it. >> they would have voted for it before. before this stuff came out. i think that there is some shifting. the white house felt like yesterday was a pretty good day for them because sunday, darrell

issa who is, of course, the sheriff of washington, the house oversight committee chair came out on television and talked about jay carney being a paid liar and talked about how you know, they have all of this evidence that all of the i.r.s. stuff which is not -- go straight to the top. he has all of these documents. and that instantly led to -- you have to be careful with this kind of stuff when political on or abouts come around because that led to a lot of discussions about republican overreach. on these issues saying you know, even saw lindsey graham and john mccain, two prominent republicans say you know, that the g.o.p. has to be careful with this stuff. i wouldn't call carney a liar. this kind of stuff. so the white house i think sort of feels like these issues will be around. they're not going to go anywhere, particularly the i.r.s. such a great narrative for the republicans and also it is a very important issue that should be fully investigated. everybody agrees on that. but with this stuff that darrell issa is saying and other

republicans are saying, the white house is feel pretty confident that the republicans will kind of mess up their chance at a big, potential victory here. >> bill: which is usually one thing you can count on. that the republicans will overplay their hand. how about benghazi? i think the air has gone out of the tires on benghazi. >> you don't hear as much about it now. there are some people who were excited about it. but i often -- i always sort of felt like that was one that people were sort of keeping in the air as they could and then when these two other ones, of course the attorney general story with the d.o.j. taking reporter's records and then the story about the i.r.s., it feels like a lot of the attention has shifted to that and less on benghazi. there will be more discussions about it. the fbi says that they have identified perpetrators of the attack and if they find them, we'll have more discussion about that then but it does feel like that's not the driving story

now. i think i.r.s. is much more at the center. >> bill: i think you're right. i think the d.o.j. is the one that should be at the center. it is a lot more serious. i think the i.r.s. is basically a case of bureaucratic bungling. also, my feeling on the i.r.s. is yesterday's hearing didn't get that much attention but with the new acting head of the i.r.s. came in, i think it did a lot to sort of diffuse that situation. certainly you have to believe i think, come away from yesterday's hearing that the new guy is a new sheriff in town. he's in charge. he didn't apologize at all. he thought it was wrong. we're going to fix it. and i'm on the case, basically he told them. he just got there. darrell issa will still have 45 more hearings about the i.r.s. but issa's problem is he doesn't know when to stop, you know. he doesn't know when to take yes for an answer. >> i think on this, thorough investigation of this is very,

very important to do. i think it is a matter -- i think the white house thinks it is a matter of rhetoric at this point. investigating it is probably the right move though. >> bill: and now will eric holder survive? we know that president obama will. will eric holder survive? that's a different question for evan mcmorris santoro when we come back. covers the white house for "buzzfeed." here with us. and you're welcome to join the conversation at 1-866-55-press. >> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show" live on your radio and on current tv.

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>> announcer: connect with the "bill press show" on twitter. follow us at bpshow and tweet using the hashtag watching bp. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: here we go on a tuesday, june 4. beautiful day here in our nation's capital. and starting off with a bang here. evan mcmorris santoro. he covers the white house for "buzzfeed." see him there at the briefings every day. he's in studio with us this morning. "buzzfeed" just made a deal with cnn. >> yep. >> bill: are you going to take over the situation room? is that what it is? >> no. >> bill: i heard that there were rumors wolf blitzer might be, you know, a -- forced out. i didn't realize you were the one. >> look out for me. i'm always next. >> bill: your hair is the wrong color. >> not for long. once you take over that slot. >> about 40 hours of television

a day. >> bill: i think you're right. i'm interested in your take on -- we didn't have a chance to get into with jonathan alter. how the president whether he's going to be more successful -- with his agenda in the second term. as jonathan pointed out the first two years nancy pelosi as speaker, harry reid as majority leader. president obama is in the white house. they got a lot done. they racked up a lot of change. important change starting with lilly ledbetter act and on to obama care and supreme court appointments. they got a lot done. and then we lose the house. john boehner comes in as speaker. and things kind of slowed down. right? because particularly -- >> kind of. >> bill: they got nothing done. so now the president came out -- a lot of it was republicans said well, we're not sure the american people

supported his agenda. we won't do anything until they re-elect and give people a chance to change horses. well, they didn't. they said no. we like this guy. we're going to stick with him. given that, is the second term going to be anymore productive? >> well, you know, there is a midterm election in the second term too. >> bill: what you're saying is nothing ain't going to happen. nothing is going to happen until 2014. >> so during the campaign, obama's people were asked a lot about this. so if we re-elect you and we keep the republican house, that was clearly what was going to happen, why should anybody think this is going to be different. there is an argument of electing romney just because -- why should we you know, why should we assume it will be different this time than last time. people suggested well, if obama wins the fever will break because there is idea they can defeat him will be over with and they'll have to play ball.

to be fair, there have been some in the republican party who have changed tone a little bit after the election. we even saw eric cantor try to do some pro-active legislation change things a bit. in congress, it is very much up to its old tricks. we've seen some senators you know, bob corker from tennessee pops up a lot. who have been willing to talk about sort of working with the president, working with the white house on solving the problems and making these compromise deals but by in large, the house is still you know, trying to repeal obamacare. a lot of the things are similar. i think that no one's figured out how to crack that nut as it were. you have obama has done a lot of the schmoozing now. i'm going to have dinner with them. golf a little bit. try this stuff. but it doesn't feel like anyone's really figured out how to move past this gridlock.

it doesn't seem like that's really been able to happen. you saw what happened with the sequester. which was obama got part of what he wanted which is a little bit of a tax increase. then think that the white house and i guess people relied on the fact that these cuts were so deep to defense that republicans would stop them but they didn't. >> bill: if he is going to get anything done, he needs a good quarterback in the white house. he has a new chief of staff dennis mcdonough. you wrote about a deputy chief of staff most people have never heard of. >> mark childress, deputy chief staff for planning. did a big profile on him last week. you can find it on "buzzfeed" under the headline, the most powerful man in the white house you've never heard of. basically, his deal is he's this guy. he's one of these guys that -- this is how the white house works. it is one of the interesting stories. been working for a couple of months. i've been fascinated in how the white house functions. this story is about a guy who is the guy that sort of moves the

levers around inside washington. he knows -- he's been in washington for a long time. he worked for daschle. he worked for senator ted kennedy. he worked for bill clinton's first, second term. he worked a little bit for the transition. hhs. and now he's been on board the white house since about january of last year. and he just -- he's this guy that sort of has developed all of these plans that have worked brilliantly for obama. he developed the operation that led to the compromise on contraception that turned the contraception issue from a political liability for obama to a huge political win for obama and democrats. he developed obama's sort of mini dream act that was a huge win for him. >> bill: this is mark childress. mark childress. you can find that -- people can find that on buzzfeed.com. >> buzzfeed.com/politics. >> bill: evan tweets more than i do at the white house briefings. i can tell you because i get his

tweets as i'm sending mine out on twitter. you can follow evan at evanmcsan. always good to have you in studio my friend. see you at 1:00 with jay carney. >> so about 2:00 then. [ laughter ] >> bill: see you then. >> all right cool. >> bill: i'll be back with a quick parting shot. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

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