[ music ] >> bill: hey, and good wednesday morning to you. what do you say, everybody? great to see you this morning, friends and neighbors. it is wednesday, june 19th. this is the full court press on current tv. we are here in our nation's capitol, washington, d.c., right on capitol hill, where the house and the senate are both busy with various matters. we will tell you what's going on here in washington, d.c., around

the nation and around the globe and most importantly, give you a chance to tell us what it all means to you 866-55-press. you know the toll-free number. put that on your speed dial. give us your comments if you don't want to call, give us your comments on twitter @bpshow. @bpshow and on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow for all of our friends on facebook. yesterday, on capitol hill, the head of nsa came up to say and to make the claim that that massive collection of our phone calls has given them the opportunity to foil 50 different terrorist plots since september 11th, including 10 of them here in the united states of america. but they still can't say how stopping those plots had anything to do with collecting

information on funeral that you make or i make. i think they were just trying to cover their ass. we will talk about that and a lot more on current tv. [ music ] we have a big, big hour and the iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the conversation started weekdays at 9 eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. 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. (vo) sharp tongue. >>excuse me? (vo) quick wit. >> and yes, president obama does smell like cookies and freedom. (vo) and above all, opinion and attitude. >> really?! this is the kind of stuff they say about something they just pulled freshly from their [bleep]. >> you know what those people are like. >> what could possibly go wrong in eight years of george bush? >> my producer just coughed up a hairball. >>sorry. >>just be grateful current tv doesn't come in "smell-o-vision" >> oh come on!

the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo)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'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? [ music ] >> intrastating across the nation, on your radio and on current tv this is "the bill press show." >> bill: senator claire mccaskill endorses hillary in 2016. don't you think you should decide until hillary decides she is going to return and until 2015 to talk about 2016? oh, my god. not time for another presidential campaign yet. good morning, everybody. it is wednesday, wednesday

june 19th. this is the full court press. we are coming to you live right here on current tv and on your local progressive talk radio station. i am just getting organized here this morning and on sirius xm this hour only. coming to you live with the news of the day from our nation's capitol. that's where you will find us. come to washington, d.c., see the capitol building. just continue a couple of blocks and there we are right in the shadow of the capitol dome close enough that we can see them from here and they can hear us. damn straight from there where they are sitting. and getting the work of the people done. at least that's what they are supposed to be doing. at any rate, we've got it covered. we've also got our eye on president obama overseas in germany now giving a big speech today near the bran denyiburg gate after some rocky sessions.

we have our eye in what's happening in other parts of the world, particular in ku. ar where the united states is going to sit down with the taliban for the first time in years and years and years and start talking about how to bring a real end to that conflict in afghanistan. so lots to talk about this morningtalking about how to bring a real end to that conflict in afghanistan. so lots to talk about this morning give us a call at 866-55-press, by joining us on twitter at bpshow and joining us on facebook. all of our friends on facebook. become our friend on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow. peter ogburn still off this week with vacation in the west. peter, we'll talk a little bit about what peter is up to this morning, we are sure. dan henning has the place covered here >> dan: good morning >> bill: wearing his hat and peter's hat with alicia cruz

standing bio phones and cyprian bowlding with the video cameras. they are already here to go >> dan: always. >> bill: on the job. cyprian, good morning. how about it? so we know that peter is a big spurs fan. peter had a lot of money on the spurs winning. well, he did pretty well other night. last night, i am sure he had a heart attack. oh, my god. >> that's probably why we haven't heard from him this morning. he is probably in the er somewhere in vegas. >> it was a game that the spurs had. >> that's what i understand. didn't stay up to watch it that the spurs had in hand and at the very last minute the heat came alive, forced it into overtime. here is mike english with the final call. >> who is he going to find? across the court. green can't get it up. we are going to a game 7! miami wins it in overtime.

103 to 100 action and they oh, oh and they live to play another day. there you go. the heat had to win it last night, and they did. right? >> 103 to 100. >> it looked like the spurs had it. >> dan: they were down. the spurs were up by 5 points with under 30 seconds to go. and lebron james came in scored and i think ray allen posted as well. and then they tied it up. >> bill: five points in 30 seconds? >> dan: yeah, and went into -- went into overtime. and now it's game 7 tomorrow. and that's -- that's win it and done. >> bill: game 7 in miami? >> dan: yeah. you know that's going to be cookin'. >> bill: yeah. >> dan: uh-huh. >> bill: boy, a lot riding on that game indeed. and we got a lot riding on the show this morning. eliot spitzer will join us a little bit later in this house as he does every wednesday morning, and then two good democratic members of congress

coming in studio with us. tony cardenas from california and steve israel from new york, and former congressman tom periello from virginia all three in studio with us. lots going on. yesterday, the nsa fighting back saying we, this big collection program, that we have heard so much about, that edward snowden revealed, they say it is stopped. terrorist plot after terrorist plot after terrorist plot. dozens of them. we'll tell you about it, but first... >> this is the full court press. >> dan: other headlines making news on this wednesday, chris christie was asked what his favorite sports teams were by a bunch of new jersey school kids yesterday. no surprise when the governor answered that his baseball team is the mets. basketball, he roots for the knicks but fuel football his favorite team is the dallas cowboys. >> bill: what?

>> dan: that angered a lot of new jerseyians. he has been a cowboys fan since he was a kid. >> bill: that makes it okay? >> dan: makes it just a tad bit better. a tad bit okay. his advisors would tell him to just lie and say he is a giants or a jets fan. >> bill: the giants play in jersey. right? >> dan: and the jets, too. at the meadowlands across the river frommanhattan. yeah. >> bill: christie can get away with anything just about. >> dan: sure. quite the lunch at an irish push just south of dublin, ireland, yesterday, michelle obama and daughters joined elite 6er of u2, his wife, bono and their two kids he thought the place was a secret but everyone knows finnegans is one of his favorite pubs, the traditional irish fare what i mean president obama was at work at the g8 >> bill: the girls are off on a

little vacation of their own. >> not bad when you are 14 years old and have lunch with the lead singer of u2. pretty good. >> bill: those girls have had a lot of special opportunities, shall we say. >> dan: absolutely. a company in las vegas wants to build a new roller costar on the las vegas strip planning to be the tallest rollercoaster in the world. >> bill: i saw that under construction when i was there the last time. they have been working on it for some time. >> dan: so tall it needs faa approval. the 650 foot tall structure needs to be approved so they are sure it won't interfere with air traffic. it will be about half as fall as the stratosphere title at the south end of the strip. >> bill: you can see it easily where they are building it. but the thing is the airport in las vegas is almost right on the strip. >> yeah. >> bill: i don't know if you have flown into vegas. >> dan: absolutely. >> bill: taxiing to the airport

and it looks like you are driving up the strip, the hotels are so close, on the south end. so that will be a great site on that ferris wheel. >> dan: that's a rollercoaster, i am probably for the going to go on >> bill: even if you are sober. most people won't be. love to get your tame on the nsa this morning after the latest yesterday from the hill. so, before he left for europe president obama giving his interview for charlie rose and he said -- we talked about this monday. he totally defended the program the nsa program, said if the american people really knew what it was all about, we the americans would support it as well. and he said he had asked the -- part of the problem, he said, was that we didn't know really enough about it. so he asked the intelligence community to explain why this was so important. yesterday, keith alexander,

general keith alexander came in front of the house intelligence committee and testified publically basically following up on what the president asked him to do, and he said in testimony that we, the -- the collection of all of this massive data, again, information on every phone call that you and i make every single one, doesn't matter whether it's to the dry cleaners or to the dog pound or to sister millie. every single phone call what number you call from, what number you call to, how long the call lasts where you are, where that other person is. they don't listen in on the calls, we are told. there are no names involved, we are told but every sing call keith alexander said yesterday that that program has stopped some 50 terrorist attacks from

happening since september 11th and that 10 of them were directed against targets here in the united states. here is general alexander. >> these programs, together with other intelligence have protected the u.s. and our allies from terrorist threats across the globe to include helping present the terrorists -- the potential terrorist events over 50 times since 9-11. >> bill: fifty times since 9-11? >> how late are we now? twelve years? and he went on to say that maybe, just maybe, if this system had been in place there would have been no 9-11. >> if we had had section 215 in place prior to 9-11, we may have known that the 9-11 hijacker, madar was located in san diego and communicating with a known al-qaeda safe house in yemen. >> bill: fifty times, he says.

10 of them directly against the united states. obviously, you know, the nsa is trying to make this program look as good as it does. i am not saying they went up and directly lied in front of congress but i don't think we ought to swallow that automatclick for a couple of reasons. first let's deal with the 9-11. >> that's a preposterous statement to make. i mean we are not that dumb. our memory is not that short. yeah, those terrorists were living in san diego, a couple of them. we should have known about them. remember, these are the guides that we were tracking. they went to some terrorist summit in malaysia. they left there and the cia was following them. they left there, came back to the united states of. i remember this did i say tinkly because talking all about it on cnn at the time. they came back in the united states. they rented an apartment in san diego. they had a listed freakin' noern san diego. and the cia never told the f.b.i. that these guys are coming to the united states. the f.b.i. never found them living in the united states even

though they were living openly in san diego and they went on and became part of the plot and i think both of them were on one -- a couple of the planes that were used as targets in september 11th or weapons or whatever in september 11th. so there was no lack of information about these guys. this program, they should have been caught but this program would have had nothing do with it. the other thing is, i was watching cbs news last night. and they talked about one of the other -- one of the attacks that was foiled. it was an attack. it was a guy in kansas city i think, t no, it wasn't in kansas city. it was a planned attack on the new york subway system and they said they got him because they started listening to his phone calls and the reason they started listening to his phone calls was because they got a tip from british intelligence. in other words, the brits how

were tracking what he was doing in britain and then they told us you ought to take a look at this guy and then we started listening to the phone calls. so the information about him did not come according to their own testimony from the nsa tracking system. i still think the idea that they have to collect information on every single phone call you and i make goes too far, and i subscribe with what senator dick durbin, number 2, democrat -- don't consider me that radical. dick durbin is no revolutionary. he said yesterday on our show maybe a little later than some of you were watching and listening yesterday that the massive collection just goes too far. here is senator durbin on our show yesterday morning. >> i think that we ought to say if there is a reasonable suspicion that you are connected in any way with someone who

would do harm to america, be prepared. we are going to look at every aspect of your life to keep us safe but to collect this information on every person who happens to walk down the street on the chance that they may be a suspect of the future goes too far. >> bill: goes too far. by the way, senator durbin and the senate, of course, congressman john conyers, democrat from michigan and republican congressman justin amash. i am not sure where he is from. republican democrat who introduced legislation in the house that they -- that would say -- that would require, like senator durbin said the nsa to have a specific target if they are seeking phone records, have some reasonable suspicion that we want to go after these phone records. and if they do, you know go for it. no stopping them. get all of the information you want. listen to every telephone call that you want. but i still say, number 1, i think the nsa was just trying to

cover its own ass yesterday. i don't believe that this program has been as successful as they say. they, by the way, did not show any connection that these 10 attacks or these 50 attacks or whatever were found out and thwarted by collecting information on every phone call that you make and that i make. they didn't say that because they can't make that case. i don't think this changes anything. how about you? do you believe the nsa? do you think it changes everything? do you think after what you heard yesterday, oh, boy, they saved us 50 times. so, therefore, we have to just roll over and accept anything that the nsa wants to do? are you willing to give away you're right of privacy for what you heard yesterday? 866-55-press. the question of the day here on the "full-court press." let's talk about it. [ music ] >> heard around the country and seen on current tv this is "the bill press show." [ music ] the issues of the day. >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> with a distinctly

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[ music ] this is the bill press show. >> bill: 26 minutes after the hour. he will eliot spitzer joins us a little bit later in this hour. talking about the nsa saying basically, shut up. stop complaining. we are going to continue to monitor your telephone calls, and you ought to be grateful because 50 times, we have been able to stop terrorist plots since september 11th because t collision of all of that data which, by the way raises one other question. i have made this so many times you are probably tired of hearing me make this argument but i am going to make it one more time. here is what really bugs me if this program is so vitals to our

national security so important keeping us safe the only thing between us and another september 11th, why weren't we developed about it? why did it have to be a big secret? don't say it's because the terrorists will know what we are doing. the terrorists no what we are doing. ask osama bin laden. usef -- dan, you had something? >> tweet to us at bp show. cot question be believed the nsa. receipt a says why shouldn't we? didn't you believe blindly everything eric snowden said. 501 says never take anything said publically by the head of an intelligence gathering organization at face value >> bill: i didn't believe the nsa under george bush or under barack obama. usef is calling from dayton ohio

>> caller: come on, bill. you have been a vital showy listen to. bill, come on. i mean i mean every time my wife goes to a gynecologist, you have to check valid parts and pay for it. he is not going to tell everybody what he sees in private parts. okay? so, listening, they are not going to tell your neighbors what you are talking about. so what are you so worried about? >> i never heard >> dan: what an analogy. >> bill: i never heard a worse explanation of why we should forget about the constitution forget about our right of privacy and let the government snoop into everything we are doing. usef, i am telling you if we don't fight for our rights, we deserve to lose them.

>> this is "the bill press

show." [ music ] >> get social with bill press. like us at if facebook.com/bill press show. this is "the bill press show." >> talking about the nsa, the head of the nsa, keith alexander yesterday telling congress anybody who doesn't like this nsa program ought to shut the hell up because he said -- i'm paraphrasing, of course -- it has helped us thwart 50 different terrorist plots since september 11th, 2001. do you believe him? do you think we ought to just now praise god for the patriot

act, for the fisa court, george w. cheney barack obama and the nsa? 866-55-press or does it change anything your comments on twitter @bpshow and your calls at 866-55-press. but just a second. a quick timeout to tell you one more time about

this this >> caller: how many warnings would it take? how many warnings is it going to take? >> bill: thanks for the reminder about that.

august 6th. right? 2001? the headline was, al-qaeda planning attacks on the united states. there is something very close to that. yeah. so it wasn't -- all the of this? of course not. the government is the most dishonest organization in our country. are you kidding me? they have a special department called scion. psychological operations. they have been using this on the public for the past eight years. listen this is my birth right. nobody is going to give away my birth right.

i was a marine. i went to war. i went to battle. what about all of the people who have died in war for the constitution. you are not allowed to give up my birth right people. listen, you all deserve whatever you guys get from this. shame on you, americans. shame on all of you. >> bill: all right. joey. joey's got the last word as always. it's a strong one. fight for our constitutional rights as americans. not as republicans or democrats. as americans. always be suspicious of the government when they say we know what we are doing. trust us. we won't tell you what we are doing but we are doing the right thing. we will talk to eliot spitzer when we come back and find out his take on nsa and all of the rest of the news of the day. connect with the bill press show on twitter. follow us at bp show and tweet using the hash tag watchingbp. this is "the bill press show." [ music ]

>> "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. you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage 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?

[ music ] >> this is "the bill press show" live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: let's take the village. meaning we can't take it to the the news of the day by ourselves. we need the help of our friends, no better friend nobody more on top of the news than former governor of new york eliot spitzer former co-host or former host here on current tv joining us as he does every wednesday morning. >> you do not know how happy i am to be in your village. >> bill: no. >> me.

aphorically since i am in new york. >> you are in washington, not in studio? a lot of foreign policy news out there this morning. >> yes. >> let's start with the g8. i am never necessarily a believer in body change. >> you don't think they are best buds? this didn't look like a meeting of the in-laws the first time or one of these horrific family get-toes where everybody wants to get out of there as quickly as possible. >> bill: how awkward. >> it makes you wonder whether the entire g8 summit idea has outlived its usefulness? a something where there is no agreement? we are battling it out where they are playing with austerity. i am sure it's a get-away, beautiful spot but what's coming from all of these meetings? >> bill: the other thing, i think from president obama is he

escaped a lot of rocky road stuff here at home. i agree with you. i mean so he had these bi-la. meetings with some people. not all of them went that well either. the g8, as i see didn't resolve or conclude anything. >> these are the leaders with whom he actually does talk on a regular basis. >> right. >> in other words, if there is any group of world leaders with whom there is ongoing constant communication, this is the group. they don't need to get together for the photo op to agree or disagree. it is a vestige of the past. it used to be the united states and soviet union and then the g7 and we had to add russia to make it the g8 and inn bremer who has written g-zero. the notion it's more g-zero than g8 may be correct. >> you mentioned syria. wasn't it interesting?

can you remember when a president said we are going to get militarily involved in another country and he had a deputy director of the nsa announce it? >> the problem that the president has on this one is that first, he's been sort of making incremental tactical easy decisions or hard decisions but the small decisions along the way, he says assad must go a red line with chemical weapons but each time the red line has crossed, assad is still there, chemical weapons are used and we are sending them bb-guns. the reaction has not been commensurate with the magnitude of the violation on their part. >> bill: right. >> the reason are may be the president could easily have said early on, this is a civil war, which will have horrific consequences, but it's not our battle. we cannot get pulled into it. if he had done that, then he would at least have had an articulable and consistent position and perhaps we would be

agog with horror but it won't be what are you doing mr. president? we don't do anything. he is looking weak and irresolute. and it's a bad situation. >> what do you think the chances that we would hold it at small arms? >> i don't know because the incrementalism has gotten us to where we are sending small arms which will make no difference whatsoever. it will simply not matter. >> bill: that's another good point. >> the opposition forces play defense and perhaps lose to assad, the pesh of the president to do more will be significant. >> rebels, themselves said, well, thank you, but this is not enough. right? >> they are saying we are not going to show up to the cogfriends that secretary of state kerry is trying to organize in geneva unless we get something meaningful >> bill: were you surprised to see this week given all we have been talking about, the president's approval rating dropped from 5330 to 45%?

>> that was a bigger drop than i would have expected. the aggregate effect of the negative news does begin to have some wear and tear. i would have said 50 or 51. not 45. i wonder if is it will show bounceback because of the sampling error that is always there. there haven't been a lot of good things, the nsa stuff in particular. the economy is beginning to look a little firmer. and so, usually, that is the fundamental push in the trend line. so, yeah, there is a little surprise there. >> bill: you know, all of the talk about -- of course, benghazi, the irs, the department of justice and then, as you points out, the nsa. it all had its impact the. on nsa, the president said the intelligence community has to explain what this program is all about. they made their first attempt saying this has foiled 50 different terrorist plots. do you think this buries the issue and americans will accept it and go along now? >> there are a couple of different layers to the issue.

one is: do -- -- does the public generally accept the notion of vacuuming up all of this data? if it is persuaded that this is what is necessary to stop terrorist actions. my guess is the public would be split but basically lean towards favoring it. and as we have seen over the past couple of weeks in polling on this stuff. the second is: does the public believe that the nsa is living within the boundary lines that have been set up by the law? in other words the metaphor, they are looking at the outside of the envelope but not reading the letters. >> bill: right. >> do people believe they are respecting the dividing line? i am skeptical on that. i have heard from too many people that the nsa does almost at will listen to conversations. so that's a significant and important issue that needs to be delved into. and the third issue is the lying to -- i hate to use that word -- it's a strong word but klapper flat out lied to congress about

what was going on. >> bill: yeah. >> if he didn't correct his miss misstatements before he was caught in the lie, i think he has a real problem. when he testified before congress none of this was going on, if he called up the chairman of the committee and said look, i was in public. i had to say that but you've got to know, here is the real truthful answer, if he did that, he has a plausible explanation i was he was trying to give them information. if he didn't correct his answer and left the misstatement out there, there is a real problem for him. >> bill: president obama said we need to debate on this issue and i think that's a good debate to have. we are in the middle of it. eliot spitzer, glad to visit with you, my friend. >> glad to be in your village. >> this is "the bill press show." [ music ] 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.

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(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. >> 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. [ music ] >> taking your e-mails on any topic at any time, this is "the

bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: congressman cardensa joins us in the next hour here from the "full-court press," interesting comments from facebook and a lot of e-mails about nsa. do you believe the nsa? sal sena says yes, i do. i am comfortable with the program now but worry if republicans take control years later. sal, i suggest you should always worry about the program. ursula powers, however, says this is a corporate media manufactured news story and i am tired of it. oh, yeah. blame the media. >> that's an easy way out. nothing. >> this is "the bill press show."

[ music ] >> bill: good morning, everybody. it is wednesday, wednesday june 19th. great to see you today. thank you for joining us here on the "full-court press," your morning show on current tv, coming to you live coast to coast, all the way across this great country of ours from right here on capitol hill in washington, d.c., our nation's capitol where we are right in the middle of the action here on capitol hill keeping our eye on what's going on the house, in the senate, what's going on at the g8 summit. >> that's over now. the president is in berlin as we speak, he is holding a news conference with german chancellor angela merkel. we have our eye on that and also big news out of the middle east where the united states and the

taliban are going to sit down in peace talks starting tomorrow. so, we'll bring you up to date on all of the news of the day and take your calls at 866-55-press. we will also look for your comments on twitter @bpshow and on facebook at facebook.com/bill press show. the biggest story of the day, of course, is nsa's chief general keith alexander yesterday telling congress that we should be happy with this massive collection of data on the part of the nsa because he says it has helped us thwart 50 different terrorist plots since september 11, '10 of them directed against target did here in the united states of america. in other words, just sit down shut up and trust the government to do whatever it's got to do. oh, yeah? we'll talk about that on current tv. (vo) current tv gets the conversation started weekdays

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>> broadcasting across the nation, on your radio and on current tv this is "the bill press show." >> bill: vice president joe biden says we have not given up. we're going to get those background checks. at least, we are going to continue to fight for them. good for joe. and good for all of you. good to see you this morning. good morning. good morning. good morning. it is wednesday, june 19th. this is the full court press here on current tv and on your local progressive talk radio station for all of our radio listeners nationwide. for all of our t.v. viewers nationwide, good to see you. thanks for starting off the date here on the "full-court press" as we bring you up to date on

everything that's happening here in our nation's capitol. >> that's where you find us, by the way, right here on capitol hill in washington, d.c. we will tell you what's going on the house, in the senate. president obama, let's see. no. they just finished. he just finished his joint news conference with german chancellor angela merkel in berlin, going there yesterday after the g8 -- g8 was finished in northern ireland. president obama, busy day there today and then he flies back to the united states at the end of the day in germany, arriving here just after midnight tonight on the south lawn of the white house. so we got our eye on that and also talks with the taliban starting tomorrow in the middle east, a big step forward for the united states in terms of winding down the war in afghanistan. the debate continues on immigration in the house. so much to talk about. so much that you are going to want to talk about at 866-55-press. our toll-free number.

give us your comments. always welcome on twitter@bpshow. on facebook, also we want to hear from our friends, facebook.com/billpress heshow. peter ogburn off this week. dan henning has got the show under control. >> dan: good morning. >> bill: with alicia cruz, of course. couldn't do it without alicia on the phones and cyprianbold bowlding with our cameras under control. chris christie, you know he's so popular in new york and new jersey, rather, he can get away with just about everything as he proved yesterday. he is appearing in front of a bunch of school kids and first, they ask him and they want -- well, they asked him what were his favorite sports teams? of course that's what kids want to know. well, he starts out with basketball. pretty good here. >> my favorite basketball team is the new york knicks.

>> dan: all right. that's acceptable. >> which has been a bit of a frustrating enterprise. they have had some fun games to watch. my favorite baseball >> bill: how about intaibsz. >> the new york mets. >> dan: okay. new jersey. fine. >> bill: yeah. and then however, we get the football. here it gets a little rock. >> the last answer is one of the things that gets all of my political advisors nervous. so get ready for a nervous moment for them. they are going to get nervous now because my favorite football team is not the new york giants. >> bill: no. >> it's -- it's not the new york jets. >> bill: no. wait a minute. >> and it's not -- and it's not the philadelphia eagles. get ready now. my favorite football team is the dallas cowboys.

>> dan: uph-oh. >> not good. >> since he was 8 or 9 years old, he has been a cowboys fan so he stuck with them. you know, he might have faked it. three choices for teams that really are new jersey, people follow. eagles have a lot of friends in new jersey >> bill: no. no. no. dallas cowboys. he will get away with it. >> dan: i think he will be just fine. i am not sure this is going to affect the election. >> bill: the war on women continues and house republicans are determined they are going to keep battling women until they conquer them. we will tell you about that, but first. >> this is "the full court press." >> dan: other headlines making news on this wednesday it went all the way to overtime with the miami heat beat the san antonio spurs 103 to 100 to win game 6 of the nba fields last night, evening the series at three games apiece. the heat were down by 5 with 28 seconds left in regulation and

officials had already started bringing out yellow tape to block off the court for a trophy presentation for the spurs, but lebron james wouldn't have any of that. he and ray allen managed to tie it up and then win in overtime. >> bill: that was an incredible game yesterday. boy, i've got to tell you. yeah the heat certainly, they snatched victory out of the jaws of defeat. >> it was pretty impressive. now, on to game 7. another day -- >> bill: 30 seconds to go and they scored five points. >> yeah >> bill: unbelievable. >> another celebrity considering run for. we are waiting for a final answer from alex. ribec, the 72-year-old jeopardize host tells the hill he is interested in maybe running for mayor of toronto. he says he wants to moderate an american presidential debate. no definite plans in the works for either wish yet. >> i think one or the other.

right? >> yeah. and treasury secretary jack lew has changed his signature. gone are the eight i willllegible loops everyone knew and loved and laughed at and in is a signature con terming a couple of less loops. if you study it long enough you can make out how it might read something close to jacob lew. his signature is going on currency. first up are the $5 bills printed. it takes 18 weeks from the time the treads resecretary lays down his signature until new money is printed with his name on it. >> bill: it is funny. if he were not treasury secretary, he could keep his old signature. >> yeah >> bill: if you put it on the currency. >> something more official >> bill: reasonably legible. >> it's fair regular the treasury secretaries have to adapt, change their signatures to go on the bill. it's not just him. it's the bureau of engraving and

printing approve the signature. they come to him and say sorry. not good enough. change it up. >> bill: change it up. wow. i wonder if he will go back to the old one after he is no longer treasury secretary. to start up this hour tony cardenas from california will join us a little later. i think i mentioned that. in the next hour two other members, one other, steve israel from new york and tom pirello both in studio with us as well. so good election of members of congress coming up in studio. start out this hour just you and me talking about what the house of representatives did yesterday. you know, there is alternates of important stuff. right? that the congress -- a lot of important issues out there that the congress has got to be working on. immigration reform. gun safety. climate change. you know. education. jobs. hour about jobs? we haven't heard about jobs that long time.

hum? none of those things were up in front and center in the house of representatives yesterday. no. they were too busy debating yet again abortion. yes, abortion. abortion. they cannot -- republicans cannot get off of this issue. they've got this fixation on this issue which is interesting, in light of the fact you remember in march, the republican national committee came out with its report looking at what went wrong in 2012. one of the things they said was -- and they said it in this report. this is the rnc, not me. republican national committee saying we have lot our touch with women. one of the things they said we have lost our touch with women. we are losing the women vote. you know, we have to really maybe stop talking about abortion and rape and start focusing on family and johns and the economy and things that people really care about, schools. that was in march. last month, a report came out

from the college republicans, young college republicans who said basically the same thing. the party is getting out of touch with young people, with minorities, with women. one of the reasons is they spend so much time talking about rape and abortion. it's winning over nobody and turning people off. let's start talking about the issues people care about. message sent. message not received. in fact, i think it was message rejected as proven by what happened in the house yesterday. they -- the entire house debated all day long and they ended up voting 228 to 196, six republicans only voted against it. only six democrats voted for it. so basically republican versus democrat 228 to 296 for the most restrictive limits on abortion in at least the last 10 years if not more in the house of representatives limiting a

woman's right to choose to have an abortion to 20-week period. the question is not to debate get into any debate about abortion abortion, but the question is: what the hell is the republican party up to? and why, again and again, this issue? pardon me. just that i have been battling a little sore throat. what happens is, of course the republican party has turned itself over and john boehner has turned the republicans over to the extremist. remember trent franks from arizona, the author of this bill. trent franks, who at first refused -- this is just last week. we talked about it -- refused to allow an amendment that says, well, a woman's a victim of rape could still have an abortion. trent frank said no, there is no need for that. right? because -- echoing -- oh i am

blanking. todd aiken from missouri if a woman has been raped her body knows it was not legitimate sex and it was not a legitmat pregnancy. trent frank said there was very low incidence of women who are raped getting pregnant when the numbers are that some 30,000 victims of rape in the united states get pregnant every year. so trent franks didn't know what the hell he was talking about. one extreme is he is the author of this bill. yesterday, on the committee -- get this. michael burgess. never heard of him before but he is a republican congressman from texas. he said there is another reason to be against abortion. we should be against abortion because mail fetuses masturbate.

little male fe. uses inside the womb masturbate. this is a congressman from texas. >> mr. chairman, i thought the debate was far too late. we should be setting this at 15 weeks, 16 weeks. you watch a sono gram of a 15 week baby. they have movements that are purposeful. they stroke their face. if they are a mail baby they may have their hand between their legs. they feel pleasure. why is it so hard to think that they could feel pain? >> bill: unbelievable. i mean these guys are so ignorant. i mean it's just -- it's just hard to even respond to something like that. these guys are members of congress and they are driving the train in the house of representatives. >> that's why we had this vote yesterday. i know barbara lead said it best, barbara lee from california said exactly what this is. what i want to know from you

is -- and again, if you are calling to bedebate yes or no on abortion, forget it. we all know where we stand on this issue. i strongly support a woman's right to choose. i think a woman, she should have control of her own -- ultimately over her own body. i shouldn't decide that. politicians shouldn't decide that. a judge shouldn't decide that. we have had that issue. i think where you stand is where you stand. let's just accept that. my question is: what the hell are the republicans doing? what do they think they are gaining on this? who do you think in who do you think they -- what votes did they pick up with this step that they took yesterday? how did they possibly expand the reach of the republican party by making this their priority yesterday? barbara lee said exactly what this is all about. the only thing that this vote yesterday achieved is to once more brand the republican party correctly as a republican party that has an ongoing war against

women. barbara lee from california. >> once again, republicans have decided to make women's health a battleground as part of their, yes, ongoing war on women. >> bill: and g. w.en moore, another democratic congresswoman from michigan i believe, wisconsin -- i'm sorry. gwen moore said a bill based on total non-science. >> so that now we have before us a bill that is born of ignorance and disregard for medical science in every way shape and form. >> bill: yeah, but the republicans, this is it. they could have chosen action on any other issue this week. no. they made this their priority and the message is really really clear. we men in the congress will decide what's good for you women because you cannot make your own choices. we don't trust you to make your own choices. i've got to tell you i think

it's a losing strategy. how about you? 866-55-press. let's talk about it here on the "full-court press." >> this is "the bill press show." (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.

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'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?

[ music ] >> heard around the country and seen on current tv this is "the bill press show". >> bill: you bet. 25 minutes after the hour here congressman tony cardenas in studio with us the next segment. right now, we are talking about the number 1 priority in the house republicans in the house of representatives. with all of the other problems facing us, they choose to spend

this entire week on the toughest, most restrictive limits on abortion that we have seen in over a decade in the house of representatives force that bill through the house yesterday. by the way, president obama already said he would veto it if it ever got through the senate so we don't really have to worry that much about it. it's just republicans, i think, are committing political suicide here i have been fighting a little sore throat for the last few days. thank you for putting up with it. what we should haveis somebody in here to take my place. when we are talking about somebody who is probably better equipped to do the show than i am, we are talking about kathleen from chicago. >> caller: i was waiting on that. >> bill: hourw are you doing, kathleen? >> caller: the reason why is doing this -- and listen to me for a second. >> bill: all right. >> caller: ever since president obama has been in office their main thing was to take him down even if it means taking the country down. instead of doing their job,

trying to help this man pass bills to help us get back on our feet, they are going down the ignorant row. why would you sit up there like one of the republicans said a day before yesterday, a baby at 15 weeks masturbating. >> that's ignorant. >> bill: yeah. >> caller: ignorant doing stuff. they not doing their job. >> that's why everybody with sense no sense, half sense. >> bill: do you think this helps them? >> caller: you know what? it doesn't help them but what they think they are doing is hurting this president. but what they don't realize, if people would wake up would wake up and get as busy as trying to get this country back on their feet, it's about all of these scandals that's not a scandal. they are falling apart day by day. >> bill: yeah >> caller: if we would get busy in 2014, get out to them polls and get them ignorant people out of. the only body it's hurting is us.

>> bill: well said, kathleen. love you, baby. camille a, from atlanta,ga >> caller: hi, bill. i think this is great that they keep talking about it. what i want for crats to do is every time they bring up abortion or any part of the woman's body a democrat congressman, senator needs to say, where are the jobs? where are the jobs? in 2010 when you were trying to provide healthcare to help women. john boehner was saying, where are the jobs? >> bill: absolutely. absolutely, camilla. remember, boehner ran for officing saying: you put us in charge, and we are going to just work on jobs, jobs jobs. they, republicans, haven't passed one jobs bill in the last three years. >> this is "the bill press show." 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!

[ music ] >> this is "the full court press: the bill press show," live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: hey, so what do you know? it's already 33 minutes after the hour here on the full court press on this wednesday morning, june 19th, both the house and the senate, various levels of debate over immigration reform maybe. maybe they will be able to come together at least in the conference committee and get a bill out this year. in the middle of that issue and everything else going on, or not going on the house, congressman tony cardenas a new member in studio. congressman, good to see you. >> glad to be here. >> how is california? >> weather is a little nicer

than it is here things are going okay. they passed the budget on time again. so thank you to the voters who gave us a 50% majority to pass a budget. before, it was two-thirds in my dame. we passed a budget and putting money back in education >> bill: jerry brown. he brought it back? >> he has done a pretty darn good job. he is acting like an adult. i wish more politicians would do that these days. >> bill: is he going to run for re-election? >> i think so. you look at his numbers. he is being responsible. remember, times are getting better but it's still difficult. right? still difficult to legislate, you know, when budgets are lagging and things like that. thank god he has that kind of experience and he is doing a good job. >> on the next trip back to california when he got out of the plane give a wave for me and say bill press misses you. >> you got it. i will do that. >> i get nostalgic. i am still a californian. >> nothing like california >> bill: exactly. yesterday we were talking, congressman, the house of

representatives. you were in the middle of it, that vote on this extreme anti-abortion bill 228 to 196. how did you vote? >> i voted no. i mean, you know, i believe in a woman's right to choose and that bill was just again attacking women in this country, and i think that we ought to be focusing on jobs. we ought to be focusing on immigration reform. those kind of things. you know, they keep bringing those other issues up. they are issues that have been, you know, taken care of by the supreme court and things that i think that shows the extremism of certain people in congress. >> bill: they can't seem to get off of this issue? >> it seems like they want to avide the real work. >> bill: and continue, as barbara lee said yesterday and i amsories, the war on women which is they deny it exists and then they keep passing these bills. >> exactly. they try to create this supposed image rhetorically about the new and better big tent of the republican party. then they just keep repelling away whole communities like women which is half of the current tree, half of the

electorate. it's unfortunate that they do that because, you know, i am a democrat and i am all for, you know, gaining back the majority in our house or what-have-you. but i think when anybody saddled with this responsibility is wasting time on issues that are not and should not be in the forefront of what we are doing, it's bad for the country. >> bill: one issue that should be in the forefront, there is some action. we have been talking a lot about immigration reform particularly the gang of 8 in the senate and that bill, debating amendments on the floor of the senate this week. what's happening in the house? i mean the gang of 8 is down now to a gang of 7. will there be a bill in the house? >> yes. there will be a bill in the house. the word is out that they have all agreed on the details of what's going to go in that bill. it's not the previously bill. once we have a bill we can hopefully go through our process in our house like adults and then actually go to conference which is what the processs

requires. >> bill: yesterday, speaker john boehner said a couple of things about the immigration reform battle. the first one, he sort of says, it's not up to us. it's to democrats. here's john boehner. >> if they are serious about getting an immigration bill finished, i think the president and democrats ought to reach out to their democrat -- republican colleagues to build broad bi-partisan support for the bill. >> if democrats want a bill, they have to reach out. it's basically putting the onus ol democrats. i think the way i see it, congressman, democrats have been for immigration reform for a long time. >> yeah. >> they are not the ones who have been blocking it. right? >> correct. the thing is, i think, hopefully, hopefully, let's give boehner the benefit of the doubt. let me hope that what he is saying is, i need you guys's help. i need us to act like one body. i need us to come together so we can get enough republicans who feel comfortable at least have having the vote, having the discussion in committee, having the discussion on the floor. hopefully, that's what he's talking about. but with all due respect, he is in the majority. he is the speaker.

they elected him speaker and the leadership means that you have to go do what you've got to do. i hope boehner finds out a way to put this on the way of the house so he canwe can have a vote once and for all. >> the other thing he said, which may be a little more troubling, he believes it would not be -- dan, we've got that mike paraphrasing it. i will let speaker boehner speak for himself, that second cut there. >> i don't see any way of bringing an immigration bill to the floor that doesn't have a majority support of republicans. this is the so-called hassert rule that unless a majority are for it, he is not going to bring it to the floor. if you have a bill that the majority of these republicans in this house support, it's going to have a lot of pretty bad stuff in it. isn't it? >> when you are talking about over 100 republicans feeling comfortable with just having the dialogue and the appropriate discussion on the floor, we are

not looking too good. 200 democrats. it requires any bill off of the house. what we are looking at personally, i would like to see 20 to 30 republicans go ahead and vote for this bill at the end of the did i. but it's a tall order to get over 100 republicans to feel comfortable with moving it forward today. hopefully we can get there tomorrow if that's what he needs -- thinks he needs to do. >> bill: let me ask you about some of the issues that is it looks to me like republicans throw up roadblock after roadblock after roadblock, some of them in -- they pretend that they are really trying to -- and they say they are trying to improve the bill. i think they are trying to schedules the bill. but some of the issues that have come up, senator marco rubio, for example, says, okay. we got the path to citizenship but if you go through that long path to citizenship, 13 years, you still can't qualify for obamacare for five more years.

healthcare is one of the issues they keep throwing up. why should this be part of the debate? >> it shouldn't be at the end of the day. at the same time, i have to try to look at this as the cup is half full because if you look at marco rubio's rhetoric two years ago, a year ago and what he is talking about today, believe it or not, even with those statements, it is a softer a little bit different marco rubio. >> he is making progress? >> absolutely. >> that's what i am looking for. we are looking for people that are able to get off of that place where it was nothing, nothing when it comes to comprehensive immigration reform, calling people illegal aliens at every turn. now, we are looking at people saying, maybe we need to do something. so i think the door is cracked open. it's not wide open. so hopefully, we can actually get to the true debate and have a bill come to conference. >> bill: but healthcare, it seems, if they are an american citizen, they become an american citizen. >> creating 13 years of a

second-class system is to me un-american. i think it's bad for budgeting. it's bad for healthcare. it's bad for the country. so if we do something at the end of the day, we've got to have something where those kind of time frames are much, much shorter. i would love to eliminate that disparity when it comes to one individual, another when it comes to healthcare. let's see how we cross that bridge eventually >> bill: the other thing we keep hearing is i might consider voting for this bill but first, we have to secure the border. we have to do more. what more do we have to do to secure the border, congressman? in california, we know this issue well. we have been dealing with it for a long time. >> they have been deporting pour people out of the country than any otheradministration. they are taking care of business when it comes to the border. we haven't had a terrorist cross the mexican border. when you look at those issues, i think there are a lot of red herrings there. so i think what we need to do besides making sure we put the ink to the paper about what has been done, what is going on at the border and what can and

should be done at the border to secure it as much as possible. let's just do that and move on. >> bill: we have more border guards there than we ever have? >> more technology, bigger fences, longer fences. you knew, we've got more manpower, woman power at the. >> are they sending drones on the border? i think they are. >> i think so. >> bill: i don't want to give away the state secrets. >> yeah. >> bill: it seems to me that they are. senator men endez said on the cnn on sunday morning, he was asked about this whole debate and his advice to republicans was, you guys ought to remember if you are thinking about ever getting the white house back the path to the white house includes a path to citizenship. it's a blunt way of saying it but the issue is that important, isn't it, to republicans? >> absolutely. >> that's one of the things i've got to give boehner some credit. come on.

he's the speaker of the house the. he has been around quite a bit. he knows what it's like back in the day when republicans and democrats used to get into a room and republican or democrat and they used to hammer out deals. they used to hammer out progress. >> classic john boehner. john boehner is that kind of republican. it's. right. >> so when he throws it back to half of my republicans need to approve of something before we actually put it on the floor, i think we are going abackwards. hopefully he can get to the point where he says let's deliberate like a house should. let's have people say what they want to say. they have the right to do that and let's move forward. i think we will have a bill going to conference. >> bill: it may be we should take it for granted. i want to ask you the question. how important this issue now this year that action happen to the latino community? >> i think it's important. it's long overdue. i think latinos realize that the politics in washington matter to this country.

i think latino households whether you have an immigrant in the household to the or not, they remember grandma or great grandma came to this country. it's not just latinos. >> good point? >> we have tens of thousands of irish who would love to get documented right there in boston, working in construction people from canada, from all over the world those things haven't changed but when you look at the electorate the turnout in latinos in last year's november 6th election, the path to the white house means they need to have a bigger tent whatever party you come from. >> no more important issue in front of the congress and the american people, and it looks like there is some -- well there is some movement in the senate and in the house on this issue. what do you think the key components are? your your questions, your comments for tony cardenas from california. welcome at 866-55-press the. we will be right back. >> connect with the bill press show on twitter. follow us @bpshow and use the

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[ music ] on your radio and on current tv this is "the bill press show." >> bill: hey, it's 12 minutes now before the top of the hour. congressman steve israel of congressman tony cardenas coming in at the top of the next hour. and we are coming to you live of course, on your local progressive talk radio station, coast to coast, every one of them. happy to be there. you are lucky if you've got one in your community and, also, coming to you live on current tv across this great land of ours

coast to coast. we have some comments on twitter about immigration reform. >> we are on facebook and twit ever. we are talking about the republicans continued war on women. rsn for life says what sickens me even more about this is the women that stand behind these g.o.p. men when they are holding their press conference talking about the war on women >> bill: michelle bachman and marcia blackburn. >> taking over as the crazy. steve martina says the dirty secret says the republicans love government intervention and who we choose to marry and how women manage their bodies >> bill: they seem to have an obsession with sex you know. either same sex marriage or abortion or rape. they keep talking about it. crazy. i want to ask you about the

congressman with the supreme court decision on monday. so the state of arizona had said and the state of arizona has a history of trying to crack down on people. >> yeah. >> bill: that don't look like me maybe. and they had a -- passed a law that said in arizona, in order to vote, you've got to show proof that you are an american citizen. it's not enough to fill out a voter registration form. the supreme court, 7 to 2. >> they did the right thing. modern day jim crow laws. it's ridiculous trying to intimidate people from going to the poles. it's unfortunate people pass those laws. again we have a balance of power in this country. legislative processes at the state level, federal level and the supreme court determines whether or not something is constitutional or not. we have a system that works and may work this time. >> bill: it's refreshing to see

them with that law by 7 to 2 particularly with antonin scalia casting the right vote. you used a word earlier in our conversation that we don't hear much any more that is the word jobs. what's the depressed doing about jobs? is there any effort at all, you know am?? >> there are a lot of bills that have been introduced directly affecting the ability to put the country back to work. unfortunately most of those bills aren't even seeing light of day in committee. they are certainly not getting to the floor. i would hope and wish that we would focus on those issues but again, the leadership in our house on the majority is boehner, and the republican party, but this is the crazy thing about it, bill. you would think that republicans who 9 out of 10 run on the fact they are the friend of business and it's all about the economy when it comes to the campaign trail but when it comes to

legislating, they don't want to do much about it. they don't want to put the country back to work. >> evening basic stuff like a living wage you know or unemployment benefits. >> absolutely. i would hope that we could get back to the days of public works jobs. those are great jobs. this is another interesting thing about it bill. i get a little confused as to what their motivation is. for example, in la county a very democrat county. 10 million people, mostly democrat. right next door, we have orange county. a lot, what happens is when we build bridges and roads in la county it's really the republican owners of big contractor businesses from orange county that actually bid those jobs and get those jobs. bill yeah. >> i am a little confused as to what their motivation is because some of the biggest companies in america who actually depend upon government for them to put people to wok and make money actually are republican businesses. and it's really interesting that not even that's motivating them. so i really don't know what they are thinking on the other side

of the aisle. >> is there any chance at all we could see a second stimulus. i thought the stimulus was great. a lot of road projects and bridge projects right outside of washington between here and dullus. >> we had the overpass between the 170 and the 5 freeway. it took a few years to get it done. massive, massive project and a restructuring of that. it's increase traffic flow. we put some diamond lanes in. i think it was a win-win-win all the way around but it's this mantra of too many republicans who are elected to office who say less and less government theand that's the crazy thing about it. i am sitting in economyschmidt where republicans are trying to sews those projects are built by government workers. they are not. those are private jobs. those are private contractors >> bill: congressman, i don't know whether you realized before you got here the obstacles you face but you are learning fast. >> i don't give up easy. we've got a lot of work to do. >> bill: you are fighting a good fight. we appreciate that. great to have you in the

congress and great to have you here this morning. thanks for coming in. >> thanks >> bill: see you soon. >> like politics? like "the bill press show" on facebook. this is "the bill press show." 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'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?

current tv, it's been all building up to this. >>bill shares his views, now it's your turn. >>i know you're going to want to weigh in on these issues. >>connect with "full court press with bill press" at facebook.com/billpressshow and on twitter at bpshow. >>i believe people are hungry for it. 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? [ music ] >> this is "the bill press show." >> bill: how about it? in the next hour, very very exciting when i tell you that congressman steve israel from new york will be joining us, i am not just making it up. he is already here in studio a little ahead of time getting ready for our next hour together, congressman, nice to see you.

we will be joined by former congressman tom periello now at the center for american congress, congressman for a couple of years from virginia. president obama winding up his trip to europe he is in berlin has already had a joint appearance with chancellor angela merkel and then giving a big speech at the branden burg. we will see if he gets another 200,000 people out the way he did in 2008. official meetings this afternoon and then he and the first lady and the two daughters get on air force one coming back to washington, d.c. they will arrive back at the whitehouse at about a qu to 1:00 tomorrow morning. one more hour of the "full-court press" coming up so stay around. >> this is "the bill press show."

[ music ] >> bill: good moraling, everybody. what do you say? it is wednesday, june 19th. welcome to the full court"full-court press" here on current tv this beautiful wednesday morning where we bring you the news of the day both here in our nation's capitol, around the country, around the globe and most importantly give you a chance to sound off. it's a 2-way street. we will tell you what's going on. we want to hear what you think it means to you and your family. do so by giving us a call at 866-join us on twitter @bp show and on facebook. our friend on facebook -- friends on facebook always welcome as facebook.com/billpressshow.

president obama in berlin about to give a big speech at the bran brandenber g gate. the house taking up what i guess john boehner considers the most important issue of the day that is continuing the republican war on women. meanwhile, the head of the nsa, general keith alexander in front of congress yesterday saying that that nsa phone call collection program has resulted in thwarting some 50 terrorist plots since september 11th. 10 of them, he said, directed against the united states. does that mean this issue goes away? i think not. i think the debate is just beginning before the american people and the house and the senate. we will talk about that and a whole lot more right here on current tv. iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the conversation started weekdays

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is [ music ] >> broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv this is "the bill press show." >> endorsing hillary clinton for president in 2016, senator, maybe you taught to decide whether hillary is going to run. good morning, everybody. what do you say? here we go. it is the full court press on wednesday, wednesday, june 19th. great to see you today. thank you so much for joining us. we are coming to you live from our nation's capitol booming out to you all the way across this great land of ours on your local progressive talk radio station most importantly and on current tv. of course, whether you are listening or watching, it's good to have you with us today. a lot is going on here in our nation's capitol.

lots of activity around the globe. president obama winding up his european tour. he is in berlin about to give a speech at the bran deny berg gated. the united states announcing it is starting talks with the taliban as of tomorrow toward really winding the war in afghanistan down and the debate on immigration reform continues here in the united states senate. so we've got lots to talk about and, you know, we can't deal without the help of friends. no better friend of the program than congressman steve israel from new york city and, also, head of the democratic congressional campaign committee. congressman, great to see you this morning? >> thank you for having me on. >> bill: thanks for coming in. we are almost the entire team. peter ogburn is off this week, however, but dan henning still running the show. >> good morning >> bill: alicia cruz and cyprian bowldin g. >> great team

>> bill: indeed. from new york, i thought you might appreciate this governor christie yesterday of new jersey was in front of a group of school children and they asked him kids always want to know: who are your favorite sports teams? chris christie gets off to a pretty good start with basketball. here he is. >> my favorite basketball team is the new york knicks. >> so far so good. >> yeah. >> which has been a bit of a frustrating enterprise but the last couple of years they have had good seasons and some fun games to watch. my favorite baseball team is the new york mets. all right. >> i am sure that -- >> bill: there you go. yeah. then it gets a little dicey and we get to, of course football. surprise. surprise. >> the last answer is one of the things that gets all of my political advisors nervous so get ready for a nervous moment for them. they are going to get nervous now because my favorite football

team is not the new york giants. it's not the new york jets. >> bill: watch out. >> it's not the philadelphia eagles. no. get ready now. my favorite football team are the dallas cowboys. >> bill: wow. >> that's pretty bold. >> no. no. no. you are running for president. you are looking to those delegates in texas. it makes perfect sense. >> yeah. i never thought of it. >> you need a ball team. where do you go? to texas. >> bill: looking at 26. he explained he has been a dallas cowboy fan since he was eight or 9 years old and his father was a giant's giants fan? >> dad was a giants fan and they were not a good team. christie was i am eight years old. why am i going to root for a bad team. so he rooted for the cowboys.

>> that's his explanation. my conspiracy theory. >> congressman steve israel and then tom periello. >> a wondeducational background guy. >> now with the center for american progress will join us later. congressman, with all of the important issues facing the nation yesterday, the republican-led house of representatives, you spent so far all of this week and all day yesterday really? debating abortion again? >> uh-huh. >> what's going on? >> what's going on is that they continue to go to extreme. this will congress has been operating for seven months, going on seven months. we have passed 13 bills, not one of those bills has had anything to do with jobs or economic recovery. not one. and so we are now in a position today where if you are a civilian defense worker, you may get a furlough notice. if you are a college student, it's possible that you are a -- your student loan interest rate will double on july 1st.

and what did we do yesterday? we spent the entire day passing yet another bill that attacks the right of a woman to decide her repro ductive extremes. they are clueless >> bill: with an amendment on rape victims okay, rape victims could -- would be permitted for them to get an abortion as long as they reported that rape to the police. >> yeah. >> bill: which in most cases women don't do. >> they are afraid of retaliation. they are afraid of violence, and so in fact, about 60 -- 55 to 60% of rapes are not reported to the police because they are afraid of retaliation. that show yous you how tone-deaf they are. the committee that passed this doesn't have one republican woman on it. not one. not one.

they did the work on the bill. i asked as a matter of parliament procedure, isn't it customary that a member of the judiciary committee would manage this bill on the floor? guess what. they couldn't have amended it because they are all men so they got marcia blackburn from tennessee. they cherry picked marcia blackburn to manage this. it shows you how out of touch and out of tune they are. >> bill: strategically, without getting into the merits -- any merits of the bill but strategically, this issue at this time, as a party, what do they gain, you know by continuing to pound on this issue? >> they pound and up and downer. they have to pander to the right-wing base. >> that's what it's all about. >> bill: not that you are or i would ever be called upon to give them advice but i thought their so-called autopsy report the college republican report

both of which said, you know, we are losing touch with women and young people in this country, we better start talking about jobs and family and things people care about and get off of the rape and abortion focus. >> uh-huh. >> bill: deaf ears. >> the autopsy report was an autopsy. it was dead before theism nc was dry. >> bill: you mentioned briefly student loans. what's going to happen? where is it? >> we need a solution to this. we are in a situation where on july 1st, the interest rate will double for many college students. now, we had a common sense bill that would have retrained the interest rate for two years. we will find a compromise. >> that's what college students want us to do. republicans wouldn't even bring it to the floor. they produced the bill that is favorable to the banking industry. they produced a bill that said, here is what we are going to do, rather than having a cap on it we will link the interest rate

to market conditions. well, that, you know i remember that kind of economics. it was called the adjustable rate mortgage in long island which i represent, a lot of people lost their homes because the adjustable rate mortgage ballooned. why would you want to inflict a tool that didn't work for the housing industry on college students? >> bill: right. >> just means they can grow and grow and grow >> bill: a cap of 81/2 %? >> which is higher than the current cap. we need to put ideology aside. there shouldn't be a democratic or republican way to make college more assessable. we should focus on middle class growth. i hope we come to a compromise by the end of in week. >> then out for july 4th. >> that's right. >> the rates go back to these two reports. maybe as a party we should think about that. here is another opportunity for them to do something for young

people. this came up last year, congressman. say thing? correct? wasn't it a year ago? >> oh, yeah. yeah. it came up when the democrats were in the majority. i am the president of the national democratic campaign commit but when we were in the majority we were able to make a significant investment in college student loan programs. we provided relief. we kept the interest rate low and we expanded assessibility and affordability to college because we want to grow the middle class. this republican majority has not only declared war on women as evidenced by yesterday's vote. it's declaring war on college students. it's declaring war on the middle class. if you are an oil company, you get a $40 billion, $40 billion subsidy from the american taxpayer. but if you are a college student, you get a doubling of your interest rate. how does that make sense? how is that fair to the middle class? how does that expand our economy? >> bill: a question of priorities.

it doesn't make any sense at all. speaking of issues where -- that are front and center but just not sure what direction they are going, on immigration reform in the house, speaker boehner said something very interesting yesterday. dan, if we can play that first clip of the speaker about the possible fate of immigration reform in the house of representatives. >> if we are serious about getting an immigration bill finished i think the president and democrats ought to reach out to their democrat -- republican colleagues to build broad bi-partisan support for the bill. >> bill: he is saying it's up to democrats to take the -- to lead on this and, i mean i thought democrats have always been for immigration reform. right? >> well, again shows how clueless they are. john boehner needs a scorecard and a number 2 pencil to figure out who is in charge and who is on the field. look, it's look, it's kind of almost stunning that the speaker has said it's up to democrats to

support a bi-partisan bill but also announced yesterday he will not bring a bill to the floor unless a majority of republicans support it. mr. speaker, you cannot have it both ways. frankly, we would be fine. we will be comfortable if he can bring a bill to the floor even if we don't love every single one of its provisions. we want a solution and we do not want compromise. bring a bill to the floor. we will work with republicans in finding 218 votes but when you say to us, we won't even let you vote on a bill unless a majority of our right-wing tea party kahningus supports it, how do you negotiate with that? >> bill: you can't negotiate it bur it gives you a clue as to what that bill is going to look like. >> yeah. >> you have to get a bill that the -- that the most extreme members of the house, like the guy yesterday, i remember his name. wait a minute. we've got it here. michael burges. right? >> uh-huh. uh-huh. >> bill: who for our listeners and viewers, he is the congressman from texas who said

he is against abortion because male fetuses masturbate. go figure. if you have an immigration that this guy from texas can support, it's not going to be an immigration bill that most americans would support. right? >> no. >> that's why you need compromise. i tell you what, a lot of the republicans have read that autopsy, and privately, maybe i shouldn't say a lot. a precious few moderate republicans privately believe that it is in their policy interest and political interest to pass a bill and they also believe that somebody has to liberate john boehner from the extremists to get a bill passed. >> i think there is a sign, congressman, of how bad it is on that sign, politico this morning, their lead story is about what they call the clueless caucus. >> that's right. >> this is the lead story in politico. the clueless caucus. it is the fastest growing caucus among republican members. why is it the clueless caucus? >> they all belong to it. >> with some exceptions.

you have congressman franks who last week on this bill, on reproductive freedoms said that rape doesn't really cause pregnancy. you have on immigration, you have congressman steve king from iowa who tweeted that his office was being invaded was subject to an alien invasion an alien invasion of illegal aliens. you have the governor of mississippi who made a statement recently that the decline of our economy is due to women going to work. so, they are absolutely clueless. and they are extreme and it is why we need a different majority in the house of representatives. >> bill: there has always been a few whackos even among the democrats if we be honest. right? but i think what i find different here, congressman, is that in this case the whackos are driving the train? right? >> yeah. look. no party -- >> bill: the republican caucus? >> both parties, the democrats and the republicans have members who are ideological. no party has a monopoly on

compromise. the distinction is when we were in the majority, we compromised. we had our differences within our caucus but we compromised. we pursued common sense solutions for the middle class. this republican majority views compromise as betrayal. >> bill: yeah. >> they want to bring this government down. they are at war. >> they don't want government to work. >> they don't believe in it. it's fine government will pay their congressional pensions. they like being part of the health plan. they fundamentally are at war with their own government and john boehner has been held hostage to that wing of his caucus. it is why as i said before it's going on seven months, 13 bills. not one on jobs? not one on economic recovery? >> bill: i was going to ask you about that again to make sure i heard it correctly. >> thin. >> wow. none of them really have any significance. >> no. no. you knew, i don't know what will

these people are getting paid for. >> bill: the 450e8ium bill? >> critical. >> bill: join the conversation at 866-55-press this wednesday morning, june 19th. we will be right back. >> this is "the bill press show." (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.

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'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? [ music ] this is the compil press show. >> it's 25 minutes after the hour now. here we go in the -- with the "full-court press" on this wednesday morning. again, former congressman tom

pereillo coming in to the studio to take the seat ofgesman steve israel from new york who is here, been here for this first half hour with us andgesman, that's right to the point of we lost a very effective member of congress which reemphasizes the importance of 2014. how are you doing and how can peep people help? >> we have a path to take the majority. it's not an exseedingly wide path. we need 17 seats to stand up for the middle class and protect women. >> bill: i thought it was more. >> had a good foundation. we built a nice foundation in 2012. a net of 8 seats. most of the pundi. s and prognosticators, we had a code-blood and clear-eyed campaign so we had a net of 8. we need 17 more. i will give it to you in 30 seconds or less. the capsule is this.

we have about 52 districts in play right now. 52 con petitive republican districts. we need 17. >> uh-huh. >> then we will have 20 to 25 democratic income bents who we will defend who have tough races. most of those just came in 2012 won their seats. so we have to play offense and defense at the same time but the stakes are so high in this country that we will play offense. we will play defense, and we are not going to quit until the day after the election in 2014 when we will start on the next cycle. >> what do you think the big issues are going to be? what do you think. >> great question. it is progress versus partisanship. brer going to put solutions and bi-partisan on the ballot in 2014. 70% of the american people in a recent pole said the house republicans are too extreme and out of touch. this is going to be a referendum on solutions. do you want extreme and out of

touch with this house republican caucus, or do you want to elect people who are solutionists who will not pursue ideology but will pursue ideals. >> that's what this election is going to be about. >> bill: seems to me we are just about out of time here but we have a contrast between what the house achieved with nancy pelosi as speaker and what the house as not done, nothing, with john boehner as speaker. which do you want? right? >> every election is about contrast and this one will be about contrast. >> all right congressman. you can folk and join in and give your

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!

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[ music ] >> this is "the bill press show" live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: here we go 33 minutes after the hour already if you can believe it here on a wednesday morning, june 19th. great to have you with us here on the "full-court press." if you are listening on your local progressive talk radio station, welcome. welcome. anywhere in this great country of ours. if you are watching on current tv, welcome as well. and let's say a big welcome to tom periello the president for the center of american progress action fund, former member of congress joining us in studio. good to see you again. >> good to be back >> bill: i don't want to put a damper on anything we are talking about but we haven't had a chance yet to mention this morning a very sad note a journalist that you and i both

knew and respected and admired very much, michael hastings was with rolling stone. he is the one that wrote -- did the profile of it general mccrysdal, which ended up in the downfall of general mccrystal when he was very critical about our efforts in the war in afghanistan. then michael hastings went on to buzz feed to cover the last campaign. he was killed in a car accident. a couple of guest on this. tom, work with him, real tragic. >> just about a year ago, we were on a panel together at net roots nation. he was as bomb bastek as he always was and certainly lived life to the fullest and while he was around, so >> bill: sad. absolutely. i wanted to mention that and salute him for all of the good work that he did and regret he was taken from us at such an

early age. tom, a couple of weeks ago, we talked here. you for some reason may not have been available or whatever about the -- it's very, it thought, interesting report that you released for the center for american action progress action fund. basically, if i may paraphrase saying, okay. enough of all of this deficit budget talk, you know, the deficit's kind of taken care of itself. let's get on to jobs and growth and growing this economy. am i close to what you are finding there? >> yeah. i think it's a sort of thing where, you know, if you are prescribing a set of policies based upon one set of facts and those facts change, you have to look and say: do the same policies still make sense? you know, if you go to a doctor and your arm's hurting and they say to wrap your arm and you come in a week later and they say my knee is rarityhurting, they don't say wrap your arm. if you look at the projections three years ago of where the deficit was going to be and the

debt was going to be, it was pushing 6 and a half 7% of gdp. that's at about 3.2 of gdp. the growth over time is relatively flat which means even in the out years that people say as the driver. >> bill: 3.2% is considered we can live with? is that right? >> we can. and that's one of the other things that change. a lot of the research that has suggested. this magic % which you couldn't gone which was generally seen as debt being 90% of gdp, that has been exploded as meth logically wrong so that was driving this grand bargain. the third was political. conservatives wanted to reduce the deficit >> bill: sure. >> the reality is when the negotiations went on there was not serious offers in the from the conservatives to do anything. there was simply a lot of posturing. so there is the politics. but really, you can leave that aside and just look at the facts. so what's driven that? well for one thing, the

projection of rising healthcare costs were dram atatically off. they have risen much more slowly than projected. we don't know how much that has to do with the recession or slow growth versus structural competitiveness some of the obamacare factors. it's some combination of those two. you have seen growth actually not be as robust, in which ways things could have been -- projections could have been worse. >> yeah. >> there is another aspect of this, though, bill, is that england and europe went a different way. so not only do we know that we are not facing this kind of immediately exploding deficits but when you look at the austerity approach that england took in order to reduce their deficit, their deficit is higher than projections. why? because choking off growth in the economy, they made their deficit situation worse. >> bill: so why if that's true and i accept your numbers and the numbers that i have seen in my own research, then why is

this still -- there still this drive for the grand bargain with the republicans? i mean on the part of the administration. we don't need it? do we? >> you know, i think it's not -- it should not be the priority based upon the skimobile facts we see -- behind those macro numbers, you have lots of individuals and families who haven't seen a wage increase in years. many people who have been unemployed for month after month or downcycling in the economy who aren't able to move forward and have economic security. but what we are looking at is a bigger paradigm shift which is the argument that, you know the far right has made for some time is growth sort of drips down,tricals down from the 1% as the job creators. what you actually see is that it's the middle class their purchasing power and savings or investment power that drives growth. so the middle class is the no the outgrowth of a strong economy. it's the driver of a strong

economy and growth which is what we get at with probationive growth that says we have 300 million engines of economic growth in this country. >> that's a different shift of whether you think the key to growth is yet another tax cut for the richest americans or how you -- tax capital gains, or is it about investment in the middle class? i think that's an issue economists on both sides are coming to and agreeing to. the politicians need to catch up. >> bill: the president is in europe as we speak. right? >> like it seems to me a piece of evidence number 1, why the austerity approach which republicans have add covocated more of here doesn't work. right? >> that's right. you have the structural dynamics 69 eu, the democracy deficit there. but if you look at the u.k. you can see that approach has not worked. you can get that into our more narrow debasis like the sequester which makes no economic sense right now and never did frankly.

that was always meant to be bad enough policy to drive the grand bargain. the grand bargain doesn't happen. you know, we see in my state of virginia certainly the effects, i believe, of the sequester going back several months because people weren't hiring behind because of the uncertainty. so we have some near-term issues like that that can have a real effect on people's families and economic groaned and this broader question: how with we going to outcome pete china and other countries? is it going to be by paring back when we see defense at an all time low by % of gdp despite the rhetoric that you hear. >> that's the science, the technology, the education, the sorts of things that we believe rebuild our competitive advantage in middle class. >> bill: so you start out by saying that we have a responsibility as intelligent people looking at these public policy problems when the facts change, then the policies ought to change. now, you have, i think documentednd proven that the facts on this in this set of

issues have indeed changed. so what should the new policies be? >> bill: >> well, you know, some people among progressives did bedate whether these were over the right policies and we can go back and have that debate. >> bill: right. >> regardless of where you came down on that three years ago, what we know now is if you look at the growth of the deficit and of the debt and how much lower that is than projected when we see how we continue to see solid numbers on wall street but weak numbers on main street that we still need the strategy to focus on the working and middle class and there is no shortcut to investing in the best work force that's out there. things like pre-k are actually not only a great thing for making families more secure but for growth over time. focusing on science and technology and innovation the sorts of things that drove the investments in the internet that were then able to be privatized we continue to see that in the clean energy space and efficiency space for all of the polit sizing of it, that continues to be a driver of growth. so we need to make those kinds

of investments and not pull back just as growth is starting to take place. >> bill: so why not a second stimulus? >> well, i think that you could, first of all, politically, i think we understand that there is not a major push in that direction. >> bill: tough enough to get the last one through, i know. but the last one did move this economy. right? >> when the president started saying after the 2010 election he put forward a jobs bill and initially, the republicans opposed it for among other reasons the fact that it was obama's jobs bill. >> bill: of course. >> eventually some of those pieces got through because i think when you get back to main street and hear from constituents, investment in infrastructure is something everybody wants to see more of right now and they believe that the government has a role to play in that. education and pre-k continue to be popular. so there are ways that i think we can make those sorts of expenditures in the disney. and i think particularly until areas that include issues that focus on middle class families.

>> bill: i guess for many republicans -- republican -- i am not sure republicans around the land but here in washington republican politicians would argue that getting the deficit under control -- right, is the number 1 challenge facing this country to which you would say not true. >> right. i believe growth and job creation and a global economy is going to be the great challenge of our time. >> yeah. >> we believe inequality radical inequality has a negative effect on growth. we have talked about this from a catholic per spepth expectative that radical morality has an ineffiche is see drag on the economy which makes sense in terms of this whether you believe you can create an economy in which nobody builds anything, grows anything makes anything and only purchases, you know, abstract financial instruments. we have seen the financial sector in the past correlate

relatively closely with other aspects of the economy. those two things have become detappeared increasingly continues to be one important part of the economy but is not translating into an industrial or ag strategy or other thing. >> bill: i hope democratic leaders hear your message, you know, get familiar with the facts, themselves, and stop talking about deficit, cutting the deficit further, stop talking about grand bargaining and start every time just talking about jobs, jobs, opportunity, opportunity outgrowing the economy, following the leadership for american for progress. we have more issues to get in to with tom perriello after the break. join the conversation by giving us a call at 866-55-press or send us your comments on twitter. we will be right back. >> this is "the bill press show."

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>> go mobile with bill press, download podcasts and listen any time anywhere. this is this is "the bill press show" >> bill: twelve minutes before the top of the hour. it is the full court press here on a wednesday morning june 19th. good to have you with us. former congressman tom perrellio here in studio with us. congressman, good work on the bucket stuff. not that that's not good but a couple of things i have to ask you about because we don't get to see each other that often. you mention number 1 that we met through friends active in progressive catholic issues which we did when you were

running for congress. so i've got to ask you about pope francis. first of all, what's your take on him overall? and, two, what do you make of his comments the other day recognizing that there is a gay lobby inside the vatican? >> you know it's hard. there is a lot of opaci. y to ty to any pope. he has been incredibly strong on justice issues when the departmentgarment fires, talking about agreed as one of the great moral. >> trying to focus on the economic issues which is great to see. >> i spent some time in argentina, i guess 15 years ago now with some of the human rights activists who had been active during the jun. a. their take on it was here was a guy who had to walk a tightrope of being close enough to power to protect the church while still being so close to the

times he felt like maybe he crossed the line and that he walked away with a certain amount of humility from that experience and skepticism of power but understanding of its importance. if they are right about that, what i think you are seeing in him is someone who is of the institution but actively trying to challenge it, and i think we have always wondered what if we got a pope from the global south? would that challenge some of the more problematic aspects? i am sure i am not going to agree with this pope on everything. >> yeah. >> but i think he has inspired a lot of those of us who have had some challenge with the church over the years. >> a gay lobby i am not sure what that means. that there are cardinals in the vatican who are gay or people in the vatican who want a more enlightened policy toward gay rights? >> it was unclear to me, pootoo. i don't know if it was in the original latin or in spanish, but i think what he has done by bringing in this group to look at reforms in the church, it's

not yet vatican iii but it seems this is more than a token gesture because some of the people he put on the committee were not the usual suspects who are always there to prevent change from happening, you know, many of us assume that women moving into priest hood would be one of the earlier steps, probably even boor homo section walty we will see. i think he is trying to create a space where the catholic church exudes a little more hughmility and a little more focus on the least among us. we will see. >> bill: let's come back home, a former congressman from virginia. virginia is one of the two states that has a governor's race this year. new jersey and virginia. terri mccalcaullif. >> it's going well for terri mccullif. he is focused on the issues that

matter most. but been actively involved. i mean the transportation and infrastructure issues and mr. mr. kuchinelli has put himself opposed to that. you have most of the business leaders in the state supporting mr. mccaullif over mr. kuc, hienelli gets an earful from local business leaders that went viral. you see on the ticket as a whole the democrats have a ticket of people who have a very serious record of results who are serious guys who can work with both sides but certainly aren't afraid to support progressive policies and basic civil rights and on the other side, they have actually managed to put together a ticket of people more extreme than ken kuchenelli which many of us doubted was possible. >> bill: we thought he was an extreme right-winger and they came up with e.w. jackson? >> watson.

>> i think that was in some ways a last straw for some of the business leaders but also other moderate republicans who have come out for the democratic ticket and not just some of the usual suspects. i think this was a real sense of having lost the republican party that some of them grew up with in village. this is not a pro-business republican agenda newerthat you are seeing. it's an andy growth agenda for the reasons we talked about from the cap report. spouse these are folks who want to/what made virg the best place for a business and a family and education and these great universities. we are seeing a test of this question of whether growth comes from the middle, out, or whether we want the kind of devisive politics from our past. >> we have two democratic and now it's time to elect a democratic governor. tom perriello, thank you for

coming in. >> thank you fog having me. >> americanactionprogress.org. that's where you follow it. >> thinkprogress. the blog of all blogs. >> bill: ivar golski every tuesday morning. i will be back with a quick parting shot. >> this is "the bill press show." 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?

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 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.

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after the schelacking they took forget it. republicans forced through the most restrictive abortion bill in decades, a bad bill for at least two reasons. not only does the place -- does it place tighter restrictions than shroud under roe v. wade saying a victim of rape is authorized to get an abortion but only if she has previously reported that to police which, of course, most women do not do for very good reasons. here's the rub. that bill never passed the senate. president obama's vowed to veto it. it establishes one more time that the republican party is waging the war on women. have a great one, folks. see you back here again. >> this is "the bill press show."

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> stephanie: all right. current tv land, hour number one. jacki schechner. good morning. fellow spinning addiction -- you know cohort. >> what did you do? >> well, you know when your addiction spills over into your work, it is a sad thing. when you inflict your favorite spinning songs on your producer. ♪remember? from class? >> this must be like it's like to be on crystal meth. >> who plays that