let's hear some hard truths. >> bill: ben labolt a busy day for you. >> thanks so much bill. i'm talk to you soon. >> bill: i'll be back with today's parting shot. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ♪ and pontifications, from the entire social stratosphere including you. join in, tweet us, and you could be a part of our on-air and online coverage. >>now that is politically direct. [ voice of dennis ] ...allstate. really? i was afraid you'd have some cut-rate policy. [ normal voice ] nope, i've got... [ voice of dennis ] the allstate value plan. it's their most affordable car insurance -- and you still get an allstate agent. i too have... [ voice of dennis ] allstate. [ normal voice ] same agent and everything. it's like we're connected. no we're not. yeah, we are. no...we're not. ♪ ♪ ask an allstate agent about the value plan. are you in good hands? ♪ >> announcer: the parting shot with bill press. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: and on this wednesday august 29th, my parting shot for today, well, the republican convention finally got

let me bring in ben labolt, the obama campaign national press secretary. good morning. >> good morning, chris. thanks for having me. >> i think you know republicans are saying already this is just distracting from the real issue, which is that the economy is bad, unemployment 8.2%, the cover story in "newsweek" i'm sure you saw it, ben, obama has to go. no matter what happens, all these other issues that are out there, do you think ultimately people are going to vote based on how the president has handled the economy? >> we do think the top line economic xhois between who is building the economy from the middle class out and who believes we should build it from the top down will provide us with a decisive edge in november, but i don't think there's any doubt that congressman akin's comments were both appalling and offensive, and the broader debate in the republican party has been having over women's issues, it sounds like something we would have heard 50 years ago. there's a policy dimension to this issue. congressman ryan has sponsored legislation with co

ben labolt.nk you very much. >> thanks for having me, andrea. >> you bet. >>> up next, the medicare fact check with david walker. rogaine? well, i'll admit it. i was skeptical at first. but after awhile even my girlfriend noticed a difference. [ male announcer ] rogaine is proven to help stop hair loss. and for 85% of guys, it regrew hair. save up to 42% now at rogaine.com. the calcium they take because they don't take it with food. switch to citracal maximum plus d. it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum. it's all about absorption. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum. so what i'm saying is, people like options. when you take geico, you can call them anytime you feel like saving money. it don't matter, day or night. use your computer, your smartphone, your tablet, whatever. the point is, you have options. oh, how convenient. hey. crab cakes, what are you looking at? geico. fifteen minutes could save yo

. >> i'm going to speak with ben labolt in the next half hour. don't go away for that. >>> ryan celebrated his candidacy for vice president with a rally in wisconsin. the congressman said this is his deep roots in that battleground state. listen. >> my veins run with cheese, bratwurst and a little -- >> joining me now is ed schultz. great to see you this morning. >> thomas, it's great to be with you. >> he's a likeable guy, wisconsin hasn't voted republican since 1984. with then voting for ronald reagan, who ryan says is one of his inspiration. the state has gone very democratic. a pollster shows the president has a seven-point lead there. do you think a ryan pick brings wisconsin closer to mitt romney? >> well, it looks better today than several weeks from now when you get into the devil of the detail. this is as good as vice presidential roll out that you could have. this has been a tough summer for mitt romney. he needed some positive news. he got it this weekend. but he also delivered an idealog. he was on the budget committee, no doubt about

we're going to speak with ben labolt, the national press secretary for the obama campaign. ampa as well. ben, i know you were watching last night. paying very close attention and the president took an offensive approach to the republican national convention yesterday on his college tour. i want to remind everybody. take a look. >> the show in tamp aitampa, i' will be very entertaining and i'm sure they'll have wonderful things to say about me. they've hired all kinds of fancy tv producers. and the only problem is, it won't offer a path forward. >> ben, historically candidates keep a low profile during their opponent's nominating proceedings. is the fact you are doing otherwise indicating that you might be nervous about this campaign and how tight this election campaign fight is? >> we heard some complaints from the romney campaign about it, but governor romney travelled to denver during the president's convention the last time and gave a high-profile network interview on cbs. we're down here talking about mitt romney's plans because that's something that the convention hasn'

ben labolt said that governor romney's comments seem unhinged coming at a time when he's pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into attack ads. this morning in an interview with cbs, romney fired right back. >> i think unhinged would have to characterize what we have seen from the president's campaign. the president's campaign is all about division and attack and hatred. my campaign is about getting america back to work. if you look at the ads that have been described and the divisiveness based on income, age, ethnicity and so forth, it's designed to bring a sense of emnitty and jealousy and anger. >> biden was not apologetic, he said he was just borrowing the republican's rhetoric. >> biden said we believe the -- i'm using their own words. i got a message for them. if you want to know what's outrageous, it's their policies. and the effects of their policies on middle class america. that's what's outrageous. >> well, romney responded to that biden attack on ryan this morning. >> can't speak for anybody else, but i can say that the comments of the vice president as i heard them i thought

ben labolt shot back quote, it's one thing to give the stage in tampa to donald trump, sheriff joe arpaio, and kris kobach but governor romney's decision to directly enlist himself in the birther movement should give pause to any rational voter across america. song of the day, born in the usa with a link to bruce springsteen's anthem. so here it is, august 24th, 2012, 74 days to the election and a moment that will stay with mr. romney until november. >> no one's ever asked to see my birth certificate. they know that this is the place that we were born and raised. >> this is the gop nominee. this is the face of the republican party. joining me now is melissa harris-perry. host here on msnbc. and dana milbank, columnist for the washington post. thank you both for being here tonight. >> absolutely. >> happy birther day. >> thank you. i would say the same to you, but i don't celebrate it, dana. >> okay. >> melissa, it's not so subtle or is it subtle? what do you make of what romney said today and what he's been saying all along. >> couple of things. the first is we should just take that fact,

she'll speak to the obama campaign's ben labolt and barbara comstock. at your business travel forecast. off the eastern seaboard today. we'll give everyone a chance of some showers, but that will be about it. not many of us will see a rain-out today. new york, boston, and d.c., a chance of some afternoon showers. hit and miss. we will see some breaks of sunshine. even atlanta, detroit, chance of showers for you. the heat remains in the interior west, and also the desert southwest. enjoy. i am going to become facebook friends with our babysitter. no. these work, right? no. all right. mom! look what i found in the shed! no! no! no! ♪ ew! were you guys just making out in here? what? no! is it okay if i quit my job and start a blog? no. really? cold cuts from a package? yes. [ male announcer ] in a world filled with "no," it's nice to finally say "yes." new oscar mayer selects deli meat. the tastes you love and no artificial preservatives. it's yes food. to find you a great deal, even if it's not with us. [ ding ] oh, that's helpful! well, our company does

. >> ifill: obama campaign spokesman ben labolt, responding overnight, said romney's comments: back andth it went, with romney, on "cbs this morning," saying it's the obama campaign that's acting unhinged. >> the comments of the vice president as i heard them, i thought were one more example of a divisive effort to... to keep from talking about the real issues. i think the american people had the same reaction, which is they listened to the vice president and they thought again a-- an unfounded charge and a metaphor which is not uplifting, not uniting, but one which is once again a divisive attack. >> ifill: the fight quickly escalated from the stump to the air. a new romney campaign commercial charged the president with raiding the medicare trust fund. >> you pay in medicare for years, every paycheck, now when you need it, obama has cut $716 billion from medicare. >> ifill: a charge the president said today is simply dishonest. >> here's what you need to know. i have strengthened medicare. i have made reforms that have saved millions of seniors with medicare hundreds of dollars on thei

thomas roberts talks with big ed schultz and ben labolt and sean spicer. that's coming up. ♪ [music plays] ♪ [music plays] like a squirrel stashes nuts, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® liquid gels. nothing starts working faster than zyrtec® at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. zyrtec®. love the air. atd anc ]velib fur allergy symptoms for 24 hours. buoer rtalen tu. si a pindhhcvmele sca't allergy symptoms for 24 hours. d ou t f-et. wo t o, u'levi doaldiat plrk u're te wo t o, to rawi en anizlpr - itsu xpnc er ge d yohodoac p fhe thig o ch, orc ttuce, odo yulrha c . oh! ohaun f gh ttuce, odo yulrha c . l. ! lksads ineireapny hatht rmar t etfimi >>> good morning, everybody. i'm thomas roberts. topping the agenda today, the race of the white house entering its

. >> anyway, obama's spokesman ben labolt quickly responded with a very strong statement. quote, governor romney's comments tonight seemed unhinged and particularly strange coming at a time when he's pouring tens of millions of dollars into negative ads that are false. on cbs this morning, romney in turn responded to the unhinged charge, let's watch the counterpunch. >> i think unhinged would have to be characterize what we've seen from the president's campaign. the president's campaign is all about division and attack and hatred and my campaign is about getting america back to work. if you look at the ads that have been described in the divisiveness based upon income, age, ethnicity, and so forth, it's designed to bring a sense of jealousy and anger. >> you know, cynthia, we talk about the language used in politics all the time. we have a rich history in this with regard to andrew jackson to harry truman. more recently of populist language, most famous speech we -- all of us in high school reciting was the cross of gold speech, you shall not crucify mankind on a cross of

for the other side, let's turn to ben labolt.> thanks for having me. >> you just heard congressman. chaffetz his team is not playing the mediscare card. what's the reaction inside the obama camp? >> i think you pnted out that this is one area where we agree with congressman ryan. he preserved the $700 billion in savings that the administration identified by getting waste and fraud out of the system, getting rid of unnecessary subsidies to insurance companies and redirecting those into benefits for seniors. we closed the doughnut holes so that seniors are saving $600 a year for their prescription drug coverage. these are the type of savings we need to promote the solvency of medicare in the long run. >> i appreciate that, ben. but let's be honest. democrats are using scare tactics of their own. let's take a listen. >> quite extreme. good person, genial person. but his views are quite harsh. >> paul ryan has embraced an extremist proposal. >> your folks keep saying that paul ryan is a good person but he's also a radical extremist.

campaign spokesman ben labolt said in a statement governor romney's comments tonight seemed unhingedarly strange, coming at a time when he's pouring tens of millions of dollars into negative ads that are demonstrably false. later in the afternoon, vice president biden sought to clarify his comments pointing out that paul ryan used the word unshackle during the republican response's to the president's state of the union in 2011. here's biden's response in virginia. >> and i'm told when i made that comment earlier today in danville, virginia, the romney campaign put out a tweet. you know tweets these days. put out a tweet. went on the air. went on the airways saying, biden, he's outrageous in saying that i think i said instead of unshackled, unchained -- outrageous to say that. that's what we've had. i'm using the wrong words. i got a message for them -- if you want to know what's outrageous, it's their policies. and the effects of their policies on middle-class americans. that's what's outrageous. >> meanwhile, the controversial priorities usa ad that seemed to link mitt romney's busi

ben labolt, the obama camp spokesman said reflecting the growing number of questions americans have abouto hide. >> sure looks that way. >> right. if he didn't, then why wouldn't he show it? that's really what it comes down to. and it is funny. i would like to think this is another mormon who is the source for reid that's totally sick of romney. that even the mormons are sick of romney's self-righteousness. that would be a pretty damn high standard there. >> stephanie: in the words of newt gingrich, oh, please, can we cut the pius baloney here? >> right. >> stephanie: everybody keeps talking about the former boxer that he is. one top reid confidante said what republicans don't get the more they fire back at reid, the more he'll fight. what will the topic be? romney and his taxes. asked how reid was responding to criticism, a third person shrugged it off entirely. it is impossible to say how little he cares. he literally could not care less. >> you know, the nice thing about reid is he always looks like he just finished masturbating. [ buzzer ] to look that relaxed. you could say his monot

ben labolt is the national press secretary for the obama campaign. t rs in chicago. ben, great to have you with us. good morning to you. >> thanks for having me, carl. good morning. >> interesting dynamic setting up here as the tickets now announced. is it fair to make ryan the face of the house gop opposition? because there's a bunch of other players in that space. >> well, governor romney has called him the intellectual leader of the tea party. he's put forward the budget plan that governor romney really has a carbon copy of that budget plan that would make devastating cuts to programs that would benefit the middle class and create the good paying, sustainable jobs of the future, things like education and research and development and infrastructure all to pay for $5 trillion tax cuts for the wealthiest. if you had any doubt about that being governor romney's top priority, look no further than this selection of his vice presidential candidate. this is confirmation fwovrn governor romney would rubber stamp the program of congressional republicans. >>