Transcripts For CURRENT Full Court Press 20121204

To date on all of the latest news of the day and take your calls at 186655press. And word is out this morning that roger ails told David Petraeus when he was still in iraq that he should quit and run for president of the United States against barack obama and if he did so, roger ails said he would quit fox news and run his campaign. How about it. Dont tell me fox news is not the broadcast arm of the Republican Party. That proves it all right. Well get into that and a whole lot more here. First we get the latest current news update from Lisa Ferguson out in los angeles. Hi lisa. Good morning. Hey bill. Good morning everyone. So far the president seems to be staying strong when it comes to taxes. As you all know by now House Republicans sent in a fiscal cliff counter offer yesterday but the white house is calling it no good. I want to give you an idea of where the two sides stand right now. Boehners new plan would raise 2. 2 trillion. Now it would extend the bush tax cuts for everyone and yes that does include the top 2 . And it would instead raise 800 billion in revenue from socalled tax reform and thats what we mean when we talk about capping deductions and closing loopholes. The rest of the money comes from cuts to both mandatory and discretionary programs. Now to recap again on the president s offer, he wants to raise 1. 6 trillion, thats double boehners amount on the rich an and hes asking for more than 200 billion in stimulus spending and promising about 400 billion worth of cuts to social programs. Now obviously those two plans have very little in common. Neither side is budging when it comes to their demands on taxes. But now here are a few problems with boehners proposal. For one, he has yet to get specific on which deductions and loopholes he actually plans to get rid of. For another, hes trying to borrow from the Simpson Bowles agenda of raising revenue by lowering rates. Now obviously that seems a bit contradictive. The difference here is that the Simpson Bowles plan let the bush tax plan expire first before they revise the rates. Honest. They know that im not bsing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. When the democrats are wrong, they know that im going to be the first one to call them out. They can question whether im right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. [ male announcer ] red lobsters crabfest ends soon. Hurry in and try five succulent entrees like our tender snow crab paired with savory garlic shrimp. Just 12. 99. Come into red lobster and sea food differently. And introducing 7 lunch choices for just 7. 99. Salads, sandwiches, and more. At cepacol weve heard people are going to extremes to relieve their sore throats. Oh, okay, you dont need to do that. But i dont want any more of the usual lozenges and i want new cooling relief ugh. How do you feel . Now im cold. Hmm. This is a better choice. New cepacol sensations cools instantly, and has an active ingredient that stays with you long after the lozenge is gone. Ahhh. Not just a sensation sensational relief. [ theme ] announcer broadcasting announcer broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the bill press show. Bill all right. 28 day the to go now and 28 days to go now and theyre still nowhere closer to a deal on the fiscal cliff. But john boehner showed up at the White House Christmas Party Last Night. Yeah free booze. That will get them every time. What do you say . Hello, everybody. Great to see you today. It is tuesday december 4. This is the full court press. Booming out to you live on your local progressive talk Radio Station on sirius x. M. This hour only. For some reason. And all three hours of course, on current tv. Great to see you today. Thanks for being part of the program. Weve got lots and lots to talk about. On the news here from our Nations Capital. On the news around the country. Here in our Nations Capital, it is mainly fiscal cliff. Around the country, duane says it is too bad his girlfriend didnt have a gun then they could have had a shootout and other people could have been killed. In syria more signs of president assads days are numbered and the white house warning syria you better not think about using chemical weapons like Saddam Hussein did. So well bring it all to you. Take your calls. Give you a chance to sound off. You can do so by giving us a call at 186655press. That is our toll free number. Follow us on twitter. Give us your comments on twitter at bpshow and on facebook, follow us on facebook, facebook. Com billpressshow. Here we go. Peter ogborn and dan henning. Happy tuesday. Bill team press here this morning. Good morning. Bill phil backert has the phones. Cyprian bowlding, a delighted redskins fan this morning. Hes got the video camera. Hes going to celebrate this morning. Bill dan didnt wear his giants garb this morning. For those who dont know, there is a rift here in the bill bill press show. Dan is a big giants fan. Cyprian supports the Football Team here in washington. It is a heated rivalry. Bill even if your team loses, dont you think you would wear the gear . I have the hat. I am absolutely loyal. They played a solid game last night. Right up until they didnt win. They almost won. Spoken like a true fan. They played a great game until they lost. Bill heres what it sounded like on espn right at the end there. Rejuvenated football in the Nations Capital. Redskins and giants split. It looks like theyve won a game here at fedex field. And all they are is within a game of the division lead. Bill 1716. I will say as a giants fan the redskins are a solid contender this year and they have a fabulous rookie quarterback. Bill rgiii. Hes very good. Bill there we go. Weve got the nats and redskins coming up. Whoa suddenly, sports town. I wouldnt get too carried away with that. The last couple of games they looked very good. They also lost to the panthers this season and they had some very terrible games. If they had really gotten their act together and if they played the way theyve been playing the last couple of games things might have turned around for them. Bill if our sports teams can start delivering, maybe our politicians can. Dont ask too much here, right . I was going to say lets not get too carried away. The wizards have won one game this season. Bill they should never have changed their name from the bullets. I agree wholeheartedly. All of the new ones. Bill downhill ever since. Coming up today senator Sherrod Brown, big winner for reelection in ohio even though the super pac spent billions of dollars against him. Well maybe not billions but millions and millions against him. Sherrod brown is going to tell us how he did it. Tuesdays, think progress igor volsky from think progress here with us later in this hour. Lynn sweet Washington Bureau chief for the chicago suntimes as a friend of bill. Lots of fun coming up. Lots of important stuff to talk about including a bogus proposal by john boehner yesterday. On the fiscal cliff. But first. Announcer this is the full court press. On this tuesday other headlines making news, the most eagerly awaited pregnancy in recent times was announced yesterday. Duchess Kate Middleton pregnant with what would be the third in line to the british throne. Child of Prince William. He and kate have been married for 19 months. Kate was admitted to the hospital yesterday suffering from acute morning sickness. She needed extra hydration and nutrients and will spend a couple of days there. Shes reportedly not quite 12 weeks pregnant so shes likely due in may or june. Bill third in line. It would be charles then william and then the baby and harry gets pushed out to pasture. Bill even if baby x is a girl . Absolutely. The way they changed the line of succession to the throne, even if its a girl. Bill you know its big news when the White House Press briefing opened with jay carney congratulating on behalf of the president and the first lady and everybody here at the white house, we all congratulate Kate Middleton for her pregnancy. It is a big story. Bill it is hardly the number one news story hardly worth the white house briefing. Anyhow, not the first one to get pregnant. It is not that hard to get pregnant. I mean good for her and everybody. President obama has not started his second term yet but there is already a push to create his president ial library. The chicago suntimes and lynn sweet is reporting the university of chicago is pushing to figure out how to get the president to make them a serious contender. Maybe an easy push as the obamas have many close ties to that school. President ial libraries act as part museum, part archive and theyre funded through Public Private partnerships. Bill he was a professor there. Obviously that would be the place to put it. At the same time, let me say the last thing this country needs is another president ial library. Theyre all i think total waste of time and money. They should put their papers in the Smithsonian Library and stop all of this crap about everybody having to have his or her own library. His so far. Besides, the university of kenya already has a very nice library. And in sports, the top finalists for College Footballs most famous player of the year award were announced yesterday. Contenders for the Heisman Trophy are texas a m quarterback Johnny Manzel. Linebacker manty taio and collin klein. The winner will be announced this saturday in new york city. Manzel is the favorite. The correct answer is Johnny Manzel will win the Heisman Trophy this year. Thats all there is to it. Bill is he the freshman . He is going to win. Bill ill take your word for it. I dont know any of them. I wouldnt know who to vote for. You dont get to vote. Luckily, you dont get to vote. They will give it to the defensive player. Collin klein had a very good year but nobody had a better season than Johnny Manzel. Bill ill take your word for it. Ill tell you what, i have a vote on John Boehners baloney plan yesterday they threw out there on the table. I would love to get your take on it too at 186655press. My vote is no my vote is laughing all the way. So, you know what was going on. So for the fiscal cliff negotiations so far it really is serious stuff because the last thing we can afford right now is another 2008 debacle where people lose their shirt because the federal government the politicians here members of congress cant get their act together. But at any rate, you had one plan on the table. The president s plan. Republicans saying the president there are too many questions and theres not enough specificity and baloney. President put out a plan about a year ago. It is in print. It is online. The president has a very specific plan. The republicans who didnt put anything on the table who had not countered with anything concrete at all. In fact, yesterday at our briefing, before boehner released his counter plan, jay carney said again that all you hear from the republicans are vague promises. Youre making vague promises about achieving revenue through capping deductions or closing loopholes simply doesnt add up to a serious proposal. Bill so then yesterday the republicans realized they had to come up with something put something on the table. Come up with this proposal which would cut 2. 2 trillion over the next ten years. The president by the way would cut 4 trillion over the next two years. But heres out how republicans would do it. They would cut Social Security. They would cut medicare. They would cut 600 medicare meaning they would raise the age eligibility from 65 to 67. They would cut 600 billion in unspecified cuts. Theyll cut spending. They dont tell us where. But its not defense spending. Those are social programs. They would cut another 800 billion or raise 800 billion in revenues they say by closing loopholes and getting rid of deductions. But again they dont tell where. What loopholes they would close. Is it the mortgage Interest Deduction . We dont know. They do not specify. So again it is a lot it is filled with vague promises but heres the big difference. Notice what is not included and what they say they will not do. They will not raise tax rates. They will not raise taxes on the top wealthiest 2 of americans. They say no way. No how will that be included. Theyre dead wrong. Theyre wasting time. When i saw that proposal yesterday, to coin a word, you know what my reaction was . I was flabbergasted oh, my god. I was flabbergasted. Thank you mr. Speaker. Bill john boehner isnt the only one. Flabbergasted that they would have the audacity to put Something Like that forward when they know its not going anywhere. Its a total joke. Social security has not contributed to the deficit. Social security should not be on the table. These guys hate Social Security so much, they want to get rid of Social Security and medicare so much that everything they put forward has to have cuts in medicare and Social Security. So thats a nonstarter. The president has said hes not going to touch Social Security. The president said hes not going to raise the eligibility age for medicare. And the president has also said jay carney said it again yesterday, hes not even going to consider any bill that continues tax rates for the wealthiest of americans. He will not sign an extension of the bush era tax cuts for the top 2 . Full stop. Bill full stop. This is what i dont get about this. This is not some new idea. This is not something that obama is you know, pulling out of the clear blue sky. It is something he ran on. This is what the election was about. Bill and the people voting. Overwhelmingly. Bill we have to go back to the beginning. These tax cuts were enacted by george w. Bush in 2001. Still a bad idea then, i believe. At any rate, we had a surplus. It was sold to the American People because we have a surplus, we ought to give money back. Well have the tax cuts across the board which benefitted mostly the wealthiest of americans. We knew that at the time. They were adopted as a temporary measure. What part of temporary doesnt john boehner understand . What part of temporary dont these republicans understand, right . I mean what is it about suddenly suddenly, its become gospel. It is sacrosanct that you can never raise tax on the richest of americans. The very ones im one of them, who ought to be paying more in taxes. It is just insane so they were attempted as a temporary measure and theyre going to expire in ten years. Why in ten years . Because everybody knew in ten years things might change. We might no longer have a surplus and we might need the money. Thats exactly what the case is today. President obama extended them for two years. I wish he hadnt but he did. Why . Because it was the price he paid for getting the debt ceiling increase and for extending Unemployment Benefits for millions of americans. Well now everything has changed. Now we can we simply can no longer afford welfare for the rich. It is handing millionaires and billionaires a great big fat like 150,000 check a year. We cant afford it. We dont have the money. Peter, as you pointed out, this is the number one issue in the election. The president made it clear at every appearance. If you want tax cuts, if you want the wealthiest of americans to pay a little more in taxes their fair share vote for me. If you want to give them a free ride, vote for romney. Its over. This issue has been decided. John boehner total total joke. I think the president i mean should just reject this thing out of hand and say we would rather have okay, heres my vote. Do you agree . 186655press. My vote is no deal. No deal rather than a bad deal. No deal rather than give the wealthiest 2 another tax cut. John boehner no deal im flabbergasted. Announcer this is the bill press show. Talking points that the right have about the heavy hand of government. I want to have that conversation. Lets talk about it. Really. Really that youre gonna lay people off because now the governments going to help you fund your health care. Really . I wanna be able to have those conversations. Not just to be confrontational, but to understand what the other side is saying. And you know, id like to arm our viewers with the ability to argue with their conservative uncle joe over the dinner table. [ boy 1 ] hey thats the last crescent. Oh, did you want it . Yea well split it. [ female announcer ] made fresh, so light buttery and flakey. Thats half thats not half guys, i have more thanks mom [ female announcer ] pillsbury crescents. Let the making begin [ female announcer ] holiday cookies are a big job. Everything has to be just right. Perfection is in the details. Get to holiday fun faster with pillsbury cookie dough. I jump out of my skin at people when im upset. Theyre doing this this corruption based on corruption based on corruption. Thats an understatement, eliot. Announcer this is the full court press. The bill press show. Live on your radio and on current tv. Bill hey, how about it. 25 minutes after the hour. Here on this tuesday. John boehner mucking things up yesterday by putting out a proposal thats not serious at all. Laughed out of the room. He ought to be. You know, republicans just gotta understand House Republicans have to understand we had an election. Elections have consequences. Peter ogborn, whats happening in the social world . Were tweeting at bpshow at bp show. You can find us there. Weve already given out Speaker Boehners twitter handle and phone number and web site if you want to get in touch with him. If you want to find him on twitter, it is at Speaker Boehner. Bill this is another time this is the time to repeat our call from yesterday for boehner saying this is a classic example of boehner refusing to lead. If youre not going to lead, resign, let somebody else lead. Let him know how you feel. You can call the speakers office. You can go to their web site and send him an email directly at speaker. Gov contact. Again, we put that out on twitter where were tweeting at bpshow. Astacia writes in on the counter offer from republicans, why dont they start by getting rid of congresss healthcare, retirement and Social Security then lets see where were at. Bill a little taste of their own medicine. Great response yesterday from many of you. Thousands of you to Speaker Boehners office telling him to resign. As we started yesterday morning here on the full court press. Len calling from north bend, oregon. Hey, len, good morning. Caller good morning, bill. Bill hi. Caller with all of this talk of cutting entitlements, it has been going on for quite awhile. Bill yeah. Caller i havent heard a single politician on either side of the aisle talk about raiding the cap on raising the cap on what a tax pater pays to fica. It is 110,000 i believe right now. If it were doubled, that would make Social Security completely solvent. It where be bill forever. And how come what am i listening to here . Bill i think here what it is, len. Youre right by the way. Thats the quickest way the fairest way the easiest way and the best way to fix Social Security. But the Obama Administration and harry reid right now democrats dont want Social Security even on the table because it is not connected. The republicans want it there because they want to cut Social Security but the democrats are saying look, Social Security is not the problem. There is an easy fix to that. Well take care of that later. Well take care of that next. But right now dont touch Social Security. Dont touch it. Just put it out of the equation. And deal with fiscal crisis as it is. Deal with the need for combination balanced approach of spending cuts that the president s put forward and new tax revenue which the president knows most of it has to come for tax cuts for the wealthiest. When we solve that problem then well let them deal with Social Security. But not muck it up right now. Announcer this is the bill press show. And im just blanking a little bit. I think his phrase for it was feed the beast going to do the young turks. I think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that were honest. They know that im not bsing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. When the democrats are wrong, they know that im going to be the first one to call them out. They can question whether im right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. Announcer this is the bill press show live on your radio and current tv. Bill 33 minutes after the hour here on tuesday december 4. It is the full court press. Were coming to you live all the way across this great land of ours from our studio here on capitol hill in washington d. C. And weve got three hours to fill every day. We easily fill it because we just go to think progress and then copy everything that they have that theyve reported on or bring you the news of what theyve reported on. Igor volsky is the Deputy Editor of think progress. Here with us every Tuesday Morning. Tuesdays with igor. Good morning igor. Good morning. Bill good to see you again. Weve been talking and you were very quick to jump on the boehner counterproposal. I dont know whether i dont know about you but when i saw it, i was flabbergasted. Shocked really. I laughed loudly. Bill but your headline is republicans revert to preelection tax plan, promise to raise revenues by magic. Theyll just come up with the 800 billion somehow somewhere without hurting middle class americans. Bill but they dont tell us so 800 billion is new revenue from closing loopholes and deductions, right . But which ones . Not sure. Bill who knows. Pull a rabbit out of the hat. The preelection is it is 800 billion that boehner offered in 2011 using romneys way of closing loopholes and deductions in some way some deductions some loopholes mysterious, to get you to 800 billion. We know if you target the loopholes and deductions that go toward the top 10 , 10 pest of americans, you get about 400 billion and change. You dont get to 800 so where do you get the 800 . It is unclear. Bill mortgage Interest Deductions. My suspicions. Then also, were going to cut 600 billion from Health Programs meaning Social Security. Mmhmm. Bill raising the age eligibility for medicare. Then on top of that, another 300 billion in spending cuts to social programs. Which ones . We dont know. Bill again we dont know, right . It is all smoke and mirrors. They say the committee and the house which is exactly what ryan said in the election. Bill exactly what we want. Turn it over to the House Republicans. They lost this election you know, the other piece is that they talk about having, this big deal of having a downpayment. Do you the downpayment. This year. And then next year, you really figure out how to reform the tax code and all of that. But in the downpayment and this is key House Republicans are asking for medicare savings. Now, youll remember during the campaign they said if youre receiving medicare now youre a current beneficiary, nothing will change of the now we have a different tune. Theyre asking for savings today, not ten years from now. Bill this is the socalled entitlement reform. So you really do have a case weve made this point so many times, the republicans not accepting the fact that the American People have spoken. That was the whole purpose of putting everything off until after the election. Thats right. Bill because then we would have American People have chosen the course. I was at the white house where jay carney said yet again the president will never sign anything close to what the republicans they ought to stop who are they kidding . Stop trying to kid themselves. There is a guy most americans havent heard of. Ken cuccinelli. Hes the attorney general of virginia. Announced hes going to run for governor of virginia. The name of the lieutenantgovernor who Belcher Bolling was considered to have the odds on favorite. He dropped out. Endorsed cuccinelli, i believe. Bill endorsed cuccinelli. And cuccinelli looks like will be the republican nominee against Terry Mcauliffe former dnc chair who played golf with president obama and president clinton last saturday. What do we know about cuccinelli . Hes like virginias todd akin in the sense oh, good bill great. Just what we need. Really, i think a lot more ideological and a lot more i think persuasive when it comes to making his case. So going through his policy positions, you have obviously no abortion cases of rape or incest, trying to defund planned parenthood going after having all kinds of notification periods. Thats all in his record, voting for all of that. Bill im sure he was for the ultrasound. Bill the probe. The probe yeah. Then i mean his record on gay and lesbian rights is atrocious. He went out of his way to make sure voted against the bill that would allow or encourage private companies to offer Domestic Partnership benefits based on the idea that if they do it might encourage that kind of behavior. All kinds of quotes about homosexual behavior being immoral and wrong. Went after public universities in virginia for extending benefits to gay and lesbian employees. I mean this is a guy who really kind of takes his ideology very seriously. Bill a combination tea party and religious conservative right . Exactly right. Thats terrifying. Bill that is terrifying. Hes also the one who led the fight among attorney generals around the country i believe against obama care. Hes the one who filed the lawsuit. Those of us who worked on healthcare have a big stake in this guy. Not being the governor of virginia. Absolutely. He, i think he was the first in virginia. He wasnt part of the multistate lawsuit that florida ran. He had the separate lawsuit. And funny story, i was covering the Supreme Court hearings when they were here in hearing the healthcare case. I said mr. Attorney general, can we speak to you. What did you think . Because he was inside. He said where are you from . I said im from think progress. His face went all slack. He was like think progress . You guys just lie and distort prop prop propaganda and i didnt know it was going to turn out that way. Bill oh, man, all right. Igor volsky with us from think progress. Check him out at thinkprogress. Org. So one other issue that you got into yesterday after the tragic murder suicide for the Kansas City Chiefs over the weekend, the bob costas on sunday night quoting another sportswriter said you know, wouldnt have happened if there were not a gun involved. Yesterday the head of the nra came out ripping less than 24 hours later. Bill ripping into bob costas. Heres wayne. Just disgusted. I mean they tune in to watch a sporting event and meanwhile what they get in regard to this coldblooded murder that took place is they get a National Sportscaster whining about his social agenda that he wants adopted to ban firearms and ban handguns. I mean the american public, it is shameful. Theyre disgusted by it. By the way shout out to the nra for putting a guy named lapierrre in charge of their organization. Thats great. They know how to do it. Did he succeed the last guy mr. Fancy pants . Bill lapierrre says there is an answer here. This wouldnt have happened if only right dan do we have he doesnt say anything he wouldnt have said a thing last night if this woman had saved her life by having a firearm available. How about the baby . Bill why didnt the 2monthold baby have a gun . You can have the fetus i dont even know. Bill think progress is bobs costas was not out of line . Well, you know, the public outrage from this guy from fox news all day long about this when we have some kind of National Bill fox news was after costas. When there is some kind of National Security tragedy when the consulate in benghazi is bombed, we sit around and talk how do we make sure this doesnt happen again . Ramp up security . How do we prevent that from happening. When people have a problem with healthcare, how do you solve the problem. Here or with any other rampant shooting that occurs way too much in this country if you even talk about try to have a conversation of can gun control play a role, play a factor. Youre shouted down. People have called for costas to resign, to be fired for these kinds of things. Bill its true. If theres any mass murder here, you can talk about every aspect of it. Trayvon martin, you can talk about every aspect of it. You cannot mention there was a gun involved. Same thing with this murder suicide, Jason Belcher javon belcher. Right, murder, suicide tragic case. But you can talk about again any aspect of it. Were there head injuries involved you know, was she out partying, got home too late. Did he crack . Were there any signs . But you cannot mention the gun right . You cannot according to nra it is Never Never Never never, never okay to mention. Virginia tech, you cant mention there was a gun involved. It is ridiculous. The nra is so much powerful. Clearly the most powerful lobbying. With the Republican Party. Bill they own the Republican Party. 186655press. Covering the waterfront here with think progress and igor volsky here on the full court press this morning. Join the conversation at commenting on anything weve been talking about at 186655press. Announcer this is the bill press show. In their positions. I want them to have the data and i want them to have the passion. Come away armed with facts and the arguments to feel confident in their positions. I want them to have the data and i want them to have the passion. [ male announcer ] red lobsters crabfest ends soon. Hurry in and try five succulent entrees like our tender snow crab paired with savory garlic shrimp. Just 12. 99. Come into red lobster and sea food differently. And introducing 7 lunch choices for just 7. 99. Salads, sandwiches, and more. Wow ive never seen anything like this. When disaster strikes sometimes the only way out is to look within. Current tv digs deep into the extraordinary tales of heroism determination and escape. Trapped experience the drama. Back to back to back. Hold on mates catch the trapped minimarathon saturday starting at 1 eastern. On current tv. Announcer radio meets television. The bill press show. Now on current tv. Bill it is 13 minutes before the top of the hour. Top of the next hour, well be jumping up to boston to talk to political reporter at the boston globe about the Elizabeth Warren campaign. Hows it going and she have bill were visiting with igor volsky. Hes visiting with us. Deputy editor of think progress at thinkprogress. Org. You can follow him on twitter too, at igor volsky. You can follow us on twitter at bpshow peter. Were at bpshow. Weve asked all morning long about what they what our twitter followers think about the counteroffer by republicans. Such a piece of garbage. Please reach out to john boehner at Speaker Boehner on twitter. Gracey saying why do republicans keep harping about entitlements. Theyre earned benefits. Is it to satisfy some deepseated sadistic need to starve people . Allen says i have an idea lets let Speaker Boehner live on my paycheck for a month. I bring home 480 every two weeks after taxes. And damian says he reached out to Speaker Boehner on twitter and said i told him he was wrong and bill, Speaker Boehner started crying. Hes very sad. Bill i guess weve been asking everybody to get in touch with this office and tell them to lead or get out of the way. Lead or resign because hes showing no leadership by sticking to the same old tired arguments that they were that we heard before november 6th. But i guess we should have warned people that expect him to break down. Feelings may get hurt. Emotional guy. Bill you know where he was last night man. He might be total antiobama, unwilling to compromise, not willing to even recognize there was an election but he was at the White House Christmas Party Last Night. At the Congressional Ball, man. He and i know i dont know whether eric cantor was there who doesnt celebrate christmas either but it is a Congressional Ball for the holiday season. I know Kevin Mccarthy was there. So good sheriff of the Republican Leadership was there. Well have to get the full list of republicans. Well find out. Bill theres nothing particular with john boehner nothing like free booze. Right . [ laughter ] bill cant resist, man. Uhhuh. Im not going to get together with that guy. I dont want to talk to him about what . [ laughter ] bill red wine . Free red wine . Ill be there. If it gets him to talk, all right. Bill hey, lets say hello to ron calling from chicago. Good morning. Caller good morning, bill. Good morning guys. Bill how are you . Caller good. Im on my way to work. I want to make a comment about bob costas. He makes the comments. Bill bob costas, yes. Caller he makes the comments, what i think in the framework of caring about two people losing their lives. And they want to run him out on the rail and it was just a month ago Richard Mourdock makes comments, where was the outage he shouldnt even be allowed to run. Just the difference of both sides is amazing to me these people that bill well, yeah. Sometimes it is just hard to explain. The inconsistency outraged about one thing and not outraged about another. When it comes to it is not surprising for the nra. This is their position. Theyve gone from an organization at one time which really did a great job representing hunters and saying you know, weve got our rights. We want to be able to continue to enjoy that sport. To right now where they will oppose any and every measure no matter how reasonable toward saving lives with just the most reasonable forms of trigger locks. Background checks. Bill background checks at gun shows, for example. Yeah. Bill good point. And here is paul calling from brighton michigan. Hey, paul. Caller how you doing bill . Bill thank you. Caller ive been a fan of yours for decades. Bill thank you. Caller i want to get your opinion on the idiotic republican talking point that lowering taxes on rich people stimulates the economy. I have a degree in economics and my dad was an economics professor. And i know that its the opposite. Bill yeah. Caller to stimulate the economy, you have to tax rich people who are just sitting on that money. Theyre refusing to use it to help the economy. And the government uses that money to put people to work, rebuilding bridges schools hiring people to inspect our food so we dont die from eating Peanut Butter or getting shots. Bill amen, amen. Hey, paul, it has been proven, right . Right, igor . We had eight years. In great growth and great jobs. In a consumerbased economy where people have to buy you have to participate in business for the economy to grow, youve gotta give as the president said, youve gotta grow the economy from the middle out. If the relief doesnt go toward middle class americans, if they cant participate in the economy, yeah, youre going to have a top 1 or 2 folks who do really well. If most americans arent doing well, you wont have a growing economy. Bill exactly. As paul pointed out you put the money in the hands of middle class. Who will use it. Bill and grow the economy. Put it in the hands of the wealthiest 2 and all they do is sit on it. We had eight years under bill clinton. Tax rates were high and we had 22 million new jobs. Eight years under george bush and disaster. Igor volsky, great to see you again, my friend. Thanks for coming in. Thinkprogress. Org. And well be right back. Announcer radio meets television. The bill press show. Now on current tv. That viewers like about the young turks is that were honest. They can i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of tell them its like being nestled in an eightway, adjustable, heated and ventilated seat surrounded by a 500watt sound system while floating on a suspension made of billowy clouds. Or you could just hand them your keys. Announcer taking your emails on any topic at any show. Live on your radio and current tv. Bill hey, lots of comments and responses to our question, we asked at the very top of the hour. Should the kkk be allowed to adopt a highway in georgia. Announcer taking your emails on any topic at any time, this is the bill press show. Live on your radio and current tv. Bill all right. Lynn sweet in studio as a friend of bill next hour. And well also talk check in with nasa for the latest on the rover on mars. Meanwhile, natalie says hey bill, love your show. Please tell me how a lobbyist can control an elected party. I dont understand it. I dont either. Thats all Grover Norquist is. Nobody elected to anything. Big republican lobbyist. Ann says boehner is a moron he never takes responsibility for anything and hes totally in denial about the results of this election right. So we say to john boehner, with your help, john boehner either lead or get out of the way rick street says heres my take on the gamesmanship going on. My opinion is republicans are not kidding. Not kidding. Theyre doubling down much the same way the japanese did toward the end of world war ii. They climb into kamikaze death planes. Guess what. Theyre going to lose this battle just like they lost the election. Announcer this is the bill press show. [ theme ] bill hello everybody. What do you say . It is tuesday december 4. Welcome to the full court press. Here on current tv. Good to see you today. Thanks for being part of the program. We want to hear from you about the issues of the day. Not only tell you whats going on but hear from you what it means to you and your family. 186655press. It didnt last long, did it . Last week, republicans were saying they were ready to throw Grover Norquist under the bus. Yesterday they proved grover is still in charge. John boehner releasing a fiscal cliff plan but of course, refusing yet again to raise taxes on the top 2 . There you got it. It is not john boehner. It is not Mitch Mcconnell. It is not mitt romney whos in charge of the Republican Party. Its a lobbyist by the name of Grover Norquist. Well get into that and a whole lot more. First, heres the latest. Todays current news update from Lisa Ferguson. Joining us as always from our studios in los angeles. Good morning lisa. Hey bill, good morning everyone. President obama is warning syrian president bashar assad not to use chemical weapons saying that would be a tragic mistake and that assad will be held accountable. U. S. Officials are reporting that syria has ordered military chemical corps to be prepared. Now Syrian State Television claims the country has no plans of using chemical weapons, no matter the circumstances. But the u. S. Is worried that syrians are getting ready to put together a nerve gas mixture and that that could be used in artillery shells. The state department called any use of chemical weapons a hard red line and said they are continuing to monitor the situation. Meanwhile, iran is claiming its captured a u. S. Drone flying over the persian gulf today. According to internationallyrecognized limits, those drones must stay at least 12 nautical miles off the coast. But a u. S. Defense official is telling cnn that the u. S. Navy has fully accounted for all of its vehicles in the middle east. Whatever iranians are claiming to have, it is not an actively operating drone. Think progress is reporting that police can record video inside your home without a warrant. That ruling came out of a federal Appeals Court last week saying that the undercover use of video in a suspects home does not violate the fourth amendment. Obviously that bringing up some concerns and well have to wait and see if this goes on to the Supreme Court. Well be right back. Announcer broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the bill press show. Bill 28 days and whos counting. What the hell. No closer to a deal on the fiscal cliff. Not even or maybe especially after republicans put their counter proposal on the table yesterday. What do you say . Hello, everybody. Great to see you today. It is full court press. We are coming to you live from our Nations Capital and booming out to you across this great land of ours on your local progressive talk Radio Station. Lucky if youve got one. And on current tv. Great to see you today. Thanks for joining us. You know, youre part of the program. We invite your comments and look forward to hearing from you on our toll free line at 186655press. On twitter at bpshow. Peter ogborn here in studio with us checking your twitter comments at all times and on facebook. Facebook. Com billpressshow. And weve got the chat room going on, too. You can talk to your fellow full court pressers about the issues we were talking about by going to current. Com and clicking on the chat room. Youre going to want to jump in this hour because weve got one of our good friends somebody who has been covering president obama since he was in diapers i think, lynn sweet is the Washington Bureau chief for the chicago suntimes. Here as a friend of bill the entire hour. Hi lynn, how are you doing . Great and good morning to you. Good morning America Thanks for coming in. Bill nice to see you. Yesterday, it was very interesting. You werent at the briefing yesterday. I know you had other business. I was and jay carney began the briefing by congratulating princess kate and Prince William on behalf of the president the first lady and everybody who worked at the white house and all americans. This is a big deal, right . Well, it is something when you get the mazel tov from the White House Press secretary isnt it . Bill it is, indeed. Bill they also got the mazel tov. Im sure theyll make brilliant parents and everyone around the country will be celebrating with them tonight. I guess everybody, if you want a lot of traffic today on your web site, just put Kate Middleton in the headline. Bill you got it. Were in good shape. Bill even peter make sure. Im going to have to do that. Well have to start doing that. Fiscal cliff Kate Middleton. Hash tag. Everything royal pregnancy. Bill lets do that. This little baby to be, even made the late night comics last night. Jay leno. You realize one day that child could grow up to be one of the most powerful Unemployed People in the world. [ laughter ] just like the grandfather. Bill exactly. The whole gang. It is nice to have an upbeat story, isnt it . Bill it is. And it was just a matter of time. As peter said, it is not that hard to get pregnant. Really . We know how it happens. Congratulations, i guess. But you know, i mean bill its harder its harder not to get pregnant. Im not going to go there. But isnt it i think bill it is nice to have an upbeat story. Theyre a great couple. Always fascinating to watch americas fascination with royalty. Bill exactly. I find it so weird. I really do. I just find americas fascination with what goes on and you know, the queens diamond jubilee. That would have a ring to it. King peter, please. You cant even give somebody bill it wasnt that long ago, the wedding. The wedding was huge. Im very interested in your fascination. Did you watch the wedding . Can we talk about her dress . Bill i cant because we were on the air but that morning, walking over here that morning, i ran into women who were walking to the metro to go join their friends for big watch parties for the royal wedding. And now there will be watch parties for the arrival of that baby. Do you think you could start getting like a little bill press hoody so people could send over the gifts. The onesies. Get a onesie. I have a lot of old baby clothes that we dont use anymore, if its a boy, we could send them over. Might need a onesie with the holiday coming up. That might be the bill press show product that your listeners want. A bill press onesie. I love it. Can carol knit onesies . Not knit. Everybody listening. [ laughter ] ask bill his advice. Bill i will let you dan call carol after the show and ask her if she wants to start making onesies. Enough of that. Enough 11 minutes after the hour. Weve got more important things to talk about with lynn sweet and we will. More important . Bill first boom. Announcer this is the full court press. On this tuesday other headlines making news, Climate Change will get a big spotlight put on it thanks to a big hollywood name. Director and producer james cameron, longtime environmental advocate has signed on to produce a six to eight part documentary airing on show time called years of living dangerously. Usa today reports hes partnering partnering with Arnold Schwarzenegger and producers from 60 minutes on the project along with actors Matt Damon Don Cheadle and edward norton. It will be on tv next year. Bill al gore involved with this . I do not believe so. He should be. Bill he should be. President obama welcomed members of congress to the white house for a Christmas Party last night. Interesting to note this is the fourth Straight Year where theyve taken time out for Holiday Cheer while being on a strict deadline on huge legislation. The fiscal cliff likely wade for awkward conversations around the eggnog last night. Bill im sure when john boehner had his picture taken with the president. Oh, yeah. Bill how are we doing here john . Rick santorum has a new job. The former senator and failed president ial candidate will write a weekly column for the conservative world net daily site. Ceo joseph made the announcement yesterday saying santorum will continue to go to bat for conservatives who feel their voices arent being heard. Bill i cannot criticize Rick Santorum for that job because world net daily also carries my column. A far saner column. Bill i have no no idea why but im grateful for the fact that joseph they carry my column. I get so much hate i think im the only liberal columnist on the entire site. Im balancing them out. Lynn sweet. We havent seen you since the election. You were on the road almost the entire month of october. You were in chicago on election night. But it turns out and it is growing more and more, the president had a Pretty Healthy victory, didnt he . He did. Bill more than we thought he was going to have. Im not sure what in the end the people in chicago, the team always thought he would do well. He did a healthy i think thats a good word, healthy. Bill five million. 51 pest. Historic. All but one of the big battleground states. Im agreeing with you. I just saw one of your i was reading a tweet, somebody said theres no false equivalency here answering one of your listeners, i totally agree with bill. Bill on . Somebody just had a statement about false equivalencies so whoever your good listener, im agreeing with bill press. Bill i cant keep up with all of this traffic here. Yes. Bill you just attended this forum up in cambridge where leaders of both campaigns were together. What did you learn and did they was the Romney Campaign admitting that they blew it, basically . Made any mistakes, serious mistakes . What came out of that . This is a form of Harvard Institute of politics. All of the top honchos from all of the top campaigns. We did learn some things. Bill for obama, you had David Axelrod. Jim messina the campaign manager. Stephanie cutter. David who is not as wellknown but he was in charge of the opinion research. Jim marg ole is who made a lot of the commercials and jeremy byrd the director of organizing and teddy goff, the director of digital. Bill from the Romney Campaign . From the Romney Campaign, Stuart Stevens who was the top strategist. Matt rhodes who was the campaign manager. Rush reifer who was a business partner. Neil newhouse, the pollster. Matt moffett their digital director. Dan who was their Foreign Policy advisor, beth meyers. Bill you have all of the Major Players there. What did you learn from the Romney Campaign . Just so many nuggets came out of it. When we talked about what happened with Clint Eastwood, stuart says personally, die think it was a big deal. He goes up to Clint Eastwood beforehand saying youre going to be talking about the same little speech you gave at two fundraisers, arent you . And eastwood he looked at him and just said yep and then he goes out and does the empty chair thing. But while that dominated the news of the night and it was part of the their at this of that convention, they didnt think it was determinative. Bill theyre still in denial. The other thing that was interesting is on the selection of paul ryan. So the democrats this we kind of knew. Actually, i know from another forum that David Axelrod was at the university of Chicago Institute of politics. He talked about how he thought all along it would be either rob portman or im blanking now. Who is the other pawlenty or portman. Poor tim pawlenty. Thats what axelrod thought. When they were talking at the harvard conference, why did he pick him and a lot of it was the personal chemistry. Matt rhodes said when he would talk to mitt romney which he did every morning, he said it was like talking to your buddy who just met a girl. He was giddy. Newhouse said they got along so well, it was like a bromance. Bill no kidding. Really . Well there you go. Maybe he should have followed his head rather than his heart in terms of the pick. Well, you have to have somebody you work with and at the time, theres nothing wrong with that. It was a Political Choice. It was somebody who bill but it changed the dynamic from the economy to medicare. And paul ryan then mitt romney got on there. We love this debate on medicare. Well win this debate on medicare. Guess what. Thats why i think what you have this is an important first cut of history, a forum like this. Okay. So it wasnt the Political Choice on their end and look what happened. I think one of the good things about a choice when you had bill clinton pick al gore, when you had obama pick biden even when you had bush and cheney, they all, in their own way had their chemistry. But they also bring something to a ticket. Or more important they do no harm. So they dont change the their at this. They dont change the essence of the message. So when cheney was picked, people might have said is he picking his daddys friend or someone so old to help him. Those are that could slap down a candidate but it doesnt change your whole thrust of your main selling point which was for romney, i could be a better steward of the economy than obama. So when you evaluate what happened yes so it was a great chemistry. Bill right. But politically again, it changed the focus of the campaign and then what did what did paul ryan bring . He didnt bring wisconsin. So you ended up with two candidates. Had born in or lived in and paul ryan couldnt deliver either. Heres the other thing. I think this is why these debriefs are constructive because it is hard to get this information at the time. While the fascination with ryan on wisconsin this puts wisconsin in play, well, what the obama team saw was that wisconsin was a they were struggling. They lost the recall. They had put a lot of progressive wing, liberal democratic communities put a lot in it. They saw that as soon as ryan was picked that, it mobilized their troops in a way that they had not imagined they could do. So in politics, or is it politics and physics, you have an action and a reaction. So yes, it might have put wisconsin in play but thats a story that has two sides to it. Bill yeah. I thought it was pretty interesting to see that because in the end it might have been bill heres the question now. The question on moving forward is whether this impressive win by president obama and significant win by president obama and bigger than any of us thought will translate into getting things done here in washington, d. C. Lynn sweet is with us. Shes our guest. The Washington Bureau chief for chicago suntimes. Remember it is at least a twoway street. Sort of a four or fiveway street here some days. You can join the conversation by giving us a call at 186655press. Well be right back. Announcer on your radio and on current tv, this is the bill press show. Talking points that the right have about the heavy hand of government. I want to have that conversation. Lets talk about it. Really. Really that youre gonna lay people off because now the governments going to help you fund your health care. Really . I wanna be able to have those conversations. Not just to be confrontational, but to understand what the other side is saying. And you know, id like to arm our viewers with the ability to argue with their conservative uncle joe over the dinner table. Start you morning with a daily dose of politics from a fresh perspective. Im a slutty bob hope. The troops love me. Only on current tv. [ theme ] announcer this is the bill press show. Bill 25 minutes after the hour here on the full court press this Tuesday Morning. December 4. Lynn sweet covers the white house and the Washington Bureau chief for the chicago suntimes. In studio with us as a friend of bill this entire hour. Peter, whats happening on the social world . You and lynn are so busy. Slapping away at our computers. Yes, indeed. Were tweeting at bpshow on twitter. You can find us there. We were breaking down the disastrous Romney Campaign with lynn a couple of moments ago. Bill lynn was there at the forum up at harvard. Igor volsky said careful this might trigger romnesia if we spend too much time talking about the Romney Campaign. Fred wilder asks i wonder if lynn sweet is a cubs or white sox fan. Inquiring minds want to know. Youre on the spot. Im going to try to make this bill dont straddle the fence. Im going to tell you i went back to the cubs once the Chicago Tribune sold them. So my allegiance once the tribune bought them many years ago and i was in washington. The nats werent here yet. It was the os. Nats were the nats which still have a prime place in my heart but once the Tribune Company bought the cubs, i could go back. Once they sold the cubs bill you could go back to the cubs. I think that makes sense. I had to and i could not somebody might say why not go to the white sox. I will quickly tell you the answer. Many years ago the white sox did a deal in springfield illinois, the capital where they got i thought it was under the radar deal to get funding for their new stadium. And i dont like under the radar deals so i couldnt go to them because that was it. Most chicago cubs fans are looking for teams to jump too. I was able to go back. Good for you. I could not be for a tribune team. Bill we have a minute here. I want to know from youve been talking about the election win. Does that mean president obama wins the debate on the fiscal cliff . I think in the end he will get whats the most important thing to him which is the 98 . Could he be more clear bill . Thats the one nonnegotiable thing. Hes saying this is the one thing i want. Therefore, Everything Else, maybe he cant deal on. Yeah, theres a lot of ways you could take care of ensuring that the wealthiest still get many breaks but this is one the tax rate break that the president doesnt want to give. I find it fascinating that when the republicans as they did yesterday put out a counteroffer, they might be proud new republicans have signed on. I remember this whole debate is only about finding 30 or 40 republicans to go with the democrats to make the 218 majority. It is not about converting everyone who signed a Grover Norquist pledge. This whole thing is about finding 30 or 40 republicans. Bill which means of course they have to bring it up for a vote. They could vote. With that, well have to pick it up again after the break with lynn sweet here on the full court press. Going to do the young turks. I think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that were honest. They know that im not bsing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. When the democrats are wrong, they know that im going to be the first one to call them out. They can question whether im right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. At cepacol weve heard people are going to extremes to relieve their sore throats. Oh, okay, you dont need to do that. But i dont want any more of the usual lozenges and i want new cooling relief ugh. How do you feel . Now im cold. Hmm. This is a better choice. New cepacol sensations cools instantly, and has an active ingredient that stays with you long after the lozenge is gone. Ahhh. Not just a sensation sensational relief. Did you get chips for the party . Nope. Cheese plate . Cheese plate. Nope. I made something better. You used the oven . Boom [ male announcer ] pillsbury crescents. Let the making begin. [ female announcer ] why settle for plain bread . Heres a better idea. Pillsbury grands flaky layers biscuits in just 15 minutes the light delicate layers add a layer of warmth to your next dinner. Pillsbury grands biscuits let the making begin. [ male announcer ] red lobsters crabfest ends soon. Hurry in and try five succulent entrees like our tender snow crab paired with savory garlic shrimp. Just 12. 99. Come into red lobster and sea food differently. And introducing 7 lunch choices for just 7. 99. Salads, sandwiches, and more. Announcer this is the bill press show. Bill 33 minutes after the hour. Well check up on this Tuesday Morning, december 4 well check up on the latest from nasa and the mars rover just a little bit later. Lynn sweet is in the studio with us as a friend of bill. Shes the Washington Bureau chief. You know her well from the chicago sun times. And back to our review of the political news of the day. But first another little reminder about something you might consider. I urge you to consider if youre having trouble making ends meet at the end of each month. Are you looking for some extra income. Check out incomeathome. Com. Youve heard me talk about them before. Theyre americas leading work from home business, doing business in over 80 countries and this is something you can do no matter your Age Education or experience. You can literally earn money on your own computer from your own Kitchen Table 24 7. All you need is a little spare time. So if youre sick of living paycheck to paycheck, worried about job security or retirement, if your goal is to earn some extra money from home, parttime or even full time, incomeathome. Com. Thats where you ought to go. Theyre even giving away 1,000 to Somebody Just for checking them out. Visit incomeathome. Com. Thats incomeathome. Com. Bill all right. Before we move lynn, lets welcome steve. Peter ogborn here. Keeping on track of our social world. Were tweeting at bpshow and taking your comments in the chat room at current. Com billpress. Just a quick comment from rusty cannon on twitter. We just talked about my2k, the hash tag he said im guessing my2k would pay the electric bill for my car elevator. Bill mitt may need that to pay for his. Lets say hello to steve calling from hollywood california. Hey, steve, good morning. Caller hi, bill. Hi lynn. Great show as always, bill. Bill thank you. Early on the west coast we know. Thanks for joining us. Caller great program. Definitely worth getting up for. To me, if anyone should be invited to the white house for a very nice lunch and maybe get some kind of a it is jimmy carters grandson for coming up with that 47 video. Bill oh, yeah. I mean you know the truth when you hear it and when you see it and that was definitely it. And my question is did that come up at that conference you went to lynn, as a determinative factor in the process . Because i would have thought it would. It did. And obviously i think it was Stuart Stevens said it was obviously not a high moment for the campaign. Bill thats the understatement of the conference. And they said that they did not know theyve said that. Now stevens was at this event but he was not in the room at the time. So that means that no one in the room of the donor or just other people thought oops, this is not going to be good. But even if you thought that, if you thought that, why would you think that there was a video being made much less something that would ever be leaked. Bill you know why . Ask george allen because theres videos made of everything any candidate says any time, anyplace. It also means in terms of staffing an event, they didnt have anyone there who was listening closely to say we might have a problem down the road. So to your caller, the other thing that was interesting is that we learned that matt rhodes and stuart and the whole team, obviously they knew the 47 was troublesome but mitt romney came to them and said you didnt say it matt. You didnt say this, stuart. I said it. And he took ownership of it. He admitted his bill big deal. They still didnt deal with it very well, i didnt think. Im just reporting how they thought that it showed to the character of romney that he took ownership. He didnt try to blame anyone else. And it did come up. This is what is interesting about history. We thought oh, my gosh, this is a big deal. Clint eastwood, empty chair that probably wasnt determine five. 47 , that did have a lasting impact. Bill whats delicious right, now is the fact that with president obama 51 of the vote, mitt romney has 47 of the vote. So in the end in the end mitt romney ends up being part of the 47 of americans that he scorned. So i want to theres one other little issue here. The news this morning is that the university of chicago has put in its opening bid to get the obama library. Now first of all theres no doubt thats where it would go, right . Where else would it go . University of hawaii has been openly campaigning for it for years. Bill oh, really . I hadnt thought about that. Kenya . No. Dont think that will happen. Bill but he taught at the university of chicago. There is a lot of family connections there. Bill he did not attend the university of hawaii. His father did right . And his mother. Theres ties. He lived there. You dont have to be most president ial libraries are affiliated with an academic institution. Now, having said that, for years, the university of chicago has had a very quiet under the radar putting out feelers to get this. Ask him about it. They get all muzzled. So this is breaking out in the open. I want to give credit. Politico had a story on this saturday where they talked about how one of the people involved is susan who was mrs. Obamas chief of staff. Now an executive at the university of chicago. But what this there are so many ties to the university of chicago. Obama was a lecturer at the law school. Mrs. Obama was an executive there. The daughters went to the school. Close friend of the couple was the chairman of the board. We could go on and on and on. Even susan is an executive there now. And their donor community, some of them are on or have been on the board and their house is near campus. Bill it is a great university. David axelrod is launching his own institute of politics there formerly opens in january. So it would seem that if theres going to be if youre going to put it anywhere, this is the most logical place to put it. But obama also told Jonathan Alter in his book on the first year that he was even thinking of maybe a Virtual Library but theres going to be a brick and mortar place someplace. It may not be the scale of the Kennedy Library or clinton but it is interesting that now we know the timetable. We know the unveiling. This breaks out in the open more. I bet obama will not look forward to the massive fund raising that goes along with these places. Bill i want to put in my pitch, together with cspans brian that we should end this practice of every president having to have his own brick and mortar library. Really . Why is that . Bill because you know, it is just an ego trip for all of them. And not all president s, frankly deserve their own library. Not all president s know how to read for that matter. Bill i would say give it all to the library of congress and have the library of congress have the official president ial forever, all 44 library. Thats where their papers are. We could have a president ial one president ial Library Building in washington where a reagan room and an obama room and you have access to all scholars would have access to all of the documents. Look, the Gerald Ford Library in grand rapids, im sorry your cousin is here in grand rapids, i dont mean to dump on grand rapids my cousin ellen is listening. Bill every president has to have a library. Why . This is crazy. These places are part museums. Part libraries part archives. Bill so. Ive been to the Richard Nixon library. I was ashamed to go to the Richard Nixon library. He should not have a library. Have you been to the Reagan Library . Bill ive been to the Reagan Library. It is a disgrace i think. Because . Bill because who was Ronald Reagan . He was not a great president. Republicans say he walked on water. He did not walk on water. He drove this country into ruin. I think one of the the building physically is well cited. I think the issue there is because there is some taxpayer money that goes into running these things from the national archives, i think you need to put it in a place thats pretty accessible to people. Bill simi valley is not. I see you have strong feelings on this. Bill but not just the Reagan Library. On all president ial libraries. If our taxpayer money goes it the one point i would make is they should be at places that are easy to get to for people who do want to study presidencies. There is a ton of material, ive seen the archives, ive walked in the basement of the Reagan Library. You need a ton of space for all of this stuff. Bill fine, the library of congress. Lets have it all in one central place. Whats wrong with the library of congress . Do you know why East Los Angeles got the toxic dump and the simi valley got the Reagan Library . Why . Bill because East Los Angeles got first choice. [ laughter ] wow. Bill lynn sweet is our guest here on the full court press. We come back, enough politics, right . Were going to go into outer space. Take a rocket to mars. Dr. Luther beagle from nasa. Maybe they could put some president ial libraries on mars. Right . You dont want to outsource those jobs. Thats a good point. Bill not enough room left on the United States, on our soil. Announcer this is the bill press show. Live on your radio and current tv. To have the passion. Come away armed with facts and the arguments to feel confident in their positions. I want them to have the data and i want them to have the passion. Get irresistibly clean and fresh carpets in your home with resolve deep clean powder. The moist powder removes three times more dirt than vacuuming alone while neutralizing odors for a clean you can see, smell and really enjoy. Dont just vacuum clean. Resolve clean. I jump out of my skin at people when im upset. Do you share the sense of outrage that theyre doing this, this corruption based on corruption based on corruption. I think thats an understatement, eliot. U im not prone tot. Understatement, so explain to me why that is. I think the mob learned from wall st. , not vice versa. Announcer this is the bill press show. Bill hey, its 13 minutes before the top of the hour here on tuesday december 4. In the next hour, senator Sherrod Brown fresh from reelection in the state of ohio is going to be joining us. Michael tomasky from daily beast will be here as a friend of bill in the next hour. Sherrod brown who had more super pac money spent against him than any other incumbent senator and handily won reelection in the state of ohio. Lynn sweet is in studio with us as a friend of bill. Shes the Washington Bureau chief for the chicago suntimes and now a once again, a chicago cubs fan. We learned earlier in the hour. Lynn, always good to have you here. Nice to see you. Thank you. Bill it has been weve been tracking ever since the mars rover landed in august, thanks to our good friend, dr. Luther beagle at nasa, the progress with the mars rover some exciting things that have been discovered already. And a big announcement this week so we thought it was time to check in again with dr. Luther beagle who joins us from today from San Francisco. Dr. Beagle, good to talk to you again. Hi, how you doing . Bill were doing good. Are you still on mars time even though youre in San Francisco . No. I made it off mars time. Didnt get divorced. Was pretty happy about the whole thing. Bill off mars time for a couple of days huh . We got off mars time about four weeks ago. Were all on earth time. Bill why is that . Well, it is the way it was killing a lot of people. It is really difficult to do. So we went down to regular day shifts so now were working like 8 00 to 7 00 during the day. And we program the rover and we get the information back. It is a little inefficient but it makes for a much happier work environment. How many hours are there in a mars day . 24 hours and 40 minutes. Bill so then you have to calculate that. What happens is your day starts 40 minutes later and it gets weird when it gets like 2 00 in the morning. Bill all right now we want to talk about mars. First, i have to ask you about the earlier in the week, maybe it was last week, i guess announcement dr. Begel about finding ice on the polar caps of mercury. I dont get this. This is the hottest of the planets, is it not . And why do they have ice and why is our ice melting . Is there something wrong with this picture . No, its not. It is also one of the coldest planets because one side is almost always toward the sun. One side is always in space. Youve got this dichotomy of a really hot surface and a really cold surface. Bill it doesnt rotate . It rotates about once every 90 days so one side is able to cool off very quickly because it is radiating. So youve got places at the polls where it never gets hot. Son and it acts as a cold trap. So any time a meteor or comet hits it, the ice can go to this cold trap on the top where the sun never hits it. Bill the finding of ice on mercury the finding of ice on mars would indicate that there could have been life there at one time. You cannot make the same leap on mercury, can you . Because of other atmospheric conditions. Theres no atmosphere. Theres no real Energy Source at the poles. And water is pretty common in the universe. So it doesnt necessarily mean because comets have water. Comets are made of water. We dont expect to find life there either. The conditions just arent right. Bill whats the latest from mars . Latest from mars is weve been sitting at this place called loch ness and weve been using our scientific instruments to analyze the soil. Weve been figuring out what is the oil is like and were comparing that to other missions. What we found is really cool. We found the material on mars seems to be almost does not over the entire planet. The soil seems to exist the same in every place. This thing called praquori so you could make the case that the entire martian surface is explosive. Bill didnt i read there was a finding about some organic material . There is. We havent definitively identified the material yet. We didnt expect it in the soil because of the conditions on the surface make organic material hard to exist. It basically oxidizes into carbon dioxide. So we werent really expecting it there. But we expected to find it inside of the rocks when we started to drill later this month or bill lynn . How long im curious by the time you give a command to you know, to the curiosity from earth, how long does it take to have something move . If you say dig here, go there drill down harder, is it a matter of hours minutes . I forget how long does it take to get the signal over there and to move the rover . All of these things happened 11 months ago right . No. It takes the light time is from 20 minutes back from mars but in reality once we decide what were going to do we have a science operational working group. We decide what were going to do and the sol is a martian day. We write the script. We program we write the program. That takes about six hours to write. And then it gets sent from the deep Space Network to mars where the rover picks it up and the rover does all of those operations during that day. It gets that information first thing in the morning and then it is with us all day long. You program an entire day in one sitting. I love that name. Did you say deep mars network . Deep space. Reporting live from the deep Space Network. So thats interesting. Why do a whole days worth of instructions at one time . Is it more efficient form the machine . Does it theres always this 20minute light delay. In writing the Program Writing the scripts its called, takes a little bit of time to do. We have to get together and review things. Doing it in real time is inefficient. The way the rover works is the rover always talks to an orbiter. We talk to an orbiter. We sit in the command and it keeps it in its memory. It talks to the rover and the rower talks back. Bill dr. Beegle, fascinating stuff. Thank you again for all youre doing there. You and all your team at nasa. Well talk to you again soon. Lynn, if we could only get them to send a package of instructions to john boehner and the republicans in the house maybe we could get things done. Thank you for coming in again. Thank you so much. Bill always good to see you. Lots of fun. Ill be right back with a quick look at the president s schedule for today. Announcer this is the bill press show. That viewers like about the young turks is that were honest. They can question whether im right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. Where you dont back down from a challenge. This is the age of knowing how to make things happen. So, why let erectile dysfunction get in your way . Talk to your doctor about viagra. 20 million men already have. Ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. Do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain; it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. Side effects include headache, flushing upset stomach, and abnormal vision. To avoid longterm injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. Stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. This is the age of taking action. Viagra. Talk to your doctor. [ theme ] announcer this is the bill press show. Bill Michael Tomasky here as a friend of bill in the next hour with senator Sherrod Brown from ohio. President Obama Meeting with a group of governors today at the white house about the fiscal cliff. They know how important it is. They know how they depend on the federal government getting its stuff together. And the president is asking them to put pressure on House Republicans to do the right thing. Then the president and the Vice President meet for lunch and this afternoon, the president and the Vice President will have their weekly meeting with secretary of defense leon panetta. Jay carney and our press briefing today will be held at 1 00 p. M. Back with senator Sherrod Brown in the next hour. The full court press. [ theme ] bill good morning, fellow americans. And welcome, a big welcome to the full court press here on current tv this Tuesday Morning december 4. Great to see you today. Well bring you up to date on whats happening in the world. Here in our Nations Capital. Around the country around the globe. And of course, give you a chance to sound off, give us a call any time at 186655press. How about this. Word is out today that roger ailes urged David Petraeus to run for president of the United States against barack obama and ailes promised if petraeus would do so, he would, roger ailes would quit fox news and run petraeus campaign. Dont tell me the fox news is anything but the broadcast arm of the Republican National party. This proves it all right. That and a whole lot more here on the full court press. But whats happening lets get the latest, todays current news update from Lisa Ferguson. Joining us from our studios out in los angeles. Hi lisa, good morning. Hey bill, good morning everyone. A top official in the Justice Department will resign on friday in light of the botched fast and furious gunrunning scheme between the u. S. mexico border. His name is gary grinler and he held quite a few positions. He was attorney general, eric holders chief of staff. Also serving as the Deputy Attorney general and his department oversaw the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms. The atf ran the program which lost track of hundreds of illegally purchased weapons in the hands of mexican cartels. The House Oversight committee named grinle rerks citing for him for failing to oversee the program. Several atf officials have stepped down. On wednesday, the house will get a big briefing over the attacks in benghazi. This is not open to the press. So well only know what they choose to tell us. We do know that National Intelligence director James Clapper and National Terrorism Center Director Matthew Olson are among the top officials giving that presentation. And hispanic fundraisers are creating a new group focused on immigration. Actress eva longoria is one of three megadonors leading the initiative along with other latino leaders who helped reelect the president. Their plan is to create a strong online and social Media Presence which they hope will Pressure Congress into passing comprehensive immigration reform. Well be right back. Alright, in 15 minutes were going to do the young turks. I think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that were honest. They know that im not bsing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. When the democrats are wrong, they know that im going to be the first one to call them out. They can question whether im right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. [ male announcer ] red lobsters crabfest ends soon. Hurry in and try five succulent entrees like our tender snow crab paired with savory garlic shrimp. Just 12. 99. Come into red lobster and sea food differently. And introducing 7 lunch choices for just 7. 99. Salads, sandwiches, and more. Rich, chewy caramel rolled up in smooth milk chocolate. Dont forget about that payroll meeting. Rolo. Get your smooth on. Also in minis. Did you get chips for the party . Nope. Cheese plate . Cheese plate. Nope. I made something better. You used the oven . Boom [ male announcer ] pillsbury crescents. Let the making begin. [ female announcer ] why settle for plain bread . Heres a better idea. Pillsbury grands flaky layers biscuits in just 15 minutes the light delicate layers add a layer of warmth to your next dinner. Pillsbury grands biscuits let the making begin. Then howd i get this. [ voice of dennis ]. Allstate safe driving bonus check . What is that . So weird, right . My agent, tom, said. [ voice of dennis ]. Only allstate sends you a bonus check for every six months youre accidentfree. But im a woman. Maybe its a misprint. Does it look like a misprint . Ok. What i was trying. [ voice of dennis ] silence. Ask an allstate agent about the safe driving bonus check. Are you in good hands . [ theme ] announcer broadcasting across the nation on your radio announcer broadcasting across the nation on your radio and tv, this is the bill press show. Bill all right. Is it 27 days or 28 days, who knows, all i know is theyre no closer to it than they were yesterday. Good morning, everybody. This is the full court press on tuesday december 4. Good to see you today. And thanks for being part of the program. Good to have you with us as we come to you live from our Nations Capital and bring you the news of the day here in washington, d. C. They had time to Party Last Night at the white house but no time to work out a deal. The nra accusing demanding that bob costas be fired for daring say a gun had anything to do with a murder suicide in kansas city over the weekend. And in the middle east, more and more signs that the days of president assad of syria are numbered with the rebels gaining ground and now even russia intervening to say its time that theyre almost ready to say the time assad should step down getting close to it. On all fronts, well bring you the news of the day and get you involved to talk about it. Hear what it means to you. Give us a call at 186655press talk to us on twitter at bpshow and follow us on facebook, facebook. Com billpressshow to help us through the events of the day. Someone who writes about them every day several times a day for daily beast, Michael Tomasky, columnist for the daily beast joining us in studio. You write for so many publications. You also do some stuff for new york review, books . Yeah. Those are my main two things. Bill then you have democracy. Democracy. Journal of ideas. Im the editor of it. I write for it once a year or Something Like that. Very nice of you to mention democracy, i would like to see people check out democracyjournal. Bill there it is. Michael tomasky. Nice of you to take time for us. Our regular team here on deck as always. Peter ogborn and dan henning. Happy tuesday. Bill good morning, good morning. Phil backerts got the phones cover and cyprian bowlding, of course, has the cameras covered. Cyprian still very excited this morning. Bill very excited this morning about the redskins. Knocking off the giants last night. Just trounced them. 17 hey theyre a terrible team. Bill 490 . You know, keeps hope alive for football here in the Nations Capital. We have the most exciting player in the nfl playing for us. Robert griffin iii. The most exciting player to watch play football. The rest of the team, needs some work but he himself is a very exciting player to watch. Bill so yesterday on the hill, michael, there is a funny moment. Some obscure issue, john mccain and john kerry actually agreed on and held a joint News Conference and little back and forth needling of the other. Heres john kerry when he finishes his remarks and calls on senator mccain. Senator mccain thank you very much mr. Secretary. [ laughter ] bill talking state . Thank you very much, mr. President. [ laughter ] this is what happens when you get two losers up here, folks. [ laughter ] were just having fun. Bill good comeback on john kerrys part. Mccain didnt think that was so funny. Bill all right. Weve got lots to cover. John boehner actually out yesterday with a counterproposal on the fiscal cliff but how serious is it . Really . Well get into that and a whole lot more. But first this is the full court press. Other headlines making news, the new york city homeless man who was in that photo that went viral last week where a Police Officer brought him a pair of shoes on a cold night was found by the New York Times yesterday not wearing those brand new boots. 54yearold Jeffrey Hillman said he was incretbly grateful to nypd officer but said hes hiding the 100 pair of shoes because he could lose his life over them because theyre so valuable so he would rather go barefoot. Wow. Wild. It is a wild story. Bill yeah but you know that i could see that, right . Somebody with a pair of shoes that valuable. A new poll is out showing just how much we trust members of congress and it is just above a used car salesman. Gallup finds that 10 of americans rate the honesty and ethical standards of members of congress as high compared to 8 who say the same about used car salesmen. Traditionally, the highest percentage of those who trust capitol hill lawmakers have only gone to 25 . That was just after the september 11th attacks. Bill i think thats not fair to i have to say sellers of preowned cars. Nobody says used car salesmen anymore. I would trust a salesman for a preowned vehicle more than i would trust most of these members of congress. And speaking of members congratulations to senator ron widen, the oregon democrat welcoming his fifth child into the world last week. Oregonlive. Com tells us scarlet was born thursday. 7 pounds, 11 ounces. The senator and his second wifes third child together. They have twin 5yearold boys as well. He has two Adult Children from a previous marriage. Bill and five kids, man. Bill and hes from oregon, of course. His wife owns one of the best book stores in the country. The strand bookstore in new york city which is a whole building. It is a fabulous, fabulous store. Have you ever been there michael . Bass, right . Bill the family. Incredible store. There you are. 12 minutes after the hour. Michael tomasky, i want to ask you about the john boehner counteroffer yesterday. But first, this is totally out of the blue today. The Washington Post dropping this i think bombshell about roger ailes and David Petraeus. So David Petraeus got with him too . Does the man know no sorry. Bill so according to the post, it is in the style section this morning, roger ailes deputized Mcfarland Fox news analyst. Shes gone over to afghanistan to report and so he says i have a message for you to carry to general petraeus and she does. She delivers a message from roger ailes which is heres my advice to you David Petraeus. If president obama offers you to be joint chiefs, chafer the joint chiefs, take it. If he offers you anything less like a measly little job like being head of the c. I. A. , turn it down, quit, run against obama in 2012 and i, roger ailes will quit fox news and run your campaign. Michael tomasky, what does this say about fox news. It says what weve known all along. It is an arm of the Republican Party. I mean imagine bill, the head of msnbc i dont even know who that is. Bill phil griffin. Imagine phil griffin did something similar with i dont know who the analogous public figure would be. Imagine he tried to do that. Colin powell. Colin powell or Something Like that. Bill run against obama because obamas not a liberal enough. Run against if there were a republican president. If john kerry were right and mccain is president and you know you go run against president mccain. Can you imagine how they would be howling on the right wing . Bill they would have been demanding they shut down the network. Take their license away, the whole thing. Roger does this. The accusation that fox is nothing but the propaganda arm or the broadcast arm of the Republican National committee is right. You know. By the way, this piece is by bob woodward. This is not some kid. Bill i didnt notice that. It is by bob woodward. He dug this out somewhere. Somebody came to him with it. That adds weight to it. But you know, it is like weve always said, nothing about fox is shocking, you know. So they benefit from the ridiculously low expectations because nobody expects them even to be a serious evenhanded news network. Bill as a segue, i guess nobody expected a serious counter proposal to come from john boehner. And we didnt get it yesterday. So republicans have been accusing president obama of not having any specifics and then jay carney and those pointed out hey, wait a minute, weve had this plan for over a year. Come on. We got all of the specifics. Heres where we would cut. Heres what loopholes we would close. So republicans had to come up with something. And yesterday, it came up with a plan, last week, michael, they were all saying we cant wait to throw Grover Norquist under the bus. Yesterday, looks to me like Grover Norquist is still in charge. Sure. Bill one thing that in their plan, they dont identify loopholes they would close. They dont identify spending cuts for the most part they would make and they say no, were going to keep the tax breaks for the top 2 . Whats changed . Whats different . Nothings changed. Their fundamental problem is this, as you know. The thing thats most important to them, emotionally and in policy terms i guess but just in their gut, the thing thats most important to them is to cut taxes for wealthy people. Cut taxes at the high end. Thats the thing thats most important to them. Thats their theology. It is not just policy. Thats their theology. Thats their core belief. So Everything Else, thats the center of their solar system. Everything else has to be rearranged around the core belief of keeping taxes low for the rich. Thats the heart of it. So Everything Else they do they have to sort of adjust around that but they cant tell the people the truth about that. Because they know that the people dont support them. In recent last weeks who was it, Washington Post poll, i cant remember the poll. But even 68 of republicans didnt want, for example to raise the medicare eligibility rate age to 67. Bill which of course john boehner does in this proposal. Who are they serving . Who are they representing . Theyre serving the people who financed their campaigns and theyre serving their ideological belief. I guess they actually have persuaded themselves over the last 30 years to believe that if you put hundreds of thousands of dollars back in the hands of millionaires, thats the best way to benefit the rest of us. Bill when weve seen thats simply not true. Two questions. Number one. Dont they remember that these tax cuts were enacted in 2001 when we had a surplus and as a temporary measure. What part of temporary dont they understand . Right. Bill dont they remember, too, that more recently, less than a month ago, we had an election. There was really one issue. Obama made it clear at every rally. You want the wealthy to pay higher taxes . Vote for me. You want them to get a free ride, a continued free ride, vote for romney. That was the main policy issue in the election. Bill the main difference between the two of them. But you know they dont care. And you know, i invite them. I mean look, it is fine by me. It is fine by us. If they take this position. Well sacrifice everything. Well sacrifice the Fiscal Health and integrity of the country so we can cut tax on the wealthy. The Washington Post looking at it before i came here. Who would you blame if there is no deal by january 1st. 53 , republicans. 27 , obama. Bill really . Dan, jay carney spoke yesterday about what would happen if legislation comes to the president and includes a continued tax break for the wealthiest 2 . President said this before. Jay has said it before. He said it again yesterday. He will not sign an extension of the bush era tax cuts for the top 2 . Full stop. Bill full stop. Just dont even go there, right . Right. Bill so it looks like the white house is determined, i read it, that no deal is better than a bad deal. And theyre willing to accept no deal rather than a bad deal. Bad deal defined by one that continues the tax cuts. I think they can afford to do that politically. Bill amen. Because the public is on their side number one. Democrats and independents, not republicans. Republicans support bill they lost. Democrats and independents are strongly on the president s side. So hes got public opinion. And hes also got the political reality that even if january 1st passes, you can always come back and pass a bill and date it retroactively to january 1st so that middle income people never saw a tax increase. Bill right. Good question. It comes down to the only choice is to sign a bill with that does extend the tax cuts for the wealthiest of americans or to veto that bill, what should the president do . I say veto it. Dont take it. Stick to your guns. You won the election. The American People, as you point out michael are behind you. 186655press. Join the conversation with Michael Tomasky from daily beast here on todays full court press. Announcer this is the full court press. The bill press show live on your radio and on current tv. Dinner table. The right have about the heavy hand of government. I want to have that conversation. Lets talk about it. Really. Really that youre gonna lay people off because now the governments going to help you fund your health care. Really . I wanna be able to have those conversations. Not just to be confrontational, but to understand what the other side is saying. And you know, id like to arm our viewers with the ability to argue with their conservative uncle joe over the dinner table. Current tv, its been all building up to this. Bill shares his views, now its your turn. I know youre 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. Announcer this is the bill press show. Live on your radio and current tv. Bill Joe Cirincione is our guest from the Ploughshares Fund announcer this is the full court press. The bill press show. Live on your radio and on current tv. Bill hey this is it. 25 minutes after the hour now here on the full court press. On a tuesday december 4. Senator Sherrod Brown recently reelected to the United States senate from the state of ohio. With the help i might add of a lot of you who joined in that campaign because senator Sherrod Brown was our guest many times during his reelection campaign. He will be in studio with us, joining me and Michael Tomasky columnist for the daily beast here in just a few minutes. Peter, whats up on the social network . Were tweeting at bpshow at bpshow. One person in particular taking an issue with something that you said bill. Rena davis chiming in on your dislike of the president ial libraries. She says i love your show, bill but i totally disagree with president obama not having a president ial library. If anyone deserves one it is obama. Bill with all due respect thats missing the point. My point is not against the obama library. My point is a rant against all president ial libraries. I dont care if its fdr and ive been to that one or Ronald Reagan. Ive been to that one or Richard Nixon, ive been to that one. I think everything ought to be housed in the library of congress for the American People. And we dont need brick and mortar edifices to every president , good and bad but thats my little rant. It has been 24 hours so have you tweeted the pope yet . No. Bill what . Come on. You got him out there. I would like to get him to do one of the friday follows of me. Thats my longterm goal. [ laughter ] hes going to have a few more followers than i am. We did tweet to the pope. We asked the pope if he thinks that Speaker Boehner is possessed by a demon. We have not got an response yet. The pope has 367,884 followers. Zero tweets. He hasnt tweeted anything yet. Bill how can you have that many followers without a tweet . Everyone knows hes tweeting so theyre following him. Bill we had the classic yesterday, michael the classic tweet. One of our listeners or viewers wanted us to tweet to the pope, peter it was would jesus be able to microwave a burrito for so long it would make it so hot would he still be able to eat it . Ive wondered that many, many times. Bill we have, too. So you think there will be a deal . Fiscal cliff . I dont think so before january 1st no. I actually dont. I think there may be a vote right after. One scenario i read about yesterday which i mentioned in my column this morning which was pretty interesting to me is that the republicans might let a vote happen in the house but all vote present and let it pass solely with the democratic voters. Bill okay. Well talk about that and other scenarios with senator Sherrod Brown when we come back here on the full court press. When the last card is played what will be remembered . Explore the lives of the famous and infamous who changed our world forever. Experience the drama, back to back to back. Of all the hours in all their days, the ones youll never forget are the final 24. Dont miss the final 24 minimarathon this sunday on current tv. Save the best for last. Announcer chatting where you live at current. Com billpress this is the bill press show, live on your radio and current tv. Bill you got it. 33 minutes after the hour now. The full court press on this tuesday, december 4. Michael tomasky has been in studio with us. Hes here as a friend of bill of this hour. Columnist for the daily beast. Were so please and proud and excited to welcome back in studio fresh from his overwhelming reelection victory in the state of ohio, senator Sherrod Brown. Senator, congratulations. Good to be back. Good to be with michael. I like that. Bill we know a lot of our michaels got ohio relatives as you probably know. Yes, i do. My chief of staff, when he was out helping at the end of the Campaign Last few days, stayed at michaels sisters house with her and her husband. Probably the room where ill stay at christmastime. Bill we know a lot of our listeners and viewers around the country chimed in to help out in ohio as well. People were helpful. Ohio was obviously there are a number of swing states but ohio seems to be the one that theyre so much focused on. We got a lot of help. A lot of grassroots help, a lot of Financial Support from around the country in small contributions and people just really stepped up for the president , for me both and im very grateful for that. Bill we learned yesterday that Sheldon Adelson from las vegas spent more than 100 million 150 million thats the number. Bill he lost about every state that he was in including yours. The super pacs, what was the total . Outside groups against me spent 40 million. They spent 30 million on tv and another 10 million on radio. Billboards, direct mail and paid phone banking and paid canvassers. Thats the last 10 million is a rougher estimate. We know the 30 million on television. Unfortunately, it is unlimited in maybe ways. My fear is theyre going to go arrive legislative races and where somebody cant fight back, we can fight back. Im incumbent senator. I had a lot of help around the country. It was a visible race. We had a good grassroots effort. That meant two or three points both for the president and for me, i think. And in ohio, it was were seeing job growth. We went from over 10. 5 unemployment around the time of the auto rescue taking hold to below by election day, it was 7. Now it is 6. 9 . Not good enough. Still a lot of people out of the work force and wages have stagnated far too much. Were seeing things going theu right direction in my state. Bill and everybody said ohio is the key state. Thats going to determine it. And president obama right . We were talking right before the show that theyre discounting the provisional ballots which are these contested ballots when people vote on election day and theres some question whether theyre registered or whether theyre it is not the voters fault. It is board of elections fault. There were a couple hundred thousand at least of those. Theyre just finishing them. And it gave the president we think, another 50,000, 6,000 or 70,000 vote margin from what we had before. These are votes that the election machinery in ohio now has the people running it have a partisan edge to them. When i was secretary of state in the 80s, we didnt have that. Theyve about provisional balloting. Bill they tried to shut down the early voting for the last weekend before the election except for military families. Judge said they couldnt. In many ways, it probably backfired because i heard a lot of people say that in the churches and other places, people were saying ministers and others were saying dont let them take this vote away. It made people he tells people you cant have something it makes them a little bit more defiant sometimes and i think thats what happened. I think the attacks by republicans on the president the personal attacks of as religion and where he grew up and his citizenship and birth certificate, all of that, bothered enough people that progressives and africanamericans that turnout was up because of that. I think that kind of sleazy politics really backfired on him. Maybe there is a lesson there, i hope. Bill michael theyre still counting ballots like in new jersey and new york because of hurricane sandy, there were some ballots paper ballots they couldnt get in. Every day the president s margin keeps growing to the point where hes got 51 of the vote now. Mitt romney, 47 . 47 . I think president obamas the first democrat in since roosevelt to break 50 and hes broken it twice, right . The first to do it twice. I think johnson did it once. Of course, johnson did it once. Thats right. Get somebody in here that knows something. Not that you dont. Hey, thanks a lot not just the politics aspect. Thats right. Of course johnson did it. Obama did it twice. Bill so it turned out despite all of the talk ahead of time about how close this is and real nailbiter it turned out to be an historic win for obama. But none of these states were whats really curious is what republican polls were telling pollsters were telling. I talked to paul ryan the other day. He really thought they were going to win. They were told that. Bill they were drinking their own koolaid. This echo chamber for them is weave this cocoon around them that is impenetrable to objective information. It is pretty interesting. Bill they did it. Senator, i think you sell yourself a little short. You said that all of the money came in against you and you were able to fight back but the point is you did fight back. And what i i think there is a Lesson Learned here that liberals dont have to be afraid of who they are. You can be who you are and let people understand why you take the decisions you do on certain issues and still win. Liberals feel they have to go to the middle ground. It is duck for cover. There really is voters dont see left to right. My opponent overwhelmingly said it every single appearance, every single debate. Sherrod brown is the most liberal guy in washington. That includes Bernie Sanders who is a selfallowed socialist. He also had a line that i kind of admired. He said Sherron Brown has been running for president since nixon and nixon was president. My answer to that would always be the voters dont see left to right. They really see whos on your side. And i think on issues, ohio, whether it is auto rescue or trade enforcement or fighting for jobs or healthcare, or medicare or Social Security, it is whos on your side. Whos going to fight for the middle class and working families. Who will fight for poor kids who dont have opportunity. In the end that wins elections. You dont need to move to the center. You dont need to talk mishmash and cloud the issue. You talk directly and voters appreciate it. Bill theres no doubt of moving to the issue of the day here in washington, d. C. Isnt that the central issue now in the negotiations on this fiscal cliff and theres no doubt that president obama is on the side of the 98 and john boehner is on the side of the 2 . The Republican Party right . I think it is as clear as that. Dont the American People see that . I think thats why the president is going around the country to put pressure on them because in the end i mean the end, the tax cuts expire and so tax rates go up and the president comes back to congress and says you know, give the tax break back to the middle class and i dont know what republicans are going to do then. Theyre going to continue to try to fight for the 2 . I dont know. But hes doing it right and he shouldnt see he shouldnt seed the ground on that issue. He shouldnt seed it. That was what the election is about. Republicans are trying to say well george bush tried that with Social Security. George bush in 04 didnt talk about privatizing Social Security. He wouldnt have won. He acted like that was his mandate. He was going to spend his capital for it. This was an election issue. We all were very clear. I was clear in my debates. You dont do more tax cuts for the rich. You focus on the middle class. The president was clear. We all were clear and thats what the election that was really thats the 4 difference that the president won was that issue. Bill it sounds to me like you agree we were talking about this before you arrived that there will not be a deal is this what youre saying, well go over the cliff then have to come back and pass a tax cut for the 98 . I heard michael say that. I think there is a good chance hes right. I hope hes not. I hope that the republicans see thats what would happen if they dont find a way to just pass the tax cut for the middle class now. And then Start Talking about the other issues which we can discuss. But when they put out their proposal yesterday, it was they talk about all of the revenues from closing tax loopholes, they dont tell us what they are they say let the finance committee and the senate, ways and means do it. Thats not leadership and thats not a proposal anymore than there are unspecified cuts. At least theyre finally explaining they are, in fact, coming after medicare and Social Security. Theyre being a little bit more specific there. Theyre wrong on what they want to do but at least theyre saying something there. On the revenue side, theyre being disingenuous. Very surprised to see that about Social Security. I want to ask you about this concept that i wrote about today. You were in the house for a long time. This concept of the majority of the majority. So denny laid this out. Boehner goes by this. In other words they wont let anything get to the floor unless it has a majority of support within their own caucus. For people out there who think a deal may pass with 180 democratic votes republicans wont let that happen. Is that true . Is that majority of majority rule going to be so concrete and set in stone here or is there some flexibility . I dont know that boehner can afford to let that happen. Thats the way theyve operated for who knows how many years. Youre right. Dennis hastert started and stated it. I dont know if boehner has ever stated it. And theres this view of many and im not an insider in this operation at all. There is this view of many that eric cantor is standing right behind john bainer with a very sharp knife. If boehner undercuts the tea party and i dont know how Many Tea Party members, how do you define if its 100 or 120 very conservative members of the house, ultra conservatives, not just the mainstream conservatives, i dont know where they what they do if boehner takes it to the floor you get 180 democrats and 40 or 50 republicans. Bill i think thats why boehner is afraid to take it to the floor. He knows it would pass. Also Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi today is issuing her discharge position to try to get them. Lets talk about that when we come back with senator Sherrod Brown and Michael Tomasky from the daily beast. Todays full court press. Announcer this is the bill press show. Perspective. Im a slutty bob hope. The troops love me. Only on current tv. How far will people go to relieve their sore throat . Try these. New cepacol sensations cools instantly, and has an active ingredient that stays with you long after the lozenge is gone. Not just a sensation sensational relief. [ male announcer ] red lobsters crabfest ends soon. Hurry in and try five succulent entrees like our tender snow crab paired with savory garlic shrimp. Just 12. 99. Come into red lobster and sea food differently. And introducing 7 lunch choices for just 7. 99. Salads, sandwiches, and more. I jump out of my skin at people when im upset. Do you share the sense of outrage that theyre doing this, this corruption based on corruption based on corruption. I think thats an understatement, eliot. U im not prone tot. Understatement, so explain to me why that is. I think the mob learned from wall st. , not vice versa. Announcer this is the bill press show. Announcer this should the bill press show. Live on your radio and current tv. S. Bill were on the air senator. I was talking about how i insulted you by complimenting tomasky earlier. Bill senator Sherrod Brown from ohio. Michael tomasky, daily beast in studio with us. Back to our conversation. Want to remind you of something you ought to check out. Tryancestry. Com. Join me. Youve heard me talk about the fun ive had with tryancestry. Com. Looking at my own family roots ive been able to trace the press family to salem new jersey and then across the pond to riga in latvia. I always thought thats where we came from. Thanks to tryancestry. Com, ive been able to establish it. Back to rx iga . Bill tracing them backwards. Came to riga and from salem to delaware city. Try it out. You can maybe find out stuff about your family you can share with your family at your next holiday gathering. Theyve made it easy for you by giving you two free weeks at tryancestry. Com. Two free weeks to see what you can discover about your family. Go to tryancestry. Com, thats tryancestry. Com. So senator Sherrod Brown, you are back and with you in the senate youve got some pretty exciting new democrats too right . We do. Bill things are looking up in the senate. There is a good, new group of progressive democrats i think that understand the democratic way of the Democratic Party. People like Tammy Baldwin and macy and Elizabeth Warren and i think i think i dont want to exclude anybody but i think all of this group is a good group of tried and true progressives. Five members from the house have come. From new mexico, from indiana in addition to tammy and macy. I think that were going to see on some rules changes and moving ahead in some other things i think people will be pleased with that. Bill democratic wing of the Democratic Party howard dean, wasnt it . That was howard dean. It has been around awhile. Bill carol and i were driving the other day we saw a wellstone Bumper Sticker the other day. Oh, my god paul wellstone. They just honored him. It was a 10year anniversary of his death. They just did a little reception. Senator frank the other day, at the capitol. A lot of his former staff. Bill what a loss. You mention maybe some reform by the rules. Reform on the filibuster . The two people that are leading this are tom udall from new mexico and jeff merkley from oregon. And you know, the hurdles someone once said that during the 1950s writer was talking about the southern democrats blocking civil rights and they said that the senate was ending revenge for gettysburg and the rules of the senate have lent themselves back then, it blocked civil rights but it wasnt a work a day kind of obstructionist. As horrible as it was blocking civil rights legislation. Today is it is almost everything. You need 60 votes. It doesnt even the majority leader cant even bring a bill up to debate without a 60 votes if the minority wants to force 60 votes. Thats got to change. The selection the confirmation of federal judges and less than cabinet level appointees, those kinds of things are just obstructionism, period. When in the past, we always were able to just bring it forward to get 51 votes. If you dont, you dont. Some of these votes will be more aimed to that. Certainly to give the minority rights to slow things down but not to block things. Almost haphazardly the way they do. Bill otherwise it is the tyranny of the minority. It really has become that way. So much of what the president wanted to do, he couldnt do. They say well, he had 60 votes. We had 60 votes for a limited amount of time and we had exactly 60. We couldnt lose one democrat. Thats just not the way you should have to govern. The country voted for change in 2008. We did a number of things but we werent able to do what we should have done with the economy. Even a longterm transportation bill we couldnt do or a farm bill in part because of the 60 vote rules. Bill whats amazing is with that rule how and theres a piece on the front page of the hill this morning how Mitch Mcconnell was able to allow the vote on 98 the tax break up for a vote without using the filibuster and really has put the House Republicans now in a box right . Senate has passed it. Bipartisan vote. President says hell sign it. House just votes for it. Its done. Bill easily done. Senator is there the rule changes that are proposed, as i read them, it is all well and good. It is great to start. It doesnt strike me these particular changes are going to really change the habits of the senate that much. It doesnt it doesnt change the culture provision for example, right . Bill you know what, guys . Well have to hold this conversation. I thought it might have been a quick question. It is a longer question with a longer answer. Senator Sherrod Brown were so excited youre back. Congratulations. Thanks for coming in. Michael, thanks for being here. Announcer this is the bill press show. Start you morning with a daily dose of politics from a fresh perspective. Im a slutty bob hope. The troops love me. Only on current tv. [ theme ] announcer the parting shot with bill press. Announcer the parting shot with bill press. This is the bill press show. Bill hey and on this tuesday, december 4 my parting shot for today it didnt last long, did it . Remember last week, republicans were saying they couldnt wait to throw Grover Norquist under the bus. Yesterday we discovered when john boehner released his counterproposal on the fiscal cliff that Grover Norquist is still very much in charge of the Republican Party. Republicans said once again that they were absolutely unwilling to raise tax rates on the wealthiest of americans. Even though they were adopted in 2001 as a temporary measure only because we had a surplus. They were temporary because ten years later, we might have a surplus. We might need the money. Thats exactly the situation is today. But sadly, it is not Grover Norquist or mitt romney or Mitch Mcconnell thats running the Republican Party. It is still a big lobbyist by the name of Grover Norquist. Have a good one folks