Transcripts For CURRENT Full Court Press 20130502

or you can join us on twitter at bpshow and on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow. we're booming out to you live from our studio here on capitol hill. in washington, d.c. just down the street from the united states capitol building. the house and the senate are both on a break by the way, of course. president obama leaves town today, too. off to mexico and costa rica, south of the border for a three-daviesity to our fellow americans to talk trade film and immigration reform. meanwhile, back here at home, three buddies of dzhokhar tsarnaev up in boston, arrested, for trying to help him out by destroying evidence that he had been involved in the boston bombings evidence found in his dorm room. what idiots. texas senator ted cruz is telling friends that he's so popular in texas he might even run for president in 2016. another idiot. whatever is happening, we'll tell you about it. take your calls right here on current tv. iq will go way up. 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[ laughter ] >> bill: welcome everybody. great to see you today. happy thursday. thursday may 2. coming to you live from our nation's capital. it has been pretty quiet all week because the house and senate are out of town. it will get quieter because president obama is taking off too, for this little visit down to mexico again and costa rica. but we'll tell you what little is going on here in washington d.c. tell you all about that. what else is happening around the country and around the globe. things you ought to know this thursday morning to start the day. and give you your first chance of the day to bitch about it, to complain about it, to talk about it here on the "full court press" and you can do so by giving us a call at 1-866-55-press. go to us and join us on twitter. tell us your comments at bpshow. at bpshow and on facebook, our friends are multiplying on facebook. be one of them if you're not already and join us at facebook.com/billpressshow. on this thursday morning couldn't do it without the team here. peter ogborn and dan henning. hello, hello hello hello. >> good morning. >> bill: alichia cruz is standing by to take your calls and cyprian bowlding is making sure we all look as good as possible on the video cam. >> there he is. >> bill: big wave. >> happy thursday. >> bill: yeah, happy thursday. yesterday, in the state dining room, president obama making a couple of personnel announcements. we weren't sure which one he was going to make. he made them both. tom-wheeler, a venture capitalist as the new head of the federal communications commission. and congressman mel watt, who is also a preacher, as the new head of the federal housing finance agency the fhfa. that's hard to say. fhfa. >> you got it. >> bill: slow down to say that one. which has jurisdiction over fannie mae and freddie mac. here is the president telling how important it was to have mel watt in that position. >> obama: families who would be interested in refinancing should ask their representatives, why don't we get moving on that? i'm ready to sign that bill. i know that we're talking to members of congress on both sides of the aisle who recognized this is something that needs to get done. in the meantime, i'll keep taking whatever steps i can administratively on my own. and one of the best things i can do is to nominate mel watt to lead the federal housing finance agency. >> bill: good man. been a very effective congressman for the -- for north carolina. the area around charlotte north carolina. long-time member of congress. very good pick by the president. and gives the president one more sign of diversity in his cabinet. and the top people around him. coming up, angie kelly will be joining us from the center for american progress. she's our go-to person on immigration reform. tell us about the president's trip today. we'll be talking to reporters from "the washington post," politico and bloomberg news. so we've got it covered for you. and guess who is thinking about running for president. but first... >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> other stuff to talk about as you head out the door on this thursday morning the chairman of the chicago cubs is threatening to take his team out of the legendary wrigley field. according to "usa today," the team is upset that requests for a larger scoreboard and additional signage have not yet been approved. if they're not they'll find themselves a new stadium. owners of buildings with rooftops that have views of the ballpark are against a new 12kw450eu6rz foot video board because it may block their sightlines of the field. something they make a lot of money off of. >> bill: this is a funny issue, you know. first of all, i don't think you could ever move the cubs out of wrigley field. >> no, i don't think so. >> i don't see it happening. >> bill: i don't think the people of chicago would ever let it happen. but you know, there are a lot of -- i don't know any other ballpark. where there are so many stands. these are people not in the park, they're on buildings that overlook the park and they've been making a lot of money ripping the cubs off basically. making a lot of money letting people up on the rooftop. not only the rooftop but like bars and -- all kinds of stuff where you can look over the fence, right? no other ballpark would allow that. it is a tradition in chicago. not in how big the billboard is but it seems to me -- >> it is going to be a massive video scream like at nats park -- video screen like at nats park. >> bill: i don't understand to what extent it will block the views. the owners of the buildings say -- what right do they have? the buildings across the street, what right do they have? they've had it pretty good for a long time. cubs need to make some money here. >> the details of bow yn say's decision -- beyoncé's decision to lip-synch her performance came out yesterday thanks to a freedom of information request filed by bloomberg. nothing note worthy came out of the 172 pages of e-mails and documents. a marine higher up asked everyone to stay silent for an extra day on the issue when the news first broke with hopes that other news would knock beyoncé off of the drudge report so no one would be talking about it. >> bill: 172 pages of e-mails about her lip-synching? good lord. >> a freaky new finding about the earliest american colonialists and whatet this to survive. they turned to cannibalism. the smithsonian museum of natural history announcing -- >> bill: people were dead before they ate them. >> they were actually dead and buried. >> they're actually saying some of the people might have been killed for food. >> bill: but they were dead before they ate them is my point. >> archaeologists found evidence that settlers in jamestown virginia ate their own in order to survive the harsh conditions in the early 1600s. >> i mean do what you gotta do, man. >> bill: might be better than eating squirrel or possum. >> a horse. >> bill: a muskrat. >> horse meat. >> bill: first of all, this is so funny i think. couldn't resist starting here this morning. it is well-known in washington, d.c. that every morning, every member of the united states senate gets up and looks in his or her mirror and sees the next president of the united states. that's been true for a long time. in some cases you know, there might be some reason to think that. john kerry comes to mind. teddy kennedy god rest his soul, comes to mind. eugene mccarthy comes to mind. john f. kennedy comes to mind. there were some that could expect to be there. others who didn't make it. or maybe didn't even run. but seriously ted cruz? ted cruz? yes. that's the latest word. according to the national review bob costa piece in the national review yesterday ted cruz is telling his friends and family that he believes he has made such a mark already in the united states senate, his assent he is saying is so stunning in the united states senate, he's been there by the way four months, okay. four months. you thought barack obama moved prematurely. ted cruz has been there four months. he's telling people his -- he's so successful, so popular back in texas and such an outstandingly successful senator so far that he is making the steps to run for president in 2016. he's already accepted speaking engagements to south carolina and to new york state and it is rumored he's on his way to iowa pretty soon. ted cruz. now, i have to tell you, friends, i think this is the best laugh i've had in politics in a long time. i mean this is lol right? seriously. there is no link to reality between -- in the thought that ted cruz could ever become president of the united states. i think he's got a better chance of being elected pope and he's not even a catholic. okay? so first of all he is as extreme as you can get right? he's the ultimate tea partier. there's no doubt about that. the other thing is what has he done for the last four months? there's a tradition again in the united states senate that new members of the senate, for that first six years at least for half of the first term, they keep their head down. they don't make a lot of noise. they learn the ropes. they get to know their colleagues. and they earn the respect of their colleagues. ted cruz has pissed -- he's done just the opposite. he's pissed everybody off. every other member of the senate. democrats as well as republicans. by his arrogance and by the attacks he's made on them and by speaking out on every single subject and pretending to be the expert on every single subject. he has lashed out at democrats. remember the famous exchange we had with dianne feinstein on the gun safety hearing in the senate judiciary committee where he starts out by lecturing the senior senator from california. >> the term, the right of the people, when the framers included it in the bill of rights they used it as a term of art. the same phrase is found in the first amendment the right of the people to peaceably assemble for redress of grievances is found in the fourth amendment. the right of the people to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. and the question that i would pose to the senior senator from california is would she deem it consistent with the bill of rights for congress to engage in the same endeavor that we're contemplating doing with the second amendment in the context of the first or fourth amendment. >> bill: he's talking to the wrong person here. he's talking to dianne feinstein and man does she hammer him back. >> let me make a couple of points in response. one, i'm not a sixth grader. senator, i've been on this committee for 20 years. i was a mayor for nine years. i walked in, i saw people shot. i've looked at bodies that have been shot with these weapons. i've seen the bullets that implode. in sandy hook, youngsters were dismembered. it is fine you want to lecture me on the constitution. i appreciate it. just know i've been here for a long time. i've passed on a number of bills. i study the constitution myself. i am reasonably well-educated. i thank you for the lecture. >> bill: oh wow! he attacks a democrat but he also attacks and makes fun of his fellow republicans. talking at a town hall about his fellow republicans who didn't have the courage he says to vote against universal background checks. >> there are a lot of people who don't like to be held accountable. but they said listen, before you did this, the politics of it were great. the dems were the bad guys, the republicans were the good guys. now we all look like a bunch of squishes. well, there is an alternative. you could just not be a bunch of squishes. [ laughter ] >> bill: for comments like that, john mccain, lindsey graham and others have told -- in the republican caucus, have told ted cruz to shut the hell up! shut up! jennifer reuben, a conservative columnist blogger very conservative. eye i've debated her several times, called him a jerk in her column. he's thinking of running for president. am i wrong here? this is so divorced from reality. tell me. 1-866-55-press. but here's what really gets me is when will the republicans ever freakin' learn what really gets me. haven't they learned yet that these tea partiers, they really bring the tea partiers to orgasm but they turn everybody else off. do i have to remind them of christine o'donnell? do i have to remind them of sharon ingle? of richard mourdock? they get their rocks off by appointing these nut balls. even karl rove has said we've got to stop nominating such extremists and now ted cruz and their republicans coming out yesterday, tea partiers who will say this is the best idea i've ever heard. move aside. this is the new barry goldwater. he's the guy that's going to save us. you're out of your freakin' mind. >> they haven't learned. you mention the christine o'donnell thing. they had a republican who probably would have won. >> bill: michael castle would have won the seat. >> they chose someone crazy and extreme like christine o'donnell, a lot like ted cruz. they cut off their nose to spite their face. >> bill: we need another outstanding texas republican. somebody who is so popular at home that they're going to take the country by storm! >> sound familiar? >> bill: ted cruz, maybe you ought to talk to rick perry about that. >> announcer: get social with bill press. likes at facebook.com/billpressshow. this is the "bill press show." date, staying in touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. in reality it's not like they actually care. this is purely about political grandstanding. alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. >> if you believe in state's rights but still support the drug war you must be high. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> do you think that there is any chance we'll see this president even say the words "carbon tax"? >> with an open mind... >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> ...and a distinctly >> but you mentioned "great leadership" so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv. >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. 26 minutes after the hour. believe it or not well, i guess you can believe it easily because ego knows no bounds when it comes to politicians. ted cruz saying he's going to go out there. rick santorum, no. ted cruz, he's only been there four months but he's what america needs right now. what do you think? comments online. >> collectively on twitter a lot of people are saying the same thing. ted cruz must not read what people tweet to him. he confuses hate with love. that's from karen. jay says i can't think of a better person than ted cruz to lead the g.o.p. and pablo just says bill, shfer. let him run. we're at bpshow on twitter. >> bill: larry is calling from houston. good morning. >> caller: good morning, bill. >> bill: what's up? >> caller: i think lots of things but first of all i think ted cruz is a known canadian. >> bill: he was born in canada an american mother. i think that makes him a citizen, right? >> caller: citizen of the united states. >> bill: well, here's the deal. there is a question there. >> there is a question. >> bill: because he was not born on american soil but he was born of an american mother. so i think -- two things. i think he would be able to make the case he's still an american citizen. i think some people would interpret the law that way but the other thing is the tea partiers they'll certainly give him a pass, don't you think? >> caller: i think so. >> bill: yeah. they're not going to be birthers on that. thanks for your call. here is our buddy joey from chicago. are you ready for this? >> caller: hey bill. ain -- april fools was a month ago. april 1st not may 1st. i would like to see this guy run. i seen this movie called "dumb and dumber" and i think jim carrey played one of the guys from texas. >> bill: it is really is "dumb and dumber." this such echos of rick perry right? i'm popular in texas. oh man texas loves me. i put my boots on with my cow poop on them and i'm going to take this country by storm. couldn't even count to three remember? >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking? >> announcer: go mobile with bill press. download podcast and listen any time anywhere. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 33 minutes after the hour on a thursday morning may 2nd. it is the "full court press." we're coming to you live from our nation's capital and brought to you today by the american federation of teachers, good men and women of the aft under president randi weingarten making a big difference in the classrooms of america. find out more about their good work at aft.org. we're talking about ted cruz. now saying he has been such a spectacular -- telling himself he's been such a spectacular success in four months, as a senator from texas that he is going to be the next president of the united states. e.t., call home. peter, what up? >> quick story. we played the audio earlier of ted cruz saying his senators were being squishes. >> bill: by not voting for background checks. >> those senators from john mccain, susan collins pat toomey and kirk. toomey yesterday, you know, it is true what they say. every now and then a politician will screw up and tell the truth in washington and that's called a gaffe. pat toomey -- >> bill: very rare. >> told the truth on the background checks. in the end it didn't pass because we're so politicized. there were some on my side who did not want to be seen helping the president do something he wanted to get done, just because the president wanted to do it. plain and simple. >> bill: pretty sad. talked about that last night on current tv on "the war room" with michael shure and yeah, i mean pat toomey told the truth here. what do you expect? going back to mitch mcconnell who said on day one their number one priority was to prevent obama from getting a second term. there are a lot of republicans who decide where they're going to stand on issue after they figure out where barack obama is on the issue then they take the other side. >> exactly. >> bill: back to ted cruz, just checking online about this canadian being born in canada. he was born in calgary canada. his father is an modern citizen now. he was not then. his mother was an american citizen. this, of course, came up with the whole obama birther thing. the congressional research service did a whole report for congress on this issue. little complicated. but just to clarify this if we can, here's what they reported "the weight of scholarly, legal and historical opinion appears to support the notion that natural-born citizens means one who is entitled under the constitution or laws of the united states to u.s. citizenship at birth or by birth including any child born in the united states to children of united states citizens born abroad and those born abroad of one citizen parents who has met u.s. residency requirements." so translation, american mother, in canada, baby is an american citizen. arnold, our roving ambassador down in charleston, west virginia today. what do you say? getting close here, arnold. getting close. >> caller: yeah. in virginia, they might vote. i don't think anybody in their -- it is amazing how texas can put these kind of politicians -- when they get up here, you know, george w. bush, governor perry louie gohmert, i mean come on, man! they had this one congressman from texas. beat up on the bp. i'm so ashamed how obama make this big -- >> bill: i forget which guy that was. they've got a whole collection of them, don't they? this is the latest looney tunes out of texas. >> a big train of them come in like that. >> bill: arnold, i don't think we have to worry too much about them. i think it is stunning he's so out of touch with reality. even rick santorum looks a little reasonable compared to ted cruz. >> yeah, a lot of these guys are out of touch with reality but to take it this far is remarkable. >> bill: you know, there will be a time when, you know, i'm no longer going to be able to do this show, maybe 30 years from now or i just might have to take a couple of days off but we have no fear because we know who is standing by, ready to step in and carry the torch and that's ike from charleston, south carolina. what do you say ike? >> caller: oh, man, feeling the pressure! hey, listen, i'm going to have to rat on you to stephanie miller for bringing up goldwater. you know how she is about that. >> bill: i know. it is not my problem that her daddy was goldwater's running mate. >> caller: yep. meanwhile, in charleston, south carolina, we wait to see if they're dumb enough to put the love gov back into the congress. >> bill: hey what's going on down there with the love gov? are republicans sticking with him, ike? >> caller: there's a lot of talk about defection. we know how they were with strom thurmond. did you hear about the billboard out on the freeway? >> bill: i did. he's happy with that, right? >> caller: it is in big, pink letters. the talk of the town. i'll tell you what. i live in a utopian paradise of south carolina that's been controlled by the republicans for over 30 years. and i urge any listener that wants to know what a republican state looks like, check the stats on us and you'll find us at the bottom of everything. >> bill: so this -- the primary is next tuesday right? >> caller: yeah. her chances are look good, man. seriously, there are a lot of people who are steadfast that he made a lot of people here look like a laughingstock. by hiking the argentina trail or tail is it. whatever he was doing. but there's a lot of them that are fed up. like i said, man hey if they can pick up strom strom thur monday and put him back in, they probably would. >> bill: he's already signed up to come down to south carolina and speak to the south carolina republican party. >> caller: oh, good. >> bill: watch out. you could be launching -- responsible not only for bringing back mark sanford but for launching ted cruz. oh, my god. >> caller: plate full of rubber chicken will do brain damage. got tab careful. >> call us back next week after the election. >> bill: give us your take on what happens. ike will be our correspondent down in charleston, south carolina. jim is out in -- down in beverly hills, florida. i think of the other beverly hills. how you doing? >> caller: hey, bill, great. love your show. >> bill: thank you. we enjoy it. we have fun. >> caller: i have fun watching you. listen, ted cruz is an ultra conservative. yes, ted cruz is a jerk but i urge you to remember that 80 years ago in germany, there was an ultra right wing clown and jerk who everybody said had no chance of gaining any political leverage whatsoever and look what he went on to do. >> bill: i'm not sure i would make that analogy but we have elected jerks before, right? >> yes. we don't dare disregard the jerks. >> bill: but you know, getting elected in texas is one thing. getting elected nationwide -- and i think we've seen -- sorry your phone has that hum in it and just driving me crazy here. but i appreciate the call. but we've seen -- nationwide, state after state after state where the republican party has said -- remember karl rove is the one that most recently, who complained about this. he set up a new pac just -- he set up a new pac to raise money from republicans to have candidates run against people like ted cruz. he said this pac is to run republicans against the crazies and the extremists like ted cruz because they keep nominating people. i come back to christine o'donnell and sharon ingle out in nevada who the tea partiers loved but just scare the rest of the populous here. we'll talk immigration next. let's take one more call with anna from irvington new jersey. hello, anna. good morning. hi there. >> caller: good morning, bill. texas could stand in line, look in the mirror and see who he sees in the mirror because he won't be president of the united states. he's got his buddy marco rubio who wants to run. that's going to be something to see. anyway, i think he's the biggest squish of the whole republican party. he's talking about his colleagues. >> bill: yeah. that's right. it is that old thing. you point your finger and you got four fingers coming back at you, right? that's ted cruz. he is maybe the biggest squish. of the whole gang. but i'll tell you, you don't make friends -- make many friends. you don't really win the hearts and minds of your fellow senators by calling them squishes. i think jennifer reuben got it right when she called him a colossal jerk. but you know, in politics, ego has no bounds and ted cruz proves it. president obama going to mexico and to costa rica in the next couple of days. what's the trip about? angie kelly from the center of american progress joins us next here on the "full court press". >> announcer: radio meets television the "bill press show," now on current tv. jerry springer: i spent a couple of hours with a hooker joy behar: your mistake was writing a check jerry springer: she never cashed it (vo) the day's events. four very unique points of view. tonight starting at 6 eastern. alright, in 15 minutes we're in states rights but still support the drug war you must be high. cenk uygur: i think the number one thing viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. i think the audience gets that i actually mean it. michael shure: this show is about being up to date so a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. joy behar: you can say anything here. jerry springer: i spent a couple of hours with a hooker joy behar: your mistake was writing a check jerry springer: she never cashed it (vo) the day's events. four very unique points of view. tonight starting at 6 eastern. alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> with a distinctly satirical point of view. if you believe in state's rights but still believe in the drug war you must be high. >> only on current tv. >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 13 minutes before the top of the hour here. we're going to jump up to boston at the top of the next hour to get the latest on those three young men buddies of dzhokhar tsarnaev. that's as close as i'll ever get to pronouncing that name. who were arrested yesterday. meanwhile, president obama off today to central america mexico, and then down to costa rica. what's that trip all about? what will he be talking about? angie kelley is the vice president for immigration policy at the center for american progress. joining us on our news line this morning. hi, angie, good morning. >> good morning, bill. >> bill: why is this trip first for the president so important? do you think? >> well, the immigration debate is heating up. we're going to see action in the senate judiciary committee later this month. mexico has got the most at stake, frankly in the debate. not just because of the border provisions but mainly because of the 11 million here without papers, the vast majority them are from mexico. so this has been an issue sometimes of contention. sometimes of cooperation. with our neighbor to the south and i suspect it will be a topic of conversation when they meet. >> bill: the white house has said it will be -- does that mean the president feels he needs the support of mexico in this immigration battle? >> i think he'll have the support of mexico. i think that they have been sending very favorable signals regarding the legislation. very careful about it, of course, because this is a domestic piece of legislation. so i think they're being respectful about those boundaries. but i think look, of course it is good to have the support of the country that's affected the most by it. but what we all really need to have are 60 plus senators that support it and 218 house members that support it. >> bill: why costa rica? i've been there. it is a beautiful country. i've been there two or three times. i love it. >> it is not a high sending country. i don't think you got the same immigration considerations in this legislation. i think many countries though, mexico costa rica can be countries that experience people passing through. migrants go through from southern nations and then that can create problems and challenges in those countries. so i think the notion that we need to have an immigration system where people are coming legally, where there are visas available to them is probably of interest to any country that experiences itself as a country that others might go through and migrants might use it to pass through. >> bill: there is an article in "the new york times" this morning, we're talking with angie kelley, vice president for immigration policy at the great center for american progress. americanprogress.org is where you keep track of all of the good things they're working on. article in "the new york times" this morning angie i'm sure you saw that it is going to be -- even though there is a gang of eight and even though several leading republicans are out there in front on this immigration reform, that it is going to be a bumpier road than people might think because not all republicans are going to go along with it. do you agree with that assessment? >> yes. if there was something that everybody agreed to and was a slam dunk, it would be done. >> bill: long time ago. >> that's not exactly a news flash. i do think that the climb -- the uphill climb is steeper for opponents than it is for we who are proponents of reform. i think the status quo has become just so obviously unbearable unworkable. costly, you know. like every negative adjective you can use to describe it is the status quo. proponents of reform don't have a plan b. what would you do with the 11 million? what do you do with the fact we have a static number of visas and we have a dynamic economy? what do you do to get to 90% effectiveness control at the border? all of these are key questions that the gang of eight has answered. so i think that's going to have to be the standard is like all right, you don't like it. and we can change it but you gotta come up with something else. you just can't say no. >> bill: among republicans you've got marco rubio out in front for immigration reform and ted cruz out in front against immigration reform. so you know, two latino leaders in two totally different positions. i want to get back to this trip for a minute. because i believe -- and i've long felt that as north americans, right we tend to ignore south america central america, spend little attention there. euro-centered or asian-centered. >> or self-centered. >> bill: yeah, right. this is significant when a president of the united states goes south of the border, right? for a visit like this. >> it is significant. and i think it is frankly -- it is progressive and it is reflective of what is a changing dynamic in our country changing demographic in our country. you know, latinos are the leading population that's growing. leading sector. kids under the age of 5. majority of latino are kids of color. this is the direction and the roots frankly of the united states. so it is something we have to become really as a nation, a whole lot more familiar with. you know. like we are with the brits. because we have a long-standing relationship with england. so i think it is kind of slow in coming. the president is smart to be going down there. but you know, i'm hopeful that, you know, as those folks have come to the united states from central and south america from mexico have changed. we've changed too. it makes for a richer country. >> bill: it does, indeed. it is kind of long overdue. more attention, i believe on the americas. >> exactly. >> bill: angie look forward to seeing you back in the studio soon. thanks for joining us and we'll be watching the trip with a lot of interest and progress of that immigration reform legislation. thank you, angie. >> thank you. bye. >> bill: all right great. we'll be back and take a look at some of your e-mails and comments on other issues. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. 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(vo) only on current tv. current tv is the place for true stories. with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines. real, gripping, current. documentaries... on current tv. >> announcer: take your e-mails on any topic at any time. this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: on the boston, at the top of the next hour, stunning story about the three young men arrested yesterday. charged with destroying evidence in the boston marathon bombing case. we'll talk to politico reporter ginger gibson here in studio. ted cruz -- he's a dangerous bag of wind. martin says but ted cruz cannot run for president because he was born in canada. again, let's clarify that. he was born in canada of an american mother. therefore, he is a u.s. citizen. don't become birthers on the left, okay. and debra seal says the problem with this country and the media is they never find faults with republicans committing treason on the country by ignoring the people. [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: good morning everybody. and welcome to the "full court press." it is thursday, may 2nd good to see you today. thank you for joining us as we saddle up to bring you the news of the day. what's happening -- we'll tell you what's happening here in our nation's capital. that's where you find us right on capitol hill, down the street from the united states capitol building here in washington d.c. tell you what's going on here and in our nation's capital around the country and around the globe. invite you to comment and let us know what you think about it all. 1-866-55-press is our toll free number. 1-866-55-press. may want to tell us, for example, your thoughts about ted cruz, crazy ted cruz from texas. he's only been in the united states senate four months but he's already saying he is such a great success in the senate that he thinks he is the perfect republican candidate for president. in 2016. hello! president obama meanwhile goes back on the road today down to -- starts a three-day trip to mexico and costa rica where he will be talking trade he will also be talking immigration reform. and back here at home, three buddies of the boston marathon bombing suspect have been arrested for trying to help him out by destroying evidence of his participation in that bombing, destroying evidence that they found in his dorm room. what idiots. we'll talk about that and a whole lot more right here on current tv. criticizing, and holding policy to the fire. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night? is this personal or is it political? a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. staying in tough with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for about them, right? vo: the war room tonight at 6 eastern alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. >> if you believe in state's rights but still support the drug war you must be high. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> do you think that there is any chance we'll see this president even say the words "carbon tax"? >> with an open mind... >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> ...and a distinctly satirical point of view. >> but you mentioned "great leadership" so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv. >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: president obama mexico bound today and then on to costa rica. drumming up support south of the border for immigration reform. good morning, everybody. what do you say? great to see you today. here on a thursday. thursday may 2nd. it is the "full court press." we're coming to you live from our nation's capital and our studio on capitol hill. with a dual mission today not only to tell you what's going on this morning bring you up to date on the news of the day. number two give you a chance to get involved in our discussion of the news of the day. by giving us a call at 1-866-55-press. we love to hear from you. new callers particularly welcome. your take on the issues of the day. you're what makes the show unique here on current tv. and we love to hear from you on twitter. become our friend on facebook. how we doing on friends? >> we've got a lot of friends. >> bill: i love friends. i want more friends! so join the conversation any time with a lot to talk about. on a busy thursday morning. and you can join the team here, be part of the team in studio with us, peter ogborn and dan henning. >> good morning. >> bill: alichia cruz is preoccupied with your phone calls, ready to talk to you on the phones. good reason for calling just to say hello to her this morning. cyprian bowlding is keeping us on camera, on current tv. as always, big wave for cyprian. we have a lot of friends in chicago. with the great wcpt and all of the sister stations there. there is a big little controversy brewing in chicago right now over the legendary iconic wrigley field. so the owner of the cubs, tom rickets, wants to, they're like every club, strapped for cash these days, right. they want to make a little extra revenue by putting up one of the great big signboards. and the problem is that, you know, the tradition of the wrigley field, there are some buildings nearby where you can actually peek in over the fence and watch the game. the owners of those buildings for years, have been selling space on the roof where people stand up on the roof, have a beer. i always wonder about those people on the roof and watch the games. those building owners are complaining now that if you put up a signboard it will block the view of the people on their roof. well, tom rickets president of the cubs -- >> the video board is 12 feet farther back than the back of the left field bleachers. our studies and what we've looked at, indicate that the two rooftops on either side should have minimal if any blockage of the field at all. >> bill: by the way you should be able to figure that out, right? you should -- engineers should be able to put the board up and go up on the roof, get the sightlines and tell -- but the building owners are still opposed to this. and now the owner says here's the ultimate threat. you either let us put up the board or there ain't going to be no baseball team there. >> it comes to the point that we don't have the ability to do what we need to do in our outfield, we'll have to consider moving. >> bill: the ultimate threat. >> i can't see that happening. the chicago cubs. >> bill: the chicago cubs and wrigley field they just go together hand in glove. i cannot see his ever carrying out that threat. on the other hand, i sympathize with him in a sense i think he's got a right to have a board and make money, revenue for the team. the neighbors don't really have any rights in this battle. i don't think. i hesitate to get involved in this. i should stay the h ll out of it. >> these guys in surrounding buildings have a problem buy a ticket to the game. >> or they could -- add one story to their building. >> yeah, you know what, that's right. >> that's one way to solve the problem. build taller buildings. >> bill: carol and i added a third story to our house on capitol hill so they can add another story to their building. 11 minutes after the hour now. we'll be jumping up to boston to find out the latest about the stunning development in the marathon bombing case yesterday. we'll also then be talking to reporters from "washington post." politico and bloomberg. a lot coming up. but first -- >> this is the "full court press." >> other headlines making news on this thursday the government of france has a new plan to help with the budget woes. they'll auction off some of the wine that they own about 10% of winehouseed in the wine cellar. they hope to make $350,000 off of 12,000 bottles of wine and will use that money to help pay for entertaining international guests like if president obama were to come and visit france so they don't have to use as many taxpayer dorals to do that. >> bill: we've had french friends visiting us. they saw it in "the new york times" and laughed out loud. they thought it made their country look foolish. here's what i would emphasize. they have 12,000 bottles of wine. >> that they're selling. that's only 10% of their cellar. >> bill: imagine what the entire cellar is in the french palace. >> anthony bourdain's new show on cnn has only been on the air for three episodes. it has done so well, they've ordered a second season. president jeff zucker saying parts unknown has resonated well with viewers and they've extended the celebrity chef and food critic show. so far, he's aired episodes from myanmar, l.a. and colombia and continues to travel the world. >> it is a great show. >> bill: i love anthony bourdain. i'm proud of the fact he's been in studio with us twice and i'm proud of the fact that we can claim credit for his broadcasting success. >> sure. >> is the first lady to blame for a major increase in plastic surgery on women's upper arms? could be. according to the american society of plastic surgeon who say 31% of respondents to a poll want michelle obama's arms over anyone else's. "the washington examiner" reports the upper arm liposuction procedures have increased 4400% over the last decade. >> bill: you know, plastic surgery is not going to give you michelle obama's arms. working out at the gym will give you michelle obama's arms. yes, indeed, this news. everywhere i went yesterday people were talking about did you hear what happened in boston. stunning arrest of three young men there. buddies of zark off -- dzhokhar tsarnaev. phillip has been covering this for the atlantic wire. he joins us on our news line this morning. good to talk to you. tell us, who were the three -- i'm not going to try to pronounce their names. what was their connection to the suspect? >> so the three additional people who were arrested yesterday were -- [ indiscernible ] >> bill: good for you. >> all of whom joined dzhokhar tsarnaev in 2011 at school, they started school at the same time. there were initial reports the three were roommates of tsarnaev although that is not the case. tsarnaev had a dorm room on campus and the other three lived off campus but they were all friends which is probably why they ended up getting into trouble. >> bill: two of them had already been under arrest, correct? for not attending classes? that's right? or violations. >> two citizens of kazakhstan had been detained at some point by federal authorities and they began being questioned by authorities on the 20th which i believe was the day on which they were detained. >> bill: is there any suspicion that they were involved in helping make the bombs or plan the bombing of the boston marathon? >> there doesn't seem to be any evidence they were involved at all. the criminal complaint against the three -- tsarnaev -- they apparently stumbled upon a backpack in his room that contained fireworks that had been emptied of their explosive powder and at that point after the photos had been released that they said hey, that looked like tsarnaev then they put two and two together. apparently at that point they first became aware that tsarnaev was one of the suspects. >> bill: we skipped over one element here. and that is when they saw the photos on television who look like a buddy they texted him right? or one of them did. >> that's right. >> bill: tell us about that. >> one received a text from the other boy. he was driving at the time. he said when you get home, better check out the tv because this guy looks like tsarnaev. so he texted him and said hey you look like the suspect. tsarnaev replied as young people do lol and followed it up with you better not text me. and then a somewhat more cryptic message was come to my room and take whatever you want. so i think a lot of people are focused on that latter phrase. it was a joke that he and the other two people ended up going to tsarnaev's dorm room and taking something. >> bill: they took this backpack put stuff in it -- with the stuff in it and put it in a black plastic bag and dumped it in a dumpster, correct? >> that's right. they actually went to the dorm room where tsarnaev's roommate who hasn't been named at all let them in. they grabbed the backpack and took a laptop and went back to -- the two lived together off-campus. they went back to their apartment and were sitting there watching a movie when at some point, there was some news report on cnn which made them very convinced that it was tsarnaev that was the culprit and/or they sort of had been talking and decided to throw this stuff away. threw it in -- he acted alone put the stuff in the black garbage bag, put it outside in the dumpster and the next day he saw the garbage truck come and the dumpster drive off. >> bill: i find it almost unbelievable they were able to find this in a landfill. that's how this whole thing broke, isn't it? right? >> i'm not sure if that's how it broke. the timing on the interviews with the two precedes when the fbi found it. the guy didn't find the backpack logical last friday. they had already interviewed all three of the suspects prior to that. i'm not sure of the timing on that. i'm not a law enforcement official but it seems incredible they were able to find it. >> bill: i read this morning that tsarnaev had told one of them ahead of time, before hand, before the bombing "i know how to make a bomb." >> i hadn't seen that. there was some evidence that he and the other man had gone out to the charles river which is near where they live and had been setting off fireworks. so there was definitely -- they knew that this was something to mess around with. >> bill: on a related story matt lauer did an interview -- we haven't seen really or heard much from the guy who was carjacked, right? by them, in the mercedes. it turns out he's a 26-year-old chinese entrepreneur whose story is incredible. i don't know whether you saw that interview or read the transcript but boy, you talk about a cool customer. jumping ought of that car and leaving his cell phone behind so law enforcement authorities could track these two guys down. incredible. >> it is incredible. it showed a lot of presence of mind particularly his strategizing about the angle he would run away from the car. the interesting thing to me also was that he was also texting as he was driving and he pulled over to be safe. which i thought was interesting how much texting and driving played out in this case. this danny who no one seems to know a whole lot about -- >> bill: he gets a telephone call from his roommate while he's driving. and he ignores the call and one of the brothers asks who was calling. he said that was my roommate. he calls back and says -- one of the brothers again said to him if you say one more word, i'll kill you right here and now so his roommate is speaking in chinese and he's answering him in english. unbelievable story there. yeah. continues to unfold up there. thanks for bringing us up to date this morning. i appreciate it very much. >> thank you. >> bill: it is the atlantic wire. the like wire.com. phillip bump reporter from boston on the latest. >> announcer: connect with the "bill press show" on twitter. follow us at bpshow and tweet using the hashtag watching bp. this is the "bill press show." (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. (vo) she's joy behar. >>current will let me say anything. we have a big big hour and the iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. (vo) this afternoon, current tv is the place for compelling true stories. >> jack, how old are you? >> nine. >> this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way inside. 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(vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: 25 minutes after the hour. ginger gibson from politico joins us in the next segment here of the "full court press." on this thursday. may 2nd. one other interesting political story that came out yesterday in an interview by pat toomey, the republican senator from pennsylvania who of course, is the co-author with joe manchin of the compromise bill on background checks, which failed in the senate, peter? >> pat toomey screwed up and said something very honest yesterday. >> bill: the truth? >> it doesn't happen a lot here in washington. but on the background checks, pat toomey said "in the end, it didn't pass because we're so politicized. there were some on my side who did not want to be seen helping the president do something he wanted to get done just because the president wanted to do it. in other words they handled voting for legislation about the same way that a child would handle something. >> bill: right. talked about this last night on current tv with michael shure on "the war room." and it's true. but what do you expect, right? of a senate -- and a group of senators republican senators that started out this president obama's term in office with mitch mcconnell saying our number one goal as republicans the one -- number one thing we want to accomplish in the next four years is to prevent president obama from getting a second term. so he set the agenda. and therefore from that time on, the republicans decided where they would stand on an issue based on where president obama stood on the issue. he was for it, they were against it. if he was for it, they had to be against it. we saw it on immigration reform. some republicans have come around. for the first four years president obama the republicans who used to be for immigration reform under president bush were now against it because obama was for it. and on the individual mandate which was a republican idea borrowed from the heritage foundation republicans said they liked it. president obama put it in his healthcare plan and then the republicans suddenly flipped on it. here's what gets me. to use that kind of cheap political trick on an issue of this importance when it's saving america's kids, when it's acting in the memory of those 26 people killed in newtown connecticut including 20 little kids, 6-year-olds, to say that getting back at president obama is more important than honoring their memory by doing the right thing in terms of background checks, that is about as sick and disgusting as you can get. and you know, good for pat toomey for calling them out. what else is happening on the political landscape? we'll find out with ginger gibson from politico next on the "full court press." >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." high. cenk uygur: i think the number one thing viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. i think the audience gets that i actually mean it. michael shure: this show is about being up to date so a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. joy behar: you can say anything here. jerry springer: i spent a couple of hours with a hooker joy behar: your mistake was writing a check jerry springer: she never cashed it (vo) the day's events. four very unique points of view. tonight starting at 6 eastern. >> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress this is the "bill press show" live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: it is 33 minutes after the hour now on a thursday may 2. this is the "full court press." we're brought to you today coming to you live from our nation's capital, our studio on capitol hill and brought to you by afscme. good men and women of afscme, the largest public employee and healthcare worker's union in the entire country under the leadership of president lee saunders. for more information about their efforts and making america happen, check out their web site at afscme.org. afscme.org. congress may be out of town but still lot of news. always is here on capitol hill. keeping our eye on what's going on for politico, ginger gibson. reporter for politico. joining us in studio this morning. ginger, good to see you. >> good morning. glad to be here. >> bill: thanks for joining the entire team. so we have been just buzzing this morning about the fact that ted cruz who has been in the senate so long and has been so successful is now telling his friends and family that due to my rapid ascent i'm going to run for president in 2016. >> i don't think he's kidding but he's this tea party darling. he got elected in texas. despite lacking sort of the establishment backing. in the last cycle. he's only been in office for three, four months now. but he is not doing so quietly. they often say freshman senators are told to stay quiet and keep their head down. if someone told ted cruz that, he's not listening. >> bill: like al franken did hillary clinton did. >> not listening. he's raising his voice about anything that bothers him. so he's kept a public profile and that tea party mantle as he started in the senate. >> bill: actually, as you say the tea party darling. i would point out right that, christine o'donnell was the tea party darling so was sharon ingle and richard mourdock. >> it is important to remember in the last election cycle we saw a congresswoman who had no real background. had been in office relatively short period of time. ran for office. run for president and go et some attention. michele bachmann. but this slate of candidates the republican party had in 2012 is not going to be the slate of candidates they have in 2016. a lot of people didn't run. most of them had former attached to their name. and the rest of them weren't very prominent in their position. so to think that the next slate of candidates is going to be like the last one and that a first-term senator is going to be -- you know, a prominent experienced person on that panel like they would have the last time, would just be wrong. >> bill: ted cruz has not exactly made a lot of friends in the senate either. he has gone after attacked and pissed off a lot of democrats but he's also gone after his fellow republicans. here is ted cruz at a town hall just a couple of days ago talking about his fellow republicans who would not stand up and vote against background checks. >> there are a lot of people who don't like to be held accountable but here was their argument. they said listen, before you did this, the politics of it were great. the dems were the bad guys, the republicans were the good guys. now we all look like a bunch of squishes. [ laughter ] well, there is an alternative. you could just not be a bunch of squishes. >> bill: do you go around calling your fellow republicans a bunch of squishes? >> he's made his fellow republicans unhappy before. he's been called out in hearings for not having a quorum, for overstepping a line in questioning democrats or witnesses. so he's not there to make friends. i think he had like a multiple sclerosis bill a resolution just marking it as multiple sclerosis week killed because he didn't have enough time to read it. he's not exactly worried about making friends. >> isn't that kind of what the senate is all about? it is based a lot on sort of decorum and friendships and he's now had a couple of run-ins with john mccain. mccain is one of the guys that voted for the background checks. he just called him a squish. >> called him a wacko bird. he called mccain a wacko bird. when you're in the senate, these guys are friendly. they get along cross party aisles, they talk to each other. you see them having conversations. ted cruz is not one of them. he's good friends with mike lee from utah. you see the two of them together but they've formed their little conservative duo. >> bill: so by the way final point on ted cruz, jennifer reuben clearly a very conservative blogger for "the washington post," called him last week a jerk, flat out. a jerk. i think that soft sums up ted cruz. unbelievable. related to that, you have written -- let's jump to the house. recently, a piece about the house in chaos. this tight machine of boehner and cantor and mccarthy, not so much? >> my colleague had a great piece and talked about it. this is something we see in the house. they're not getting along. there are a lot of problems. we talked about sort of the conservative tea party caucus and what they're doing to the house caucus and derailing efforts. we saw them sort of end efforts on dealing on the fiscal cliff and they had to go back and restart. problems in the upper echelons of the caucus as well. we saw last week the house majority leader cantor was moved a bill for a vote that would have patched a part of obama care that has run out of money. the democrats didn't like the way they were doing it. other conservatives didn't like it either. they had to yank it at the last minute. not a good sign when your leadership is putting bills in the agenda and scheduling a vote and doesn't have the votes to get them passed. >> bill: so does that mean that some republicans feel that they have -- to be maybe more willing to work across the aisle or is it just the opposite? that the tea partiers are saying no, you guys are getting too soft if you're talking about maybe having a vote on immigration or having a vote on guns? >> it is the latter. >> bill: they don't think boehner is conservative enough. >> they don't think he's conservative enough. they're afraid he will allow votes on things like guns. which between democrats and a middle ground, republicans who are either in favor of gun control, background checks or maybe are in -- republicans in more moderate-leaning districts would fear a political backlash. something like that could pass. they think they should be holding strong and preventing a vote from ever occurring. they talk about the hastert rule. that the majority of the caucus has supported. it has come to a grinding halt in the house. they're not voting on anything hardly. >> bill: right. so any challenge to boehner as speaker? where would it come from? >> there was, in the beginning of the session a challenge. it came close. looked like the conservatives were going to cause some problems. at this point, they don't have anyone lined up. >> nobody wants that. >> who wants -- he's called it an awful job. he said it's horrible. who wants to deal with the war on factions in a caucus that blows up your agenda every week. >> bill: for awhile, it looked to me and all of us that eric cantor was there but i think cantor's stock has fallen a little bit. or is he still -- would he be the first choice of the tea partiers? >> i don't know that he would be the first choice of the tea partiers. there was that suggestion earlier this year. that obama care bill, the healthcare bill that cantor was trying to move through last week had strong opposition from conservative groups. people have talked about paul ryan as an option. but you know, getting into that position and having to deal with the realities of it which is that the senate is controlled by democrats and the president's a democrat make anyone capable of doing that job. i don't know the answer to that. >> bill: there are two big issues. you mentioned both of them. that are -- look like they're moving in the senate. guns may not be right now but it's going to come back at some point. and then immigration reform certainly has more movement. showing more progress now. do either of them -- let's take them one at a time though. do either of them have a prayer in the house? let's start with immigration. >> immigration might have a prayer in the house. there is a gang of i think six in the house. been trying to work on an immigration deal. >> bill: they couldn't get eight together? they keep calling themselves the group though. >> bill: the group of eight and a gang of eight. so they've been working on a deal. they're supposed to be rolling something out in the house. i believe it is very similar, not identical to the senate proposal but the senate proposal has strong bipartisan support when you've got jeff flake from arizona, john mccain, you've got a conservative. you've got a more moderate backing something. you have a little more hope going into that republican-controlled house although it is still going to be tough for him. it will still be a hard sell in the house and getting that caucus behind what they're doing. >> bill: boehner has to agree to bring it up to a vote. >> they have to sell boehner on the bill. it was our understanding early on that the republican senators were working to sell the legislation in the house. >> bill: they can't even get their members to agree to vote. that's the ultimate -- it is amazing one man, the speaker has that much power that he could just put it in a drawer and forget about it, right? >> sort of the power struggle going on there about who decides what happens. >> bill: talking congress and the issues of the day. let's talk about what future there might be before 2014 or after 2014. where we go with the gun safety legislation. all on the agenda here on the "full court press" this thursday morning. with ginger gibson from politico and you at 1-866-55-press. we have a big big hour and the you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. 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(vo) only on current tv. current tv is the place for true stories. with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines. real, gripping, current. documentaries... on current tv. >> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show." now on current tv. >> bill: 13 minutes before the top of the hour. talking what's going on or not happening or not going on here in our nation's capital with this still pretty constipated united states congress. ginger gibson is here from politico. she covers the congress. so first question, ginger, is congress ever coming back to town? >> they are. they're going to come back next week. i'll have to go back to working like a regular person. >> bill: that's too bad. >> bill: second question is covering congress, can you tell when they're here and when they're not here? >> i can tell when they're here. my roommates can tell when they're here. >> bill: in terms of getting things done, is there any difference between when they're here and not here? >> sometimes no. they get just as much done when they're not here as when they're here. >> bill: the last week they were here, they had one issue scheduled. now they ended up dealing with this faa thing too. it was on schedule with an emergency thing. i'll come back to that in a second. the one issue in the house agenda was the helium vote. >> the very controversial lacked support from democrat. we have a helium shortage and have for a long time. the feds have taken steps to help it. they need the helium for medical devices. not controversial. people want medical devices to work but that was on the agenda for a vote. >> bill: we're actually -- federal government is producing helium right to make up for the helium shortage in this country. >> they have a plant in west texas that they produce helium out of. you can have. >> mris and other helium necessary medical procedures. >> bill: the sequester does not touch it. >> that's what i learned about this helium plan. the sequester spared it. it is such an important thing that the federal government continues to make helium, it spared the sequester. >> bill: i knew i should have bought shares in helium instead of that gold. speaking of the sequester so have you ever seen the senate act so fast or the house act so fast as they did for the air-traffic controllers? >> if you blinked last week, you would have missed fixing the air-traffic controllers. this is the second effort they've made to undo just a piece of the sequester. cuts to the usda that would have affected meat inspectors. could have caused meat shortages during the last cr, continuing resolution to keep government open. this time, they're fixing the faa. it took less than a week of people's flights being delayed before congress got that done. >> bill: without public hearings or posting the bills everybody like they do. the reform was they're going to put it up. three days ahead of time. so everybody would have a chance to hear it and comment. they ended up with a misspelling. >> show up on the hill thursday morning. and left early to go to dinner, you might not have known that happened. that's how fast it happened. >> bill: unbelievable. now what is the prospect of getting another vote -- let me play a clip from our briefing at the white house yesterday. jay carney was asked about this. we know you guys haven't given up. so when do you intend to bring this bill back? >> i wouldn't want to predict at this point whether that means you know, we'll get this done sooner rather than later but we will get it done because it is the right and sensible and common sense thing to do. >> bill: i hear both sides. i'm sure you do, too. your thoughts about whether harry reid who has kept it alive will try to get it another vote between 2014 midterms or wait until after. >> i wouldn't be surprised if he tries to get another vote. he's indicated that they might try to change the bill again and take another run at it background check bill that does some of the things they want to potentially maybe paring down to a trafficking bill which does have large bipartisan support. but that 2014 election could be their only hope to get something passed. we've already starting to see groups go on the air. it is difficult to know what kind of effect they could have. they're not going to go run against mark pryor in arkansas. defeating him for his vote is not going to help them. but they could go run against some house members. they could run against some other groups in an attempt to show the rest of congress that they have the muscle flex if they don't vote the way they want. it might not be -- >> bill: yesterday the progressive change campaign committee launched an ad in montana pointing out that i think with 72% of montanans support universal background checks and calling on max baucus, senator from montana who voted against universal background checks to change his vote. they say they'll be -- they're likely that -- likelihood of success is higher now because baucus has announced he's not going to run for re-election. therefore, the pressure is off. do you buy that strategy? >> i think baucus isn't going to run for re-election when he cast that vote. there were a lot of questions after baucus made that announcement for senator reid about why he would vote that way knowing he was going to retire in a week. it is hard to say that between that vote and time he made that announcement that very much has changed. i would be shocked if that's what changes. lawmakers can always change their positions on things. they've evolved. they come to realize that there are other elements at play. they tweak a bill a little and all of a sudden it is different and they can vote yes on it. so a lot can happen. i wouldn't rule it out. >> bill: it seems to me if he's not running for re-election, he's less susceptible to political pressure, he can do whatever the hell he wants. i might focus on other senators if i wanted to change the vote. always fun to cover the landscape with you. thank you so much for coming in today. and they'll be back next week. and go at it. >> back to the regular working hours next week. >> bill: might work a whole two days next week. i'll be back to tell you what the president is up to today. big trip. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." my own nuance on it. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them, right? vo: the war room tonight at 6 eastern alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> with a distinctly satirical point of view. if you believe in state's rights but still believe in the drug war you must be high. >> only on current tv. >> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: "the washington post" express joining us in studio the next hour. we talk to margaret from bloomberg news again. and the president 10:45 this morning leaves the white house down to mexico city. he and the president pena, the new president of mexico will be holding a bilateral meeting today and then a press conference this afternoon. down in mexico city. this evening he will be joining -- first of all, greeting members and the staff at the u.s. embassy in mexico city and then having a working dinner tonight with the president of mexico. important trip. jay carney will be galling with reporters on air force i. no briefing today at the white house. one more hour. [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hey, good morning everybody. what do you say? it's thursday, may 2nd. great to see you today. and welcome to the "full court press." we're coming to you live from our studio here on capitol hill. in washington, d.c. bringing you the news of the day. letting you know what's going on but most importantly giving. >> chance to talk about it, too. let us know what you think about the issues of the day. give us a call at 1-866-55-press. that's one way of joining us or you can just give us a tweet. go to twitter. our handle is at bpshow. become our friend on facebook and contact us and give us your thoughts on facebook. at facebook.com/billpressshow. president obama going south today, south of the border, down to mexico and then tomorrow on to costa rica, three-day visit where he will be talking trade. he will be talking immigration reform with our fellow americans. meanwhile, back here at home up in boston, three buddies of dzhokhar tsarnaev arrested for trying to help him out by destroying evidence of his role in the bombing that they took from his dorm room. idiots. and believe it or not texas senator ted cruz is telling friends that he is seriously thinking about running for president in 2016. there you go, another idiot. i suggest before he makes any decision, he ought to talk to rick perry see how that went. we've got lots more coming up here. follow us here on current tv. to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking? (vo) current tv is the place for compelling true stories. (kaj) jack, how old are you? >> nine. (adam) this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines. way inside. (christoff) we're patrolling the area looking for guns, drugs bodies ... (adam) we're going to places where few others are going. [lady] you have to get out now. >> lots of terrible things happen to people growing marijuana. >> this crop to me is my livelihood. >> i'm being violated by the health care system. 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(vo) true stories, current perspective. documentaries. on current tv. >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: president obama heading off on a three-day visit to our fellow americans in mexico and costa rica. just remember they're americans as well. talk of immigration reform and trade. good morning everybody. we're talking all kinds of stuff here on the "full court press." this thursday morning may 2nd. great to see you today. thanks for climb on board the bus as we head off across this great land of ours on your local progressive talk radio station and on current tv. to bring you up to date on what's happening this thursday morning. and to give you a chance to sound off about it. your first chance of the day to express your opinion on the issues. we all like to bitch about the issues all day long. you start here on the "full court press." give us a call at 1-866-55-press. >> i like that. let's face it. you're going to bitch you might as well bitch with us. i like that. >> bill: a bitch fest here. you can give us your comments on twitter at bpshow and on facebook at facebook.com/billpress show. can't get through the news of the day alone. we need help from our friends. we've got a great friend in studio with us. clinton yates is the local news editor for "washington post" express. clinton, good to see you again. >> good to see you too bill. how are you? >> bill: i'm great. >> i got my shirt -- >> i noticed you've got your shirt on backwards. >> back with a little slack for chris kelly who passed last night. he was found dead, former -- not former member. member of the hip-hop duo kris kross. he was only 34 years old. >> that was stunning. they had a couple of songs. i wore out the cassette when i had it, when i was a kid. >> one of the things i was explaining to people is it is hard to understand the impact they had on hip-hop. in '92, at that time, rap was sort of -- not a strange place but you're talking about public enemy. people viewed rap as a dangerous kind of medium. so for them to be a group made up of kids, making age-appropriate mainstream music for kids, it was hugely popular completely changed the way people looked at sort of the genre, especially for like i said a generation of kids that grew up. it was all that they knew. middle school dances, elementary school dances changed from there on out. as a result, you know, i think a lot more people were able to bring rap into their homes without feeling like there was some threatening thing. they were extremely influential at that time in the '90s. >> they also wore their clothes backwards. >> hence, the shirt. >> bill: i'm disappointed because i noticed your t-shirt was on backwards and i hadn't said anything because i was going to ask you. >> now you know it. >> bill: the idea that you did it deliberately, disappoints me. i thought you screwed up. >> they wore their clothes backwards. kriss kross. ♪ jump, jump ♪ kris kross will make you. ♪ jump, jump ♪ >> they were kids. >> bill: were they really? >> yeah. 11 and 12 years old. >> bill: that young really? >> they were kids making music for kids and they were selling platinum records across the globe! it was unbelievable. so there's that. >> they had a whole rap about missing the bus. >> it was their greatest song ever. >> but rest in peace chris kelly. >> bill: the entire team here, peter ogborn, dan henning. >> i'm mack daddy. that's daddy mack. >> bill: alichia cruz has the phones covered. cyprian bowlding. we have to come up with a nickname for cyprian. >> bill: did cyprian have his shirt on backwards this morning? >> he dressed himself backwards without realizing. we get up early. lights are still out. >> bill: cyprian bowlding on the video cam this morning. you cover sports. you're a good sports fan. i don't know how up to date you are on the chicago blackhawks but it looks like they're going to have a good season and comcast sportsnet, she reported last night why we can expect big things from the blackhawks this year. here she is. >> hey pat well the second season starts tonight. the blackhawks team is ready. all season long, they've been saying this is the season that matters. despite the fact they had such a tremendous amount of sex -- during the regular season -- >> bill: they had so much sex during the regular season. >> i always feel bad in situations like that because as you all know, if you talk in front of a microphone for long enough you're going to say something that's screwed up every once in awhile. >> bill: i never have. >> you just pray it is not something like that, you know. for her i just feel awful because it is one of those things. there's nothing you can do. >> pretty great. >> bill: susan, i'm sure they'll be making fun of her for that for a long time. >> not as bad as the situation in virginia with the kid -- cursed twice in a row first ever appearance on tv. >> bill: was it west virginia? >> no, he went to west virginia. excuse me. he was in north dakota, i believe. >> north dakota. >> he was a graduate of west virginia. >> bill: his first time on the air. >> used to being from the east coast. >> for collins, this is a little easier to laugh at. >> bill: indeed. we've got all of that to cover with clinton yates then margaret will be joining us from bloomberg news a little bit later. but first... dan with the big stories of the day. >> i do. there is one major interest group that is worried about new york's new gun control legislation. it is the entertainment industry. "new york times" reporting there are currently 27 tv and movie projects that are in production in new york state using life-like assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and they would be affected under this legislation. they include hit shows like law & order, blue bloods, person of interest and numerous movies currently being filmed. a motion picture association of america. it is trying to work with the governor up there saying that to be able to tell real stories on tv you need to use real guns. of course, they're empty when they're on the set. they have been using real assault rifles in their filming. >> is that right? >> bill: i didn't realize that the ban -- for people buying them would impact production. strange. >> i had no idea they were ruing actual real guns in these. >> i guess the fake ones don't look real enough from my understanding from this "new york times" piece is they're using real guns. >> bill: bloomberg and cuomo will have to get together and work something out. >> there is a work around for that. >> the rolling stones kick off their 50th anniversary tour in l.a. tomorrow and keith richards hopes fans still appreciate the original sounds of their music and he really means original. the stones guitarist tells "the associated press" he has never owned an ipod and never will. he only listens to music on records, sometimes cds and sometimes even cassettes because he thinks the sound quality is better. >> cassettes? >> i was with him on the vinyls but cassettes? >> bill: sound quality on cassettes was never good. >> terrible, i know because i was just playing my kris kross earlier this morning. >> did you read the autobiography? >> bill: i meant to. i haven't. what is the tour? >> 50th anniversary. >> bill: unbelievable. >> they still slay. they still do really good shows. >> bill: they'll still sell out, too. >> a freaky new finding about the earliest american colonialists and what they did to survive. they turned to cannibalism. the smithsonian museum of natural history announced that archaeologists have found evidence that settlers in jamestown, virginia, ate their own after they died. in order to survive the harsh conditions in the early 1600s. >> bill: it was that or squirrel. >> or dying. >> bill: or possum. >> hard thing to explain on a museum group trip. >> bill: we're still eating our own. proverbially. >> one way or another. >> bill: clinton, good to see you. i couldn't wait. i have to get your take on wizards. jason collins. our own guy here. one of the big four professional sports to come out of the closet. did you have any idea? were you surprised? what do you think this means? >> i think it means a lot. there are a lot of people that say this isn't a big deal to me but to me, it is not about -- him being gay is not the story. the story is about everybody else. and for him to come out is an act of bravery because you just never know how anybody sells going to react. of course, there's people in our society who understand that it is not a big deal. but there is a lot more people who are -- take offense to not just one's orientation but saying anything about it. i was in the barbershop yesterday. some guy sitting in the chair rail against obama for supporting him. he's using the bible as his backdrop for saying well, you know god wouldn't do this. he went so far as to say you would never see a male hippo talking to another male hippo trying to imply there was another unnatural concept. i didn't say anything while i was in the chair but on the way out, i looked at him and i said listen buddy you gotta understand that a lot of people back in the day hated blacks. the same way you hate gays and they used the bible as their rationale for it. i walked out. barber dropped his clippers and the guy was just sort of looking at me. look, it is not even about that argument but the point is i think jason collins, this move is extremely important in america. i think it was martina navratilova who said it will save lives. it is okay to be who you are in a locker room setting and in front of america and that's the most important point. >> bill: i haven't heard anybody else talk about this and maybe i shouldn't. neighbor is not up to me. but it seems to me, it is doubly brave as collins as an african-american to come out. these white guys, they can be gay but -- the same with the latino community and black community. >> i think what is a bigger deal -- not bigger deal but i think something that might affect public view is the fact he's a 7 foot center. a lot of people, unfortunately still tie masculinity as a loose concept into orientation which of course, in reality is ridiculous. on the surface it is something to pay attention to. the fact he's a big guy who plays hard basketball to some people, will affect them more. obviously in my mind, that makes no difference. i think that jason collins again is a -- when the history books run out people will remember him more. >> i referenced this before on "buzzfeed." they did the 17 gayest things jason collins did on the court. it was him posting up on shaq. blocking shots. >> dunking on people. so like we could get rid of this notion that we play on the court -- weak play on the court is something that's a gay thing. something that's thrown around a lot. that's what you saw with kobe bryant. he used a slur against the ref and ended up apologizing for it. it sort of pushed the whole nba marketing promotion after that. but you're right. people throw that notion of weak play and gay around. that's just ridiculous. >> you mention kobe. i think it is really great. i was honestly a little surprised. maybe i shouldn't have been to see kobe bryant rushed out shaq came out barkley came out. john wall came out. and all said good for you. we support you. good for living your lifestyle. out in the open. in fact, something else i've referenced is martell webster said live your life in the open. work on the jump shot. that's what really matters. >> get it back to basketball because that's what really matters. >> bill: it is a bfd as joe biden might say. i'm in washington now 16 years. every year, there is all of this flak against the redskins and the name of the redskins. can we just resolve this? it is either going to change or it won't. do you think it will? >> i think it has to. not only do you have to get rid of the name. you have to get rid of the logo and the colors and i think you have to get rid of the song. wipe it all away because anything else comes across as disingenuous. the name is racist. if you don't change everything that associates with it, you're still going to think of it every single time they're playing on the field or somebody wears the hat. i understand that people are like well, it is tradition. but the tradition is rooted in something that is, by definition racist. so if you don't want to change that for the sake of the ease of rooting for a team you that wanted to root for, to me, you're not really trying to do anything at all. it is as simple as that as far as i'm concerned. i just really think it has to go. >> bill: what do you change it to? >> something that is completely not remotely reminiscent of the word. i don't want to say it because i don't like using that word at this point. people are like well, you can't do that. no! it is going to remind me of the problem. therefore, i think it makes sense to get rid of it entirely and you know people talk about well you take such a hit businesswise. you know the fans in this market. they change the colors. they change the name. they change everything, everybody will rush out to buy it. that's not a reasonable hedge. doing the right thing is more important. if you were going to take the business route they'll sell plenty of jerseys and plenty of apparel. >> bill: people will have to get new stuff to replace the old. >> gotta buy new jerseys. >> bill: could be a bonanza. >> right. that's the thing. it is booming. >> bill: have you ever done like a contest? let's name -- come up with a new name for the team? >> i remember when the bullets changed their name to the wizards. >> they had a citywide contest. sea dog was the second. that's probably why. i don't know that they've taken a poll. that's an interesting idea. >> bill: people would come up with some good ideas. you don't have to take their number one but be interesting to see. bill clinton did that to name his dog. >> that's right. buddy. >> i just want to say this quickly. you can't change it to red something else. you gotta eliminate it completely otherwise people are still thinking of the old name which, hello, is racist. >> red tails. >> bill: that's stupid. a red-tailed hawk? >> designed to be a correlation to the tuskegee airmen because of the planes they flew which doesn't correlate. >> bill: enough of that. 21 minutes after the hour. clinton yates, "washington post" express here. you can follow him on twitter at clinton yates. we'll be right back. >> announcer: connect with the "bill press show" on twitter. follow us at bpshow and tweet using the hashtag watching bp. this is the "bill press show." date, staying in touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. in reality it's not like they actually care. this is purely about political grandstanding. alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. >> if you believe in state's rights but still support the drug war you must be high. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> do you think that there is any chance we'll see this president even say the words >> with an open mind... >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> ...and a distinctly satirical point of view. >> but you mentioned "great leadership" so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv. >> bill: we're with clinton yates from "the washington post" express at washingtonpost.com/lunchline because we only get just a sample of all of the things you're working on, clinton, when you come in. i want to ask you about a little flap here across the river. governor bob mcdonnell still considered by some people rising star of the republican party. he was a leading candidate to be mitt romney's vice presidential running mate finding himself in a little hot water. >> big time. this scenario regarding -- i want to say star enterprises, i can't remember the exact name of the company. but trading moneys -- star scientific. it has moved from what looked like a matter of simple miscalculation over one might craft stupidity into a level of tawdriness. it is weird to have a campaign contributor catering your daughter's wedding at the governor's mansion. i'm sorry. that's just not the kind -- >> bill: he paid for it. and it is just like what exactly is going on here? you can't just assume that because the reporting laws are lax in virginia which they are. you have to imagine a wild west scenario. er regular people look at that and think what are you doing going through these motions? it doesn't sit well with me and i don't think it will with most of virginia. >> bill: this guy offered to pay for his daughter's wedding. oh, yeah, you can do that. then he doesn't report it and his excuse is it wasn't a gift to me. it was a gift to my daughter. >> she's shady. -- that's shady. >> bill: he's the guy who didn't have to pay for his daughter's wedding. the money didn't come out of his pocket because of the contributors. >> ken cuccinelli as well. they're having problems at the top right there. if i was a virginia republican, i would be worried. >> bill: we'll never confuse you for a republican republican. -- for a virginia republican. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking? >> announcer: this is the "bill press show" live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: 33 minutes after the hour. here we go. it is thursday, may 2nd. we're the "full court press" coming to you live from our nation's capital. our studio on capitol hill. we're brought to you b -- by ullico incorporated. good men and women of ullico under president ed smith providing specialty insurance risk solutions investment products and services. you can find out more about their good work at ullico.com. that's ullico.com. ullico inc. providing solutions for the union workplace. it has been a busy week for president obama. holding a news conference in the briefing room. making seems like a ton of personnel appointments. hate going to make one more this morning before he leaves for three-day visit down to mexico and costa rica. keeping on top of everything at the white house. bloomberg news white house correspondent margaret joining us on our news line this morning. margaret, good morning. >> good morning. how are you? >> bill: we're good. tell us the president yesterday naming mel watt to the head of the fhfa and tom wheeler head of the fcc. what's -- just broke he will make a personnel announcement at 10:15. who do we expect? >> one you'll recognize from 2008, 2007 during the campaign, of the hyatt hotel family fortune, to be the next commerce secretary. then we're also expecting the president to be -- deputy national security adviser on economic issues to be the u.s. trade representative. and you know, these are both folks who are close with the president. he went to harvard and has a major financial background. back in chicago days. part of the chicago core group. so for both folks, these are the long anticipated and long-awaited announcements. >> bill: that means more diversity in the cabinet. a woman right? commerce secretary. it is interesting margaret. there were reports last year that they had parted ways. i forget which issue, she was not part of the inner circle anymore. apparently they patched it up. do you remember that? >> i don't believe that really there was ever any major personal rift between the two of them but look, her hotel chain and unions have not been cope thetic. if you're looking at trying to avoid land mines with republican critique. so the betting process -- took a very long time. and part of it had to be understanding the family finances and part of it had to be trying to figure out whether this was -- when something like this -- my situation happens the president wants to avoid that for happening twice. clearly, these are friends of his as well as political allies. so my sense is just a long amount of time went into understanding the finances and figuring out is there a path to confirmation worth doing this. >> bill: so on tuesday we weren't sure why. the president very short notice, called this news conference in the briefing room. among the issues though that he touched on, i guess -- we sort of -- concluded that it was because it was the 100th day anniversary, among the issues he touched on was guantanamo bay. where the president finds himself kind of in an awkward position right? still wanting to close it and not doing -- >> still not having a path to close it. >> bill: yeah, right. >> i think part of -- you always try to figure out what goes into the timing of an impromptu news conference. part of it has to also be that the president later said he will be leaving for mexico city and on to costa rica. when you do one of these foreign trips, you have an issue you want to highlight like the president obviously wants to talk about immigration and trade. and part of the timing of what we're expecting to be the commerce and announcement today is to have something to promote before he gets to mexico city. major, major trading partner to the u.s. if you're the president and you know that the minute you get to mexico city and try to do a press conference, you will be barraged with questions about some anniversary of gitmo or whether red lines have been crossed in syria and what he will do about it, that's embarrassing. you don't want that -- particularly if you have an abbreviated news conference. the strides mexico has made. and so this kind of maybe takes it a little bit off the table and allows him to -- use the word sequester sequester the issues he wants to talk about kind of on his terms on his timetable. >> on gitmo the president saying i want to close it. i still want to close it. it is a national disgrace. but congress won't let me do it. >> what do you think he should do, bill? >> bill: i was wondering whether we may be letting him off the hook too easily? attorneys representing some of the prisoners down in guantanamo point out that there is language in the national defense authorization act which would permit them to move prisoners from gitmo -- him as president unilaterally. executive order to move prisoners from guantanamo if he -- in the interest of national security. >> i think it is a really interesting question. because prior to his re-election, we're certainly not going to see him go against the congress on this. but as he said the other night the second term baby, i think that was the quote i think you know, in other issues, whether it is the environment global warming or what have you he's -- or even on immigration on gay rights, he has made clear that if congress won't play ball he will do whatever he can through executive power. this is really a different question. both in terms of politics and in terms of kind of political protection, what if something happens. then in the long view, in terms of legacy, right. when you deal with national security stuff, by subverting the will of congress, even if you have the power to do it, boy, you sure are vulnerable on a different level if it backfires. >> bill: yeah. >> i don't know. i think you're right to ask but i don't know what the answer is. >> bill: no. it is a tough one. i think they find themselves in a tough spot here, too. margaret talev i should have pointed out is a member of the board of the white house correspondents' association. and she was at the head table and so you heard every word. margaret, i have to congratulate you and members of the board and i thought it was a great event. i thought the president was superb. and conan o'brien did a great job, too. it was a good evening. >> thank you very much. >> bill: it was fun. so you had a front row seat. actually. now, another issue that the president touched on is, of course, this sequester. i don't know whether we're going to see any end. he was at great pains i thought, as well as jay carney has been to explain if the sequester is so bad why they're signing this band-aid -- why he has now signed the band aid legislation on the faa. how do you think they handled that? >> really awkwardly don't you? >> bill: totally. >> john carl's question from abc where he said do you really have any juice left. the president loved questions like that, right. >> bill: you can tell. >> the republicans on this one at least in the short or midterm has seemed to have gotten him in a box. he seems to sort of being throwing his hands up and saying all right, i have to let this one play out. i think part of it is just the other stuff has cropped up in addition to a pretty clear defeat on guns and in addition to the fact that the real prize now is immigration reform if they can push it through. other stuff has come up. the boston bombing is like so much more important than having a fight over a sequester right now, right? >> bill: right. >> what's going on in syria and whether chemical weapons are being used or whether it was one or two minor things. it is my sense these are just much more pressing issues for the president right now and that he's kind of recalibrating what his priorities are and saying all right, i'll sign the stupid airport patch and get on with it for a little while. i'll deal with this later. >> bill: when i was talking about the president having a busy week, i totally spaced on the fact that oh yeah, we also discovered that syria is using chemical weapons. like hello! >> hello! >> bill: we talk about awkward handling of the question of why sign this special exception for the faa, also awkward handling of how i can say this is the red line and yet when they cross the red line now we say he hasn't crossed the red line. >> a new qualifier. was it systemic. systemic use. but i mean the bottom line is like it is really, really clear that his inclination is not to go intervening. and i'm sure that there's stuff that's going on that we don't know about. that's how this works right. but just want to say it has been very reluctant because of this whole thing about iraq, right. iraq equals -- some stuff has gotten really complicated. we put our thumb on the scale in egypt. that's a mess. libya is -- >> bill: right. >> there is a lot more. what are we going to do? what are the implications going to be? he doesn't want to go down that road. so he's waiting for the rest of the world to beg him to intervene or for assad to just say you know what? forget it. i'm out. the courts are against that line where he has to do something. he's trying to redefine the line. >> bill: he kind of did redefine the line saying crossing the red lines means -- the phrase used was -- because i wrote it down, a re-examining all of our options right? so it didn't -- clearly that doesn't mean necessarily. military action. well, you know, margaret, lots going on. that's what makes it -- keeps life interesting for people like you and me. >> it certainly is interesting. >> bill: we can't complain. margaret talev from bloomberg. white house correspondent. you can follow her on twitter at margaret talev. thanks margaret. talk to you again soon. we'll be back with more on the issues of the day on this thursday may 2nd. >> announcer: like politics? then like the "bill press show" on facebook. this is the "bill press show." support the drug war you must be high. cenk uygur: i think the number one thing viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. i think the audience gets that i actually mean it. michael shure: this show is of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. joy behar: you can say anything here. jerry springer: i spent a couple of hours with a hooker joy behar: your mistake was writing a check jerry springer: she never cashed it (vo) the day's events. four very unique points of view. tonight starting at 6 eastern. alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. break the ice with breath-freshening cooling crystals. ice breakers. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> with a distinctly satirical point of view. if you believe in state's rights but still believe in the drug war you must be high. >> only on current tv. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show" live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: 12 minutes to go before the top of the hour here on the "full court press." what do you say? just stunning new news out of boston. and on the investigation for the boston marathon bombing. we'll tell you about that in just a second. but first one more story about identity theft and you never know whom you can trust. here's a woman up in new york. she has been arrested and charged with stealing the identity of her 83-year-old grandmother. woman also suffers from dementia. this woman stole her grandmother's identity and used that identity to open a credit card account in her own name. and using that money to fund her drug habit. a story like that convinces you it should, you better beware of identity theft and be protected against it. i am with what's called lifelock ultimate. the most comprehensive i.d. theft protection ever made. but, of course, lifelock can't protect you or your bank account if you're not a member. call now and mention press 60. you'll get 60 risk-free days of lifelock ultimate identity theft protection. if you're not happy, call and cancel within 60 days. you get a full refund. give them a call at 1-800-356-5967 for lifelock ultimate. the news broke about midday yesterday and this is what everybody was talking about. three young men, foreign exchange students in boston, arrested. they were friends and classmates of dzhokhar tsarnaev. i can't even pronounce his name. i'm not going to try to pronounce the other three guys' names. but it is so bizarre and so stupid what these kids are alleged to have done at any rate. they are not considered part of the -- making the bombs or planting the bombs or anything to do with the actual bombing of the marathon. but charged with destroying evidence from dzhokhar's dorm room after the fact. and the series of events goes that first of all the police started asking and talking to anybody who knew them and might have gone to class with them on campus. and these -- they discovered that two of these kids from kazakhstan were in violation of the visas because they hadn't been attending classes. if you come here as a student you have to attend classes. so they have been detained and while they were in detention investigators talking to them. they found out that right after the bombing a couple of days later when the fbi released the video, one of these guys looked and said oh, my god, that looks like dzhokhar, our friend. he called another friend, said hey, when you get home, you know, look at television and you're going to be amazed at what you see. this kid looks at the television. says oh, my god that is dzhokhar. he texts him and says that guy on tv looks just -- the suspect looks just like you. tsarnaev texts back lol right. how funny. you better not text me. and then says go to my dorm room and take whatever you want. two of them go to the dorm room and they discover, among other things parts of old fireworks where the black powder had been removed but the rest of the fire work was still there. and other stuff in it. and a laptop. >> right there. right there. >> bill: call the police and say here he is. >> if this is their story it is all some sort of, you know, they're trying to say it an innocent misunderstanding or whatever, if you know that your friend looks like one of the bad guys and you find something like hollowed out fireworks -- >> bill: in his dorm room -- right away, you call the fbi and say bingo! we got him. instead, these guys took that evidence, took it back to their apartment. then put it in a plastic bag threw it in a dumpster and then lied to the fbi or lied to law enforcement, whoever was interrogating them about what they had done. these guys are in serious serious trouble. again, not related to the bombing itself but in trying to protect their friend. they could very well be deported but they may spend a good deal of time in an american prison before they're deported. that is the latest on the boston bombing. i'll tell you one other thing. law enforcement up there is doing an excellent job. they're really on this case. they found this backpack in a landfill! parting shot coming up next. we'll wrap it up with that. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." 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(vo) only on current tv. >> announcer: the parting shot with bill press. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: well, you know, it is an old but true adage here in washington d.c. that every morning every united states senator gets up, looks in the mirror and thinks he or she is looking at the next president of the united states. well that could be true for some but never for ted cruz. he's got a better chance, ted cruz, better chance of being elected pope than president and he's not even a catholic. and yet ted cruz, the "national review" reports is talking to friends about running for president in 2016. even though he's only been in the senate for four months and even though he has already managed to piss off every other senator, republican and democrat. his republican colleagues have told him to just shut up. and jennifer rubin conservative columnist for "the washington post" has even called him a jerk. i have one suggestion for ted cruz. before he thinks about becoming the next texan to run for president of the united states, before he thinks of his success in texas prepares him for the national stage my one suggestion teddy boy is talk to rick perry. have a great day folks. we'll see you right back here tomorrow. [♪ theme music ♪] >> stephanie: what? i have something on my lip. sorry, i was eating. >> i thought it was a secret. >> stephanie: the news broke yesterday about these three kids that were arrested.

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