Join us by phone at 186655press. Send us your comments on twitter at bpshow and on facebook at facebook. Com billpressshow. Well, the big breaking news is Edward Snowden is finally out of the airport yep, he was allowed to leave yesterday because russia granted him an asylum for just one year. That means he can live and work there. Meanwhile, president obama, because more and more members of congress are concerned over the extent of nsas spying on us, as we vealed by Edward Snowden, president obama convened a meeting of republicans to discuss how we can get the proper balance between National Security and our right of privacy. And you can look for some legislation which will restrict nsas spying. Well tell you all about it right here on current tv. Iq will go way up. vo current tv gets the conversation started weekdays at 9 eastern. Im a slutty bob hope. The troops love me. Tv and radio talk show host Stephanie Miller rounds out currents morning news block. Youre welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. vo sharp tongue. Excuse me . vo quick wit. And yes, president obama does smell like cookies and freedom. vo and above all, opinion and attitude. Really . this is the kind of stuff they say about something they just pulled freshly from their [bleep]. You know what those people are like. What could possibly go wrong in eight years of george bush . My producer just coughed up a hairball. Sorry. Just be grateful current tv doesnt come in smellovision oh come on the sweatshirt is nice and all, but i could use a golden lasso. vo only on current tv. Did anyone tell the pilgrims they should selfdeport . No, they said make us a turkey and make it fast. laughter . She gets the comedians thats the best thats hilarious. And the thinkers thinking. Okay, so there is wiggle room in the Ten Commandments is what youre telling me. Shes joy behar. Ya, i consider you jewtalian. Okay, whatever you want. Who plays kafka . Who saw kafka . Who ever saw kafka . laughter . Asking the tough questions. Chris brown, i mean you wouldnt let one of your daughters go out with him. Absolutely not. You would rather deal with ahmadinejad then me . Absolutely singing i take lipitor, thats it. Are you improving your lips . laughter . When shes talking, you never know where the conversation is going to go. It looks like Anthony Wiener is throwing his hat in the ring. His what in the ring . His hat. Always outspoken, joy behar. And the best part is that current will let me say anything. What the hell were they thinking . Only on current tv. Announcer broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the bill press show. Bill well, what do you know . Edward snowden is finally out of the airport. Wow big, breaking news. Everybodys so excited about it. Hey, what do you say, everybody . Would you know, would you know, would you believe its a friday alleluia bill its friday, august 22nd. Alleluia bill our favorite day here around the bill press show. Alleluia bill we love to see the fridays coming. We work hard to get to a friday, man. Pounding it out. Four days a week then one more day before we head into the weekend. We deserve a break. Not your congress but theyre going to get a big one today because it is the last day congress will be in session before they take off for the entire month of august. Not even the french do that anymore. But members of congress do. And what a joke. They have passed exactly in the last seven months, 23 bills, half of them naming post offices or bridges. Thats what theyve gotten done. For that, were paying them 175,000 a year and giving them a months vacation in august during which probably half of them will take some government trip, some congressional delegation or codel at our expense. It gets worse and worse and worse. Dont get me started. Hey, good morning, everybody. Great to see you. You know how to do it. If you want to join the conversation, we would love to hear from you. Get your voice on the air at 186655press. Thats our toll free number. Join us on twitter at bpshow. Easy enough at bpshow and on facebook, become our friend on facebook, facebook. Com billpressshow. The team here, five days in a row, weve been all together, peter ogborn and dan henning. Hey, hey. Bill alichia cruz on the phones. Good morning, guys. Cyprian bowlding here on the video cams. Gets a big wave. He can wave to all of his fans out there. He has a lot of fans, too, ya know. Bill oh, cyprian . Oh, more than any of the rest of us. He gets mail more than the rest of us. Bill keeps it going. So we have a great subway system here in washington. Its called the metro. I use it all the time. Thats how i get down to the white house and back every day. And almost anywhere i go, we use our car in washington probably one day a week. For one thing. Otherwise, it is all metro or walk. Walk in the neighborhood or metro. But something happened yesterday at metro that never happened before at the la font plaza station which is one, two, three stations, three stops from our subway stop here at Eastern Market on capitol hill. A lady was very, very pregnant, stepped off the train and wow, the baby said mommy, its my time. She delivered and she said you know, when it comes there was an emt happened to be there offduty right on the same train with her. Got off, delivered the baby. Heres the mama and a bystander. The babys ready to come out, you just got to be ready. Ive never seen anything like it. Baby being born, not even my own children. I was really nervous, kind of scare and concerned about the babys health and just a blessing the emt was here. Popped right out like she was a quarterback. Bill theres the ball. Catch it how about that. Good for her. Good for the baby. Everybody is fine but boy what an event. Blessed event on the metro. Have you ever heard youve heard of them being born on airplanes or in cars on the way to the hospital. Thats wild. Bill she was just out shopping. You see it in movies when they say my water just broke or whatever and in real life, the two babies that im responsible for helping create, bring into this world, didnt quite happen that way so i just figured this was sort of bill it was a lot longer process for carol and me, too. And i happen to be going through lenfant plaza. She was on the yellow or green train that goes north, south. I was on the blue or orange which goes east west. So i was down level below that one. We have a lot of excitement today. Bill de blasio is one of the candidates for mayor in new york. Hes been on the show several times with us before. Of hell be here again this morning. Leo gerard is the president of the steelworkers union. Big news this morning that manufacturing jobs are actually on the way back in this country. Well talk to leo about that. Susan page from usa today joining us for a little hopscotch around the news with her at the end of this hour and what do you think about a new move to outlaw smoking in this country . Make it illegal . Should we . But first. Announcer this is the full court press. Other headlines making news on this friday. Anthony weiner is not too damn high. Jimmie miller ran for governor a couple of years ago endorsed weiner for mayor yesterday. He tells the new York Observer that were all freaky and weiner just expose his freakyism in the wrong way. Someone needs to tell weiner dont be afraid to go get help if you need it. Wow. Bill i just want to hear him back on the campaign trail. Too damn high. Too damn high. Anthony weiner is going to bring the rent down. It would be an asset. In nothing more than a a p. R. Stunt, the president of syria joined instagram yesterday. Bashar alassad postingself photos of himself with his wife. By looking at them, you would have no idea there is a civil war. Hes got 30,000 followers. The state department called it despicable. Bill over there, they put a gun to your head and say follow me or else. Expect lines to grow today and tomorrow at lottery retailers again. No one won powerball on wednesday so tomorrow nights jackpot, 290 million. The cash option on that is only 168 million of then youll take home half of that if you win. All in all, youre only look at about 80 million if you win. What a hassle. Bill that will probably be a beach house in hawaii. There is the note to buy my powerball. Stop on the way back from the gym. Good morning, everybody. What do you say . Here we go. Yes, indeed. So the latest you know, im almost feeling starting to feel sorry for smokers now. Ive never been a smoker. Never in my life, not even as a teenager. Ive puffed on a cigarette now and then but never had the habit. Never bought a pack of cigarettes. Never bought a cigarette. But im starting to feel sorry for smokers because and you know, the number of smokers has gone down. More and more people have kicked the habit. And it is a habit. It is an addiction for some people. And you cant now i think this is great. And i totally supported this. Got a lot of grief from smokers at the time but its now the law of the land, just about i think everywhere, you cant smoke in restaurants, you cant smoke in bars. You cant smoke in public parks. You cant smoke in public places. This is all good. You cant smoke in airplanes. You cant smoke on buses or trains. This is all good. But some people are still not happy with that. The latest poll, gallup poll just out this morning, one in five americans now say that smoking should be completely illegal. 22 say smoking should be completely illegal. 55 of americans say they would support such a ban if congress were to enact it. And it differs in various parts of the country, by the way. 25 of people in the western and eastern parts of the u. S. Say they would support making smoking illegal. Only 23 , in the south which is still pretty high, in the south, 12 in the midwest. And 82 of americans now say they recognize that smoking is very harmful for adults. That actually seems a little low. I mean at this point. Bill whats wrong with the other 18 . Where have they been . The word has gotten out there. All of the campaigns about how dangerous smoking is. So what do you think about this . Making smoking illegal. 186655press. Never smoked. Im not here to defend smokers but i dont think we ought to make it illegal. What are we going to do . Make alcohol illegal as well . I dont know the stats or the numbers but im sure i would be willing to say as many people die of alcohol either drunk driving or overdrinking as smoking and as many people die of drug overdoses. As die of lung cancer anymore. So i wouldnt want to make alcohol illegal. We tried that once, didnt we . I dont think we ought to make smoking illegal. I think we continue to dell people, here are the consequences of smoke and it is up to you and put every i dont care how many tax you put on cigarettes or how expensive you make them. I agree. You know, weve come to a point where if ive seen anybody smoking, i immediately judge the hell out of that person. In this day and age, youve got to be youve got to have a screw loose to smoke. To be a daily smoker. I say that as a person who used to smoke. Bill or have an addiction. Sure. I understand that. But you know, given the treatment thats out there and given the facts that are out there, that this will do something bad for you. But that being said, one of the things that make this country great is you have the ability to do dumb things to our body if he he if we want to. To ban smoking outright, i dont think it will work and i dont think its smart. Bill i am very hesitant to go in the direction of banning things, making things illegal. In fact, im on the other train which is lets make more things legal like pot. The idea that pot is illegal is just crazy. I would even make the hard drugs today legal and regulated and taxed. Bill regulated and tax it and bring it into the market system somehow and get away from all of this illegal traffic and illegal activity and so much attention, Law Enforcement officers on that busy. That could lead to the idea of smoking. Im shocked, particularly when i see young people smoking. I want to say what the hell are you doing . You of all people, older person smoking all of their lives, they havent been able to kick the habit, okay, right. Going to die anyway soon. See young people. I see them on the streets here in washington, you know, walking by with a cigarette. Every time i go back home to South Carolina, i am stunned at how many people smoke just out in the open, young people, parents, middleaged people, old people, its stunning how it is such a way of life for some people. Bill back in 2007, only 12 of americans said that smoking should be illegal. Today, 22 . One out of five americans. Thats a big jump. Short period of time. Bill big jump in a short period of time. Is this the answer . Not just continuing to restrict the areas in which smokers can actually take a puff but make it illegal and illegal substance. 186655press. Good way to start this friday morning here on the full court press. Announcer like politics . Then like the bill press show on facebook. This is the bill press show. Has the time finally come for real Immigration Reform . With a distinctly satirical point of view. If you believe in states rights but still believe in the drug war, you must be high. Only on current tv. Cenk off air alright in 15 minutes were going to do the young turks i think the number 1 thing than viewers like about the young turks is that were honest. They know that im not bsing them for some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. When the democrats are wrong, they know im going to be the first one to call them out. Cenk on air whats unacceptable is how washington continues to screw the middle class over. Cenk off air i dont want the middle class taking the brunt of the different programs that wind up hurting the middle class. Cenk on air you got to go to the local level, the state level and we have to fight hard to make sure they cant buy our politics anymore. Cenk off air and they can question if im right about that. But i think the audience gets that, i actually mean it. Cenk on air 3 trillion dollars in spending cuts narrator uniquely progressive and always topical, the Worlds Largest online news show is on current tv. Cenk off air and i think the audience gets, this guys to best of his abilities is trying to look out for us. Only on current tv smoke, smoke, smoke that cigarette smoke, smoke, smoke you gotta have another cigarette bill you may not be able to have one if 22 of americans have their way. Theyre saying make cigarettes illegal. What do you say . 186655press. To your calls, to your comments in just a second. But again, we want to tell all of our listeners and our viewers whats going to happen once current tv goes away. Very quickly. Were going to be there with you on radio and on television. First of all on radio, nothing changes at all. Were solid. Youre solid. Everything goes forward. On tv, no more current tv as of august 15 but starting september 3rd, youll be able to watch us on your tv if you have a dish. On dish tv. Or directv. Dish Network Channel 9415, directv, channel 348 or you can watch us online at freespeech. Org. Or on your satellite dish. For more information, go to freespeech. Org. Any questions, go check it out because even if you dont have dish, you might be able to get us on some cable channel locally. You will be able to find that out at freespeech. Org. They have everything you need there. Bill well be continuing on radio and television, just a different television outlet. Now we go, peter, comments on smoking . One quick comment about the electronic vapor cigarettes that you see more and more these days. They dont have Secondhand Smoke and thats how she said she quit smoking. Those are legal everywhere. Bill are they expensive . Theyre not cheap. And to be perfectly honest, im not sure how they work but you buy these electronic things and youre basically inhaling water vapor which im not sure how healthy that is either but im sure it is better than nicotine. Bill bert is calling from irwin, texas. Make it illegal . Caller no, because prohibition doesnt work. This is a person that has smoked heavily until 1980. I was smoking three and a half, four packs a day. I quit and have been since. But prohibition just like with drugs and everything else, doesnt work. Bill i think weve proved that. Let me ask you this, worth, how much is a pack of cigarettes today . Caller 3. 10, Something Like that. No. Maybe per cigarette. Theyre anywhere from 6 to 10. Bill thats what i was thinking. Bert, if you had that habit today, you couldnt afford it, right . Caller right. When i quit it was 40 cents a pack. Bill imagine if you were paying 30, 40 a day. Like in new york, they probably have the highest cigarette prices in the nation. Bill heres christopher from new york to tell us about it. What do you say . Caller hi, bill. I think that you know, i used to be a smoker and i feel like the middleagedded and older smokers probably wouldnt care if it was illegal because all of them want to quit anyway. It is really only the younger smokers, you know, they started out smoking and they might feel like they want to smoke. Anybody whos been smoking over a period of time wants to quit but cant. All of the solutions to quitting, the patch and the gum and this and that dont work very well. Bill but you know, if theyve really got the habit and you make it illegal, that doesnt mean theyre going to stop. Theyll get them somehow. Announcer this is the bill press show. vo current tv gets the conversation started weekdays at 9 eastern. Im a slutty bob hope. The troops love me. Tv and radio talk show host Stephanie Miller rounds out currents morning news block. Youre welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. vo sharp tongue. Excuse me . vo quick wit. And yes, president obama does smell like cookies and freedom. vo and above all, opinion and attitude. Really . this is the kind of stuff they say about something they just pulled freshly from their [bleep]. You know what those people are like. What could possibly go wrong in eight years of george bush . My producer just coughed up a hairball. Sorry. Just be grateful current tv doesnt come in smellovision oh come on the sweatshirt is nice and all, but i could use a golden lasso. vo only on current tv. Announcer connect with the bill press show on twitter. Follow us at bpshow and tweet using the hashtag watching bp. This is the bill press show. Bill all right. 33 minutes after the hour now here on the full court press on a friday morning. Were coming to you live from our Nations Capital and were brought to you today by the American Federation of teachers. You bet, the good men and women of the aft under president Randi Weingarten making a difference in americas classrooms every day. You can find out more about their good work at aft. Org. Edward snowden out of the airport. Well move on to that and a couple more comments about smoking here. But first, something very important to consider. If you think about it, what if you were in an accident and you were knocked unconscious, paramedics arrive and they cant get any information out of you because you cannot communicate with them. That could make the difference between life and death. One way to prepare yourself for such an emergency is emergency link i. D. It is a small tag you attach to your key ring or put in your wallet or purse that will tell Emergency Responders everything they might need to know. Your medical history, your meds, allergies, doctors contact info and most importantly, whom to notify again. Could make the difference between life and death. Do yourself a huge favor. Sign up for emergency links Emergency Response service today. It is only 10 a year and youll receive your i. D. Kit free. It is 10 a year. Your i. D. Kit free. You have to sign up now. Limited offer. Go to emergencylink. Com and enter press. We are on twitter at bp show. You mention the free speech. If we get more news about it, you want to find more information, you can follow us at bpshow. Were constantly giving information there. Thats one way to stay in touch. Also join the conversation on the smoking ban that were talking about. Irish boy says this is just an observation but smokers can smoke a pack and still drive safely. Alcohol drinkers cant say the same thing about their vice. And honey bear kelly wants to let us know in new york city, a pack of cigarettes costs almost 12 now. To which i say at that point you might as well be smoking crack. It is not much difference pricewise. Bill when i think of people saying they smoke two or three packs of cigarettes a day . You can feed your family on that. Two packs a day in new york city is like 1,000 a month if i did the math right. It is like 1,000 a month. Bill insane. Harry in barnesville, mississippi. Caller yes, sir. Bill how are you doing . What do you say . Caller im doing fine. Thanks for taking my call, bill. On the smokers issue, you know, im totally against people that are against people smoking. I smoked for 15 years, 1979, i quit for 30 years. And i just picked them back up about three years ago. And i never had an issue with people that smoked whenever i quit smoking. All of my friends smoked. Most of them im just not against if people want to smoke, let them smoke. Bill im with you. Heres the deal, why did you pick it up again . You know its not good for you. There are a lot of things arent good for me. Im going to die of something some time. It is a freedom of ourselves to do what we want. Bill peter, you made that point earlier. Living in this country, we are able to make some dumb decisions. I respect his decision to do something very dumb and i always hate to hear someone say well, youre going to die of something. Yeah, youre going to die of something but if you decide youre going to decide to just all of a sudden start juggling chainsaws on a whim, your chance of dying of that just went up. Bill im not going to make harrys habit illegal. I agree. Bill josh from chicago. Hey, josh, what do you say . Caller good morning, bill. Bill good morning. Caller theyre 9. 50 a pack and with the unemployment the way it is, how can people afford to buy cigarettes . They go up 1 every year. I smoked for 15 years and just by me saving the money, i can put my 5yearold through college just off cigarette dollars. Bill i think you could. I agree. It is economics of this. Dont make them illegal. Make them more expensive. People will kick the habit. I really think thats a better way to go. Make the market work. I know im a liberal. Maybe i ought to be for it. Banning stuff, making it illegal is the wrong way to go. Dont want to do it for cigarettes and while were at it, lets make pot legal, too. Gotta tell you about this though because at the very top of the hour, i mentioned Edward Snowden out of the airport, russia finally he got a piece of paper that he needed to leave the airport and to live in russia and work in russia for a year only. But even though it was only a year, jay carney at the white house telling us yesterday he is that the president is very, very, very, very disappointed. Were extremely disappoint that the russian government would take this step despite our very clear and lawful requests in public and in private to have mr. Snowden expelled to the United States to face the charges against him. Bill but you know, the white house had to see this coming. This was a moment that Vladimir Putin relished, the chance to stick it to the United States. He knew how badly we wanted to get snowden back and he knew he had this opportunity. You knew they had to know. They had to know at the white house the way this was going to turn out. But jay carney again, speaking for the white house, saying that this undercuts all of these years of good feelings and good cooperation that weve had with putin. Really . This move by the russian government undermines a longstanding record of Law Enforcement cooperation, cooperation that has recently been on the upswing since the Boston Marathon bombings. Bill of course, nobody expresses this outrage more on any issue than senator Chuck Schumer from new york. Stabbed us in the back. Russia has stabbed us in the back. And each day that snowden is allowed to roam free is another twist of the knife. Bill twisting that knife. I love what jim moran had to say. Congressman from northern virginia, democratic congressman from just across the river here. He basically said to Chuck Schumer hey, chill, chuck. I think highly of Chuck Schumer but no, hes overreacting. This guy is not a hero but i dont want to make him a martyr either. I hear from a number of people like that in my own district who are passionate but imbalanced in their perspective and immature. I think living in russia will be a very maturing experience for mr. Snowden. Bill good boy. Good boy. We havent had jim moran in the studio for awhile. Great reason to have him in. Bill hes great. A very maturing experience. Yeah, ill say bill ive been to russia. I wouldnt want to live there. Ill tell ya. The real deal is this. And by the way, check out my column at billpressshow. Com today if you have a chance because ive written a column about Bradley Manning which relates to Edward Snowden. I bring snowden into the column as well. And basically, the point of the column is were having a very important conversation today. It went all the way to the white house yesterday. Were having a conversation about this National Security state that we live in today. This police state almost that we live in today. And about our right of privacy and whether theres any left and how we protect what little right of privacy we may have left. Were having that very important conversation today. You know why were having it . Were having it because of Edward Snowden. Im not saying hes a hero but hes no traitor either. What we really ought to be focusing on is not what i know the media is going to be covering which is where did Edward Snowden have dinner today and where is he living and what kind of an apartment and is it a walk up or is there is an elevator, all of that kind of crap well be hearing about Edward Snowden. Forget that. What we ought to be focusing on is what he revealed about what nsa is doing and the fact that they are collecting information on every phone call you make and every phone call i make, on every text we send, on every email we send, on every web site that we check out or every blog we check out. This is a massive violation, overreach of our National Security state and we should be up in arms about it. And more and more people are. And thats why the president had this meeting today. So weve got to focus on that issue, i think, is how can we, yes, keep ourselves safe and protect ourselves against terrorism without abandoning our basic constitutional rights. That is an issue john conyers spoke to us about here in studio yesterday. Ron wyden is out there on this issue. Dick durbin is on this issue. Mark udall. Sheldon whitehouse and republican justin amash from michigan. Rand paul. This is the focus. Not the fact that Edward Snowden happens to be out of the airport. When we come back, susan page from usa today joins us on the other Important News of the day. Announcer this is the bill press show. vo this afternoon, current tv is the place for compelling true stories. Jack, how old are you . Nine. This is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. vo with Award Winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way inside. vo from the underworld, to the world of privilege. Everyone in Michael Jacksons life was out to use him. vo no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current. She gets the comedians laughing. Thats hilarious . And the thinkers thinking. Okay, so theres wiggleroom in the Ten Commandments is what youre telling me. Shes joy behar. And current will let me say anything. Only on current tv. Bill 13 minutes before the top of the hour on a friday. Friday, august 2nd. President obama convening, big meeting at the white house yesterday with members of congress. House and Senate Republicans and democrats on very important issue of balancing. How to Balance National security and privacy issues. All brought about, of course, by the information leaked by Edward Snowden. Who got his reprieve yesterday by the russian government, allowed to stay there, granting him asylum for a year. Lots going on. We love to check in on a friday morning with our good buddy, Washington Bureau chief for usa today susan page. Good morning, bill. Bill it should not have come as a surprise to the white house that Vladimir Putin gave Edward Snowden asylum, right . They had done everything they could to encourage him not to do that. Theyre still leaving out the possibility he wont go to moscow next month as hes expected to do or planned to do to meet with putin. That would be a pretty strong that sounds like maybe not such a big deal i think in the world of diplomacy, that would be a pretty big snub. Bill it is. Carney was saying we were very disappointed. It seems to me they had to see this coming. Putin delights in showing his independence, i think from the United States. Absolutely. It probably does him some good with russians. He looks like hes standing up to the United States. Gives him just gives snowden a year to try to figure out what in the world is going to go on with him. Bill meanwhile, there have been the house last week almost voted, came close to voting to defund the nsa program. The Senate Judiciary committee, day before yesterday, very critical voices for republicans and democrats about what nsa was doing. The president convening this meeting yesterday. So i ghes conversation he called for seems to be taking place, susan, right . It is interesting in that way, snowden is getting what he hoped. Im a little surprised at the support in congress, not for snowden himself, you know, people condemn him. But of concern about the Surveillance Program that he revealed. You know, it is going to result in changes in the way they operate. Bill yes, in fact, john conyers was in the studio with us yesterday talking about james sensenbrenner, the author of the patriot act, is preparing legislation to make very, very clear that section 215 of the patriot act does not endorse what nsa is doing. I think Jay Rockefeller has legislation or dick durbin in the senate as well. So i think there ought to be some limits. It looks to me like there will be some limits placed on what nsa is up to. Interesting thing about the politics of this is that the whitehouse and Republican Leadership are in one place on this. It is really liberal, democrats and libertarian republicans, people on the wings of their parties that are getting together to force changes in this area. Bill right. I understand you had breakfast with the new director of the omb. I dont even know her name. Her name is Sylvia Matthews burrell and she was a top aide to bob rubin when he was treasury secretary. Shes been had various big jobs in the administration before and shes got a big, tough job now because if you can tell me how this budget fight is going to resolve itself before the october 1 deadline, youre smarter than i am. Bill i was going to ask you how she was going to resolve it because this is this is the clash thats coming when Congress Comes back from its recess, no doubt about it, right . You know, there is clearly no consensus in the house or the senate. We saw the house have to pull back the funding bill for transportation and housing that would have cut spending. We saw the senate yesterday reject the transportation and housing bill that would have increased spending. I think it is very hard to see the past she was saying maybe this is an Inflection Point that makes everyone reconsider. Thats the optimist view of what may happen on the budget. Bill it does look like armageddon. Republicans want deeper cuts than the sequester they say if theyre to increase the debt ceiling. Ted cruz, make no bones about it, he wants to shut down the government if they dont defund obamacare. Seems to be a lot of ultimatums out there, i guess. No unity on the republican side about what the party should stand for, what direction they should go. There was a Pew Research Center poll that came out yesterday that saw that said a majority of americans either think either have no idea who leads the Republican Party or say no one does. And i think there are a lot of people in washington who feel the same way. Bill now, related is an issue something ive never seen before. Ive never seen an open competition and campaign for whos going to be the new chairman of the federal reserve. Right . And here youve got Larry Summers, his supporters out there. The president even talked about it. Janet yellen, her supporters led by nancy pelosi then this dark horse, donald krone reports. First of all, do you have a candidate in this race . Donald cone i should say. Not really. I would lean toward janet yellen. I think Larry Summers would be a disaster. No one i know around town likes him. One person in town likes him. That would be president obama. Bill right. Who actually defended him this week at a meeting knowing the meeting wasnt open. He knew it was going to be reported. It looks like president obama would like to name larry summer but hes such a contentious, divisive figure that everybody else in town is organizing on behalf of janet yellen. So i mean this will tell us something about whether president obama is willing to make the appointment he wants for whatever reasons or whether hell kind of bend to the public will. I think he will get some blow back if he names Larry Summers. Bill it brings the fed out of the closet, isnt it . Never talked about this before about who ought to get this job. Of course, rand paul thinks we ought to ron paul thinks we ought to get rid of the fed all together. Susan, good to see you the other night. Thanks, bill. Bill susan page, great job for the usa today as our Washington Bureau chief. Usatoday. Com. Announcer this is the bill press show. cenk its go time its go time its go time go time. You know what time it is. Go time its go time. Its go time. What time is it rob . Here comes the young turks go time its go time. Oh is it . Oh, then its go time. Anybody . Anybody . What time is it . Oh, right. Its go time vo current tv gets the converstion started next. Im a slutty bob hope. The troops love me. The sweatshirt is nice and all, but i could use a golden lasso. vo only on current tv. Announcer taking your emails on any topic at any time. This is the bill press show. Live on your radio and current tv. Bill in the next hour, Robert Schlesinger with u. S. News world report joins us at the top of the hour in studio. Well be joined by leo gerard, the president of the united steelworkers. Meanwhile, robert says tobaccos the filthiest bit of vegetation im aware of. However, banning the use of tobacco would be an invitation to the criminal element. Good point. Jen gooding says so happy to get the news about your moving to free speech tv. I think that will be a great fit i used to listen on sirius x. M. Then found you on current tv and now she will continue with us on free speech tv. Thanks to jan and all of our good friends. [ theme ] bill good morning. Great to see you this morning. It is friday. Probably know that. Friday, august 2nd. Thank you for joining us here on the full court press. Were coming to you live all the way across this great land of ours on current tv. And bringing you the news of the day, giving you a chance to comment about it as well. Thats what we do for three hours every morning here on current tv. You know, you can join the conversation by phone at 186655press. You can send us your comments on twitter at bpshow and on facebook at facebook. Com billpressshow. The big breaking news this morning, Edward Snowden has finally left the moscow airport. He is hes got a year of asylum. Granted him by the russian government to live and work somewhere within russia. The white house says it is very disappointed that Vladimir Putin did that. Meanwhile, more and more members of congress are concerned about what nsa has been doing in terms of spying on our phones and spying on our email traffic. Theyve expressed the desire to limit what nsa is doing. So much so that president obama convened a meeting at the white house yesterday with republicans and democrats to discuss how to get and maintain the proper balance between keeping us safe and preserving our constitutional liberties. All very important conversation right here this morning 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 im given to doing anyway, by staying in touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. In reality its not like they actually care. This is purely about political grandstanding. Ive worn lots of hats, but ive always kept this going. Ive been doing politics now for a dozen years. vo hes been called the epic politics man. Hes Michael Shure and his arena is the war room. These republicans in congress that think the world ends at the Atlantic Ocean border and Pacific Ocean border. The bloggers and the people that are sort of compiling the best of the day. I do a lot of looking at those people as well. Not only does senator rubio just care about rich people, but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. But we do care about them right . We have a big, big hour and the iq will go way up. vo current tv gets the conversation started weekdays at 9 eastern. Im a slutty bob hope. The troops love me. Tv and radio talk show host Stephanie Miller rounds out currents morning news block. Youre welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. vo sharp tongue. Excuse me . vo quick wit. And yes, president obama does smell like cookies and freedom. vo and above all, opinion and attitude. Really . this is the kind of stuff they say about something they just pulled freshly from their [bleep]. You know what those people are like. What could possibly go wrong in eight years of george bush . My producer just coughed up a hairball. Sorry. Just be grateful current tv doesnt come in smellovision oh come on the sweatshirt is nice and all, but i could use a golden lasso. vo only on current tv. Announcer broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv. This is the bill press show. Bill well, what do you know . Edward snowden finally freed from the moscow airport. Got a year to live and work in russia. Then he will probably be begging to come back to the United States. Good morning, everybody. What do you say . It is friday, august 2nd. Good to see you today. And welcome to the full court press. Were coming to you live on your local progressive talk Radio Station and on current tv. Glad to have you with us. Whether youre listening or watching, join the conversation here on the news of the day. Big events of the day and tell us what it means to you. What you think about it all. You can do so by phone at 186655press. We tell you at the top of every hour by we want to hear from you on twitter at bpshow or on facebook at facebook. Com billpressshow. Our team here assembled this friday morning. Peter ogborn and dan henning. Good morning. Bill with alichia cruz. She has the phones covered. Cyprian bowlding, our videographer keeping us looking good on current tv. Cyprian, thank you. And to help us get through the news of the day, i think his first time visit in the studio, Robert Schlesinger, managing editor of u. S. News world report. Robert, good morning. Good morning, bill. Bill good to see you. U. S. News world report still out there. Still in existence. Bill usnews. Com. Indeed. Yesterday they were trying to get work done. The congress has worked so hard this year. They deserve their fiveweek vacation. Bill yeah, right. This is the last day before they go off on a fiveweek vacation. The month of august plus. And they were trying to get some work done in the senate yesterday. Senator Heidi Heitkamp from north dakota was presiding. She was having a hard time getting the senators to Pay Attention and get down to work so majority leader harry reid had to step in and help her with a very blunt warning. Heres how it sounded. The senate is not in order. The senate will be in order. Madam president , madam president majority leader. Sit down and shut up, okay . It is unfair. The senate will be in order. It is just not polite. Of the senate will be in order. Bill finally got them calmed down with his help. You know hes been dying that to say that for months now. Totally. Bill when harry says shut up, man, you shut up. Sounds like our preshow meetings here on the bill press show. Shut up shut up bill all right. A lot coming up here. Robert schlesinger with us this half hour. Leo gerard, president of the united steelworkers will join us at the half. In the next hour, bill de blasio, he is, yes, a candidate for mayor of new york. Not the one we hear the most about. Which is probably okay by him. Well find out what hes up to and what he thinks about his competition. But first. Other headlines making news on this friday, despite several retail outlets not selling at Rolling Stone magazines boston bomber issue sold well. The august issue features zog ar tsarnaev Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on the cover sold more than double the magazines average newsstand sales. Over 13,000 copies sold at 1400 retailers. Normally only about 6,000 copies are sold at those newsstands. That figure is only about 5 of the magazines total circulation. Bill you know, they should have known. Of course. Bill of course people are going to go out and buy it. That was the point, right . Thats why you do the cover because you know it will draw controversy and boost sales. Bill we were talking earlier about newsstand sales. What was it . 13,000 . Yes. 13,000 copies sold at 1400 retailers, this is what ad week looked at. Bill just wonder how that ranks. Thats not a lot. Thats not a lot. For magazine circulation. Bill for them, its double but its not a lot. Trayvon martins hoody might end up in a museum. Cbs reports the folks at the Smithsonian National museum of africanamerican history and culture will be interested in displaying the famous hoody that he was wearing the night he was killed but they understand the sensitivity around it surrounding it. It is currently in the possession still of the Sanford Police department. Trayvons family will likely have the right to reclaim the property soon. Yeesh. Bill that will be tricky. That museum is going to be huge. Massive. Bill yeah. In sports, the start of College Football is right around the corner and usa today is out with its first coachs poll of the season. No surprise, last seasons bcs champion roll them tide. Overwhelmingly, interesting to note that alabama has never won a National Title after being preseason number one in this usa today poll. Oh shut up. Ohio state is second in the list. Bill cant believe were already talking about College Football. I cant figure out this Republican Party. Right after the election, they do this i love the title. Postmortem. Weve had a lot of jokes. You dont do you dont do an autopsy on people you expect to come back, right . But they did this autopsy and College Republicans came out with a report that basically said the same thing. Were seen as a bunch of old, white farts who dont relate to people. Weve got to reach out to women, young people, minorities and what have they done . They keep retrenching. You wouldnt know that there had been a 2012 election if you beamed down from mars and watched the g. O. P. From january 2013, forward, you would have no idea that there had been an election or that they had lost the election pretty soundly. Bill what are they up to . So they repeal obamacare. They passed the toughest 40 times. They passed the toughest abortion restrictions in decades. They oppose comprehensive Immigration Reform. They let Student Loans double, right . Walk away. I mean what are they up to . It is the head and the heart. The head knows they have problems and that they need to rebrand themselves or go deeper and change their policies. But at the heart, at the base of the party, the people animating the party dont like the idea, they reject the idea, they want to double down on things that got them in this position in the first place. Bill where are first of all, let me ask, where are the wiser heads in the party who would say, you know, we gotta do more than this. Theyre out there. You can see them. Its not so much a split between moderates and conservatives in the party as much of a split between realists and fanatics really. When you have someone like tom coburn who is this really conservative senator from oklahoma who is second to nobody in opposition to Government Spending and big government, when he is saying hey, wait a second. This talk of either defund obamacare or shut down the government is crazy and actually hurts the conservative cause, that shows you that this isnt some northeastern, moderate rhinos who are sort of rebelling against the conservative majority. This is a different kind of split. This is a split between people who you know just are out of touch with reality and people who you and i might disagree with them but they actually want to have actually have some sense of what its going to take. Bill if you had to put names on those, i love that distinction, realist and fanatics. Realist would be a tom coburn. A fanatic a karl rove even. Bill the fanatic is the ted cruz. Ted cruz, mike lee. You know, its funny. Then you get marco rubio who moved integration reform forward and is now scrambling to get back into the fanatic camp because he wants to run for president. Hes at the forefront along with mike lee and ted cruz, at the forefront to shut down the government over obamacare. Bill so the question then is who do the fanatics believe theyre serving . And how many times can you suck up to the base and where does that get you . Thats the problem with the g. O. P. Bill it doesnt get you very far, right . The base has got to be there. Where are they going to go . The problem for the republicans right now is if you look at the polls, poll after poll, issue after issue, Immigration Reform is a great example. Defunding obama care is another great example. And more broadly, the whole question of whether you should compromise and try to move something forward or stand by your principles. There is this gap, this huge gap between the Republican Base and the rest of the country. And where it gets into this trap where they now cant please both sides and straddle the catch. You said you dont understand the Republican Party . Susan page mentioned in the earlier segment in the pew poll, the republicans dont understand the Republican Party. Bill theyve got to decide if theyre going to grow right. The way conservatives try to the fanatics try to square the circle, they say this is fundamentally a sceshtive country. We need to double down and people yearn for a really hard core brand of conservatism which both poll numbers and actual election polls like 2012 show is not actually the reality. On the obamacare front and Charles Krauthammers piece in the Washington Post this morning, on obamacare, on repealing obamacare and shutting down the government, he says this is nuts. 36 of americans favor repeal. Again, this is charles krauthammer. Bill this is nuts. It is. Theres no scenario. It is a threestep process. This is a point conservative bloggers made. Step one, they passed this somehow get through the senate, this bill that would defund obamacare. Step two, something magical happens. Step three, obama signs it. It requires this theres no realistic scenario where obama gets a sharp blow to the head and wakes up as john boehner. Its like how does this work . Free sitcom idea by the way. I really love that idea. Bill then in the middle of all of this, youve got one republican broken out in the public between Chris Christie and rand paul over a very important issue i think which is this whole nsa thing. So theyve squabbled i think Chris Christie started the fight. Rand paul jumped up. Chris christie of course, rand pauls dangerous because hes questioning the use of drones and what nsa is up to, rand paul says no, youre the dangerous one because youre spending too much money on silly stuff like hurricane sandy. I think theyre both wrong. At any rate. So rand paul invites Chris Christie to a beer. Heres the latest, the two of them spatting back and forth. Rand paul first and then Chris Christie. Were going to have to patch things up. If we can sit down, im inviting him for a beer. He suggested the two of you sit down and have a beer and bury the hatchet. Im running for reelection of new jersey. I dont have time for that at the moment. Bill time to sit down with that rand paul. Thats the charming Chris Christie. Thats a perfect answer. Looks i got Better Things to do. Bill right. So what does this reflect two sides of the Republican Party . This is, again, another reflection of the civil war thats going on in the g. O. P. And actually the atlantic magazine produced a chart of the g. O. P. Civil war because now there are so many aspects and facets of it, you need a complicated chart to keep track of whos angry at who. Bill this is between the libertarian, if you will. The libertarian specifically on foreign policy, the libertarian view and the view of bill the bush cheney National Security. And the libertarians who say less drones, less sort of empowerment of the big government, National Security state but also less engagement eyebrowed generally abroad generally. He said lets defund our stop giving foreign aid to egypt and very cleverly, use the money for Infrastructure Spending here at home. This is another aspect of that civil war and i think well really see it play out more explicitly as 2016 gets closer. Bill this could be this is the g. O. P. Primary. To really, really divide that part, right . Talking about the travails of the g. O. P. , they split the civil war within the Republican Party. Which way is it going . Whos right, whos wrong. Robert schlesinger is here from u. S. News world report. It is usnews. Com. Conversation continues. We want you to jump in at any time at 186655press. For true stories. With Award Winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines. Real, gripping, current. Documentaries. On current tv. We have a big, big hour and the iq will go way up. vo current tv gets the conversation started weekdays at 9 eastern. Im a slutty bob hope. The troops love me. Tv and radio talk show host Stephanie Miller rounds out currents morning news block. Youre welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. vo sharp tongue. Excuse me . vo quick wit. And yes, president obama does smell like cookies and freedom. vo and above all, opinion and attitude. Really . this is the kind of stuff they say about something they just pulled freshly from their [bleep]. You know what those people are like. What could possibly go wrong in eight years of george bush . My producer just coughed up a hairball. Sorry. Just be grateful current tv doesnt come in smellovision oh come on the sweatshirt is nice and all, but i could use a golden lasso. vo only on current tv. Announcer this is the bill press show. Bill 25 minutes after the hour. Leo gerard, president of the united steelworkers in the next segment of the full court press. Were visiting here, talking which way is the Republican Party going . Does it know . Robert schlesinger with managing editor of u. S. News world report here in studio with us. Robert, good to have you on board. Peter, a quick thing . Public poll policy polling has a new poll out in kentucky. On the Mitch Mcconnell senate seat. And not very good news for him. Right now, he is down one point to Allison Lundergan grimes, 45 for her. 44 for him. What might be even worse is his disapproval rating is 51 . 51 disapproval for Mitch Mcconnell in his home state of kentucky and sort of twisting the knife a little bit, yesterday ted cruz was asked if hes going to back Mitch Mcconnell over the Tea Party Challenger of kentucky, matt bevin. Ted cruz says thats a decision for the people of kentucky to make. So Mitch Mcconnell might have his hands full. This is like a mirror universe where it was the party leader in 2010. He was not popular in his home state. The difference is this gets back to what weve been talking about is democrats are actually running a viable candidate whereas the republicans ran a marginal tea party person. Harry reid didnt have to go way to the left. Mitch mcconnell if this Tea Party Challenger is at all legitimate, he will have to hue further to the right which, in kentucky, isnt as big a problem as it is in other parts of the country. It still wont help him. Bill that gets to the question i wanted to start. Has the tea party piqued . Has it seen its day or is it still are we still going to see a lot in 2014 and 2016 . I think well have a turning point in the next few months where you have these senators, especially, people in the white house call them the caucus of common sense. Who are willing to again, it is not necessarily moderates but people who are pragmatists and are willing to make deals and theyre tired of being run their party being run by the tea party and driven off into the fringes by the tea party. It may be that they start to step up and they start to stand up to the tea party and that emboldens other people. We start to see a real decline. Bill i think were seeing that. Were out of time here. Were seeing that in the senate. I have yet to see much of it in the house. If it moves to the house that, will change things around. Robert, great to have you in studio. Thanks for coming in. Get you back in soon. Absolutely. Bill leo gerard coming up next. Announcer this is the bill press show. They should selfdeport . No, they said make us a turkey and make it fast. laughter . She gets the comedians laughing. Thats the best thats hilarious. And the thinkers thinking. Okay, so there is wiggle room in the Ten Commandments is what youre telling me. Shes joy behar. Ya, i consider you jewtalian. Okay, whatever you want. Who plays kafka . Who saw kafka . Who ever saw kafka . laughter . Asking the tough questions. Chris brown, i mean you wouldnt let one of your daughters go out with him. Absolutely not. You would rather deal with ahmadinejad then me . Absolutely singing i take lipitor, thats it. Are you improving your lips . laughter . When shes talking, you never know where the conversation is going to go. It looks like Anthony Wiener is throwing his hat in the ring. His what in the ring . His hat. Always outspoken, joy behar. And the best part is that current will let me say anything. What the hell were they thinking . Announcer like politics . Then like the bill press show on facebook. This is the bill press show. Bill all right. Here we go. 33 minutes after the hour. It is the full court press on a friday morning, august 2nd. How about it. Very excited to see the weekend roll around as always. Were coming to you live from our Nations Capital. Whoa. And our studio on capitol hill in washington, d. C. And brought to you today by the united steelworkers and their International President , leo gerard, very colorful, very outspoken indeed. He will be joining us shortly. The united steelworkers, north americas largest Industrial Union representing over 1. 2 million active and retired members and you can find out about their good work at usw. Org. Were proud to come to you on your local progressive station and nothing changes as far as that goes. Radio stays the same. All the way through. Dont have to worry about that. On tv, it is going to be a big change. Current tv disappears august 15 but as of september 3, you can watch us, not just listen to us, you can watch us two ways. Online at freespeech. Org. And on television on your satellite dish either dish network or the directv. Okay . And if you want to find out more information and all about this great free speech tv which were joining us, tom hartman, amemy goodman, freespeech. Org give you all of the possibilities. Well continue to be on your local progressive talk Radio Station and for viewers, two choices now. Online freespeech. Org or on your if youve got a satellite dish, dish network and on directv. One quick note because she gave us a heads up because she use the dish network. Look for fstv on your guide. If youre looking for channels. It is fstv. September 3rd, well be there. Make sure to mark it down. Set it up. Bill hes tough, colorful, hes outspoken, the fearless president of the united steelworkers, leo gerard joining us on our news line this morning. Hello, mr. President. Good to talk with you. How are you doing . Good. Bill were waiting for the job numbers for the month of july. Dont know what theyre going to say. Well be watching but what does your gut tell you . How are we doing out there . Is it the economy Getting Better . Jobs picking up . My sense of it from watching the sectors that we represent workers in is its kind of flat. Theres not a lot of job loss but theres also not as much job growth as there should be. And large part of that is the continuing frustration of the job market by the Republican Party. The fact of the matter is that the president s doing everything he can but theres this uncertainty when you hear people talking about holding up the debt ceiling and all of the stupidity they talk about. A lot of employers are saying well wait to see what happens. Bill you know what gets me about that . Theyre the ones, the republicans who say theres too much uncertainty. Theres too much uncertainty. Theyre the ones causing the uncertainty. Exactly. Exactly. And if it wasnt for that, they would have done their job of working with the president to help it goes all the way back to when he was sworn in, right . From that point on, he and the democrats have had to try to fix this economy on their own. If they had jumped in, if, at the state level, they hadnt tried to beat up on Public Sector workers for the fun of beating up on Public Sector workers, the economy would be a lot better, the Unemployment Rate would be down. If we were doing the work on infrastructure that Everybody Knows has to be done, all you have to do is go to the damn airport and see how lousy that is. Bill right. You know, there is one story this morning that caught my attention. The headline is u. S. Manufacturing grows at the fastest pace in two years. Not a big jump but it does say that there have been new orders, new production, new hiring in the manufacturer sector. I know a lot of your people involved in that sector. Have you seen that . The credit goes to the president. I read that article. A lot of it comes as a result of selling automobiles and if it wasnt for the president , again, we have to go back, if it wasnt for the president , we wouldnt have a car industry. A lot of whats come from that is the Automobile Industry is coming back. It stayed back. And it certainly is helping all the way down the supply chain. Bill that was the auto bailout which, again, republicans in Congress Oppose and criticized him for. But it saved at least were making cars, right . Thats right. And the other thing the president s trying to do is hes trying to restart the Renewable Energy sector which i can remember we had 1200 member bees in one factory that made Wind Turbines. We went down to less than 200 because we lost the federal discussion about Climate Change because the republicans filibustered that and then they filibustered the Renewable Energy standard the president was pushing through so now theres no standard and the Renewable Energy sector doesnt know which way thats going and were losing ground to china. Chinas now the largest producer of Wind Turbines on the planet. We keep giving up our economic strength to china. Bill this is one area where, as the president has made this very clear, if were moving it seems if were moving into Renewable Energy, which we are, and the potential there is enormous, right . Somebodys going to be making these Wind Turbines and somebody will be making the solar panels and it ought to be us. We invented, by the way, in sandusky, ohio, we invented what would be considered the modern wind turbine. Most efficient wind turbine. It was actually developed by a nasa facility in sandusky, ohio. So we had the leading edge. We were at the front end of that manufacturing. Bill i didnt realize that. Now, weve given that up. So when you say to me, how is the economy . I say its flat. Were not getting the growth that we should get. The president is doing the right thing. I think hes going out into the field and talking about what should be done and be the republicans have to work. Bill last week earlier this week, down in chattanooga, tennessee, offered the president the republicans a grand bargain. He said youve always wanted lower Corporate Taxes and what i want is to get people back to work in this country. Lets make a deal. Ill give you your lower Corporate Taxes and you give me the money to rebuild our infrastructure and get our get americans back to work. You think thats a deal thats going anywhere . No. I dont think that deal is going to go anywhere and to be honest, im a little hesitant about it myself. I would want to see what kind of what kind of lower Corporate Tax rate and how would we get there and how would we make sure that were getting the money and how do we make sure it goes in the right place. I can remember when there was a repatriation of offshore dollars, i call it, couple of i dont know, maybe 15, 20 years ago. Time runs by. When those dollars came back, what happened is they went and built plants offshore. Bill oh, really . Wow. In fact, the pharmaceutical industry used those dollars to move much of the pharmaceutical industry to puerto rico, the dominican republic. I remember the big kerfuffle about that. Bill so the other side of it, we had a guest on the other day that if you lower the Corporate Tax rate, i think it would be from whatever it is, 35 down to 25 but still corporations said theyre only paying about 12 . The effective theyll argue that the tax rate is the highest but when you go to the effective tax rate, it is amongst the lowest. It depends on what you would do on the deduction. You might lower it to a lower number but not reduce enough or eliminate enough of the deductions so instead of getting 12, you might get 8 so you would be short on the revenue side anyway. But i think the president is doing those things to show how uncooperative, how hell bent they are in the republican side to try to frustrate the economy. Bill absolutely. Theyre still trying to do Mitch Mcconnells, im going to do everything i can to make this president be a oneterm president. Mitch, you failed the first time and youre failing the second time. Bill isnt it amazing how many things they may be for until barack obama proposing that then suddenly, they find out theyre against it only because it comes from him. Leo the laughingstock of the whole democratic world should have been when Mitch Mcconnell filibustered his own bill. Bill i know. Well, hes going to have his hands full in kentucky these days, too. Leo, get back in studio with us one of these days, soon. Always good to talk with you. Ill do that. Bill thanks for joining us this morning and thanks for your sponsorship of the program. President leo gerard. You can follow their good work. Well give you the web site at usw. Org. Announcer this is the bill press show. vo this afternoon, current tv is the place for compelling true stories. Jack, how old are you . Nine. This is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. vo with Award Winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way inside. vo from the underworld, to the world of privilege. Everyone in Michael Jacksons life was out to use him. vo no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current. vo current tv gets the converstion started next. Im a slutty bob hope. The sweatshirt is nice and all, but i could use a golden lasso. vo only on current tv. Announcer like politics, then like the bill press show on facebook. This is the bill press show. Bill here we go. 12 minutes before the top of the hour. Its friday, august 2nd. How about it. Into the weekend we go. Soon. Not quite yet. In the next hour, at the top of the next hour, very excited to welcome bill de blasio back. He is, of course, the controller for the city of not the controller. Hes the public advocate for the city of new york. And a candidate for mayor of new york. Not one we always hear about. But very excited about that. Guess what. Its friday. Well also talk about jobs in the next hour. And on a friday, we like to look back at our favorite sound bytes of the week, bring you the top five. We start the bottom, work our way up to the top. Today, appropriately so, we have an all carlos danger Anthony Weiner clip segment this morning, peter. Starting with carlos himself with a video he put out saying people want me to quit. They just dont understand what new york is all about. Number five. Quit isnt the way we roll in new york city. We fight through tough things. Were a tough city. There are people all around new york city who get up in the morning with a pretty tough day ahead of them and they dont quit. Bill yeah. Thats not the way we do it in new york. This is not the way we roll in new york. Of course, that hasekcos of september 11th and john olver, the guy filling in for jon stewart on the daily show says no, no, no youre not going to go there, are you . Number four. No, no, no, no, no you are not doing this you are not 911ing your [ bleep ] no, no there is a line you just went over that line [ cheering ] bill there is a line. You just went over the line. Good way to do it, too. Bill Thomas Roberts on msnbc talking about sidney leathers. Sidney leathers is well, shes just one of the girls that women, im sorry, that Anthony Weiner was sexting with. Shes the one whos come forward and been the most outspoken, talking about her ambitions to become a porn star. Good luck with that. Bill where did Anthony Weiner find her . Sidney leathers is her real name. Shes given so many crazy interviews that Thomas Roberts means to say shes like a little wacky but maybe he forgot he was on tv. Number three. Meanwhile, this chick is so bat [ bleep ] but leathers reportedly considering a porn deal now. Bill yeah. Well, we beeped it out here. It was not bleeped out on msnbc. It got out over the air. Sidney leathers did go on Howard Sterns show and say how disappointed she was that Anthony Weiner didnt immediately admit to what he had been up to. Number two. I think i am a little bit angry with him because i feel like he lured me into this situation and he didnt want to own up to it. What pissed me off is him on the campaign trail saying ive changed and he has this perfect marriage now. The hypocrisy got to you. I said bull [ bleep ] im proof you have not changed. Bill where did he find her . She posed for a bikini shoot and now shes putting herself out there. If she gets a porn deal, she wont have to change her name. Thats true. That is true. No one is going to accuse her of making up a fake porn name. Bill this is not in defense of Anthony Weiner. This woman is no prize. Shes also signed a deal. Shes doing some advertising now for a leather company. And finally, jimmy fallon, you know carlos danger, where did the nickname come from . Number one. Hola. [ laughter ] i am carlos danger. And today i would like to officially announce my candidacy for mayor of the new york city. Anthony weiner may not be running anymore but do not fear. Carlos danger never pulls out. Bill have we heard every last Anthony Weiner joke . I think its official. Weve heard all of them. Bill yes, indeed. Bill de blasio coming up at the top of the next hour. And timcology ender here to walk us through the job numbers for july. It is the full court press on a friday, august 2nd. No, they said make us a turkey and make it fast. laughter . She gets the comedians laughing. Thats the best thats hilarious. And the thinkers thinking. Okay, so there is wiggle room in the Ten Commandments is what youre telling me. Shes joy behar. Ya, i consider you jewtalian. Okay, whatever you want. Who plays kafka . Who saw kafka . Who ever saw kafka . laughter . Asking the tough questions. Chris brown, i mean you wouldnt let one of your daughters go out with him. Absolutely not. You would rather deal with ahmadinejad then me . Absolutely singing i take lipitor, thats it. Are you improving your lips . laughter . When shes talking, you never know where the conversation is going to go. It looks like Anthony Wiener is throwing his hat in the ring. His what in the ring . His hat. Always outspoken, joy behar. And the best part is that current will let me say anything. What the hell were they thinking . Only on current tv. Viewpoint digs deep into the issues of the day. Has the time finally come for real Immigration Reform . With a distinctly satirical point of view. If you believe in states rights but still believe in the drug war, you must be high. Only on current tv. cenk its go time its go time its go time go time. You know what time it is. Go time its go time. Its go time. What time is it rob . Here comes the young turks go time its go time. Oh is it . Oh, then its go time. Anybody . Anybody . What time is it . Oh, right. Its go time announcer this is the bill press show. Bill hey, it is four minutes to go before the top of the hour. Again with bill de blasio from new york city. Mayoral candidate at the top of the next hour and then well talk job numbers from july. You tell me what the president is up to today. I dont know. All we have on the schedule today is he and the Vice President get the Daily Briefing at 10 00 and then nothing. Nothing before, nothing after. No briefing scheduled today. Is the president on his way to afghanistan . Or maybe an early trip up to marthas vineyard. He wanted to check out the house maybe before he brings the family up and the dog. Thats not a bad idea. Do a little recon. When youre the president , do you think that stuff. I have a feeling today is a golf day. Bill he wouldnt play golf on a work day. It is friday. Friday is still a work day. Bill it is still a work day, right. Although around this town but i tell you what, maybe he ought to check things out with edward snowedden in moscow. He did just to bring you up to date, he did receive a year asylum yesterday from Vladimir Putin, Chuck Schumer not happy about it. Russia has stabbed us in the back and each day that snowden is allowed to roam free is another twist to the knife. Bill yes. Edward snowden is out of the airport, free to live and work in russia. Meanwhile, hes started a conversation in this country about the balance between National Security and privacy. That conversation yesterday reached all the way to the white house. At least they have Edward Snowden there. [ theme ] bill good morning, friends and neighbors. Happy friday. It is friday, august 2nd. Here we are on the full court press. Welcome to the program. Good to you have with us today as we boom out to you all across this great land of ours from our studio on capitol hill right here in washington, d. C. Where the members of congress so tired after all of the hard work that theyve done this year. They are going off for a fiveweek break. And before they go today, the house of representatives expected republicans expected to vote yet one more time, number 40 to repeal obamacare. Which, of course, is never gonna happen. Well tell you whats happening today, take your calls at 186655press. Your comments on twitter at bpshow and on facebook at facebook. Com billpressshow. Yes, the big news of the day, Edward Snowden has left the moscow airport. He is free under asylum granted him by russia. Free to live and work in russia for one year. The white house says it is very disappointed that Vladimir Putin gave him that permission. Meanwhile, more and more members of the congress are upset over nsas massive spying program. So much so that president obama convened a meeting at the white house yesterday to discuss how we maintain the proper balance between protecting this country and also protecting our constitutional liberties starting with the right of privacy. That and more coming up next hour on current tv. 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 im given to doing anyway, by staying in touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. In reality its not like they actually care. This is purely about political grandstanding. Ive worn lots of hats, but ive always kept this going. Ive been doing politics now for a dozen years. vo hes been called the epic politics man. Hes Michael Shure and his arena is the war room. These republicans in congress that think the world ends at the Atlantic Ocean border and Pacific Ocean border. The bloggers and the people that are sort of compiling the best of the day. I do a lot of looking at those people as well. Not only does senator rubio just care about rich people, but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. But we do care about them right . 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 were patrolling the area looking for guns, drugs, bodies. adam were 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. Im being violated by the health care system. christoff we go and spend a considerable amount of time getting to know the people and the characters that are actually living these stories. vo from the underworld, to the world of privilege. Everyone in Michael Jacksons life was out to use him. vo no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current. Occupy we will have class warfare. vo true stories, current perspective. Documentaries. On current tv. Announcer broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv. This is the bill press show. Bill hes out of the airport. Hey, how about it. Yes, Edward Snowden, able to leave yesterday under a grant of asylum for one year, given him by the russian government. Good morning, everybody. White house says it is extremely disappointed but they should have seen it coming. It is friday, august 2nd. Great to see you today. We are coming out to you live on your local progressive talk Radio Station and on current tv from our studio on capitol hill in washington, d. C. Right down the street from the United States capitol building. So good to see you today. And thank you for joining us here on the full court press as we let you know whats the latest. Whats going on here in washington. Around the country and around the globe. Well tell you whats going on and then give you a chance to tell us what it means to you. At 186655press. On twitter, join us at bpshow and on facebook at facebook. Com billpressshow. It is a pretty big day here in washington because it is the last day the congress is in session before they take a fiveweek break. They have worked so hard these last seven months. They passed 23 whole bills. Oh, my god. Bill half were naming bridges or post offices at any rate but theyve got to go off and take a big break. Wouldnt it be nice if all of us would look forward to five weeks vacation on top of all of the other vacations. Dont forget, bill, they did a lot of good work trying to repeal obamacare. Bill thats right. 39 times and may do it the 40th time before they take off. So dont look for much out of this congress for the next five weeks. Although to tell the truth, you wont be able to tell the difference over the next five weeks because they didnt get anything done while they were here. Our team though, we will be in place the whole time here. Peter ogborn and dan henning. Yes, indeed. Bill what do you say, guys. Here with alichia cruz. She has the phones covered and cyprian bowldings got us looking good. About as good as possible. On the video cam. There is you know, democrats are famous for forming the circular firing squad. Well, this time, it is the republicans who are up to that. And the biggest spat among republicans, the one thats gotten the most attention lately is between governor Chris Christie of new jersey and senator rand paul from kentucky. Theyve been fighting over nsa funding, over drones and over funding for hurricane sandy. Rand paul at least had the as a gentleman, said maybe we could just sit down and have a little beer summit and clear this up. But on a talk radio talk show in new jersey yesterday, Chris Christie didnt want anything to do with that. Heres that exchange. Were going to have to patch things up. If we can sit down, im inviting him for a beer. He suggested maybe the two of you sit down and have a beer and bury the hatchet. Im running for reelection in new jersey. I dont have time for that at the moment. Bill i dont have time to have a beer with rand paul. Yeah. Here we go. Thats going to be exciting. Bill this is. I do hope both of them run in 2016. That will be fun to watch. Classic Chris Christie. Bill de blasio from the hes the public advocate for the city of new york, running for mayor of new york will be here himself to tell us all about it. That very important race and stancology Stan Collender will talk about the job numbers for july. Quick check of other numbers. Simon cowl is getting another try on american television. Fox has renewed the x factor for another season even though it hasnt gotten the ratings they hoped for. The grand prize is smaller. Now a 1 million recording contract for the first two years. It was a 5 million recording contract. The show has been a big hit over in england but never gained popularity that American Idol and the voice have here. Bill simon cowell, new daddy. He jumped around the bush yesterday. A lot of questions asked and he wouldnt answer any of them. That is amazing they openly say were going to give you a 5 million contract. 1 million. Bill ratings are pretty low. Well never see a life story published by casey anthony, the mom acquitted two years ago of killing her 2yearold daughter. Usa today reports anthony who has kept a low profile has agreed to pay 25,000 to her bankruptcy estate to avoid having to sell her story. The estate trustee wanted to sell her story to pay off debts but doing so would have basically given him all the rights over anthony for the rest of her life which she did not want. Bill i was looking forward to reading that book. And Trayvon Martins hoody might end up in a museum. Cbs reporting the folks at the Smithsonian National museum of africanamerican history and culture would be interested in displaying the famous sweatshirt that he wore the night he was killed but they understand the sensitivity surrounding, asking his family for it. It is still in possession of the Sanford Police department but trayvons family will likely have the right to reclaim the property soon. Bill that new museum under construction here in washington, d. C. Long overdue. I must say. Thank you, dan. Yes, indeed. This is sort of an offelection year for most of the country but certainly not for new york city. A wide open race in the democratic primary. Bill de blasio, good friend of the program has been on several times with us. Public advocate for the city of new york. One of the leading candidates for mayor joins us on our news line this morning. Hey, bill, good to talk with you again. Always good to be here, bill. Thanks. Bill thank you. Let me ask you first of all, what are the what do you see the issues in this, the most important issues in this race . I think right now, the question of inequality in new york city is really the core issue. The fact that particularly in the third bloomberg term, the one that a lot of us think he shouldnt have had inequality has been rampant. We have the highest income inequality since the great depression. Housing costs have become unacceptable and unsupportable for so many working families. Lately, weve had, you know, declining accessibility to healthcare because of the possibility of hospital closures. Really sharp, sharp differences coming up in new york city that have to be addressed. Obviously the question is stop and frisk and the very profound unfairness thats happening in the way communities of color are policed. So all of this adds together to be an election about how fair a city are we going to be . How inclusive a city are we going to be . I think if you said well narrow it to specific issues, i would say very much, stop and frisk issue and the future of our schools, whether our schools want to start to serve, kids left out in many neighborhoodens all over the city. Those are some of the core issues animating this discussion. Is it a bill is it a geographical thing . Is it manhattan versus the rest of new york or is it inequality in each of the boroughs. Very good question. I would say the first reality is manhattan increasingly for the wealthy, used to be a much more economically diverse place. A lot of folks being pushed out of city. Thats one piece. Even within the boroughs, you still see my borough, brooklyn, you see equality. The bottom line is the city of new york can address this issue. I think bloomberg had his successes, particularly in the first term. As his administration wore on, he increasingly ignored this growing rift. Five years of an economic crisis. People have been hurting more and more. Amazing statistic the other day, 46 of all new yorkers are near or below the poverty level. 46 . Bill new york city . 46 . That was at new york City Government report. And this is the effect of five years of a horrible economy. You know plenty about the downward pressure on wages and benefits all over the country, the walmartization of the country. It has happened here, too. We have lots of service jobs, lots of fast food jobs, but theyre low paying and theyre low benefit and i think the bottom line is that bloomberg decreasingly was willing to address these issues, a lot of us fought for paid sick days. Bloomberg would never accept that strenuously, oppose it. As my opponent Christine Quinn, a lot of us have been fighting for expansive use of living wage legislation. There is a lot of real capacity here in the City Government and the City Government as large as this to make a difference. But bloomberg never wanted to extend the City Government toward those in need. Bill bill de blasio is our guest. He is the candidate for mayor in the city of new york. Recognize and i think in general accepted as the one real true progressive in this race. And the last poll that i saw, bill, shows you in second place or at least tied for second place with Bill Thompson. In fact, i saw one story, the wall street journal is calling this the battle of the bills. Why you over Bill Thompson . Bill thompson, someone i respect. But i disagree with him on some core issues. I think we need to tax the wealthy for our schools, for example. Back in october, i proposed a tax on those who make a half million or more so that we could actually address the core problems of our school system. We need to do a lot more on Early Childhood education. Propose full day prek being guaranteed to every child. Propose after School Programs for middle school kids who really need them. Who need safe quality after school. We can only do that if were willing to tax the wealthy. Bill thompson is very much opposed to taxing the wealthy. Hes close to the Real Estate Industry. Ive challenged the Real Estate Industry because theres no way we can build Affordable Housing if we dont change the rules of the Real Estate Industry. It is a powerful industry in this town but they have to be legally required to create a lot more Affordable Housing and finally, Bill Thompson, hes a good man but hes wrong on the question of how we address stop and frisk because he opposes the legislation to ban racial profiling and he opposes the legislation to create an independent inspector general. We just cant fix the damage done by overuse of stop and frisk. We dont have those kind of tools. Bill strange thompson would take that position. Thats the key difference. Of course. And how about christie, you alluded to her earlier. Christine quinn who has been sort of up and down in the polls but generally, the frontrunner although we still have six weeks to go. Why bill de blasio over Christine Quinn . Christine quinn has been Michael Bloombergs chief ally. In terms of the many ways in which he did not address the inequalities in this city, strenuously opposed proposals for the government to step in and help people, you know, she was right there with him. As i said on paid sick days, the legislation was something we desperately needed. It waited three years for a vote in the city council because she would not bring it to a vote even though there was a supermajority in favor of it. Shes obviously got to account for the fact she cut the deal with bloomberg to give him the third term and the vast majority, literally, the vast majority of new yorkers, 87 of new yorkers, the week before the vote on term limits adamantly opposed bloomberg getting a third term. Quinn gave him the third term. I think there is obviously a host of issues she also opposes taxes on the wealthy. A lot of people believe her administration would be bloomberg for and that we would not get the changes we need and we would not get the efforts to help folks for being left out right now. That would be, i think, unacceptable for the city. Bill there is another candidate i dont know who you youre referring to. [ laughter ] bill quick comment on. Here is mr. Weiners comment yesterday about those who still are calling on him to drop out of the race. Some of the challenges have been pretty tough. Im facing tough challenges now. One thing all of my opponents agree upon is they would rather i wasnt running. Well, tough. Bill Anthony Weiner. Hes in there for the long haul, bill. But have new yorkers had enough of this circus . They have. They clearly have. You can see it in the poll numbers. You can see it in how people respond. I talked to obviously every day new yorkers. Every day. And i can tell you they theyre fed up. They want to get back to the issues. People are realizing were about six weeks away from a major, major decision here on the future of the city. And more and more, people want to take it seriously. Stuff i talked about. Income disparities, schools failing kids, stop and frisk. These are big issues. Anthony is the kind of distraction that makes it incredibly hard to get to the issues and decide the future of the city as more and more people dont want to live that way. They want to get on with the serious discussion. Bill i think youre right about that. Weve had enough of the circus from people. When we get to the serious issues, bill, you stand out. Very excited about your campaign. I saw howard dean was up there giving you good support last week. Were glad to show you on the show. I loved reading about your wife in the new yorker this week, too. Thank you, bill. Shes extraordinary. I think she will be a great first lady, may i say. Bill good luck to you, bill. Thanks for joining us. Thank you. Bill bill de blasio, candidate for mayor of new york. He would an great mayor of new york. I gotta tell you. 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. The sweatshirt is nice and all, but i could use a golden lasso. vo only on current tv. Did anyone tell the pilgrims they should selfdeport . No, they said make us a turkey and make it fast. laughter . She gets the comedians laughing. Thats the best thats hilarious. And the thinkers thinking. Okay, so there is wiggle room in the Ten Commandments is what youre telling me. Shes joy behar. Ya, i consider you jewtalian. Okay, whatever you want. Who plays kafka . Who saw kafka . Who ever saw kafka . laughter . Asking the tough questions. Chris brown, i mean you wouldnt let one of your daughters go out with him. Absolutely not. You would rather deal with absolutely singing i take lipitor, thats it. Are you improving your lips . laughter . When shes talking, you never know where the conversation is going to go. It looks like Anthony Wiener is throwing his hat in the ring. His what in the ring . His hat. Always outspoken, joy behar. And the best part is that current will let me say anything. What the hell were they thinking . Only on current tv. Announcer like politics . Then like the bill press show on facebook. This is the bill press show. Bill here we are. 26 minutes after the hour. Friday morning, august 2. Were waiting for the jobs numbers for july. Theyll be out in about four minutes and then well talk about them with Stan Collender, manager Financial Communications over at corvis communications. And get your comments, as well at 186655press. Peter, quick story here. The mayor of san diego, bob filner, weve seen his sort of public battle against the Sexual Harassment bill what a creep. Just get out of there. Hes in the middle of a lawsuit with his former communications director. Shes suing him and in a letter that his attorney, a man by the name of Harvey Burger sent to san diego, he said that the city failed to provide bob filner staterequired Sexual Harassment training and therefore, should pay to defend him in his lawsuit against the woman. [ laughter ] bill this is so outrageous. Look, first of all, hes been mayor for a year, right . Hes 70 years old. He ought to know by now, right . If youre 21 years old, you ought to know by now how to be respectful to women. Just because you dont get Sexual Harassment training, i dont think dha that means bill i dont think that gives you a green light. I dont think thats how it works. Bill unbelievable. What a putz, im telling you. Quickly, updating or waiting for the job numbers, Edward Snowden out of the airport yesterday on a oneyear asylum grant by the russian government. The white house not happy. Heres jay carney at our briefing yesterday. We are extremely disappointed that the russian government would take this step despite our very clear and lawful requests in public and in private to have mr. Snowden expelled to the United States to face the charges against him. Bill but they could not have been surprised. Pretty clear that Vladimir Putin was going to seize this dew point and also were not surprised that Chuck Schumer seized the opportunity. Russia has stabbed us in the back and each day that snowden is allowed to roam free is another twist to the knife. Bill there they go. Have mercy. Bill look, after a year, snowden will be begging. . Oand will be begging to come back to the United States. Jobs numbers for july when we come back here with Sam Collender on the full court press this friday morning. Announcer this is the bill press show. But still support the drug war you must be high. Viewpoint digs deep into the issues of the day. Do you think there is any chance well ever hear the president even say the word carbon tax . With an opened 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 cutting throught the clutter of todays top stories. This is the savior of the Republican Party . I mean really . With a unique perspective. Teddy rosevelt was a weak asmatic kid who never played sports until he was a grown up. laughter . And lots of fancy buz words. Family values, speding, liberty, economic freedom, hardworking moms, crushing debt, cute little puppies. If Wayne Lapierre can make up stuff that sounds logical while making no sense. Hey, so can i. Once again friends, this is live tv and sometimes these things happen. Watch the show. Only on current tv. Announcer this is the bill press show. Bill here we go. It is a friday, august 2nd, the full court press coming to you live from our Nations Capital, brought to you today by the International Order of machinists, the men and women of the Machinists Union under president tom buffenbarger, sharpening americas edge on the global economy. You bet. And you can find out more about their good work at their web site, goiam. Org. Speaking of jobs, weve got the numbers now for july. 162,000 new jobs reported for the month of july and the Unemployment Rate dropping from 7. 6 to 7. 4 . Stan collender, Communications Manager for Financial Communications over at corvis. Stan, great to see you this morning. It has been awhile since youve been in studio. Two months, yeah. But i think it has been two. No, we were on the phone one time, thats right. Bill we always like to get you in right as the jobs numbers come out. 162,000 unemployment right down to 7. 4 . Whats your take on that . The 7. 4 , the drop is a little surprising. Actually both numbers are surprising. Going down to 7. 4 is something no one expected. The Consensus Forecast was 7. 5 . So thats significant. It is good news. Bill drop down. It stayed the same as i recall the last time. Right. Look, 7. 4 is still higher than you would like it to be. It is going down federally. A couple of years ago, we were talking about 9 , 9. 5 . The 162,000 jobs is a little disappointing. The consensus was for about 185,000, 183,000. My guess is that will be revised upward. We had a report that the private sector added 200,000 jobs over the last month. So what it tells you is a lot of the republican attempts to cut back spending sequesters and things are having an impact. Government is still continuing to cut back. Let me state that again. Federal spending is actually going is not rising as fast on the appropriations side. It is actually going down. Were lowering unemployment. Thats having an impact on the overall job numbers. Bill no doubt about it. This 7. 4 would be it is good news but still too high. But it would be a lot lower if it werent for the fact that cities, counties, and federal agencies are not hiring. Right . And in fact and going down. No, no, absolutely. This is misguided austerity over the last couple of years. The economy would probably be growing instead of 1. 7 , probably close to 3 had it not been for sequesters. Unemployment would be below 7 , maybe close to 6. 5 at that point. Weve had the wrong fiscal policy in place for the last couple of years. Thats deeply disappointing. Bill look im look ahead to the budget battles coming up. September and october. But i mean what the republicans want is more cuts, more sequester deeper sequester, sequester is not enough. They want more cuts which means things will get worse. For republicans who were continuing to run against the administration and the economy that gets worse, even if theyre technically to blame for it, that works to their advantage politically. They just keep saying the obama economic policies failed. The real failure of the economic policies are the House Republicans in particular who have been forcing spending cuts at a time when the economy couldnt handle them. Bill so when you contrast contrast well, when you pair these job numbers that we just heard for july, again, 162,000 new jobs for the month of july, yesterday, the dow and the s p 500, record high numbers. I think, if i recall correctly, this is the 29th day this year that there have been that the dow hit a new record. Dow closing at 15,650. Alltime high. S p 500 over 1700. 1706. Bill first time ever. When you and i first started talking about this, the dow was at 6500. This was at the beginning of the obama administration. It was just you know bill more than doubled. More than doubled. This is one of the largest bull markets, fastest bull markets in american history. And it looks as if theres more to go here. I know there are some people saying get out now but when you see the amount of cash thats on the sidelines that corporations are holding on to, that investors are still starting to hold on to, you see some of the merger, and acquisitions and other things going on, there is a lot of Economic Activity still to go and Consumer Sentiments as well. So i would say theres more to go here. In fact, let me go out on a limb, im not going to do the jim glassman 36,000 which he said ten years ago. But dow 16,500 in the next year is not unreasonable. Bill dow is how Many Companies . Youve got 500. Bill s p 500 is dont know exactly. It is a lot broader. Is the better number. But theyre both headline numbers here. The market is going great guns. You know, a lot of people are make a lot of individuals are making a lot of money. Youre not quite at the wealth effect because you that felt during some of the years the Bush Administration when there was unrealistic growth in the stock market. But people are starting to feel better about it. Bill as those as investments in those Companies Represented do better and better and better, is that trickling down to use the phrase in the economy in general . Well, look, youve got a lot of people who hold mutual funds or holding it for retirement purposes so yeah, they may not be resulting in immediate spending but its making people feel better about the future and lets bring this back. If youre a democrat and you know, youre thinking about 2014, polling numbers show 73 disapproval rating for House Republicans but if the stock market is doing better and people are feeling better about the obama administration, a lot of this election will be the referendum on the white house, this actually improves the democrats chances in 2014 in both the house and the senate. Bill one big so much we want to talk to you about this morning. So much on the economic front thats been thats been in the news. I am fascinated by the fact that we are having an open Campaign Competition for the next chairman of the fed. Fascinating. You used exactly the right word. Usually these things happen in the dead of night. Arthur burns gets selected and no one knows how or why. Bill i think most americans dont know what the fed does. Most members of congress dont know what the fed does. Bill yeah, right. They dont know who the head of it is. Now, suddenly, Larry Summers or janet yellen or if you want to vote on the dark horse, donald cone. Why is it so important, all of a sudden . Because whats happened with fiscal policy being at a stand still with the stalemate in washington, Monetary Policy has been the only game in town. That since the economic downturn. The Bush Administration. Thats put the fed and the fed chairman out in front. Ben bernanke has not just done some extraordinary monetary things, hes gone out in front, held press conferences, Financial Planning sessions around the country at fort hood and other place. Hes tried to communicate over the heads of congress which has made that person, you know, probably more prominent of anyone in that job since paul volcker. Bill hes taken an active role in keeping the economy going by not an active role. The fed Monetary Policy has been the only game in town. Had it not been for his willingness to lower Interest Rates to the low levels, historical low levels, the economy would be in terrible shape. Bill and buy the bonds. Thats Monetary Policy. So bill he basically has taken the place of congress . Is that what youre saying . Hes substituted Monetary Policy for fiscal policy because congress has been unable to come together on anything. What they have come together as we talked about has been the wrong fiscal policy. Bill where would we be without the fed . Still in a recession. I dont think theres any doubt about that. The austerity that has been imposed by House Republicans has, you know, has hurt the economy desperately and it was the wrong economic policy. Dont forget, theyre more interested in getting themselves reelected than they are in getting the economy growing. Bill so this this shows why this choice of the new chair of the fed is so important because of the emerging role, the emerged role and importance of the fed. When you look at Larry Summers, you either love him or hate him. Or both. You know, its interesting. Lets put don cone aside for a moment. For everyone who doesnt know, hes been a staffer at the fed and he was on the fed board. Hes been there for 40 years. One of the most accomplished monetary people but he would clearly be a caretaker until there was a consensus, kind of like Pope John Paul 23 was. Back then. But janet yellen was a communicator, former instructor at the university of california, my alma mater, by the way. Summers is obviously known as just ask him, being one of the smartest people on the planet. It was part of that group. With bob rubin who saved the planet. Remember the famous nict time magazine, both would be extraordinary choices but they have very different styles. Yellen, as i said is a communicator. Did a great job at the San Francisco fed. Larry tends to rub people the wrong way. Theyre both strong. Bill hes got a reputation as a bull in a china shop. Made the famous speech at harvard where he said there is a good reason why men have most of the top jobs in the sciences and engineering because women dont have the same aptitude. I dont know if those are his exact words but he created a firestorm. Bill force to the resign as president of harvard. President bill clinton said Larry Summers gave him bad advice by not regulating derivatives. He has a lot of baggage whereas janet yellen has been behind the scenes working at the feds, building consensus. I have no idea how this is going to shake out. The other question is does the administration think Larry Summers can get confirmed . Dont forget, this is not just a president ial appointment. Bill good question. I must say, i was stunned the other day in our briefing when, after president obama went out of his way to defend Larry Summers, when members of congress raised questions about him, the president said good things about Larry Summers. We tried to get jay carney to say good things about janet yellen. He said i will not comment on any potential appointee but the president just finished praising Larry Summers. That may be like a baseball owner saying i have 1,000 confidence in my manager the day before he gets fired. Bill talking all things economic about the job numbers in july here with our good friend, Stan Collender. Youre welcome to join the conversation at 186655press. Always save a seat at the table for you. Well be right back. Announcer go mobile with bill press. Download pod costs at billpressshow. Com. Listen any time, anywhere. This is the bill press show. We have a big big hour and the iq will go way up. vo current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at im a slutty bob hope. You are. The troops love me. vo tv and radio talk show host Stephanie Miller rounds out currents morning news block. Youre 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. She gets the comedians laughing. Thats hilarious . And the thinkers thinking. Okay, so theres wiggleroom in the Ten Commandments is what youre telling me. Shes joy behar. And current will let me say anything. Only on current tv. Bill 12 minutes before the top of the hour. Were almost there to the weekend. And what a way to go here with Stan Collender from corvis communications. Talking about the economy in general. Propelled by the new numbers for july that came out adding 162,000 new jobs. This is like 30 some months where it has been positive job growth. Well take it. You remember when we were down . Bill i sure do. When every day the only question was how many hundreds of points would the dow drop that day . Things are not as good as we would like but theyre much better than they used to be. Bill taking your calls at 186655press. Before we move on, peter. Quick story because our friends at the charleston post and courier in South Carolina are reporting that Lindsey Graham will have a challenge from nancy mace. I remember the name nancy mace because shes one of the first two females to graduate from the citadel, the military school in charleston, South Carolina, i was working down there whenever they had the whole debate whether they were going to allow women into the citadel. Shes expected to make her announcement. Shes going to get in. Shes a real contender. Mike allen jumping on that story in todays playbook. So Lindsey Graham has a challenger in the primary. Mitch mcconnells got a challenger in the primary. Does anybody really think the tea party is not alive and well . Bill tea party lives. Not in the general. In the primary. Thats where they have their doesnt say much for budget debates going forward. Bill one other story, stan, the front page of the New York Times today, former trader from Goldman Sachs found liable in a fraud case. This is the to my knowledge, the first wall street executive since the collapse of 2008 who has actually been brought to trial and found guilty. From a big bank. Im not sure you can call a trader an executive. But a big guy absolutely. And it may be that bill why did it take so long . Five years. Yet you say this is not one of the top guys, right . First of all, he may be take the fall from some people above him. Im not saying he didnt do anything wrong because he clearly did. Hes now been convicted of it. But these are incredibly difficult cases to prove. Theyre difficult cases to present to a jury of nonfinancial experts. Bill he was selling stuff that he knew was phony, right . Yeah. Bill big mortgage derivatives. Probably a conspiracy back there. He was working with other folks. Lie mention their names over the air to put this together on their behalf so they could bet against what he was selling. Bill do you think there will be other people . Is the s. E. C. Going to finally bring some of these people to justice . Theyve lost some of their cases. My guess is theyll be very careful. Weve got Mary Jo White and head of s. E. C. And is a little bit more aggressive on this. So, you know, hopefully, we would like to see some of the folks who betting with our money, taxpayer dollars, at least brought to justice. At least be made accountable for it. And you would also just so that there is a disinsent ev to doing that behave again. Thats the big thing. You cant let them get away with it. Theyll do it again. Bill all of this happened. They knew what they were doing was wrong. I read a couple of books banking on the name the great book about this. But people nothing ever happened. Finally, we see somebody brought to justice. It is a little bit. It is a little bit like Roger Clemens or anybody else taking performanceenhancing drugs, the incentives for doing so for performing well are so great bill how did you know thats where i was going to go next because youre a big yankees fan. How bad is arod going to get hit . Or should get hit . Well, as a yankee fan, i gotta tell you, i hope they throw every book at him they can possibly throw. Admirable of you to say. Well, for two reasons. One is i want to get rid of the guy. Hes never going to perform at that level and it is not clear he ever performed at that level before without some help. But two, i want to provide that kind of disincentive to others. Do not do this again, right . This ban or whatever punishment hes put up to has to be significantly strong so others dont do it. It is time for the time for the the sport to police itself that strenuously. If someone is hitting home runs, you know it is not because he or his bat are juiced. There arent many stars bigger than arod. Were bigger. But in terms of marquee players, if you ban him or life, youre sending a message. The idea the yankees could get out of that contract. Sorry. There is a certain glee in my voice. Bill an honest man and an honest fan. Stan collender, great to have you with us. Covered a lot of territory. A lot of fun. Ill be back with our parting shot for the day. Announcer starting live on free speech tv on september 3rd, learn more at billpressshow. Com. This is the bill press show. If you believe in states rights but still support the drug war you must be high. Viewpoint digs deep into the issues of the day. Do you think there is any chance well ever hear the president even say the word carbon tax . With an opened 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 cutting throught the clutter of todays top stories. This is the savior of the Republican Party . I mean really . With a unique perspective. Teddy rosevelt was a weak asmatic kid who never played sports until he was a grown up. laughter . And lots of fancy buz words. Family values, speding, liberty, economic freedom, hardworking moms, crushing debt, cute little puppies. If Wayne Lapierre can make up stuff that sounds logical while making no sense. Hey, so can i. Once again friends, this is live tv and sometimes these things happen. Watch the show. Only on current tv. cenk its go time its go time its go time go time. You know what time it is. Go time its go time. Its go time. What time is it rob . Here comes the young turks go time its go time. Oh is it . Oh, then its go time. Anybody . Anybody . What time is it . Oh, right. Its go time this show is about being up to date, staying in touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. In reality its not like they actually care. This is purely about political grandstanding. Announcer the parting shot with bill press this is the bill press show. Bill here we go. Edward snowden is finally out of the moscow airport. Actually he would rather be anything i think in russia than on a plane back to the United States, living the rest of his life in an american prison cell. The white house says it is very disappointed that russia granted snowden asylum but they had to have seen that coming. Back here at home, things have changed dramatically since snowden first blew the whistle on the nsa. At first, leaders of congress defended the nsa. Now more and more members of congress, republicans and democrats are raising serious questions about nsas spying on all americans. And even president obama is saying that we need a National Conversation on how to Balance National security and our right of privacy. That conversation started at the white house yesterday but heres the point. We would not be having that conversation today without Edward Snowden. Think about that. Have a great weekend [ theme music ] oh, i have been here waiting for hours for jacki. Good morning, everybody. Good morning, current tv land. You know what works, steph is i have a little bird in my ear that tells me when you are there or not there. So you can pretend cobwebs. I have just been waiting and waiting. You literally