June 2, 2009 - 12:44 ET

GLENN: Front page of the paper today, plan to save automaker has risks for the economy. One in five think that this was a good idea, one in five, and yet where is the outcry? Can you imagine George W. Bush or anybody else, anybody else doing things this unpopular? I don't even think Bill Clinton would have gotten away with this. Doing things this out of step with the American people. But the media is afraid of him. They're either in the bag or they're afraid. Jake Tapper is one of the only people that is not afraid of the president. Was it Jake Tapper that was asking the question? Dan, do we have the audio of the press conference yesterday?

DAN: Yeah, but it's not Jake Tapper. It's somebody -- I actually was looking to see who it was. They said Jonathan, I think, or John. So I'm not sure who it was, but I'll find out.

GLENN: Find out for me, will you? We have the audio. I want to play the audio here. And I want you to understand: I don't have a problem with the president going out on a date. The president needs to go out on a date with his wife. You want to keep your -- I mean, my wife and I have a date night. We go out on a date. It's important. However, I want to point out the hypocrisy, but first let's hear how the White House so expertly handled this question of, how did the president pay for this? How much did this cost the American taxpayers to leave Washington D.C. and go on a date with your wife up to New York City? Here's the question and the beautiful answer.

VOICE: Are you going to tell us how much the president and the first lady's date night cost on Saturday night? And if not, why not?

VOICE: Well, Jonathan, I think as -- let me -- I thought it was the air conditioner now and it's the helicopter. You know, I think spokespeople have spoken to this over the weekend that the president would -- or could he, based on the secret service, he would have taken the shuttle, but I would say that the costs were proportionate with travel for presidents and I would encourage you to look up previous coverage on travel costs because they are analogous.

VOICE: Is there any precedent for a president and first lady to take an out-of-town date night like this not connected to an official or even a political previously planned event?

VOICE: You've got probably more researchers than I do.

GLENN: Well, and the spokespeople talked about the spoke's statements, spokespeople. Is that the air conditioner?

STU: (Laughing).

GLENN: What the -- this guy's the worst. All right. So President Obama, you know, makes good on one campaign promise and that is he promised his wife he would take her out on a date, he would take her to a Broadway show in New York. By the way, the playwright of this show, I don't know if anybody in the media has mentioned this, the playwright of this show had a "white directors need not apply" policy. Anybody mention that? The president wants everybody to understand that he traveled in a smaller plane. He didn't take a Boeing 747 to take his wife out onto a date. He just took the smaller Gulfstream, and two other planes carried staff and reporters. Well, if you are flying three Gulfstreams, is it really saving that much money? The trip cost the taxpayer at least $24,000. There's no way you fire up a Gulfstream for $24,000. There's no way. I mean, how much -- Stu, can you find out for me? How much would a Gulfstream cost from New York to Washington D.C.?

Now, President Obama, a multimillionaire now, was gracious enough to save the taxpayer from paying for dinner and the theater tickets. The tickets were $96.50. Now, I really don't care. Does it -- I wouldn't care about fronting the cost for the president to travel somewhere. He's the president. I don't care that the president went out on a date with his wife. He needs to do it. It's important. But when you're the president, not a president, when you're the president that heard the news that Citigroup had bought a $50 million corporate jet and called the executives to "Fix it," I got a problem. When you are the president, not a president but the president who jumped in line to bash the Big Three automakers for flying in jets to Washington D.C. for bailout hearings because it was a slap in the face to taxpayers, because their budgets were out of control...

STU: (Laughing).

GLENN: And they shouldn't have been wasting money on corporate jets, when you're that president, I've got a problem with it. Because in case you haven't noticed, Mr. President, your budgets are out of control! Maybe it's just me. Everything you do, Mr. President, just as the CEOs that took the bailouts, is on the taxpayer dime. You didn't take a bailout. You're giving the bailouts. You're not somebody who has taken some taxpayer money. You're taking all taxpayer money. Why is it nobody will recognize the hypocrisy in Washington? How much longer will the media silence last? How much longer can this country last if the media remains silent? The self-appointed fourth branch of government.

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