I saw over at Ashmo’s blog that Glenn Beck has been running his mouth off about New Orleans, uttering quotes like:
I`m not sure still that we should bother rebuilding it
and
you know what, we should just walk away from that city. Why are we there?
But the tossed-up thing is throughout the interview, it sounds like he is parroting what a lot of people around here are saying:
if we`re going to rebuild cities like New Orleans, can we at least do it right?
The rebuilding is a long way from complete.
Mr. Mayor. Can you really afford to be that casual as you walk around a pile of splinters that used to be your city? I mean, that`s outrageous. It`s politicians like you that got your city into the shape that it`s in today.
Under building the levees isn`t just a waste of time and money. It could end up wasting more American lives. We don`t need a new generation of New Orleans hurricane survivors.
The people of the gulf region are some of the strongest and most resilient in the nation. They have weathered the storm. They are dedicated to putting their towns, their homes, and their lives back together.
Sounds good so far right? I mean except that he prefaced the whole thing by saying the city shouldn’t be rebuilt at all. Then he says it again:
But the rebuilding of the area`s infrastructure is going to cost too much time and too much energy and too much dollars if we`re going to do it right.
Then he talks out of the other side of his mouth again:
And if we`re going to do it, shouldn`t we do it right?
As another example of his quizzically rhetoric he says:
In the long run, you know, sadly, it will be a bargain. Sadly, we only need to look at the climbing death toll in Mexico to remember that lives are in the balance.
But earlier in the show he said this about the lives in Mexico:
I`ve been watching the news about Hurricane Dean, and the truth is it`s not happening here in the U.S. I`m not really connected to it, and I find myself switching channels. I don`t really care that much, and I know that sounds horrible.
So, in the course of the show he suddenly found out he does care about the Central Americans facing the threat of Dean? Also, Mr. Beck, acknowledging the horror of your statement doesn’t make it less horrible.
So Beck then goes on to say:
Build them for Category 5. I mean, jeez, there`s a city in the Netherlands that, in the 1950s, built a giant wall to make sure that their city was safe. If we really believe in New Orleans, we should build it the right way.
Hey, I agree, but with assclown Republicans and fella’s like those who occupy my Enemies of the State list saying the city shouldn’t be rebuilt, it’s making the issue into a political one and seriously screwing with the process. It shouldn’t be a political issue. It amazes me every day that it is.
But here is where Beck really gets back-asswards.
But here`s the other thing. And tell me where I`m wrong. Let me be completely honest and completely politically incorrect. It is a race issue. Because the race card has been played, no one is willing to speak frankly. No one is willing to say, “We should not be rebuilding this city.” Am I wrong?
Here’s the deal. People who suggest the city be abandoned are not willing to talk about it because it’s a stupid thing to say. I don’t have time to get into why it is stupid. There is a lot written by myself and the Nola bloggers about it but, trust me on this one, suggesting that we abandon the city is a stupid thing to say. It is stupid culturally and economically. Many people are just smart enough not to suggest something so stupid.
But you are right about the race thing. Race does factor in. But not in the way you think it does. It matters because people who oppose the rebuilding of the city do so because there are a bunch of black folks down here. There is no way to prove that, and many of them won’t admit it (amazingly though, some will) but that is indeed the reason. People saw the news in September 2005 and saw poor black folks and like George Bush, didn’t care about them.
The “under sea level” BS is a means to an end for them. The Netherlands has proven that it can be done. The proof sits up there in Northern Europe. Where is the proof it can’t? It doesn’t exist. You can’t prove a negative.
As for Mr. Beck, I don’t know what to say. He is impotent in this argument. He seems to understand the ineptitude of our mayor and our certain need for Cat 5 levees. But he has this gig as a petulant conservative pundit and ratings shape his views and castrate his critical thought. So he doesn’t merit a spot on the list.