CNN’s host Glenn Beck says New Orleans should not be rebuilt

Okay, Jonathan Klein and CNN, make up your mind about New Orleans.

You sent Anderson Cooper to New Orleans to report live about the struggle to rebuild the city:

Good evening.

We don’t care much for anniversaries on this program, solemn remembrances of stories long since past. But, tonight, we come to you from New Orleans to report on a story which is still very much unfolding.

Two years ago tonight, these streets were filling with water. Levees poorly built over decade on shifting sands failed. And, two years ago tonight, what was a natural disaster became very quickly a manmade one.

Now, two years later, the recovery of this city, this region, is under way. And it, too, is manmade. Two years ago tonight, governments failed. The people here have not. New Orleans is rising again.

You also had Soledad O’Brien (who never should have left the morning show, p.s.) do an hour long special on called “Children of the Storm.”

But then, Mr. Klein, you have one of the stars of your network, Glenn Beck, completely trash New Orleans — and say that the city should not be rebuilt.

Chris Achorn, who does yeoman’s work bird-dogging Beck, reports that last night, while O’Brien and Cooper were doing their Katrina reports on one CNN network, the controversial host Glenn Beck was on CNN’s Headline News saying don’t rebuild New Orleans:

On the two year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Glenn Beck takes his distain and outright hatred for the city and people of New Orleans to another level. He just comes right out and says it, that we should not spend a single dime to rebuild New Orleans.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0708/29/gb.01.html

GLENN BECK, HOST (voice-over): Tonight, two years since Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, and everybody`s still talking about rebuilding. I say don`t spend one thin dime. I`ll explain why.

BECK: Hello, America. Do not adjust your set, the truth coming your way. Possibly for the first time on Katrina.

It was two years ago that Hurricane Katrina ripped through New Orleans, and the gulf region. Thousands were left homeless, causing well over $150 billion in damages. And without question, Katrina is the worst national disaster in national history.

President Bush, Congress responded over $100 billion in aid to rebuild New Orleans. A lot of people, including me, think the president has blown it. Here`s the point tonight.

How much do I think should be spent rebuilding New Orleans? Zero. Nothing. Not a dime. And here`s how I got there.

So what is it, CNN? Do we believe Anderson and Soledad that your network cares about the people of New Orleans? Or is Glenn Beck the voice of CNN? More and more, it seems that the Beck’s warped world-view is what Jonathan Klein wants his network to be.

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