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Glenn Beck

Who`s Really Paying for the Conventions?; Dems Plan Changes for Union Rules; Did Hillary`s Speech Unify Party?; Bets are on Mitt Romney for McCain`s VP; Supremacist Scare; Rebuilding New Orleans

Aired August 27, 2008 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GLENN BECK, HOST (voice-over): Tonight, Hillary Clinton fires up the Democrats.

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No way, no how, no McCain.

BECK: Uh-huh. But is she really bringing anybody together for Obama? Let me tell you something. I`ll introduce you to Supreme Court Justice Hillary Clinton in just a bit.

Plus, let`s follow the money in the VP race. Tonight, I and online investors will tell you who John McCain is going to pick as his vice president.

And outspoken rocker and Second Amendment icon Ted Nugent stops by to riff on what he thinks about the convention.

All this and more, tonight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: Well, hello, America.

Keith Olbermann, I think, said it best last night about Hillary Clinton`s speech. He said, "Oh, that speech, a grand slam, out of the ballpark, across the street." And then James Carville, who`s a space alien and I think slightly to the right of Keith Olbermann, said, "You know, we all know now what a major league fastball looks like."

OK, more on all the gushing sports cliches here in just a minute, but if you thought the Clinton speech was the highlight of the convention so far, then you`ve dropped the ball. Here`s my "Point" tonight.

The future -- the future of this country, the future of America is not going to be decided by the people who are giving the speeches. They`re going to be decided by the people who throw the parties afterwards. Here`s how I got there.

The hardest ticket to get in Denver last Monday night was not for Michelle Obama`s speech. No, you can get those. Instead, the hardest ticket to get was for a lavish private party that happened later that night in an exclusive club. The guests pulled up in limos and giant SUVs. I hope they were hybrids. The polar bears! They included the who`s who list of lobbyists and donors and blue-dog Democrats, like House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. The party`s gracious host, AT&T, which is a major sponsor of both conventions.

Now, let me rack my brain for a second. AT&T and blue-dog Democrats have in common. Thinking, thinking, processing. I remember. It was the blue dogs who led the charge in writing the Bill on shield companies from being sued for wireless taps. Obama was for it and then against it. What a coincidence. And who led the blue dogs? Thinking. Congressman Steny Hoyer.

Of course, Hoyer`s office -- we called him up -- "What? There`s no connection between the two things." Quote, "He didn`t even know who the sponsor was." Oh, really? I guess Keg-stand Steny is just so much of a party animal that he loses track of those little things like who`s paying. I mean, who cares who`s really paying for the booze as long as the booze is free, right?

So America, here`s what you need to know tonight. You, you should care who`s paying, because these parties ain`t free. They are paid for in votes. AT&T has spent $52 million on federal lobbying since 2005. And -- and who knows how much more in free champagne and pigs in a blanket. They didn`t spend all of this money because they like Steny Hoyer`s karaoke version of "Love Shack": "Tin roof... busted." Got it? They spent it because they like that they can buy and influence these opinions.

Back in 1996, an unknown Barack Obama tried to attend the Democratic convention in Chicago, but he couldn`t get access to all the exclusive dinners and private parties. He was frustrated. He later complained to a reporter, "I see this convention is for sale, right?" It sure is, Barack. And 12 years later, your convention seems to be for sale, and it`s not just yours.

Both conventions are for sale. Both parties are going right along and right along with everybody who`s pretending like the drinks really are free. They`re not free.

Nancy Watzman, she`s the director of the Sunlight Foundation`s Party Time effort.

Nancy, there was no press allowed into this. We tried to get pictures. You can`t get pictures. All of the people, they were shielding their heads and their faces. And they`re like, "I don`t know what this is. I don`t know." Why are you going in there? What -- what was going on?

NANCY WATZMAN, DIRECTOR, SUNLIGHT FOUNDATION`S PARTY TIME EFFORT: Well, this is one of just hundreds of parties being thrown this week in Denver and will be thrown next week in Minneapolis/St. Paul for members of Congress, for lobbyists to, you know, wine and dine their private parties. I was -- I was there the other night. They didn`t let me in. A bouncer told me on no uncertain terms I had to move aside. So that`s what`s going on.

BECK: You know, it`s really amazing. You know, the media is really covering this. I mean, there`s some media coverage. We`re leading with this story today, because I think this is exactly what Americans are sick and tired of. They know that our government is for sale. It`s, you know, big business, big union. It`s big somebody, but it`s not big people.

Are these -- are these politicians on either side of the aisle, do they have an opportunity to actually meet with the real people, or just business interests?

WATZMAN: Well, you know, if you ask them, they`ll say, "Oh, I`ll meet with anybody." But when I look and see sort of what their schedules are throughout the day at these conventions, they`re going from party to party. So I don`t...

BECK: OK. The -- you went to a party yesterday, and you know, I love this because Nancy Pelosi and everybody went, "Oh, look. We`re cleaning up ethics" in this. You went to a party yesterday where they served you a Caesar salad in a shot glass. Why?

WATZMAN: Well, they were complying, as they joked about at this party for -- it was thrown by Akon Goth (ph), a big lobbying law firm. They were complying with the new ethics law, and there`s an exemption that`s, you know, known as the toothpick exemption where you can only serve finger food. So they served these little Caesar salads in a shot glass. I actually didn`t eat one.

BECK: Did you find it -- did you find it insulting that they were joking, that they were laughing about "We`re just getting around the ethics rules"?

WATZMAN: Well, I think that everybody is -- in town is just trying to learn how to live within the loopholes. They`re trying to throw these parties under the new ethics laws. The important thing is the parties are continuing.

BECK: Right. Isn`t that the -- that`s the problem. Americans, you know, I wear this little pitchfork pin that a viewer made for me. I can`t tell you how many pitchforks arrived here at the studio when I said, "I can`t buy a pitchfork in New York."

People are sick and tired of this. They want the people, the politicians to react to them, not to special interests on either side. And they don`t care, over and over again. They just do whatever the hell they want, it seems.

WATZMAN: Well, that`s why we at the Sunlight Foundation really believe in bringing transparency to this. We want people to know where these parties are. We have it on our Web site, PoliticalPartyTime.org. We try to bring sunlight to all facets of the government. And that`s what we`re there for.

BECK: You keep up the good work, Nancy. Thank you very much.

Now, I don`t know if you watched the speech last night, but it wasn`t just special interests, you know, with big business. Did you notice how many times Hillary Clinton talked about another special interest group in her speech? Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: From civil rights to labor rights to promoting unionization.

Our small business owners and our union workers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: John Fund is the editorial writer at the "Wall Street Journal."

John, we -- I don`t think most of America even understands there are fundamental changes coming to the way America does business under the Democratic plan. Why all the mentions of the unions? Let`s -- let`s start with the Right to Work Act?

JOHN FUND, EDITORIAL WRITER, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": Well, first of all, this Democratic convention is a meeting of the unions by the unions and for the unions. Twenty-five percent of the delegates are either union members, retired union members, or spouses of union members. They`re all over this town.

Look, the Republicans have their own special interests. But this week, unions are calling the tune of the Democratic platform. On Right to Work there are about 22 right-to-work states. Those have faster economic growth and more job creation than the non-right-to-work states.

BECK: What`s a -- wait. What`s a right-to-work state? What does that mean?

FUND: Right to work says that, as an individual, you do not have to be required to join a union, even if the fellow workers at your place of employment say, "We all want to join a union," you can opt out and get some of your dues money back.

BECK: Got it. OK.

FUND: You don`t have to participate.

BECK: OK. And those states, as you just said, have much higher growth. They have much more job creation in those states. The Democrats want to turn the tide on that.

But they also are doing card check. Explain what this means to the average American and the small-business owner?

FUND: Well, Glenn, first of all, there`s a political reason why the Democrats want to go after right-to-work states. Al Gore only won one right-to-work state in 2000. John Kerry didn`t win a single one. All of the right-to-work states voted Republican in 2004.

So they think if they can take away the right-to-work status, bring more union members into those state electorates, then they can probably win some of them.

BECK: OK.

FUND: Now, card check is even more nefarious. Card check says rather than have a secret ballot election, you can take a petition person to person in a work place and say, "Would you like to join the union?" You can even knock on someone`s door at night. And if you get 50 percent plus one of the people signing that petition, you`re automatically part of the union, and there`s no secret ballot.

BECK: OK. All right. This is already passed in the House. There`s only two senators away from passing in the Senate. And Obama says that he`s going to pass this.

FUND: Absolutely.

BECK: What does -- what does this mean? This is a -- this is the biggest change in the last 50 to 70 years for the workforce. What does American labor look like? Or what does business in America look like a year from the date that that passes?

FUND: A lot like Europe. Europe has much higher unionization rates than we do. They have also much more stagnant economies, much more lack of mobility between jobs. And I think that it basically would mean we would become more like France, ultimately. And I think it`s a big problem.

In addition, card check brings in billions, not millions, but billions of dollars in new dues members. If you have more union members, the average dues for unions in this country are $600 to $800. If they sign up 1.5 million new workers -- that`s what they predict they can do with card check -- that`s billions to the Democratic Party`s political coffers.

BECK: Thanks, John. Great editorial in the "Wall Street Journal" today.

All right. Coming up, Hillary Clinton delivers a big-time speech Democrats were hoping for, kind of, right? I`ll explain why her motivation might be less about unity and more about supremacy. Coming up.

Plus, outspoken, gun-toting rocker Ted Nugent stops by for a frank discussion on our Second Amendment rights and so much more. We`ll talk a little convention, too. Never a dull moment when Ted`s around. Don`t miss it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Coming up, as Tropical Storm Gustav`s track heads precariously close to the Gulf Coast -- wouldn`t this be great? Here we are on the anniversary weekend of Katrina. Democrats now are working in Congress on a plan to nationalize hurricane insurance.

You know what? You live where you want, but why should I foot the Bill? You know, if you`re building your house up on a ledge in California or in Hurricane Alley or rolling the dice and building your house in New Orleans. The answer in tonight`s "Real Story."

But first, I don`t know about you, but I have had the hardest time watching this stupid convention. I mean, the speeches just go on and on. So I`m lucky enough to say, hey, Steven Moore -- he`s a senior economics editorial writer at "Wall Street Journal" -- why don`t you -- why don`t you sit through all the phoniness, bring me the highlights?

Steven, God bless you for the work you`re doing for the American people.

STEVEN MOORE, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": Thanks, Glenn, for letting me watch 24 hours of the convention.

BECK: OK. You say last night reminded you of 1976 and Ronald Reagan`s concession speech. Why?

MOORE: Well, you know, this was supposed to be a passing of the baton last night. Hillary was supposed to bring unity to the party by saying, "I support Barack Obama."

But this isn`t -- wasn`t so much a nomination speech as it was her kind of kickoff speak for 2012.

BECK: Yes.

MOORE: It was all about Hillary. And that`s the way it`s really been for the last 16 years. With the Clintons, it`s always about the Clintons.

Glenn, it was actually quite a good speech.

BECK: I thought it was, too. You`re the first conservative that I`ve heard say that, besides me.

MOORE: Yes.

BECK: I thought it was a good speech, for what it -- for what she was trying to do.

MOORE: Yes. For her purpose.

BECK: Yes.

MOORE: She never -- what she didn`t say was, No. 1, that Barack Obama is fit to lead or that he would be a great president.

BECK: Right.

MOORE: She just said that she supported him. In other words, Glenn, she did the bare minimum in that regard. The rest of the speech was all about Hillary...

BECK: OK.

MOORE: ... and her supporters, as if she has sort of ownership of the sisterhood.

BECK: All right. Let me -- let me ask you this. Just let me be crazy Clinton conspiratorial here. She doesn`t really want Barack Obama to win, because if he wins four years -- if he only takes four years, it will mean that the Democrats were a disaster, and we don`t want another Democrat. So then you`re looking at another four years or eight years, which would put her, minimum, eight years away from president, possibly 12. She`ll be in her 70s by then, right? Or 60. How old is she now?

MOORE: First of all, Glenn, let me correct you on one thing.

BECK: Yes.

MOORE: You can never be too conspiratorial about the Clintons.

BECK: All right. OK.

MOORE: So I think there`s something to what you`re saying. I mean, let`s just look at this from Hillary`s perspective. If Barack Obama wins, Hillary is actually the big loser. She becomes irrelevant. And in fact, the whole Democratic machine becomes the Obama machine, not the Clinton machine.

BECK: Right.

MOORE: If Obama loses, guess who is the most important Democrat in the country the next day?

BECK: I think if she doesn`t -- if Obama doesn`t win this time around, then she`s the nominee.

MOORE: Oh, definitely.

BECK: If he does win, I think -- try this out for size -- why have power for four years or eight years when you can have it until the day you die? Why isn`t she positioning herself, or why am I not hearing anyone saying Supreme Court Justice Hillary Clinton?

MOORE: There are people who are talking about that. And by the way, from Barack Obama`s perspective, that would be kind of a good way to...

BECK: Sure.

MOORE: ... usher her off the stage.

BECK: Sure would be. Sure would be.

MOORE: You`re a good conspiratorialist, Glenn. I think there`s a lot to that. And the fact is, though, that one of the other things she said very interesting last night, because you didn`t have to watch it. She said, "Tonight, I`m a proud mother and I`m a proud woman. I`m a proud American. I`m a proud Democrat." She didn`t say, "I`m a proud wife." And I thought that was a very interesting omission. Maybe she still hasn`t forgotten about Monica Lewinsky.

BECK: She said -- she said one thing yesterday, and I just -- two questions so I just have to get a real quick answer. She talked about how the middle class needs to be rebuilt because it`s shrinking. Can you please clear it up about the middle class and the shrinkage of 10 percent? Where did those people go?

MOORE: Actually, in the last 25 years, we`ve added a pretty big expansion in the middle class. The last year has been tough because of the shrinking dollar. But this is the liberal theme, that somehow the middle class is on a downslide. I`ll tell you what will put the middle class on a downslide: a big spending spree and higher taxes.

BECK: Look, here`s the thing: middle class did shrink, but it is -- it is not just -- it hasn`t gotten to the poverty level. It has -- the upper class has grown the same amount as the middle class has.

Real quick, Bill at tomorrow`s speech, going to hurt Obama? I think he`s risking an awful lot. Bill Clinton is not going to be there. And Barack Obama is standing in front of what looks like a Greek temple or the White House, one of the two. That`s a big risk. This could backfire on him tomorrow, don`t you think?

MOORE: It is. He`s playing into the hands of the messiah complex.

BECK: He is.

MOORE: This guy already thinks he`s president. He`s already measuring the drapes in the White House.

BECK: Yes.

MOORE: So this is playing into this theme that the guy thinks he can save the whole world.

BECK: Right. OK. Excuse me. Thanks a lot. Sorry to make you watch this convention.

Coming up, I`m going to tell you who I believe John McCain is going to pick as his running mate. That is next.

And Tropical Storm Gustav could be headed towards Bourbon Street. As New Orleans continues to recover from Katrina, we can only hope those levees were rebuilt the right way. And I ain`t hoping for any change there. That didn`t happen. I`ll explain in tonight`s "Real Story."

(NEWSBREAK)

BECK: All right, does anybody really care who John McCain picks as vice president? I mean, a lot of people do, I guess. I think he should go for Jesus, but Jesus is coming soon on his own, so why as a running mate?

John McCain is supposed to pick his running mate here in the next couple days. I made a prediction on the radio today. My producer, executive producer of my radio show, Stu Burguiere, is here.

Stu, we -- I made the prediction based on two things today, based on some stuff that I kind of heard rumbling around. And then also because of Trade Sports, or this is actually called InTrade now, right?

STU BURGUIERE, PRODUCER: Yes, it`s the same company.

BECK: Explain what InTrade is, quickly.

BURGUIERE: It`s basically a stock market. Instead of companies, you`re buying the results of an event. And it`s been incredibly accurate over time. We`ve watched it for years.

BECK: OK. We started really tracking it in 2004. And if I`m not mistaken, this is -- we did it kind of as an experiment at the time. We said, let`s just keep track of every single race. When it came down to the Senate and House and everything else, they were right on everything, right?

BURGUIERE: Yes, because people lie on the polls, but when it comes down to putting their money where their mouth is, they do it. They were right on every race in 2004 in the Senate and every race in 2006 in the Senate, as well.

BECK: And Saddam Hussein, we noticed that people -- everybody said Saddam Hussein, he`s never going to be caught. We watched the InTrade sport -- the InTrade number, and of a sudden, Saddam Hussein is going to be captured in the next -- what was it? -- two weeks or something like that. All of a sudden, it just spiked overnight.

BURGUIERE: Yes. Out of nowhere.

BECK: Insider trading, somebody who had information, inside trade. And they say, "Well, let`s make some money on Trade Sports or InTrade," and they did.

BURGUIERE: Yes.

BECK: It was right. A couple days later, we found out that we had captured him. This is why I say the vice-presidential candidate is going to be Mitt Romney.

BURGUIERE: Yes. Huge spike in Romney. I mean, he had been pretty much flat around 20 percent for a long time.

BECK: Right.

BURGUIERE: All of a sudden, he goes from 25 to 67, really, with no news. One of the things, like, you`ll see -- you know, Matt Drudge will post a big story, and it will spike just because people are predicting, because they see the headlines.

BECK: Right.

BURGUIERE: But this is basically on no news. Romney is one of the, you know, clear front runners, but not a lot.

BECK: And he was never training. It just happened in the last couple of days. All of a sudden, it has spiked up. There`s been nothing about Mitt Romney. You know, your speculation was maybe people are starting to say that it`s, you know, well, you need a good debater because of Joe Biden.

BURGUIERE: Right. Oh, definitely. I mean, Biden, obviously, you don`t want to put somebody up there who`s going to be blown away in the debates.

BECK: Then you also have that the economy is such a big deal now, and he was so strong on the economy. How -- what was the number -- was it 70 percent or 80 percent where you said, "That`s a lock"?

BURGUIERE: I`d say about 80 percent. Over time we`ve watched it, and you can get some things that will spike up to 70 on news. But usually, it`s -- it is hard core when it gets to 80, 85 percent.

BECK: Right. But have we ever seen anything spike up like this when it wasn`t news-based?

BURGUIERE: I would say there`s a couple of occasions, but it`s very rare. Usually when something spikes like this, there`s a real reason for it. And, you know, we saw it with Joe Biden. He was leading around 25 or 30 for a long time. He was in the running with a few other candidates. All of a sudden, he went up to 70 about eight hours before the news broke that he was the vice president. And then there he is.

BECK: OK. Tomorrow, we are going to do on the radio, we`re going to take a look at all of Mitt Romney`s things and what he said about John McCain. Because have you noticed how quick those ads come out now? What did Mitt Romney say that will be used against John McCain? We`ll take a look at that on our national radio program in a city and a radio program near you.

Thanks, Stu.

Coming up, the greatest danger to the foundation of our country may actually come from within. Why the threats of every single hate group should be taken seriously. That`s tonight`s "Real Story," and it`s coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Coming up, he is the man that doesn`t really need an introduction, so I`m not going to give him one. Ted Nugent swings by in just a minute to talk about politics. He`ll be by just right after "The Real Story."

But first, welcome to "The Real Story." Three white supremacists, they were meth heads who were arrested near Denver over the weekend for an alleged plot to kill Barack Obama. Believe it or not, they`re not going to face anything more than a slap on the wrist even though they were arrested with scope rifles, bullet-proof vests, ammos, swastikas and oh yes, did I mention they were high on meth.

Authorities say that there was no credible threat to Obama, which is probably true, you know. It`s the whole meth thing again. But of course, white supremacist groups are now saying this was a set-up by authorities determined to smash the groups. Quite frankly, smash away, gang.

"The Real Story" is this, these cracked out racist idiots may not have posed a true threat to Obama, but white supremacist groups and other extremist hate groups do pose a real threat to the foundation of this country. This incident is just waking us up to the ugly truth.

Let`s face it. If Joe Lieberman were running, we would be worried about neo-Nazi skinheads. If a gay candidate were running, we would be worried about some crazy homophobe.

I wish it weren`t true in America but this is just the way it is. Wake up. Like it or not, there`s a whole lot of hate in this country.

And you know what? Too many times, we just pretend that, don`t say that out loud. Out of political correctness, we just pretend everything is fixed.

The only way to really truly eliminate these hate-mongers is to pay attention to what they`re saying and then stomp them out verbally in the community of ideas. Pay attention to what the radical Islamists are saying. Never shut these people up. I want to know exactly who they are, what they believe, and what they intend on doing.

You know, nobody wanted to hear what I had to say in 1998 when I read the words of another extremist, Osama bin Laden. I said, if you don`t wake up now, there will be blood and bodies and buildings in the streets of New York. Gee, look what happened when we didn`t listen. America needs to hear what extremists are saying and really listen to those words.

Mark Potok is from the Southern Poverty Law Center. He has been monitoring these groups. Let`s just wrap up the Obama thing here. The story is that there was no threat to Obama on this. Can you find any connection to any group?

MARK POTOK, SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER: No. As a matter of fact, we did not know any of the individuals who were arrested. And we also knew nothing about a motorcycle gang, to which one of them was supposedly connected. You know, we know nothing of any real connection to white supremacy as you mentioned in the intro. One of the guys was wearing a swastika ring, apparently.

BECK: The extremist Websites which you -- I mean, God bless you -- this is what you do for a living. The Websites that you`re monitoring, they`re now starting to say that this is just a big government plot -- I love this -- to discredit racists.

POTOK: That`s right. We looked at the various white supremacist and neo- Nazi forums yesterday, and it was quite remarkable what was appearing on them. The vast majority of people commenting on these forums were saying precisely that, this is a plot by ZOG, the so-called Zionist Occupation Government to destroy us.

This is a patsy that the government has set up. It`s a government plot. They`re going to come after us next. They`re going to ban our websites, destroy our organizations and so on.

BECK: I find this intriguing that it`s counter-intuitive, some of these groups actually -- some of them I should say -- wouldn`t like it if Barack Obama were taken out of the picture in a violent way. They believe Barack Obama will actually unite racists, right?

POTOK: That is true. What we found looking a couple months ago very broadly at these white supremacist boards was that that seemed to be the majority opinion. While it certainly will be a terrible thing should a black man be president of the United States, we as white supremacists should rejoice because there`s a silver lining out there.

Their idea basically is if Obama is elected, it will be such a slap in the face to white Americans that they will wake up. They will sort of have a racial awakening and rush in their millions to the clan and other hate groups. You know, create a race war and find the ultimate air in victory and all the rest.

BECK: Let me just tell the Aryan nation and all those, you know what`s a slap to the white race? You, quite frankly.

Last, last question here for you. I don`t think there is danger, necessarily -- there have always been hate groups around, et cetera, et cetera. I think that there`s real growing danger from people influenced by these groups. Not just racists, but the 9/11 group and everything else. There seems to be, and correct me if I`m wrong, is the hate and the number of these kinds of groups growing?

POTOK: Yes. They`re definitely growing. We count these groups every year. The number of groups operating in the United States has gone from 602 in the year 2000 to 888 last year. That`s a 48 percent jump.

BECK: Is that just racists?

POTOK: Yes, they`re white supremacist groups by and large. We count also black supremacist groups, which are far less numerous than white supremacist groups. But by and large, we`re talking about racist groups and the growth has been quite something.

BECK: All right. Thanks a lot Mark. I appreciate it.

Now, on a personal note, I said it the other night and I said it again on the radio today. Please, our country is in dire times, please. In the next two weeks, please say a prayer for our secret service men and women. Have them be guided to what they need to see and do.

From Denver to New Orleans; Gustav was downgraded to a tropical storm but is still expected to be a hurricane strong enough to strike fear at least along the Gulf Coast and the GOP convention. Could it get any worse for the Republicans?

A New Orleans hurricane would be a huge blow to an already bungled post- Katrina rebuilding effort which is costing you and me over $14 billion.

"The Real Story" is I don`t think we should rebuild New Orleans. If we are going to rebuilding it, do it the right way. If you want to rebuild the city, fine. But you don`t build it like we`re building it now. You build it to withstand category 5 hurricanes. If you don`t, how stupid are you?

Let`s check out the post-Katrina greatest hits. The federal government has installed faulty equipment, they have used outdated measurements, they have flunked numerous reviews. 84 percent of the work is now behind schedule, so that`s September, 2010 completion date has now been moved to mid-2011.

Does the freedom tower come to mind? Let`s make this government bigger. Instead of building 500-year levees, we`re building 100-year levees. I guess that New Orleans is going to magically rise above sea level in 2111.

If the project is ever finished -- and that`s a Michael Moore sized if -- every house rebuilt in New Orleans will still have a 26 percent chance of being flooded in the next 30 years. Every child born in New Orleans will have a 60 percent chance of experiencing a Katrina-like flood disaster.

Despite the setbacks, a recent survey of New Orleans`s residents now found that levee safety was no longer on the top of their worry list. This is what got them into this situation in the first place; this whole effort.

You know what? It`s like people who put the security system signs in their front yard even when they don`t really have a security system. Sure, it`s going to help you sleep at night, but you`re not actually safer.

Democrats are now going the extra step to support expanding the federal flood insurance program which basically says, you want to buy a house in a risky area where it could get flooded out? No private insurance company will cover that? Go ahead and do it, we`ll cover it.

Are you kidding me? I`m not going to bail you out when you`re building your house on a beach or a hurricane or a flood zone. That`s your risk, not mine. You combine that with the residents of New Orleans, their false sense of safety, and you have a formula that calls for a whole lot of taxpayer money to clean up the inevitable mess.

Why should anyone pay for a disaster that will happen when people choose to live in high-risk areas like New Orleans? Tim Kusky is the Director for Environmental Scientists at St. Louis University.

I don`t know where to begin with you. I saw in "60 Minutes," Ray Nagin, the mayor of New Orleans, he was pounding on this wall and he`s like, gee, nothing is going to come through this. This will withstand a hurricane 3. And I shouting at my television, it`s only a matter of time before a 5 comes by.

What are we doing? How long before a category 5 hits New Orleans?

TIM KUSKY, ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES, ST. LOUIS UNIVERSITY: New Orleans has been hit by hurricanes 21 times since the city was founded in 1815. And all those hurricanes have been very destructive. Most of them have resulted in catastrophic flooding similar to what we saw during Katrina, but we tend to forget.

When Katrina hit three years ago this Friday, New Orleans was still rebuilding from hurricane Camille in 1969.

BECK: Unbelievable. This is very unpopular to say. I`m sorry, New Orleans. You`re a great town. I have been there. It`s great, the heritage and everything. But we shouldn`t be rebuilding there. This is insanity to spend all of this money rebuilding, especially the way that we are rebuilding it. A lot of the city -- correct me if I`m wrong -- under sea level, right?

KUSKY: That`s right. Much of New Orleans is right now is about 8 to 12 feet below sea level and is sinking at a rate of one-third to two inches per year.

BECK: I love it.

KUSKY: The sea level is rising about one foot per century. So the projection is that by the year of 2100, almost all of New Orleans will be 12 to 18 feet below sea level and they`ll be sitting 50 or 80 or 100 miles off the coast. The shoreline will have moved inland to the other side of Lake Pontchartrain and New Orleans will be below sea level, 50 miles off the coast.

BECK: Perfect. We`re going to have a disaster again. And you have been doing research that shows that not only are we not building it right for the future, what I have been talking about. You`re saying, is it true you found a levee that was stuffed closed with used newspapers?

KUSKY: Well, I didn`t find it personally, but it was reported in the news. And the army corps of engineers has been subcontracting a lot of the levee construction to private contractors. Some are doing a very good job, according to standards. And some are not. Yes, it was found that one of the levees was stuffed with shredded newspapers instead of the impermeable rubber.

BECK: We`re spending billions of dollars on this. Convince me that we can ever make New Orleans safe.

KUSKY: Well, parts of New Orleans, the French Quarter, some of the -- by the Superdome, the business district and places like that are right now above sea level. They`re sitting on the natural river levee system. But the areas to the north, along the side of Lake Pontchartrain, Lower Ninth Ward, Metairie and other places like that are below sea level.

And these places were constructed by draining old swampy areas, building levees around areas that were below sea level, and then putting homes in them.

BECK: Okay, Tim, that didn`t sound convincing to me. Whatever, you`re going to be able to keep it safe.

Thank you very much. That`s "The Real Story" tonight.

Let me switch gears to idiots. We`re not really switching gears, are we? There`s at least one idiot in your life, you know the type of friend who blurts out stuff like, "Nancy Pelosi, she fought for the increase in minimum wage, and that`s fantastic." People like that, they`re pretty tough to convince that they`re stupid and idiot and wrong.

That`s where I can help. Sign up for my e-mail newsletter now. Get "Arguments against Idiots" the quick, concise, winning arguments to idiot comments like that and so much more. It`s absolutely free. You sign up for the newsletter today at glennbeck.com.

Coming up, a politically incorrect conversation with Ted Nugent. Don`t go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: You know most of my friends I really like and I`m comfortable around. There`s one friend of mine that I really like, but he makes me nervous because you just never know. Name - Ted Nugent. He`s joining me for a full hour on Friday.

We`re going to talk about politics and the conventions and everything else. You don`t want to miss it. Here`s a little bit of a preview of Friday`s show.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: Have you ever met anybody who doesn`t have passion?

TED NUGENT: All over the place.

BECK: Yes.

NUGENT: All over the place.

BECK: Have you ever figured out how they survive?

NUGENT: I had this conversation with my road manager on the way here. I`m not going to name names, but I see some of the performers on stage.

Don`t you have to believe in the music to pursue it? Don`t you have to love welding to get that weld perfect? Don`t you have to -- I mean, I just did a show with Anthony Bordaine. He`s got this cook and fun travel show. He loves the cooking, he loves the travel, he loves the dialogue.

Everybody I work with loves what they do. That`s where excellence comes from and the passion comes from excellence. And it`s a snowball.

BECK: Do you think you can teach passion?

NUGENT: Absolutely. But it starts as a parent. You teach your children to pursue the things they love and put their best foot forward. Excellence is being the best you can be. It`s about finding the things that really draws that spirit and that energy. It`s really so simple it`s stupid.

BECK: Have you heard about the wind turbine problem?

NUGENT: Which one? There`s a whole bunch of them.

BECK: You can`t put any of the power lines, the transmission lines, across any parks so now we can`t get the power from the middle of the country.

NUGENT: So let me guess, let me see if I get this right? If I can interpret this. We the people, who own the park, because national and state parks belong to we, the people. And we the people are looking for energy, but we the people have some punk interfering with the production of our clean environmentally friendly energy over our ground to our families. I`m going to find this punk and I want to beat him up.

BECK: Let me tell you this. Here is the problem.

NUGENT: Can I borrow a pitchfork?

BECK: Yes you may, sir.

Here`s the thing. The new thing is it`s not just the parks now, it`s the bats are dying because the wind turbines change the air pressure and it collapses the lung of a bat. And so now you can`t use wind turbines because bats are in danger.

NUGENT: Glenn you want to write this down. No, it`s not. It`s not true. Just like the spot that I won`t need "x" habitat to reproduce in, lie. That`s a dirty lie. And if a few bats blow up, have at it. I`ve got some garlic and butter if you`re interested. Bottom line is, it`s driving me batty, if I may.

BECK: It`s crazy, absolutely crazy.

NUGENT: What you`re talking about fed-zilla. You`re talking about the bloated, glutinous, slovenly, irresponsible excuse-mongering fed-zilla. It`s out of control and spitting in the face of people at rush hour.

You know who people in rush hour are? People who have an alarm clock, people who are productive, people that bust their ass to be the best that they can be. They`re getting up early and they`re groggy, but they get in that car and they`re going in rush hour because they`re going to work.

Fed-zilla doesn`t like those people. Barack Obama doesn`t like those people because they want you to be the best you can be. But if you get too good, we`ll take your profits. I`m waiting for Barack Obama to tell us where the ceiling is about excellence. Where does it stop before you start taking my profits?

BECK: Everyone knows -- they just came out with a deal this week that Medicare has 31 percent fraud, 31 percent fraud. I can`t tell you one thing that the United States -- the citizens think the government does better than the private sector. Not one damn thing.

NUGENT: It doesn`t exist.

BECK: It doesn`t exist. Everybody knows it.

NUGENT: If I had been guilty of 31 percent fraud in my guitar tour, I would go to jail.

BECK: You would go to jail. Everyone knows it. Everyone knows that there`s a problem with -- our budgets are too blown out.

NUGENT: There`s a chapter in my book that I talk all about living within your means. I mean --

BECK: Nobody wants to. Within your means.

NUGENT: I think you`re right. The credit card debt --

I`ve got to tell you. I`m a frugal guy. I work really hard, and I make a good living and I always have. But I teach my children, you don`t buy that. You don`t get bling-bling until you take care of the basics.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: Remember, you can catch the entire interview with rocker Ted Nugent this Friday night at 7:00 and 9:00. It`s a full hour of honest questions and really honest answers you don`t want to miss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECK: Soviet Union, not a good country. The Soviet national anthem, great national anthem; I don`t know if you`ve heard of it. I don`t want the Soviet Union coming back, but on the radio program we`ve been looking for a way to bring back the national anthem of the Soviet Union; it`s. We decided we change the words and make fun of the almost religious praise of Barack Obama. Apparently now the song has taken on a life of its own on YouTube. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Oh hail our Messiah, Obama, Obama (inaudible). Our savior, our savior, Obama, Obama (inaudible). Give him your money and your guns, give us a country that makes --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: I`d love to see your video for the anthem on YouTube. You can get a link to that one in our free e-mail newsletter at glennbeck.com.

From New York, home of the mother land, good night, America.

END