 Arguing with Idiots: How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government by Glenn Beck - Pre-order from Barnes & Noble |
STU: Oh, wow. So we have addressed some of the secondary claims the White House has made.
GLENN: This is the White House. Now remember, I have made some claims that people have said are outrageous, are crazy, conspiratorial. You name it, they have said it about me. So now the White House has decided enough is enough and they are going to take me on face to face. They are going right at me. Guns ablazing, everything they have. The White House blog now has a little section. What do they call it?
STU: Reality check.
GLENN: Reality check, section at whitehouse.gov, reality check.
STU: This one in particular is termed trying to turn a point of pride into a moment of shame.
GLENN: I saw this. And I thought, there is nothing, there's nothing like the White House website coming after me and saying and I thought, okay, I got the whole, I have the whole Olympic thing wrong. I've turned
PAT: Did you get a chill, kind of a chill down your spine?
GLENN: I did, a thrill up my leg and a chill down my spine. They met somewhere in the private area and it
PAT: I don't even want to hear about it.
GLENN: Yeah, you shouldn't. Okay. So anyway here's what
STU: Now, this is their lead claim.
GLENN: This is their lead claim.
STU: This is what they led with.
GLENN: All right. I want to correct this right away because what I've said is massive corruption coming our way. Look out. I talked about Air Force One and Air Force Two, a 747 and a 727 just spewing toxins just so they could fly over to Copenhagen and, you know, get the Olympics for Chicago which is going to hemorrhage money. And just be corrupt. All right. So what do I have?
STU: The number one claim.
GLENN: Number one claim.
STU: Against Glenn Beck.
GLENN: And I want to apologize right now. I know I have it wrong.
STU: Rhetoric.
GLENN: Rhetoric.
STU: Beck said Vancouver lost $1 billion when it, quote, had the Olympics. Glenn Beck said Vancouver lost now this is a quote, by the way. Vancouver lost, how much was it? They lost a billion dollars when they had the Olympics. The source's transcript, Glenn Beck show 9/29/09. Reality? Are you ready for the reality? Are you ready for the reality?
PAT: I'm ready.
STU: From the White House, Vancouver's Olympics will not take place until 2010. How could they have lost the money if it hasn't even happened yet? They nailed you in your face, in your face! Sucker! Yeah.
PAT: You are going down! Oh, man. It's over.
STU: It's over. It's over. The media entire is about to collapse.
GLENN: Hold on just a second. I thought that I was actually going to have to apologize. I thought I was going to contend with some real, some real problems here. Let me just take another approach here.
PAT: Well, you've finally been caught, haven't you, Mr. Beck? This is rich. Like you are, Mr. Fatty Fat Fatso with a big fat wallet, climbing up the backs of the door, eating small children as you go.
GLENN: I get it, I get it, I get it. Get to the
PAT: You said the Vancouver Olympics already happened when they don't even happen until 2010.
GLENN: Yeah. See, here's what I here's what happened.
PAT: I am so stupid.
PAT: I looked down my notes for the question and read Vancouver instead of Calgary.
PAT: Yeah, yeah.
GLENN: So I misspoke. I should have said Calgary and not Vancouver.
PAT: Oh, you misspoke.
GLENN: Yeah.
PAT: Hmmm.
GLENN: But apparently nobody's disagreeing that Calgary hemorrhaged money because they didn't respond to, you know, the hemorrhaging money of I mean, you could easily see how that was a mistake. I, you know, said Vancouver instead of Calgary. I was just in Washington State. I know that the Olympics happened up there, you know, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Isn't this kind of a strange thing to attack? I mean, I'm talking about the Olympics losing billions of dollars. I'm talking about corruption, and they are calling me out on the order of Olympic cities? I mean, this is like is this trivial pursuit? Because I mean, it's like we're doing Olympic trivia or something like that. I'm not sure who won the bronze medal for speed skating in Calgary that year but I guess the White House is going to, you know I'll just have to go to the White House for that kind of information because they will have that, I'm sure.
PAT: Keep talking, keep talking.
GLENN: Luckily they don't have wars to deal with an economic crisis or corruption in Chicago or anything like that.
PAT: It's not about the date and you know it.
GLENN: Yeah.
PAT: It's about the fact that you said Vancouver lost a ton of money and the event hasn't even happened yet. That's what it's about.
GLENN: Yeah, yeah. Calgary instead of Vancouver. I'm sorry for that one. I stand corrected. But when looking at it from a financial perspective, it's not really a two week event, is it? It takes years and years and years. Ask the people in Vancouver if spending on the Olympics has started yet. It's kind of like Medicare on Social Security. You know, they aren't tens of trillions in debt yet, but any honest observer with a calculator can figure out that that's just a matter of time. What doesn't make any sense, I mean, if you are the White House, why would you draw attention to the Vancouver games, you know?
PAT: Well, because. Because you want the truth out about them.
GLENN: Yeah.
PAT: You said they were losing a fortune. And they haven't even had the games there.
GLENN: All right. Well, you asked for it. So well, you didn't. But at least the White House asked for the details on the Vancouver games. So let's give you the details on the Vancouver games, which again haven't happened yet. The Vancouver Olympics budgeted $175 million for security. According to the Vancouver Sun, that number may be $800 million higher. British Columbia's auditor general reported that British Columbia, quote, has not fully disclosed the risks associated with the cost and revenue projections, end quote. He says they didn't include, quote, what he and two previous auditors believe should be counted as Olympic related costs. The billion dollar sea to sky highway improvements, the billion dollar trade and convention center and the $2 billion Canada line. That's close to $4 billion that they just kind of shuffled off onto other books. Plus the $600 million the government admits to.
PAT: Okay, but those numbers don't
GLENN: Hold on just a second. I'm not entirely done here. Also missing from the budget, the $300 million Olympic bonus that unionized government employees got for signing a four year contract that ends after the games. I just, I just love these unions. By the way, that contract ends right after the election, too. Transportation to the event, which is another unaccounted for $250 million, Canadians are also on the hook for the Olympic village for a billion dollars. Its original budget was less than $200 million. They thought they could make the money back by selling everything as condos after the games. Yeah, guess how well those condo sales strategies are working out for them. Just interest on the money for all the unsold units could cost Canada $48 million. Every single year. So far we're up to over $6 billion in unaccounted for costs. The original budget was $1 1/2 billion. Also remember it doesn't include everything. There's still almost a year before the games actually start, but, you know, don't worry. They planned for this, you know. They have a contingency fund. $66.8 million. Unfortunately they've already spent 98% of that money.
PAT: Yeah, well, you still made up the cities. You got that wrong, Vancouver, Vancouver, Canada.