Philly radio host calls hurricane survivors "scumbags"
http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/attytood/archives/002353.html


And you can probably guess which one: Nationally syndicated right-wing ranter Glenn Beck, who makes his home at Philly's own WPHT 1210, "The Big Talker." Earlier this summer, Beck's producer sent us an email asking why the radio host had placed a fairly high No. 15 on Attytood's list of "The 100 People Screwing Up Philadelphia" (ahead of cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal and David Bell, among others).

This morning, Beck answered the question himself. He kicked off his 9 a.m, show -- in which, believe it or not, he's apparently seeking to raise money for the American Red Cross and others aiding Katrina victims -- with a rant about the mayhem yesterday at the Houston Astrodome, site of the seemingly poorly managed doling out of $2,000 debit cards to several thousand New Orleans survivors.

He said, "I probably shouldn't say this," and then started talking about how he tries not to wait on a restaurant buffet line -- which struck us as not an apt comparison...the dining habits of a six-figure radio host versus people anxious to rebuild their shattered lives with roughly the amount of money that Beck earns for one three-hour show.

Then, he noted that it took him about a year "to start hating the 9/11 victims' families," a nice observation on the very week that so many Americans are mourning the fourth anniversary of the day that terrorists killed a family member or a friend. Well, OK, he hates maybe ten of them, he explained. (We assume he was talking about these 9/11 survivors, who had the nerve to wonder government negligence had something to do with their husbands' murders).

But now, 11 days after the worst natural disaster in U.S. history, Beck said he's starting to hate the Hurricane Katrina survivors. In fact, he called them "scumbags." (Apparently, this is the word that Beck likes to use to describe people who lost a loved one though tragedy or terrorism, because last year he called the father of Iraq beheading victim Nick Berg "a scumbag.")

He wasn't very clear, so assume that Beck -- just as with 9/11 -- doesn't think that all hurricane survivors are "scumbags," just the poorest ones, the ones who had the nerve to be impatient about collecting a little humanitarian aid after 10 days in hell.

That business done, Beck said he was now going to start raising relief money for "regular people," folks in the (supposed) 90,000-square mile disaster zone and not just the 181 square miles of New Orleans. We honestly have no idea what he meant by "regular people."

Surely he didn't mean white people, because they would never allow someone who thought like that on the radio.

Would they?