Glenn Beck: 9/11 Memorial A 'Complete And Total Disgrace' For Not Having First Responders

Glenn Beck launched the next phase of his career on Monday with the premiere of his new network and his two-hour Web TV show.

Beck is banking on the Web to help him maintain his status as one of the country's influential (and controversial) media figures. His new show looked and felt nearly identical to his Fox News show, from the set to Beck's emotional, freewheeling monologues. The difference, of course, is that he has complete control over the program. As he put it, "if it doesn't work, I'm flat broke. But I don't owe anyone a dime." He told his audience that he would never pander to them because he did not consider them "morons," and that he would always tell them the truth.

Beck spent much of his first hour on the 9/11 anniversary. Unsurprisingly, he zigged where others have zagged. Beck said that he found it to be a "complete and total disgrace" that the first responders who came to the site of the attacks were not invited to the 10th anniversary memorial. The city said there was not enough room to accommodate them because of the number of family members and security at the site. Beck felt that this was a shoddy excuse. He also called the lack of clergy at the memorial "a slap in God's face."

"I think they've tainted this ceremony, tainted this space," he said. He also criticized the government and the developers of the new World Trade Center for a variety of other sins, including not leaving the lights of the tower on all night to honor the attacks and building the tower so slowly.

"The memory of 9/11 has been bastardized," he said. Later, Beck got choked up at several points recounting 9/11, and he brought on some of the first responders who had apparently not been at the anniversary memorial on Sunday.

Beck also weighed in on the controversy surrounding Paul Krugman's recent blog post on the attacks, which many conservatives have condemned for saying that 9/11 has become "poisoned" by political exploitation.

"I notice that the points he made are nearly identical to the points made on a blog on AlJazeera.com," he said. "Al Jazeera and the New York Times are one and the same, finally. Welcome to GBTV, where we can finally say that we are very, very different from Al Jazeera."

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Comments

[whitneymuse]

09:43 PM on 09/21/2011

An excellent summary of Beck's show; it just got to be too much work to watch it; not enough fake crying to laugh; I hope he treats his audience to some of those Vapo-Rub induced cries; have Tina Brown comment on them too. That was a laugh.

[Thorn11acr]

04:46 PM on 09/15/2011

The difference between those in the WTC and the First Responders is starkly different. Those in the WTC got blind sided and didn't know what hit them.

The First Responders looked into the gates of Hell..and charged right in !!! That's what make them HERO'S, and the other Victims.

The crimes is Liberals want bike paths while our bridges crumble, and our sewers overload. They want health care for the most unproductive, violent and drug ridden members of our society to "buy" their votes. The hero's who saved countless lives are dying from exposure to WTF ever was coming out of those building, they have now gone from Hero's to Victims too.

The liberals have no use for anyone not important to their Socialist/Communist Agenda.

I'm no fan of Glen Beck but I challenge you to find fault with his facts...he does his homework and he does tell the TRUTH, he's just a little too dramatic for me.

Want a society where only those who are favored by the Government get decent treatment. How much room was made for the 1 million Blacks to be bussed in for Obama's Swearing in Dog & Pony Show. ONE MILLION blacks came to that even from all over, and left a mess behind them that cost the city $200,000 to clean up.

The Tea Party later also had one Million in their demonstration...know how much it cost the city to clean up after them...ZERO !!!

[icwhite02]

07:35 PM on 09/16/2011

B) We've had a small tatse of what that is like a couple of times, all that really needs to happen is the N1H1 swine flu virus to mutate into an airborne illness or, God forbid, something more VIRULENT WITH A SHORTER INCUBATION TIME, & we're looking at disease on a Biblical scale! Considering there is plenty of evidence pointing to these being the END TIMES, this is the last thing we'd want to have happen because then we'd actually be BRINGING IT ON OURSELVES DUE TO SELFISHNESS (not wanting OUR tax dollars to cover the POOR!) which is what the Bible preaches FOR, taking care of the poor & the downtrodden & the weak! Jesus said,"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to get into the Kingdom of God!" Good, at least I know there won't be any Repubs in Heaven!

[icwhite02]

07:35 PM on 09/16/2011

A)I'm a moderate Liberal, & I think bike paths before fixing bridges & sewers is stupid, too! And when it comes to Healthcare, we're ALREADY paying for their care in the form of EXORBITANT Emergency Room costs absorbed by community hospitals paid for WITH - YOU GUESSED IT! TAX PAYER'S MONEY! It would be SO MUCH MORE COST EFFECTIVE to pay for it with tax payer's dollars in the form of INSURANCE! It's so much more cost effective to pay for it PROACTIVELY rather than AFTER THE FACT, especially considering that hospitals charge $10 per pill for aspirin! And with the funds for Community/Public Health programs cut, how would we deal with a major flu pandemic if most of the general public had no coverage for vaccine or hopital care & instead went around SPREADING IT?

[Thorn11acr]

06:30 PM on 09/17/2011

The first criteria for Health Care should be..."caring about your health".

We spend millions of dollars on people who don't care about their health. They drink and do drugs, unprotected sex and when it comes back on them...THEY WANT FREE HEALTH CARE TO PAY FOR THEIR ILLNESS.

People need to be proactive about their health. The internet has almost all the answerss for free. You know those Statin Drugs like Zucor, Premastatin, the ones that are supposed to lower the evil Cholestrol ? They cause the body to stop producing COQ10 the heart needs that to stay healthy.

Statin drugs are silent killers, but huge profit.. You can take a Natural capsule to lower Cholestrol that has been proven as good or better than harmful prescription drugs...and it cost less than $12.00 a month with no side effects. Its called "Policosanol" and it doesn't affect the bodys making of COQ10.

Flu Vacines...Do you like putting Mercury into your body ? How about rotten eggs ? You can buy Vitamin D-3, I like it in spray form for $10.00 for a months worth. 4 sprays = 8,000 units of D-3. Its been proven more, MORE effective than Vacines for the flu, and it doesn't care what strain the flu is...My family has used it for years, and never caught the flu or had a cold.

[coachkat27]

02:42 PM on 09/15/2011

Reading all these comments, I am wondering truly what politics has to do with 9/11 remembrances? Republican, Democrat or Tea Party, it didn't matter when those towers fell! Those people involved in the incident are the people that should have been at the ceremony. It is a complete and total disgrace to ignore those who risked all to save strangers!
It is also a "slap in the face" to God to ignore Him, when many of those people DO believe, trust and NEED HIM in their lives. Freedom of religion goes both ways. How can you be offended by something you don't believe exists?

[Thorn11acr]

04:52 PM on 09/15/2011

When they dedicated the WW2 memorial the old veterans where outraged. FDR's famous Infamy Speach was carved into the memorial, the last words of his speech "So help me GOD"...was deleted from the monument. I was told when I called them "it was left out as not to offend some people"...Some people ? You quote a speech as leave out the man's promise to GOD ?

This is Liberalism the new word for COMMUNISM. Want a two party system that is WORKERS and LEADERS, that Liberalism.

Want one wage for all, no matter how much you produce or work...that's liberalism.

Want someone telling you What you will watch on TV, what you hear and what your allowed to say and not say...that is liberalism.

One day they'll come a time when Americans are fed up with Politically Correct...and the Tree of Liberty will get a good feeding.

[Joanna McGinn]

05:09 PM on 09/15/2011

LOVE your last sentence!! Have you ever gotten a reasonable answer? I haven't yet. Also since you seem to be more intelligent than most who have posted here, I'll share a sentence that when people make outrageous statements. I just look them straight in the eyes and ask, "And your point is????" unfortunately people do not like to have their irrationality and/or stupidity exposed, so expect 'disgusted silence'. At some point in your life, you have to decide to you want to be honest, truthful or popular. Sadly they don't seem to be in the same package.

[magickalworld]

02:04 PM on 09/15/2011

Being a moderate Democrat I am not a fan of Glenn Beck and do not watch his show. I do, however, completely agree with him on this point. The first responders and the families of the victims should above all others have been invited to the memorial. Those were the people that lost the most. We all lost a piece of our souls that horrific day, but they lost even more. The first responders didn't run away from the horror, they ran INTO it so that they might save others. For that reason, they and their families should have been at the top of the list. As far as the clergy, I don't think it would have been unreasonable to have 1 member representing each faith to have been invited. Many of the families would have taken comfort in that. Apparently it was more important for Bloomberg to have politicians and cronies there instead.

[Joanna McGinn]

05:21 PM on 09/15/2011

Beautifully said.

As a high school and college debater, I've always found it beneficial to read and be familiar with positions different from me. Sometimes Truth is in the opposing scale in the weighing of justice. I have found that even when I change my mind, I don't melt into the floor like the 'Wicked Witch of the West'.... one can survive being 'wrong'.

[pmag88]

03:57 AM on 09/15/2011

A month or two after 9/11 I remember going to see a movie with my family. American Pie 2.

I remember really enjoying the film and then started to think what it would be like if this type of work could not exist.

It was a strange experience to alternately cry and laugh and have all these mixed emotions, somewhere about halfway through the film I remember thiking. Yeah, if it comes down to it. This IS worth fighting and dying for.

[pmag88]

03:51 AM on 09/15/2011

The morning of 9/11 I woke up late for an important appointment. While rushing to put on my shoes I happened to be looking at the T.V. when I saw the second plane hit the building in realtime. (BTW - this particular footage does not seem the same as what they are showing now and I haven't been able to find the orignal anywhere online)

I didn't sleep much for a few days but upon waking up from a nightmare a few days later, I saw the second plane hit the building again, and ever after my eyes were open the image was just there and took some time to fade.

Some days later I had a really bad nightmare of the type where most people wake up because it's just too horrific. In this case, due to the nature of what was happening in the dream, I forced my self to stay in it. I said to the forces that were there that I wasn't leaving and nothing they could do would make me leave my dream.

I don't know if what I experienced was something that came from inside me or not, but it didn't matter. I refused to come up out of that dream until whatever force that was terrorising me faded.

For me, personally, our response to 9/11 that has made it harder for me to live with.

[olehippi]

04:14 PM on 09/14/2011

Even when Beck is right, the heartless liberals bash him. No doubt these compassionless fools would feel differently if one of those first responders had been their father or brother.

[Mister Serene]

12:28 PM on 09/15/2011

What do you not understand about not enough room to accommodate everyone??? You righties really know how to beat a dead horse. HP, too, at times. Wasn't this article featured 2-3 days ago?

[Phyllis Copeland]

12:55 PM on 09/15/2011

I think the First Responders would be better served with the health care they so desperately need. It is easy to give lip service to honoring the First Responders, apparently *actually* honoring them is a bit too much to ask.

[Joanna McGinn]

05:26 PM on 09/15/2011

How about BOTH happening? And the dogs who had a higher rate of cancer? What about them? What really angered me is that the GOVERNMENT aka OSHA lied to them about the dangers of the rescue work. Time and time again they said it was 'safe' to work there. They could/should have had disposable coveralls, N9 breathing filters.... Nothing would be perfect, I understand that but better precautions should have been taken and the responders relied on the government's advice. Yes, they SHOULD be given full medical care but then we have to pay for all the illegal alien medical care.

[walkabodog]

02:26 PM on 09/14/2011

Again, moderators protecting one of their favorite people. Hate to tell you this but Glenn can take care of himself very well. Of course that doesn't take much if you write an accurate story. HP, the home of the moderators that would take down our first amendment rights.

[PunKinPai]

01:43 PM on 09/14/2011

I'm probably in the minority in that not including the first responders didn't bother me one bit. They've gotten most of the glory and press coverage that you'd think they were the only ones who died. Just this one time let the focus be on the other victims.

[tepeko]

02:42 PM on 09/14/2011

"Glory?" So the first responders were in it for the glory? That's why many of them, off duty at the time, ran into those buildings...for the glory? Well, aren't YOU special!

[coachkat27]

06:30 PM on 09/15/2011

How ignorant! You think they want to go to the ceremony for "glory" They want to be there to honor their fallen family members. They are not asking to be on-stage or in the spot light. They do not ask for recognition. They are victims and survivors of 9/11.

[HippieChick]

01:03 PM on 09/14/2011

"... from the set to Beck's emotional, freewheeling monologues"
-------------------------------------------------------
I expect that Beck gets a paycheck from Vicks every time he expresses these "emotional, freewheeling monologues" - probably a "per tear" contract.

[Mister Serene]

12:31 PM on 09/15/2011

Maybe they should have built barges out in the East River to accommodate first responders during the ceremony. Again, what don't you understand about not enough room at the site to accommodate everyone???

[whatsthisworldcomingto]

05:24 PM on 09/15/2011

shhh... me, too, robyn!

[mbobmcc]

12:43 PM on 09/14/2011

He will be flat broke if this fails???? Isn't this the guy that said he had his money invested in the safety of gold?? Isn't this the guy that was telling his audience to invest in gold. Apparently he isn't smart enough to take his own advise.

[mbobmcc]

12:35 PM on 09/14/2011

Glenn....get some help.

[Dadeo]

11:29 AM on 09/14/2011

Beck crying, can you say Vicks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m692Tqbnbxo

[mrluckyman]

11:10 AM on 09/14/2011

Leave it to GB to put a sour taste in everyones mouth,nasty thoughts in their minds and hatred in our hearts . " He told his audience that he would never pander to them because he did not consider them "morons," and that he would always tell them the truth."I find that one very hard to digest, Tell the truth? He means "his" warped views, there is very little truth behind his words. So much for "he did not consider them "morons, "are these the same people he claims deserved to be devastated by Hurricane Irene, you know, the one he said was a Blessing from God for those who didnt heed his words of caution? He needs to go away already.

[Judas Priest Already]

12:04 PM on 09/15/2011

Heeey Mr Luckyman. I think that you're being a little hard on Glenn. He always invites you to challenge his truth. He has facts that back up his statements. Do you have facts? You are calling Glenn a liar that twists the truth, but you provide no evidence. He blasted the Obama administration on his show and had a working phone that they NEVER called to refute. Why? The big government folks weren't able to address and put away Glenn's accusations? Have you the power to explain away the Obama administration woes? Then why are you defending them? If you can't answer Glenn's questions, you may not like the messenger, but you had better retain the message. If you can't explain the Obama administration with facts, then why do you hammer Glenn? I'm waiting for Obama to address and answer Glenn's questions. And I don't want the redirect to George Bush. He screwed up and has been hammered unmercifully for it by Obama and his staff. Now, it's time that Obama answer some good questions about his work and plans. Glenn is the messenger and Obama needs to answer those questions, whether you like them or not.

[Phyllis Copeland]

01:01 PM on 09/15/2011

" He blasted the Obama administra tion on his show and had a working phone that they NEVER called to refute. "

Oh, I don't know, maybe they're busy running the country? Two wars on the other side of the planet, at that time, they were still hunting Bin Laden, and I don't even want to think of all the other plates they have to keep spinning at all times. Responding to the wild-eyed tin-foil hat claims of the likes of Glenn Beck is undoubtedly too unimportant to even make the list.