Via Andrew Johnson at NRO, this isn’t notable so much for its content — which will come as no surprise to Hot Air readers — as its provenance.  This isn’t Fox News or even a right-wing blog site challenging the high-speed rail shibboleth of the Left; it’s CNN and Anderson Cooper.

Of course, it’s easy picking on Ray LaHood, who approaches high-speed cluelessness almost immediately as Drew Griffin demands some answers on the promises made by the Obama administration:

For all the money being spent on high-speed rail, Griffin reports that the only high-speed rail line that’s actually being built is the California corridor between San Francisco and Los Angeles (eventually, anyway) that runs along and over the San Andreas Fault, which by-the-by is overdue for a massive earthquake.  I’ve included a few links below to remind readers just how well that project has gone over the last few years.  Don’t forget that the first service on this line if and when it starts at all — and after billions of dollars have been spent — will be to connect the huge metropolitan areas of Bakersfield and, er, somewhere near Fresno.  When it’s complete, California and the US will have spent over $100 billion in order to create a subsidized transportation system to connect two cities in a trip that takes about three times as long as air travel does.

Boondoggle? Absolutely. Bait and switch? You bet. Fraud? It’s been that from the start, but kudos to CNN for exposing it.

• CA governor wants environmental waivers for high-speed rail project
• WH: You bet we’re gung-ho on that boondoggle that’s tripled in cost before it’s begun!
• Great news: $98 billion estimate for California high-speed rail is lowball
• CA bullet train triples in price, adds 13 years to deployment schedule
• High-speed de-rail in California