Update: Tonight on GBTV, Glenn went into depth on the people in the media who got the story on the Muslim Brotherhood right and the overwhelming number of people on both the right and the left who got it wrong. You can get those details HERE
When news broke of the Muslim Brotherhood winning the presidency in Egypt over the weekend, viewers and listeners of The Glenn Beck Program probably weren’t too surprised. After all, Glenn has been warning about Islamic extremists rising to power in the Middle East ever since the Arab Spring first grew to national attention in late January of 2011. Unfortunately, the mainstream media was way behind the curve on this story, with many on the right and the left criticizing Glenn for thinking that radicals would take control of Egypt.
Take, for instance, Bill Kristol’s infamous statement:
But hysteria is not a sign of health. When Glenn Beck rants about the caliphate taking over the Middle East from Morocco to the Philippines, and lists (invents?) the connections between caliphate-promoters and the American left, he brings to mind no one so much as Robert Welch and the John Birch Society. He’s marginalizing himself, just as his predecessors did back in the early 1960s.Nor is it a sign of health when other American conservatives are so fearful of a popular awakening that they side with the dictator against the democrats. Rather, it’s a sign of fearfulness unworthy of Americans, of short-sightedness uncharacteristic of conservatives, of excuse-making for thuggery unworthy of the American conservative tradition.
Or how about David Brooks who said:
There was an interesting split among the Glenn Beck types, really with delusional ravings about the Caliphate coming back. And I would say the conservative establishment which was, this is a fulfillment of Ronald Reagan's democracy during ‑ there was that interesting split and there were really some fights including between Bill Kristol and Glenn Beck this week….Right, this is wonderful, what are you raving about? It's not the taking over of the Muslim ‑‑and Glenn Beck for the first time began to see a lot of serious conservatives taking on Beck and people like that saying, you know, your theories are whacky.
And, perhaps one of the worst, senior intelligence advisor for the White House James Clapper said:
“The term ‘Muslim Brotherhood’…is an umbrella term for a variety of movements, in the case of Egypt, a very heterogeneous group, largely secular, which has eschewed violence and has decried al-Qaida as a perversion of Islam.”
Meanwhile, Glenn was one of the only voices warning of the possible problems that could arise from the Arab Spring:
On radio this morning, Glenn took some time to address his critics, taking particular aim at David Brooks.
“Theories are just whacky,” Glenn said after replaying the David Brooks audio from last year.
“They were in Tahrir Square over the weekend just, you know, Allah Akbar, Allah Akbar. And the Muslim Brotherhood now has officially taken over in Egypt. But don't worry about it. President Obama says it's all good, it's all good,” he said.
“According to an Arab language report last Tuesday, closed‑door senior‑level Brotherhood confab, the Islamist group intends to get rid of film and ‘artistic heritage.’ That's a quote. They are going to replace police uniforms with Islamic garb and make memorization of Islam's holy book a precondition for advancement in school. The sweeping changes dubbed now the Jazira Plan, will be put into ‑‑ put into place as soon as Dr. Morsi assumes the presidency, this according to a report over in the Middle East this weekend,” Glenn read.
“The first step in the plan is to replace the National Anthem with the so called anthem of the Islamic Caliphate,” he explained. “ Soon followed by the abolition of the ministry of information, replacing it with Islamic media organization whose sole aim will be to publish Islamic heritage only.”
“That's some delusional ranting you just did there,” Stu joked.
Tonight on GBTV, Glenn went into depth on the people in the media who got the story on the Muslim Brotherhood right and the overwhelming number of people on both the right and the left who got it wrong. Get the details HERE
