Earlier tonight, Bill O'Reilly pledged to defend his Fox News colleague, Glenn Beck, against “the people generating the attacks” against him -- which, they both agreed, “are gonna get worse” -- saying, “I have your back.” Well, later on in the show, O'Reilly proved true to his word and did defend him -- by obscuring Beck's own statements that his rally would “reclaim the civil rights movement,” which he said has been “corrupted” by progressives.

During an exchange with Al Sharpton, O'Reilly repeatedly deflected Sharpton's comments about how Beck promoted his rally as an effort to take back the civil rights movement from those he claims have “perverted” it. O'Reilly wanted to discuss solely what happened at the rally, rather than how Beck had previously tied it to the civil rights movement and Dr. Martin Luther King's legacy. When pressed by Sharpton, O'Reilly countered that Beck said "[h]e wants" the civil rights movement “for everybody” and that "[h]e says it every day on his radio show that Dr. Martin Luther King is not the sole property of African-Americans. That's the whole theme."

While Beck has repeatedly asserted that “Whites don't own Abraham Lincoln” and “Blacks don't own Martin Luther King,” it is not the “whole theme,” as O'Reilly suggested. Beck hasn't simply said he wants to share or join the civil rights movement -- he has said he wants to “reclaim” it, and that him and his followers are “the inheritors and the protectors of the civil rights movement,” while people like Sharpton “are perverting it.”

Sharpton went on to say to O'Reilly:

SHARPTON: No, but, no one ever said Martin Luther King was the sole property of African -- in fact, the opposite of it. But he said that he was going in that moment and seize the moment. That's when some of us got in. When he announced this march and traveled all over the country with you for a year, no one criticized him. ... When he got that date, no one criticized him. When he said he was going to take the civil rights movement, that's when we had a right to address it. Had he never said that, we'd never would have said a word.

As Sharpton rightly noted, Beck spent weeks invoking King, claiming that his rally would “reclaim the civil rights movement” and “pick up Martin Luther King's dream that has been distorted and lost.” Here are Beck's own words about the rally:

• Beck asserted on May 26 that his 8-28 rally -- which he described as an “iconic event” -- will “reclaim the civil rights movement,” which has been “so distorted.” Beck also said: “We are on the right side of history. We are on the side of individual freedoms and liberties and damn it, we will reclaim the civil rights moment. We will take that movement because we were the people that did it in the first place.”

• While encouraging people to attend the rally, Beck said, “As we create history together, your children will be able to say, 'I remember. I was there.' As we -- as we pick up Martin Luther King's dream that has been distorted and lost, and we say 'we bought it when he first said it. It's time to restore and to finish it.”

• Promoting his rally, Beck noted that the date falls on the “anniversary of the 'I Have a Dream' speech from Martin Luther King. And what an appropriate day.” He added, “At first we picked that date, we didn't know and I thought, 'oh jeez.' But now I think it was almost divine providence. I do. His dream has been so corrupted.”

Let's not forget also that when Sharpton stated that King's “dream” was “not to put one black family in the White House,” that “the dream was to make everything equal in everybody's house,” Beck flatly denied it, saying: “That is not the dream. That is a perversion of the dream. We are the people of the civil rights movement. We are the ones that must stand for civil and equal rights: equal rights, justice, equal justice -- not special justice, not social justice, but equal justice.” He added: “We are the inheritors and the protectors of the civil rights movement. They are perverting it.”

Beck has also said:

• Beck said that “Martin Luther King's dream is being massively perverted.” Beck added, “It's time to set it right. One side has all the power. Enough power.”

• On May 12, Beck said, “I would believe that Martin Luther King would be for” a law passed in Arizona banning classes “that are designed for pupils of a particular ethnic group, promote resentment or advocate ethnic solidarity over treating pupils as individuals.” He added, “It's the content of your character, not the color of your skin.”

• Discussing Mark Lloyd, chief diversity officer at the FCC, and “media diversity” efforts, Beck stated that he “believe[s] in the words of Martin Luther King: Judge someone by the content of their character.” Beck then asked, “Why we are being dragged back into the 1950s, 1850s, where we're looking at somebody's skin color?”

O'Reilly went on to claim regarding the rally that Beck “wanted to stay away from politics” and that he was standing up for civil rights.

Sharpton vigorously disagreed, saying:

SHARPTON: No, it is not what he's doing. He's talking about a theocracy. He's not talking about fighting against inequality. Read Dr. King's speech. I tell you what -- why don't you ask him next year if he does it that day or any day, read Dr. King's speech where he talks about police brutality and he talks about the check being cashed equally in this country by blacks and see if he agrees with the speech. He admires the man; does he admire what the message of the man is? That's the question.

As we pointed out, Beck's rally was indeed "highly politicized," as Juan Williams put it tonight. Conservative groups, including Tea Party Patriots, the NRA, and FreedomWorks, were heavily involved in planning and organizing the event. Moreover, Fox News contributor Sarah Palin, who has enduring ties to GOP politics, used her speaking slot at the rally to attack President Obama, making it hard to believe Beck when he claimed that the rally would be “non-political.”

Secondly, as numerous commentators have noted, King's 1963 march on Washington where he delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech was called the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom,” where labor leaders, as well as civil rights leaders, marched alongside King. And during his speech, and throughout his life, King called not only for social justice, but for economic rights as well.

Here's the full exchange from tonight's edition of The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: Was there anything wrong with what Beck did?

SHARPTON: Not what he did. What he said is not what -- what he said he was going to do is not what he did.

O'REILLY: Oh, no. But what he did --

SHARPTON: What he did --

O'REILLY -- the rally that he did. Anything wrong with that?

SHARPTON: If he wants to have a rally -- first of all, no one questioned him having a rally. We did not challenge his permit. We did not say --

O'REILLY: No, no, I know. But did he do anything wrong on Saturday?

SHARPTON: I said, what he did is not what he said. What he did -- no. But you got to remember, he was the one that said that he was going to reclaim the civil rights movement. And then --

O'REILLY: He wants it for everybody.

SHARPTON: -- it was going to be done -- no. He said I'm going to reclaim the civil rights movement.

O'REILLY: For everybody.

SHARPTON: And that -- now you're putting words in his mouth.

O'REILLY: No, I'm not. He says it every day on his radio show that --

SHARPTON: He says I'm gonna reclaim the civil rights --

O'REILLY: -- Dr. Martin Luther King is not the sole property of African-Americans. That's the whole theme.

SHARPTON: No, but, no one ever said Martin Luther King was the sole property of African --

O'REILLY: But that's what Beck is saying.

SHARPTON: In fact, the opposite of it. But he said that he was going in that moment and seize the moment. That's when some of us got in. When he announced this march and traveled all over the country with you for a year, no one criticized him.

O'REILLY: Based on what happened --

SHARPTON: When he got that date, no one criticized him. When he said he was going to take the civil rights movement, that's when we had a right to address it. Had he never said that, we'd never would have said a word.

[...]

O'REILLY: And you have no problem with what happened at the rally. Do you think it was a positive thing for the country?

SHARPTON: I haven't seen no rally, but I think that if he talked about God and country, then my question would be -- which he still hasn't answered. I watched his segment with you -- then how do we apply that? All of us believe in God and country.

O'REILLY: But it wasn't an application deal. He wanted to stay away from politics.

SHARPTON: But that is not what he announced, Bill. He said that we are going to seize the civil rights moment. That's application. How do you implement rights?

O'REILLY: All right. How about you and him next year having a rally together?

SHARPTON: If he wants to stand up for civil rights and against inequality --

O'REILLY: I think that's what he's doing.

SHARPTON: -- and unfairness. No, it is not what he's doing. He's talking about a theocracy. He's not talking about fighting against inequality. Read Dr. King's speech. I tell you what -- why don't you ask him next year if he does it that day or any day, read Dr. King's speech where he talks about police brutality and he talks about the check being cashed equally in this country by blacks and see if he agrees with the speech. He admires the man; does he admire what the message of the man is? That's the question.