Glenn Beck re-writes his 2006 conversation with Imam Rauf

Written by Ben Dimiero

Published

Tonight, Glenn Beck continued to dishonestly respond to the unearthing of a 2006 roundtable discussion in which Beck appeared to call Imam Rauf a “good Muslim.”

In tonight's segment, Beck purports to show (and then dismisses) the “damning, gotcha evidence” from the 2006 interview, but he actually excises a key moment from the video.

As we noted, during the 2006 discussion, when Diane Sawyer mentioned that Imam Rauf says the Islamic radicals are just a “group of people” and “not him,” Beck seemed to agree, saying “sure, sure.” He added, “I believe it's a small portion of Islam that is acting in these ways.” Today, Beck dismissed that portion of the exchange:

After playing the “sure, sure” comment, Beck responds in exasperated fashion by saying “that's it?!” But as we noted earlier, that was not, in fact, “it.” In addition to appearing to endorse Sawyer's characterization of the distinction between Rauf and extremists, Beck later appeared to gesture to Rauf when Beck invoked the idea of “good Muslims.” Beck left this part of the exchange out of the video he aired tonight and didn't mention it during his televised response.

Beck's characterization of his “sure, sure,” comment echoes a similar argument Beck made on his radio show today, in which he mocked the idea that he somehow “endorsed” Rauf. Beck claims that he was merely agreeing with Sawyer's characterization that radicals only comprise a small portion of Islam. However, as we pointed out when he made the argument earlier:

This makes no sense. Even if you want to argue that saying “sure, sure” was not an “endorsement” of Imam Rauf, it certainly was an endorsement of Rauf's position on the violent minority of radical Islam, as characterized by then-GMA host Diane Sawyer. In fact, Beck says as much. In 2006, Beck agreed with Rauf's condemnations of the violent minority of radical Islam. But in 2010, Beck is accusing Rauf of wanting to build an “Allah-tells-me-to-blow-up-America mosque.” Beck is calling Rauf a “radical” Muslim, even though he agrees with what Rauf says regarding radical Islam.

Beck also left out the statement that preceded Sawyer's question to Beck about whether the extremists constitute just a “group” of Muslims, in which Rauf condemns the people who issued death threats against the Pope and political cartoonists. Rauf specifically said that “these reactions are not at all called for by Islamic teaching. The teachings of Islam are very similar to the teachings of Christianity, of loving the one God and loving thy neighbor. These are the two common principles.”

I suppose when you are committed to attacking someone as a “radical,” it's best not to give your followers any clear evidence to the contrary.