Did Wall Street Journal, NY Times Verify Beck's Egypt Theories? Nope

Glenn Beck has spent the last two weeks insistently claiming that a trans-national alliance between leftists and Islamic extremists was driving events on the streets of Cairo. He has been widely panned for these claims, and in the past few days he has lashed out against his critics. In the past couple of days, he has taken a more indignant stance: Despite having been “mocked” over his ideas, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal have made claims that “actually verify that we have been absolutely accurate on this story.”

As Beck said on Friday's edition of his Fox News show: “I have been called a madman for first saying that they are all working together, which, again, confirmed by The New York Times, and now The Wall Street Journal as well.”

Of course, neither the Times nor the Journal pieces Beck is referencing do anything of the sort.

Beck has described his theory thusly:

And I said, in three sentences, this is what was happening. On day two of this revolt, I said, radical Islamists, communists, and socialists will work together against Israel, will work together against capitalism, will work together to overthrow and overturn stability.

The New York Times piece Beck cites as the mainstream media “verify[ing] that [he has] been absolutely accurate on this story” does not use the word Israel or quote anyone talking about Israel. Nor can the word “capitalism” or any anti-capitalist rhetoric be found. There is no mention of stability or chaos or any similar theme. The closest the Times piece comes to agreeing with Beck is when it says "... many [protesters] have formed some unusual bonds that reflect the singularly nonideological character of the Egyptian youth revolt, which encompasses liberals, socialists and members of the Muslim Brotherhood." The piece describes the way young people in Egypt leading the uprising - many of whom have lived their entire lives under Mubarak -- have used technology and built coalitions to sustain and grow the protests.

The sole mention of communism in the piece comes when it describes the planners of the protest:

Many in the circle, in fact, met during their university days. Islam Lotfi, a lawyer who is a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood Youth, said his group used to enlist others from the tiny leftist parties to stand with them in calling for civil liberties, to make their cause seem more universal. Many are now allies in the revolt, including Zyad el-Elaimy, a 30-year-old lawyer who was then the leader of a communist group.

So, one of the organizers led a communist group -- in college.

As for the Journal's supposed verification of Beck's ideas, it's not actually possible to definitively debunk his claims since he has not named a specific Journal article in support. He did, however, read from a story headlined “The Secret Rally That Sparked an Uprising.” Within that story, which describes how the initial January 25 protests were planned and executed, is this sentence: “Those present [at the planning meeting] included representatives from six youth movements connected to opposition political parties, groups advocating labor rights and the Muslim Brotherhood.”

What the Times and Journal pieces doesn't do is “verify” a single word of Beck's lunatic theory. Acknowledging that labor and liberal groups and the Muslim Brotherhood have taken part in the protests does not equate to verification of the Islamo-commie conspiracy to destroy Western civilization Beck has been ranting about.

Let's look at those two sentences again, and compare them to Beck's claim. From the Times:

[M]any [protesters] have formed some unusual bonds that reflect the singularly nonideological character of the Egyptian youth revolt, which encompasses liberals, socialists and members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

From the Journal:

Those present [at the planning meeting] included representatives from six youth movements connected to opposition political parties, groups advocating labor rights and the Muslim Brotherhood.

From Glenn Beck:

And I said, in three sentences, this is what was happening. On day two of this revolt, I said, radical Islamists, communists, and socialists will work together against Israel, will work together against capitalism, will work together to overthrow and overturn stability.

One of these things is not like the others.