Bozell Column: Who Is Eric Fuller?
OK, so conservatives have to be accused of fostering hatred with our alleged vitriol, the kind of vitriol which fuels the flames of violence, like we witnessed in Tucson except – well, except there wasn’t, and isn’t, a shred of evidence that the killer was influenced by any conservatives since a) he didn’t listen to or watch conservative programming and b) isn’t a conservative.
There is the hypothetical question: What if the perpetrator of violence were liberal? How would the media react then? How many would put Chris Matthews, Paul Krugman, Keith Olbermann and Co. on trial for creating the “atmosphere” of “hatred” so often ascribed to conservatives only?
In fact, it happened. One of Jared Loughner’s shooting victims was a local leftist activist, Eric Fuller, who last week was invited to ABC’s taping of an “American Conversation.” There, in front of all the cameras, he interrupted a local Tea Party activist by uttering what should be considered in this atmosphere to be a blood-curdling threat: “You’re dead!” Police considered these words serious enough to have him removed and involuntarily committed to a mental institution.
The very same media outlets that had spent seven days pounding conservatives with no evidence didn’t find this threat worth more than a perfunctory mention, an asterisk. The same people who turned the words “You lie!” from Rep. Joe Wilson to Obama into a week-long scandal for conservatives now heard a man proclaim “You’re dead!” to a Tea Party activist at a national news taping – and they yawned.
Which is not to say that the press wasn’t interested in the pronouncements of this man. In fact, Fuller had been featured in an interview on the radical-left Pacifica Radio network the day before, and they dutifully broadcast his either dishonest or insane rant: “It looks like Palin, Beck, Sharron Angle, and the rest got their first target. Their wish for Second Amendment activism has been fulfilled – senseless hatred leading to murder, lunatic fringe anarchism, subscribed to by John Boehner, mainstream rebels with vengeance for all, even nine-year-old girls."
So let’s look at the coverage. The first responsibility to report this was ABC’s, since they invited this crank to their special episode of “This Week” with Christiane Amanpour. ABC did a big story previewing their “healing” event on “World News Saturday.” At first they pretended that no one made a death threat, and no one was dragged away by police. Anchor David Muir, who co-hosted the town-hall meeting, declared, “Wasn’t it something to see this community together? They want consensus.” Amanpour agreed: “Today we saw them wanting to carry on an honest dialogue, but a reasonable and rational one.”
Just after that delusional dual act of self-congratulation, Muir reported the opposite. In “another note tonight,” he reported, “James Fuller, who was shot twice last week, took offense at what another audience member was saying, and mumbled what seemed to be a threat.”
What? Fuller threatening “You’re dead” is on tape – their tape. So why is he “mumbling” what “seemed to be a threat”? Why couldn’t they specify that he had made a direct, unequivocal death threat against Tea Party activist Trent Humphries? And as for taking offense, they were there. They heard what Humphries was saying. At that very moment he pleading for civility, urging the audience not to enter into debates about gun legislation or other remedies, not when the funerals for the victims hadn’t been concluded. No sane person could take offense to those words.
At least CBS let Humphries explain it the next night: “He booed me while I was talking, you know, very loudly. He turned around and then he took a picture of me and said that ‘You’re dead.’”
ABC mentioned Fuller’s outburst on Sunday’s “Good Morning America” and “World News,” but only in passing. CBS aired just a snippet on Sunday night. NBC hasn’t mentioned it – although they reported on January 13 that Fuller went to Jared Loughner’s parents to try and forgive them. Fuller was quoted: "Well, I thought I'd come over here and try to forgive them. I know that sounds crazy." The newspapers also mentioned it in passing on inside pages.
Since these outlets are barely touching this story, no one is replaying Keith Olbermann’s Tweet after Fuller’s loony Pacifica interview that “I think he of all of us has the right to say this,” the “Tucson survivor that names names.”After the death threat, on Monday night, Olbermann lamented Fuller’s threat on Monday night, but blasted ABC’s invitation to Fuller as “a decision smacking of the tawdriness of the Maury Povich Show.”
The entire wave of political coverage after the Tucson shooting has been a tsunami of mud and garbage. If our political system needs to regain some dignity and professionalism, let it begin with Christiane Amanpour and her news colleagues.
- Brent Bozell's blog
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Comments
Just wait
Submitted by stunned on Tue, 01/18/2011 - 11:10pm.
As soon as they can figure out a way to spin the story to blame Palin we'll hear about it.
tired of liberal lies
they're coming to take me away hah hah...
Submitted by MidAmerica on Tue, 01/18/2011 - 11:17pm.
Police considered these words serious enough to have him removed and involuntarily committed to a mental institution.MSNBC?
Fuller
Submitted by BBallleaper on Tue, 01/18/2011 - 11:19pm.
It has now been proven that Fuller was previously charged several; years ago with 3rd degree sodomy. As yet unanswered are the following; Was he actually a Tucson 'victim'? There is only his word in several separate interviews that he was shot in both the knee and back. Saying he had no medical training and couldn't be of value at the scene he 'walked' to his car and while driving home decided to go to a hospital for treatment. Yet, miraculously, he was able to walk immediately afterwards and to give interviews and attend media meetings.
Where is the medical report? All gunshot wounds need to be reported to the police. What was the extent of his 'wound(s)'? Didi someone else see him get shot? Is it conceivable that an unemployed mentally dysfunctional alcoholic zealot leftist decided to self-inflict his wounds for attention and a national stage to savage Conservatives and the Tea Party????????? Fuller is a rabid leftist who just prior to the shootings stated that he would like to cut off the ears of Palin, Rush etc. and make a 'necklace' of them. And yet no national media has pursued any further information about this mentally ill moron who has now been officially 'swept' under the rug by authorities so that he can have NO further contact with any one questioning his story. It would be safe to assume that he has now been 'loaded' with a sufficient amount of Thorazine to put down elephant while the leftist media diffuses his exploits and prays he dies in custody.
Good point about the gunshot reports
Submitted by Galvanic on Tue, 01/18/2011 - 11:44pm.
It's been reported by investigators that all the gunshots were captured by shopping center security cameras. When that footage is made public, we should be able to confirm whether or not Fuller was shot by Loughner.
I'm curious as to why Fuller "forgave" Loughner's parents. Did they pull the trigger? Has he determined his parents are responsible for their son's insanity?
You're kidding, right?
Submitted by NC Cop on Tue, 01/18/2011 - 11:21pm.
After the death threat, on Monday night, Olbermann lamented Fuller’s threat on Monday night, but blasted ABC’s invitation to Fuller as “a decision smacking of the tawdriness of the Maury Povich Show.”Olbermann talking about "tawdriness"?!?!?! That's like Helen Thomas complaining about anti-Semitism!!!
What if
Submitted by wingnut55 on Tue, 01/18/2011 - 11:26pm.
If Humphries is shot, will Amanpour be named as an accessory? After all her show invited Fuller on to the show. I won't hold my breath,
the idiocy of the leftists on
Submitted by ds7 on Wed, 01/19/2011 - 12:15am.
the idiocy of the leftists on display...
Involuntary commitment…
Submitted by JPR1 on Wed, 01/19/2011 - 12:33am.
Ahhh, to have been a fly on the wall during that first session.
Perhaps better yet, an orderly with a syringe full of Thorazine.
One can only dream.
I'm still waiting for my
Submitted by Barack_must_go..... on Wed, 01/19/2011 - 11:26am.
I'm still waiting for my answer to ' hu's on first '?
Barack_Must_Go.....
Shooting
Submitted by grammajane on Wed, 01/19/2011 - 1:06am.
This shooting by the deranged individual has just completely gotten out of control by the media. These "hosts/hosteses who all reported the violent act was caused by The Tea Party, Palin,Rush and or all conservative talk shows and conservative voters has not stopped, The name calling and judging other's feelings and education status is as bad today as it was an hour after the shooting with no apologies, None of this bashing took place when 13 soldiers were killed at Fort Hood, no TV specials, no interviewing survivors to compare to what has been done by the media this past week. Pres. Bush and First Lady Laura went to Ft. Hood to comfort and not a mention of that on the "media" Not sure.........maybe Fox covered .
I look forward to the in
Submitted by d1carter on Wed, 01/19/2011 - 1:17am.
I look forward to the in depth reports on Fuller from the elite media. But I am not holding my breath. His story just does not fit the propaganda line.
Gun Shot
Submitted by grammajane on Wed, 01/19/2011 - 1:38am.
I agree with Ballleaper#3 on this posting area. Worked in a hospital 30 years and never did I see a gun shot to the leg heal that fast. Fuller was able to drive. get all dress-up to attend the abc bias "town meeting" to make threats. Very weird behavior from a gun shot survivor. Would think he would rather stay home and re-cooperate.
OReilly
Submitted by grammajane on Wed, 01/19/2011 - 2:22am.
OReilly has the audio of Fuller and his rants on his web-site
Who is James Fuller?
Submitted by TexasMom0517 on Wed, 01/19/2011 - 2:45am.
http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-national/breaking-man-arrested-f...
and this
http://gatewaypundit.rightnetwork.com/2011/01/go-figure-leftist-hero-eri...
Apparently, the Professional Left can't ever be bothered to vet ANYONE who subscribes to their storyline.
I think it's Keith Olberman
Submitted by grundoon on Wed, 01/19/2011 - 4:26am.
I think it's Keith Olberman who needs the Thorazine.
The MSM Failed Merserably on this story
Submitted by CoolShades on Wed, 01/19/2011 - 7:26am.
This is the cat caught with the mouse in his mouth. There is no wiggle room. The media failed merserably on this story. And as Rep. Gabrielle Giffords heals from her wounds, the story can't go away. We have to pound the MSM relentlessly for failing on this story on many levels. They have absolutely no defence.
Eric Fuller is the poster
Submitted by Barack_must_go..... on Wed, 01/19/2011 - 9:52am.
Eric Fuller is the poster child for the Obama administration, democrats in Congress, the lame street media and 80% of registered democrat citizens in America.
The devastating changes Obama's fundamental transformation has exacted on America has turned this country in a direction resembling a grim " MAD MAX " sequel, devoid of all that ' hope & change ' bullshit he campaigned upon.
Barack_Must_Go.....
This could turn into a blog post of its own
Submitted by falcon on Wed, 01/19/2011 - 9:57am.
For years, I've been sick of how the liberal media twists and distorts (and many times ignores) the facts to suit their agenda. I was a TV reporter for nine years before I saw what was happening, and got out (and this was in 1990, well before the explosion of popularity of the Internet). I suppose I was naive, but I never could understand why certain stories tended to make it on the news, while others (which I believed were more important) did not. In later years, I could see why this happened.
America - nay, the world - needs a true, unbiased, fact-based source for news and information, one that is not beholden to any company, government, or agenda. Again, my naievete shows, but I'm also realist enough to know this can never happen. The citizens of this country need more information with which to make up their minds, and fewer talking heads (not only less Olbermann, Larry O, Maddow, Schultz and Malloy, but yes, also less Hannity, O'Reilly, Boortz, and Levin). People cannot make informed, intelligent decisions when the only input they have is someone else's regurgitated opinions disguised as fact. And I believe this is by design - both sides in this argument, left and right, depend on the vast majority of Americans believing what they have to say in order to further their agendas. If Americans were truly well informed, they could act on their own to save and restore the Republic, and not rely on professional politicians and radio and TV hucksters to do it for them.
Sadly, this will never happen. I consider myself to be a conservative, and I have voted Republican almost since I was old enough to vote, but I am sick to death of the constant barrage of "I know you are, but what am I" coming from both sides. And I'm even sicker of the disgusting practice of the left covering up, burying, or ignoring the true facts of a story in order to push its agenda and belief system on me. I am an adult. I can make up my own mind. Give me the facts, and only the facts, and I will choose for myself. Until more Americans stand up and say the same thing, we'll continue to be subjected to propaganda coming from the supposedly objective news media, and God help us.
“I will not stand by and watch this great country destroy itself under mediocre leadership, that drifts from one crisis to the next, eroding our national will and purpose.” – Ronald Reagan, July 17, 1980.
talking heads versus reporters
Submitted by jon_torlin on Wed, 01/19/2011 - 10:08am.
You make some good points about the facts and etc, and I understand why you mention Hannity, Boortz, Levin and O'Reilly as well as Maddow, Olbermann and so on.
Yes, they are all commentators rather than reporters/journalists, but at the same time, you have those in the LSM that "report" things in a way that's biased versus those who do just give out the facts like the news break/top of the hour/breaking and etc.
You're right about the left doing just that, burying the story, facts, etc, such as what Amanpour did about the Fuller incident. Everyone else heard about it from Drudge, Fox News, WND, and some other reliable sources, which occurred at an event run by ABC, but when the actual broadcast comes out, what does ABC do? They cut out the ONE thing that proves just like what happened at the Tuscon shooting and that it was done by a wacko, just like the shooting. There was plenty of time to find out about Fuller, and enough information came out to show he was as nutty as the shooter. ABC leaves that out in order to perpetuate the myth that conservatives were behind what happened.
This is good enough reason to NEVER trust ABC, NBC(and components thereof), CBS, CNN and so on. Fox News isn't perfect, but it's a helluvalot more reliable. Drudge is the same way, so is WND. Stuff that shows up on WND will make its way to the mainstream eventually in most cases.
And yet, the FCC wants to shut those down in favor of its liberal/communist agenda.
-Jon
Christiane Amanpour and ABC
Submitted by redmike on Wed, 01/19/2011 - 1:48pm.
Christiane Amanpour and ABC obviously incited Fuller to make death threats which he certainly intended to carry out. Plus, I don't like her hair. They need to be taken off the air immediately!
"It puts the lotion on it's skin"
Submitted by Diesel on Wed, 01/19/2011 - 3:18pm.
"It puts the lotion on"
That's where I've seen this Fuller character before!!!
Necklaces made of (conservative) human ears?!?!? Yeah, he's the progressives poster boy!