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.
