Death Threat from Shooting Victim James Eric Fuller Against Tucson Tea Party Leader: Don’t Pass Judgment Yet on Fuller, Blame the Liberal Liars (video)
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on January 16, 2011
A memorial of flowers set up yesterday outside the Safeway store in Tucson, Arizona where one week earlier, a crazed gunman attempted to assassinate Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, killed six people, and wounded many others
As I conducted my family’s food shopping and other errands yesterday, as I do every Saturday, I couldn’t help but think about the previous Saturday in Tucson. Families out at supermarkets, hardware stores, gardening shops, conducting mundane duties, buying milk or mulch, maybe Girl Scout cookies — and then, to have your life and your community irrevocably changed forever by a madman who goes on a bloody shooting rampage at a friendly, neighborhood meet-and-greet event.
How deeply would this have affected me, affected you? We can only speculate on how we would react — or overreact — for days, weeks, months after such a horrifying, life-threatening ordeal. For a nation that watches a tremendous amount of violent crimes on CSI and Criminal Minds, the majority of us, I believe, are peaceful citizens. We know that CSI and Criminal Minds are fiction, and despite their abhorrent violence and our enjoyment watching these television shows, the majority of us have no desire to live in that world of violence. We instead surround ourselves with loved ones and familiar routines and goals. TV is fake, our lives are real.
When the two worlds crash headlong into each other like high-speed locomotives, as they did in Tucson last Saturday, the impact on everyone is of shock, fear, disorientation, panic, distrust, poor judgment, and a host of other reactions and emotions, regardless of our political leanings, regardless of our ideologies. Even those who were not at the Safeway store during the massacre, even those who survived being shot — all are affected psychologically to varying degrees. I know I would be — you would be, too.
For that reason, I will not yet pass harsh judgment on James Eric Fuller, a shooting victim survivor, for his hate-filled threats of death against those who had nothing to do with him having his life turned into a nightmare. Fuller is in desperate need of psychological help — something that murderer Jared Loughner should have, but did not receive.
And should left-wing pundits want to crucify and vilify him in the press (but they won’t — they’re being strangely silent on this death threat) for his very-public, very-chilling death threat against tea party leader Trent Humphries as he and they did Sarah Palin and other conservatives (not for their actual involvement, but for the wretched tales the contemptible, dishonest media and left-wing bloggers spun), I will defend him (even though he is an left-wing extremist). Defend him to a point — not a pass, but most definitely not the tar-and-feathers-lynching-death-wish punishment that leftists have been frenzied about for a week. Not all liberals, I must be fair to point out, have jumped on the “blame Palin, Limbaugh, and tea party” hate train.
What Fuller did was wrong and horrible, no doubt about it. But when his own raw fears and mounting distrust (and some disgusting falsehoods of his own about conservatives) after being shot are mixed in with the week-long avalanche of zealous false reporting, deliberate lies, and irresponsible proclamations from the reprehensible likes of Daily Kos, New York Times, Jane Fonda, Geraldo Rivera, Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, Democrat Media, liberal politicians, and all other major progressive left news sources, Fuller must be pitied and helped to get through this dangerous self-destruction.
So, shelve any anger or heated blame for Fuller for a bit. Instead, blame the liberal liars. And hold them accountable.
No telling when/if left-wing news stations will show the following footage or even mention Fuller’s arrest. Doubtful — they just lost their favorite poster child to rant against conservatives.
Associated Press: Arizona Shooting Victim James Eric Fuller Arrested After Threat
Eric Fuller arrested by Arizona Police for Threats
From MSNBC, Tucson shooting victim detained at taping of TV special:
TUCSON, Ariz. — A Tucson mass shooting victim was taken into custody Saturday after yelling “you’re dead” at a Tea Party spokesman during the taping of an ABC-TV town hall event hosted by Christianne Amanpour.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Office said J. Eric Fuller, 63, was involuntarily committed to an undisclosed medical facility, NBC News reported. The Associated Press said he was undergoing a psychiatric evaluation.
He faces charges of threats and intimidation and disorderly conduct, according to Tucson TV station KGUN.
The gathering for “After the Tragedy: An American Conversation Continued,” to be shown as a special edition of “This Week” Sunday, included witnesses, first responders, victims and heroes of the Jan. 8 mass shooting that killed six and wounded 13 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz.
Local officials and others also packed St. Odilia’s Catholic Church in northwest Tucson, where the show was taped.
KGUN reported that Fuller took exception to comments by Republican state Rep. Terri Proud and Tucson Tea Party spokesman Trent Humphries.
Fuller was in the front row and apparently became upset when Humphries suggested that any conversations about gun control should be delayed until all the dead were buried, KGUN reported.
From NewsBusters, Tucson Shooting Survivor Arrested for Issuing Death Threat to Tea Partier at ABC Town Hall:
In the middle of a taping for a town hall meeting to be aired on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday, a survivor of last week’s Tucson shootings issued a death threat to a Tea Party member in attendance.
According to the website of ABC-TV affiliate KGUN, J. Eric Fuller was arrested and charged with threats, intimidation, and disorderly conduct:
The meeting room at St. Odilia’s Catholic Church on the city’s northwest side was packed with local dignitaries, witnesses to the mass shooting Jan. 8, some of the witnesses to the shootings and the first responders to the scene for a taping of an ABC-TV special, a town hall event, at 11 a.m. Saturday. Host of the program, This Week, is Christianne Amanpour. The show will air at 7 a.m. Sunday on KGUN9-TV. [...]
Toward the end of the town hall meeting Saturday morning, one of the shooting victims, J. Eric Fuller, took exception to comments by two of the speakers: Ariz. state Rep. Terri Proud, a Dist. 26 Republican, and Tucson Tea Party spokesman Trent Humphries.
According to sheriff’s deputies at the scene, Fuller took a photo of Humphries and said, “You’re Dead.”
Deputies immediately escorted Fuller from the room.
Pima County Sheriff’s spokesman Jason Ogan said later Saturday that Fuller has been charged with threats and intimidation and he also will be charged with disorderly conduct.
From Fire Andrea Mitchell!:
Amazing. The media is silent at the time of this posting. Nothing on The Hill, nothing on Politico, not even a mention on ABCNEWS who’s Christiane Amanpour conducted a town hall meeting in Tucson a week after the tragic shootings. In fact, ABC News on TV barely mentioned it at all, instead just saying a victim of last week’s shooting “took offense” to want an audience member said, and mumbled “what seemed to be a threat.” Threatening to kill someone “seems like a threat” to ABC. I’m surprised Palin wasn’t blamed. Only in the progressive liberal biased media could a progressive liberal saying “You’re dead” to a tea party leader be considered to “seem like a threat.” Want to be what would happen if the tea party leader said this to Fuller or some other left wing nut?
Here’s ABC’s take on the “you’re dead” threat from Fuller against Tucson Tea Party leader Humphries:
PJTV: Blood Libel? You and Sarah Palin Turned Jared Loughner Into a Cold, Calculated Killer
Left-winger Geraldo Rivera Goes Out of His Way to Connect Tea Party With Tuscon Shooting
From American Power, James Eric Fuller, Tucson Shooting Survivor, Arrested for Making Death Threats at ‘American Conversation’ Town Hall for ABC News:
Yeah. How’s that for conversation? Pretty much the kind of conversation we’ve been having all week on the progressive left.
Nice Deb call it the “irony of ironies.”
But frankly, it’s just more proof that the left’s violent fantasies are driving their partisans to death threats and the politics of personal destruction. And it’s sad too, since this guy simply needs to just take some time away for himself. Recover from the trauma. Man, that’s a terrible experience to go through.
[...]
Actually, Fuller’s not just a “Giffords supporter.” He’s a hardcore “Democratic activist,” and progressives like Eric Boehlert have used his appearance on the communist Democracy Now! segment to taunt conservatives such as Michelle Malkin. Doc Zero has the details, and he adds:
Let me make this nice and clear for simple minds: getting shot does not confer either insight or sainthood, and neither does service in the military. I already know people like Bohlert understand the latter, since I don’t think you’ll see a “McCain-Palin” bumper sticker on his car. Every decent American should run like the wind from the creepy notion that certain people are completely above criticism, even when they question the very humanity of others.
Honorable military service is a strong point on any resume… but the military doesn’t stand for suppressing dissent through bloody slander. A lot of the people who think Eric Fuller’s military service make him impossible to disagree with usually have a much more… nuanced view of veterans, and their red-faced insistence on perfect virtue for their icons of the moment is very temporary. Ask Cindy Sheehan to read you the expiration date on her Absolute Moral Authority card.
Anyone who would go on the air to accuse Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Sharron Angle, or John Boehner of having anything to do with Jared Loughner’s actions is a disgrace. Nothing they did earlier in life changes that, and their deeds earlier in life are not erased by their current willingness to become part of the most disgusting political narrative of the new century. It’s all part of the concept of free will, which implies the ability to choose badly, and be held accountable for it… no matter who you are. Despite the urging of fringe characters like Bohlert, the mainstream media might back away from Fuller because he’s such an obvious nut. Then again, certain networks might be unable to resist the temptation to lean forward.
From Legal Insurrection, Being A Crime Victim Is Not A License To Make Up Facts:
And does not immunize you from criticism when you do.
From Democracy Now, Tuscon shooting victim Eric Fuller says:
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.”
Apparently, this finger pointing was not present in an earlier interview.
I wish you a speedy recovery, but you are wrong for all the reasons most of the rest of the world has come to understand in the last few days.
P.S., yes, you will be used by those who will hide behind your victim-status since they have no facts to support their theories:
“Cue the right-wing waaaaaahmbulance. I wonder if Megyn Kelly or Bill O’Reilly will bring Fuller on Fox to browbeat him as they did Sheriff Dupnik for expressing the same view.”
No browbeating of Fuller here, you pathetic left-wing miscreants. Browbeating YOU… well, that’s another kettle of fish.
Video encore, in case you missed it the first time I posted it — warning, these tweets from liberal hatemongers are depraved and disgusting:
Twitter Users Wish Death on Sarah Palin
Excellent observations from Paul Jenkins at Anchorage Daily News, Left exploits tragedy; only one person is to blame:
It was predictably predictable. A tragedy in Tucson chased within minutes by the shouts of leftist zealots clamoring for more government and less freedom. This time, they are shrill, gleeful and, at least so far, comically ineffectual in their frenzied attacks on conservatives. While their hysterical fury may baffle most, it may turn out to be a very good thing.
A crazed, disaffected, apolitical 22-year-old druggie is charged with shooting Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in a hail of bullets at a Tucson grocery store. Six died; 14 were wounded, including Giffords.
The shots were still echoing as the left rushed to politicize the carnage and blame Republicans and conservatives in an attempt to curb guns and free speech. It was Sarah Palin’s fault, they said, or her silly map targeting Giffords’ district. Or Rush Limbaugh’s “hate” speech, or Glenn Beck’s. Or high-capacity magazines, or guns in general. It was talk radio or TV — even if the suspected shooter’s friends said he never watched television or listened to radio; that he could not have cared less about politics. It was heated political rhetoric (never from the left, mind you), or the DREAM Act’s failure to win congressional approval. Or maybe the moon was full. But most important, Republicans did it.
[...]
Let Americans see leftists for what they are; what’s in their heads and their hearts; what they stand for. Let them parade their moral bankruptcy and intellectual dishonesty for all to see. Let them show us the disdain they have for average Americans. In my view, the radical, vocal left is only the flip side of Palin — and the more you know, the less there is to like. Let the leftists go forth and be loony. Let them (pardon me again) shoot themselves in their collective foot.
It already is paying off. Americans are people of common, good sense and at least one reputable poll shows a majority early on figured out the shooter, not political rhetoric or guns or Palin or talk radio, is to blame for the Arizona spree.
But leftists will not give up. They will do what they do — patiently await tragedy, then exploit the confusion and emotion of the moment to push their anti-gun, big-government agenda. “In the wake of these kind of incidents, the trick is to move quickly,” said Kristen Rand, legislative director of the Violence Policy Center, a gun-control outfit, in speaking about Tucson.
Instead of getting angry, we should follow Napoleon’s advice to never interfere with an enemy while he’s in the process of destroying himself. We must politely and unemotionally counter the left’s nonsense with facts and then stand out of the way. The American public will see the left’s tactics for what they are: cheap, sad, exploitive politics that are part of a desperate effort to advance rejected policies. The public will be able to smell the rank opportunism. It will understand that a call for civility really is a call for critics to sit down and shut up.
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