I was pleased to read that Eric Fuller issued an apology to Trent Humphries this afternoon:
Arizona shooting victim James Eric Fuller sent his apologies Monday for telling a Tea Party leader, “you are dead.”
Dorothy DeRuyter, a companion of Fuller’s, provided CNN with a statement.
“I would like to tender my sincerest apologies to Mr. (Trent) Humphries for my misplaced outrage on Saturday at the St. Odelia’s town meeting,” Fuller said in the statement. “It was not in the spirit of our allegiance and warm feelings to each other as citizens of our great country.”
Fuller, 63, was involuntarily committed to a county mental health facility after he photographed Tucson Tea Party founder Humphries and said, “You are dead” when Humphries began speaking at the event.
Fuller “is apologetic and very sad” about his outburst, DeRuyter said. “He wishes he could go back and do things differently,” she said.
My biggest concern at the moment isn’t rhetoric, it’s not semantics, it’s not political language or any other garbage. My concern is pivoting the focus off of that and getting active about preemptive security measures for those in office – and identifying the signs of mental illness and making sure those who suffer from it receive help.
However, it would be great to see Paul Krugman, Markos Moulitsas, and others who contributed to this “blame the tea party/Sarah Palin” hysteria, which proved to be completely baseless, to apologize just as Fuller did. It’s easier to think more of Eric Fuller for acknowledging and taking responsibility for his actions than it is of the others who contributed to the rhetoric – and continue to do so – without apology.