At a time when Republithugs and their allies in the media are attacking two children from Baltimore for having the courage to defend sChips, let us go back 10 months to the time ... when a child was freed after four years of captivity and sexual abuse at the hands of Michael Devlin.
On January 15 and 16, 2007, Bill O'Reilly speculated that the boy preferred the company of Devlin to that of his home since he could play, did not have to go to school, could ride his bike. Otherwise he would have escaped from captivity. On January 15 Billo told Greta , "If I'm wrong, Greta, I'll -- you know, we'll play this tape and you'll get your points."
Well the time to run the tape again is now, given the evidence that was presented today in the uncontested conviction of Michael Devlin in Potosi, Missouri. The facts apparently are that the boy was kidnapped at gunpoint and repeatedly raped and Devlin then tried to kill the boy by taking him back to the place near where he was kidnapped and started to strangle the boy. The boy managed to save his life by telling Devlin that he would obey Devlin if Devlin did not kill him and allowed him to survive.
The facts are in Billo. Time to crawl under a rock and beg for forgiveness from the young man and his family. Have you no decency?
The background:
From the January 15 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:
O'REILLY: And the question is, why didn't he escape when he could have? There are all kinds of theories about that..... All right, you know, the Stockholm syndrome thing, I don't buy it. I've never bought it. I didn't think it happened in the Patty Hearst case. I don't think it happened here. ..... I'm not buying this. If you're 11 years old or 12 years old, 13, and you have a strong bond with your family, OK, even if the guy threatens you, this and that, you're riding your bike around, you got friends. The kid didn't go to school. There's all kinds of stuff. If you can get away, you get away. All right? If you're 11. ... This is what I believe happened in the Hearst case and in this case. The situation that Hearst found herself in was exciting. She had a boring life. She was a child of privilege. All of a sudden, she's in with a bunch of charismatic thugs, and she enjoyed it. The situation here for this kid looks to me to be a lot more fun than what he had under his old parents. He didn't have to go to school. He could run around and do whatever he wanted. ...... Well, I don't believe this kid did [like school]. And I think when it all comes down, what's going to happen is, there was an element here that this kid liked about his circumstances.
MS. VAN SUSTEREN: So you're playing that same sort of thinking to this 11-year-old to 15-year-old. You're thinking logically. You think to yourself, "Why didn't he leave?" That's what most people think. Frankly, I had that thought as well.
But I think you've got to remember that this is a child. He doesn't -- you know, for whatever reason, he may have, you know, wanted to be with his kidnapper. Maybe his kidnapper turned out to be, quote, "a nice guy" or whatever. But this is a kid, Bill. And I think we've got to wait till we get all the facts.
O'REILLY: All right.
VAN SUSTEREN: It may turn out -- you may turn out to be right. I don't know.
O'REILLY: I usually do. I usually -- that usually is what happens.
VAN SUSTEREN: Especially when you're the jury.
O'REILLY: If I'm wrong, Greta, I'll -- you know, we'll play this tape and you'll get your points.
From the January 16 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:
O'REILLY: I hope he did not make a conscious decision to accept his captivity because Devlin made things easy for him. No school, play all day long.
YEAH DEVLIN MADE THINGS EASY FOR THE BOY. FROM TODAY'S AP STORY REPORTED ON MNSBC.
"During Tuesday’s hearing, Devlin admitted in graphic detail how he abducted the boy in 2002. He described the point at which [the boy] apparently turned from being an abduction victim to a captive forced to stay alive by following Devlin’s horrific orders...After [the boy] was abducted at gunpoint while riding his bike in rural Washington County, Devlin took the then-11-year-old to his apartment in suburban St. Louis where he repeatedly sexually assaulted the boy. Days later, Devlin took [the boy] back to rural Washington County in his pickup truck, apparently intent on killing him.....He said he pulled [the boy] from his truck and began to strangle him. [The boy] resisted." Devlin is then quoted, "I attempted to kill [him] and he talked me out of it."
The testimony shows Devlin stopped the choking, sexually assaulted the boy again, at which point the boy told Devlin he would do whatever was asked of him in order to stay alive.
Bill O'Reilly. Listen to that.... THE BOY RESISTED BEING KILLED. THE BOY MANAGED TO SURVIVE. If this young man had been jewish, we would have embraced him and sung "Am Yisrael Chai," not accused him effectively of being a hustler.