Al Franken puts the smack down!

[Tmy]

AL FRANKEN KNOCKS DOWN DEAN HECKLER

January 27, 2004 -- EXETER, N.H. - Wise-cracking funnyman Al Franken yesterday body-slammed a demonstrator to the ground after the man tried to shout down Gov. Howard Dean.
The tussle left Franken's trademark thick-rim glasses broken, but he said he was not injured.

Franken - who seemed in a state of shock and out of breath after the incident - was helped back to his feet by several people who watched the tussle. Police arrived soon after.

"I got down low and took his legs out," said Franken afterwards.

Franken said he's not backing Dean but merely wanted to protect the right of people to speak freely. "I would have done it if he was a Dean supporter at a Kerry rally," he said.

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What a dork. Leave the hecklers to security. Hope he likes being sued.

 

[Fade]

"Mommy the comedian beat me up!"

 

[Hexxenhammer]

If it was Bill O'Reilly he would have threatened to shoot the heckler "between the head".

 

[Jocko]

.

Franken said he's not backing Dean but merely wanted to protect the right of people to speak freely. "I would have done it if he was a Dean supporter at a Kerry rally," he said.

____________________________________________

What a dork. Leave the hecklers to security. Hope he likes being sued.

Yeah, that Al Franken is a real bulwark of free speech, tackling a protester like that. But that schlub will do anything to stay in the headlines, even if it's rank hypocricy. I mean Franken, not Dean. Er, on second thought...

 

[Tmy]

All hecklers get dragged off. It wasnt Frankens place to do that though.


I like how he said that he "used to be a wrestler" HAHAHAHHA!

"Franken takes out the heckler with his No-War Pliedriver! Look out from behind!!! Its Bill Oreilly with his Flat Tax Folding Chair. Frankens bleeding! Oh the humanity!"

 

[Upchurch]

I like Al, but this is disappointing. I would have been more impressed if he'd heckled the heckler.

 

[The idea]

AL FRANKEN KNOCKS DOWN DEAN HECKLER

January 27, 2004 -- EXETER, N.H.
Franken said he's not backing Dean but merely wanted to protect the right of people to speak freely. "I would have done it if he was a Dean supporter at a Kerry rally," he said.

Would he have done it if he was a Bush protestor at a Bush rally?

 

[VicDaring]

Anyone besides the Post reporting this?

 

[Globert]

"Franken takes out the heckler with his No-War Pliedriver! Look out from behind!!! Its Bill Oreilly with his Flat Tax Folding Chair. Frankens bleeding! Oh the humanity!"

LOL

You Should write for MadTV, I got several strange looks from my co-workers for that outburst!

 

[Luke T.]

"Franken said he's not backing Dean but merely wanted to protect the right of people to speak freely."

Am I the only one who sees the contradiction here?

 

[swellman]

Anyone besides the Post reporting this?

The Boston Herald

 

[SRW]

I smell a set up, Franken commits assault and battery and does not get arrested?

 

[The idea]

"Franken said he's not backing Dean but merely wanted to protect the right of people to speak freely."

Am I the only one who sees the contradiction here?

We see it. Maybe he meant "the right of people to not be interrupted unless they interrupted someone else." Anyway, Franken's expressed interest in using a hands-on approach to protect rights suggests that he may have a future in law-enforcement. Then again, maybe not.

 

[Andonyx]

"Franken said he's not backing Dean but merely wanted to protect the right of people to speak freely."

Am I the only one who sees the contradiction here?

I felt the same way when Courtney Love gave a ton O' cash to the ACLU, she went on stage to say a few words, and a bunch of people started shouting about how she killed Kurt...which is weird. But then the ACLU people shouted them down and had them removed...which is completely antithetical to their purpose is it not?

 

[NoZed Avenger]

"Franken said he's not backing Dean but merely wanted to protect the right of people to speak freely."

Am I the only one who sees the contradiction here?

While I see what you are saying, conceptually, I think that there is a point at which shouting someone down -is- in fact, simply a denial of that person's speech, and not an attempt to speak on the part of the shouter.

Of course, that doesn't justify "going all right wing on them," as Mr. Franken might put it.

N/A

 

[Tricky]

"Franken said he's not backing Dean but merely wanted to protect the right of people to speak freely."

Am I the only one who sees the contradiction here?

It is the same contradiction that is inherent in all of our "rights". Your rights only extend as far as they don't interfere with others' rights. If you go to hear a person (who has been invited and scheduled to speak) then you have the right to hear him without interruption by an person who has not been invited and scheduled to speak. The heckler could have gone outside and "free speeched" to his heart's content.

The situation would be essentially no different than having the management throw a person out of a movie theater who insisted on shouting throughout the movie.

Whenever there are conflicting rights, it is a judgment call as to whose rights were preeminent. I think in this case, it is fairly obvious. It is not as obvious that Franken had the right to assault the man, and that could lead to a very big legal deal since enforcement of rights does not fall to everyday citizens. I hope this won't happen, but if it does, I cannot see that the conservatives can get much political capital from defending a jackass, especially in light of what they regard as the proper way to handle non-conservative protestors.

 

[Jocko]

It is the same contradiction that is inherent in all of our "rights". Your rights only extend as far as they don't interfere with others' rights. If you go to hear a person (who has been invited and scheduled to speak) then you have the right to hear him without interruption by an person who has not been invited and scheduled to speak. The heckler could have gone outside and "free speeched" to his heart's content.

Good Lord, the gymnastics some people will go through to defend a leftie like Franken. Are you saying politicians are somehow constitutionally guaranteed to speak free from hecklers? I could use that idea to toss out half the Washington press corps.

The situation would be essentially no different than having the management throw a person out of a movie theater who insisted on shouting throughout the movie.

Except a movie theater is a privately-owned establishment with posted rules about conduct. A public rally is neither. If the heckler had been screaming pro-Dean slogans, would he have drawn the same attention? Of course not!

I mean, the issue is not the volume or the venue, it's the content - and THAT'S a free speech issue (in the pragmatic, if not constitutional sense).

Whenever there are conflicting rights, it is a judgment call as to whose rights were preeminent. I think in this case, it is fairly obvious. It is not as obvious that Franken had the right to assault the man, and that could lead to a very big legal deal since enforcement of rights does not fall to everyday citizens. I hope this won't happen, but if it does, I cannot see that the conservatives can get much political capital from defending a jackass, especially in light of what they regard as the proper way to handle non-conservative protestors.

Franken should have shouted him down, as he does with everyone else. Jackasses have first amendment rights too.

And I should also point out your suggestion that the protester was a conservative, when odds are he was a supporter of another Democrat, is more than a tad naive. And it's not a matter of "capital" found in defending a "jackass," it's a blatant case of a "free speech advocate" like Franken tackling a protester, which puts him very close to Limbaugh and his oxcontin in the annals of hypocricy, in my opinion.

Perhaps it's time the liberals acknowledge that Franken is nothing more than a glib glory hound?

 

[Crossbow]

"Franken said he's not backing Dean but merely wanted to protect the right of people to speak freely."

Am I the only one who sees the contradiction here?

There is no contradiction.

The right of free speech does not extend the yelling of "FIRE!" in a crowded theater.

 

[Jocko]

There is no contradiction.

The right of free speech does not extend the yelling of "FIRE!" in a crowded theater.

Really, Crossbow, I expected more of you.

The theater example is one of the public good. What compelling public good is there in tackling a heckler?

Using that logic, I would be justified in running over the antiwar protesters who clogged the streets of Chicago. The only way the theater example would be valid is the possibility that Dean would react violently to the protestor... which I must admit seems a viable possibility. He may have murdered the entire room.

No, politicians above all others must deal with hecklers, and the same people who coddle "civil disobedience" like the Chicago-paralyzing protests have absolutely no right to assault and batter a dissenter. It's rank hypocricy, pure and simple. Did Franken ask the man to shut up? To leave? Did he take advantage of his own free speech to settle the situation?

No, he saw an opportunity to put himself back in the limelight, whcih is his only aspiration. There can be no defense of his actions.

 

[Tmy]

You can if the theater is on fire! Its all time place manner. Hecklers are always dragged away whether its a Bush speech, Dean speech, or one of Jockos AA meetings.



Speaking of set ups, did anyoen see the 16 yr old kid fainting on stage at the Kerry rally? Senator Kerry "Medicine Women" rushed to his aid. Everyone stood around while he checked on the boy. HAHAHA, it looked so silly. In a room full of people i doubt Kerry was the most qualified medical expert. I was wondering if soem doctor was going to let the kid die rather than interupt Kerry's cheesey photo op.