Tricky
Briefly immortal
Yes I do.Grammatron said:
Al Franken puts the smack down!
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NoZed Avenger
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The idea said:
Ok, damnit -- THAT was funny.
Crossbow
Seeking Honesty and Sanity
Luke T. said:
Well, since I was not there, I cannot say. However, I found the below story which was posted just about an hour ago which has some details that were not the accounts I saw last night.
First, the police were called after the incident and Franken was not arrested and the person in question has not decided if he is going to press charges or not; this item alone indicates to me that the person did something quite wrong and everyone knows it.
Second, the person in question is a LaRouche supporter and they are well known for being disruptive.
Third, there was more than just Franken involved in ejecting the person in question which tells me that the person was real problem.
Frazzled Franken Manhandles Dean Heckler; Says He was Protecting Free Speech
http://www.gopusa.com/news/2004/january/0128_franken_dean_heckler.shtml
...
The police were called to the scene, but Franken was not immediately arrested for battery. The victim has not said whether he will pursue criminal charges against Franken.
...
The incident started while Dean was speaking when several LaRouche supporters in the audience yelled that Dean was a "liar" and not a real Democrat like LaRouche and Democrat presidential front-runner Sen. John Kerry (D-MA).
The eventual victim of the attack by Franken was especially disruptive and drew the ire of the liberal icon. Franken reacted the way he did while the crowd began chanting "Howard Dean" over and over until each of the dissidents were escorted out.
...
"One of the Lyndon LaRouche guys got up and started screaming and yelling," Russert stated on the Don Imus radio show on Tuesday. "The press guy for Dean tried to grab onto him and remove him, and he couldn't do it."
...
PS to Jocko:
You may want to discuss what is 'reasonable force' with a police officer. It sounds to me like you are rather unclear on this subject and I think that some face-time with a real professional could answer your concerns better than I.
Suddenly
Unregistered
S
BTox said:
That's funny. I picturing a killer SNL bit with Franken and Dean as professional wrestlers, with Dean giving one of those raving "wrestler" speeches while his tag-team partner Franken looks on menacingly nodding.
The whole Dean campaign has suddenly gone old-school WWF in every way imaginable. All we need now is a revelation that someone in his campaign is on steroids.
In case anyone is interested Alfrankenweb has a rebuttal to the story.
http://www.alfrankenweb.com
Basically they portray the heckler as violent and acting agressively. They say he was already being escorted out by security and franken only attacked him after the man hit him with his elbow and broke his glasses.
Course.. not exactly an unbiased source of info.
http://www.alfrankenweb.com
Basically they portray the heckler as violent and acting agressively. They say he was already being escorted out by security and franken only attacked him after the man hit him with his elbow and broke his glasses.
Course.. not exactly an unbiased source of info.
Tricky
Briefly immortal
Don't know if you remember The Rutles, the absolutely hilarious parody of The Beatles done in 1978. It featured many famous people including Mick Jagger, Paul Simon, Gilda Radner and several Pythons. One bit was this Mafioso record producer, Ron Decline, played by John Belushi. He would walk down the hall with his henchmen, who would randomly shove and assault people. The henchmen were played by none other than Franken and his then partner, Davis.Suddenly said:
Life imitates art once again.
Cain
Straussian
svero said:
Here's a link in this story to a New Hampshire paper: http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showa.html?article=32449
Here's how the incident is originally thought to happen:
Heckler interrupts Dean. Al Franken charges the heckler from behind, body-slams him to the ground, and breaks his glasses in the process.
Tim Russert says (on Don Imus) that Dean's press aide tried ejecting the guy, but had problems. The theater manager claims the heckler was elbowing people, "he was screaming. He was out of control," and they had difficulty carrying him out.
The theater manager, Peter Ramsey, also said a photographer had told him Franken's glasses were broken because the heckler had knocked them off.
"I never met Al Franken before. He is now my new hero." -- Ramsey
CNN's story: http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/01/27/elec04.prez.democrats.larouche/
corplinx
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If I was at a rally for a guy I liked and someone started heckling him, I might have to dish out a whoopin' myself. I don't see any shame in it. However I do find Franken's free speech explanation contradictory.
Free speech protects you from the government, not from a left hook by the guy next to you.
Free speech protects you from the government, not from a left hook by the guy next to you.
Dorian Gray
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Oh really, my knee-jerking friend? Explain Bush's policy of setting up demonstration areas several hundred yards away from where Bush is/will be speaking, and maintaining this area with police and secret service.
Crap, Grammatron beat me to it.
Anyway, if someone managed to get up within earshot of the podium and started heckling Bush, there wouldn't be time for a civilian to deck him - secret service would be piling on top of him. And then they'd go after the heckler.
No, seriously, there is no difference ethically between Franken taking a heckler down and secret service taking a heckler down, depending on who is being heckled. Plus, I feel sure that if the guy had been heckling Franken, he would have taken him down verbally.