Al Franken incident

[Lynn7]

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.

"I'm neutral in this race but I'm for freedom of speech, which means people should be able to assemble and speak without being shouted down."

The trouble started when several supporters of fringe presidential candidate Lyndon Larouche began shouting accusations at Dean.



Franken emerged from the crowd and charged one male protester, grabbing him with a bear hug from behind and slamming him onto the floor.

"I was a wrestler so I used a wrestling move," Franken said.

[syxxpac]

We need more guys like this to deal with the jackasses of the world.

Next up: Someone should teach Jerry Seinfeld to put a figure four leglock on anybody else who wants to get out of line.

[Grebdron]

Wait a second here.

Franken supports free speech, but tackled a guy for YELLING?

Hypocrite much?

[jeo4]

Originally posted by Grebdron
Wait a second here.

Franken supports free speech, but tackled a guy for YELLING?

Hypocrite much?

You read my mind. His book is every bit the same thing this heckler did, only Franken put his words on paper.

[BorderEevilIII]

Thats sooo unlike him....

(sorry I CAN'T resist)
http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2002/06.06/photos/07-classday2-450.jpg
Hey maaan! Don't MAKE me come up there!

[JurassicMik]

I'm slightly confused by this story.

Who is this guy???

[BorderEevilIII]

Originally posted by JurassicMik
I'm slightly confused by this story.

Who is this guy???

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0291253/

http://imdb.com/Photos/Ss/0114571/fcstil_0765.jpg
This is one of his characters that he played when he was on SNL. Sports star Michael Jordan was one of his patients...
And he always taught that YOU should love yourself.... WELL when Mike was talking to the mirror, you could tell that he was trying NOT to laugh but you could tell he couldn't keep a straight face. :D

[Scarface98.9]

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.
I can't help but be amused that they're trying to find out if Franken, the unprovoked aggressor, was injured, but paying no attention to the guy he body slammed and if he was hurt

[Cheetara]

Yeah Franken played a character on SNL as "Stuart Smiley". Anyways, I think it is hypocritical that he tackled a guy for yelling. Free speech went out the friggin window here. LOL

[echo_bravo]

Al is a pussy. He had to go up from behind the demonstrator?! Man, I would of loved if he did that to me. I would of pummeled him.

I agree with the hyprocisy issue too. Fucking Hypocrit

[Tweek]

hmmm

i wonder what the heckler even said?

[ralph_wiggum]

Al F did it because he's good enough, he's smart enough...
Funny Stuff. Quite a few commedians are getting political, or more making a pseudo-career out of putting a funny spin on political discourse. Does anyone know what Dennis Miller is up to? I used to be a fan...then he went to fox...now he is going to CNBC. Isn't that the money channel? Why is he bouncing around news netwrks when he used to be a really funny commedian>?

[TheDeadWalk]

I would seriously crawl up a wombats ass if I got my ass kicked by Stuart Smalley.

Though I've been in crowd situations like that, and those types of people can really REALLY drive your last nerve when they won't shut the fuck up. I don't think anyone really traveled to the convention to hear a heckler yell over and over again. Someone needed to whoop his ass.

[The Heart Collector]

Of course, if the New York Post says that's what happened, then surely it is exactly what happened, right? Nevermind the fact that if Franken would have pummeled a guy to the ground out of nowhere, he'd have charges for assault filed against him.

CNN's story about this says:

Franken, a comedian and self-described liberal well-known for his attacks on the Bush administration and conservative-leaning media, helped carry out one of the disrupters. In the process, Franken's glasses were knocked off his face and broke in two.

No mention of assault charges there.

And how about here:
http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showa.html?article=32449


The heckler began yelling from the rear of the theater while the Democratic Presidential hopeful was taking questions from the audience, theater manager Peter Ramsey said.

Two members of Dean’s security team immediately moved in on the man, who shoved and elbowed them, Ramsey said.

“He was screaming. He was out of control,” Ramsey said.

Ramsey said he went over to help calm the situation and also got elbowed and pushed.

“All of a sudden, I looked to my right, and Al Franken was grabbing onto this man’s back,” Ramsey said.

“He (Franken) gave him a hefty Patriots block. He should be a Patriot,” Ramsey said.

“I never met Al Franken before. He is now my new hero,” Ramsey said of the former “Saturday Night Live” writer.

Ramsey said a news photographer later told him Franken reacted to being elbowed by the protester, who knocked his glasses off.

[Lynn7]

You know, I haven't heard any more of the story (although the day it happened it was on TV a lot), but it is always interesting to see how different media outlets can print up different versions of a story depending on their own perspective. It's another good reminder to beware of anything you see in the media.

Linda Ellerbee did a great story one time. She followed a little girl through her day and produced two versions of a video. The first version was that the little girl was a very good girl and showed all the instances of her being good. The other story was of the same girl being bad all day. Of course the little girl was good AND bad throughhout the day but each story was edited to produce the called for effect. Great story!