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Wild Man Franken Assaults Dean Critic
NewsMax.com ^
| Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2004
| With Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff
Posted on 01/27/2004 8:44:52 PM PST by wattsup
The Democratic Party's official talk radio host got violent yesterday in an altercation he described as an effort to protect free speech. Attending a Howard Dean rally in New Hampshire, unfunny funnyman Al Franken physically assaulted a heckler in the crowd, wrestling him to the ground in a bid to silence him. "I got down low and took his legs out," Franken boasted to the New York Post afterward. The altercation was witnessed by NBC Washington bureau chief Tim Russert, who called Franken's antics "unbelievable." "One of the Lyndon LaRouche guys got up and started screaming and yelling," Russert told radioman Don Imus Tuesday morning. "The press guy for Dean tried to grab onto him and remove him and he couldn't do it. All of a sudden, Al Franken jumped out of the media gallery, ran down and grabbed this guy on the leg and started wrestling him to the ground. "It was unbelievable. He was really into it," the NBC News star said. Missing the irony of his use of violence to silence a heckler, Franken explained, "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 volatile comic is well known as a troublemaker in media circles. At last year's Washington Correspondents Dinner, he stormed up to a table where Fox News star Alan Colmes was seated and verbally berated him for not being liberal enough. Colmes' Fox News colleague Brian Kilmeade interceded in a bid to get Franken to cease and desist, but the confrontation only grew more tense. "I thought we were going to come to blows," Kilmeade later said. After one guest shot on "Hannity & Colmes," Franken continued to harrangue Sean Hannity after the segment ended, following the conservative talker down the hall to his office. Hannity later told his radio audience that he had to call security to have Franken removed from the building. Last month the combative comedian confirmed that he'll anchor a liberal talk radio network bankrolled by wealthy Democratic Party donors. His debut was set for next month, but it's not clear how party fat cats will react to the latest Franken imbroglio. Franken's unidentified victim has not yet said whether he'll press charges against the former "Saturday Night Live" star.
TOPICS: Extended News; Politics/Elections; US: Minnesota; US: New Hampshire
KEYWORDS: 2004; 2004election; 2014election; alfranken; alfrankin; dean; election2004; election2014; franken; freespeech; howarddean; minnesota; newhampshire; nh; wildmanalfranken
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I'm sorry, but didn't Frankin stop the protester from exercising his free speech right?
1
posted on
01/27/2004 8:44:53 PM PST
by
wattsup
To: wattsup
He be gittin SUED!!
2
posted on
01/27/2004 8:47:08 PM PST
by
international american
(Support our troops...................................................revoke hillary's visa!!)
To: wattsup
there's something in the air around Dean that makes me want to go get that concealed-carry permit...he seems to inspire barbarism.
3
posted on
01/27/2004 8:47:10 PM PST
by
the invisib1e hand
(do not remove this tag under penalty of law.)
To: wattsup
"Wild Man Franken Assaults Dean Critic" Eventally, this guy is going to have to be taken out of circulation and locked up.
4
posted on
01/27/2004 8:50:30 PM PST
by
davisfh
To: wattsup
Hannity later told his radio audience that he had to call security to have Franken removed from the building. If it was me, Franken would have needed an ambulance.
5
posted on
01/27/2004 8:55:42 PM PST
by
connectthedots
(John Calvin WAS NOT a Calvinist.)
To: davisfh
Dean or Franken?
6
posted on
01/27/2004 8:55:47 PM PST
by
the invisib1e hand
(do not remove this tag under penalty of law.)
To: davisfh
Eventally, this guy is going to have to be taken out of circulation and locked up. OK, I'll bite:
WHICH guy?
Dean?
The LaRouche guy?
Or Franken?
7
posted on
01/27/2004 8:57:54 PM PST
by
Izzy Dunne
(Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
To: Izzy Dunne
OK, I'll bite:
WHICH guy?
Dean?
The LaRouche guy?
Or Franken?What do you mean "which"? The question is which one gets top bunk in the padded cell that all three share.
8
posted on
01/27/2004 9:03:42 PM PST
by
Calvinist_Dark_Lord
(I have come here to kick @$$ and chew bubblegum...and I'm all outta bubblegum! ~Roddy Piper)
To: wattsup
frankin is trying to sell books. dean is out of the race anyway.
9
posted on
01/27/2004 9:05:43 PM PST
by
alrea
(let's go back to when liberalism meant freedom from central authority)
To: wattsup
10
posted on
01/27/2004 9:05:52 PM PST
by
Consort
To: wattsup
So
..wrestling with LaRouche punks is what liberals consider a Red Badge of Courage nowadays?
Why does this remind me of the early struggles between socialists and communists in 20s-30s Germany?
To: Psycho_Bunny
so was the whole thing staged, including the heckler?
12
posted on
01/27/2004 9:07:13 PM PST
by
the invisib1e hand
(do not remove this tag under penalty of law.)
To: wattsup
For the love of God! Why couldn that have been me that was assaulted my Franken? Or any liberal for that matter. Physically bashing a liberal for a legit reason is one of my fantasies. I swear, sometimes being 6'2", 215 lbs is just a damn curse! LOL
13
posted on
01/27/2004 9:10:36 PM PST
by
Ajnin
To: Ajnin
couldn=couldn't
14
posted on
01/27/2004 9:11:30 PM PST
by
Ajnin
To: Ajnin
Physically bashing a liberal for a legit reason is one of my fantasies. dude, you'd have an easier time with the consequences for cooking up a snail darter or cutting down a tree, and for the same reasons. some pigs are more equal than others, if you know what I mean.
Liberals are a protected species.
15
posted on
01/27/2004 9:13:45 PM PST
by
the invisib1e hand
(do not remove this tag under penalty of law.)
To: wattsup
I'm 50 and no way that punk could take me down,lets get it on panty boy.
16
posted on
01/27/2004 9:23:33 PM PST
by
noutopia
(Don't hate me cause I'm right !)
To: the invisib1e hand
I'd feel a lot better if they were an endangered species.
17
posted on
01/27/2004 9:28:19 PM PST
by
Ajnin
To: noutopia
LOL
18
posted on
01/27/2004 9:28:57 PM PST
by
Ajnin
To: wattsup
Franken explained, "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." You don't say! Tell me, Al, have you ever been to a campus speech by Benjamin Netanyahu or David Horowitz? Come along next time, they could use a valiant defender of free speech like you.
-ccm
19
posted on
01/27/2004 9:29:49 PM PST
by
ccmay
To: wattsup
Someone needs to come up with the pics from Franken's historic movie part in "Trading Places", where he plays the Amtrak luggage handler.
20
posted on
01/27/2004 9:30:16 PM PST
by
narby
(The Greens, like the Nazis before them, are inordinate, i.e., there is no limit to their demands.)
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