AL FRANKEN KNOCKS DOWN DEAN HECKLER

NY Post ^ | 1/27/03 | VINCENT MORRIS

[FormerACLUmember]

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.

[kingu]

Assault is verbal, battery is physical. In other words, one is the implied attack, the other is the actual attack.

Al committed battery, but I'm not sure about what the laws are in New Hampshire. The Larouche supporter's words might meet a statutory requirement of being 'fighting words' and may have been an assault on Dean.

The Larouche supporter likely was told to go away before he got charged with disturbing the peace or attempting to incite a riot or some other odd crime. I am rather surprised that the Post reporter didn't get a quote from him, or another Larouche supporter.

As for a civil suit; yeah, he likely could tie up Al in court for a few days and cost him $50,000 in lawyer fees, but probably wouldn't be able to win the case.

[Hand em their arse]

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

Ok, what happened to this guys right to speak feely??? Was Al nervous Dean would F*ck up the National Anthem again if he dealt with it himself?

[hellinahandcart]

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to decide who you would rather see victorious in a bitchslapping contest between Al Franken and an unnamed Larouchie.

(I know, I know, I'm having trouble too.)

[kingu]

Damn, Al, you hit him so hard I've got a ringing around my head!

[mass55th]

That's assault in my book. I wonder why the heckler didn't press charges. Franken says he was protecting Dean's right to free speech, but what about the heckler's rights? Oh, I forgot, if you attempt to speak out against a Democrat, your right to free speech doesn't count.

[OXENinFLA]

BLAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWW

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

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

[mass55th]

"I thought that incident involved O'Reilly and Franken, or is there two such incidents."

I believe Fox & Friends Brian Kilmeade had a confrontation with Franken at the same event as O'Reilly.

[SunnyUsa]

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

Why isn't he arrested and in jail? What gave him the right to assault someone?

[aruanan]

Wise-cracking funnyman Al Franken

At least one of these words isn't accurate.

[mrmargaritaville]

liberals are NAZIs or should I say NAZIs are liberals. They believe in the same things-the NAZI party platform of Germany in the mid-late 30's looks like it could have been written by Bill and Hillary.

[Mo1]

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.

HELLO .. Where I come from that's called an Assault!

And no mention on the condition of the guy he tackled

Can you imagine the outraged if Hannity did something like that??

[justrepublican]

Bingo. The "Just spell my name right" syndrome.

[aruanan]

Of course it is assault and battery. Ah, but you forget that laws don't apply to rats and lawyers.

Since it was an unprovoked attack without a warning, it was probably just battery. "I'm going to kick your ass" is assault; going ahead and kicking the ass in question is battery. At least that was the distinction years ago.

[sauropod]

I thought that was at the White House Correspondents Association dinner?

[johnny7]

That Larouche feller better get outta Dodge. Thrown down by Al Franken?! Sheeit... better fit that boy out for a skirt!

[sauropod]

A new word for the lexicon. Franken didn't give a Flying Kerry about attacking the Larouchie Clymer. Now, he is in a world of Clark after going Franken. ;-)

[bobsatwork]

Of course it is assault and battery. Maybe just battery. Assault is some kind of threat to commit battery, and that might be missing here. But still, IMAGINE if ANY well known conservative did anything like this.....

[mass55th]

"free speech only for the annointed ones."

Last week on the Glenn Beck radio show, Glenn was talking about his meeting up with Franken at the airport. They were all in line waiting to get through security, and the line was really long. At one point, Franken left the line and went up to the head of it and asked if there wasn't anything they could do to get him through the line quicker than everyone else because he was going to miss his connecting flight. Fortunately, the airline screeners told him "no." Beck said he wished he'd had a tape recorder at the time, because it was a prime example of a Democrat who claimed to care about his fellow man, trying to get special treatment and go ahead of everyone else in line. Although he didn't have a recorder, he did have a camera and asked Franken if he could get a picture of him. Franken said "yes," and Beck took the photo. It's supposed to be on his website, but I believe it might be on the Insider pages, which you have to subscribe to.

[sauropod]

In all fairness, if i had a connecting flight, i might have asked the same question, or asked them to hold the plane.

Kinda depends on whose fault it is. Usually, it is the airline's fault for not leaving on time in the first place and if you have a tight connection, you're Hillary'ed.

[veronica]

What an arsehole. Is it on tape???