Wild Man Franken Assaults Dean Critic

NewsMax.com ^ | Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2004 | With Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

[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.

[wattsup]

I'm sorry, but didn't Frankin stop the protester from exercising his free speech right?

[international american]

He be gittin SUED!!

[the invisib1e hand]

there's something in the air around Dean that makes me want to go get that concealed-carry permit...he seems to inspire barbarism.

[davisfh]

"Wild Man Franken Assaults Dean Critic"

Eventally, this guy is going to have to be taken out of circulation and locked up.

[connectthedots]

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.

[the invisib1e hand]

Dean or Franken?

[Izzy Dunne]

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?

[Calvinist_Dark_Lord]

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.

[alrea]

frankin is trying to sell books. dean is out of the race anyway.

[Consort]

More

[Psycho_Bunny]

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?

[the invisib1e hand]

so was the whole thing staged, including the heckler?

[Ajnin]

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

[Ajnin]

couldn=couldn't

[the invisib1e hand]

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.

[noutopia]

I'm 50 and no way that punk could take me down,lets get it on panty boy.

[Ajnin]

I'd feel a lot better if they were an endangered species.

[Ajnin]

LOL

[ccmay]

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

[narby]

Someone needs to come up with the pics from Franken's historic movie part in "Trading Places", where he plays the Amtrak luggage handler.