Freedom's Fidelity

Tuesday, January 27, 2004

Al Franken - Super Hero and Defender of Free Speech Everywhere!

An amusing story from the New York Post:

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.

Though the quotes from Franken suggest otherwise, I promise this is not from The Onion. It certainly is odd though, I can't imagine what was going through his head that he felt it was all right to charge and body slam someone for shouting. Though it's noble that Al is "for freedom of speech" he appears to have different values when it comes to being free from body slams for speaking.

Given his celebrity and our litigious culture, there's a good chance he'll have to pony up some cash for this one, fortunately for him though he supports more wealth redistribution from "the rich" to "the poor."

posted by Paul  permalink | |