So Much For "Violence Never Solved Anything"

Al Franken physically assaulted a protestor at a Dean event in New Hampshire, pinning the man in a wrestling hold. Captain’s Quarters has a nice response to to Franken’s thuggery.

If Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity did this, the left would be demanding that charges be pressed and they be kicked off the air… but when Al Franken does it he gets a free pass. Interesting how that works…

UPDATE: "I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and Gosh-darn it, if you screw with me I WILL KICK YOUR ASS!"…

UPDATE: Eloise at Spitbull has another great take on Franken’s lame excuse:

Al Franken later explained that he was merely trying to protect the right of people to speak freely by exercising his constitutional right to assault.

UPDATE: Apparently the Manchester paper says the LaRoushies provoked Dean’s security people, which wouldn’t be out of character for them. If Franken was being attacked, he would have the right to defend himself – of course, that still goes against the typically "liberal" idea that violence never solves anything.

13 thoughts on “So Much For "Violence Never Solved Anything"

  1. I don’t see the problem. Franken removed a man who was attempting to violently interpose into Dean’s event.

    I mean, you don’t seem to have a problem when it’s the Secret Service rounding up protestors by the hundreds. I’d say that’s more of a threat to free speech than Franken tackling one guy.

  2. The guy Franken attacked was running his mouth, he was doing nothing violent.

    I don’t think a tackle counts as violent. Was the guy hurt? Did he press charges?

    Or did he get his ass dragged off because he was somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be? If Bill O’Rielly had done this, you guys would have cheered.

    The Secret Service is a law-enforcement agency – Al Franken is a jackass. There’s a little difference there.

    Yeah, the difference is that the Secret Service, as a government agency, should be even more careful about protecting free speech rights. Rounding up protesters and trucking them to compounds doesn’t do that.

  3. I think you’re confusing your 3rd grade teacher with the Left Wing. Your 3rd grade teacher told you that “violence has never solved anything.” The Left Wing for the most part understands that just because violence CAN solve a thing doesn’t mean that it is to be used when viable, less costly and less risky alternatives are available.

  4. In case facts actually matter to you or your readers (something I’ve wondered as I’ve pointed out factual inaccuracies on this site that go uncorrected over the past months), the Manchester Union-Leader pretty much says that the Post is full of it, and that their coverage is inaccurate.

    Here’s the relevant portion from the news story, just so you can get an account of how that horrible Franken assaulted a peaceful dissenterL

    Al Franken rousts
    heckler from Dean rally
    Union Leader Staff

    AL FRANKEN
    MANCHESTER — Liberal activist and comedian Al Franken helped eject a boisterous heckler from a crowded Howard Dean rally at the Palace Theatre Monday, the theater’s manager said yesterday.

    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.

    (HMM, “ELBOWED AND PUSHED”? “SHOVED AND ELBOWED”? Curious, I don’t remember THAT in the Post’s story)

    “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.

    (“ELBOWED BY THE PROTESTOR, WHO KNOCKED HIS GLASSES OFF”? The nerve of Franken, defending his person like that!)

    When a second heckler — apparently working in tandem with the first — emerged from the audience, Dean security men and Franken went over to deal with him while the first protester headed to the balcony, Ramsey said.

    While Ramsey pursued the first man to the balcony, he said, he saw Franken and three other men escort the second heckler out the stage door.

    Once in the balcony, Ramsey encountered a more disturbing sight.

    The protester had clambered over two or three people and had perched himself on the balcony railing.

    “I thought he was going to jump. He was screaming at Dean. I was scared for a minute that he was going to jump on the stage and attack Dean,” Ramsey said.

    (“I WAS SCARED…HE WAS GOING TO JUMP ON THE STAGE AND ATTACK DEAN” Ain’t that a strage detail? For some odd reason, the Post didn’t include that one, nor did it mention the assaults against the manager and security personnel.)

    One New Hampshire voter sitting in the balcony said the heckler “kind of barreled through like a Patriots fullback.”

    “The way he moved, I thought he was going to jump or something,” Wendy Branch of Northwood said. “Even if he didn’t intend to jump, he was setting himself up for a fall. It was a little alarming.”

    Ramsey said the heckler left quietly after Ramsey threatened to call the police. But Ramsey figured the more likely reason the protester left was that few television cameras were set up in the balcony. ”

    You know what the funniest part is? The dateline on the Post story is Exeter. The incident happened in Manchester. Glad to see their editor is on the ball.

  5. of course, that still goes against the typically “liberal” idea that violence never solves anything.

    Funny – I don’t remember agreeing to be a pussy when I signed up for liberalism.

    Being a pussy isn’t fighting in Vietnam and then coming back with the balls to tell everybody what a horseshit war that was.

    On the other hand, being a pussy is getting a cushy post in the National Guard to avoid the war thanks to your daddy’s clout, and still pussing out of showing up for the last year.

  6. The guy Franken attacked was running his mouth, he was doing nothing violent.

    Any chance we’ll see a retraction of this statement, James Ph.? Somehow, I doubt it….

  7. Yeah, Jim, I actually spent a lot of time getting tackled by 300 lbs gorillas in high school (Go Spartans!). An open-field tackle hurts like hell, but anything from under about 6 feet away and without the momentum of a good sprint behind it just sort of causes you to crumple.

    That’s why Franken should have just punched the guy.

  8. Ever been tackled?

    Yeah. It wasn’t violent.

    Being tackled by a 300-lb halfback for the Broncos, that’s violent. Being put in a headlock by a nerdy comic writer isn’t violent. That’s more like judo, only lamer.

    Non-violence doesn’t mean you never lay hands on another human being. Take an akido class sometime and ask them to display what they consider non-violence.

  9. Pingback: Fried Man
  10. Pingback: Silent Running

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.