Police Taser Florida Student After He Asks John Kerry Why No One Has Tried To Impeach Bush

AP :

A university student with a history of taping his own practical jokes was Tasered by campus police and arrested after loudly and repeatedly trying to ask U.S. Senator John Kerry questions during a campus forum.

Andrew Meyer, 21, spent a night in jail before his release Tuesday morning. His attorney, Robert Griscti, did not return messages seeking comment.

Read the whole story: AP

Comments

[DeadCivilian]

06:45 PM on 09/19/2007

Hmmm... let's see...

Standing in line for goods, surveillance and wiretaps, election fraud, censored media, runaway bureaucracy, monolithic government ignoring the population's needs, secret legislation, paid propaganda, arrest for political views, storm-trooping police, imprisonment without charges, torture, wars of aggression...

I really don't remember traveling back in time and relocating to the Soviet Union, but I must have done it at some point. Only I thought there was vodka. Why all this paxil, ritalin, prozac, thorazine, zoloft, adderall, oxytocin? And how come I can't get Pravda? All I get Murdoch.

Is it fascism yet?

[werenotgonnatakeit]

05:37 PM on 09/19/2007

http://www.leftopia.blogspot.com

[werenotgonnatakeit]

05:36 PM on 09/19/2007

I'M seriously bothered by it. Chris Matthews actually wondered aloud, on-air if this is fascism. He's no Abbie Hoffman, you know.

www.leftopia.blogspot.com

[RavagesOfTime]

05:03 PM on 09/19/2007

I can't be the only one that seriously bothered by this.

Honestly, has it gotten so far beyond reproach that we have to be screened, briefed, rehearsed, fed lines, and then de-briefed before we dare to speak to one of the upper echelon, and allow them to grace us all with their even-more-rehearsed sound bite answers to the questions that were written by the staffers they see every day, and if we dare talk out of turn, the authorities fire up the tazer?

Have we gone this far?

[outnow]

05:03 PM on 09/19/2007

The guy didn't stand in line for the microphone. Butting in line is disturbing the peace, arguably, but I don't see using a Tazer on him while he was down. This is about free speech, not law and order.

He got his message out there but probably did some good for the peace effort. He had a copy of Armed Madhouse in his hand and that alone might get some publicity and do some good.

John Kerry should have done more to allow this guys questions by answering them if not putting a stop to the action by the cops by asking them to let the guy talk - hard call.

The old saying is that, "while I may disagree with your statement, I will defend to the death your right to say it," does not apply when you are a member of the "elite."

Dennis Kucinich would have defended the right to ask the questions and would have answered them, too. Union leaders are used to rough and tumble, Ivy-Leaguers are not, at least after leaving Vietnam and marrying well!

At least some issues were raised and the guy had some balls if nothing else. He is an honor student, so he does have some brains.

[geobushono]

04:54 PM on 09/19/2007

I held my nose and voted for kerry, but after viewing all he available tapes, I'm starting to think maybe he didn't deserve those Medals........I can't imagagine Sen. Webb would have stood there trying not to get involved.
Shameful sen. and shameful students applauding this unprovoked attack on one of their fellow students.......fuckin' pussys...you're giving the suburbs a bad name.

[geobushono]

04:45 PM on 09/19/2007

I guess huffpo would rather have comments about stern rather than The Weathermen.

[geobushono]

04:33 PM on 09/19/2007

Weathermen and The Panthers had an answer for this shit.
Maybe this sad ass generation of sophists are going to understand what grandma and grandpa mean when they talk about pigs.

[fitz]

04:30 PM on 09/19/2007

What the hell are you talking about?

Stern has done more for free speech and the first amendment then probably anyone else in the media.

Unlike most hufftards, he is just intellectually honest enough to recognize and call out a assclown when he sees one.

Plus, where else are you going to go to hear someone describe two swank models going down on each other.

JUST LEAVE HOWARD ALONE!!!!!

[fitz]

04:50 PM on 09/19/2007

21 pages Doc, paypal me a six-pack.

[GenericBlogger]

08:46 AM on 09/20/2007

Howard Stern an intellectual? That's a new one.

He is a terminally adolescent shock jock and very successful at that.

[rmfinn68]

04:16 PM on 09/19/2007

Howard Stern was shooting his mouth off that the police were right in tasering a kid for talking. His hypocrisy is sickening. Maybe the FCC should have tasered him, or the cops should bust in his studio and taser him whenever he criticizes Bush. I am done with his show, if you are inclined, send an email to [e-mail]

[PaulDonaldson]

04:13 PM on 09/19/2007

Here is a great video on the issue of free speech, includes this taser incident:

Chris Matthews - Is Free Speech Under Attack?
VIDEO
http://beta.redlasso.com/Community/ClipPlayer.aspx?i=770a5ec0-d307-4b44-8358-953f121a3b79

[naschkatze]

04:39 PM on 09/19/2007

That's a good video. I watched it on C & L. I thought the shocker was when Medea Benjamin said that she was pulled from a Hillary Clinton campaign rally by "goons" for wearing an anti-war tee which said Bring the Troops Home Now. Another nail in the coffin of Hillary Jackboot Clinton as far as my ever voting for her. I recommend that anyone still reading this thread click on PaulDonaldson's link.

[Hirnlego]

05:04 PM on 09/19/2007

Good vid..

[mmofsc]

04:06 PM on 09/19/2007

One last thing. Kerry said he "could have handled the situation". I didn't see him move a muscle towards the kid, did you?

Don't misconstrue this. I don't think he should have done anything except what he did. Stand there. Stepping off that stage and into a crowd would have been a Secret Service nightmare.

I can almost tell what age people are by their posts. I do not say that he deserved to be tazered, but he had to know it was going to happen and provoked the situation. He is not all innocent in this.

[fitz]

03:56 PM on 09/19/2007

Honestly interesting to juxtapose, a liberal from the 40's and 50's like Gawdy here with the maniacs who run amuck all over this web site.

Where did you guys go wrong Gawdy?

When did you go from being just atheist wanna dogooders that we could laugh at, to the bomb throwers that we are probably gonna have to put down?

[GawdFraud]

03:41 PM on 09/19/2007

The level of hate here is an indictment of the blogosphere in general. It is obvious that many commenting are here only to respond in as crude a way as possible to legitimate or illegitimate comments of other responders that they already have a hate relationship with. While there are several rightful issues surrounding the whole Tasergate affair, it is painfully evident that many of the most vociferous and vile comments have been made by people who are not interested in the real issues but are only interested in offering the nastiest and most antagonistic responses possible. It is also clear that many of those commenting have not really reviewed the videos nor read the news reports because if they had they would have made note of the events leading up to the altercation and observed the responses of the audience. The fact that fellow students were leaving while the dork who got tasered had the mike and the fact that most cheered when the cops moved in shows that there was a high level of contempt for him most likely because of his past public performances.
Also, it is interesting that none of the dork’s allies commenting here made note of the fact that the question period was winding down and when it was announced that Kerry would take only a couple more questions, the dork had the gall to shove himself forward from the back of the line and commandeer the mike, thereby shutting out the rest of the students waiting patiently to offer their own questions. So when commentors bring up the question of violation of his freedom to speak, they willfully ignore his usurpation of the rights of the students he bypassed.
While I have attended more than my share of civil rights and protest meetings and see myself as a flaming liberal, there is a level of decorum and a sense of order necessary for any meeting to be successful and when someone sets out deliberately to sabotage that effort, their removal is justified.
Too bad for the dork it was such a painful experience.

[mmofsc]

04:22 PM on 09/19/2007

I agree with your post. I did post this earlier, but as Doc Sarvis said, it would take a dig to find it. And I just felt the need to say it again.

The cops did their job. Period. They attempted to remove him without a big to-do. He started waving his arms. He starting making threatening movements - which in case you do not know this - is a big no-no when ANY of our beloved congress people are making speeches anywhere. For all the cops knew, Meyers could have been armed and nuts enough to try and take out a Senator who appeared to ignore the questions. Feel for the cops. They probably need their jobs. The smart ass kid knew he was stirring up a hornets nest. "Don't taze me, bro!" Give me a break. Is his likeness going to be printed on t-shirts like Che with that quote under it? Back in the day the cops would have used a billy club and dragged his limp body out of the auditorium. He got off easy. Amazing how quickly he lawyered up too. Was he waiting for this? Was he waiting for this? This was his first taste of the real world.....not an insulated college campus. The real world frowns on pranks that can be misconstrued as threatening. It ain't all Facebook in the real world.

[EladInMo]

02:38 PM on 09/19/2007

CNN --

During Monday's forum, Meyer came to the microphone to question the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee from Massachusetts.

"You will take my question because I have been listening to your crap for two hours," Meyer told Kerry, according to the police report of the incident.

He then turned to a woman and said "Are you taping this? Do you have this? You ready?" the report said.

Clarissa Jessup, who contributed I-Report video of the incident to CNN, said Meyer gave her his camera and asked her to shoot video of him posing his questions to Kerry.
~~End Quote~~

Uh-oh. Looks like some people got punked. Namely, everybody. If this turns out to be a stunt, any goodwill in Meyer's favor will evaporate into charges by the DA.

[EladInMo]

02:39 PM on 09/19/2007

But, we still have the Keystone Taser Kops to deal with, so the show will go on.

[shanghaislim]

02:51 PM on 09/19/2007

of course the abusive questioning was a stunt!

The police brutality and false arrest were not!

He got a double bonus. Way better than even he could have imagined.

So jerk, maybe, over-reaching cops, no doubt.