One More Time on the John Kerry/Taser Incident

When I wrote a post last week about campus cops attacking and tasering a student at John Kerry's University of Florida speaking event, I criticized Kerry's behavior during the incident. The post drew some strong reactions and I want to follow up.

I was startled that so many people read the original post. Most disconcertingly, Kerry's communications manager, perhaps thinking I'm an actual political pundit (I'm not; I'm a novelist), emailed to ask for my contact number and say that the Senator had, "believe it or not," seen the post, gotten "upset," and intended to "let [me] know what really happened because [my] post is rife with mistaken assumptions." He never did, though.

Maybe some of my assumptions were mistaken. I have no doubt that some shit went down before and after the events we see in the videos. Maybe it changes things, sheds new light on it. (I've read that Andrew Meyer, the kid who got tased, was cutting the line and being noisy beforehand, etc. But in the videos he's doing absolutely nothing -- nothing -- wrong, and the police attack him.) What I see in the videos, though, is Kerry directly inviting the kid to speak, the police attacking him before he can finish his question, people crying "Let him go!" and Kerry making some ineffectual noises to settle things down ("Officers, can we... Hey folks... I think..."), then apparently blithely soliloquizing onstage while six cops go apeshit on this one guy and taser him and he screams in pain.

I've watched the videos again -- my earlier post was an immediate, visceral reaction -- since I first saw them and my opinions haven't changed. Meyer wasn't dangerous, Kerry displayed about as much moral initiative as a fencepost, and the cops behaved like ignorant animals. (Kerry deserves criticism because his intervention would have mattered more than anyone else's, but it's clear that the cops are the real wrongdoers here. They are absolutely disgusting.)

By the way, go read the self-serving/self-congratulatory police report (download from here) if you haven't. It's full of distortions (he was "punching" the officers? come again, Ofc. Nicole Lynn Mallo?) and omissions that are undermined by what can be seen in the videos. And man, it makes those cops seem prudish about the phrase "blow job."

Back to Kerry, who has apparently said that he didn't know until after the incident that the kid got tasered. Maybe it's true he didn't know a taser was actually used. Did he really not hear the scream of pain, though? Seriously? The more you think about it, the more bizarre it is that Kerry continued answering the question while all this was going on. It's not just bizarre because the guy was being attacked at the same time...it's bizarre because at that point Kerry was speaking to an audience that obviously wasn't listening to him because there was a guy bellowing his lungs out and getting pinned down in the aisle. When you consider it that way, it's almost like he was deliberately trying to distract the audience from what has happening (and would, ideally, soon be over) in the back of the room... restore order and calm things down while the noisy guy was dealt with.

Or, more charitably, maybe it's just that Kerry's done this stage stuff so often he's become a robot... pull the string by asking a question, and then it'll just talk and talk and talk no matter what is happening around it.

Still (and I say this as a 2005 Yale grad who's well aware that most of the creepy rumors are bullshit) I would've liked to hear him answer that Skull and Bones question.

Comments

[secondedition]

Come on, you just don't want to admit you jumped to conclusions and went after Senator Kerry without having all the hard facts and now you have to cover for yourself by still trying to claim that the Senator should have or could have done more than he did. That is easy to say, but harder to execute. What more could he have done-within the law?
It is wrong to engage people and report on an incident without having all the facts. People believe you know what you are talking about when in fact you are just watching a spliced video posted to enrage and gain attention and in your own ignorance you become a patsy to this jokster trying to obtain his fifteen minutes of fame at everyone elses expense. Obviously, I do not think Senator Kerry could have done anymore than he did. The student was out for attention and the police overreacted. This incident should have been about the student's behavior and the police reaction, instead, some people-like yourself- saw an opportunity to find fault -where there wasn't any- with Senator Kerry's reaction and response. Why don't you just admit that it would not have made any difference what the senator did or said, you saw this as an opportuity to have a go at him and to try to damage his reputation. It was never about the student really was it? It was about going negative on Senator Kerry, that is why you will not admit that you were wrong.

[buddhaglass]

From Common Dreams:

"Members of Accent, Student Government’s speakers bureau, cut off the microphone because Meyer used profanity, said Steven Blank, Accent chairman. Accent sponsored the forum, which was held at the University Auditorium­."

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/09/18/3931/

So the ruckus started when the student government cut the mike! I don't recall any 'profanity' on the many tapes of the incident.

http://buddhaglass.blogspot.com/

[beachmom]

Nick,

One more thing. There was a diary about this from Kerry's Online Communications Director on DailyKos. Did you not see this?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/9/18/125041/427

[NickAntosca]

Yeah, I did. In fact that guy, BriVT, is Brian Young, the guy from Kerry's staff who contacted me. He forwarded a bunch of that stuff...li­ke accounts from eyewitness that had been posted on, of all places, Michelle Malkin's blog.

[beachmom]

Michelle Malkin hates Kerry's guts. She's one of the leading right wing bloggers to continue to give credence to the discredited Swift Boat lies. If even HER READERS who were actually at the event couldn't bring themselves to blame Kerry, then why are you so intent on doing that, having not been there yourself?

[karendc]

I am QUITE sure that Andrew Meyer will continue his questioning of all the issues he considers important. The fact that he tends to ask them while yelling, cutting in lines, and without waiting for a response places him firmly in the tier of rabid youngster and not mature journalist.

However, he should not have been tasered. I however, as a college professor, hold the police accountable for the way he was treated.

Had I been in John Kerry's position, I would have, no doubt, interevened, and loudly. Unless, of course there was rampant confusion, loud student reactions to the questioner's behavior, people in front talking to me, etc. At that point, I am sure I would have opted for quiet calm rather than reactivity.

As for the appearance of this story more than a week post-incident, I can only conclude that too many have too little to worry about. Mr. Meyer is going to be allowed to continue to learn how to be a mature journalist, under the tutalege of Mr. Palast (Good luck, Greg), Mr. Kerry has returned to the Senate, where as far as I can tell, he is kicking some butt and fighting for an end to many many crimes against the planet and the people therein, and I HOPE the police who made the bad call are having a really bad week, and the university is reconsidering its policies.

In fact, if all of the energy being spent on parsing Mr. Kerry's behavior were to be let loose on the rapidly evolving police state we seem to be living in, I am sure that policies would change.

Better yet, come to Washington DC and speak to your Representatives in Congress about some stuff that should be of great concern to all:
the spreading of fear in the face of increasing fascism; the GITMO-izing of America.

P.S. You can also CALL THEM.

[LARRYB28]

This is the problem with our education system,no one is taught anything about responsibility.ifibility.if this clown had just followed any of the requests first from the people running the forum or at any point actually listning and obeying the requests of the police than there would be no need to use a taser.it is easy to blame the police for doing their jobs instead of pointing out that this guy could have prevented all of this by just following instructions and not making this all about him

[beachmom]

The girl who actually shot the video, whom you are basing your opinions on, defended Kerry. A video of one reality does not show the entire reality. Why won't you believe the girl who Andrew Meyer asked to do the video?

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2007/09/witness_defends_kerry_response.html

A WOMAN WHO VIDEOTAPED A UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA STUDENT BEING TASERED DURING A SPEECH BY SENATOR JOHN KERRY IS DISCUSSING THE INCIDENT.

CLARISSA JESSUP SPOKE TO C-N-N ABOUT THE ARREST OF ANDREW MEYER, SAYING ORGANIZERS HAD CUT OFF QUESTIONING BEFORE HE WENT TO THE MICROPHONE.

SHE SAID MEYER GAVE HER HIS CAMERA AND ASKED HER TO SHOOT VIDEO OF HIM ASKING KERRY QUESTIONS.

--SOT--

"John kerry did try to interfere with the police. at one point, police where holding on to meyers. kerry got to a point where he almost lost his composure and said officer guy. you, let him go. i do want to hear his question, i do want to hear to what he has to say. i do want to answer him. that was at the point the officers said will pull you aside to ask your question. but as he was attempting to ask his question. the officers themselves appeared to me to make themselves clear not allowing him to stay and hear the question and yelling into his ear."

[NickAntosca]

He almost "almost lost his composure"? Sounds pretty heroic.

[areyouami]

I wholeheartedly agree!

Meyer was utterly astounded as to why he was being tackled and grabbed. Downstairs they told him he's being charged with Inciting a Riot. Outrageous! They were the one's causing a riot.

Much of the mainstream, corporate owned media and the drones who watch/listen are convinced that it was staged because student was a prankster, so, therefore he "had it coming". There's even some that say they never even saw the taser and, yet others, who say that Andrew gave the cops the idea of the taser when he said "Don't Tase Me, Bro". Actually, if you listen to the video, you can hear the female cop saying that they're going to taser him and he sees it being unholstered in front of him.

There's actually "Taser Deniers". Good grief.

I think most people, including the mainstream media, are freaked by Andrew's audacity to not be a drone. He's a Thought Criminal. I'm not kidding.

It truly wasn't staged. After reading "Armed Madhouse", you too would want to have these questions answered. The media hasn't asked after all. Andrew is a young, idealogical student who has yet to become completely cynical. I hope they didn't cook his balls. This country needs more of him.

The kid is brave. Braver than the mainstream media. They saw what happened to Rather.

Read the "yellow book" that Andrew refused to drop. It's the ugly truth -- not a beautiful lie.

www.GregPalast.com

[Jimp123]

Coming from the UK, this does not show the US in any great light. This article has been reported in newspapers throughout the world.

On the one hand you have to ask yourself "what does this say about democracy and free speach in the US".

But also on the other hand you have to think about the whole democratic issue of America and there image to the world as a whole?????

Wasn't America founded on free speach? should that now be America is founded on free speach and being electrocuted????

[Galvestonians for Dr. Ron Paul]

Kerry is a piss poor excuse for a leader.
He should truly be ashamed, that coward.

Does not everyone see the spineless frauds we have in our government?
I would rather see that kid in Kerry's position..­..At least he has the moxie to say and do what he believes unlike our current leaders.

[Gregorio]

I don't care about the "circumstances". This is about police using tasers to suppress free speech. And Kerry did not take charge of the situation at all but seemed to pretty much ignore it, or as you say, kept distracting himself and minimizing it. Very disappointing. Kind of a metaphor for the whole friggin' Democratic party, I'd say. Passively sitting by while Bush Tasers the body politic, day in and day out, keeping everyone in terror about speaking up. I don't hold much hope for November 2008, but if there can be any change, Democratic leaders better get some grit, somewhere.

[V4Vigilance]

"This is about police using tasers to suppress free speech."

B.S.

This is about an narcissistic and arrogant ass attempting to hijack a public event who gets tased while fighting with the police who are trying to eject him.

All the people who feel a need to equate this event to (pick one or more) the First Amendment, the Civil Rights Movement, Nazi Germany, Abu Graib, Gitmo, etc., make me want to wretch. This does nothing but trivialize the real abuse going on in the world and the efforts to address and end that abuse.

If you want to understand how the right can get away with labeling liberals/p­rogressive­s "the loony left" all you have to do is read through the hysterical, over-the-top reactions to this event.

[V4Vigilance]

p.s. In case there are any pedants out there, yes, I know, that should be retch, not wretch.

p.p.s. For a prime example of what I'm talking about, check out areyouami's post below. My favorite line is "There's actually 'Taser Deniers'. Good grief.". Good grief indeed. Here's someone who not only wants to make this brat out to be some kind of hero, but also semantically links those of us who feel otherwise with 'Holocaust Deniers' by labeling us 'Taser Deniers'. Sheesh.

[snaggster]

A little shouting from Kerry would have gotten him off the hook as far as I'm concerned. He couldn't be moved to do even that much. The poor dear was upset by your post? Too bad he didn't get "upset" that day in Florida.

[UpstateSC]

You are right about Kerry and the police. And abour Meyer - he was rude and possibly wanting publicity, but not a threat and NOT BREAKING ANY LAWS. It's amazing to me the number of people who support the tasering of Meyer simply because "he broke in line"! It was wrong for him to do that, but even more wrong for the police to act like thugs. Even if they don't care for Meyer's rights, don't they care for their own? If it can happen to Meyer, it can happen to them.

[starwheel]

Yea, you're right. First I thought Kerry was getting a bum rap because he did offer to answer the kid's question. And he was on stage so it's not like he could run in the back of the hall and grab the thugs off the kid.

But he's not blind or deaf. He sees the student, who just asked him a question, being drug away and hears him screaming "Help! Help!" before yelling in tortured pain at being tazed while other students are screaming at the cops "WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT TO HIM?".

John Kerry could have at least shouted into the mic "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON BACK THERE!"