Free Speech?

I admit that this event disturbs me deeply. And that I feel deeply ambivalent towards the behavior of the police in this incident. As the video shows, University of Florida student Andrew Meyer jumps to the front of the line to ask John Kerry a variety of questions. As you can see, the questioning quickly swells to a rant.

I think there's a proper, dignified way to ask questions and clearly Meyer did not adhere to this. In fact, I'm tempted to see his behavior as little more than a publicity stunt. Still, did a lapse in good judgment justify his receiving 50,000 volts with a Taser? If this was, in fact, a publicity stunt--did not the behavior of the police officers play right into Meyer's hands?

Clearly, I think a lot of us out there would have liked to put John Kerry on the spot regarding the dubious results of the 2004 election but I tend to think that this over-the-top banter has no place. To me, preserving a sense of decorum is much sexier than this sort of hysteria.