TOM FRIEDMAN, INTERNATIONAL BADASS: Thomas L. Friedman, the three-time Pulitzer-winning foreign affairs columnist and author, is known worldwide as one of the leading experts on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and other aspects of the Middle East. His skills as a brawler, on the other hand, are less known.
But, according to a piece by Stephen I. Weiss in Jewsweek, TLF apparently learned how to handle himself in the way of fisticuffs while growing up on the mean streets of St. Louis Park, MN. Weiss' piece, about Friedman sitting in on a panel at a think tank's annual dinner and discussing the recent Geneva Accords, sounds just like any other account of such an event (albeit with some humor and some Friedman-bashing) until it suddenly turns into a Jackie Chan movie:
Harvey Schwartz, a Manhattan lawyer, greets Friedman and with a smile on his face tells him he learned two things from Friedman that night: That the columnist, "Supports drilling in ANWR," and is, "willing to sacrifice Israel on the altar of Iraq." Friedman yells "F**k you," hits the guy with his right hand, and then shoves him into a small crowd of people with their backs turned. Schwartz has a good foot and 100 pounds on the diminutive Friedman, but he went about three feet backwards from Friedman's push.