McKinney shoots the moon
April 1, 2006
After a short period during which it seemed that Cynthia McKinney, recently in the news for assaulting a Capitol Hill policeman for having the nerve to expect her to identify herself before barging into the Capitol building, might actually keep her head down and try to let the whole thing blow over, it has now become clear that the Georgia Democrat has decided to fight the matter out all the way. And, brother, is it going to get ugly fast. Reports Fox News:
While McKinney asserted her innocence, her lawyer said she was "just a victim of being in Congress while black.
"Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, like thousands of average Americans across this country, is, too, a victim of the excessive use of force by law enforcement officials because of how she looks and the color of her skin," James W. Myart Jr. said.
It doesn't end there, either. McKinney is also claiming that the officer touched her 'inappropriately' when he had to chase her down for barging into the Capitol building without slowing down, and ignoring repeated requests to stop to be identified.
An interesting strategy change, to say the least -- When word got out that McKinney, who was not wearing the identifying lapel pin that congresspersons apparently wear so that they may be shooed in without presenting other ID, had been involved in an altercation in which she was observed to beat a policeman with her phone, she made vaguely conciliatory noises, to the effect that she respected the security staff, and understood what they were there to do. She called it unfortunate, although she did stop well short of actually apologizing. From Fox again:
In a statement issued late Wednesday night, McKinney said the confrontation was "unfortunate."
"I was urgently trying to get to an important meeting on time to fulfill my obligations to my constituents. Unfortunately, the police officer did not recognize me as a member of Congress and a confrontation ensued. I did not have on my congressional pin but showed the police officer my congressional ID. I know that Capitol Hill Police are securing our safety, that of thousands of others, and I appreciate the work that they do. I deeply regret that the incident occurred," she said in a statement.
She also sent ad hoc stooge Nancy Pelosi out to tell the press that it was all no big deal, and that not much ought to be made of it. That would, of course, be odd indeed if her current protestations of racial mistreatment were true, but then, it wouldn't be quite as odd as a true statement from McKinney in the first place.
Be all that as it may, one thing is for sure: at a point in the political discourse where Democrats are hoping for a chance to show us all how, contrary to all appearances, they actually understand the need for strong security and defense in a post 9/11 world, this promises to be received about as well by relatively sane Democrats as... well, as Murtha's claims that we should tuck tail and run in Iraq, and the Feingold call to censure the President for presuming to have the NSA listen in on people who make phone calls to Al Qaida.
Now, the story is still new, and McKinney and her party have the fortunate luxury of a weekend in which to do some polling and focus-grouping, so perhaps there will be some fine-tuning of the terms of the debate come Monday. But after the scandalous and disgraceful accusations made yesterday by her mouthpiece, it may be just a touch late for McKinney to attempt a climbdown now. And I can't really imagine that a big, ugly racial brawl between a racist congressperson with fire shooting out her ass, and the hard-pressed folks who try to maintain something like security at one of the biggest target structures in Washington DC, will be one that helps Ms. McKinney's party as the election bears down on one and all. So hold on to your hats -- this one will get loud.
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Revised: 05/19/08 08:07:10 -0400 .