Georgia Congresswoman Assaulted ...

[Tsa`ah]

... or just grand standing for attention using the race card.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/03/31/mckinney.police/index.html

Slow morning at the office and I've had CNN streaming on the second PC when I caught this.

Essentially McKinney side stepped a security point at the airport (which members of congress and senate can do), but the attending officers did not recognize her and attempted to stop her by placing a hand on her arm.

According to McKinney it was racial profiling. Because she was a woman and black, they touched her in an inappropriate manner.

According to the police, they didn't recognize her and touched her arm to gain her attention (she was yacking away on her cell phone) ... in response she turned and beat the "assailing" officer in the chest with her phone.

Personally ... I hope they charge her. Not because she's a member of congress, but because she's pulling the race and gender cards. Just how fucking full of yourself can you be? How many members are in the 109th session of congress? Do we really expect DC police to know and recognize every worthless member?

[Stanley Burrell]

If she tried this shit at LaGuardia (not the follow up) she might have been killed a little. Airport personal there (from what I have witnessed) are ready to commence deadin' at the drop of a race card, bulletproof or not.

[Skirmisher]

She needs to wear her ID card is all.

[Tsa`ah]

If she tried this shit at LaGuardia (not the follow up) she might have been killed a little. Airport personal there (from what I have witnessed) are ready to commence deadin' at the drop of a race card, bulletproof or not.

She couldn't have done it at LaGuardia since they don't have provisions for elected federal officials. DC is about the only place she could have done it, but the sentiment still holds ... she would have received a beat down anywhere else.

A few years ago I was on the receiving end of a security dog-pile in Detroit for running out of the security point to catch my flight. I can only imagine what would have been done if I had turned on the first officer to beat him with my cell phone.


She needs to wear her ID card is all.

Actually I think that's the least of what she needs to do. She's one face in the small sea of congress. The only thing she needs to do is admit she's pretty much worthless in the grand scheme of things and not beat on an officer doing his/her job.

The lengths this woman is going through over her "plight" disturbs me as it should disturb anyone who pays taxes; because in the end ... it's going to cost us, not her.

[ElanthianSiren]

Glad I'm not the only one who thought the same when I read the story. It sounded to me like cop called out warning, she was on the phone/talking too loud, missed warning, cop warned three times, security took her down.

I can't stand when cell phone users use them in inappropriate areas. Security checkpoint counts as inappropriate IMO. Don't they have some kind of surveillence recorders in those areas (re: touching)?

-M

[Apathy]

Hopefully her PR rep will realize what a horrible mistake this would be for her political career - it will cast her in an overly paranoid and radical light, making her unelectable to a large chunk of her voting base - and tell her to STFU and that will be the end of it. It would be even better if she apologized to the airline workers but I'm sure that will be too much to ask of someone who supposedly represents the middle working class. People like this disgust me.

[Skirmisher]

Soledad O'Brien interviewed U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney today and I have to give tremendous credit to Ms O'Brien for her not letting Rep McKinney get away with her and her lawyers attempts to not answer any questions and use the interview for their own agenda.

I'm sure Rep McKinney was not anticipating anything near as tough the interview she found herself in.

Asking McKinney what exactly happened brought time and time again attempts to go off on tangents about racial profiling and bizarely enough she found it necessary to mention that Glover and Belafante had been at her press conference though I am not sure why.

Soledad made Mckinney and her lawyers look every bit as full of smokescreen tossing bluster as they were being.

Kudos Soledad, well done.

[Back]

Kudos Soledad, well done.

If only she, and other prominent (visable) journalists, were as voracious over the real misconduct going on in Congress and the White House.

This is barely a blip on the radar.

[CrystalTears]

I don't know why she's bothering to go on any interviews when her and her attorneys refuse to answer any questions related to the incident. She was on Fox and Friends this morning and the same thing was going on.

If she wasn't planning on discussing anything but racial profiling and not the facts of what happened during the incident, then shut up and don't go on interviews that were requested specifically for that purpose.

She's making herself look worse with this attitude.

[Skirmisher]

If only she, and other prominent (visable) journalists, were as voracious over the real misconduct going on in Congress and the White House.

This is barely a blip on the radar.

Backlash, please dont let your ire with the current administration and its plethora of mistakes and misdeeds blind you to when someone from the party you find less offensive does something wrong.

If you are not able to be honest and open regarding your own bad apples how can you ask others to find you worthy to point out the flaws in those you plainly abhor?

I noticed a dearth of posts from our more conservative posters regarding the resignation of Delay this week.

You saw the other day how I was more than willing to criticize those members from my party especially those from my own state whom I happen to know the most about. Jim McGreevy and Torricelli were simply awful and If they had tried to hang on you can be sure I would have voted against them in a democratic primary and if they won there would have voted for their republican opponent.

This woman McKinney was an egotistical and arrogant and deserved to get slapped around on TV for making a big deal out of nothing and then claiming it to be all the fault of the deputy

[Back]

Backlash, please dont let your ire with the current administration and its plethora of mistakes and misdeeds blind you to when someone from the party you find less offensive does something wrong.

Never said she wasn't wrong. But what happened paled in comparison to major issues and is so singular. I find it a tragedy when supposed journalists are attacking her so virulently when other persons in even more power are totally handled with kid-gloves. She's one of how many House members involved in a misunderstanding compared to top administration officials involved in serious questionable activity?

One tiny example is when Cheney shot his hunting buddy in the face he didn't get this kind of grilling even with all the side-stepping stories out of his camp.

[Artha]

He also didn't pull the race card and admitted his mistake.

[Sean of the Thread]

Never said she wasn't wrong. But what happened paled in comparison to major issues and is so singular. I find it a tragedy when supposed journalists are attacking her so virulently when other persons in even more power are totally handled with kid-gloves. She's one of how many House members involved in a misunderstanding compared to top administration officials involved in serious questionable activity?

One tiny example is when Cheney shot his hunting buddy in the face he didn't get this kind of grilling even with all the side-stepping stories out of his camp.


Lol. It's to the point where your posts are only good for a chuckle. Are you kidding? Cheney got blasted by the media! This woman was acted like an idiot. She is continuing to act like an idiot with the race card.

Damn the man was just doing his job and she's damn lucky she didn't get tackled, tasered or receive other serious harm. She needs to stfu and apologize already.

Oh and you need to pull your head out of your ass.

[Back]

He also didn't pull the race card and admitted his mistake.

Never said she was wrong. But there is a huge difference in the way both situations were handled by the press and now the authorities.

[Sean of the Thread]

Never said she was wrong. But there is a huge difference in the way both situations were handled by the press and now the authorities.

I see the huge difference.

One broke the law the other one was involved in a hunting accident.

[xtc]

He also didn't pull the race card and admitted his mistake.

One white man shot another hunting. There wasn't a race card to be played and it would be impossible to say you were correct in shooting your buddy.

[xtc]

I say her lawyer on CNN last night. He looks like a body builder. He claims it is a case of ethnic profiling.

[Sean]

She's an idiot. On a scale of 1 to Dumb I'd say she rates an Al Sharpton.

[DeV]

^ True

[Gan]

I heard in a broadcast yesterday that one of the reasons why she was not immediately recognized is that she has exchanged her trademark corn rows for an affro.

Aside from that, she's still required to have her ID badge present and available to pass through security.

She should have yielded to the inquiring police officer when he verbally requested her to stop.

She should not have resisted to the point of striking said officer when he resorted to physically attempting to stop her after said verbal attempts failed.

She should be charged with assualt according to the statutes and face responsibility for her actions.

What is sad is that she's getting her share of another 15 minutes of fame/controversy that puts her name/face in the papers.

And OMG Xy your avatar is hillarious. It took CNN.com half a day to replace that with one more kind when they had her in the headlines. LOL

And I concur with Tijay.

[Skeeter]

Xye's picture is killing me. Bitch does look like a crackhead. looks like she should be on cops instead of congress.

Hasn't she ever heard of a hot comb?

[ElanthianSiren]

lo and behold:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060406/ap_on_go_co/mckinney_scuffle;_ylt=AuirniWHM3UnXH6.dQHwiySs0NUE ;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY-


By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer
38 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - With a grand jury investigating and little support from House colleagues, Rep. Cynthia McKinney reversed course and apologized Thursday for an altercation in which she entered a Capitol building unrecognized, refused to stop when asked by a police officer and then hit him.

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"I am sorry that this misunderstanding happened at all and I regret its escalation, and I apologize," McKinney, D-Ga., said during a brief appearance on the House floor. "There should not have been any physical contact in this incident."

The grand jury investigation into whether to seek assault or other charges was continuing. It was unclear what impact the McKinney apology might have.

Her remarks came as two House officials who witnessed the March 29 scuffle prepared to answer subpoenas from the grand jury convened by U.S. Attorney Kenneth Wainstein. A day earlier, McKinney was shunned on the House floor by several colleagues, while the leaders of her party openly rejected her explanation that she was acting in self defense when she hit the officer.

What McKinney called a "misunderstanding" on Thursday she had labeled "racial profiling" and "inappropriate touching" a day earlier. For nearly a week, she and her lawyers had insisted that she had been assaulted and had done nothing wrong. She is black and the police officer is white.

McKinney, 51, has a history of confrontations with officers.

In this case, she entered a House office building without passing through the metal detector that screens visitors. Members of Congress are permitted to bypass the machines, but she was not wearing the pin that identified her as a House member at the time.

The officer, whose name has not been made public, has said he asked McKinney three times to stop. She did not.

Terrance Gainer, outgoing chief of the Capitol Police, has said the officer placed a hand on her and she responded by hitting him. He said McKinney's race was not a factor.

The incident has embarrassed Democrats, including fellow members of the Congressional Black Caucus, none of whom has publicly defended her behavior.

The caucus' silence stands in contrast to its investigations of past scuffles between the U.S. Capitol Police and members.

One such probe occurred in 1990, when the caucus investigated whether Rep. Mickey Edwards, R-Okla. poked a black female Capitol Police officer and shouted curses at her after she had denied entrance to an Edwards staffer who did not have a House identification card with her.

A year later, the caucus investigated an incident in which a Capitol Police officer allegedly denied Rep. Louis Stokes, D-Ohio, entrance to the garage of a House office building because the officer did not believe Stokes was a member.

Republicans initially responded to the McKinney incident by advancing legislation to commend the Capitol Police for their professionalism.

Two House aides who witnessed the confrontation were subpoenaed Wednesday to testify before the grand jury.

Lisa Subrize, executive assistant to Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (news, bio, voting record), R-Mich., and Troy Phillips, senior legislative assistant to Rep. Sam Farr (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., notified Speaker Dennis Hastert.

Bob Jackson, a spokesman for McCotter, said that Subrize witnessed the confrontation and immediately filled out a form for the Capitol Police, describing what she saw.

A spokeswoman for Farr declined comment.

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who on Tuesday abandoned his re-election bid under a cloud of ethics charges, weighed in on Wednesday, saying McKinney "is a racist."

"She has a long history of racism," DeLay, R-Texas, said on Fox News Channel. "Everything is racism with her. This is incredible arrogance that sometimes hits these members of Congress, but especially Cynthia McKinney."

On Wednesday, McKinney had charged anew that racism was behind what she said was a pattern of difficulty in clearing Hill security checkpoints, arguing that officers assigned to protect Congress members should recognize her, even without her congressional pin.

"This has become much ado about hairdo," she said on CBS' "The Early Show." McKinney recently dropped her trademark cornrows in favor loose curls.

___

Associated Press Writer Mark Sherman contributed to this report.
edited to remove footnotes and junk that annoyed me.

[Latrinsorm]

I guess DeLay's decided to take some big swings on his way out. I hope he starts showing up for work in sweats and a DX T-shirt.

[Skirmisher]

If McKinney gets reelected Georgia should automatically lose a seat in the house due to stupidity.

[Parkbandit]

If McKinney gets reelected Georgia should automatically lose a seat in the house due to stupidity.

/agree

[Wezas]

"There should not have been any physical contact in this incident."

I love how she kept the wording there to make it sound like he was out of place holding her back after she was asked to stop 3 times.

[Tsa`ah]

I'm willing to bet that the apology was forced from her by the parties she represents, and as Wezas pointed out ... she's clinging to the physical contact.

The guy was doing his job and she was too full of herself to acknowledge that even she had to follow some rules.

It's not the end of her political career by any means. Let's face it, most of our congress is comprised of half wits relying on voter apathy for their jobs. She'll get re-elected.

[Wezas]

Let's face it, most of our congress is comprised of half wits

Except for Ted Kennedy.

[Skirmisher]

Better to be a half wit...

[xtc]

Originally Posted by Skirmisher
If McKinney gets reelected Georgia should automatically lose a seat in the house due to stupidity.



/agree

If stupidity was a bar against becoming a Congressman the House would be empty.

[radamanthys]

I bet this kinda mentality put her into office in the first place.

[Skirmisher]

If stupidity was a bar against becoming a Congressman the House would be empty.
Silly boy.

The stupidity of the congresswoman in this case and sadly many others is not open for debate.

The loss of a seat would be due to the stupidity of the state of Georgia in electing her yet again.
:welcome:

[Back]

Going ghetto (http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-oe-kaplan12apr12,1,5386921.column?coll=la-news-comment&ctrack=1&cset=true)
Last week, Cynthia McKinney's big hair collided with racism that never dies.


Last week, conservative radio talk-show host Neal Boortz made it clear for me. After the instantly infamous encounter last month between Democratic Rep. Cynthia McKinney, a black from Georgia who was first elected to Congress in 1992, and the Capitol police, Boortz called her "ghetto trash" and said she looked like a "ghetto slut." What Boortz seemed to be saying was that, underneath their credentials, black people remain primitive and irrational. And black women with big hair are proof of it.

Many critics of the Georgia congresswoman decried her behavior — allegedly whacking a police officer with a cellphone after he attempted to stop her at an entrance to the Capitol — as inappropriate, possibly criminal. Boortz joined that chorus. What really set him off, however, and tapped into a vitriol that runs much deeper than his opinion of one controversial act, was McKinney's physical appearance. For Boortz, the most compelling evidence of McKinney's moral and professional failure was not her scuffle with the law but her new, quasi-Afro hairdo, as well as a longtime penchant for colorful clothes and shoes.

His tirade against her overall look gave new credence to the old stereotype of a wench — a term used in the slave era that mythologized black women as ungroomed, uncouth and hypersexual, with none of the poise and refinement of their mythologized white Southern counterparts. A modern version of a wench is that street-bred, provocatively clad "'ho" of hip-hop videos, given not only to outrageous hair and clothes but also to back talk and plenty of attitude. (That McKinney is dark skinned and more "primitive" looking than, say, Beyonce, seals the deal.)

-------------------------------------------------------------

So much a non-issue. FOX devoted more time to this story than the Presidential leaks.

[Sean of the Thread]

Holy shit bias based article of hate. I hope you didn't post that with a serious look on your face.

That's a crock of shit.. he said he she looked like trash.. which she did. To read further into slavery and such is complete garbage.

I don't know who bortz is but she did in fact look like trash in that picture. Libby's need all the ammo they can get to but that article is pretty trashy in itself.