Cynthia McKinney, embarassment

**UPDATE **
Moments ago, McKinney spoke on the house floor and appologized for her actions and praised the Capitol Police for their professionalism. Maybe she reads The Dope and got hip? At any rate, it's a relief to see her put this to rest before she became more of a target.


This story makes me wince.

I watched Rep. McKinney's press conference shortly after this incident and I got a really bad taste in my mouth and it wasn't because I was eating something that had been in the fridge way past it's sell by date.

Thankfully, Dem leadership are distancing themselves from her, as this is like handing the Republicans a big old early Easter present. By charging racism and trying to inject race into this incident, McKinney is doing exactly what the right accuses so many blacks of doing, namely crying race when it's not justified and using it to cover up or avoid responsibility for their actions.

While this is rarely the case, this fiasco will only serve to solidify that mistaken impression and the right will use it to bludgeon anyone who may have a legitimate complaint in the future.

McKinney, as far as is known, tried to enter a congressional office building without wearing the pin identifying her as a member of congress. Alledgedly, a Capitol Police officer told her to stop twice, yet she continued past and the officer reportedly grabbed McKinney by the arm. At this, point, it's said that McKinney either slapped or punched the cop in the arm or hit him with her cell phone... who knows... but she apparently struck him in some way.

Her entire case consists of arguing that there's only a few black women in congress and therefore the cop should have recognized her, even though she wasn't wearing the proper identifying pin, and that she was "assaulted" due to the fact that she was a black woman. She states she was a victim of "racial profiling". She is not only accusing the individual cop with racism, but the entire Capitol Police force.

It's just hard to take seriously, and as I've said, it's an embarassment to the Dems, a perfect example that the Republicans will point to forever as somehow typical, and perhaps worst of all, it will serve to diminish and allow people to dismiss serious and real incidents of racial profiling and racism in the future, much like the boy who cried wolf.

If someone has a legitimate grievance to do with race in the future, the Republicans will likely dismiss it as just someone "pulling a McKinney" or something similar.

The House Republicans, none of whom have a racist bone in their bodies (cough) immediately rushed to propose a measure congratulating Capitol Hill police for stopping McKinney and manhandling her as well as trying to charge her with a crime.

The B.S. vote is sponsored by the seemingly joke named Patrick McHenry or North Carolina and the right wing Cuban crook Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida. (Think Elian Gonzalez) The measure doesn't mention McKinney by name, but praises the Capitol Police for their professionalism. (Keep it up boys, as long as you're grabbing those darkies.)

I've always respected McKinney, but this really disappoints me in a big way. She should simply apologize for her behavior, and leave it alone. The last thing she should be doing is making a federal case out of it, which is exactly what she's doing. This shows extremely poor judgement and is wrong on many levels.

What's your feelings on the matter?