Considering that two Capitol Police officers died back in the late ’90s defending people like Cynthia McKinney and Nancy Pelosi from a gunman at the Capitol, I’m not at all impressed with Pelosi’s statement that the media shouldn’t “make a big deal of” McKinney’s physical altercation with one of said officers. As a spokesman for Dennis Hastert put it, “How many officers would have to be punched before it becomes a big deal?”
She’ll blame the punch on the cop on a White House conspiracy, just like she did for 9-11. Is anyone else surprised that a group of American people were willing to re-elect this crazed woman?
As big a jackass as McKinney is, she was unidentifiable to the cop who asked her for ID when she bypassed the metal detector. Stopping her was perfectly within his province.
You know, all this would have been avoided if she had worn the pin she’s supposed to wear, IDing her as a member of Congress. There’s a reason we issue IDs like that - so that you avoid running into the “new guy” who doesn’t know you. This isn’t Mayberry, you know, where everyone knows everyone else and understands where they should be and where they shouldn’t be. Her reaction afterward was also poor - she really should have went with the officer and explained herself. Chances are that someone on the force would recognize her, and vouch for her, and she should also be able to get a Congressperson to vouch for her. No reason to punch the officer.
The police were simply trying to do their jobs . . . I think the blame lies with McKinney here.
“but the police men wasn’t supposed to stop her in the first place”
No, the Congresswoman is supposed to wear an id pin, which she refuses to do. The police are taught (rightly) to go after anyone who goes through security without identification or that they do not recognize.
Anyone who has worked on the Hill knows her as a whack job and legislatively irrelevant. That she hit a cop doesn’t shock me. If she wore tin foil on her head it wouldn’t shock me.
The police are taught (rightly) to go after anyone who goes through security without identification or that they do not recognize.
As an example of why this teaching is entirely correct, we need only think of the City Hall shooting in New York City in 2003. There, the practice was that council members and their guests could go through security unmolested. So a council member brings in, as a guest, a former political opponent who had supposedly had a change of heart and wanted to work with him. Turns out, the former opponent was packing heat, and at an opportune moment he opened fire and assassinated the council member. The whole city went into a panic, as for a while, it wasn’t clear whether the shooter had been apprehended (he actually had been shot dead by a security officer, after he opened fire). Downtown was basically locked down, etc. Needless to say, security procedures have since been tightened.
We live in a dangerous world. People who are offended by police officers and security officials just doing their jobs are idiots, plain and simple. It’s like going through airport security and raising a fuss because they search your bag or whatever. Give me a freakin’ break. Save your sense of pique for actual bad behavior by cops, don’t waste it on situations where you’re personally offended that they would dare suspect you of anything. Myself, anytime I have a bag searched, I always make it a point to thank the TSA folks when they finish. They’re doing their best to keep me safe! Just like that cop was doing his best to keep McKinney safe! Ungrateful bitch.
And of course, even if the officers were doing something wrong, obviously A&A is right that “You don’t punch a cop, even if the cop screwed up. Stupid.” If the facts are I currently understand them are true, I hope she is arrested, prosecuted, and kicked out of Congress, like that Ohio guy. And I would say that regardless of party or ideology. You punch a Capitol police officer, you don’t get to work at the Capitol anymore.
A lawyer for Rep. Cynthia McKinney, the Georgia congresswoman who had an altercation with a Capitol Police officer, says she was “just a victim of being in Congress while black.”
I’m sorry, but I have no sympathy in this case. She wouldn’t have been challenged if she had played by the rules that state that you wear that pin. It has nothing to do with race.
P.S. Continuing on the theme of McKinney being an ungrateful bitch… playing the race card is not only completely absurd, but egregiously offensive. How dare she impute a racial motive to the officer without any evidence to back up her claim? Even supposing that the officer was wrong to stop her, she is merely assuming that the reason behind his mistake was racial. Do the Capitol Police have a history of racial discrimination? Has the officer in question called McKinney racial slurs or something? If not, the allegation is just completely unfounded. If the officer in question was adequately identified by her statement, he ought to sue her for libel.
I will say, though, that Hastert’s spokesman’s statement about Danny Glover is incredibly asinine.
What a heinous bitch! When I get in trouble, I don’t go around saying that it’s because I’m blonde. How stupid is that? What kind of message does that send to the American public? Maybe, if I don’t take responsibility for my own stupid actions and instead place the blame on someone else, then I won’t get in trouble. LAME!
What pisses me off the most is the impression I get from reading the article that these congresspeople are so self important that they think the police should recognize them regardless of what they’re wearing or whatever. That’s unreasonable. Besides, anyone who’s watched the Britney Spears look alike contest knows that there’s a drag queen out there who could fool anyone into thinking he’s Britney. So the pin should be a necessity.
When I worked in Parliament, I always had to have my ID badge on to get past security. I don’t see what the big deal about having to wear a pin is. Wear the damn pin and shut the fuck up.
And prosecute her. If she hit a cop, which clearly she did, she should be prosecuted. That kind of behavior toward security should not be tolerated. And skin color of the cop or the person assaulting the cop shouldn’t be relevant. What should be relevant is safety, not McKinney’s ego.
From the AP article: “More recently, police obeyed an order by an angry House Ways and Means Committee chairman, Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Calif., to remove Democrats from a hearing room. Thomas later tearfully apologized on the House floor.”
Love the implication, though, that I, like, hate Democrats or whatever. Heh. Yep, that’s me, Brendan Loy, right-wing shill who voted for Gore and Kerry…
Oh come on Brendan admit it, you really voted for Bush and have a shrine to Karl Rove in your apartment that you pray to every night before you go to bed
McKinney is an idiot. She took a dumb little situation that could have been easily resolved with an apology to the cop and she has turned it into a career killer. She will be out of office before this is over.
Compounding the situation is Pelosi’s moronic statement. It’s one thing for a cooky Congresswoman from a cooky district to do something like this. It is another thing for the House Minority Leader to blow it off. The Dems need to get Pelosi out of there and put someone with a clue like Rahm Emanuel in charge.
And now that more details are coming out, is everyone STILL hating her? (Well, gee, probably yes.)
Question: if what she says is true, that she was inappropriately touched by a security guard who did not recognize her because of her make over and if this security guard never would touch a white man or a man in that same way, is she STILL out of line?
As usual, all the commentators on this blog, including the owner of the blog, think they have all the answers and are able to judge another persons experience based on a few news reports…
A perfect example of this was the story about the guy who ALLEGEDLY yelled “I have a bomb” when he was killed by federal airport secirity….
I actually agree with you on the guy shot down in Florida. I still haven’t heard anything that backs up the air marshall’s take on that.
As for McKinney, there are two sides to every story. Yes, most police wouldn’t grab a white man in a suit by the shoulder, but that is because most white men who are members of Congress would actually stop when told too. I have a feeling McKinney put on a ‘tude and refused to stop, hence the cop had to do what he did. Furthermore, if you have ever been on Capitol Hill, the Capitol Hill Police (not the security guards in the office buildings) are hardcore SOB’s. I’m fairly certain they would get physical with ANYONE who refused an order, regardless of race or bizarre hairstyle.
As usual, all the commentators on this blog, including the owner of the blog, think they have all the answers and are able to judge another persons experience based on a few news reports…
hello anon~
aren’t we bloggers just sharing thoughts and ideas and maybe a little joke or two regarding current news? is that so wrong? to experience sensory imputs, process it and formulate opinions based on our own experiences?if we were only allowed to regurgitate judicially vallidated information brendan would be reduced to posting court minutes and we could just leave the commentary to a bunch of parrots. would you prefer that? would that be safer and more pallitable for you? here’s a thought to quell your irritation… (though it has probably crossed your mind,) since you know better already, but still, try this:
She’s out of line on so many levels that she has resorted the the “I am black” defense to try to justify her out-of-lineness. Gee. Maybe it’s not because she is black. Maybe it’s because she was wrong. I seem to recall when rich, white woman Zsa Zsa Gabor slapped a cop, she got into trouble as well. Is there some vast police conspiracy against blacks and Hungarians, or is McKinney just full of shit? Occam’s Razor points to the latter.
Yes,I realize Occam’s Razor is abused on this site almost as much as “Straw Man,” but it was just easier to use than to come up with something else.
Every time I use Occam’s Razor, I get burned. And it’s a bad Razor burn, too. The edge just isn’t sharp enough for me. Which figures, since so many people use it and no one ever thinks to sharpen it before the next guy comes along. Assholes.
In other news, touching a man on the shoulder is so clearly gay, of course a security guard would never do that. A security guard should only grab white Congressmen by the ass. Touching the shoulder is only appropriate for black women with electrostatic hairstyles.
Imagine the challenge before the Capitol Police in having to sort out all those six term black congresswomen with maroon afros from one another, and from all those fat black lady terrorists with maroon afros on their daily stroll to blow up the gallery.
Especially since they all look pretty much the same and have a tendency to overwhelm the checkpoint with their sheer numbers. Thank goodness for those ID badges!
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March 31st, 2006 at 12:59:39 pm
Cripes.
March 31st, 2006 at 1:17:09 pm
She should just blame Bush like she does for everything else wrong with Life.
March 31st, 2006 at 1:25:44 pm
I do think that its not necessarilly something that should become a big deal, but I also think it is enough of a deal that she should have apologized.
I think Hastert is over playing and Pelosi under playing.
March 31st, 2006 at 1:29:11 pm
She’ll blame the punch on the cop on a White House conspiracy, just like she did for 9-11. Is anyone else surprised that a group of American people were willing to re-elect this crazed woman?
March 31st, 2006 at 1:34:27 pm
And how many of us would have been sitting in a holding cell, cooling our heels and contemtplating the errors of our ways?
March 31st, 2006 at 1:50:32 pm
What?
March 31st, 2006 at 2:13:00 pm
He’s saying a police-punching non-congressperson would have been thrown in the Clink immediately. Probably true.
March 31st, 2006 at 2:35:52 pm
Yes, but the police men wasn’t supposed to stop her in the first place. But the situation was certainly handled poorly.
March 31st, 2006 at 3:03:01 pm
As big a jackass as McKinney is, she was unidentifiable to the cop who asked her for ID when she bypassed the metal detector. Stopping her was perfectly within his province.
March 31st, 2006 at 3:06:39 pm
You know, all this would have been avoided if she had worn the pin she’s supposed to wear, IDing her as a member of Congress. There’s a reason we issue IDs like that - so that you avoid running into the “new guy” who doesn’t know you. This isn’t Mayberry, you know, where everyone knows everyone else and understands where they should be and where they shouldn’t be. Her reaction afterward was also poor - she really should have went with the officer and explained herself. Chances are that someone on the force would recognize her, and vouch for her, and she should also be able to get a Congressperson to vouch for her. No reason to punch the officer.
The police were simply trying to do their jobs . . . I think the blame lies with McKinney here.
March 31st, 2006 at 3:10:51 pm
You don’t punch a cop, even if the cop screwed up. Stupid. She should apologize for hitting the guy at least.
March 31st, 2006 at 4:26:08 pm
“but the police men wasn’t supposed to stop her in the first place”
No, the Congresswoman is supposed to wear an id pin, which she refuses to do. The police are taught (rightly) to go after anyone who goes through security without identification or that they do not recognize.
Anyone who has worked on the Hill knows her as a whack job and legislatively irrelevant. That she hit a cop doesn’t shock me. If she wore tin foil on her head it wouldn’t shock me.
March 31st, 2006 at 4:55:05 pm
The police are taught (rightly) to go after anyone who goes through security without identification or that they do not recognize.
As an example of why this teaching is entirely correct, we need only think of the City Hall shooting in New York City in 2003. There, the practice was that council members and their guests could go through security unmolested. So a council member brings in, as a guest, a former political opponent who had supposedly had a change of heart and wanted to work with him. Turns out, the former opponent was packing heat, and at an opportune moment he opened fire and assassinated the council member. The whole city went into a panic, as for a while, it wasn’t clear whether the shooter had been apprehended (he actually had been shot dead by a security officer, after he opened fire). Downtown was basically locked down, etc. Needless to say, security procedures have since been tightened.
We live in a dangerous world. People who are offended by police officers and security officials just doing their jobs are idiots, plain and simple. It’s like going through airport security and raising a fuss because they search your bag or whatever. Give me a freakin’ break. Save your sense of pique for actual bad behavior by cops, don’t waste it on situations where you’re personally offended that they would dare suspect you of anything. Myself, anytime I have a bag searched, I always make it a point to thank the TSA folks when they finish. They’re doing their best to keep me safe! Just like that cop was doing his best to keep McKinney safe! Ungrateful bitch.
And of course, even if the officers were doing something wrong, obviously A&A is right that “You don’t punch a cop, even if the cop screwed up. Stupid.” If the facts are I currently understand them are true, I hope she is arrested, prosecuted, and kicked out of Congress, like that Ohio guy. And I would say that regardless of party or ideology. You punch a Capitol police officer, you don’t get to work at the Capitol anymore.
March 31st, 2006 at 6:22:15 pm
Annnd she plays the race card.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/03/31/D8GMPKR81.html
A lawyer for Rep. Cynthia McKinney, the Georgia congresswoman who had an altercation with a Capitol Police officer, says she was “just a victim of being in Congress while black.”
I’m sorry, but I have no sympathy in this case. She wouldn’t have been challenged if she had played by the rules that state that you wear that pin. It has nothing to do with race.
March 31st, 2006 at 6:33:48 pm
Jesus H. Christ.
She, Ty Willingham and Barry Bonds should have a pity party together.
March 31st, 2006 at 6:40:36 pm
Jesus H. Christ.
What do you think the H stands for annyway?
Is he named after his Uncle the Holy Spirit? Or maybe one of the prophets (did any start with an H?).
March 31st, 2006 at 6:41:41 pm
P.S. Continuing on the theme of McKinney being an ungrateful bitch… playing the race card is not only completely absurd, but egregiously offensive. How dare she impute a racial motive to the officer without any evidence to back up her claim? Even supposing that the officer was wrong to stop her, she is merely assuming that the reason behind his mistake was racial. Do the Capitol Police have a history of racial discrimination? Has the officer in question called McKinney racial slurs or something? If not, the allegation is just completely unfounded. If the officer in question was adequately identified by her statement, he ought to sue her for libel.
I will say, though, that Hastert’s spokesman’s statement about Danny Glover is incredibly asinine.
March 31st, 2006 at 6:42:57 pm
Perhaps “Heh”? :)
March 31st, 2006 at 7:07:26 pm
What a heinous bitch! When I get in trouble, I don’t go around saying that it’s because I’m blonde. How stupid is that? What kind of message does that send to the American public? Maybe, if I don’t take responsibility for my own stupid actions and instead place the blame on someone else, then I won’t get in trouble. LAME!
What pisses me off the most is the impression I get from reading the article that these congresspeople are so self important that they think the police should recognize them regardless of what they’re wearing or whatever. That’s unreasonable. Besides, anyone who’s watched the Britney Spears look alike contest knows that there’s a drag queen out there who could fool anyone into thinking he’s Britney. So the pin should be a necessity.
When I worked in Parliament, I always had to have my ID badge on to get past security. I don’t see what the big deal about having to wear a pin is. Wear the damn pin and shut the fuck up.
And prosecute her. If she hit a cop, which clearly she did, she should be prosecuted. That kind of behavior toward security should not be tolerated. And skin color of the cop or the person assaulting the cop shouldn’t be relevant. What should be relevant is safety, not McKinney’s ego.
March 31st, 2006 at 7:37:02 pm
From the AP article: “More recently, police obeyed an order by an angry House Ways and Means Committee chairman, Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Calif., to remove Democrats from a hearing room. Thomas later tearfully apologized on the House floor.”
When did Brendan post about that one? I forget…
March 31st, 2006 at 8:08:11 pm
Hadn’t heard about it before.
Love the implication, though, that I, like, hate Democrats or whatever. Heh. Yep, that’s me, Brendan Loy, right-wing shill who voted for Gore and Kerry…
March 31st, 2006 at 8:34:59 pm
Oh come on Brendan admit it, you really voted for Bush and have a shrine to Karl Rove in your apartment that you pray to every night before you go to bed
March 31st, 2006 at 9:10:48 pm
McKinney is an idiot. She took a dumb little situation that could have been easily resolved with an apology to the cop and she has turned it into a career killer. She will be out of office before this is over.
Compounding the situation is Pelosi’s moronic statement. It’s one thing for a cooky Congresswoman from a cooky district to do something like this. It is another thing for the House Minority Leader to blow it off. The Dems need to get Pelosi out of there and put someone with a clue like Rahm Emanuel in charge.
March 31st, 2006 at 9:11:26 pm
Hey Anonymous. Bill Thomas is on his way out of Congress. So then, it’s settled: McKinney should follow him on out!
April 1st, 2006 at 12:16:22 am
I agree! Its not like she shot a guy in the face or something like that.
April 1st, 2006 at 10:56:27 am
“What do you think the H stands for annyway?”
Howard. As in Howard be thy Name.
April 1st, 2006 at 11:25:03 am
i hate to agree with McKinney, but i can think of a few cops that need a good slap or two.
April 1st, 2006 at 1:28:29 pm
And now that more details are coming out, is everyone STILL hating her? (Well, gee, probably yes.)
Question: if what she says is true, that she was inappropriately touched by a security guard who did not recognize her because of her make over and if this security guard never would touch a white man or a man in that same way, is she STILL out of line?
As usual, all the commentators on this blog, including the owner of the blog, think they have all the answers and are able to judge another persons experience based on a few news reports…
A perfect example of this was the story about the guy who ALLEGEDLY yelled “I have a bomb” when he was killed by federal airport secirity….
April 1st, 2006 at 1:55:53 pm
Anonymous-
I actually agree with you on the guy shot down in Florida. I still haven’t heard anything that backs up the air marshall’s take on that.
As for McKinney, there are two sides to every story. Yes, most police wouldn’t grab a white man in a suit by the shoulder, but that is because most white men who are members of Congress would actually stop when told too. I have a feeling McKinney put on a ‘tude and refused to stop, hence the cop had to do what he did. Furthermore, if you have ever been on Capitol Hill, the Capitol Hill Police (not the security guards in the office buildings) are hardcore SOB’s. I’m fairly certain they would get physical with ANYONE who refused an order, regardless of race or bizarre hairstyle.
April 1st, 2006 at 3:32:53 pm
As usual, all the commentators on this blog, including the owner of the blog, think they have all the answers and are able to judge another persons experience based on a few news reports…
hello anon~
aren’t we bloggers just sharing thoughts and ideas and maybe a little joke or two regarding current news? is that so wrong? to experience sensory imputs, process it and formulate opinions based on our own experiences?if we were only allowed to regurgitate judicially vallidated information brendan would be reduced to posting court minutes and we could just leave the commentary to a bunch of parrots. would you prefer that? would that be safer and more pallitable for you? here’s a thought to quell your irritation… (though it has probably crossed your mind,) since you know better already, but still, try this:
stop reading the blog.
April 1st, 2006 at 3:40:09 pm
oh and anon… to answer your question: legally yes, she’s still out of line. by standars of congressional decorum, she’s still out of line.
by my standards, anyone whose rights have in anyway been stepped on by the man, and then turns around and slaps the man, should be sainted.*
April 1st, 2006 at 3:58:44 pm
She’s out of line on so many levels that she has resorted the the “I am black” defense to try to justify her out-of-lineness. Gee. Maybe it’s not because she is black. Maybe it’s because she was wrong. I seem to recall when rich, white woman Zsa Zsa Gabor slapped a cop, she got into trouble as well. Is there some vast police conspiracy against blacks and Hungarians, or is McKinney just full of shit? Occam’s Razor points to the latter.
Yes,I realize Occam’s Razor is abused on this site almost as much as “Straw Man,” but it was just easier to use than to come up with something else.
April 1st, 2006 at 8:27:58 pm
Every time I use Occam’s Razor, I get burned. And it’s a bad Razor burn, too. The edge just isn’t sharp enough for me. Which figures, since so many people use it and no one ever thinks to sharpen it before the next guy comes along. Assholes.
In other news, touching a man on the shoulder is so clearly gay, of course a security guard would never do that. A security guard should only grab white Congressmen by the ass. Touching the shoulder is only appropriate for black women with electrostatic hairstyles.
April 1st, 2006 at 8:40:10 pm
Oh, yeah. This chick ain’t crazy…
http://www.cbsnews.com/images/2006/03/31/imageWX11103302039.jpg
…Surprised the cop didn’t judo chop her crazy ass.
April 2nd, 2006 at 3:02:14 am
Imagine the challenge before the Capitol Police in having to sort out all those six term black congresswomen with maroon afros from one another, and from all those fat black lady terrorists with maroon afros on their daily stroll to blow up the gallery.
Especially since they all look pretty much the same and have a tendency to overwhelm the checkpoint with their sheer numbers. Thank goodness for those ID badges!
April 9th, 2006 at 3:02:27 pm
[…] not having discussions with our colleagues about whether to apologize. (Previous post here.) Permalink | | Categories: Elections & Politics(U.S.) […]