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#1 (permalink) |
Searching for the perfect brew!
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Who's wrong here?
a). The police for wrongfully thinking the Congresswoman was a threat because she is black. b). The congresswomen for not stopping to identify herself or c). The lawyer for pulling the race card?
Lawyer says McKinney a victim in scuffle Link Lauren Victoria Burke, AP WASHINGTON (AP) — 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." McKinney awaited word Friday on whether she would be charged for apparently striking the officer after she entered a House office building this week unrecognized and did not stop when asked. Two law enforcement officials said it was unlikely a warrant would be issued this week. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Her lawyer, James W. Myart Jr., said, "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." "Ms. McKinney is just a victim of being in Congress while black," Myart said. "Congresswoman McKinney will be exonerated." A spokeswoman for U.S. Capitol Police did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Members of Congress wear identifying lapel pins and routinely are waved into buildings without undergoing security checks. McKinney was not wearing her pin at the time, and the officer apparently did not recognize her, she has said. "Congresswoman McKinney, in a hurry, was essentially chased and grabbed by the officer," Myart said. "She reacted instinctively in an effort to defend herself." Several Capitol Police officials have said the officer involved asked McKinney three times to stop. When she did not, he placed a hand on her and she hit him, they said. In a draft of a statement that McKinney did not release, she said the officer "bodyblocked" her during the incident, and she blamed his failure to recognize her on a recent makeover. "It is ... a shame that while I conduct the country's business, I have to stop and call the police to tell them that I've changed my hairstyle so that I'm not harassed at work," McKinney said in the draft, which was obtained by WSB-TV of Atlanta and posted on its website. An official close to McKinney said the statement was a "work product" never intended to be released. A news conference scheduled for Friday morning was canceled. McKinney had issued a statement late Wednesday saying she regretted the confrontation. "I know that Capitol Hill Police are securing our safety, and I appreciate the work that they do. I have demonstrated my support for them in the past and I continue to support them now," she said in the statement on her website. Actor, Danny Glover was expected to appear at an early-evening news conference Friday with McKinney at Howard University. That gave Republicans material to keep the criticism flowing. "Rep. McKinney appearing with the star of 'Lethal Weapon'? Not exactly the message you want to be sending," said Ron Bonjean, spokesman for House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. In January, during President Bush's State of the Union address, Capitol Police drew criticism for first kicking anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan out of the House gallery, and then for evicting the wife of Rep. Bill Young, R-Fla. The department is tasked with protecting the 535 members of Congress and the vast Capitol complex in an atmosphere thick with politics and privilege. The safety of its members became a sensitive issue after a gunman in 1998 killed two officers outside the office of then-Republican Whip Tom DeLay of Texas. Who's wrong, I say b) & c) and definitely not a). the police should aggressively intercept anyone not identifing themselves or heeding there warnings to stop. What do you think? The congresswoman is very good at political backpeddeling - "I know that Capitol Hill Police are securing our safety, and I appreciate the work that they do. I have demonstrated my support for them in the past and I continue to support them now," she said in the statement on her website.
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"That's a joke... I say, that's a joke, son" Last edited by Brewmaniac; 04-02-2006 at 08:56 AM.. |
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#3 (permalink) |
Getting Medieval on your ass
Location: 13th century Europe
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I fail to see evidence for the officer "thinking the Congresswoman was a threat because she is black." What I do see, however, is the officer seeing her as a threat because she wasn't wearing ID and failed to stop when asked to three times. I see no problem with the cop's actions. Also, the article didn't state how long the officer in the incident was at that assignment. Perhaps he was new?
Last edited by Coppertop; 04-02-2006 at 09:39 AM.. |
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#4 (permalink) |
Laid back
Location: Jayhawkland
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I don't see how this is anyone's fault but hers. Had she wore the pin she was supposed to, or stopped when asked, everything would've been fine. After being told to stop three times, why would her first instinct when touched to be to attack the person when someone was very obviously trying to get her attention?
Also, in answer to the original question, I'd say the lawyer is a schmuck for pulling the "She's black, so all cops hate her" bullshit. |
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#5 (permalink) |
Crazy
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Cynthia McKinney has based her entire career on the race card. This should be publicized widely in order that her customary behavior becomes better known.
Other examples: The National Leadership Network of Conservative African-Americans |
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#6 (permalink) |
Junkie
Location: In the middle of the desert.
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This has nothing to do with race. She knew the procedures and simply didn't follow them. She should have stopped when challenged. By the way, am I the only one who noticed that no one is disclosing the race of the officer she struck....
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DEMOCRACY is where your vote counts, FEUDALISM is where your count votes. |
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#8 (permalink) |
Baltimoron
Location: Beeeeeautiful Bel Air, MD
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Those who play the race card are, in my mind, as much racists as anyone with the word "Aryan" in their name.
Personally I hope she presses some sort of charges and gets laughed out of court, not because she is black, but because she is obviously an idiot who needs to be humiliated in that way. Such a shame.
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"Final thought: I just rented Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. Frankly, it was the worst sports movie I've ever seen." --Peter Schmuck, The (Baltimore) Sun |
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#9 (permalink) |
Winner
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I'd say a, b, and c.
I'd also add a "d" option - "Dennis Hastert and the Republicans for wasting their time on meaningless stuff like this instead of spending their time actually doing their jobs." I'd rather see them try to fix their past mistakes than try to distract us from them. |
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#10 (permalink) | |
Thank You Jesus
Location: Twilight Zone
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Maybe a Hill reporter called Hastert's office for a comment and he gave one, I bet he spent hours upon hours of taxpayers money on his payroll just thinking up this response. Please.
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Where is Darwin when ya need him? |
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#11 (permalink) |
Rail Baron
Location: Tallyfla
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I heard about this story when it first happened and heard a blurb here and a bit there but this was the first time I've head any mention of race. My opinion is those that play the race card and advance their careers by doing so are the racists.
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"If I am such a genius why am I drunk, lost in the desert, with a bullet in my ass?" -Otto Mannkusser |
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#12 (permalink) |
Registered User
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It sounds like a tabloid story that has absolutely no bearing on anything important at all. A person got into an altercation, tempers were raised - so what? It all smells of the kind of storm-in-a-teacup affairs that keeps the gossip-press in business. Draft/Unreleased statements, out-of-context quotes from her lawyer and cheap shots from the opposition all add up nothing at all. The race element is just another 'hook' slid in by the lazy journalists who are desperately trying to turn this non-event into a story.
Who's wrong? Anyone who pays any attention to this meaningless story, even worse, people who attempt to piggy-back on it to gain some political capital. There are better, and less cheap, gimmicky ways to get a point across than surfing off on a story like this. |
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#13 (permalink) |
Rookie
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From what I've heard and seen I think that she's at fault 100%, and if charges are pressed for assaulting an officer, well, fine by me.
I just want it to happen to know if Bush will pardon her. Which would make my life.
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I got in a fight one time with a really big guy, and he said, "I'm going to mop the floor with your face." I said, "You'll be sorry." He said, "Oh, yeah? Why?" I said, "Well, you won't be able to get into the corners very well." Emo Philips |
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#14 (permalink) | |
Junkie
Moderator Emeritus
Location: Chicago
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Congresswoman could face criminal charges
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Free your heart from hatred. Free your mind from worries. Live simply. Give more. Expect less.
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#15 (permalink) | |
Tilted
Location: Seattle
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Latest turn of events, complete about-face (not surprising) by the Congresswoman. Not enough people jumping on the bandwagon I guess...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060406/...kxBHNlYwN0bQ-- Quote:
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#16 (permalink) | |||||||||
Banned
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After the first week, I was never challenged by the doormen again. Capitol police number 1225, and they make an annual salary of about $55,000.00. On their website, "tact" is the emphasized, principal qualification for that job. McKinney has encountered past problems with the Capitol Police, which seem unnecessary, to me, since these officers need only to recognize, on sight, 535 senators and house members. The doormen in my NYC building recognized me and more than one thousand other residents in my building, by their faces. The record shows that Mckinney has had a long history of difficulty, and that she is not an adversary of the Capitol Police: Quote:
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How many of you, if you exhibited bad judgment and lost your temper, would have to endure a reaction like this?: Quote:
How much of this incident's "backlash" has to do with the way McKinney puts her career on the line. As we find out more about Cheney and his Libby "Op", is he really any less brash than McKinney, or any more benevolent in his overall intentions? Gimme a break...enough with all the indignation that I've seen expressed on this thread.... Last edited by host; 04-06-2006 at 09:07 PM.. |
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#17 (permalink) |
spudly
Location: Ellay
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I don't see that anything in your post changes the dynamic described in this incident. So she brushed past and they either didn't see her clearly enough or didn't recognize her. The officer in question called out to her three times and THEN put his hand on her. I don't care how important you are - everyone needs to comply with security procedures. This wasn't even a big deal until McKinney started trumpeting that she was the victim of profiling. The only profile she fit was of a person skipping a security checkpoint.
To backpedal now and claim that this is all because her hairstyle changed is... classless. She expected a priviledge that was not extended - because she didn't follow the procedures. An utter non-story. Host, if your doorman was so diligent, I hope he'd try to confirm the identity of someone he didn't see or otherwise recognize. In my building, security requires ID all the time. I'm often asked to scan in even though I'm one of TWO live-in staff. What does that have to do with the House of Representatives? Nothing.
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Cogito ergo spud -- I think, therefore I yam |
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#18 (permalink) |
Banned
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ubertuber, I was in the process of adding to my post when you posted your reaction. I'm sorry that I couldn't lay it out all at once.
My personal experience in NYC was anecdotal. I agree that there is no substitute for the security measures that you described. On the one hand, currently there are only, as there were back in 1993, ten female, black members of congress. The purpose of the exemption of congressmen from magnetometer screening is presumably to defer to their VIP status, and for their convenience. A truly "earnest" effort to secure the Capitol building would not include exempting individuals from the screening that all other people must submit to, simply because they display a lapel pin. McKinney, via the doumentation that I've offered, has put up with a lifetime of BS, including the decade of challenges at the entrances to official buildings in DC, that white males in suits, serving in the same elected office that she has attained, never experience. Why can't Mckinney receive equal treatment, at age 51. I submit that she has never enjoyed equal treatment, though she has tried, more than most, to rise to a position where equal treatment should be a "given". When Mckinney was a girl. <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/06/25/maddox.dead/">Lester Maddox</a> was arming his exclusively white customers in his "Pickrick" Atlanta restaurant with pick axe handles to chase away any would be black customer. Imagine living through an era when you couldn't sit at an all white, lunch counter, and transitioning to a time when you are an elected member of the U.S. congress, and you're still experiencing difficulty because white men still challenge you at the door, while other white men, and women, routinely walk past, unchallenged. She isn't right, in this instance, but her reaction is understandable, since she is still finding herself challenged like she was as a youth in segregated Georgia. Show me some documentation that establishes that Cynthia's white male colleagues routinely and consistantly wear their lapel pins as they enter buildings policed by the Capitol dept. Tell me why middle aged and older black Americans have to be less affected by their own life experiences than other Americans. Tell me why Mckinney gets less empathy than say....Tom Delay does, this week. Delay is loud and angry, as is Mckinney. He's undoubtedly a criminal, and he gets a pass in a lot of the media. Has Mckinney ever gotten a "pass"? |
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#19 (permalink) |
Junkie
Location: Fort Worth, TX
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Host I sympathize for her struggle.
However it was plain and simple, she did not post her ID. You dont honestly believe that every security guard knew them by name and face do you? You said it yourself, 553 faces.. changing every 2 years. She failed to show her ID, she stormed past them, she then ignored 3 calls for her to stop. Whatever her past experiences may have been, she broke a huge law of congressional security and proceeded to strike a police officer. Though I have to compliment you, how you brought Tom Delay into this is quite a feat. Everything's the big bad Republican's fault huh? |
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#20 (permalink) | ||
Banned
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#21 (permalink) | |
Insane
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#23 (permalink) |
Insane
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On the issue itself, this is pretty silly. It's not a 'huge law' that was broken, this happens at airports and other security barriers on a regular basis, where someone feels they are being unfairly dealt with and becomes beligerant. Generally the person faces some kind of penalty, from being restrained to being fined, missing their flight or access, etc. Penalties go up the stronger the beligerance or the longer it is maintained, but these things are hardly newsworthy nor are the ultimate legal consequences very great, provided that the person doesn't actually injure someone or cause damage or somesuch.
That said, I do hold elected reps to a higher standard, and I don't see why they need special status. Frankly, I think this leads to an attitude of entitlement that leads ultimately to bad choices as representatives. There is a sense among a lot of people that elected office is a reward, not a responsibility. I think our leaders ought to face stricter penalty for their infractions. Unfortunately, as it is now, most of the time we give a total pass to most of the corruption going on. Without a doubt, Delay's crimes are far worse than even the worst case account of what happened with McKinney. I think it is fair and appropriate to ask why we get so focussed on what is really a pretty limited infraction in a building in which crimes harming millions of people across the nation are being committed in an atmosphere is at the least permissive and at worst encouraging of such behaviour. |
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#24 (permalink) | ||
Insane
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#26 (permalink) |
Junkie
Location: Ventura County
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I think the failure was improper proceedures for preventing an unidentified person from entering the building. There should be no debate and a consitent application of the rules. I would hope if for example a suicide bomber tried to enter the building the guard would be prepared to do more than just say "stop", then grab the person's arms and then get his a$$ kicked. If that is the best security proceedure they have, we should be concerned.
If they have a better procedure and did not use it, why? We should be concerned about that also. Everything else related to this issue mostly just makes good talk radio fodder.
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"Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on lunch." "It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions on vegetarianism while the wolf is of a different opinion." "If you live among wolves you have to act like one." "A lady screams at the mouse but smiles at the wolf. A gentleman is a wolf who sends flowers." |
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#27 (permalink) | |
Upright
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Kudos to Starzyk for going public with it. I know this incident isn't criminal (although McKinney has plenty of other criminal acts in her past that should be addressed), but even most other Congressional reps aren't this pompous/arrogant/rectal. |
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