Senators can kill with impunity.
Certainly black, female congresswomen can punch policemen.
Posted on 03/31/2006 8:54:36 AM PST by MikeA
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Capitol Hill police plan to issue an arrest warrant today for Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.).
The warrant is related to the incident Wednesday when McKinney allegedly slapped a Capitol Hill police officer.
Charges could range from assault on a police officer, which is a felony carrying a possible five year prison term, to simple assault, which is a misdeamenor.
McKinney has canceled a news conference that she had scheduled for this morning to discuss the incident.
McKinney issued a statement yesterday saying she "deeply regrets" the confrontation with the police officer.
The six-term congresswoman apparently struck a Capitol Police officer when he tried to stop her from entering a House office building without going through a metal detector. Members of Congress wear identifying lapel pins and routinely are waved into buildings without undergoing security checks. The officer apparently did not recognize McKinney, she said in a statement.
Asked on-camera Thursday by Channel 2 Action News whether she intended to apologize, McKinney refused to comment.
"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 Web site.
Democrats and Republicans, meanwhile, engaged in a rhetorical scuffle over the incident.
Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday labeled it "a mistake, an unfortunate lack of recognition of a member of Congress." She added that the police officer was not at fault.
"I would not make a big deal of this," said Pelosi, D-Calif.
Ron Bonjean, spokesman for House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., responded: "How many officers would have to be punched before it becomes a big deal?"
The dustup is the latest in a series of tangles for the roughly 1,200-officer Capitol Police department.
The department faces a difficult task -- protecting 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.
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.
This year, during President Bush's State of the Union address, police drew criticism for first kicking antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan out of the House gallery, and then for evicting the wife of Rep. Bill Young, R-Fla.
Merle Black, a professor of politics at Emory University, says that while the scuffle was rare for an elected politician, it's unlikely to cost McKinney more than a few votes. Black says McKinney is in damage control -- cutting her losses by not insisting on right or wrong.
HAHA, Give it a few hours and Jesse Jackson and the rest of those assholes will be out screaming at the top of their lungs.
The Capital Police should use a SWAT team to serve the warrant on her, complete with flash bangs, tear gas, and fully auto rifles. ;-)
Just like thoughtcrimes, right?
I assume he's not, since I understand several liberals have already made statements on TV talk shows saying she was only stopped because she was black.
This is the Congressperson who repeatedly introduces bills to ban so-called "Assault Weapons". It is time to ban "Assault Hands", and lop her hands off.
She hit a cop.
I doubt the people that haul her in are going to be sympathetic enough to allow her to look good in her mug shot. It's possible, I suppose, if you get a hardcore Lib managing the camera, but these guys go through too much on average to be tolerant of getting slugged by an immature brat that isn't good enough to reprsent this country. Idealogy should take the back seat. Most of the pols aren't good enough, but she by far is an insult. Her constituents should be ashamed this is the best they produce, though I doubt they are.
BTW - If the policeman she punched was white, would this be a "hate crime"?
VIDEO: McKinney At Capitol Thursday
http://www.wsbtv.com/video/8365216/index.html
Thanks, I just heard on Limbaugh that Howard "Democratic Shill" Fineman was on Hardball last night saying she was arrested because she's black. Good gosh, I guess blacks are now all above the law because they're black! These Democratic media shills are sick. I also want to find out of the officer himself is black. From my experience in D.C., most of them are. If so, then Fineman looks like an even bigger jackass.
Could it be possible that McKinney wasn't recognized because she doesn't show up for work that often?
She's gonna be lookin' real goot in that orange jumpsuit, lime green ear rings, and those shiny silver bracelets.
Oh please let this come to fruition.
What irony, forgot her pin, may rot in the pen.
Maybe a civil suit as well, juicy. I didn't read about a civil suit, but I can keep hope alive, Jesse Jatson say so, cause I be stay out da' bushes.
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/8361195/detail.html
WEB EXCLUSIVE: McKinney's Original, Unedited Statement
McKinney Statement
Statement of Cynthia McKinney Re: Repeated Harassment from Capitol Hill Police
I have served as a Member of Congress for more than 11 years.
Throughout my tenure in Congress, I seem to evoke memory loss, especially from certain police officers who claim not to be able to recognize my face while I go to work everyday, representing the people of Georgia's 4th Congressional District.
Washington, DC and local newspapers, as well as authors of books, have carried my "working while black" stories of such encounters on Capitol Hill. In fact, the movie American Blackout candidly captures just such an encounter in one of its more humorous moments when after a two-year hiatus from Congress, a black police officer recognizes me and welcomes me back to Washington, and then just across the street, a few yards away, a white police officer approaches me to ask me what office I am with. In the film I remark, "Some things never change. That's what Tupac said."
Sadly, there are only 14 black women Members of Congress. And surely our faces are distinguishable. But why my face is continually unrecognizable can only be answered by these offending police officers. Capitol Hill Police are given face recognition instructions as a part of their official training. Capitol Hill Police are required to recognize, greet, and distinguish Members of Congress as a part of their official role and responsibilities. In fact, according to the US Capitol Police, their mission is to protect and support the Congress in meeting its Constitutional responsibilities. The US Capitol Police mission statement makes no distinction about selective application of its mission depending upon whether a Member of Congress is black, woman, or has a new hairstyle.
But, honestly, this incident is not about wearing a Congressional pin or changing my hairstyle.
It is true that I have changed my hairstyle. It is true that at the time I was not wearing my pin. But many Members of Congress aren't wearing their pins today. Just in the last hour at least 8 Members of Congress have been spotted speaking from the well of the House without their pins and even more have been seen on the Hill today not wearing their Congressional pin. How many of them were stopped by Capitol Hill Police? Do I have to contact the police every time I change my hairstyle? How do we account for the fact that when I wore my braids every day for 11 years, I still faced this problem, primarily from certain white police officers.
This morning at approximately 8:57 am, I was going to a Budget Committee meeting due to start at 9:00 am. I was rushing to my meeting when a white police officer yelled to me. He approached me, bodyblocked me, physically touching me. I used my arm to get him off of me. I told him not to touch me several times. He asked for my ID and I showed it to him. He then let me go and I proceeded to my meeting and I assume that the Police Officer resumed his duties. I have counseled with the Sergeant-at-Arms and Acting Assistant Chief Thompson several times before and counseled with them again on today's incident. I offered also to counsel with the offending police officer. I have agreed to try to remember to wear my pin and to notify Capitol Hill police every time I change my hairstyle.
My father was a police officer. After the tragedies on September 11th, recognizing the strain that we all were under, I wrote a letter to Sergeant-at-Arms Livingood reminding him that police officers were operating under great stress while working long hours. I asked that they be allowed to use their cell phones to contact their families to know that they were alright. No one else did this. But I did. I will not let this or any other incident dampen my resolve to support those whose work is vital and supports us. It is, however, 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.
-- To change our lives, we must first change our minds. -from Open Your Mind, Open Your Life: A Little Book of Eastern Wisdom by Taro Gold
"What irony, forgot her pin, may rot in the pen."
She probably sold it on eBay to get money for some cheap hooch.
Forget about it. What do you think is gonna happen to her? Do you really believe that she might be arrested? If that happened it would turn into a Right-wing racist oppression rant with Jessie Jackson, Al Sharpton, and their gangs rallying around her while the police try to serve the warrant.
And I'm sure her subsequent arrest will actually bolster her poll ratings with her constituency in GA.
http://www.911truth.org/osamas/mckinney.jpg
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.