Posted on 08/10/2006 7:56:17 PM PDT by LdSentinal
I wrote last week that our InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion survey showed that controversial Democratic Rep. Cynthia McKinney would likely lose her primary runoff election against former county commissioner Hank Johnson in Georgia's 4th District.
McKinney lost handily. Beyond that, her final hours before eventually conceding defeat made for the most underreported and bizarre story of a political exit I've ever seen in my years of participating in or analyzing political races around the country.
I had agreed to join the anchor desk at Atlanta's NBC-TV affiliate to provide analysis for that day's elections. As the night wore on, it became clear that McKinney would lose in a landslide, just as our poll had suggested.
As the regular broadcast wrapped up at 11:30 p.m., McKinney had yet to appear publicly to concede the election, as custom dictates. Beyond that, earlier in the day her bodyguards had scuffled with a cameraman from the same NBC affiliate.
We signed off, and the station switched to the network feed of NBC's "Tonight Show." That's when the bizarre ending of Cynthia McKinney started to unfold.
During the day, McKinney had been accompanied everywhere by a phalanx of bodyguards. Reportedly, they held no official law-enforcement positions. Also, some of them reportedly were affiliated with political groups or positions described by some as extremist.
It remains to be seen if their political leanings and affiliations are so. Regardless, McKinney crisscrossed the district throughout the day in a white Hummer, all the while refusing to allow the approach of the public or media, the lot of whom was fended off by these menacing guards.
Now let's jump ahead to that night, and the unfunniest "Tonight Show" I've ever sat through. Not because host Jay Leno was out of form, but because back in the studio we could also see on the monitors a commotion in the ballroom of McKinney headquarters. I pointed out to anchors Brenda Wood and Ted Hall that something odd was happening.
Then we heard shouting in the newsroom itself, from where station officials were phoning 911. A station cameraman allegedly had been struck at McKinney headquarters by one of her bodyguards, and then chased to a nearby satellite news truck, where he and others locked the doors and were surrounded.
The original raw video footage fed into the station showed McKinney entering her headquarters like a hip-hop artist, with bodyguards shouting at a clearly agitated crowd.
As of this writing, police were still investigating the incident. The McKinney bodyguard believed to be involved in the altercation -- a man apparently nationally known for his martial arts skill, as well as for his involvement in similar past incidents -- claimed that the cameraman had thrown his camera at him, the bodyguard. Also, there were claims McKinney's mother was struck by media equipment. Anyone familiar with the cost of this kind of camera equipment has to doubt it would be a weapon of choice.
The video showed fists flying and the cameraman being knocked to the ground.
It got stranger still. Finally McKinney appeared before reporters. She summoned her supporters to the stage, separating them from the press. Next was heard a song by the artist Pink that was directed at a clearly demonized President Bush. McKinney then commenced a rambling speech that, among other things, implied fraud in the electronic voting that day. She also thanked or expressed support for all sorts of groups and even foreign nations, including Venezuela, an avowed enemy of the United States.
At least that's what we thought we heard.
Media reports have since surfaced of anti-Semitic remarks hurled at media by McKinney supporters as they left the headquarters. One reporter for a major national newspaper claimed she was threatened with being "thrown down the stairs or the escalator" if she didn't vacate an area near where McKinney was holed up.
Every corner of that headquarters emanated fear and hatred.
I have to make this clear. In last week's column, I recalled the bright and personable Cynthia McKinney I knew back in 1990. And it's not my place to summarily judge her in 2006.
But I now know why our polling of this primary runoff election showed so accurately that McKinney would be trounced. Clearly, this heavily African-American district she represented no longer wanted to be associated with her brand of representation.
Hmm...a racist demagogue surrounds herself with a gang and gets elected. Hezbollah west.
Yeah, right. Something tells me that poor martial arts instructor will be the victim in this thing. I'm sure his attorneys are preparing the lawsuit against the TV station right now.
Yeah...I've been busy reading the archeology pings, so I didn't notice immediately, but it HAS been a long time. Thanks for your efforts.
Kudos to the voters who bounced her.
I'ze gwynes ta speewz.
I live in Cynthia's district, unfortunately. The national Democratic leadership is pleased, the national Republican leadership is probably disappointed in the election results, though neither would admit it. Even the Atlanta papers, on more than one occasion wrote that Hank Johnson is a liberal Democrat. There probably will not be a dime's worth of difference in their voting records, but Johnson will not go around slugging Capital policemen. McKinney would have been the gift that keeps on giving to the Repubs, with her unique talent for raising the blood pressure of voters on a regular basis.
With all of that white show'n' 'round she eyes, she be a shoein for a slot, trash talkin' at Britt Hume, weekday afternoons on Fox.
heard that...
Thanks for the ping. I guess she won't be wearing her pin ? Noticed it on her it in one of the videos, though.
Muslims invested in a pig!
Unnnhhhh..
Have you seen John McCain lately?
Lunacy is not restricted to the Dimowits.
re: "I'd rather have an incompetent clown as my opponent than someone who might actually be able to accomplish something"
Do you want your party to succeed? Or your country?
On most subjects we disagree with a class act like Joe Lieberman. But we prefer him as an opponent to the McKinney types. That is because Lieberman truly wants what is best for the country. He pulls us up to his level of debate. McKinney pulls us down to her level of debate.
Lieberman is an exception and his party gave him the boot because of it. 90% of politically active Democrats are actively working to bring this country down. They are the enemy of both our party AND our country and so long as we have to confront them politically I'd rather they be as incompetent as possible.
>The video of this night should be archived, right beside the tapes of Marion Barry's coke buy and Jim Traficant's deal-making. <
But, but, it's that Repuklican (sic) culture of corruption, don't you get it???
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