The fact is: America is smarter today than it was before 911.
Posted on 08/27/2002 9:45:17 AM PDT by vance
Pro-Palestinian congresswoman ousted
Matthew Engel in Washington
Thursday August 22, 2002
The Guardian
One of the most controversial figures in the US Congress, Cynthia McKinney, was effectively booted out of Washington yesterday when she lost a primary for re-election in her home state of Georgia after a bitter campaign that focused heavily on her support for Palestinian causes.
After 10 years in the House of Representatives, Ms McKinney lost the nomination for her safe Democratic seat in Atlanta in a race that focused on the Middle East and her allegation that President George Bush had advance knowledge of the September 11 attacks.
Her conqueror, Denise Majette, a state judge, is also black and female but she is a more mainstream politician and a far less abrasive character.
Under Georgia law, Republicans can vote in the Democratic primary, and in the smarter suburbs thousands did so, giving Ms Majette 58% of the vote.
Billy McKinney, Ms McKinney's father and a well-known local politician, told a television audience in advance of the vote why he felt his daughter was in trouble: "J-E-W-S," he said.
Ms McKinney's congressional career was controversial from the moment she turned up in the House wearing a trouser suit. "I'm attracted to fights," she once admitted. She also battled the secret service, claiming that it mistreated her on visits to the White House because she was black. These comments obscured her detailed work on issues surrounding the developing world.
She opposed motions of solidarity with Israel, and compared the treatment of Palestinians to that of black South Africans under apartheid. However, her 15 minutes of fame came when she linked the president's alleged prior knowledge of the September 11 attacks to his connections with the Carlyle Group, a shadowy defence-orientated conglomerate that counts George Bush Sr among its important officials. She said it stood to benefit from a war.
Opponents painted her as a dangerous extremist, and money from Jewish groups poured into the Majette campaign. Though Muslim organisations supported Ms McKinney, they were overmatched. Some of her funding is alleged to have come from groups being investigated by the FBI for potential terrorist links.
White voters were further alienated when Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, spoke on behalf of Ms McKinney, and supporters began calling her opponent "a Tomette" (a female Uncle Tom).
In defeat, Ms McKinney offered only a cool endorsement of Ms Majette. "She will need all our prayers to face the coming storm," she said enigmatically.
Another of Capitol Hill's most combative figures was defeated in Georgia yesterday in a Republican primary. Bob Barr, the first congressman to call for Bill Clinton's impeachment in 1997, was beaten by an equally rightwing candidate, John Linder, in a vote necessitated by boundary changes - and Mr Barr's apparent pigheadedness in rejecting the chance of another seat.
The fact is: America is smarter today than it was before 911.
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Jihad Cindy is out on her ass. Her fat, double wide, Hillary-esque ass.
No mention that Democrats can also cross over. This will give the British readers the idea that it only works one way.
Ms McKinney's congressional career was controversial from the moment she turned up in the House wearing a trouser suit.
In defeat, Ms McKinney offered only a cool endorsement of Ms Majette. "She will need all our prayers to face the coming storm," she said enigmatically.
Occasionally, and idly, I do wonder what she really meant by that...
"These are two blue triangles."
Nice euphemism for terrorism there, Mr. Engel.
Should have been:
Ms McKinney's congressional career was controversial from the moment she turned up in the House wearing a trouser suit.
I remember a Pantsuit Scandal in 2000, but it didn't involve McKinney :D. I don't recall anyone mentioning or caring what Cynthia wore.
The Carlyle Group holds approximately 49 percent of the fully-diluted shares outstanding of United Defense (UDI), which became a public company in December 2001.
The U.S. Defense Department on Wednesday announced the death of the Crusader artillery system, an $11 billion weapon project highly prized by the Army but derided by critics as a Cold War relic.
"After a good deal of consideration, I've decided to terminate the Crusader program," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told a Pentagon news conference.
It marked the first cancellation of a major weapons program by Rumsfeld, although some others, including the Marine Corps' V-22 Osprey hybrid helicopter-airplane, are said to be in jeopardy.
Crusader is being developed by United Defense Industries Inc., a defense contractor controlled by the Carlyle Group, an investment firm led by Frank C. Carlucci, a former secretary of defense.
Shares of United Defense Industries Inc., which is controlled by the Carlyle Group, an investment firm, have tumbled on the news. They fell again in trading on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, dropping $.43 to $21.07, down from its 12-month high of $29.85. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/05/10/national/main508579.shtml
In other words, the Bush administration torpedoed the stock price of UDI, which Carlyle owns a big chunk of. They sure are doing the bidding of this Carlyle group aren't they? Some scandal. Can anyone picture the Clinton administration doing this to a company largely owned by their cronies?
Quite a few people have come to the defense of the Crusader by the way. I don't know who's right.
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