McKinney Throw Down Update

One of the most absurd stories coming out of Washington in the last week or so was that of Rep. McKinney's alleged assault of a capitol police officer. First of all, Capitol Police officers should absolutely be able to recognize each member of Congress, whether or not they have their ID lapel pins on. That being said, one officer's failure to recognize Rep. McKinney is hardly grounds for her to layeth the smackdown.

Craig Crawford has some additional info on the case, including a link to a tape that shows Ms. McKinney moving around the metal detector (unfortunately the tape doesn't show the alleged 'encounter' with the officer).

Also, Hotline On Call has some good stuff on the case, including this from an interview on CNN:

"If the members of the United States Capitol Hill Police who are charged with the responsibility of protecting the members of Congress don't know who they are, then what does that say to us about the kind of security that we have? [...]

But let me just say that the requirement for pages to become a congressional page at age 16 is to know by face and by name the members of the United States Congress. Don't you think that the United States Capitol Police ought to also know the members of Congress by name and by face?"

The full transcript from CNN is here. Not surprisingly, McKinney continues to play the race card. I'll be honest, I'm a white man. I'm in no position to tell Rep. McKinney what is racist and what isn't, certainly when the details of the case are still fuzzy. Here's more from the interview:

BLITZER: Welcome back. We're continuing our conversation with Democratic Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney of Georgia and her two attorneys, James Myart -- he's in Washington, D.C. -- and Mike Raffauf. He's in Orlando. Congresswoman McKinney did you strike one of those Capitol police officers during this incident on Capitol Hill?

MCKINNEY: Wolf, before you bring on my two attorneys, let me just say for the record -- and this is something that you might want to do a little further investigation on. But I'm sure that if you would look, you would find that even inside the Capitol Hill Police Department, there are problems inside with the treatment of -- or the respect for diversity, let me say.

BLITZER: Because you know there are many black officers on Capitol Hill, Congresswoman?

MCKINNEY: I think you should look at some of the proceedings that are going on right now with black officers and white officers inside Capitol Hill Police Department. And you might reach a different conclusion.

BLITZER: We got a statement from Lou Cannon, the president of the D.C. Chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police. It was in "The Atlanta Journal Constitution." He says, "There was no excessive force here. If she's trying to turn this into a racial issue, people should ask, "Why is she doing this?" This is an insult to all police officers." This is an extremely serious charge you're making, Congresswoman.

JAMES MYART, MCKINNEY'S ATTORNEY: Wolf, may I address that?

BLITZER: Well, let's let the Congresswoman respond. And then I'll bring you in James.

MYART: OK.

MCKINNEY: Well, I haven't made a charge. I just asked you to do a little bit of research.

BLITZER: No, no, no. But you are talking earlier about racial profiling and that there was racism involved.

MCKINNEY: Now, Wolf, you know I didn't say that, so don't twist my words.

BLITZER: Well tell us what you said.

MCKINNEY: Don't even begin to twist my words. And whatever it is that I said is already is on the tape. So you can replay the tape. Now, I think it is probably a good time for you to bring in my attorneys. You have had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Myart, but you haven't yet spoken with Mike Raffauf.

BLITZER: I want to speak to both of them. And let me ask Mr. Myart, James, to respond because I know you are anxious to weigh into this suggestion there were other police officers there who were watching all of this. There may have been video, surveillance video, as far as we know as well. Although we haven't seen it. Was there actual physical altercation between the congresswoman and the police officer who asked her to stop?

MYART: Well, let me say this, my conversation with the Capitol Hill police individual at the top I understand it there may very well be a video. I have not seen it and probably won't see it unless there is an actual prosecution of this matter.

But, Wolf, I think it is important for you to understand that this issue is really one that is more national, and that is how black individuals are treated throughout this country by law enforcement officials.In addition to that, you should know that over 259 black police officers of the Capitol Police Force have in fact filed a discrimination lawsuit against the Capitol Police Board. There is division in the ranks over there. These are very serious issues that need to be dealt with.

And Congresswoman McKinney is only one person who has been treated like this when thousands of people, literally hundreds of thousands of black people across this country and other people, are racially profiled. If that police officer had known his job, this incident would not even be discussed right now.

No sir, if the Congresswoman hadn't struck a Capitol Police Officer, we would not be discussing this incident. For all I know this particular officer may be a card carrying member of the KKK. However, let's not distort what this is really about - a Congresswoman refusing to accept responsibility for her actions. If she ID'd herself and entered the office building and still felt that she had been racially profiled, she could've written a letter of had her Belafonte-Glover presser. She didn't have to hit the guy.

At the end of the day, this story does not matter. It's a sideshow - a sideshow that will be fun to watch.

Just before I was about to publish this post, I found this story, via CNN: Republicans push to commend cops after McKinney scuffle.