Rambling again: Rep. Cynthia McKinney’s claims nothing but silliness

Most of America has not had the pleasure — or displeasure depending on how you look at it — of dealing with what can only be considered the ramblings of Rep. Cynthia McKinney.

The Georgia Democrat has a whole arsenal of conspiracy theories — each one more suspect than the next.

And this week, she is back again with yet another claim — one that all started with her own breaking of the rules.

This time she is alleging racism with regard to a recent scuffle she had with a police officer at the U.S. Capitol.

It seems Ms. McKinney attempted to enter the building without her identification pin and without going through a security checkpoint. When a guard, who did not recognize her, stopped her, a scuffle ensued.

Now, Ms. McKinney faces charges, and she is alleging that she was stopped because she was black.

Well, no. She was stopped because she wasn’t wearing her pin, as she and other members of the Congress have been instructed to do. And, furthermore, she ended up in a scuffle because she did not explain who she was in a rational manner to the guard who was simply doing his job of protecting her and other members of the U.S. Congress from dangerous characters.

She should have raised a fuss if she hadn’t been stopped.

Now, a federal grand jury has been empaneled to hear the case and to decide whether Rep. McKinney should face charges for slapping the police officer.

And the answer to that is a resounding “yes.”

It would have taken mere moments to simply say, “My name is Cynthia McKinney and here is my identification. I am a congresswoman.” No harm, no foul and only a couple minutes of delay.

Instead, our court system will now have to waste time dealing with a congresswoman’s tantrum instead of real issues that matter and really could affect the lives of U.S. citizens.

When the court system is done with her, Rep. McKinney should be forced to apologize to the officer and to pay some sort of fine for her behavior. Then, the Congress can get on with some real work.

Published in Editorials on April 6, 2006 10:57 AM