False Equivalence

Cynthia McKinney is kind of a reactionary, she didn't have her Congressional lapel pin on her (although, THAT'S the line of defense preventing people from entering the Capitol? A lapel pin? Can't that be faked kind of easily?), she can't expect every Capitol policeman to know all 535 members of Congress by facial recognition, and she was a dope for hitting the guy, if she did hit the guy. An apology would be in order, from the policeman if he grabbed her inappropriately, and from McKinney if she hit him.

And that's the end of the story. It's a pointless, stupid incident which is trying to be used by the Right to distract from the deep culture of corruption in Washington. It's got a whiff of sensationalism (ooh, she hit a cop!) and a whiff of racism (ooh, a black chick hit a cop!) so it can be discussed endlessly on AM talk radio for 8 hours a day. To suggest, as to my dismay the Daily Show did last night, that this should be put in the same context as Tom DeLay's resignation and his multiple allegations of bilking the American taxpayer out of millions of dollars is insane. He certainly wants it that way, that's why he's filing an ethics complaint (a fitting, up-is-down capper to his Congressional career). There are little stories like McKinney's manufactured by the GOP Message Machine (still alive and well, as I told you), and there is the systematic project to allow corporations to write the country's laws, to reward Republicans in Congress for supporting this perversion of democracy with gifts and riches, and to turn the halls of the Capitol into a personal ATM machine and lobbyist factory.

Which do you find more abhorrent?