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the one who punched the Capitol Hill cop?

Spin machine working on you...

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Tue Jan 29th, 2008 at 03:00:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I think she really did, actually...

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
by poemless on Tue Jan 29th, 2008 at 03:01:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]
That's not the point.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Tue Jan 29th, 2008 at 03:01:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]
It was my point.

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
by poemless on Tue Jan 29th, 2008 at 03:02:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Your point was that that policeman punching incident (however it really happened) makes her not Presidential. Drew even concludes she is a fruitcake. That's my point.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Tue Jan 29th, 2008 at 03:06:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Maybe we just have different ideas of what makes a person a fruitcake?  I think punching a cop who asked for your id suggests you are unhinged and unable to remain calm in frustrating situations and have inadequate self control.  Anger management issues.  I don't think it makes her "unpresidential."  I think it makes her "not the person I want to have with their finger on the nukes button."

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
by poemless on Tue Jan 29th, 2008 at 03:11:41 PM EST
[ Parent ]
like thers a good answer to the person I want to have with their finger on the nukes button question.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Tue Jan 29th, 2008 at 03:15:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I guess the ideal candidate would be someone who has no fingers.

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
by poemless on Tue Jan 29th, 2008 at 03:46:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Maybe if you had been grabbed from behind, your first reaction would have been to push free, too? Maybe we don't know to this that with what force that police officer was slapped? Maybe this whole issue was played up by Fox News et al, with racist undertones (Ghetto Slut)? Maybe the Dem establishment felt thuis is the right time to drop a controversial leftie? Maybe you are channeling "she makes us look crazy" Wonkette?

I'm depressed that you and Drew are buying into this media narrative.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Tue Jan 29th, 2008 at 03:30:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I'm not. Really, if you're a lefty in the US, you have to have a thick skin, and generally keep your mouth shut in public, because the degree of marginalization of views which are quite mainstream in other parts of the world is pretty impressive.

It sorta comes with the territory of a de facto one-party state.

Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant

by redstar on Tue Jan 29th, 2008 at 03:35:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I'd like to point out that you'll find down-thread a bit that I said I'd consider voting for her.  My view of her as being nuttier than a fruitcake was, again, not a result of the cop thing but rather a result of seeing her on television several times.  You're correct about the racism that greeted McKinney in the media, and it wasn't just Faux News.

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Tue Jan 29th, 2008 at 03:42:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I'm sorry; I really don't want to depress you.  I like you and think you deserve to be happy.

If it's not clear by now, I don't think people are always clearly the victims just because they are lefties.  I'm probably a good deal more lefty than her.  I'm a bloody communist.  A person can be a lefty, and even a victim of bad press, and still be nuts.  Did the cop ask for her id because he was racist?  I have no idea.  Was punching him the best response?  Is it ever a good response?  If Denis Kucinich punched someone, would we think that's acceptable because he is a white man?  I wouldn't.  Am I buying into FOX news?  I don't even watch FOX news.  I hope that if I have illustrated anything during my time here, it is that while I may from time to time be totally wrong or raving mad, I am perfectly capable of thinking for myself.  Media narrative?  Me?  Seriously?  

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.

by poemless on Tue Jan 29th, 2008 at 03:44:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Sometimes a punch is indeed the best response. If war is foreign policy when diplomacy has failed, then certainly a punch can be considered domestic policy where politeness has failed.

And this is true not just in standing up for your political rights; for instance, hockey. (You should go to a Blackhawks game - I understand tickets are quite easy to come by.)

And the Democratic alternative to that punch, which we've been seeing on parade these past few, doesn't even begin to compare...

Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant

by redstar on Tue Jan 29th, 2008 at 04:42:36 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I'm a non-violent person, really.

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
by poemless on Tue Jan 29th, 2008 at 04:51:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]
that sounds like the sort of comment made having just hit a person.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Tue Jan 29th, 2008 at 05:32:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Sorry, but if you believe she punched or even slapped a cop... wait, if you even believe there's a prossibility that she may have punched or slapped a cop, then you're buying into the media narrative.

There's no way she did either one -- she absolutely would've been charged.  Cops do not drop charges when one of their own has been touched in any sort of aggressive way, even if the case seems unwinable.  The very fact that they eventually dropped it is evidence enough that nothing happened other than what she and the witnesses said -- he grabbed her arm from behind and she shook him off.

Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes

by Izzy (izzy at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Jan 29th, 2008 at 08:13:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]
mckinney in particular and black female congressmembers in general, are not treated as members of congress by the capitol police. whereas the CP have to memorize all the members of congress by face as one of their job requirements, they tend to "forget" when the member of congress happens not to be white. you see, they just don't look "congressional," being women and black and all.

so mckinney is grabbed from behind by a cop who claims he didn't know who she was. this in itself is grounds for the guy getting transferred. mckinney swings her arm back in responser to being suddenly grabbed from behind, and the cop goes to the cable TV shows about being "punched."

bloggers left and right alike parrot this talking point with no end of racial under- and overtones, and the talking point becomes media truth. except that when the capitol police do a review about the thing, all charges are dropped and the officer is found to have been in the wrong.

so the whole thing we're tlaking about is nothing more than a whisper job to cover up for chronic racist and sexist behavior against a member of congress (who, coincidentally, had been holding hearings on racism in the capitol police ranks against black officers in the force).

by wu ming on Wed Jan 30th, 2008 at 04:24:17 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Actually, I concluded she was a fruitcake based upon having seen her on television a few times in the past, although, to be fair, I can't recall what topics she was discussing.

But, as I said, redstar makes a fair point about the war that I'll consider should Her Majesty sell us out (as I fear she may well do).  If ending the war is off the table, then forget it.  The only issue I'd have to vote on is the Supreme Court, so why bother?

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin

by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Tue Jan 29th, 2008 at 03:26:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]
No, no, it was a real story.  She's nuttier than a fruitcake.

Still, right on the war, so point to redstar.

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin

by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Tue Jan 29th, 2008 at 03:01:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Spin is not about truth, but the interpretation of truth.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Tue Jan 29th, 2008 at 03:02:30 PM EST
[ Parent ]
No, spin is the art of carefully selecting truths in order to create an attractive and saleable fiction

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Tue Jan 29th, 2008 at 03:08:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I think you're both right, depending on the case.  Sometimes spin is based upon outright lies that allow for a certain interpretation of the truth.

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Tue Jan 29th, 2008 at 03:28:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]
No, I'm sorry - you're dismissing a candidate for US president because they're not sane enough?

Hello?

General Irony is in the building, and his dosimeter is reading 'fatal'.

We have McCain singing 'Bomb Iran', Romney playing Mr Evil Business Hair from central casting, Huckabee taking the gospels as gospel, Clinton-zilla pissing off her base with naked racism punctuated by bouts of strategic crying, and Obama being MLK without the MLK.

Meanwhile Bush squats in the White House like a drugged out toad with a brain tumour.

And McKinney is nuts? Because she whacked a cop?

Is she likely to bomb Russia? Is she going to nuke Iran? Does she believe God speaks to her? Does she think poor people are evil and should be punished? Does she believe in the magic market unicorn? Is she old, senile, narcissistic, or just plain delusional and mean?

Not so much insane, as not nearly insane enough to have a hope at the top job.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Tue Jan 29th, 2008 at 04:32:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I just said above that I might well vote for her and that my views of her were based upon actually listening to her (and, no, not about the cop incident).  Did you not read my comments?

You think I don't understand any of that?  I've given more time and money than most people could dream of to support candidates who vowed to end this God-damned war.  I'm one of the few in this shit-can country who's been sane the whole fucking time for the last seven years.  I'm one of the few who's been warning from Day One of Her Majesty's candidacy that this sack of white trash would sell us out on the war.  Many have been shouting about the blatant racism for months, only to see it ignored while this filth's sexist stunts are happily embraced by mouth-breathing pseudo-feminists.

And it's only the knowledge that Hillary Clinton is too much of a coward to do much more damage that makes me consider voting for her to guard against McCain.

Is McKinney as nuts as others in this race?  Nope.  You're probably right that she's far less so.  But don't think for a second that I don't see the insanity of this contest and what it means.

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin

by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Tue Jan 29th, 2008 at 05:02:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Tell us how you really feel...

Myself, I'm getting more and more nervous - and I haven't been following the primaries that closely. If it will be Clinton vs McCain, a Dem president doesn't look guaranteed to me at all.

by Nomad on Wed Jan 30th, 2008 at 04:28:42 AM EST
[ Parent ]
And is Clinton wins it will be a hawkish Dem presidency.

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Jan 30th, 2008 at 04:52:13 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Well, you certainly have a point when you put it like that. {retires chuckling}

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Tue Jan 29th, 2008 at 05:14:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]
left out Mr. 9/11...
by Nomad on Wed Jan 30th, 2008 at 04:23:51 AM EST
[ Parent ]

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