Nbadan
08-01-2007, 04:55 PM
The Double Standard: Cynthia McKinney vs Chris Shays
by: thomashooker
Mon Jul 23, 2007 at 12:05:40 PM EDT
Just over a year ago, the national mainstream media went ballistic over African-American Democratic congresswoman Cynthia McKinney's confrontation with a Capitol police officer. The officer didn't recognize that McKinney was a congresswoman as she went around the metal detectors when entering the Capitol building and tried to stop her. Fox News went nuts, including right-wing inquisitor Sean Hannity, in what newshounds.com referred to as the "high-tech lynching of Cynthia McKinney." Right-wing hatemonger Michelle Malkin called McKinney "looney" and "queen-of-the-unhinged" on her website.
Yet when Republican and caucasian congressman Chris Shays of Connecticut (CT-04) went psycho on another Capitol police officer last week, there was barely a peep from the media.
CQ.com said Shays arrived on the scene and confronted the officer “in a profanity-laced tirade.”
Shays “delivered a tongue-lashing, including several instances of the ‘F-word,’ to the officer before grabbing the name tag on the front of his uniform.” CQ.com said.
What actually led Chris Shays to go ballistic and act like a like a crazy person? According to the Hartford Courant:
The incident unfolded like this. Shays was waiting to meet constituents on the east front steps of the Capitol for a photo Thursday afternoon. But the intern guiding the constituents was on the opposite side of the Capitol.
The intern was unsure how to find Shays, so the congressman called on a cellphone and advised the intern to go to the nearest officer and hand him the phone so the officer could help.
But officers apparently can't talk on cellphones while on duty.
Shays, though, thought there could be an exception made in such circumstances because it was raining hard and the constituents were getting soaked. He walked through the Capitol and joined the intern and the constituents, where he confronted the officer.
He "walked through the Capitol and joined the intern and the constituents"? In light of what happened, it sounds more as though Shays "stalked" through the Capitol.
Now let's review exactly what Cynthia McKinney did that made the national media and the Capitol police go bonkers on her. When the officer who didn't recognize McKinney placed his hand on McKinney's shoulder, she reportedly turned around and hit the officer in the chest with her cell phone.
McKinney's brief confrontation with a Capitol police officer seems to pale in comparison with Shays' sustained profanity-filled rant punctuated by his physical contact with a police officer. But it was enough to send the Capitol police into a rage, and they went all out to prosecute her. They launched an investigation and filed charges of assault against a police officer.
By contrast, look how differently the police treated Chris Shays.
"After personally meeting with the officer, Chief of Police Phillip D. Morse, Sr. and Assistant Chief of Police Dan Nichols discussed the matter with Congressman Shays who acknowledged he acted inappropriately in the heat of the moment and took full responsibility for his actions.
“The Congressman stated his full support and admiration for the officers of the U.S. Capitol Police and offered his apologies.”
So when McKinney hits a police officer in the chest with her cell phone,
the police file assault charges against her. But when a 6' 2" congressman "grabs for his name tag" on his uniform, there's no problem, save a polite conversation from the Capitol police chief.
When it comes to a conservative Republican congressman, there are no assault charges, no subpoenas, no witnesses called to testify to his laying of hands on a Capitol police officer. They simply have a polite chat and the matter ends. No tantrums from Fox News or Michelle Malkin either. Hey, he's not black, he's not a Democrat. He's a Neocon supporter of the Iraq War who backs George Bush's unlimited right to wiretap American citizens without a warrant. So why make a big deal out of it?
Sounds fair and balanced to me.
Linky (http://www.myleftnutmeg.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=7566)
Maybe this piece will help explain the double standard...
McKinney Sues Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The Corporate Plan to Crush Black Resistance (http://counterpunch.com/ford08012007.html)
The assaults against McKinney's character and seven-term career are but one skirmish in a nationwide corporate offensive that was sketched out by rightwing strategists in the mid-Nineties and fully implemented in the early years of the Bush regime. For the first time, corporate American would make a concerted and coordinated effort to cleanse the African American polity of what remained of the Black Freedom Movement. The year 2002 was their D-Day for invasion of black politics. They came strapped with millions in cash, and the supporting artillery of corporate media.
by: thomashooker
Mon Jul 23, 2007 at 12:05:40 PM EDT
Just over a year ago, the national mainstream media went ballistic over African-American Democratic congresswoman Cynthia McKinney's confrontation with a Capitol police officer. The officer didn't recognize that McKinney was a congresswoman as she went around the metal detectors when entering the Capitol building and tried to stop her. Fox News went nuts, including right-wing inquisitor Sean Hannity, in what newshounds.com referred to as the "high-tech lynching of Cynthia McKinney." Right-wing hatemonger Michelle Malkin called McKinney "looney" and "queen-of-the-unhinged" on her website.
Yet when Republican and caucasian congressman Chris Shays of Connecticut (CT-04) went psycho on another Capitol police officer last week, there was barely a peep from the media.
CQ.com said Shays arrived on the scene and confronted the officer “in a profanity-laced tirade.”
Shays “delivered a tongue-lashing, including several instances of the ‘F-word,’ to the officer before grabbing the name tag on the front of his uniform.” CQ.com said.
What actually led Chris Shays to go ballistic and act like a like a crazy person? According to the Hartford Courant:
The incident unfolded like this. Shays was waiting to meet constituents on the east front steps of the Capitol for a photo Thursday afternoon. But the intern guiding the constituents was on the opposite side of the Capitol.
The intern was unsure how to find Shays, so the congressman called on a cellphone and advised the intern to go to the nearest officer and hand him the phone so the officer could help.
But officers apparently can't talk on cellphones while on duty.
Shays, though, thought there could be an exception made in such circumstances because it was raining hard and the constituents were getting soaked. He walked through the Capitol and joined the intern and the constituents, where he confronted the officer.
He "walked through the Capitol and joined the intern and the constituents"? In light of what happened, it sounds more as though Shays "stalked" through the Capitol.
Now let's review exactly what Cynthia McKinney did that made the national media and the Capitol police go bonkers on her. When the officer who didn't recognize McKinney placed his hand on McKinney's shoulder, she reportedly turned around and hit the officer in the chest with her cell phone.
McKinney's brief confrontation with a Capitol police officer seems to pale in comparison with Shays' sustained profanity-filled rant punctuated by his physical contact with a police officer. But it was enough to send the Capitol police into a rage, and they went all out to prosecute her. They launched an investigation and filed charges of assault against a police officer.
By contrast, look how differently the police treated Chris Shays.
"After personally meeting with the officer, Chief of Police Phillip D. Morse, Sr. and Assistant Chief of Police Dan Nichols discussed the matter with Congressman Shays who acknowledged he acted inappropriately in the heat of the moment and took full responsibility for his actions.
“The Congressman stated his full support and admiration for the officers of the U.S. Capitol Police and offered his apologies.”
So when McKinney hits a police officer in the chest with her cell phone,
the police file assault charges against her. But when a 6' 2" congressman "grabs for his name tag" on his uniform, there's no problem, save a polite conversation from the Capitol police chief.
When it comes to a conservative Republican congressman, there are no assault charges, no subpoenas, no witnesses called to testify to his laying of hands on a Capitol police officer. They simply have a polite chat and the matter ends. No tantrums from Fox News or Michelle Malkin either. Hey, he's not black, he's not a Democrat. He's a Neocon supporter of the Iraq War who backs George Bush's unlimited right to wiretap American citizens without a warrant. So why make a big deal out of it?
Sounds fair and balanced to me.
Linky (http://www.myleftnutmeg.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=7566)
Maybe this piece will help explain the double standard...
McKinney Sues Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The Corporate Plan to Crush Black Resistance (http://counterpunch.com/ford08012007.html)
The assaults against McKinney's character and seven-term career are but one skirmish in a nationwide corporate offensive that was sketched out by rightwing strategists in the mid-Nineties and fully implemented in the early years of the Bush regime. For the first time, corporate American would make a concerted and coordinated effort to cleanse the African American polity of what remained of the Black Freedom Movement. The year 2002 was their D-Day for invasion of black politics. They came strapped with millions in cash, and the supporting artillery of corporate media.