Monday, April 03, 2006

A Matter of Character

I'm glad that the Capitol Police are seeking an indictment of Representative McKinney for her assault on one of their officers the other day.

How selfish! How cowardly! I don't care how much racial profiling she thinks exists in this country - she messed up, and messed up big time. It would only have taken her a few seconds to show her identification. But instead, HER time was so valuable that she was entitled to run a security checkpoint. She not wearing proper identification. She ignored the repeated warnings to stop. She could have prevented the confrontation at any time. And then she was so incensed that the cop had the temerity to do his job properly, that she punched him in the chest, slapped his face, or hit him with a cell phone, depending on the version you read.

The fact that she would even consider doing such a thing speaks enough of her arrogance. But the fact that she now blames the cop, society, racism, President Bush, the boogey man - EVERYONE but herself (she's expressed "regret" but has refused to apologize) says all that needs to be said about her character. Apparently, because there are race issues in our society, she's entitled to physically abuse a person who risks his life to keep her safe. I guess it also means she has no responsibility for her actions, and that any bad thing she does is society's fault. What are we supposed to take away from this example of leadership? What are young black children in her district supposed to learn from her behavior?

The irony is that the officer represents the "little guy" here. He's just a regular guy, doing his job, and making a living. He's charged with an awesome task - allowing the public access to see their government in action while somehow trying to identify and exclude people who might want to harm that government. For her not to recognize the position he was in, and the impossible choice she forced on him - she represents everything you DON'T want in a leader.

She should have thanked him for his vigilance, not called him a racist. I'm glad the Capitol Police are refusing to bow to her official pressure and are pressing charges against her. The men and women who labor in that environment must have the reassurance that when they make a split-second, reasonable call with the safety (not convenience) of hundreds of people in mind, that they will not be left hanging in the wind. Otherwise, the seat of our government will be far less safe, something bad will happen, and then the public will have less access to their representatives.

I don't know what's worse - her refusal to accept ANY responsibility, or the people who support her as she wallows in her disgusting display of selfishness, arrogance, lack of grace and class, and her gross abuse of her position of power.

2 comments:

Mathew said...

"Apparently, because there are race issues in our society, she's entitled to physically abuse a person who risks his life to keep her safe. I guess it also means she has no responsibility for her actions, and that any bad thing she does is society's fault."

That's a leap YOUR'RE making, not anything she's said. I think you're jumping all over her for partisan reasons, rather than any actual injury she's done the policeman or your apply-it-as-ye-may idea of personal responsibility.

If you'r an aspiring smear artist, keep up the counterproductive babble of the idealogue; that really helps inform the debate about race, privacy and security in this country. Really, it does.

Orrin Johnson said...

I have to say that this is the single most silly response I've ever gotten on one of these posts to date.

She defended an indefensible act by playing the race card, and I'm jumping all over her for that, not her party affiliation. If condemning her stupid and racist actions makes me a demegogue and a smear artist, well, then in the words of the great Inigo Mantoya, "I do not think that word means what you think it means."

I just don't think I'm making a big leap here. Even the Congressional Black Caucus couldn't distance themselves from her fast enough. I don't have to smear her reputation - she did that all on her own.

And frankly, I think you're defending her for partisan reasons. In what possible way were her actions or subsequent responses defensible? In what way has she taken responsibility for what SHE did wrong? How did her actions contribute ANYTHING to improving race relations? What other conclusion am I to reach from her statements? Do you think what she did was excusable?

But I tell you what. I promise that as soon as Sec. Rice (or any other conservative of any race whatsoever) punches a security cop trying to do his job, blames it on institutional racism, issues an "apology" that isn't, and then has a body guard threaten to beat up a memeber of the media, then I'll condemn her too.