Mourning the loss of McKinney..

[ananda]

.. and the fact that for Dems things still ain't fair everywhere.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/09/AR2006080900676.html

[Greeby]

1. She'll be back

Can't keep Cynthia down :)

[MrModerate]

2. Naah, she's an asshole.

The party's better off with her out of office.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

4. So much for that "I support the nominee" stuff, eh?

What works in Connecticut doesn't work everywhere else, it seems.

[mcscajun]

19. Precisely "Support the nominee" -- she lost, the challenger in the primary

won. Plain as that.

She was the incumbent, just like Lieberman; she lost, just like Lieberman. She's blaming others, just like Lieberman.

No difference.

[LostinVA]

21. She gave a very nice concession speech

And, I don't see her running as an "Independent Democrat" in the "Georgia for McKinney Party." She's supporting the party.

Huge difference.

Plus, she is a Progressive, unlike Lieberman.

[mcscajun]

29. Nope...she's not going to jump ship, I give you that.

:)

[RaleighNCDUer]

7. not an asshole - a pain in the ass

which is what a good Dem should be these days. She is never afraid to speak truth to power, which pissed people off.

Don't know much about her challanger - I only hope he will be as fearless as she is.

[MrModerate]

11. Let me define "asshole" as I see it . . .

Loudmouthed, intemperate, inconsistent, arrogant, imperious, unfocused, bullying, self-aggrandizing, uninformed, rude, inconsiderate . . . you know, asshole.

Only incidentally a pain in the ass, and more of a pain to progressives than to regressives.

[LostinVA]

23. Otherwise known as an "Uppity Black Woman"

I've heard this before....

[MrModerate]

25. Actually, anyone with those traits . . .

Would generally be considered a major jerk. Gender and skin color are irrelevant.

[Balbus]

34. Why do you associate those traits with black people?

[LostinVA]

38. I don't, which you already know

However, the MSM, the GOP, and an odd amount of DUers do.

[MrModerate]

40. self-delete

[stanwyck]

49. I always vote for Cynthia

because when I review her voting record, I agree 100%. She voted against the Iraq invasion..did your representative? She was that lonely voice that asked for an investigation of the events leading up to 9-11, long before anyone else. Meanwhile, what was your rep. doing? Asking for more restrictions on abortion?
Yes, she's rude. But she votes the way I would vote, given the chance.
So, as a member of Georgia's 4th district, she got my vote.

[CottonBear]

13. Johnson is very mild mannered. He's no firebrand, that's for sure.

I hope he represents the people in the 4th district well.

I predict McKinney will run against him and win back her seat in 2008.

[Mike Daniels]

46. Truth to power only works when the majority see you as credible

Kennedy speaking truth to power would catch people's attention.

A race-baiting nut-job who blames everyone but herself for anything that happens to her is ignored by all but her support base.

[RaleighNCDUer]

50. Race baiting nut job?

You certainly have the media slant down pat. Have you ever listened to anything she's had to say that wasn't in a media-produced sound bite? She actually sounds (gasp) rational.

[LostinVA]

20. No, she is NOT an asshole, whether you ,like her or not

She's an "Uppity Black Woman" who doesn't toe Massa's line, so they vilify her in the MSM. Ooooh.... big surprise.

I don't always like the path she takes on issues, but I always supported her journey, and I always LOVED the destination.

Cynthia will be back!

[MrModerate]

27. Living in the DC area, I've seen her in action on local TV.

I stand by my judgement.

[SacredCow]

35. "Uppity" = "Asshole" in my book....

And the color of your skin is irrelevant to your ability to be an arrogant asshole.

Our Governor, for example, is an arrogant WHITE woman.

[LostinVA]

67. *yawn*

[KFC]

53. Bullshit

Strange that you excuse her idiocy because she is black.

[LostinVA]

68. Bwwwwahhhhhhhhh

You have got to be kidding me. THAT'S what you get from my post?

I'm a white female who knows how UPPITY females are looked upon by certain sectors of males... and Black women have it ten times worse. Not acknowledging this is either the height of naivete or cognitive dissonance.

McKinney isn't an idiot. For shame.

Funny how McKinney, a proud Progressive firebrand, attracts vitriol from certain DUers usually reserved for Bush.

Bullshit right back at you.

[SacredCow]

73. Ahhhhhh..... So McKinney, as an "uppity" black woman...

is looked upon negatively by certain people. Therefore, she has an excuse to be an elitist bitch? whatEVER.....

Sorry, but I beg to differ. She's a classic example of a demagogue, and that kind of MO is not a catalyst for change (worthwhile change, at least).

[Justice Is Comin]

3. Did you ever hear the phrase

hooking your britches on your own pitchfork?

She's the classic example and the voters showed it to her last night.

[goodhue]

5. me too

A hazard of speaking truth to power is being taken out by media and DLC.

[im10ashus]

6. From what I understand from my peeps in GA...

she failed to make a stand on issues. Hank Johnson is more liberal than her anyway. So I welcome him to the seat. Just my 2 cents.

:hi:

[DinahMoeHum]

8. Yeah, I read a piece in DailyKos a few days ago, called

"15 Reasons to Quit McKinney"
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/8/6/173637/0320

(snip)
Like Lieberman...McKinney has neglected her home base, and has chosen instead to embrace the role of a national cheerleader and clown on issues that are either not important or are an anathema to her constituents.
(snip)

I'm sure Hank Johnson will do real fine as a US Congressman and do his district proud.

:kick:

[im10ashus]

9. Thanks for the link!

I didn't catch that on Kos.

:hi:

[oasis]

15. "Sleep walking" Hank has "one-term only" written on his forehead.(n/t)

:boring:

[KoKo]

62. Well...did your "peeps" in GA tell you she's got a fantastic Dem voting

record? But, maybe your "peeps" just don't care about stuff like that. :shrug:

[oasis]

88. Which "issues" did McKinney fail to take a stand on? Do your "peeps"

tend to vote conservative?

[Cookie wookie]

92. I guess all the Republicans who supported him $$

and the ones who crossed over to vote for him did it because he's "more liberal."

[CottonBear]

10. Republican cross-over voters voted against McKinney

just like Democratic cross-over voters voted against Ralph Reed.

Y'all don't understand Georgia politics and our primary voting system.

She'll probaly run again in 2008 and she'll probably win because the Republicans will not cross over to vote in the Democratic primary because they'll want to vote in the Republican presidential primary. It happened in 2004.

The majority of people who were agianst McKinney were white Republican men like Neal Boortz who infamoulsy called her a communist and a "ghetto slut."

[oasis]

22. How would you rate Denise Majette compared to Hank Johnson?

I.Q. wise.

[CottonBear]

43. I don't enough about Johnson to compare the two.

Majette is smart. She has a very smooth and polished persona compared to McKinney's more outspoken and passionate personality. McKinney is very smart but not always tactful.

I ws not impressed with Johnson during the recent "debate" which consisted of the two of them insulting each other. Taht debate did not put either of them in a good light. :(

[oasis]

45. Majette seems to have more on the ball than Hank. (n/t)

[rinsd]

44. Huh?

"She'll probaly run again in 2008 and she'll probably win because the Republicans will not cross over to vote in the Democratic primary because they'll want to vote in the Republican presidential primary. It happened in 2004."

It happened in 2004...when Bush ran un-opposed? Ok.....:eyes:

She won in 2004 because Majette ran for the Senate and 5 "politically experienced" (to use her father's words) challengers split the vote in the primary. She of course thumped the republican just as Majette had.

McKinney supporters had their lawsuit regarding crossover voting laughed out of court and their methodology for determining crossover votes in a state without party affiliation declaration was smoke and mirrors.

I have no doubts there were crossover voters though, just the extent seems to be exaggerated for the purposes of maryrdom.

[CottonBear]

74. Correction: I meant to write Republican primaries

for highly contested Georgia elections.

Sorry. Didn't mean to confuse the issue. I was typing and not proof reading.

[rinsd]

75. I agree with your basic theory

That when there is a contested Republican primary is going on the likelyhood of Republican crossover votes is much less.

I just don;t think it happened in 2004. I think there were crossover votes in 2002 I just don't agree to the extent that McKinney supporters put forth.

[CottonBear]

76. Did y'all have a runoff or primary in CA yesterday?

Turnout in GA was pitiful in my area. It was under 18% where I live (blue university city) and a pitiful 13% in the red county where I work. It's a terrible idea to hold primaries in August when most people are gone on vaction and the college students are out of town.

[rinsd]

78. Well it was a runoff though I think its weird to have primaries so late.

I mean CT was in Aug, NY comes in Sept.

Last vote we had here was the Busby-Bilbray run off with some local races.

[me b zola]

52. Thank you, CottonBear

McKinney's loss, IMO, is not a reflection of the desires of the Democratic voters from her district. I hope you are right about 2008, I would love for her to take her seat back.

[nosillies]

12. To effectively "speak the truth to power,"

one must do it rationally, intelligently, and professionally. If you want people to listen, you'd better say it well.

My earlier post on a similar discussion:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2767345&mesg_id=2767536

[Perky]

18. or you get hit with a cell phone?

[nosillies]

39. LOL! A co-worker once threw a cell phone at me

because I wasn't paying attention in a meeting. If people ain't doin' right, get 'em with your phone!

[Tsiyu]

14. The party will support Johnson

as they do Lamont.

But people who like a DIVERSE government will mourn her loss.

I'm sorry if this offends anyone, but for 47 years i have watched males run virtually every institution in America. Statistically, you know i am not padding any numbers nor am I looking at the world through man-hating glasses. Males rule the political roost in America.

EVERY president has been a white male. So yes, it was nice to know there was a strong, assertive black woman in Congress, giving the place a pinch now and then to uncover answers and work for the people.

But there is something even more distressing to note here:

Most people who loathe Cynthia buy the media spin on events HOOK,LINE and SINKER.

They can't name anything she's done which the media hasn't fed them. That's what makes this so sad, to me.

Sheep are everywhere. Baaa baaaa baaa baaa....... bleating like the herd animals they are

[Lars39]

24. Yes! Well said.

[northzax]

30. can you name something she has done

that the media didn't feed you?

right here, give me three things that Rep McKinney has done for the residents of GA-04 in the past two years? Remember, she represents them, not anyone else. And they thought she wasn't representing them well. So educate them (and us) three things she has done in Congress to represent her district.

1:
2:
3:

teach us. no national stuff, only local, things that served as a credit to the people she represents.

[Tsiyu]

51. just came back to the computer and noticed this

First off, her national votes did impact her constituents. If you think voting against the Bankruptcy Bill was not intended to help every American, including Georgians in her district, you know very little about politics or the role of Congress.



She voted no to all of the following:

Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (S 256)

Class Action Fairness Act (S 5)

Death Tax Repeal Permanency Act (Hr 8)

Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (S1932/H. res 653)

Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Hr 6)

and numerous other legislation that was RW crap.



She is one of only a handful of Democrats demanding answers about the government's response to Hurricane Katrina. Many in her district have family in New Orleans.

She has introduced HCON 274, "reaffirming the continued importance and applicability of the Posse Comitatus Act," October 25, 2005. If her constituents don't think Posse Comitatus impacts them, can't help them figure that one out.



You see, NATIONAL legislators provide a vote for their constituents on NATIONAL issues, unlike State legislators, who focus on local and statewide legislation..

But in case you need a local bill, there's this:


She has sponsored HR 2297, The Arabia Mountain National Heritage Act, which would directly benefit people of her district, culturally and environmentally by preserving that area.


And guess what? We don't have cable or satellite here. Sometimes you can get CBS, ABC or NBC, but only if you hold your mouth right.

I don't get my news from Corporate whores, thanks.

[nosillies]

36. Most of the conclusions I have come to

(and I don't loathe her, I just don't think she's the most effective and credible representative for her constituents and party) have come from watching her on CSPAN and reading her very own quotes. Unless CSPAN is altering videos and others are brazenly making up quotes and attributing them to her, I don't see how I, and others like me, can be considered a sheep. But true, MOST people may just get their ideas on her from the evening newscast.

To me, personality and manners matter. And the fat and smug old white men I see in my government have little to no personality and manners, or bad ones. But white man or black woman, acting like a twat gets you zero points with me. It furthers your cause none. As someone said earlier, race and gender have nothing to do with it.

[Irreverend IX]

93. If we want a more DIVERSE government, can we elect Michelle Malkin?

It seems some here are willing to accept a representative allied with the Nation of Islam and whose representatives routinely spout anti-Semitic vitriol as long as that representative is DIVERSE. So why don't we get a Senate seat for Michelle? And don't forget Alan Keyes. After all, DIVERSITY is the most important quality a candidate can have regardless of their level of batshit insanity.

[dbackjon]

16. Not mourning her loss

Celebrating the fact that we have a great candidate now for GA-04!

[Perky]

17. A blight on the party is gone.

[Catherine Vincent]

26. She will be missed.

I hope she gets back in the congress someday.

[Ignoramus]

28. She opposed slaughter of Lebanese people

Unbelievably, she was in a small minority on that, surrounded by an ocean of terrorist ghouls, including child slaughter proponent Ned Lamont.

She supported impeachment.

She supported asking questions about 9/11.

It seems like a sad loss.

I'm particularly unimpressed by people's reactionary trashing of her because of her appearance and the portrayal of her demeanor. Do you remember Dean's supposed scream? Republicans look like idiots when their criticism of a left candidate consists mainly of attacks on their appearance or demeanor.

[Perky]

33. Her Demeanor was the issue.

She has a history of putting her foot in her mouth. Iwt was not her politics. It was her.

[Biernuts]

94. Yeah, but how did she take on the terrorists who started it by

firing missiles into Israel?

Think about it - Say you live in Detroit and missiles are fired from Canada - and the Canadian government won't do anything about it. Any doubt in your mind that even a President Feingold would do what it takes to stop them?

[fasttense]

31. Sorry to lose her.

Hope the new Democratic politician is worth it. The people have spoken.

[Rainscents]

32. When will Democrats get it???

I truly believe, her votes were fliped to Johnson. You'll see, if Johnson win in Nov (which, I hardly doubt), he will be voting with RW hacks. Lot of people may not like McKinney, I have total respect for the women.
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_1017.shtml

[Blue_Tires]

37. as i've said elsewhere

i'm sad to see her go, but ultimately Cynthia sealed her own fate....

however, like Gore, i feel there are a lot of good things she can do while not in office, like activism, organizing or commentary (honestly; if pieces of shit like Gingrich are on TV every day, then there is a timeslot on some news channel just BEGGING for McKinney to deliver a message and butt heads with RWers)

[WI_DEM]

41. the people of her district, like the people of CT spoke

and I accept it. I like her opposition to the war, but I've read articles that indicate that she took her constituents for granted just like Joe L.

[warrens]

42. Dems selected a good Dem over another Dem

I don't see a problem here.

[LTR]

47. She's probably done some good for the party

But she's turned into the Democratic Party's version of Katherine Harris - a walking, talking train wreck.

Johnson is a better choice, IMO. A lot less baggage, and fewer distractions. He'll likely be more effective.

[Karenina]

48. It's all fine.

Georgia now has what it deserves.

[KoKo]

63. She was a Progressive with an Excellent Dem voting record and was

onboard for an end to electronic voting machines and fought hard for Dems. She gave great speeches in the House (I listened to her many times on C-Span) and her only flaw was that she was paranoid about what Bush could do to those who spoke out against him. And, the Repugs took her down and turncoat Dems wanted her gone.

She's gone but she went down fighting. I will miss her. We all claim we want Dems who will speak out...but those who do are forced to either "apologize" to get along with the media when they are attacked or forced out when then stand up for who they are.

Cynthis was a good Dem. She is a loss if we take back the House. She would have been a powerful voice for change.

[B Calm]

54. This post will reveal freepy trolls

[sleipnir]

55. Or people sick of grandstanding Dems in Congress...

I do agree with McKinney on almost all subjects, but she has a major tendency for unwarranted theatrics. I do wish her the best and I hope that she will continue her career in politics. But, I'd love it if she also took a class on modern public relations.

[B Calm]

56. It's a damn shame we don't have more grandstanding Dems

[cali]

61. Not really.

As has been widely noted, if you want to speak truth to power, you need to do it in a way that draws people to your cause instead of turning them off to it. In other words, you need to be heard.

[Greyhound]

59. So, you like the one's that, while not actively participating,

have stood by quietly as our country was destroyed?

[B Calm]

64. That's the way it looks to me too...

[LostinVA]

70. Yup

[republicansarewhores]

82. Thank you.

Some people who accuse the Freepers of enabling their moronic candidates don't recognize the same propensity in themselves when they defend the type of behavior and theatrics she engaged in.

RAW

[LostinVA]

69. Lots and lots of 'em

Give me a "grandstanding" Progressive Firebrand over a not rocking the boat type any day.

[Kurovski]

57. The Washington Post story left out her comments on election

fraud in this nation...or am I imagining things?

[jerry611]

58. With the way her supporters were talking last night....

I am willing to bet the Democrats are ready to close the book on McKinney. There were a lot of racist comments outside her HQ from some of her supporters.

[Kurovski]

60. Well that's unfortunate.

Not as unfortunate as an entire race being targeted for election fraud, but uncool nonetheless.

Edit: How do you come by this knowledge of the racist remarks?

[Donald Ian Rankin]

66. That's a very serious allegation.

Do you have any proof that Johnson's victory was fraudulent?

[EFerrari]

72. We have a lot of evidence that the system in place all over GA

is untrustworthy and a long history of the suppression and theft of black votes. I think that's what the poster was referring to.

[Kurovski]

79. Correct.

The evidence is clear from the 2000 election on, in regard to black voters being targeted by the election fraudsters through a variety of means.

Additionally, we can't be assured of a legitimate vote result with many of our current systems in place which are often unverifiable and non-transparent.

I can fault no one for having their doubts about such election results.

Voters are the ones who must require evidence of the highest possible quality that their votes are legitimately counted and recorded. It is a sacred trust in a Democracy, any breach of that trust--no matter how small--and it is then required that voters demand changes be made, and are fully within their rights to question the legitimacy of an election when our governments and private companies make elections non-transparent.

The non-transparency of the system itself often makes evidence a very difficult thing to obtain. So proof one way or another is difficult to impossible, and that in itself is an absolute and complete outrage to any legitimate Democracy .

[maddezmom]

87. here's a link to a story

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=2770637

[Kurovski]

91. Thank you.

If accurately reported, that was most definitely ugly and uncalled for.

The "Yarmulke" bit--very nasty.

[republicansarewhores]

65. The Democrats put out the trash yesterday...

Both Holy Joe and cynthia McKinney.

Good riddance to both, neither served the best interests of the people or party.

RAW

[LostinVA]

71. Oh yeah, McKinney is JUST like Lieberman

A Progressive Firebrand is just like that Bush-loving Republican wrapped in a "D"? Unbelievable.

Calling someone who HAS fought the good fight for years "trash"? Again, unbelievable. You can dislike the way she does stuff, but Cynthia has ALWAYS been on the side of the Angels.

I love how the McKinney threads bring out hate-filled posts usually reserved for the worst of the GOP. She is a PROGRESSIVE DEM.

[Ms. Clio]

77. what's even more astonishing is that some of the same people who post

such venomous filth about McKinney have also posted for years about what a great Democrat Lieberman the Bush-hugging turncoat is.

[republicansarewhores]

81. Yeah right.

See my post. I have never been a supporter of "Phantom Menace" Lieberman or idiots like McKinney who decide to make something out of nothing. She did it to herself with the incident with the cop and any objective person could see that instead of defending her like she was this wholely pure politician. Even black leaders started withdrawing support when the facts came out about her being "harrassed" because she didn't think she was beholden to the same rules and regs everyone else entering that space were when she did not want to show her ID.

RAW

[Ms. Clio]

83. honestly

I could give a flying fuck who or what you support.

[T Town Jake]

95. It's not "venomous filth" - it's just the truth about an anti-semitic...

...loon and her hanger-ons.

Deal with it.

[republicansarewhores]

80. Cynthia was an embarrassment and what she did on Capitol Hill

With that cop shows how stupid and self-centered she is, just like Lieberman. Hell, just like most politicians. But she chose to make the incident into a "race thing" when it was anything BUT. She's an opportunist and should have been voted out, she disgraced her seat with her shenanigans during that incident.

If more Dems and Progressives would focus on BEHAVIOR and place PEOPLE before this team PARTY mentality we'd be voting more qualified people into office. I think we do lead on this but jumping on the "defend Cynthia" bandwagon is as bad as neocons who drink their Kool-Aid defending every f*cked up thing every member of the Bush Crime Family or their ministers of propoganda like Rush, Bill Bennett, et. all make excuses for.

RAW

[oasis]

84. Mckinney would know more about the cop incident being a "race thing" than

anyone on this thread. If a vindictive pig grabbed me, my first instinct would be to knock fire from his monkey ass.

Mckinney showed great restraint.

[T Town Jake]

96. "knock fire from his monkey ass"...

...uh-huh. I'll just bet that would be your "first instinct."

Lovely language--if one is a racist. Stormfront much?

[eridani]

85. Nobody knows anything about what happened on Capitol Hill

All that's available is bullshit media spin. Her supporters demanded to see the security cam video of the supposed event, but no one in the police hierarchy wanted to show it. Why do you suppose that was?

[oasis]

86. It comes down to Cynthia's word against the cop's. And as we all know,

cops never lie. :eyes:

[Jim Sagle]

89. OK, I'll mourn.

:beer:

[Time for change]

90. She lost 2 primaries because she became a prime target of the Republican

machine. That makes her a hero in my eyes, and in the eyes of millions of others. They couldn't stand to have her in Congress because they never knew when she was going to call attention to their crimes.

[cigsandcoffee]

97. I can't help but believe that she's a vile racist.

After seeing video of the antisemitic thugs she's surrounded herself with, I find it hard to believe she doesn't share their views. I now believe more than ever that her constituents made the right move. She is way off balance.