# Rep Cynthia McKinney, like bottom feeding much? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 12, 2002, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rep-cynthia-mckinney-like-bottom-feeding-much/103258 "2002-04-12T16:37:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rep-cynthia-mckinney-like-bottom-feeding-much/103258/61 "2002-04-18T12:55:51Z")
**obidiah** , if you’re sincere, let me say that I am quite impressed. I’ve often seen folks in the Pit with beliefs that most consider outlandish who fight tooth and nail to defend them, regardless of the evidence. To objectively review things and decide some of your assertions are incorrect, and then admit that, takes some fortitude. ---
**Author:** ![Zoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/6de8d8/32.png) [@Zoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoff)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rep-cynthia-mckinney-like-bottom-feeding-much/103258/62 "2002-04-18T13:13:43Z")
I second what **Sauron** said. To be quite honest, I had pretty much decided to give up on this thread because I said what I had to say and didn’t figure you’d change your mind. I was pleasantly surprised when I opened this thread. As for China and the WTO, your latest points are well taken. I don’t deny that entry might have been for cynical reasons. I am merely arguing that the timing does not tend to prove a conspiracy, and you seem to agree. I only make this point to illustrate that the people arguing against you in this thread are not blind patriots or Bush supporters. We’re simply people who understand that the world is more complex than many conspiracy folks care to acknowledge. ---
**Author:** ![obidiah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@obidiah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obidiah)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rep-cynthia-mckinney-like-bottom-feeding-much/103258/63 "2002-04-18T13:31:51Z")
**Sauron, Zoff,** Yes, I’m sincere. I look forward to talking with you folks in the future (hopefully in a slightly more rational capacity). Thanks for taking the time to reply to my last post. ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rep-cynthia-mckinney-like-bottom-feeding-much/103258/64 "2002-04-18T13:45:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by obidiah \* > \*\ ***Sauron, Zoff,** > > Yes, I’m sincere. I look forward to talking with you folks in the future (hopefully in a slightly more rational capacity). > Thanks for taking the time to reply to my last post. \*\* Classy move, guy. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rep-cynthia-mckinney-like-bottom-feeding-much/103258/65 "2002-04-18T16:38:32Z")
Wow! I didn’t think that could happen on the Internet! 😉 I’m no Bush fan, believe you me. But while I think he’s guilty of illegally occupying the White House, while I think his energy scandals and Enron scandals eclipse Whitewater, I don’t think he could be behind 9/11. For one thing, he’s a jerk, not a psychopath, and he’s even shown a bit of restraint on killing Afghani civilians, despite being a hard-core nationalist. For another thing, there are much easier ways to provoke a war: how hard would it have been for him to get militarily jiggy in Colombia or in Iraq? The first I heard about CM’s comments was in an editorial in this morning’s paper. She was bad, but worse was the editorialist: “Here’s the deal,” says Kathleen Parker. “McKinney is a dangerous fool whose voice needs to be stifled.” She goes on to call for charges of treason against McKinney. The card-carrying ACLU member in me cringes at that. Sure, she’s an idiot; sure, she makes me look dumb by association. But that’s no cause for tossing out the first amendment. On the contrary, isn’t it better for conspiracy theorists to speak in the sunlight, where their theories can be seen and considered (and, if necessary, scorned and mocked)? The alternative – that conspiracy theorists only talk with like-minded people and build up scary heads of steam – does no one any good. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rep-cynthia-mckinney-like-bottom-feeding-much/103258/66 "2002-04-18T17:28:07Z")
> [@](#): > > “Here’s the deal,” says Kathleen Parker. “McKinney is a dangerous fool whose voice needs to be stifled.” She goes on to call for charges of treason against McKinney. Not to be an apologist for Ms. Parker…but I think you overstatd her [point](http://www.jewishworldreview.com/kathleen/parker1.asp) of her bit… > [@](#): > > Of course, news reporters have to be objective and respectful, even toward loonies like McKinney, which is why God created columnists. Here’s the real deal: McKinney is a dangerous fool whose voice needs to be stifled. Not forcefully, of course. But couldn’t we get this woman a job at Wal-Mart, greeting the public she so desperately courts? Wishfully thinking, couldn’t we just impeach her? > I realize you can’t impeach a public official for dragging down the national I.Q., but you can impeach for treason. Once McKinney’s hysterical rant is translated into Arabic for a vulnerable, gullible and homicidal public, she’s on their team, not ours. As Sen. Zell Miller, another Georgia Democrat, has noted, her statement is “very dangerous and irresponsible.” > At the very least, oh lovely smart people of Georgia, vote this bad actress out of business. Do it for your country. Do it soon ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rep-cynthia-mckinney-like-bottom-feeding-much/103258/67 "2002-04-18T17:32:01Z")
I agree, **Daniel**. While I think McKinney is a stellar example of the Peter Principle, Kathleen Parker is crazy for even suggesting that McKinney be “stifled.” For one thing, it removes one of the basic freedoms Americans hold dear – the right to free speech. For another, it’s just so much fun to see what idiocy she’s spewing on a regular basis. ---
**Author:** ![obidiah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@obidiah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obidiah)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rep-cynthia-mckinney-like-bottom-feeding-much/103258/68 "2002-04-18T21:23:13Z")
Well, at least Ann Coulter didn’t jump on the bandwagon. Actually it is unfortunate as she is always an entertaining read. In the past she has also suggested the removial of the civil liberties of those who disagree with her, although she takes it a step futher: “When contemplating college liberals, you really regret once again that John Walker is not getting the death penalty. We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed too. Otherwise they will turn out to be outright traitors.” –Ann Coulter at the PAC conference Although I’m assuming she can’t be serious, it is an interesting point, huh? ---
**Author:** ![Zoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/6de8d8/32.png) [@Zoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoff)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rep-cynthia-mckinney-like-bottom-feeding-much/103258/69 "2002-04-18T21:26:52Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by obidiah_ > Although I’m assuming she can’t be serious, it is an interesting point, huh? I don’t know if that’s a safe assumption. I’ve seen some stuff from her that makes me think she’s crazier than a shithouse rat. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rep-cynthia-mckinney-like-bottom-feeding-much/103258/70 "2002-04-19T01:13:42Z")
Thanks, beagledave, for the full quote; I’m pretty sure the newspaper in which I read her column edited out this line: “Of course, news reporters have to be objective and respectful, even toward loonies like McKinney, which is why God created columnists.” Without that sentence, the paragraph has the voice-stifling sentence as its topic, and becomes a lot scarier. I still think Parker is a scarier voice than McKinney – later in the article, she seems to call for charging McKinney with treason. But the full column is a little toned down from the one I read. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![obidiah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@obidiah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obidiah)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rep-cynthia-mckinney-like-bottom-feeding-much/103258/71 "2002-04-19T03:00:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zoff \* > \*\* > I don’t know if that’s a safe assumption. I’ve seen some stuff from her that makes me think she’s crazier than a shithouse rat. \*\* Damn, now that’s crazy! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rep-cynthia-mckinney-like-bottom-feeding-much/103258.md?page=3)