Democrats' poster child

The increasing tone-deafness of Democrats, who don't seem to understand why it's a bad thing to hit a cop, could have political consequences:

U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney, already in the spotlight for striking a Capitol police officer, became part of the Georgia governor's race Monday.

The state Republican Party painted McKinney as "the face of the state Democratic Party," while Democrats accused the GOP of resorting to "gutter politics" for trying to use her as an issue at the outset of the campaign season.

Yes, indeed: "Gutter politics" to call attention to the national joke who is now the most famous Democratic politician in Georgia. (Bet those Texas Democrats would never resort to "gutter politics" by calling attention to Tom DeLay's problems.) Jim Tharpe of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution continues:

McKinney has had a penchant for making headlines since her election to Congress in 1992. She accused President Bush of having prior knowledge of the 9/11 terror attacks and doing nothing to stop them. She has backed the Castro regime in Cuba. And after her 2002 loss to Denise Majette, her father, a former state lawmaker, blamed "J-E-W-S" for her loss.
McKinney's DeKalb County base accounts for more than 20 percent of the total Democratic primary vote. That makes her a force to be reckoned with by Democratic leaders.
State GOP Chairman Alec Poitevint on Monday urged Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor and Secretary of State Cathy Cox — both seeking the Democratic nomination for governor — to "withdraw their support of Cynthia McKinney" and condemn her for striking a Capitol police officer who didn't recognize her.
"Mark Taylor should also publicly disavow the McKinney endorsement," Poitevint said. "Cathy Cox and her husband Mark Dehler should ask for the thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to be returned."
McKinney has endorsed Taylor, and Cox's husband contributed $1,750 to McKinney between 1997 and 2000.

So both Democratic candidates for governor of Georgia have ties to McKinney, whose political agenda reads like this:

• 1. Help Haiti;
• 2. Aid the Palestinians;
• 3. Kiss up to Castro
• 4. Free Mumia;
• 5. Save Tookie (win some, lose some);
• 6. Blame Bush for 9/11;
• 7. Collect contributions from radical Muslims;
• 8. Get campaign cash from out-of-state donors;
  and, most importantly ...
• 9. Honor Tupac Shakur.

As popular as McKinney's agenda might be in her district -- which, as the AJC observes, now contains 1/5 of all the Democrats in Georgia -- it's probably not going to play too well in Forsyth County. She is a blue politician in a red state, and a perfect symbol of why Democrats are going to have a hard time recapturing the House, even in what is clearly shaping up as a bad election year for the GOP.

Things have been hectic with the talk-radio tour kicking off this week, and I haven't been able to keep up with everything, but the DONKEY CONS Blog Roll has been hopping with McKinney updates:

At Opinion Journal, James Taranto was all over it.
Washington Times: National GOP does "gutter politics," too.
Right-Wing Howler: Mean-spirited? (We report, you decide!)
Dan Riehl: Great minds think alike? (We report, etc.)
Don Surber: It's about time!
Debbie Schlussel: Told you so!
VW: "Spring-loaded to the stupid position"
Malkin: McKinney's money, McKinney's media

Previous Donkey Cons blogs on
Cynthia McKinney:

4/2: Video fisked
3/31: Who Cynthia McKinney is
3/31: "Jihad Cindy" does it again
2/17: Latest rant from "Jihad Cindy"

-- McCAIN

DONKEY CONS: Buy it
DONKEY CONS: Buy TWO!
DONKEY CONS: Rave review
DONKEY CONS: About the book