News - Is U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney an embarrassment to her post?

Cynthia McKinney,

the bow-headed darling of America's crackpot left, has done it again: She's shocked us with her stupidity.

Asking if McKinney is an embarrassment is like asking if the sky is blue or if Atlanta traffic stinks. The answer is not in doubt. The question, given the volume of evidence, is where to start.

So we press on, considering McKinney's latest outrage — her shameless apology to the Saudi clown prince who thought he could buy the right to stand on the mass grave of 5,000 Americans and blame the victims for what befell them. (He claimed U.S. foreign policy "led to" the attacks.)

America's mayor, Rudy Giuliani, stood up for our war dead, telling the billionaire oil royal to take his chump change and his insults and shove 'em. McKinney promptly took exception to Rudy's eloquent single-finger sendoff.

In her groveling apology, McKinney predictably (and preposterously) blamed the Middle East's problems on Israel, and all black America's problems — from poverty to crime to infant mortality — on others. In an Oliver Stone moment, she even painted FBI efforts to monitor the Black Panthers and other law-breaking militants a generation ago as an ongoing campaign against all black leaders. (She's been tilting at this windmill for years.)

In the end, McKinney merely begged, sticking out her platinum-plated tin cup on behalf of America's poor, oppressed black masses. If McKinney really wanted to see some poor, oppressed black masses, she'd have her pick of black-ruled African nations. For oppressed masses in general, she could try Afghanistan, China, Cuba or any number of other countries, including Saudi Arabia.

It was a sad, pathetic sight: a member of the U.S. House bowing before a foreign critic of the United States.

McKinney, of course, doesn't see it that way. She is, herself, a shrill and implacable critic of the U.S. Whereas Ronald Reagan saw the former Soviet Union as the "focus of evil in the modern world," McKinney has pretty much the same low opinion of her own country.

Of course, McKinney has a right to express herself. So, for that matter, do her critics. But talk of the "right" to speak out misses the larger picture. Americans have the right to do lots of stupid things. In some states, motorcyclists can ride without helmets. And in Georgia's 4th District, a member of Congress can make all sorts of nutty claims without thinking.

In both cases, what may be your right is still plenty dumb.

Luke Boggs is an executive speech writer living in Alpharetta.??