2 Attachment(s)
McKinney's Softened Image Takes a Blow(DemsGoneWild)
04-05) 14:37 PDT ATLANTA, (AP) --
When Rep. Cynthia McKinney returned to Congress in 2004, friends and foes saw a quieter, more amiable version of the lawmaker who once suggested the Bush White House had prior knowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks.
But now, as she aggressively defends herself for scuffling with a Capitol police officer, it is clear the makeover didn't last long.
"She's brought back the old Cynthia," said Merle Black, a political scientist at Emory University. "There won't be any more news stories about `the new Cynthia McKinney.'"
In 1992, McKinney became the first black woman elected to Congress from Georgia. Known early on mostly for her flashy fashions, including braids and gold tennis shoes, McKinney had a brash style that made her a target for conservatives and an embarrassment to some of her more moderate Democratic colleagues.
She once said that former Vice President Al Gore had a low "Negro tolerance level" and that officials in the Bush administration had advance knowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks but kept quiet to allow friends to profit from the bloodshed.
She denounced New York Mayor Rudolph Guiliani for refusing a $10 million donation from a Saudi prince for the families of Sept. 11 victims. She has been criticized for her outspoken support of the Palestinian cause in Israel. In 1996, her father, longtime state lawmaker Billy McKinney, called her Republican opponent a "racist Jew."
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...a143711D90.DTL
D.C. GRAND JURY CONVENED in Cynthia McKinney Matter
Fox News Alert | 4-5-06 | John Gibson/ FNC