Rep. Cynthia McKinney Does It Again

My goodness, this woman never fails to get herself involved in a controversy. Now, she was caught on video bad-mouthing one of her senior staffers:

Move over Britney Spears, Cynthia McKinney’s — oops! — done it again.

The flap-plagued congresswoman, who has been in the media spotlight since she scuffled with a Capitol Hill police officer last month, was caught bad-mouthing a senior staffer Saturday.

Unfortunately for McKinney, a DeKalb County Democrat who is running for re-election in the 4th Congressional District, a TV microphone she was wearing picked up her indelicate grumbling.

“Crap!” an irritated McKinney is heard saying after ending an interview with CBS 46 in which reporter Renee Starzyk repeatedly asked about the fallout from the police dust-up. “You know what? They lied to Coz and Coz is a fool.”

McKinney, apparently realizing her blunder, then returned to face the camera and tell the reporter that comments about her communications director, Coz Carson, were off the record.

But the TV stationed aired the footage Saturday and the story later was picked up by CNN.

Mike Machi, Channel 46’s assistant news director, said McKinney’s office was aware Starzyk would ask about the fuss in the one-on-one interview.

“Congresswoman McKinney has been in Washington for a long time and she has handled the media for most of her public life,” said Machi, who was unapologetic about airing the interview outtakes. “There were lots of ways to handle this and I was absolutely surprised that she handled this situation in that fashion.”

Really? He was surprised McKinney handled herself that way?

What was some of the reaction to Rep. McKinney’s latest outburst?

Political observer Merle Black of Emory University got a chuckle out of McKinney’s latest gaffe. But he said he wasn’t surprised by her behavior, even in an election year.

“All of this is consistent,” Black said of the way McKinney has handled the attention, including her charges that the police incident was racially motivated. “She doesn’t act the way most Congress members act.”

No kidding. This is just the latest of a long list of inappropriate behavior that demonstrates she doesn’t belong in Congress. Her constituents threw her out of office once before; they have their chance to do it again on Election Day. Let’s hope they do.

Greg at The Political Pitbull has the transcript and video of McKinney’s latest.

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