Quote of the day

"This whole incident was instigated by the inappropriate touching and stopping of me, a female black congresswoman." -- Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) after striking the Capitol Police officer who stopped her for bypassing security without showing identification

"That's right. I prefer to judge people, not by the color of their skin, but on the content of their character...and you seem bat-shit insane." -- Jon Stewart on Cynthia McKinney

I applaud the Dems for "keeping their distance" from McKinney, but they really ought to go further and openly stress the need for an apology. It's an obvious step and one that needs to be taken as soon as possible. That might be embarrassing for McKinney, but that's exactly what she should be.

Embarrassed by her astonishing sense of entitlement.

Embarrassed by her inexcusably childish behavior.

And, most of all, embarrassed by the disservice she has done to legitimate victims of racism everywhere, by falling over herself to immediatle play the race card and blame others for her own mistake(s).

Contrary to McKinney's (and her attorney's) claims, this has nothing to do with being black, female, and a congresswoman. To the contrary, "this whole incident," is traceable, not to sex, color, or creed, but to a more universal condition that transcends all of the above:

Asshole.

It's the most egalitarian standing in the world. Anyone can be one and, last week, McKinney seemed quite eager to prove it. Hopefully she'll be just as eager to put aside the hubris that got her into this and exhibit some of the remorse that will get her out. If not, the rest of the Dems--and, more importantly, her constituents--need to make her "distance" permanent.