PrintAugust 11, 2006
A Bright Future for Cynthia McKinney
Don't worry about Cynthia McKinney's future. She's got it made. Despite her defeat by almost a 60—40 margin in the August 8, 2006 Democratic primary for Georgia's 4th Congressional District seat, her future is secure.�
In Congress, which is an institution that struggles to rise above the trivial, the partisan and the pompous, over the years of her incumbency McKinney's antics provided plenty of obstacles to overcome. Just some of the many lowlights of her notorious career in Congress are worthy of mention, and in a sane world, they would suggest a post—Congressional career of limited opportunities:
�—— She accused the Bush Administration of knowing in advance of the 911 attacks and that it failed to warn innocent people.—— She has publicly suggested that members of the Bush �Administration have personally profited from the events of 911.—— She informed the Congressional Black Caucus that the �murders of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr. were all linked, and �that the Dr. King was murdered so that he could be replaced by a black man who was loyal to 'COINTELPRO II.'—— She has supported or has made public appearances with �the likes of Louis Farrakhan, Robert Mugabe, and Hugo Chavez.—— She refused to join in a Congressional resolution �condemning the anti—semitism of Louis Farrakhan.—— Most recently she punched a Capitol police officer who �asked her to showher identification at a security checkpoint, and she followed this by race—baiting accusations against the police.
But after her defeat in the recent primary, she will not just go gentle into that good night.� If past is prologue, this shameful behavior will do little to dim the prospects of Cynthia McKinney.� The antics�that have now been rejected twice by Georgia voters as beyond the pale are considered resume—building in academia.
When she was defeated in a 2002 election, it was on to Cornell University, where the PC orthodoxies run as deep as Cayuga's waters.� In July of 2003 Cynthia McKinney was named a Frank H. T. Rhodes Class of 1956 University Professor. These are professorships lasting from one to five years, and they are 'designed to enrich the undergraduate experience at the university' according to the Cornell Chronicle of August 23, 2003.
According to a Cornell University dean who served on the selection committee for Rhodes professorships, Cynthia McKinney is 'a person of considerable achievement in the political sphere,' as reported in the Chronicle. He called her 'an internationally renowned advocate for voting and human rights.'�
This information must have been news to the opponents of Chavez and Mugabe who are rotting in prison.� She has had 'considerable achievement in the political sphere' if that is defined as the dissemination of crazed conspiracy theories and race—baiting.
If there are any doubts about the degradation of higher education, especially in the humanities departments of the elite universities, imagine a lecture to Cornell's best and brightest by Cynthia McKinney on 911 as an inside job.
After her last term in Congress where, to paraphrase Marx, the tragic became the farcical, and after her latest electoral defeat, I submit that an appointment to the faculty of Princeton University would be perfect.� She could share the Class of 1943 University Professorship with that featherweight, Cornell West.�
From Cornell University to Cornell West. After disgracing the first Cornell with her presence, she, by way of contrast could only enhance the stature of the second Cornell.� In such symbiosis and symmetry there would be a terrible beauty born that non—Princetonians could observe only with amazement.� Will Princeton University seize this golden opportunity?
