By Dana Milbank
Thursday, April 6, 2006
House Speaker Dennis Hastert needed a lifeline.
His sidekick Tom DeLay, quitting the House, had just said that the Republican Party doesn't have an agenda. A group of Republican rebels, defying Hastert, was starting a petition to force a debate on the Iraq war. And Hastert was standing in front of the microphones, answering questions about splits between moderates and conservatives in his party over immigration and the budget.
Finally, a Fox News producer took mercy on him. "Should Cynthia McKinney resign?" she asked.
A look of relief verging on joy washed over the face of the hulking Illinois Republican. McKinney, of course, is the Georgia Democrat who may face grand jury charges for allegedly striking a U.S. Capitol Police officer with her cellphone last week when he stopped her at a metal detector because he didn't recognize her.
"You know, it's interesting that you ask this question," Hastert replied, to laughter. "This is not about personalities. It's not about somebody's ego. It's not about racial profiling. It's trying to make this place safer."
GOP aides, one of them wearing an "I {heart} Capitol Police" button, called the session to an end. A dismal news conference had been salvaged by the McKinney scandal. "We should send somebody over to thank her," Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.) said as he left the room.
They should send flowers and chocolates, too. Democrats were just beginning to dream about the possibility of taking control of the House in the November elections as GOP unity collapsed over spending, immigration, Iraq and lobbying scandals. Then McKinney had her dust-up with the cops and responded with a charge of racial profiling.
House Republicans were grateful for the gift. Freshman Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) took the floor yesterday with a resolution commending the Capitol Police. "These men and women deserve a pat on the back, not a punch in the chest," he said.
Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), the man in charge of House Democrats' 2006 campaign, immediately signed on as a co-sponsor. "My uncle's a cop," he deadpanned.
The bigger challenge for Democrats: stopping McKinney from talking. Yesterday alone she did three morning news shows.
"What happened?" asked CNN's Soledad O'Brien.
"Let me first say that this has become much ado about a hairdo," McKinney replied. "The real issue --"
"I'm going to stop you there," O'Brien said.
"You can't stop me, Soledad," the congresswoman said.
McKinney refused to describe the incident, and the two battled back and forth, with frequent interventions from McKinney's lawyer.
"We can't have this," O'Brien maintained.
"You can't interrupt me, Soledad."
"Until you answer my question, I'm not sure we can move on."
The televised dispute continued, lawyers and all, until O'Brien reminded McKinney: "This is my program."
Arriving on the floor yesterday afternoon for a series of votes, McKinney had earned pariah status. Several of her Democratic colleagues turned their backs or moved away when she approached, carrying her infamous cellphone and a bottle of Dasani water. Ignored by several colleagues, she stood alone in the back of the chamber for several minutes until rescued by Reps. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.) and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.).
Enjoying this from the sidelines were beleaguered Republican leaders, who awoke to a headline in the conservative Washington Times announcing "House GOP Lacks Agenda, DeLay Says."
So desperate were GOP leaders to change the subject that they invited seven men in cowboy hats to their news conference yesterday to promote border security. The group, made up of lawmakers and sheriffs, stood in front of a banner that proclaimed "Working for America" -- 27 times. "Boy, I feel safe now," Hastert said on greeting the sheriffs.
But it was a false sense of security, as reporters quizzed him on the various schisms in his party. "I'd prefer not to talk about two wings of the party," the speaker pleaded.
An hour later, three Republican House members announced their "discharge petition" to force a lengthy House debate on the Iraq war. The three -- a moderate, an antiwar libertarian and a conservative -- stood in front of photos of the war dead and wounded.
Wayne Gilchrest (R-Md.), a Marine who served in Vietnam, said he saw no "sense of urgency from this administration or from my colleagues."
"Many of us have taken heat for what we're doing," said Walter Jones (R-N.C.). "But you know what? One day I will die, and I hope I will have a chance to look at the throne where my Lord and Savior is sitting and I hope He will say to me, 'Walter, you are welcome because you sought the truth.' "
Asked if they were emboldened by DeLay's fall, Gilchrest advised: "I wouldn't even put Tom DeLay in the article."
Sorry, Congressman, but DeLay remains big news -- unless he can get McKinney to take his place. And he seems to be trying. "Cynthia McKinney is a racist," DeLay declared on Fox News. "This is incredible arrogance that sometimes hits these members of Congress, but especially Cynthia McKinney."
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