Posted on 08/10/2002 6:11:17 AM PDT by mhking
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Democrats fire away in debates
Majette, McKinney agree on little
By RHONDA COOK
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer Cynthia McKinney showed. And the sparks flew.
In their first head-to-head confrontation Friday night, the combative 4th District congresswoman and her challenger squared off over campaign contributors with terrorist connections, Republicans, affirmative action and reparations for slavery.
McKinney and Denise Majette, a former DeKalb County state court judge, stood at separate lecterns about 5 feet apart in Georgia Public Television's studios and fielded questions from reporters. They rarely looked at each other during the 30-minute verbal sparring match.
"Quite frankly, my outspokenness is loved by my constituents," McKinney said at one point. "You will see that on Election Day."
Organizers of the debate were unsure whether McKinney would participate until she and her entourage arrived at the GPTV studio about 20 minutes before the debate was to begin.
McKinney caused a storm earlier this year by suggesting President Bush might have known about the Sept. 11 attacks but did nothing so his associates could make money in the ensuing war.
The congresswoman implied during the debate that she has been vindicated because a House committee was created to look into the Sept. 11 attacks.
Majette accused McKinney of being an ineffective lawmaker, bringing only $356 million to her district during her 10 years in congress, while U.S. Rep. John Lewis brought five times that amount to the neighboring 5th Congressional District.
She also said McKinney had taken campaign contributions from Arab terrorists on Sept. 11. McKinney touted herself as the "defender of the weak and the poor."
"We don't racially profile our contributors," McKinney shot back. "My opponent has a lot of Republican money flowing into her coffers."
Majette was asked if she would be beholden to Israel since some of her contributions came from Jewish donors.
"I'm not beholden to anyone except the people of the 4th District," Majette said.
McKinney accused Majette of "flip-flopping" on affirmative action because she does not favor reparations for slavery. Majette said better schools and adequate salaries for teachers are the best way to "level the playing field" and make up for past wrongs.
Majette complained McKinney had distributed campaign ads filled with "misrepresentations and lies." McKinney countered by resurrecting a 1990s court case in which a woman appeared before Majette for a speeding ticket.
McKinney waved a hand-written note that she said proved Majette had tried to withhold court documents from the woman, who was appealing her conviction.
"What she requested were informal notes," Majette said. "She got what she asked for, like she got what she asked for when she asked for a jury trial."
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There you have it, ladies and gentlemen, in a nutshell:
I've got to disagree with you in that regard. Most blacks, unfortunately, refuse to see or just plain don't believe that black Africans sold other Africans into slavery.
What this race WILL show is whether or not lies and rhetoric (which McKinney had plenty of in the debate last night) will win out over truth and facts. And if the lies and rhetoric win out, then my faith in many of "my folks" will be diminished even further.
Hmmm...maybe we should rethink our position on McKinney.</minor sarcasm>
Those people need to remember what George Santayan once said, "Those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it!" That can be applied to "your folk" on the Democrat Plantation and the liberal Jews who want to appease the radical Moslems.
That's why I put it in quotes. It was meant to be sarcastic.
I could get into the accusations that McKinney made about Bush knowing about 9/11 & grovelling for the $10 mil from the Saudi prince that Rudy Guiliani rejected, but that's fairly well-known. McKinney is extreme to the extreme; she wallows around with known antisemites like Louis Farrakhan, supports Robert Mugabe and Zimbabwe, she plays the race card, has her daddy call freeper protestors "Nazis" and a whole lot more.
All in all, if the GOP candidate had a chance, this wouldn't be an issue. But the GOP candidate in that district does not. This is an issue between a Dem candidate that is so far left that she's disappeared from the face of the earth and someone who's moderate, someone who supports the Palestinians and someone who supports Israel--and someone who's dreaming about the day she'll be chairman of a subcommittee on the International Relations Committee so she can investigate human rights violations right here in the USA.
One thing I am curious about: McKinney says she won't "racially profile" her donors. Does that mean if McKinney got a campaign donation from the Aryan Nations, she wouldn't send it back?
Hehe...Green transcends all races. She'd proabaly keep it if she was low on cash.
Thanks for the info. Hopefully Majette won't be as "effective" as she hopes.
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