Recently, news came out that former Democratic U.S. Congresswomen from Georgia, Cynthia McKinney, has returned to the metro Atlanta suburban county of DeKalb. It is believed that she has come back to attempt to reclaim her old congressional district from the current incumbent, Hank Johnson, who apparently has been making his share of gaffe over the last 6 years (“Capsized Guam” is an example). But compared to McKinney, Johnson is a stately politician in many eyes. At least Johnson never slapped a Capitol Hill Police Officer, or challenged an Israeli navy blockade as part of the free Gaza movement, or claimed President Bush knew about the 9/11 attacks beforehand, or had a daddy that was just as crazy, if not crazier than you. McKinney, a six-term congresswomen, quit the Democratic party in 2007 after being defeated in a primary for the second time in three tries in one of the rare blue districts in a deep red state, defecting to the Green Party to run as their candidate for President in 2008. She now returns to Georgia to run as a Green Party candidate.
While public opinion right now is almost universally against her, counting her out of any race is unwise. She has shown a resiliency to come back from defeat before. No matter how outrageous her behavior has been, she still believes she can win an election.
Maybe she has a point. Some of the most controversial political figures currently in the US have managed to get re-elected time and time again. Marion Berry went to jail in a drug and hooker scandal and he hasn’t paid taxes in years, yet he has not lost an election for mayor or city council of DC since he was released from prison. Charlie Rangel has been nothing short of a crook, skirting around the law for years, yet he keeps getting returned to Washington every 2 years. Ted Kennedy survived in the US Senate 40 years after the Chappaquiddick incident literally until the day he died. And some toxic political figures manage to resurrect themselves. Richard Nixon was politically dead after losing the 1960 Presidential election and the 1962 California governor’s race. But he came back to be elected President 6 years later. And how many races did Mitt Romney lose before he finally won a major race in Massachusetts?
Then again, some political figure never get a chance at redemption. Dan Quayle never ran for political office after he and George HW Bush were defeated in the 1992 Presidential/Vice Presidential race, even though he was still young. He was too toxic in many people’s eyes. So is Sarah Palin. Let’s be honest, she is so polarizing that she will never run for office again. And former senator Carol Mosley Braun was so controversial in her 6 years in office, she got badly whooped when she tried to run for Mayor of Chicago last year. Safe to say Mosley Braun will never get a chance at winning a major office again.
So when is a politician too toxic to get a second chance (or in McKinney’s case, a third chance) to return to office? Why do people continue to give extra chances to controversial figures instead of electing people who will do their job as the people’s representative instead of grandstanding in front of a camera?
One thing for sure: Cynthia McKinney’s attempt to re-claim her seat will be anything but boring. I just hope the people of the 4th Congressional District do the best possible thing—and send a message to Cynthia that she needs to give up her political ambitions for at least a while.
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