Watch out for Rep. Cynthia McKinney. Besides the remarkable ability to get elected while believing President Bush knew 9/11 was going to happen, she’s also got a mean right hook.

Now, Cynthia McKinney might think that all Capitol police officers should recognize her on sight. I’d say there are 535 members of Congress, and she hasn’t yet reached celebrity moonbat status. She’s not recognizable on sight, or at least she wasn’t until the decked a cop. Methinks the Capitol police will have no problems recognizing her now.

Marshall: The House of Representatives is meant to be a reflection of our society, so it is occassionally afflicted with the worst kind of miscreants, fools, and thieves. I’m not sure that Rep. McKinney doesn’t fall into all three categories. Luckily for us, the republic will survive. But I agree with Jim — there was a time when her colleagues would have shunned her as a result of this sort of embarrasing (if not criminal) behavior. Bottom line, Cynthia McKinney is and will remain an electoral accident — a case study on the pitfalls of race-based redistricting. (She would not be routinely re-elected were it not for the racially gerrymandered district she represents.)

Jim: Notice that the scarily smart Marshall responds to my comment before I actually post it. I have surmised that beyond his established Jedi mind trick capacity to get bloggers to praise Wal-Mart, he also has telepathy and the ability to travel back and forth in time.

But yes, I read the McKinney news and wonder if we have established a new political aristocracy, above the law in most situations. Notice that McKinney reacted violently not merely to being stopped by the officer, and not being recognized, but by his expectation that she walk through the security gate like the rest of the commoners. (The no-security-check-for-Congress-members policy sounds like a formula for trouble to me.)

We hear about official motorcades driving through red lights, not paying as they pass through tollbooths, and all kinds of little exemptions from the rules. It is a disturbing sign that we have one set of rules for lawmakers and one set of rules for the rest of us; it is even more disturbing that, so far at least, criticism of her actions have come from only one side of the partisan aisle.

Marshall: I should note that every member of the Capitol Police force is required to be able to recognize every single member of Congress on sight. (For the first few days of the new session, there are more than a few facebooks sitting around at security checkpoints.) But Jim, to me, this enhances your point. Why shouldn’t lawmakers just walk through the metal detectors like everyone else?