The DC Police Department, Patrick Kennedy, Cynthia McKinney and Rush Limbaugh

The US Capitol Police Department is in the news again! It appears they may have given preferential treatment to an intoxicated white congressman. It is amazing that a white congressman (irrespective of political party) can nearly sideswipe a police car, then crash into a barrier, stumble from his car, annnounce that he was on his way to cast a congressional vote, only to be driven home by the Capitol Police.

Not so long ago there was much was made of the incident that occurred when Cynthia McKinney was reported to have struck a member of the aforementioned police force after she had been grabbed by an officer for failing to present her congressional identification. The charge of racial profiling (racism) made by Ms. McKinney against the Capitol Police takes on whole new life, in my humble estimation. (It is a good thing that McKinney wasn't driving like Kennedy.)

The Capitol Police remembered to follow protocol with respect to their interactions with Cynthia McKinney, but failed to follow department protocol when it came to their stopping, detaining and subsequent delivery of Congressman Kennedy to his home. He wasn't asked to perform a sobriety test. Nor did they perform a breathalizer test. Was it because Kennedy exited his vehicle and announced he was on his way to cast a vote and that the Capitol Police were covering their asses as it pertains to the Constitutional protection found in

Article 1: Section 6: [Congressman shall] be priviledged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective houses, and in going to and returing from the same;

Did the Capitol Police take Mr. Kennedy to vote before returning him home? I think not. Do you think that the on-the-scene supervisor would know whether or not congress was in session at 3 AM? Or what a congressman looks like, acts like when intoxicated, regardless of the substance ingested?

I wonder what efforts have been made by the Democrat party to keep Cynthia McKinney from speaking publicly about the differences between the treatment that she recieved at the hands of the Capitol Police as contrasted to her collegue Patrick Kennedy? A quick review, black congresswoman, white congressman from the same political party, different treatment, just a coincidence?

With regards to the Republicans, their right-wing, they already assailing Kennedy's admission of having previously been addicted to pain medication and that he was once again checking into the rehab as nothing more than him playing the role of a victim. My, my, my, the Republicans, their right-wing, certainly have short memories. It was a week ago that Roy Black, Rush Limbaugh's attorney was explaining how Limbaugh was a victim of his own addiction to Oxycontin. According to Mr. Black, a victim of addiction should get treatment and not jail time. It wasn't fair, it wasn't justified in the case of Rush Limbaugh, the victim.

I'll give it to the Republicans, their right-wing, they want to have their cake and eat it too! Either way, Kennedy is either a drug addict, or an alcholic who got special treatment that Republicans would never recieve. And to make matters worse, because of this incident some Capitol Police officer may lose their job.

And just think, if not for the good fortune (Goss' resignation) of the Bush adminsitration, I would be hammering away at how a former CIA employee publicly called out Donald Rumsfeld for his pre-invasion lies about Iraq's WMD's and the "bullet-proof" connection to al Qaeda.