On 3/13/06, I called Soledad O'Brien out as a fascist for trying to portray Russ Feingold as crazy for proposing the censure of George Bush.

Today O'Brien also revealed herself a racist - and she needs to be called out on it and both apologize and make amends.

This morning she did her second interview in a week with Cynthia McKinney on McKinney's scuffle with the Capitol policeman. And from the very first second, it was clear that O'Brien's goal was to play prosecutor, judge, jury, and executioner.

If there was a tree handy, O'Brien would have hung McKinney from it.

O'Brien's first interview helped make the minor scuffle into a national "scandal." No doubt egged on by the Republicans who control Congress, the Capitol Police are considering criminal charges so they can turn attention away from Tom DeLay and his corrupt Republican cronies.

Of course, no attorney would let their client undergo pre-trial interrogation on TV. But O'Brien thought she could boss and shame and harass McKinney into making a statement in defiance of her attorneys. Why did O'Brien think she could do that to McKinney?

Because McKinney is a black woman.

That's racism.

I've watched O'Brien nearly every morning for as long as she has been the anchor. She has never gone after a guest the way she went after McKinney.

If O'Brien wants to play Grand Inquisitor, that's fine. But let her start with people who've committed real crimes: like George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Bill Frist, and Tom DeLay.

If O'Brien wants the simple truth, here are some interviews she should do immediately:

• George Bush: why exactly did you want war in Iraq and lie to Congress and the American people to start it?
• Dick Cheney: why exactly do you support torture?
• Donald Rumsfeld: why exactly did you allow chaos and sectarian death squads in Iraq?
• Bill Frist: why exactly did you "diagnose" Terry Schiavo by video?
• Tom DeLay: why exactly did you corrupt the entire Congress by selling every bill to the highest bidder?

These are the questions that really need answers in America today. If Soledad O'Brien is a journalist, she would ask them. If she's just going to try to destroy the career of an "uppity" black Congresswoman, she's a racist.

Soledad?

Share your thoughts with O'Brien here:

http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?2

Update 1: Joseph Cannon nails it.

So let me get this straight: Dick Cheney shoots a guy, refuses to accompany his victim to the hospital, and refuses to speak to a sheriff or any other outsiders for 15-or-so hours, by which point there is no way to determine objectively whether or not he was shnockered at the time of the incident.

None of which bothers our right-wing friends.

More recently, House member Cynthia McKinney, unrecognized by a Capitol Hill policeman, is grabbed from behind. She whirls around and either slaps the man or pokes him or pushes back; accounts differ. In fact, accounts differ to a suspicious degree: In one version, she whacks him with a cell phone. Sean Hannity says she punched the cop. I'm looking forward to the variant where she takes out her bullwhip and starts tossing ninja stars. In all versions, the bottom line is the same: It was okay for the cop not to recognize her, but unforgivable for her not to have known that the guy grabbing her from behind was a cop.

And that incident, according to our right-wing friends, constitutes an offense to God and man.

Update 2: Will Pit Bull O'Brien take on Rep. Jeanne Schmidt (R-OH), who was just caught lying repeatedly on her resume? How about Rep. Jim Ryun (R-KS), who refuses to explain his sweetheart deal on a Capitol Hill townhouse from Tom DeLay's former Chief of Staff (now soon-to-be-indicted) Ed Buckham?