Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), the oddball congresswoman who lost her seat for a while over redistricting and some weird 9-11 comments she made, punched a Capitol Police officer in the chest this week:

The six-term congresswoman apparently struck a Capitol Police officer when he tried to stop her from entering a House office building without going through a metal detector. Members of Congress wear identifying lapel pins and routinely are waved into buildings without undergoing security checks. The officer apparently did not recognize McKinney, she said in a statement.

… Capitol Police were considering Thursday whether to ask the U.S. Attorney's office to file charges against McKinney, a Democrat who represents Atlanta suburbs that make up one of Georgia's two black-majority districts.

Since the same article points out that the Capitol Police have been used as tools by the GOP this year (including illegally removing Democrats from a House hearing because WATB chairman Bill Thomas told them to, and removing both Cindy Sheehan and the wife of congressman Bill Young (R-FL) from the gallery of the State of the Union address when neither had done anything wrong but might have been wearing shirts that disagreed with Fearless Leader), I don't think it would be wise for them to try to criminalize their attempt to block a member of Congress from doing what she is entitled to do. (Update: Josh Marshall seems to agree.)

Even so, the GOP spin response is particularly pathetic:

Democrats and Republicans, meanwhile, engaged in a rhetorical scuffle over the incident.

Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday labeled it "a mistake, an unfortunate lack of recognition of a member of Congress." She added that the police officer was not at fault.

"I would not make a big deal of this," said Pelosi, D-Calif.

Ron Bonjean, spokesman for House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., responded: "How many officers would have to be punched before it becomes a big deal?"

Obvious response: How many big Republican donors would have to get shot in the face before that becomes a big deal?<