Political analysts have dissected the political corpse of defeated five-term Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney over the past few weeks and their autopsy lists two causes of death: Republican crossover voters and Jewish support of her African-American opponent.

The political autopsies neglected to point out a third and equally important factor in her defeat. Cynthia McKinney was her own worst enemy and to pretend otherwise, even for the sake of unity, is intellectually dishonest.

Unquestionably, McKinney was a strong supporter of Black causes, earning an A on the latest NAACP report card. She is to be admired for her courage and willingness to speak out. As a politician seeking re-election, however, she left a lot to be desired.

To be an outspoken activist is one thing. But to be a Black member of Congress who has to run in a district that is more than 50 percent White means that if one is serious about getting re-elected, he or she can ill afford to be viewed as a loose cannon.

And that’s exactly the way McKinney came across when she made allegations that George W. Bush not only knew about the impending Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, but he stood idly by so that his friends could benefit financially.

Of course, she offered no proof because there was none. Later, it was disclosed that U.S. intelligence agencies overlooked clues that might have allowed them to avert the attacks. However, that’s a far cry from asserting that Bush had concrete information at his disposal and chose not to act on it.

Not only was the unsubstantiated charge irresponsible, her timing couldn’t have been worse. Bush’s harshest critics bit their lips in the months immediately following the attacks because they recognized this was an attack on all Americans, not just Whites.

Toward the end of the divisive primary campaign, McKinney did something else to cause me to question her political acumen. In what was perceived as a close race, she brought in Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, Jesse L. Jackson Sr. and Martin Luther King III, among others, to campaign on her behalf. With so many Whites in her district, Jews in particular, that was akin to bringing in Dr. Jack Kevorkian. It was assisted suicide.

If her goal was to mobilize Black voters and, for the most part, ignore Whites going to the polls, that didn’t work, either. Neither McKinney, Farrakhan, Jackson, King nor anyone else increased Black turnout in that district, allowing Denise Majette to defeat McKinney 58 percent to 42 percent. In one predominantly Black precinct, 1,767 voters turned out for the 2000 election, most of them casting their ballot for McKinney. This year, however, only 169 people showed up in that same precinct, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

McKinney made a big deal of her opponent receiving campaign donations from Jews, many of them from other states. At the same time, many of her donors were Arabs and Muslims. It was no more inappropriate for Majette to receive contributions from Jews than it was for McKinney to receive donations from Arabs. You can’t have it both ways. Besides, there’s nothing wrong with supporting people who support you.

If we’re looking for political scapegoats, Jews aren’t our enemy.

Of the 10 Jews in the U.S. Senate, six earned As on the NAACP’s latest report card, three received Bs and the only F was awarded to the lone Republican in the group, Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. Of the 26 House members, 23 are Democrats. Eight of them earned As, 13 got Bs and two earned Cs. The two Republicans—Eric Cantor of Virginia and Benjamin Gilman of New York—earned Fs. The only independent, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, earned an A.

Most Jewish members of Congress have a better record of supporting Black causes than some members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Three CBC members — Juanita Millender-McDonald of California, Carrie P. Meek of Florida and Sanford D. Bishop of Georgia — only earned Cs on the NAACP report card.

The tension between Blacks and Jews is over how each group sees the other as supporting their main cause. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) told the NNPA News Service that Jewish members of Congress make no apologies for their pro-Israel stance. He recalls, “One of the Jewish members said for many of his constituents, if there’s an even-handed policy towards Israel and the Palestinians, they would consider that anti-Israel.”

However, most mainstream Jewish groups not only oppose affirmative action, a critical issue for most African-Americans, but many have filed friend-of-the-court briefs in opposition to affirmative action in major cases around the country. Yet, most Black lawmakers do not stand up for affirmative action with the same fervor that Jewish members of Congress stand up for Israel.

I don’t blame Jewish members of Congress for supporting Israel. I just wish that our Black lawmakers would feel as strongly—and act as decisively—when our bread-and-butter issues are threatened by friends or foes.