Quote :

"thats because Obama is a racist radical black man "

You're racist for thinking this (if you actually think this...).

7/24/2009 12:05:21 PM

Agentlion:

Well, who cares if it's clear that he did anything wrong? Arrest first and ask questions later! The charges can always be dropped when it's clear you have political influence.

Or not if, for example, you're further down the tax/influence bracket. Then it's just easier to pay a fine plus some court costs. This scheme is starting to sound like a nice replacement for/enhancement to red light cameras...

[Edited on July 24, 2009 at 12:22 PM. Reason : Foo]

7/24/2009 12:21:08 PM

Quote :

" 8.) The officer showed poor judgment by arresting Gates. You can't come on to someones property, provoke them (regardless of intention), and then arrest them. You are going to lose that one every time. "

How did the LEO provoke GATES? The officer had every right to investigate for all he knew was a crime in progress.

Quote :

" 10.) They both could have prevented this, but the officer is trained for these confrontations, Gates was not. "

Jesus, haven't you read what happened? The LEO was LEAVING and Gates followed him. Had Gates just kept his mouth shut that would have been the end of the story. Gate accused the LEO of being a racist from the beginning simply because he was white (that makes Gates the racist). I wonder how this would have went down if the LEO was black, Hispanic, or Asian? (Yeah, Asians are the forgotten minority)

7/24/2009 12:33:26 PM

if gates showed him his ID with the addy then theres no excuse .. but if he was disorderly in doing so than he deserved to be restrained, but nothing further

7/24/2009 12:39:46 PM

Uh-oh. Looks like Obama may have really stepped in it on this one. (I can't wait to see how "Propaganda Minister" Gibbs handles this hot potato at today's press briefing.)

Mass. police unions ask Obama for apology

http://www.kttc.com/Global/story.asp?S=10785008



And no offense, but that's an ugly ass house. Bright yellow? Seriously?

7/24/2009 12:49:10 PM

BTW, regarding the house and Harvard ID:

-More than likely, the house is Harvard University property and, thus, under the co-jurisdiction of the university police.
-The professor initially identified himself as a "Harvard Professor". It makes sense that the officer, seeking to identify the man, will ask him to prove as much. A professor obviously has more business being on university property than a burglar. Racism didn't have anything to do with the officer's request.

Thus we have two explanations as to why the university police were called.

7/24/2009 1:07:44 PM

Quote :

"it is obvious he was acting like a damned fool and not following orders."

Heh, well I don't know that you have to follow every order a cop gives you. It may be in your best interest because they can simply kill you if they don't like you and all that'll happen is they'll get fired for it, but I still don't think you're legally bound to do whatever the fuck someone says just because they're a cop. Fuck that shit.


Now, this situation was rather interesting. Gates should have cooperated more initially, if for no other reason than to simply get the cop out of there. I find this to be especially true when you consider that Gates claimed he was legitimately scared. If you honestly believe that you're dealing with some kind of renegade, out of control cop, would you seriously provoke them?! FUCK NO! Police have ultimate power over "normal", less valued citizens and I believe they receive the benefit of the doubt in most cases, making it beyond retarded to provoke one who you believe to honestly be a loose cannon.

Plus, we know the most likely reason for the cop being there is that he was just doing his job by responding to a call about a possible break-in. So, the first thing you should do is cooperate so as to help him get his job done in a timely manner. This benefits both the cop and Gates in this case! Hell, it seems to me that by not putting a gun in Gate's face or handcuffing him until he could be identified the cop indicated that he did, in fact, trust Gates somewhat and was, in fact, excercising some restraint so as to not make Mr. Gates even more uncomfortable. I don't think he was being a racist in the least, at least not until Gates pulled the race card. And hell, if you're being an asshole to someone because they called you a racist, that doesn't mean you're a racist, it just means you're just being an asshole right back to them. That's something I'd expect of most people, regardless of their profession.

7/24/2009 1:17:06 PM

The irony of this whole ordeal is that Gates is a scholar on race relations and Crowley teaches other police officers how to avoid profiling. Looks like they both [FAIL] in the real world. I guess the old adage applies about teachers.

And to top it off, our first "post-racial" President decides to share his uninformed opinion on the matter and insinuate that the arrest was racially motivated. Guess what? Cops don't like being prejudged any more than black people do. Double fail.

7/24/2009 1:23:21 PM

Quote :

" Jesus, haven't you read what happened? The LEO was LEAVING and Gates followed him. "

He wasn't leaving, why would you think this?

7/24/2009 2:41:43 PM

Obama regrets his remarks:



http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN2447761120090724?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews&rpc=22&sp=true

7/24/2009 3:09:07 PM

Hasselhoff was wrong--Obama can tap dance with the best of 'em!

Quote :

"Mr. Obama did not use the word 'apology,' but aides said that was the sentiment conveyed during his phone call with Sergeant Crowley."

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/obama-expresses-his-regrets-on-gates-incident/

7/24/2009 3:13:37 PM

From 1 fucking idiot, to 2 fucking idiots and now 3 fucking idiots.

NEXT!

7/24/2009 3:13:43 PM

Quote :

"Obama made his comments after talking on the telephone to Sgt. James Crowley, the Cambridge, Massachusetts, police officer who made the arrest, and discussing inviting Crowley and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates to the White House for a beer"

Obama strikes me as a Heinie guy. Can't say why

7/24/2009 3:18:22 PM

WHY ISN'T THIS IN THE FLIP-FLOP THREAD?

7/24/2009 3:19:22 PM

^^^ Um. . .you were next.

^ Why don't you deal with the fact that Obama demagogued and got caught? It's a lot easier to misdirect than to defend him, isn't it?

[Edited on July 24, 2009 at 3:22 PM. Reason : .]

7/24/2009 3:19:47 PM

I'm not getting my panties in a bunch over it.

7/24/2009 3:23:08 PM

^^ I said on the previous page that I think what he said at the press conference was a mistake. I would have preferred he stayed out of the issue entirely.

Therefore, I am happy that he is backing off and it looks like he's trying to get out from the middle of it.

7/24/2009 3:24:31 PM

I was talking about Gates, Crowley and Obama.

Who's next on the big stage to blow this even further out of proportion?

7/24/2009 3:25:31 PM

^ Understood.

^^ Yeah, the comments by Obama at the press briefing were some of the most mealy-mouthed shit I ever heard.



[Edited on July 24, 2009 at 3:38 PM. Reason : Sophist in Chief! ]

7/24/2009 3:32:58 PM

So if i'm a cop and I arrest someone for being in their own house, I get a conciliatory call from the president?

How do white folks pull this off?

[Edited on July 24, 2009 at 4:03 PM. Reason : ]

7/24/2009 4:03:28 PM

Obama: Poor choice of words in scholar's arrest
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32122967/ns/us_news-race_and_ethnicity/

Quote :

"msnbc.com news services updated 3 minutes ago BOSTON - President Barack Obama on Friday said he made a poor choice of words when he said Cambridge police officers "acted stupidly" in arresting a black Harvard scholar but stopped short of apologizing for the remark. The president said race continues to be a sensitive issue and he hopes the incident becomes "a teachable moment." In a brief foray into the White House briefing room, Obama told reporters he continues to believe that there was an "overreaction' by police in arresting his friend, Henry Louis Gates Jr., and added that Gates "probably overreacted as well." The president said he called Sgt. Jim Crowley, the white arresting officer, and believes him to be an outstanding officer. "I want to make clear that in my choice of words I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sergeant Crowley specifically," the president said. "I could have calibrated those words differently. And I told this to Sgt. Crowley." Obama added: "My hope is that as a consequence of this event this ends up being what’s called ‘a teachable moment,' where all of us instead of pumping up the volume spend a little more time listening to each other and try to focus on how we can generally improve relations between police officers and minority communities.” He said it was "unfortunate" that his choice of words "didn't illuminate, but rather contributed to more media frenzy." "

Obama's positions seems to be something like "the truth is somewhere in the middle" which I see more evidence of in this statement from Obama as well:

Quote :

"My sense is you have got two good people in a circumstance in which neither of them were able to resolve the incident in the way that it should have been resolved"

7/24/2009 4:09:36 PM

Quote :

"THE PRESIDENT: Hey, it's a cameo appearance. Sit down, sit down. I need to help Gibbs out a little bit here. I wanted to address you guys directly because over the last day and a half obviously there's been all sorts of controversy around the incident that happened in Cambridge with Professor Gates and the police department there. I actually just had a conversation with Sergeant Jim Crowley, the officer involved. And I have to tell you that as I said yesterday, my impression of him was that he was a outstanding police officer and a good man, and that was confirmed in the phone conversation -- and I told him that. And because this has been ratcheting up -- and I obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up -- I want to make clear that in my choice of words I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sergeant Crowley specifically -- and I could have calibrated those words differently. And I told this to Sergeant Crowley. I continue to believe, based on what I have heard, that there was an overreaction in pulling Professor Gates out of his home to the station. I also continue to believe, based on what I heard, that Professor Gates probably overreacted as well. My sense is you've got two good people in a circumstance in which neither of them were able to resolve the incident in the way that it should have been resolved and the way they would have liked it to be resolved. The fact that it has garnered so much attention I think is a testimony to the fact that these are issues that are still very sensitive here in America. So to the extent that my choice of words didn't illuminate, but rather contributed to more media frenzy, I think that was unfortunate. What I'd like to do then I make sure that everybody steps back for a moment, recognizes that these are two decent people, not extrapolate too much from the facts -- but as I said at the press conference, be mindful of the fact that because of our history, because of the difficulties of the past, you know, African Americans are sensitive to these issues. And even when you've got a police officer who has a fine track record on racial sensitivity, interactions between police officers and the African American community can sometimes be fraught with misunderstanding. My hope is, is that as a consequence of this event this ends up being what's called a "teachable moment," where all of us instead of pumping up the volume spend a little more time listening to each other and try to focus on how we can generally improve relations between police officers and minority communities, and that instead of flinging accusations we can all be a little more reflective in terms of what we can do to contribute to more unity. Lord knows we need it right now -- because over the last two days as we've discussed this issue, I don't know if you've noticed, but nobody has been paying much attention to health care. (Laughter.) I will not use this time to spend more words on health care, although I can't guarantee that that will be true next week. I just wanted to emphasize that -- one last point I guess I would make. There are some who say that as President I shouldn't have stepped into this at all because it's a local issue. I have to tell you that that part of it I disagree with. The fact that this has become such a big issue I think is indicative of the fact that race is still a troubling aspect of our society. Whether I were black or white, I think that me commenting on this and hopefully contributing to constructive -- as opposed to negative -- understandings about the issue, is part of my portfolio. So at the end of the conversation there was a discussion about -- my conversation with Sergeant Crowley, there was discussion about he and I and Professor Gates having a beer here in the White House. We don't know if that's scheduled yet -- (laughter) -- but we may put that together. He also did say he wanted to find out if there was a way of getting the press off his lawn. (Laughter.) I informed him that I can't get the press off my lawn. (Laughter.) He pointed out that my lawn is bigger than his lawn. (Laughter.) But if anybody has any connections to the Boston press, as well as national press, Sergeant Crowley would be happy for you to stop trampling his grass. All right. Thank you, guys."

(the statement that ^is referencing)

[Edited on July 24, 2009 at 4:29 PM. Reason : .]

7/24/2009 4:27:56 PM

"Barack Nifong" is. . .

Quote :

"WALKING IT BACK"

7/24/2009 4:30:27 PM

therefore he LOSES

you act like admitting that you fucked up a little is a bad thing.

hell i called him out on saying something about when he said it.

7/24/2009 4:33:38 PM

not tryin to be racist, seriously, but im cooking some bbq chicken, mahi mahi, collards, brunswick, and some flounder at 2801 henslowe dr... we got so much here i cant even cook it all on the grill at once

7/24/2009 4:43:36 PM

Quote :

"And because this has been ratcheting up -- and I obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up"

ohhhh, self-awareness. I hate that in a leader!

7/24/2009 4:54:25 PM

Nice recovery by Obama.

I'm glad to see that he now realizes that there is often more to a story than a sensationalist headline.

We can all learn not to be so quick to judge.

7/24/2009 5:03:01 PM

^ huh? Obama said from the beginning that he know he didn't have the facts. He said this statement several times in the initial press conference. But, he did handle the media's feigned outrage well, I think.

Quote :

" Killion [president of the Cambridge patrol officers association] said the president has admitted he erred by discussing a case without knowing the details. "He acknowledges he made a mistake,'' Killion said. "He wasn't there. None of us have the facts. He didn't have the facts. We don't have the facts. We don't know what professor Gates said, what Sergeant Crowley said. I'm absolutely pleased with [Obama's call]. I think it was a good thing for the president to do. He's the commander in chief, he's in charge. Whether or not he should be involved in local politics, he runs the country. We all want to see this behind us.'' ... "If Sergeant Crowley and President Obama and Mr. Gates sit out on the White House lawn and have a beer, I'd certainly like a picture of it -- and be jealous that it wasn't me,'' Killion said."

[Edited on July 24, 2009 at 5:18 PM. Reason : http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/07/crowley_pleaded.html]

7/24/2009 5:17:43 PM

the media didn't feign outrage. Police officers across the country were genuinely pissed that Obama criticized Crowley without all the facts, and tried to link it to racial profiling. Obama made a mistake, and he acknowledged as much. You could learn from him rather than jumping to conclusions, moron.

7/24/2009 5:23:09 PM

His mistake was not anticipating the misinterpretations (and sometimes mist-portrayals) of his statements, and he said as much. He never said his statements were completely wrong, and they were not.

And even the police union press releases didn't disregard the racial profiling statement, they lumped it in as "history" because even they know that there is progress still to be made on that front.


[Edited on July 24, 2009 at 5:35 PM. Reason : ]

7/24/2009 5:34:30 PM

Oh bullshit. He said he used a poor choice of words, which is politician-speak for saying that he was wrong without actually apologizing. What was he wrong about? Well, by only criticizing the police and linking their actions to racial profiling, he took sides on the matter. In his follow-up today he praised the arresting officer and said that both sides overreacted. He obviously jumped to conclusions the first time around, and got burned for it. Nothing about the press "mischaracterizing his words", he simply fucked up, and acknowledged as much today.

PS, stop trying to be Robert Gibbs. It's not working.

[Edited on July 24, 2009 at 5:50 PM. Reason : 2]

7/24/2009 5:46:39 PM

gotta say i agree. he shouldn't have said anything. he had probably been briefed by someone sympathetic to gates' side and didn't realize there was some gray area. the next interview he gave (before the statement posted) his wording was much more careful and he used basically the same language as he used today.

7/24/2009 5:50:50 PM

Quote :

"and I could have calibrated those words differently."

Classic politician-talk.

[quote]"teachable moment,"

Obama-voters got a teachable moment for casting their vote for a far-left radical, capitalism-hating, lying, statist.

7/24/2009 5:50:56 PM

the head of state. a statist!?!

7/24/2009 5:56:22 PM

Quote :

"Oh bullshit. He said he used a poor choice of words, which is politician-speak for saying that he was wrong without actually apologizing. What was he wrong about? Well, by only criticizing the police and linking their actions to racial profiling, he took sides on the matter. In his follow-up today he praised the arresting officer and said that both sides overreacted. He obviously jumped to conclusions the first time around, and got burned for it. Nothing about the press "mischaracterizing his words", he simply fucked up, and acknowledged as much today."

He didn't jump to conclusions, because he fully acknowledged he never had all the info. When I first read the sentence where he said the cops acted "stupidly" I cringed and thought "what was Obama thinking?"

Then I saw the full video clip where he never claimed a position, laid out what he understood to be the situation (which was quickly found to be more questionable as time went on and more statements were made), acknowledged he didn't have the info, and acknowledged why the story was even being asked, and he sounded very reasonable. Seriously, watch the full video if you haven't seen it. It's no where near as bad some of the written reports make it out to be (there is even laughter and joking in it).

ANd pretty much every reasonable person who read Gates statement and the police reports reached the conclusion that they both made mistakes, which is as much as I can expect.

7/24/2009 5:58:00 PM

Yeah, but the problem is that the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES didn't come out and say that the black professor was stupid; he said that the white cops were stupid.

Quote :

"But I think it's fair to say, No. 1, any of us would be pretty angry. No. 2, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home. And No. 3 -- what I think we know separate and apart from this incident -- is that there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately, and that's just a fact."

And...if he really feels No. 3 is separate and apart from the incident, why was it mentioned?

7/24/2009 6:03:51 PM

This is just aggravating:
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-303137

Apparently the cop isn't racist but the neighbor that called the cops is.

7/24/2009 6:13:42 PM

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8168313.stm

Quote :

"US President Barack Obama has told reporters he should not have described the arrest of a black Harvard professor as "stupid". Mr Obama has faced criticism for wading into the controversy during a televised news conference on Wednesday. Professor Gates was apprehended at his own home after a witness saw him apparently trying to force his way in. He was held for disorderly conduct after allegedly accusing the arresting officer, Sgt James Crowley, of racism. "

Stupid is as stupid does.

Ooooooh, Obama pwnt by Mr. Frog!

7/24/2009 6:16:40 PM

^^everything i've read has said it wasn't a neighbor

7/24/2009 6:27:07 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSnj8X1zAZI

7/24/2009 7:36:24 PM

black people are not arrested because they are black. Black people are arrested because they break the law.

On a lighter note...Obama's approval rating continues to fall

7/24/2009 7:43:00 PM

the spin by the sheeple here is very funny to watch.

The sheeple have no problem calling the officer racist, but if you mention the two people who actually brought in RACE to this issue.. then you are racist. Amazing logic.

People will really go to extremes to defend this president. There is little hope for the country. THis isnt even a big issue, but he shouldnt have said anything about it, esp without all the facts.

I would say that Obama giving his opinion without knowing all the facts is acting STUPIDLY. He was called on it. Hell even he is backtracking, while the sheeple are still trying to defend him. Amazing display.

I bet they release the audios and youll hear the officer give his name a couple times and hear what a fit the prof. is throwing... but the sheeple will keep on spinning.

7/24/2009 9:00:26 PM

Quote :

"I would say that Obama giving his opinion without knowing all the facts is acting STUPIDLY. He was called on it. Hell even he is backtracking, while the sheeple are still trying to defend him."

Very few people, if any, are defending him in this thread. Go back and read what was written, instead of making assumptions

7/24/2009 9:25:54 PM

didn't know the facts?

the facts seem clear. the officer could have diffused the situation at any moment by walking away, but no, he turned it into a dick swinging contest

this racism shit is baloney though and im actually pretty sure people realize that when they make those claims

case in point

Quote :

"Quote : "thats because Obama is a racist radical black man " You're racist for thinking this (if you actually think this...)."

not only do people not even know what racism is, they dont even fucking care anymore. And the fucked up part is they don't even really have to


fucking white college faggots

[Edited on July 25, 2009 at 4:25 AM. Reason : s]

7/25/2009 4:23:45 AM

lord help us. the last guy that didn't know the facts fucked us up. now the next one is not knowing the facts.

7/25/2009 4:41:00 AM

LORD HELP US

7/25/2009 4:44:08 AM

Quote :

" If I’m the president of the United States, I don’t care how much pressure people want to put on it about race, I’m keeping my mouth shut."

Anyone want to take a guess who said that yesterday?

7/25/2009 6:34:17 AM

it was this black guy

7/25/2009 7:15:15 PM

i don't know why obama should listen to an actor for advice.

7/25/2009 7:31:04 PM

Did angry black harvard professor with a chip on his shoulder antagonize or give the police a hard time?

Possibly...

Did a cop go on a power trip from a citizen who was not respecting his authority or over-react when a citizen failed to fully cooperate with him.

Likely....

Did a racist bigot cop profile Mr. Gates because he was black?

Very Doubtful.

7/25/2009 8:02:04 PM