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Obama Defends Criticism of Cambridge Police in Arrest of Gates

celticlord

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Obama Defends Cambridge Police Criticism in Henry Louis Gates Arrest - ABC News

"I have to say I am surprised by the controversy surrounding my statement, because I think it was a pretty straightforward commentary that you probably don't need to handcuff a guy, a middle-aged man who uses a cane, who's in his own home," Obama said.
Something else to add to the extensive list of things about which Dear Leader knows nothing: standard police procedure.

When the police arrest someone, they put them in handcuffs. I do believe it's required in most municipalities.
 
And the parts about him saying he didn't actually know the facts of the situation, or that his own Secret Service would shoot him outside the White House because he's black?
 
Foot in mouth again
He needs to shush and let the police do their job
 
And the parts about him saying he didn't actually know the facts of the situation, or that his own Secret Service would shoot him outside the White House because he's black?

He didn't say they would shoot him because he was black. He said that they would shoot him if he tried to break into the White House. And he was half-joking.
 
He didn't say they would shoot him because he was black. He said that they would shoot him if he tried to break into the White House. And he was half-joking.

I'd be shot if i tried breaking into the White House ... but i don't think it would have anything to do with the fact i am black but rather i am trespassing :2razz:
 
He didn't say they would shoot him because he was black. He said that they would shoot him if he tried to break into the White House. And he was half-joking.
Proving two things:

  1. He has a piss-poor sense of humor.
  2. He doesn't appreciate the skill and professionalism of his own security detail. They do not just shoot first and ask question later.
 
I'd be shot if i tried breaking into the White House ... but i don't think it would have anything to do with the fact i am black but rather i am trespassing :2razz:
Actually, you would not be that likely to get shot. Only if you were posing an immediate threat on someone's life would deadly force be used.
 
It seems a bit of a stretch to arrest someone for disorderly conduct in their own home when that person exercises a legal right to verify the badge number of the police officer. Even if Gates was "uppity" about it, there is no law against being a jerk, since that right is protected by the 1st Amendment, especially in the privacy of one's own home.

The presented facts are that when Gates let the police into his home, he did show them a couple of ID cards, license and Harvard ID (he lives in a Harvard house). Case closed. Unless there was a physical assault by Gates there would have been zero reason to arrest him. The case was fully dropped because it had no legal basis to proceed. That is the fact of the matter. Therefore the police officer acted stupidly, by definition, since he had no just cause for arrest.
 
Proving two things:

  1. He has a piss-poor sense of humor.
  2. He doesn't appreciate the skill and professionalism of his own security detail. They do not just shoot first and ask question later.

Oh lighten up. He was just making a joke. Jesus...I think political correctness just reached a new low. :doh
 
He didn't say they would shoot him because he was black. He said that they would shoot him if he tried to break into the White House. And he was half-joking.

Really, Kandahar? Really? He wasn't making a reference to being black?

You're smarter than that. How else would the two cases compare, even slightly? Are you saying he meant that Gates's house is akin to the White House?
 
The presented facts are that when Gates let the police into his home, he did show them a couple of ID cards, license and Harvard ID (he lives in a Harvard house). Case closed. Unless there was a physical assault by Gates there would have been zero reason to arrest him. The case was fully dropped because it had no legal basis to proceed. That is the fact of the matter. Therefore the police officer acted stupidly, by definition, since he had no just cause for arrest.
Just because a case was dropped does not mean there was no legal basis for the arrest. It means the DA declined to pursue prosecution--which is entirely his call to make.

The only way you can conclude the officer was in the wrong was if you ignore everything except Gates' version of events. In the other recitations of events I have seen, the officer was amply justified in arresting Gates for disturbing the peace.
 
Obama Surprised by Controversy Over Remark About Arrest of Black Scholar

Obama Surprised by Controversy Over Remark About Arrest of Black Scholar - Political News - FOXNews.com

President Obama said Thursday he was surprised by all the hubbub over his comments that a white police officer had acted "stupidly" in arresting a prominent black scholar for disorderly conduct. The president didn't take back his words, but he allowed that he understood the sergeant who made the arrest is an "outstanding police officer."

"I have to say I am surprised by the controversy surrounding my statement," Obama said in an interview with ABC News, "because I think it was a pretty straightforward comment that you probably don't need to handcuff a guy, a middle-aged man who uses a cane, who's in his own home."

A day earlier, Obama had been asked at a prime-time news conference whether race played a role in the arrest of Harvard's Henry Louis Gates Jr. at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, last week.

Really and what did he expect huh he is the President of the United States and one of the most powerfull person in the World and when he makes comment people tend to listen to what he is saying.
 
Re: Obama Surprised by Controversy Over Remark About Arrest of Black Scholar

You know Rush Limbaugh is found of saying that if you put a bag of excrement in front of a Democrat, they can't help stepping in it.

What could have possessed him to involve himself in this issue, while admitting that he doesn't posses "all the facts" ?

Oh, I know, idiocy! I regret to admit that there was a time that I was concerned the this man would present an intellectual threat to Conservatism.
 
Re: Obama Surprised by Controversy Over Remark About Arrest of Black Scholar

You know Rush Limbaugh is found of saying that if you put a bag of excrement in front of a Democrat, they can't help stepping in it.

What could have possessed him to involve himself in this issue, while admitting that he doesn't posses "all the facts" ?

Oh, I know, idiocy! I regret to admit that there was a time that I was concerned the this man would present an intellectual threat to Conservatism.

President Obama utterings about this case was indeed ill advised but let's be serious here Rush Limbaugh is a bag of excrement. LOL !!
 
Re: Obama Surprised by Controversy Over Remark About Arrest of Black Scholar

Funny how the libertarians and the libertarian wing of the GOP are so silent about a guy who gets arrested in his own house. Oh forgot, they can use this to play the race card to stir up the inbreds down in Appalachia.
 
Re: Obama Surprised by Controversy Over Remark About Arrest of Black Scholar

I think both sides of this thing, the police and the person arrested are at fault, but I am not happy at Obama weighing in on this. I think it is both unnecessary and not entirely Obama's fault necessarily.

If one of Obama's advisers told him to weigh in on this, they should be fired.

If this was Obama's own doing, then not only do I have to say Obama was wrong, but you should fire whatever adviser told him that it was ok to say it.

Obama still takes the blame no matter what, but if someone said he should weigh in on it, they should be fired.
 
Re: Obama Surprised by Controversy Over Remark About Arrest of Black Scholar

I think people are intentionally making mountains out of molehills in order to distract from the real purpose of his press conference and how great he handled it.
 
Re: Obama Surprised by Controversy Over Remark About Arrest of Black Scholar

I think people are intentionally making mountains out of molehills in order to distract from the real purpose of his press conference and how great he handled it.

I think he could be found standing over the chopped-up corpses of a whole family, breathing hard, holding an axe, covered in their blood, and you'd say we need to wait for all the facts before we make a judgment.
 
It seems a bit of a stretch to arrest someone for disorderly conduct in their own home when that person exercises a legal right to verify the badge number of the police officer. Even if Gates was "uppity" about it, there is no law against being a jerk, since that right is protected by the 1st Amendment, especially in the privacy of one's own home.

The presented facts are that when Gates let the police into his home, he did show them a couple of ID cards, license and Harvard ID (he lives in a Harvard house). Case closed. Unless there was a physical assault by Gates there would have been zero reason to arrest him. The case was fully dropped because it had no legal basis to proceed. That is the fact of the matter. Therefore the police officer acted stupidly, by definition, since he had no just cause for arrest.
One must side with the Race Baiter in chief I suppose...
 
Re: Obama Surprised by Controversy Over Remark About Arrest of Black Scholar

I think both sides of this thing, the police and the person arrested are at fault, but I am not happy at Obama weighing in on this. I think it is both unnecessary and not entirely Obama's fault necessarily.

If one of Obama's advisers told him to weigh in on this, they should be fired.

If this was Obama's own doing, then not only do I have to say Obama was wrong, but you should fire whatever adviser told him that it was ok to say it.

Obama still takes the blame no matter what, but if someone said he should weigh in on it, they should be fired.
Why?

We need a President that will actually stand up and call police out on this type of thing. What is wrong is wrong and the police in this case were clearly in the wrong.

Until someone has the guts to stand up and confront the arrogance of police officers who think that they are above the law and above criticism, then we will never progress as a country.
 
Re: Obama Surprised by Controversy Over Remark About Arrest of Black Scholar

Funny how the libertarians and the libertarian wing of the GOP are so silent about a guy who gets arrested in his own house. Oh forgot, they can use this to play the race card to stir up the inbreds down in Appalachia.
Gates was not arrested in his own house.

He wouldn't have been arrested at all, in fact, if he'd had the good sense to stay in the house.

He decided to follow Sgt Crowley outside, yelling and screaming and carrying on. The Oscar nominations are still a ways off, so Crowley gave him a nice set of matching bracelets as a consolation prize.

Even libertarians know you don't follow cops around shouting at them if you don't want to wind up in the back of a squad car.
 
Re: Obama Surprised by Controversy Over Remark About Arrest of Black Scholar

Gates was not arrested in his own house.

He wouldn't have been arrested at all, in fact, if he'd had the good sense to stay in the house.

He decided to follow Sgt Crowley outside, yelling and screaming and carrying on. The Oscar nominations are still a ways off, so Crowley gave him a nice set of matching bracelets as a consolation prize.

Even libertarians know you don't follow cops around shouting at them if you don't want to wind up in the back of a squad car.


The man was falsely accused and treated poorly by the police, he had every right to be angry and every right to speak out.

The "crime" that he commited here was nothing more than "contempt of cop".
The cop should have simply admitted his mistake and walked away. Instead his ego got the best of him and he asked the man to step outside simply for the purpose of arresting him.

Bad cops should never be supported....it only encourages more bad cop behavior...and diminishes the service of the good officers that serve our communities daily.
 
Re: Obama Surprised by Controversy Over Remark About Arrest of Black Scholar

Why?

We need a President that will actually stand up and call police out on this type of thing. What is wrong is wrong and the police in this case were clearly in the wrong.

Until someone has the guts to stand up and confront the arrogance of police officers who think that they are above the law and above criticism, then we will never progress as a country.
How was Crowley in the wrong?

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Police Report - July 23, 2009

Should Crowley have not investigated the report of a break-in at Gates' home?

Should Crowley have not ascertained Gates' identity to confirm he did, in fact, live there?

Crowley did not do anything wrong that I can see. The one in the wrong was Gates, who couldn't keep his foot out of his mouth.
 
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