Obama Calls It Like He Sees It
President Obama commented last night on the Henry Gates arrest a few days ago in Cambridge.
Now, I don’t know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that. But I think it’s fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home; and, number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there’s a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. That’s just a fact.
And in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1
Jason Here: I have to add this (from eschaton) which captures the state of our current media environment.
Tags: President Obama, racism
I have no doubt that Gates acted angry. Who wouldn’t be? I’m a bit concerned that he was arrested because he made the cop mad? Do we not have the freedom of speech to call a cop a racist?
“calls it like he sees it”
“not having been there and not seeing all the facts”
Boy….you really do give empty jeans a free pass!!!
Iam shocked that Dr. Gates let the cop(s) in his house….I hope that everyone knows that, w/o A WARRANT, a cop (or any damn body) is not permitted to enter your property, let alone your house. If they come to the door, just like in your car w/the window, open it a crack and speak. If they ask to come in say “NO”, slide your license out to the officer. Close the door when you think it is time to end the conversation.
No, Iam not an attorney and the above is not legal advice. Rather, I am sharing my life’s knowledge with you.
Oh, UI, if you want to give your rights a test by calling a cop ‘racist’….I would be interested in knowing how that worked for you.
http://www.bostonherald.com ^ | 7/25/2009 | Laurel J. Sweet, Marie Szaniszlo, Laura Crimaldi, Jessica Van Sack & Joe Dwinell
The Cambridge cop prominent Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. claims is a racist gave a dying Reggie Lewis mouth-to-mouth resuscitation in a desperate bid to save the Celtics [team stats] superstar’s life 16 years ago Monday. “I wasn’t working on Reggie Lewis the basketball star. I wasn’t working on a black man. I was working on another human being,” Sgt. James Crowley, in an exclusive interview with the Herald, said of the forward’s fatal heart attack July 27, 1993, at age 27 during an off-season practice at Brandeis University, where Crowley was a campus police officer.
http://dinahlord.typepad.com/.a/6a00e008d9a3f9883401157227c256970b-800wi
I’d say the cop in the foreground is not buying the “racist” bullcrap.
The cop in the foreground wasn’t the arresting officer, either.
Past heroics do not excuse this action. All Crowley has to do is apologize instead of having you all apologize for him.
If confronted in our own home any one of us would have told the cops to fuck off. Given the racial aspect the situation is even more wrought.
“Don’t take any guff from those fascist swine!”
-Raoul Duke
I am not appologizing for him.
Based on the reporting to date, Gates should appologize.
Stop apologizing for Crowley then. And stop being so politically correct. We can call things stupid (that we all know are stupid) even at the risk of hurting your delicate feelings.
There’s no reason a man in the house he is supposed to be in should have to apologize to anybody.
http://www.amnation.com/vfr/Police%20report%20on%20Gates%20arrest.PDF
no need to read it, your messiah has told you what to think.
Cry me a river anoni – your feelings are so frail I almost feel sorry for you.
Gates didnt “let” the cop in his house…Dr. Gates went to get his drivers licence and Harvard ID, the “profiling cop” followed him in the house. The good doctor was coming back from a trip to China and the door was jammed. He asked the driver to help him get the door open. After showing his Harvard ID and his license, the cop went to the door and thats when the Doctor saw “several cop cars” outside his house. It was not the cop that followed him to the house that put the handcuffs on him, it was another cop who arrived later. Dr. Gates was on “CNN, Black America 2” last night and told his story. The doctor is working on a “documentary on profiling in america”, am sure he was fed up with these profiling cops and their abuse of black americans due to their individual institutional rascism.
Perhaps we should send police officers to anoni’s house to demand that he prove that he belongs in his own house. It wouldn’t occur to anoni that Dr. Gates has another story — but even so, it doesn’t explain why this cop didn’t turn this loose once Dr. Gates produced ID that proved he was where he was supposed to be. It would be way more understandable if the cop just got the ID and excused himself after seeing that Gates was in his own home. To persist in an “investigation” after that was really just not called for. Period.
1. Unless it is initially established that the house is “yours” the cop is entitled to follow you. You might be getting ID, you might be getting something else.
2. We all know what happened here. This is not a matter of “arrested because he’s black.” This is a case of “cop not allowed to ask black man any questions because cop is white,” followed by “harass the white cop because he dared ask questions anyway,” followed by “keep up the charade to raise black professor’s speaking fees and academic relevance,” multiplied by “get dumb white bloggers to shore up the whole fart knocking joke.”
3. I’ve been on the end of the handcuffs because I couldn’t keep my mouth shut. I was white. Cop was white. You say dumb crap to guy who worries about being shot and things can get ugly. Common sense: Don’t say dumb crap to a cop.
“It wouldn’t occur to anoni that Dr. Gates has another story — but even so, it doesn’t explain why this cop didn’t turn this loose once Dr. Gates produced ID that proved he was where he was supposed to be. It would be way more understandable if the cop just got the ID and excused himself after seeing that Gates was in his own home. To persist in an “investigation” after that was really just not called for. Period.”
It was the belligerence, verified by neighbors. Gates wouldn’t let it go. Don’t say dumb crap to a cop.
Cassy
if my next door neighbor called the cops because she saw two guys forcing my front door, I would expect the police to respond and I would expect them to ask for ID when them met a man in the house to ensure that he was not a burgular and I would expect them to ask to check the house to ensure no one was lurking in a closet.
as for the second man, Anon says it was the “driver”, Gates’ laywer says it was “a Friend”. who ever he was he was either gone or hiding when the police showed up.
This is really no different than batshit crazy Cynthia McKinney going off on a guard at a security checkpoint because she didn’t have her badge.
And Obama’s comment about “being shot” if he tried to break into the White House is brainless.
A legacy of racism is not a free pass on the reasonable obligations of security and community policing.
“Gates’ laywer says it was “a Friend”. who ever he was he was either gone or hiding when the police showed up.”
Restroom acquaintance?
Boo hoo… The political correctness on the right is pitiful.
When the cops show up at your house after someone reporting you as an intruder, once they see your ID that verifies you should be in the house that is the end of their business. Period. If you don’t want the police in your own house, you get to say that. And the police get to go get a warrant if they want to insist on being in your house. Period.
And who cares about the second man — Dr. Gates was lawfully in his own house and once the police established that (they did get two forms of ID), their business was done and they should have just left. They had no entitlements to any further investigation at that point.
You don’t get to harass the cop. Gates did. He got the same treatment I did.
“Boo hoo… The political correctness on the right is pitiful.”
The racial gullibility on the left is typical.
And isn’t it interesting to watch our wingnut commentators try to make a case that black people should get some extra police surveillance in their own homes no less.
Deflect….deflect….deflect!!!
And the cops dropped the charges on that, yes? You do get to speak and yell from your own porch. If the cops had something here they wouldn’t have dropped these bogus charges.
You’re falling for it. Gates knows what happened. So does his lawyer. They are choosing their words very carefully to pump the publicity without getting into the racism that GATES displayed toward the white cop. Gates screwed up. The lawyer covered well.
Then some dumbass failed law professor from Chicago opened up a can of suckmyfoot.
Enter mooseheaded white but racially sensitive (I have black friends!) liberal bloggers.
End of reason.
Not falling for it, but calling you out for defending it.
I want to hear — in detail — why the police have any rights whatsoever to be in your house investigating anything after you’ve already proven that you belong there. If you want to justify a police state or a police state for black people, then make your damn case. The police do not have free reign in this country and if you think they should then say it. What Dr. Gates went through is not so unusual, so if you think that following black people into their homes to ask for their papers is OK, make your case, fool.
Cop was leaving. Gates continued to harass him. You cannot do that. It is easily interpreted as interfering with the performance of their job.
All Gates had to do after showing the ID was to SHUT UP. He didn’t. There are witnesses.
He stood handcuffed on a porch just like I did.
White or black, don’t say dump crap to cops on duty. They do have the power to arrest you.
You may not like that, but they have it.
You can do that. Especially since the performance of the cop’s job was done after the ID was produced. Witnesses or no, you have the right to free speech (even if it is tough speech) from your own damn front porch. Dr. Gates was rightfully mad — and since the cop’s business was effectively over, the cop had two real options, 1) Walk away and let Gates rant since he wasn’t doing anything illegal or 2) try to help calm Gates down. And since they dismissed the charges, it is fair to assume that the cops really had nothing in the first place.
The telltale words involved here are (not exactly, but in general) “Do you know who I am?” As soon as someone, of any race, utters a sentence like that, he’s asking for preferential treatment.
That might be. But out of Gates’ mouth it might also be an attempt to remind this cop that he wasn’t dealing with the usual hood rats, either.
Interesting thread. Here we can see the wingnut mind in action, (so to speak). The bottom line for them is: “Gates had to be guilty of something.” And infact he was: being a black guy.
Meanwhile, had he been a white gun lover in Waco TX, and the cops were trying to serve a warrent – the homeowner would have been within his rights to blow the fucker’s head off.
It is so clear in this case, and yet…round and round they will go – trying to make apologies for the cop and inventing crimes for Gates to be guilty of.
Notice that polodo has now shifted the ground of the argument: Gates was stupid from a pragmatic and not from a legal or ethical point of view. The police state exists; get over it, polodo says
polodo also punts the question of race by attempting to leave it out of the equation completely. Reality: nationwide a black man will be arrested for the same comments far more frequently than a white man.
Then there is this gem: Cop was leaving. Gates continued to harass him. You cannot do that. It is easily interpreted as interfering with the performance of their job.
Actual police report suggests the cop was lying his ass off. He said he was leaving two sentences after he says he had caled the Harvard University police to the scene to assist him. What, having called them, he was planning to leave without waiting for them to arrive? Moreover, check the police report again: cop was not leaving, he still had possession of Gates’ ID.
The report itself suggests that the cop was embarrassed because a crowd has gathered. He could have ended the incident by getting into his cruiser and driving off. But then he would have looked weak in public.
Final note: police report is hardly an objective document, and even a cursory examination makes it obvious that the cop is playing CYA. When Gates refuses to answer about the other person, the cop maintains in his report that he dropped the issue. Really? Moreover, the cop tells his bosses in quotation marks what Gates initially says to him: “What, because I am a black man in America?” but neglects to recount exactly what he said to Gates, characterizing it as asking him to step outside on the porch to speak with him. That’s a fairly common maneuver, because it doesn’t leave the cop open to perjury charges if someone else actually happened to hear his exact words.
Nothing Gates did in this situation was illegal. And it is amazing to watch people jump through hoops to make the assertive black man the heavy in his own house. But that’s the key, isn’t it? The assertive black man. If only he’d been a little more subservient he’d not have had any trouble.
As I said on my own blog: post-racial America my ass.
“since they dismissed the charges, it is fair to assume that the cops really had nothing in the first place.”
You really need to read the comments from Gates’ lawyer a bit more closely. He covered well.
Obama tripped it up again.
“an attempt to remind this cop that he wasn’t dealing with the usual hood rats, either.”
What have you got against hood rats?
You keep trying to deflect what happened in that house. That’s all that matters. Read Gates’ lawyer’s statements. You won’t find a better PR job.
The key was to let it go, but somebody forgot to tell empty jeans.
“Reality: nationwide a black man will be arrested for the same comments far more frequently than a white man.”
That has nothing to do with this one black man and this one white cop.
Read the lawyer’s statements.
That has nothing to do with this one black man and this one white cop.
Of course not. It never does.
I note, however, that you pull out that single sentence to avoid engaging the fact that the police report is rife with internal contradictions.
You are the only only one deflecting here. Dr. Gates was in his own house when the police demanded him to justify why he was there. The cop needed to be gone once Gates showed his ID — and Obama was quite right, the Cambridge Police acted very stupidly.
hmm with a police man on your front step asking for ID which do you do first?
A) show ID
B) call the cop a racist and attempt to phone the Chief of Police.
thanks for playing, it’s been fun.
I am unaware of any law that prohibits me from insulting a cop. Does any legal eagle know of any such law? Positing that Gates should have “just shut up” is ridiculous. It is tantamount to arguing against the 4th amendment because you have nothing to hide. Not really the point.
I say again, if a cop challenges me in my own home I’m telling her or him to fuck off straight to hell. If they can’t take an insult and want to wrongful arrest me then we can proceed from there.
A cop’s job is to diffuse a situation like this, not escalate it. The fact this cop didn’t walk away makes me question if he has the correct temperament for the job.
anoni
When the cop on your front porch asks you to step outside your house [read the police report for the sequence of events]
1) without identifying himself
2) without explaining why in a non-emergency situation
Then you have absolutely no legal responsibility to comply.
Thanks for trying to read. Hopefully next time you’ll pass the comprehension segment.
If you scratch a Republican around here you reveal a fascist. I think this thread is evidence that they are all for a police state as long as the power of the state is used to make black people shut up.
When it comes to making sure white gun owners pay their taxes, everyone suddenly turns into Ayn Rand.
If you scratch a Republican around here you reveal a fascist.
Well, jason, thanks at least for finally admitting I am not a Republican.
You can be as insulting and uncooperative as you want in many situations dealing with State or Federal police. You can also be fully compliant with right-of-way laws and incur no liability when getting run over by a bus.
In both situations, I wouldn’t suggest it. Police do have the power to cause you great difficulty as to time, effort and money without being liable for any type of wrongdoing of their own.
Do not needlessly piss off police. Its not worth it.
Steve –
You won me over for good with your last long comment.
Dave M. You hit on the real problem. The cops can just “cause you great difficulty” if you’re non-compliant. Is this OK with you? I am assuming it is based on you’re not recommending it.
Actually I highly recommend it.
I highly recommend all liberals be uncooperative and belligerent with police. I plan to invest in wheelchairs and bodybags.
I think Cassandra is spot on here. I don’t think Gates words matter all that much, even if he yelled them at the cop. The cop entered his house and after getting the proper ID, he refused to leave. He escalated the situation. Yes, I do think you have a right to call a cop racist in your own home even if it is unfair. The comment about the cop’s actions were probably right, a crowd was gathering so he was trying to save face.
As far as the “do you know who I am” remark. Well, duh. It’s Gates’s house. You can’t be accused of breaking into your own house. The issue isn’t whether Gates is a jerk, the issue is the actions of the police. That fact that the mayor has now issued an apology and all charge were dropped tells you something about who’s in the wrong here.
this guy got off lucky!
where I come from, you pull your wallet, yout get 45 rounds emptied into your ass by 20 crackers!
anoni,
as a poor and lazy person, there is one thing I know when I see it.
other stupid people.
and I also even know that if a cop comes onto my property and ask me to step outside my house I can tell him to f’off and go get a warrant
The only racist in this deal is Gates. He has chosen a profession based on race, sees the world through the eyes of a racist, and looks for affirmation of his racists views everywhere he looks. He isn’t known by his neighbors, perhaps they are white and he will have nothing to do with them. He got what he expected, he baited and the cops took the bait.
If a man was seen breaking into my house and was uncooperative I would expect he would be arrested – I also expect he would be escorted while ‘going to get my ID’.
If a man was seen breaking into my house and was uncooperative I would expect he would be arrested – I also expect he would be escorted while ‘going to get my ID’.
If the man was you, in your own house, you’d definitely think differently. Especially since the police have no entitlements to be in your house without either 1) your permission or 2) a warrant.
And only in wingnutland could choosing to be a scholar and teacher be a racist thing. Don’t you people have a birth certificate to find?
Gates is the director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research.
He has chosen a profession based on race. Don’t mistake his paranoid delusions as anything other than that. There is no doubt he started with a bad attitude and got what any of us would get. Remember this started with breaking and entering call. The police have to act accordingly until proven otherwise.
The police have to act accordingly until proven otherwise.
They were proven otherwise the second Gates provided ID.
Let me ask you folks a question.
Presume, for a moment, that the cop had just given Gates a pass from the very beginning.
What would be your response if
1) the individual questioned had been an actual robber and the cops just let him go because he SAID he belonged there?
2) there were an actual robber in the house, and Gates were a crime victim because the cop just presumed everything was on the up-and-up?
Let me guess — we would be hearing about how the Cambridge cops are giving unequal protection to the black population of the town.
In short, EVERY bad outcome would have been ascribed to racism. The cops were damned regardless of what they did.
And as for obama — while I will concede his good intentions, I question whether it was appropriate for the President of the United States (no matter who he/she is) to take a position on such an incident WITHOUT fuller kowledge of the facts.
Pandora is exactly right as I keep pointing out. The call was over the minute Gates produced ID. Full stop.
And because Gates has decided to specialize in the study of African and African American cultural and political history does not make him a racist. Any more than a Prof of Asian Studies would be or a Prof of European Studies or a Prof of American Studies or History. We do get that your view is that Africans and African Americans have no history or culture actually worth scholarly study.
Really, you guys are better off on the birth certificate kick. We already know that you don’t think much of black people or their lives. Why you persist in documenting that I’ll never know.
What if…?
Thanks for reminding me that you are too stupid to respond to.
Farsider,
My cousin is an Irish literature scholar. Is he a racist in your view?
And RWRs hypothetical is just plain stupid. The cop came to Gates’ door while he was in the house already and asked for his ID. Gates gave him not one but two IDs. Both IDs had his address on it. The address where the cop was already standing. It is OVER now. The cop should walk away at this point — the legal resident of the house is there.
By the way — would you be making the same comments if it were a white prof and a black cop?
Would it even be news?
Oh and one additional line of questioning:
What if the prof were the respected head of a major White Studies program?
Oh — that’s right. No such programs exist. That would be racist.
White Studies does indeed exist. It’s call Western Civ. European History. American History. Read Zinn much. Get with the fucking program dude. That crack has been the racist joke of the month every February since I can remember.
Black History month? When’s white history month… the other 11.
If you don’t understand why this is an issue and the reverse is not… you are a very stupid person.
Why wouldn’t we keep the same standards if it were a white prof and a black cop? Your problem is that you won’t even read the arguments presented — I am arguing that the police have limits. They cannot just insist on being in your house after they’ve completed their business.
What you’ll never admit is that the police are much more likely to push the limits on allowable behavior when with brown or black people than with white people.
LOL Clan Destine. I know Dorian in passing, butI know this much, Dorian did not read Zinn because Matt Damon told him to.
I read Zinn — I just disagree with him.
Actually, I’m a very principled person who is concerned about the respect for all people, not just people of a particular race or ethnicity.
And as someone who taught World History for many years (I’m temporarily teaching World Geography as a favor to my principal — he wanted to hire one of my former students who was too good to pass up and he was certified for history alone), I’m familiar with history across a wide variety of regions and ethnicities. And I particularly reject the notion of balkanizing important parts of the world and national experience into little ethnic boxes and months, especially when such programs constitute little more than grievance factories.
By the way — i think the cop may have been wrong. I just don’t know that i would accept the argument that race was the overriding factor here. So to that extent i agree with you, cassandra.
“But out of Gates’ mouth it might also be an attempt to remind this cop that he wasn’t dealing with the usual hood rats, either.”
And that still amounts to asking for preferential treatment. This case smacks much more of ego than of race.
“…especially when such programs constitute little more than grievance factories.”
See, this is why you’re an asshole. You pretend to be all about the ideas, but this is a chickenshit comment by a chickenshit racist pretending to be something else.
Are you saying that, as a teacher, you’ve learned nothing from black studies programs? You’re saying that Black History Month is a grievance factory?
Beyond that, you’re saying centuries of white treatment of minorities, which certainly has not been eradicated let alone atoned for, has NOTHING to do with what you mischaracterize as “racism” towards whites by minority group members?
proof again RWR comes here to argue for the sake of arguing. making himself look dumber in the process.
aka a TROLL
The question for anybody here dissing Gates for his choice or discipline or his work is this: Have you ever read Lincoln on Race and Slavery? Or are you just arguing from some pseudo-philosophical perspective that you don’t like Black Studies, Military History, Women’s Studies, or any other specialization?
If you have read it (and not merely a review), then make your point that Gates is not a legitimate academic. Otherwise it is better to STFU and have people think you are an intellectual lightweight than to start pounding on your keyboard.
Presumably then you also object to doctors who specialize in neurosurgery or orthopedics because they are balkanizing the human body.
They’ve read nothing, Steve. They are very comfortable with their stereotypes and prejudices… as they keep demonstrating.
As do you.
Prof. Newton should get one of those Tarentino wallets that say “Bad Mother Fucker” on it.
In my post this morning I had a little ditty about the scholar versus the history buff… remind you of anybody in particular?
Cop who arrested black scholar is profiling expert
yahoo ^ | 7/23/2009 | DENISE LAVOIE
The white police sergeant criticized by President Barack Obama for arresting black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. in his Massachusetts home is a police academy expert on racial profiling.
Cambridge Sgt. James Crowley has taught a class on racial profiling for five years at the Lowell Police Academy after being hand-picked for the job by former police Commissioner Ronny Watson, who is black, said Academy Director Thomas Fleming.
“I have nothing but the highest respect for him as a police officer. He is very professional and he is a good role model for the young recruits in the police academy,” Fleming told The Associated Press on Thursday.
The course, called “Racial Profiling,” teaches about different cultures that officers could encounter in their community “and how you don’t want to single people out because of their ethnic background or the culture they come from,” Fleming said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com …
Feets don’t fail me now!!!! (~sound of BHO running from the WH podium~)
And the police union just told BHO….”you’ll eat your words.”
Saw on Twitter: The same guys criticizing Gates are the ones who think Ruby Ridge was an overreaction.
Ya do know the first four letters of Twitter are TWIT, right?
“He was right. Now he’s right here.”
😉
even a poor person knows this is all a great distraction from health care
It was the belligerence, verified by neighbors. Gates wouldn’t let it go. Don’t say dumb crap to a cop.
*
Cops abuse power when they don’t step off a situation like this. They should have stepped off. That the charges were dropped shows that this is a correct assumption.
~~~~~
The telltale words involved here are (not exactly, but in general) “Do you know who I am?” As soon as someone, of any race, utters a sentence like that, he’s asking for preferential treatment.
*
I disagree. This was not a John Atkins moment. In this case his, “Do you know who I am” has no relation to getting out of something based on who one is, rather it boils down to ‘THIS IS MY HOUSE, IDIOT, Step off’.
~~~~~
No, Geezer — I said the programs are grievance factories.
“Cops abuse power when they don’t step off a situation like this. They should have stepped off. That the charges were dropped shows that this is a correct assumption.”
Exactly. GATES should have stepped off. Kudos to the police department for forgiving him.
Thank you for agreeing.
I’m betting on the union making BHO eat his words.
In the meantime, Gates should thank GOD he crossed paths with a polite, decorated, and racially tolerant officer (just ask his black superior) like Crowley.
He could have run into a Mark Fuhrman.
It might shock you to know that I think Gates is a fine scholar, even though I disagree with some of his premises and conclusions. Rather, my criticism is the creation of ethnic studies programs rather than incorporating history with history, literature with literature, etc. Otherwise, for every Gates you get a Ward Churchill, a pseudo-intellectual with limited credentials and a work-product that would fail to meet the test of scholarship in any other discipline.
You may recall that there was the observation made in a certain Supreme Court case that separate is inherently unequal. Sadly, the creation of academic bantustans results in an intellectual apartheid that diminishes us all.
“I said the programs are grievance factories.”
Which is an opinion, not an idea.
Nancy: As I read more about the case, I’m thrown into doubt by the fact that only the police report makes the claim that he said this — and that police report’s truthfulness is put in doubt by some of the other things Sgt. Crowley claims HLG said. In short, it appears you’re right, it wasn’t an Atkins-style case at all, because I doubt Gates actually said it.
Geezer — i was correcting your misunderstanding. You seemed to think I meant that Black History Month was a grievance factory, which I do not.
And since when are opinions a bad thing?
They’re not a bad thing at all. Just don’t pretend they’re facts or ideas. Unless you have some study showing that black studies program grads file race-based lawsuits at a higher rate than a control group of grads of other programs, you’re just voicing the kind of impression- and anecdote-based opinion that would be indistinguishable from the sort of thing a “racist” might say. Which is why people who say such things get themselves labeled racists. Blaming the victim, I know, but if you spend so much time presenting whites as victims it’s bound to happen sooner or later…
All of the above is opinion.
Living while black is a terrible crime. 😈
eeu…the emoticon code shows up in the recent comment section. but i guess someone has already mentioned that.
Geezer, in my opinion your comment is exactly what an idiot might say. . .
‘Scofflaw’ Obama Grudge Against Cambridge Police?
Thursday, July 23, 2009 8:34 PM
One reason Barack Obama may think the Cambridge Police Department is “stupid” is that he has a grudge against the law enforcement agency.
Obama, who attended Harvard Law School from 1988 to 1991, lived in Cambridge, and apparently didn’t like the fact he was frequently hit with parking tickets.
In all Obama received 17 tickets for parking violations — and never paid 15 of them until he was exposed by a local Massachusetts newspaper as a scofflaw.
According to a 2007 Associated Press story, Obama was a parking ticket deadbeat for more than a decade — and only felt the need to pay the 15 outstanding parking tickets as his presidential campaign began in earnest in 2007.
Here is the Associated Press story detailing Obama’s negligence:
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama got more than an education when he attended Harvard Law School in the late 1980s. He also got a healthy stack of parking tickets, most of which he never paid.
The Illinois Senator shelled out $375 in January – two weeks before he officially launched his presidential campaign – to finally pay for 15 outstanding parking tickets and their associated late fees.
The story was first reported Wednesday by The Somerville News.
Obama received 17 parking tickets in Cambridge between 1988 and 1991, mostly for parking in a bus stop, parking without a resident permit and failing to pay the meter, records from the Cambridge Traffic, Parking and Transportation office show.
He incurred $140 in fines and $260 in late fees in Cambridge in all, but he paid $25 for two of the tickets in February 1990.
Jen Psaki, a spokeswoman for the Obama campaign, dismissed the tickets as not relevant.
“He didn’t owe that much and what he did owe, he paid,” Psaki said on Wednesday. “Many people have parking tickets and late fees. All the parking tickets and late fees were paid in full.”
Hmmmm….I think Obama is Bushie in a latex mask!
radio interview w/ Sgt Crowley:
http://audio.weei.com/m/25432556/sgt-james-crowley-cambridge-police.htm
Smack Barack and slam the Gates–
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-303137
“Geezer, in my opinion your comment is exactly what an idiot might say. . .”
Which shows exactly why you’re a pathetic piece of crap. You routinely fail to engage in anything beyond your own victimization.
Sorry, anoni, but I’m not going to believe a word Crowley says at this point. I already think Gates is the more culpable party here; if I listen to some ass-covering cop I might change my mind.
I’m still wondering if the same thing would’ve gone down if the homeowner was W.F. Buckley?
You’d probably get the same mouthyness to the cop, but the cop certainly would have backed off sooner.
John McWhorter — who I often have issues with — rather well nails part of the problem.
Obama Seeks to Clarify ‘Stupidly’ Comment, Praises White Policeman
FOX News ^ | July 24, 2009
President Obama stopped short of an apology to Sgt. James Crowley on Friday for saying he “acted stupidly” for arresting black Harvard scholar Henry Lewis Gates Jr., but said he should have chosen his words more carefully.
At an impromptu appearance at the daily White House briefing, Obama said he spoke with Crowley over the phone, and said he wanted to share a beer with Crowley and Gates at the White House.
“Because this has been ratcheting up and I helped contribute to ratcheting it up, I want to make clear that in my choice of words I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sgt. Crowley specifically and I could have calibrated those words differently.”
“My sense is you’ve got two good people in a circumstance in which neither of them were able to resolve it the way the wanted to resolve it,” Obama added.
#100!!!!!
Jason, Cassandra & other wigger bloggers — 0
Common sense and basic reading comprehension — 1
Reading it on FoxNEWS — PRICELESS!!!!
And isn’t interesting that the one person who understands about deescalating a situation happens to be the President of the United States — unlike the fool in blue who couldn’t figure out when to leave the house of a man legally in it.
wigger bloggers? You don’t like being able to comment here do you?
AP: A black police officer who was at Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s home when the black Harvard scholar was arrested says he fully supports how his white fellow officer handled the situation. Sgt. Leon Lashley says Gates was probably tired and surprised when Sgt. James Crowley demanded identification from him as officers investigated a report of a burglary. Lashley says Gates’ reaction to Crowley was “a little bit stranger than it should have been.” Asked if Gates should have been arrested, Lashley said supported Crowley “100 percent.”
had to look it up…
(The link is enough. There is no need ot cut and paste entire articles here.)
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wigger
Which make Lashley just as wrong. But at least he’s got abit more insight into the problem.
But you knew that already.
I wish you people defending this stuff would just post your addresses so we can send the police out to check your IDs at your houses.
Hilarious
Cassy knows more than the actual witnesses.
anoni,
I edited your comment. You can stop putting entire articles here in the comments section. We all know how to use google. And I knew what he meant, but thanks for your concern.
I don’t think the cop was a racist, but I think his ego got hurt by Gates’s actions and that’s why the situation escalated. It all comes down to this – if the cop was supposedly the cooler head, why didn’t he leave after confirming Gates belonged in the house? I’ve heard several cops speak to this and although they won’t come outright and say Crowley was wrong they say once the residency had been established the call was over. The cops also said they are trained to keep their cool in these situations.
With Obama backpedalling like a drunk on a unicycle y’all still defend this racist. That is just amazing.
I listened to NPR interview two officers: a police chief and a sheriff. Thanks for playing, though.
BBC calls it with the perfect headline:
“Obama regrets ‘stupid’ comments”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8168313.stm
A conservative law professor examines the statute that Gates was arrested under and finds that it would not hold up in court.
Regretting comments is a Democratic speciality. If Bush had one lesson to teach that Democrats never seem to learn it is never “regret” never apologize, never admit.
He regretted only the words, not the sentiment. That is disgraceful.
BTW – I have not read it yet, but I;m sure that statement does not say that Gates was not mistreated.
Obama showed how ill suited he is to be President. No wonder Putin, Merkel, Sarkozy etc think he is mental pedestrian.
As for Gates, “I’ll talk to your mama outside” is a classic. Right up there with, “Give me your liberty or give me death.”
I hope this country never has to rely on Obama’s stoicism and leadership in a security crisis.
Mike Protack
The opinion of someone who thinks George Bush was a great President is noted.
Mr. Gates should have been thankful that the police responded to his neighbors call, I have no doubt that Mr Gates became loud and abusive based on some of the neighbors accounts.As for the President he should of stopped his remarks right after ” I really don’t know all the Facts” instead it appeared that he pulled a Biden and let his mouth get in the way of his brain. however, It sure showed his Grace and demeanor in calling the cop and expressing his feelings for his stupid remark. That took real class on his part doing it himself instead of having a staff person do it for him.
it’s sad that the neighbor felt she had to hire a lawyer to anounce that she “is not a racist” and that being olived skinned of Portugues decent, she in not really white.
“As for Gates, “I’ll talk to your mama outside” is a classic.”
Nobody with a grain of sense thinks Gates said any such thing.
As for Gates, “I’ll talk to your mama outside” is a classic. Right up there with, “Give me your liberty or give me death.”
Actually it is a classic. When Patrick Henry said it, he was standing on his natural rights. But when Gates said it, he was standing on the Constitutional rights Patrick Henry fought for.
Gates knows the history of black men and law enforcement. Smart, smart Gates.
The officer knew it would be illegal to arrest Gates in his own home under the circumstances, so he was trying to trick Gates into stepping outside where an arrest would be more plausible. And after the whole posse had arrived, with all the cop homeboys standing around looking for some excitement, the chances they would all get to help “subdue” Gates were high. If they were lucky, maybe a Macing or a Tasering.
In times past, Gates might have “fallen down the stairs” or been “shot while trying to escape.”
So, “your mama” is the correct response to a misguided cop who wants you to come outside for no good reason.
“your mama” is the correct response to a misguided cop who wants you to come outside for no good reason.”
Perhaps so. But it’s ludicrously out of character for HL Gates, and I think the cop made it up.
And whether Gates said it or not — how can that possibly be illegal?
Frankly, I think that Skip Gates’ real problem in this whole thing is that he was not a well-armed white man with police issues — like the folks at Ruby Ridge or Waco. Folks who became heros to the wingnuts for actually shooting at law enforcement — not just yelling and being an asshole in their own homes.
TheBostonChannel.com
Lashley’s Letter To Crowley
Dear Jim,
Would you be so kind as to mention the following to Mr. Gates and President Obama during your meeting with them:
One of the major problems stemming from the events of July 16 is that I, now known as ‘the black Sergeant’, have had my image plastered all over the Internet, television and newspapers. Subsequently, I have also become known, at least to some, as an ‘Uncle Tom.’
I’m forced to ponder the notion that as a result of speaking the truth and coming to the defense of a friend and collegue, who just happens to be white, that I have somehow betrayed my heritage.
Please convey my concerns to the President that Mr. Gates’ actions may have caused grave and potentially irreparable harm to the struggle for racial harmony in this country and perhaps throughout the world.
In closing, I would simply like to ask that Mr. Gates deeply reflect on the events that have unfolded since July 16 and ask himself the following questions:
‘What can I do to help heal the rift caused by some of my actions?; What responsibility do I bear for what occurred on July 16, 2009? Is there anything I can do to mitigate the damage done to the reputations of two respected Police Officers?’
Thank you in advance,
Your friend,
Leon K. Lashley