(CNN) -- President Obama said that police in Cambridge, Massachusetts, "acted stupidly" in arresting a prominent black Harvard professor last week after a confrontation at the man's home.
"I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played," Obama said Wednesday night while taking questions after a White House news conference.
(emphasis mine).
What an unmitigated ass. He starts off by saying that he wasn't there and doesn't know all the facts of the case, yet feels free to weigh in on the actions of the Cambridge Police Department. With one thoughtless word he condemns an entire police force based on one man's admittedly biased testimony. This is a man who freely admits he "got in the cop's face", and starts off his interview by the cops with this:
Crowley wrote in the Cambridge police report that Gates refused to step outside to speak with him, the police report said, and when Crowley told Gates that he was investigating a possible break-in, Gates opened the front door and exclaimed, "Why, because I'm a black man in America?" the report said.
Look, the neighborhood where Gates lived had numerous break-ins reported over the past few months. The cops get a call from someone in the neighborhood that two men are trying to break into a house. They show up, knock on the door, and are greeted by Mr. Racist Chip-on-his-shoulder-hates-whitey saying "you're only here because I'm black".
Yeah. Someone has a problem with race, and it ain't the Cambridge Police.
$50 says that had it been an actual break-in and the police didn't respond within seconds it would be proof of their "racism" as well. Not to mention them being "stupid". Way to go, President 0bama, putting your foot in your mouth yet again. I wonder who typed that statement into the teleprompter?
That is all.
17 comments:
Heheh. It was a very revealing answer. It reveals one thing if it was genuinely unscripted and quite another if the question was planted and the answer scripted.
Interesting either way, though
Jay - My jaw literally dropped when he said that. He called an entire police department "stupid" (and racist) on live, primetime national television.
What an ASSHOLE. He said it was one guy, the homeowner trying to jimmy a lock. Of course it was in fact 2 guys trying to get in.
Also, he was not arrested for trying to break into his own house, as Obama implied. He was arrested for disorderly conduct.
HE pulled the race card and HIS actions caused the disorderly conduct arrest. The cops were there simply investigating a potential break-in. The homeowner made the whole damn incident racial from the very start.
You know what I'm sick of? Racist blacks blaming their racism on everyone else.
$50 says that had it been an actual break-in and the police didn't respond within seconds it would be proof of their "racism" as well.
Sucker bet.
Il Duce's defenses are obviously starting to break down. Three or four months ago, CNN simply wouldn't have mentioned such a blatant gaffe at all.
Jay,
Personally I was glad to see Obama's true colors revealed. Dovetailing on Mike's thought, the broader picture here is that by this statement, Obama potentially has pissed off every cop in the nation who heard the comment. That could translate into huge voter action at the polls, especially in the 2010 mid-term election. I can just hear Joe Cop-on-the-beat thinking to himself . . . Hmmm the Dimocrat president "dissed" cops. Therefore I'm not going to vote for the Dimocrat running for congress. I'll show Obama Rama Ding Dong." And people have long memories for this kind of thing. I could even see a republican challenger in 2012 using this on the campaign, putting him- or herself out as a friend to law enforcement across the country. Obama definitely put his foot into his mouth - right up to his hip.
- Brad
Popcorn,
Make no mistake - this was 0bama's true colors shining through. I just couldn't resist the poke at the TOTUS...
Mike W.,
Exactly. Gates got into a pissing contest with the local po-po, which is never a good idea.
Was it bright for the cops to arrest him for disturbing the peace? Probably not.
But you know what? I wasn't there.
Gates may very well have been standing in the middle of the street screaming obscenities for all I know.
But I'm not going to condemn him for what happened, either.
BECAUSE I WASN'T THERE.
This was a big gaffe on 0bama's part.
You can BET that he will offer a non-apology apology later today.
wolfwalker,
Of course it's a sucker's bet; I'd wager Gates has waited his entire life for something like this to happen. It took him, what, 5, 6 seconds to call a press conference?
I was surprised to see the coverage as well. Usually this is the kind of thing they bury. Maybe things are starting to look up?
brad,
Sadly, only a handful of diehard political wonks and GOP'ers will remember this come 2012. That's still 3 years away, which is several political lifetimes.
Hell, I doubt it will make much of a difference in 2010.
It's good to know that, despite evidence of the largest Affirmative Action movement to date (getting 0bama in office), it is still possible to jump up and down and scream "racist" for little provocation... {/sarcasm}
Why do some "famous" people insist that law enforcement know each and everyone of them on sight? In the dark?
Let me tell you the story of a stupid cop (not an entire police department). In college I got a knock at the door (more of a pounding actually) at 3AM. Naturally, I grabbed the shotgun and headed to the door, asking who it was. "Police." Being a law abiding citizen, I am not afraid of them, just irritated when they wake me up. After looking through the peephole to verify it was an officer, I opened the door and asked what he needed. There was a car parked on the street that had its door open and he wanted to know if I knew whose it was. I was dumbfounded and for a minute didn't say anything. Then I looked at the vehicle and politely told him that it wasn't mine, it wasn't either of my neighbors (older couples who I doubt would have had a Jeep), and that maybe he should run a license plate check to find out whose it was - if the address wasn't for the town, he could always call the university police department with the person's name and find out if they had a local address for that person. "That's a good idea." And he left.
Responding to a reported break-in and being suspicious is not stupid. Knocking on random doors of an apartment complex at 3AM is.
Barry has decided the PoPo are racist because they're White. He doesn't know much else about it, but he DOES know Black Man, White Cop. Is there any other way these events could play out in the mind of a student of Rev. Wright and his "Progressive" Black Liberation Theology.
http://www.trinitychicago.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=114
It's still up there! Now that's Ballsy!
Sometimes Obama make GW look like a charter member of Mensa. He gives opinions without knowing the facts besides having an obvious conflict of interest.
BTW, the officer in question is the same man who gave CPR to Reggie Lewis 16 years ago. Yup, obviously a racist.
I agree Jay, arresting him for disorderly conduct was probably a counter over-reaction to Gates's initial over-reaction.
That said, if I get pulled over and immediately start screaming and yelling at the cops they're likely to bust me for something. Being firm but courteous goes a long way.
I am still reeling from the fact that this winner of a MacArthur "Genius" Grant, holder of several PhDs and tenured professor and holder of a chair at Harvard said, "I will go outside wif yo mama!" when asked to step outside.
Really? Really? This is the best of African American culture? "Yo mama?!" What is this, a rerun of "What's Happinin?". Does he think that he is Shaft?
I can't help but thinking that any right-minded African American who, by the sweat of his brow, has achieved something of life, would see this story and FacePalm.
Oh, and Obama is a moron. The question was clearly tee'd up and probably staged by the White House and it did more to damamge his credibility than anything else. Now he is in a fracas with the FOP, a supporting group. There was nothing to be gained and everything to lose from even wading in.
I am beginning to doubt that Obama is quite a smart as everybody THINKS that he is.
Obama: "I wasn't there. I don't know the facts of the case. But, I can stand here before the nation, on live television, and boldly state that (a) my friend did nothing wrong, and (b) the Cambridge Police Department is a bunch of stupid crackers."
Worst.
President.
Ever.
Headline on Yahoo News!:
"Obama Stirs Racial Passions in Harvard"
Hm! And according to ABC News, Obama has doubled down on his characterization of the cops, too.
While Obama shouldn't have gotten involved the Cop who made the arrest and everyone involved in WAS stupid but so was the professor.I have no problem with the officer investigating a possible crime but the stupid part was arresting him AFTER he proved he lived there.Was the professor belligerent I am sure he was BUT the supposedly "professional" "veteran" "decorated" officer should have defused the situation.That said I don't think race played a part in him being it arrested the real unspoken charge was contempt of cop he failed to kiss the officer A** and thank him for the privilege and a lot of people of all races are getting arrested for that these days.
Seems Obama had his own little cop problem a few days ago and fired a Secret Service Agent who complained about his non-stop racial complaints...
Anon,
It's hard to say.
I mean, I can *totally* see this possibly being a case of "RESPECT MAH AUTHORITAH!" vs. "ZOMG WHITEY IS TEH DEBIL".
The perfect storm, if you will, of the "Only Ones" mindset versus the "perpetual victim" mindset.
However, the officer in this case does not appear to have this sort of background - he's apparently given lectures on AVOIDING racial profiling and has pretty much been universally lauded as a good cop.
There's so much we don't know about what happened here, and that's why I especially think 0bama's comments were asinine (well, more so than usual).
It's possible that the cop got all "YOU WILL COMPLY", sure.
It's possible that no matter WHAT happened, Prof. Gates was going to throw the race card.
IMHO? I think Gates has been waiting his whole life for this moment. I think he's wanted to be a victim of racial discrimination to give him his 15 minutes of fame and validate his professional victimhood.
I also think the cops should NOT have arrested Gates. I think they would have been much better off just leaving the scene and denying Gates his "THIS IS HOW THEY TREAT THE BLACK MAN IN AMERICA" moment.
By arresting him, especially on such a specious charge like "disturbing the peace" in the middle of the afternoon, they give him everything he's ever wanted.
He gets to be the victim.
He gets his 15 minutes of fame.
He gets to blame the racist system for keeping him down.
I mean, hell, the man is now officially untouchable both @ Harvard and in MA...
Just my $0.02. I could be wrong, it happens (just ask Mrs. G.)...
Isn't it funny how, after the police threatened to release the tapes, the president called the cop and then ran into the WH press room to walk it all back?
Now I really want to hear that tape.
I am SO glad I'm not the only one keeping an eye on this bullshit! I've been saving every single news item released about it because it won't take long for the media to twist it around to prove racism contrary to facts, followed by a sudden case of amnesia ("Obama said what? When? Where? It's in the archives? Really? Well, it's time to move on to current events, so we don't have those any longer.....")
You missed something, though. Sharpton and Jackson nearly broke their legs tripping over each other and the press to join this bandwagon. Not that that's anything new.
No, ddadmin, there has been no apology and there won't be one. The Messiah apologizes to no one, don't you know?
I think it's rather funny how quickly he did try to calm the racial riots he almost started after, as he claims, speaking with his wife and PR people about his statements. More like they were freaking out saying, "You can't say that, sir! It was the cracka's who got you in!"
The professor was a jerk, plain and simple, when all the officers were trying to do was their civic duty keeping his home safe.
Beautiful the day will be when the black community stops being so racist and understands criminals come in all colors and we have to work together to clean our society up. Oh, wait. Isn't that what THEY preach all the time? Hmmm I'm not racist. I'm just damned tired.
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