Henry Louis Gates Arrested in his own home

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by Azure

Also, Gates wasn't arrested IN his own home. The police officer left, and Gates followed him outside and continued to make racist remarks. THEN he was arrested.

Making racist remarks on your porch is a crime?

Someone tell my father-in-law! QUICK!!!

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Maybe this will satisfy those who think that the POTUS' comments make a lick of difference here:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/24/off...est/index.html

Though to me, his opinion remains about as important as it was before--which is to say, not very. I guess the clarification is valuable, but I don't really see what the pressing need was.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

Are we really going to keep pretending that Obama's very measured and watered-down remarks are a super-big-deal that we all care about? The only people who seem to think this is a major gaffe are people who already didn't like Obama.

I don't think anyone is appalled by Obama's remarks. But I do think general sentiment among neutral people is that what he said was a little out of line. And it is contributing to the growing perception that he's not doing a great job these days in general.

[VladtheImpaler]

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

By the first week of August, the only ones who remember what the President said about the Gates case will be people who posted in this thread.

You vastly overestimate the importance of offhand remarks by the President.

Well, that really depends on how much pub Gates, Jackson, and Sharpton manage to generate, doesn't it? Obama (and his staff) should know better - he is the President, not some congressman from Illinois.

[JustAnotherGuy]

Makes me wonder how much this Henry Louis Gates would cry about racism if the police didn't show up to his house to investigate a possible break and enter.

Has that been lost in this entire incident? The police were there to ensure his property was safe. He should be grateful.

[Calgaryborn]

Gates was arrested for creating a disturbance. He got in the cop's face and wouldn't stand down when the cop told him to. You don't do that. Just because the charges were dropped doesn't mean Crowley wasn't justified in arresting Gates. It wasn't a "stupid" thing to do at all. I imagine Crowley intended on dropping the charges all along. He simply took control of Gates who obviously had lost self control. Kind of like when Gates lost control and started to kicking his own door in. Wouldn't a rational man break a window or phone a locksmith?

Obama should have said he didn't know the details and kept his mouth shut. He and Gates are the only two who acted "stupidly" here.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by VladtheImpaler

Well, that really depends on how much pub Gates, Jackson, and Sharpton manage to generate, doesn't it? Obama (and his staff) should know better - he is the President, not some congressman from Illinois.

I'd offer to settle this with a wager, but my guess is that if we wait a month we will both forget that we even made a bet about it. Then we'll forget what the bet was about, or how much it was for, or who was on what side.

Then hockey season will start, and so will LOST, and the new season of Prison Break, and then the next book in the Twilight series will come out, and then Eminem will say something stupid and there will be a new Coldplay Album, and some new story will come out about Michael Jackson's last moments....


And so on and so forth. The notion that one offhand comment will still be in the news three months from now is just inconsistent with how our media universe functions. If this sort of thing were all that important, then "Mission Accomplished" would have lost the 04 election for Bush. It didn't--because nobody remembered that they had been outraged about that a year and a half earlier.

[MelBridgeman]

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

Making racist remarks on your porch is a crime?

Someone tell my father-in-law! QUICK!!!

The job of the police is to server and PROTECT, any type of agressive behavior can get you arrested, even on your own property...Agressive behavior can also be a sign of intoxication and drugs whatever...The officer was perfectly right to arrest him for his behavior, and when it is determine the guys is just a jackass, drop the charges...It no different then being sent to the drunk tank to sober up...I challenge you to find a police officer and start lipping him off...see where that gets ya.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by MelBridgeman

The job of the police is to server and PROTECT, any type of agressive behavior can get you arrested, even on your own property...Agressive behavior can also be a sign of intoxication and drugs whatever...The officer was perfectly right to arrest him for his behavior, and when it is determine the guys is just a jackass, drop the charges...It no different then being sent to the drunk tank to sober up...I challenge you to find a police officer and start lipping him off...see where that gets ya.

Now his behaviour is "aggressive"? This story keeps getting better!

Please, explain to me how an unarmed, elderly, 150 pound, 5'7 man who needs a cane to walk and doesn't have it with him presents a compelling and urgent threat to a police officer who is walking away?

If he felt threatened, couldn't he just.... walk away slightly faster?

You apparently didn't read the article that explained how the charges would never have stuck because the sort of speech that Gates was engaging in is protected by the constitution. If Gates sues, who do you think will win?

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by JustAnotherGuy

Makes me wonder how much this Henry Louis Gates would cry about racism if the police didn't show up to his house to investigate a possible break and enter.

Has that been lost in this entire incident? The police were there to ensure his property was safe. He should be grateful.

And.... I'm going to go ahead and guess you didn't watch his interview yet. He addresses that exact question.

[metallicat]

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

By the first week of August, the only ones who remember what the President said about the Gates case will be people who posted in this thread.

You vastly overestimate the importance of offhand remarks by the President.

You are delusional if you think we are the only ones who will remember. Law enforcement communities will remember, trust me. And they are, by and large, already conservative. Obama was being blatently disrespectful, and perhaps even slanderous, do this particular police officer. It's already been pointed out - this Sergeant is an instructor in race relations.

[MelBridgeman]

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

Now his behaviour is "aggressive"? This story keeps getting better!

Please, explain to me how an unarmed, elderly, 150 pound, 5'7 man who needs a cane to walk and doesn't have it with him presents a compelling and urgent threat to a police officer who is walking away?

If he felt threatened, couldn't he just.... walk away slightly faster?

You apparently didn't read the article that explained how the charges would never have stuck because the sort of speech that Gates was engaging in is protected by the constitution. If Gates sues, who do you think will win?

You still haven't read the police report, hey?
Also since when is making potentially false accusations protected by the constitution?

[VladtheImpaler]

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

I'd offer to settle this with a wager, but my guess is that if we wait a month we will both forget that we even made a bet about it. Then we'll forget what the bet was about, or how much it was for, or who was on what side.

Then hockey season will start, and so will LOST, and the new season of Prison Break, and then the next book in the Twilight series will come out, and then Eminem will say something stupid and there will be a new Coldplay Album, and some new story will come out about Michael Jackson's last moments....


And so on and so forth. The notion that one offhand comment will still be in the news three months from now is just inconsistent with how our media universe functions. If this sort of thing were all that important, then "Mission Accomplished" would have lost the 04 election for Bush. It didn't--because nobody remembered that they had been outraged about that a year and a half earlier.

I agree - unless something exciting develops, this story will die out and be subsumed by something else fairly quickly. I'm just saying it's irresponsible of Obama and fits what appears to be a disturbing pattern with AIG stuff. And please don't label me an Obama hater - I was happy with his election, even though I consider McCain the most 'decent' (as a human being) American politician, and one of the more competent.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by MelBridgeman

You still haven't read the police report, hey?
Also since when is making potentially false accusations protected by the constitution?

Well if you're talking about what was said here, the answer is since 1791.

[Calgaryborn]

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

By the first week of August, the only ones who remember what the President said about the Gates case will be people who posted in this thread.

You vastly overestimate the importance of offhand remarks by the President.

White Americans of both parties who have been unjustifiably accused of racism sometime in their own lives or who have a friend or family member who lost a promotion or couldn't dismiss a underpreforming employee because of fear of being labled a "racist" will remember this past August.

Obama took a side based on skin color and called a police officer "stupid" who was just doing his job. Yes he didn't say much but it was clear from what he said where his bias was.

[Boblobla]

Originally Posted by Calgaryborn

White Americans of both parties who have been unjustifiably accused of racism sometime in their own lives or who have a friend or family member who lost a promotion or couldn't dismiss a underpreforming employee because of fear of being labled a "racist" will remember this past August.

Obama took a side based on skin color and called a police officer "stupid" who was just doing his job. Yes he didn't say much but it was clear from what he said where his bias was.

They took our jobs.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by MelBridgeman

You still haven't read the police report, hey?
Also since when is making potentially false accusations protected by the constitution?

Please show me where in the police report it says that Gates was aggressive. Here, I'll help you, since it's still on my desktop: it doesn't, because you made it up. He offered no threat of violence to the officer. He just hurt the officer's feelings--and if you can't handle that, you shouldn't be a cop.

Fortunately, speech is still protected by the constitution. I hope for all our sakes that it remains so forever.

[VladtheImpaler]

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

Please show me where in the police report it says that Gates was aggressive. Here, I'll help you, since it's still on my desktop: it doesn't, because you made it up. He offered no threat of violence to the officer. He just hurt the officer's feelings--and if you can't handle that, you shouldn't be a cop.

Fortunately, speech is still protected by the constitution. I hope for all our sakes that it remains so forever.

Well, not anymore for you, now that you are back in Canada...

[Igottago]

Originally Posted by Calgaryborn

White Americans of both parties who have been unjustifiably accused of racism sometime in their own lives or who have a friend or family member who lost a promotion or couldn't dismiss a underpreforming employee because of fear of being labled a "racist" will remember this past August.

Laughable..I don't think anyone should be unjustifiably labelled a racist, but you make it sound like white people are being victimized by this on some massive scale.

If you think that somehow minorities are getting promotions or keeping jobs because they are minorities and can just play the race card, then I'd urge you to check out who'se driving your cab or cleaning your office building. Trust me, "white people" still have it pretty damn good in terms of holding positions of influence.

[Bagor]

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

Please show me where in the police report it says that Gates was aggressive.

I haven't read the report but some reports are reporting that it says that Gates became belligerent?