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OUTRAGE: President Obama Owes Sgt. James Crowley an Apology: [Updated: 911 and Arrest Tapes Released: Audio Linked ]

By: Swamp_Yankee (Diary)  |  July 23rd, 2009 at 11:03 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

[Update: 911 tapes and arrest tapes released. The tapes reveal a level headed and rational Sgt. Crowley. Fight Obama's Slander.Here. Here.]

[Update: Support Thaddeus McCotter's Resolution Demanding That Obama Apologize.]

A good cop vindicated. Gates discredited. Obama undermined – undermined during a week of great legislative importance. Obama exposed – exposed for being the radical sympathizer and anti-cop liberal that he is. It was the grass roots that stopped the “lynching” of a good cop by the MSM; the Harvard elite; the Obama machine and their enablers. The police union is still asking for an actual apology from Obama and Deval. So fight on. But enjoy the show. Here… Here… Here… Here.

New Poll: Obama’s Presser Flops.

Good reads: Steyn. Patterico. Pajamas Media.

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[Update: An 'I Support Cambridge Police Sgt James Crowley' facebook page goes up Thursday evening. Thousands already joined. Fight Harvard Elites and Obama's Slander.]

[Update: Sgt. Crowley radio interview with local sports station WEEI. Fight Harvard Elites and Obama's Slander.]
__________________________________________________________________

President Obama stepped in a heaping pile of manure yesterday, when he injected himself into the Gates-Crowley affair. He is wrong and he owes Sgt. James Crowley and the Cambridge Police Department an apology.

For those not familiar with the Gates-Crowley story, I urge you to read the back story. Here. And read Obama’s comments. Here.

But don’t believe the mainstream media hype. Henry Louis Gates Jr. is a prominent scholar at Harvard University. He is a powerful man; a friend of Obama. And he is a devious, race baiting, anti-American intellectual.

The mainstream media, the Harvard faculty and elites worldwide jumped to Gates defense. Don’t believe them. Gates is not a victim. This story is a tinderbox. Its an inflamatory subject that has the potential to blow up.

Obama used a national platform to slander the reputation of decorated police officer on behalf of his radical friend. This is serious. Obama is not a post-racial healer; his comments exposed his loyalties. He is a cohort of Jeramiah Wright, Charles Ogletree, Henry Louis Gates Jr. and other divisive, race obsessed, elitist intellectuals.

The fact that he used his press conference to state that Sgt. Crowley “acted stupidly” and then interject the topic of racial profiling into this local story is astounding. This is similar to Obama’s immediate support of exiled Honduran President Zelaya. Again, Obama’s ill-informed reflexive impulse exposed his true nature as a neo-Marxist sympathizer.

Sgt. Crowley deserves no such rebuke, especially not from the President of the United States on national television. Crowley was responding to a specific call regarding a break-in. Crowley acted appropriately.

It was Gates who was out of line. Amongst other egregious acts, it was Gates who told Crowley “I’ll speak with your mama outside”, when Crowley asked Gates to step outside. Yet, Gates demands that Crowley “beg” for forgiveness. Gates is an angry petty man. That Crowley’s reputation was dragged through the mud by Obama is shameful.

As reported in the Boston Herald:

Crowley, an 11-year veteran of the force, oversees the evidence room, paid details and records unit. He also coaches youth basketball, baseball and softball. Joseph McDonald, a former director of public safety at Brandeis, said Crowley was “a real pro,” calling Gates’ racial profiling charge “strange”. “You just do the job as a cop. You don’t look at the color of skin. You’re just trying to help people,” said McDonald, 57. In a statement expressing its “full and unqualified support” for Crowley, the Cambridge Police Superior Officers Association called its brother a “highly respected veteran supervisor with a distinguished record. “His actions at the scene of this matter were consistent with his training, with the informed policies and practices of the department and with applicable legal standards.”

It was a young Crowley, who tried to save former Boston Celtic star and African-American, Reggie Lewis, years ago and cried for days because he could not save him:

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 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. It’s a date Crowley still can recite by rote – and he still recalls the pain he suffered when people back then questioned whether he had done enough to save the black athlete. “Some people were saying ‘There’s the guy who killed Reggie Lewis’ afterward. I was broken-hearted. I cried for many nights,” Crowley, 42, said he’s not a racist, despite how some have cast his actions in the Gates case. “Those who know me know I’m not,” he said.

Even working class Obama supporters in the Democratic enclave of Boston are stunned by Obama’s comments. This is about working Americans versus Harvard educated elites; post racial Americans versus race baiters; and law abiding citizens and law enforcement officials versus those who think they are above the law.

Obama stepped in it. Police associations are appalled. And the more people learn of the true record of Sgt. Crowley and the facts of this case, the more people will become appalled.
_______________________________________________________________________

Avoid MSM spin. Fight Harvard Elites and Obama’s Slander. Odds and ends:

Obama blaming media for Gates-Crowley woes.

The officer who Obama claimed “acted stupidly” receives stellar reviews for teaching a racial profiling class for five years with no pay.

NRCC goes on the attack on behalf of cops and exposes Obama’s phony post racial meme..

The police commissioner speaks about “pain” Obama caused.

Police Unions Claim Obama Dead Wrong.

Robert “Your Mama” Louis Gates Police Report.

Bill Cosby Blasts Obama.

Reliable Boston Herald Article on Crowley.

Michael Graham Examines Gates.

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COMMENTS

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  • rocketeer

    > This is about working Americans versus Harvard educated elites;

    Hammer, meet nail. The attitude of “I’m from (Harvard, U of C, you name it) and so I have a higher calling.”

    • ashland_avenue

      Here is how Skip Gates described America’s social situation in an interview with Martha’s Vineyard Magazine:

      “What are some of the biggest problems you see facing the United States today?

      “The gap in economic achievement, without a doubt. Whereas fifty years ago, race was the most important problem facing the United States, it?s class today. We have to figure out how to move people from the non-working class to the working class, and from the working class to the middle class. It?s a problem for all people now, not just black people. People are terrified because of the shrinking size of the pie, and when people are frightened, they become suspicious of each other. Homophobia, anti-black racism, anti-Semitism, and sexism all increase in times of scarcity. People scapegoat other people. The biggest problem facing a Barack Obama administration is going to be how to regenerate the economy and increase economic mobility for all Americans ? for the white people in West Virginia with whom I grew up, but also for black and brown people and everyone else in the inner cities. ”

      And he’s not a lower class guy. Here, in his words:

      “There are several things I love to do on the Vineyard. The first is ride my tricycle. I have two adult tricycles, and I ride every day on the same route, to South Beach. It?s eight miles from the front door of my house to South Beach, and sometimes I get off the tricycle and go look at the waves. Then I turn around and ride back. That?s what I do every day unless it rains.

      “I come down to the Island July 1 and leave in mid-September. The first thing I do when I arrive is buy a half a dozen new Inkwell T-shirts. I love the Vineyard so much that I named my film production company Inkwell Films, and I started a family foundation called the Inkwell Foundation [an outgrowth of his interest in helping African Americans trace their roots, the foundation aims to use genetic and genealogical research to reform the teaching of science and history in schools].

      “Most of my friends who summer on the Island come in August, and in August, I?m usually having dinner at their houses. In July, I go to a movie almost every night, and I eat out every night. I never cook. I?m either sponging off friends, or I?m at one of the restaurants. I try to sample them all ? new and old. ”

      The full interview is here http://www.mvmagazine.com/article.php?17721

      • ashland_avenue

        The Obamas and Gates have been summer neighbors

        “I?ve talked to Obama several times, and I like and admire him. I?ve made the maximum allowable contribution to his candidacy. He?s been on the Vineyard two summers in a row, and I hope that that continues. ”

        (From the same MV Magazine interview)

      • winghunter1

        Gates linked to radical black, communist activists
        http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=105028

        Henry Gates Rant In 1996 On “Racist White Institutions”
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRlIdFcWd5k

        Obama?s A Racist
        http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/07/obamas_a_racist.html

        Barack Obama’s Connections to Socialism, Communism and Racial Divisiveness
        http://www.articlesbase.com/politics-articles/barack-obamas-connections-to-socialism-communism-and-racial-divisiveness-591732.html

  • http://andrightlyso.com/ civil_truth

    …and Obama, who is the product that put the lie to his “post-racial” claims by instinctively returning to his 70s radical hostility towards the police that views them as the enemy of the black community, stirring up racial conflict in the process.

    Way to go Mr. President. You have convicted a man of a supposed “crime” that he neither has been indicted for nor put on trial, and where the facts are in fundamental dispute. Not to mention your once again complaining of institutional racism.

    Great job of putting out the fire by pouring gasoline on it.

    Just imagine the opposite scenario, that the neighbor reported a break-in, the police didn’t respond, and Mr. Gates was assaulted and robbed by this robber. Imagine the charges of racism of the police ignoring their duties to protect citizens.

    It’s Mr. Gates who decided to presume racism by the police answering a complaint, and things escalated from there, just like happened many times in the bad-old days of the 70s.

    • Swamp_Yankee

      This has some legs. At least enough to give Obama some problems as he tries to twist arms over health care this week.

      Locally, its blowing up talk radio. Now the police unions are making statements:

      http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=8153681&page=1

    • http://www.marklaiminger.org Lammo

      rears his ugly head.

      The wheels are coming off, the wheels are coming off, thank God almighty, the wheels are coming off!!!!!!

      • Aaron Gardner
      • olsmithie
  • Swamp_Yankee

    • $peciallist
  • $peciallist

    spread this around

  • longwalker

    In truth, facts are dangerous to the Liberal ethos. That is why Gore can still talk about “global warming” and Obama about “you will be able to keep your present health insurance.”

    I suspect that if Gates had been a typical white Harvard professor and acted in the same manner, the arrest would still have taken place. Harvard professors have a well deserved reputation as being overbearing asses when dealing with the “lower orders.”

    The claim of “racial profiling” is completely without foundation. The police responded to a neighbor’s call not to the sight of a black man in a house. If it had been my house, I would have been pleased that the neighbor took the trouble of calling the police and that the police had responded quickly.

    I would expect that the police conduct a proper investigation as they did. I would not have liked it if they simpily took my word. Anyone can claim to be the lawful resident.

    If the police were “stupid.” and the person in the house was not Gates, he would have returned to an empty house – it has happened more than once in other places.

    Professor Gates is the racist in this incident and President Obama is still playing the “race card.’

    • Swamp_Yankee

      This is the biggest red herring of all. Completely bogus claim. And Obama took the bait.

      Without push back, that is the type of thing that could cost this man his career. This is Cambridge Mass. This has only just begun. There will be rallies, lawsuits and what not.

      I

  • bs

    make me fear for a situation where the safety of the nation depends upon him making rational decisions. Again, this buffoon’s utter lack of experience in anything except campaigning is showing through.

    • antisocial

      bloom is coming off the rose….

      You can’t lie to the voters and fool them forever….

  • Swamp_Yankee

    Today, press chief states that Obama was not calling police “stupid”, but does not retract “acting stupidly” comment.

    http://www.sfexaminer.com/nation/ap/51496637.html

    • 6eorge Jetson

      otherwise he wouldn’t be “stuck in” the police department <\snark>

  • neum432

    As a law enforcement officer I have dealt with issues like this before. I have been accused of being a racist before I had an opportunity to determine what color a person’s skin actually is. It puts an officer on the defensive.

    This was a power stroke by Gates…he knew what he was doing! He felt empowered to stick it to a white cop. The officer had to follow through and arrest him for disorderly conduct due to Gate’s actions in front of a crowd of onlookers.

    Now Gate’s can go around on CNN and MSNBC and cry racism all he wants. He created this story by his actions. A true radical.

    • 6eorge Jetson

  • http://web.mac.com/mayo99/iWeb/Site/VladBlog/VladBlog.html Vladimir

    …when a major newspaper in a city in the deep South describes the color of perpetrators’ clothing and the color of their guns, but not the color of their skin:

    The three victims described the suspects as two men — one about 6 feet tall, the other about 5-foot-5 — wearing dark clothing and using dark-colored guns, Fortunato said. No specific suspects have been named.

    Political correctness run amok.

    • http://web.mac.com/mayo99/iWeb/Site/VladBlog/VladBlog.html Vladimir

      Here.

      P.S. Ignore the comments.

    • http://www.phxgonline.com phxg

      Except the AZ Republic will not publish their characteristics if they are Hispanic.

      Also, if the story is about a non-Hispanic, comments are opened, but most times when it’s about a Hispanic, they close the comments section.

      Complacency with illegal immigration is the name of the media game here in AZ.

  • larueladue

    WIll Crowley have any legal recourse to bring against the President, due to the unique sort of interference he brought to the case, if some sort of charges are brought against him? Could this really start to dog the Pres. legally, since he decided to pry into this?

    • Swamp_Yankee

      I never really practiced torts, but I wondered myself. I doubt it, but it would be interesting. Especially if the press attention forced Crowley out.

      “Acting stupidly” is not really strong grounds for a defamation suit because it is too subjective. But if Crowley is injured by Obama’s statements and it can be shown that Crowley followed proper police procedure, maybe.

      • Achance

        by his union. On the facts that have come to light, there’s really nothing the city/state could do to him that would stick, at least nothing stronger than some sort of letter in his file about demeanor or professional judgement. Trouble is, Crowley is just a piece on the board and it might be more important to the union and to management to do something more dramatic to Crowley for the political advantage. It is real easy to let an arbitrator know the outcome you both desire in an arbitration, so the union and the employer wink and nod, the arbitrator goes along with it, and Crowley is another Obama/Democrat victim plastered to the underside of the bus.

        On the other hand, Comrade Obama may want to use this for his own political purposes in which case Rahm Emmanuel or somebody like that will call the appropriate city/state official and tell them the USDOJ is coming to bring Section 1983 charges against Crowley and his chain of command for violating Gates’ civil rights under color of office. I’ll guarantee you that they’ll hang Crowley on the courthouse steps rather than have their names in the paper over a civil rights complaint.

        Anybody want to be a cop? Better, anybody want to be the politically appointed boss of the cop shop? It’s a dirty business.

        • Swamp_Yankee

          Boston area unions are tough and loyal.

          Cambridge is as liberal as Berkeley and as intense as New York City. The Harvars alumni have a long reach. It may just become too much of a hassle for Crowley. He may just seek greener pastures in some small New Hampshire town. In a sense, he may become comprimised. Every time a minority, and there are many in Cambridge, sees the name ‘Crowley’ pinned to his chest, there will be be a war cry. These people hate cops and America. That’s not hyperbole.

          But I dont know how Obama could use this for his own political purposes. He has the Harvard Marxists, the black radicals and the moonbat Left. Declaring war on the Thin Blue Line would be political suicide.

          http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20090723cop_union_obama_shouldnt_have_weighed_in/

          • Achance

            the price. In exhange for some “great service” from the employer, virtually all unions will shuck an employee or a meritorious grievance. The price is often high, but right now unions and Democrats think they’re on the verge of rulling the World, so one sergeant isn’t really very important in the overall scheme of things.

          • 6eorge Jetson

            Socialite: “My goodness, Mr. Churchill… Well, I suppose… we would have to discuss terms, of course… ”
            Churchill: “Would you sleep with me for five pounds?”
            Socialite: “Mr. Churchill, what kind of woman do you think I am?!” Churchill: “Madam, we’ve already established that. Now we are haggling about the price.”

          • basalt_conservative

            “Cambridge is as liberal as Berkeley and as intense as New York City.”

            LOL! I love that line!

        • http://andrightlyso.com/ civil_truth

          …if things go further. The question is whether he would have to take such claims to arbitration, where he could get sandbagged, or whether he could go to court to argue that his right to court redress of misconduct/due process claims cannot be substituted by forced arbitration under a contract of adhesion.

          If he were to get a date in court, certainly Obama – as the chief executive officer of the nation – could arguable have ‘poisoned the well” with his rash prejudicial statement. And the prospect of that might give pause to the state-run tar-and-feathers goon squad.

          At least I would hope that Crowley has some firepower to resist. He certainly should be in a position to get funding and legal counsel if he gets run over by the Obama perpetual campaign bus.

          • larueladue
  • http://www.criterionchemical.com Chemical Sam

    I saw the headllines, but didn’t really have the time to look yesterday. Now, see, I only found out here that the guy tried to save the life of a black man who dropped dead from a heart attack on a basketball court. I love this website! It’s a sorrow that I have to come here for accurate news, but, that’s what I do.

    Who wants to bet on whether or not the National Action Network sends their fave mouthpiece anyway? I’ll say this much, if Sharpton doesn’t give a speech from the Harvard Campus on this one, that’s the ultimate tell that they know that Obama stepped in it big this time.

  • muffin

    1. Open your mouth

    2. Insert your feet

    3. Chew on your toes awhile

    4. Apologize

    http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D99KBEAO1&show_article=1

  • Jack_Savage

    The only people worthy of praise are race baiting jackasses. Those who are worthy of scorn are law enforcement, soldiers, honest business people, doctors and certain car dealerships, just to name a few.

    All ivy league universities, especially Harvard, have become jokes and facades, still living off the accomplishments of their ancestors like pathetic fifth-generation trust funders.

    I hope someone breaks into Gates’ house and does what criminals do, and the police don’t move a muscle. What a loser jerk.

  • http://www.scottbomb.com scottbomb

    Amazing.

    http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0723092gates1.html

  • randy streu

    pretty much would’ve been the headline of the blog I don’t have to write now because you did it for me. Nicely done, Swamp.

    It’s impossible to overstate what ***kup this is on Obama’s part. I’ve been angry since hearing about this story.

    Here’s a thought, Gates, you race-baiting asshat, how about next time somebody breaks into your nice, Harvard Grad home and claims to live there, the cops just let ‘im be. Wouldn’t want them to victimize the poor guy, after all.

    • Swamp_Yankee

      So it may seem a little dated. I wasnt sure teh outrage was going to catch on. but Drudge and others picked up the story.

      Your right. This is a huge blunder for Obama. I thought it might sneak under the radar. But he just lost about a million cop votes last night.

      And its bigger than politics, This is ground zero in the culture war. The initial story was all pro-Gates because of his Harvard ties, the liberal press and Obama.

      But this is great. The working class, the cops and even blue collar Dems are really pissed and fighting back. Gates is running around making demands. Before this is done it will be Obama who will be issuing apologies.

      • randy streu

        won’t that be an interesting turn of events….

        • Big Apple Infidel

          It’s long past time for white people to stand-up and push-back against the constant drumbeat of racial invective aimed at them by liberal and black elites. This has been going on for generations now and its time for it to stop already.

          White is the new black!

      • hoosierteacher

        We only have a few dems (including a captain). Not one of them is happy with Obama on this one (to put it VERY mildly).

        I think Obama has certainly lost the law enforcement vote (if he ever had it), but also the “law and order” vote of many citizens. From what I’m hearing at the watercooler at work (from DEMOCRATS), it sounds like this incident will be credited for the downfall of Obama’s presidency.

        • Swamp_Yankee

          Powerful statement.

          This is hurting him more than many conservative pundits realize. If Obama’s health care blunders = Clinton’s heath care blunders. This may be like Clinton’s gays in the military. The issue that outs him as a tired old liberal.

          Living in Boston, I knew he was in trouble when local loyal Democrat civil service unions starting spewing venom towards him. I have never seen so much animosity directed at Obama here.

          It’s not the liberal. Its the old line Reagan Democrats and lunch bucket Democrats who are disillusioned at best, and more like down right pissed.

          • hoosierteacher

            …lost in the shuffle of the story is that the other man involved in the incident was the prof’s chauffer. It doesn’t get more elitist than that.

            I think that Obama is going to get tagged with some hefty labels over this incident. Elitist for one. Race baiting for another. Anti law enforcement for a third.

            If this story takes off (I don’t know why RS hasn’t put it on the front page yet), I expect Obama’s polls to sink well below 50% by the end of next week. Americans gravitate towards fairness, and towards the “little guy”. They don’t like race baiting, and this episode might speak to more voters than “policy wonkish” issues.

            I think everyone is in for a big surprise on how this issue turns out. I really think this is more damning than the lost jobs, cap and trade, spending, the deficit, taxes, and health care. It speaks directly to the American people regardless of income or education. It is a profound error that this president has made, and I’m going to enjoy my popcorn as I watch the spectacle over the next few days.

          • eburke

            that are unexpected but that resonate with the average Joe Lunchbucket guy and gal because it touches so many visceral reaction points.

            It doesn’t take a Harvard genius to grasp the asinity of saying “Now I don’t know all the facts” right before you launch into a diss of a working class stiff. What resonates is that a huge chunk of working class stiffs have had bosses who have had not a clue as to what’s going on in a situation and proceed to unfairly attack them or a co-worker.

            Which plays into what I believe is a much larger narrative that’s occuring in our country right now which is a ‘class’ thing…and I don’t mean class envy. I believe that the average person is sick to death of ‘big’ everything – business, government, labor, you name it. It’s not an anti-rich thing as much as it is an anti-elite, anti-too powerful to be held accountable thing.

            If you’re an American Idol voter, who swooned when The One promised to be different, you just watched the most powerful man in the world trash a working class stiff after right after admitting you didn’t know what the hell happened.

            Yeah…this is the kind of thing that resonates.

          • Swamp_Yankee

            Via Hot Air – numbers went down after the presser.

            39% strongly dissapprove.

            http://hotair.com/archives/2009/07/25/rasmussen-obamas-presser-backfired/

            That’s what happens when you co-opt primetime television to bash a cop and support a black racist pal.

          • Richard Mullins

            So it’s not working for him and will drive him down all the way into the 30′s.

          • eburke

            numbers, which have been dropping like a rock for the last 2 weeks. His overall approval ratings are also in the tank though as he was negative again this morning by -2%, 49 – 51%. Like you said, bashing a cop on prime-time ain’t exactly an effective way to get those numbers heading in the other direction.

            And the sound from the MSM?

            Chirp

            Chirp

            Chirp

        • hoosierteacher

          11% drop in the polls? I think the Gates disaster is the beginning of the end.

          Those of us who follow politics know about the Sotomayor statements, the Ricci case, the Honduras issue, Cap and Trade, Health reform, the slaughter in Iran, etc.

          But the average Joe who has little time for the news will hear this story and relate with it. This was Waterloo, not health reform. Obama’s “Emperor’s Clothing” is gone.

          Now the question is, will the devestation carry over into the midterm elections? The numbers look daunting, but so many misteps so early…

    • 6eorge Jetson

      • 6eorge Jetson

        nt

      • randy streu

        nt.

        • Swamp_Yankee

          I must be Gates. The kid is too fat to be the Long Legged Mack Daddy.

          • larueladue

            in his younger, formative years….. I love it…. Long-Legged Mack Daddy….. heheheh….

  • Big Apple Infidel

    The racist in this story is Gates.

    Crowley was investigating a burglary in progress called-in by a known witness, at a house that had recently been burglarized. Gates should have simply identified himself, explained that he was the person forcing the door and thanked the officer for looking out for his property.

    But Gates could not do that because he is a racist, cop-hating polemicist. His entire professional career is based on propagating the argument that white people oppress blacks. Gates and Obama both owe Crowley an apology.

    This doesn’t even fit a racial profiling scenario. This wasn’t some cop exercising prejudicial discretion to stop a black man for no reason. Crowley was professionally investigating a possible crime in progress.

    Obama’s immediate and complete repudiation of Crowley is an indication of his own latent racist feelings about white people in general and the activities of cops in particular.

    • Swamp_Yankee

      Its the abuse of power that is giving this story legs.

      To think Obama co-opted primetime television in the name of health care and the press used that time to bash one lone honest cop about one small local case without the facts is an outrage.

      Gates, playing the victim, represents the powerful here. He abused his power. Obama, eternally playing the black card, is the powerful here and he abused his power. They are so wrapped up playing the victims, they fail to see their own abuses of power and acts of elitism and oppression.

      Crowley is the honest victim of their collusion and he was almost destroyed because of it.

      • The_Rebel

        co-ordinated by that Obama stooge from Chicago, Lynn Sweet of the Sun-Times. It was a simple question, so why did she have to read it from a notepad word for word? What kind of a journalist is she?

        As for Gates playing the victim, on the contrary, he should be given administrative leave from his Harvard position for such an outburst. Do the parents of students attending his classes want their children to be indoctrinated with this racist, anti-American professor? Are they paying attention? Probably not.

        • http://www.suvstrategery.blogspot.com SoFiMil

          It was a fair question, a prominent story in the news. (The Investors Business Daily story was also in the news too, which Obama claimed to know nothing about.)

          In practice sessions for the presser, I’m sure large parts, if not the entirety of his prime-time response, was used — including the joke. His response wasn’t off-the-cuff, and he and his staff had discussed the incident and came up with their answer — which Obama delivered to perfection.

          This makes the blame Obama’s placed on the police officer all the more galling. Did anyone in the White House object and say, “Wait just a darn minute! We can’t say this. Not only are the liberal talking points factually incorrect, but at the very least this would be a politically STUPID thing to say.”

          If this conversation did take place, the only word Obama remembered was “stupid.”

  • nessa

    It would be nice if it hurts BO more than any of Murtha’s judicial decrees hurt him. I won’t be holding my breath waiting for it though.

    • E Pluribus Unum

      I would like to steal that phrase and use the heck out of that, nessa.

      • nessa

        Murtha-
        Function: verb
        a. to unjustly malign an individual or group in the media basing the malignant statements on assumptions, lies, ideological differences and anything that DOES NOT involve facts.
        Etymology: First popularized by John A**clown Murtha, and still used often by him, it is a popular political ploy with leftists, the peace at any price crowd and race-baiters.
        Murtha-d
        Murtha-er
        Murtha-ite

  • paint_it_red

    WH Spokesman Gibbs borrows Obama’s preface to dubious assertions to which he will not tolerate discourse and states:

    “Let me be clear. He was not calling the officer stupid, OK?” Gibbs told reporters on Air Force One. “He was denoting that … at a certain point the situation got far out of hand, and I think all sides understand that.”

    I think what all sides understand is when you say someone acted stupidly, you are insulting them. We knew from yesterday Obama thought the police are stupid. Now we know his administration must think we are all stupid to buy such thinly veiled horse crap.

    Can you imagine if a Republican said something like this? The MSM would be all over it, and rightfully so.

    The worse part is he didn’t have the facts and he asserted a cop was stupid because someone cried racism. The facts didn’t matter to him. His friend was right and the unknown white cop had to be stupid. It had to be about a pervasive social problem of profiling.

    In typical Obama style, his surrogate gives a dismissal to an issue or pseudo-apology, and Obama reasserts himself, saying today, “I have to say I am surprised by the controversy surrounding my statement,”

    Well, the Fraternal Order of Police is not surprised by the controversy, and if the POTUS had any integrity, he’d apologize. If he can’t see that, there’s a certain pejorative moniker floating around folks might think aptly fits him.

    • randy streu

      Really. This insulting crap from the Obama camp is fuel for the fire, and I’d love to reco and link this just as much as Swamp’s story.

    • Swamp_Yankee

      Because even Gump knows: Stupid is as stupid does.

      Yes Gibby, saying a good cop “acted stupidly” is calling him stupid.

      • randy streu

        “Just when I think you’ve said the stupidest thing ever, ya keep talkin’.”

      • http://impudent.blognation.us/blog kyle8

        Was he the Bee Gee with the overbite, the big hair, or the one with no hair?

      • basalt_conservative

        55555, etc.

    • eburke

      saying a cop acted stupidly….

      or Bambi saying “Now I don’t have all the facts” before making a sweeping indictment based on …. an admitted lack of facts.

      George Orwell – you have arrived.

    • http://www.suvstrategery.blogspot.com SoFiMil

      ?Let me be clear. He was not calling the officer stupid, OK?? Gibbs told reporters on Air Force One.

      Just to make sure your post wasn’t satire, I ran the quote and sure enough, Gibbs said it.

  • $peciallist
    • Xasteius
  • equitare

    I was in training at one of the Harvard hospitals for six years, living in Cambridge before moving only one month ago. Several weeks ago I was walking along our main street, Massachusetts Avenue, in Harvard Square, the most quaint and picturesque area for which the University is most famous.

    Enjoying the sunny afternoon my thoughts suddenly were interrupted by the sounds of someone yelling and screaming. The person was causing a scene, using very bad language, repeatedly saying “f***” so and so and “f***ing” such and such. The tirade was grating on me so I turned around to see what all the fuss was about. Can you guess who I saw?

    Yes, indeed. It was Henry Louis Gates. I studied his work in college. I enjoyed his PBS special when it aired. And I tell you I was absolutely shocked to see this man throwing a tantrum in the middle of the street.

    I don’t know what it was about. Maybe a parking ticket? Maybe a scratch on his car? What an incredible coincidence that I witnessed that then. And this happens now.

    Had I not seen it with my own two eyes I would have had much more skepticism about the cops’ story.

    I believe Gates got in those cops faces and made a big nuisance of himself. He has made a career of promoting and selling the oppression of blacks. He sees the world through this one, tired, self-serving narrative.

    He strikes me as one always ready for a fight. This time he got one.

    Equitare

    • izoneguy

      http://www.zazzle.com/ill_speak_with_your_mama_outside_tshirt-235090175211093481

      Maybe Gates and Rev. Wright can go a yelling tour together…..

    • aesthete

      That he would consider such a man a friend.

    • Swamp_Yankee

      …. at Mr. Bartley’s in Harvard Square. But the Mitt Romney burger still takes the cake.

  • antisocial

    He gives this a profiling twist…..

    Am I the only one who feels shades of Jeremiah Wright?

    • eburke

      the Rev’s racial tirades so, ummm….can’t hang this on Jerry.

      ::rolling eyes::

    • 6eorge Jetson

      had ∅ not raised it to a Presidential press conference level.

      Gates is at least partially correct in that this series of events would have happened to a white Harvard professor. Like Gates, the white Harvard professor would have been hauled down to the police station, played the “don’t you know who I am” elitist card, and been released.

      Where it starts to differ is at this point with the press interest. The white professor would have gotten away with playing the elitist card because no one in the media would have cared about a <ElitistGoggles>lowly</ElitistGoggles> white cop versus an <ElitistGoggles>esteemed</ElitistGoggles> white professor. Too bad these geniuses didn’t realize the line they were crossing when they went national lead story with their self-serving indignation, giving the <ElitistGoggles>lowly</ElitistGoggles> white cop a stage from which he would be heard nationally.

      • Swamp_Yankee

        Your right, Gates would have had much more leverage without Obama

        Obama also would have much more clout in the health care debate if he never opened his mouth. This is exactly the type of issue that will not go over well in Blue Dog districts. Obama just lost a lot of leverage this week as he tries to artwist Blue Dogs into voting.

        Democrats like Heath Shuler are probably trying to run away from Obama at this point.

        • antisocial

          Drudge report has this up….

          http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25381.html

          “I think the Fraternal Order of Police endorsed McCain,” Gibbs fired back at reporters, referring to Obama’s Republican opponent in the 2008 election. “If I’m not mistaken.”

          So ….. POTUS is going to bully all voters/organizations that endorsed/voted for John McCain ?

          RADICAL MARXISTS…..

          • nessa

            OOPS! I would take that as a tacit admission of pay to play in the administration. Not that I didn’t already know that but it’s nice to have it confirmed.

          • Aaron Gardner

            What an incompetent tool!!!

          • antisocial

            minds and hearts of the members of the gang that is called Barack Obama Administration.

  • http://www.suvstrategery.blogspot.com SoFiMil

    Obama is so gullible to fall for that. He needs to learn to stop listening to the libs? talking points and pay attention to the facts.

  • Right_Again

    If a policeman showed up at my home to ensure someone was not breaking in to rob me I would show him my ID when he requested it and then thank him for his concern for my property.

    But Gates and Obama both jumped to the same conclusion that the whole situation was racially motivated. The policeman was justified in hauling him off for his arrogant abuse of an officer. I would expect the same treatment from a policeman whether the offender was black, white or purple.

    Gates presumed that being an important Harvard professor allowed him to browbeat and bully a lowly policeman. Fortunately he picked one who would not be cowed by his abuse. This allowed us to see that Gates and Obama are cut from the same cloth. Both are willing to see racism as the problem when it is really their own elitism that is the problem.

  • Rod_Patrick
  • Swamp_Yankee

    “Does Michael Capuano believe President Obama?s comments were becoming of someone who holds the highest office in the land?? said NRCC Communications Director Ken Spain.

    Obama as “cop bashing liberal” as a means to lure conservative Reagan Democrats. Republicans used to crush liberal and Democrats with the “crime” issue back in the day until mainstream Dems officially walked away from it in the Clinton.

    Story from Politco above

  • Right_Again

    I suppose using the logic (or lack thereof) in Barack’s follow-up response all middle-aged guys with a cane are now exempt from showing proper respect to policemen. Abuse away! The police would act stupidly to arrest you for that. The Commander-In-Chief so declares.

  • Achance

    The moral of this story is that cops are more loyal to cops than anyone else. There’s probably a political price to be paid by those union leaders for openly opposing Comrade Obama, but to their credit they stood by their member. They don’t always, though.

    • Swamp_Yankee

      The cops were definately buoyed by public support. The anger is palpable.

      The first 12 hours of this story were all about Gates’ version, racism and the repercussions for Crowley.

      That’s how the MSM spun it.

      But I love grass roots actions like this. Once people saw the Crowley was being ‘lynched’ by Gates, Harvard, the mainstream media and Obama, there was a tremendous pushback.

      The cops an the unions know the people have their back.

      Joe Q. Public = 1

      Liberal Harvard Elites = 0

      • Common_Cents

        Many headlines say “Cop refuses to apologize” implying that he is in fact guilty.

        Why aren’t they saying “Gates refuses to apologize” ?

      • Achance

        of the character of a “Black Studies” professor at Hahvud. Fair or not, there are some assumptions that many would make.

        • IJB

          He’s bounced back and forth between several of the Ivies, IIRC.

          He’s definitely been known to be volatile (at least since the early 90s) – that’s why I was surprised to here on RS from a Cambridge, MA poster who was surprised to see Gates lose it on someone in Harvard Square. He’s been known to do that kind of stuff for ages.

          This is what happens when you coddle people for PC reasons – you end up creating a monster.

          But the Left will never learn…

  • bk

    That was part of Charles Krauthammer’s take. Classic!

  • SteveLA

    I’ve been reading this morning that there are 911 tapes of the call and to some extent the confrontation. I’d really like to see those tapes and what I suspect are the foul and racist rants coming from the Professor’s mouth.

    I somehow doubt this will happen soon.

  • The_Gadfly

    The Big 0 has finally publicly made a blatant racist statement about an honest cop doing his job. We know Sotomayor is also a racist attempting to hide it. Is there now room to openly discuss this?

  • janis

    his remarks about this situation, including the info that Obama has spoken with Sgt. Crowley and pronounced him a “good man.” The whole thrust of Obama’s remarks and appearance speak to his fear that this incident was getting way, way too dangerous for him. The remarks from him went on to suggest that he hoped that his actions at this point would “tamp down the rhetoric” on this subject and instead make it a “teaching moment where we learn to listen to one another better.”

    He’s an incompetent hypocrite with delusions of grandeur. Who do you suppose will be the last one to capitulate to the realization that Barrack Obama is heading to the elevated position of “Proven totally incompetent in 6 short months as POTUS”—his supporters, the MSM (same, I know) or Obama himself? I’m betting Obama, but it’s a close run thing as his true believers are as delusional as he is.

    • Swamp_Yankee

      Take his admission and rub him into the ground with it.

  • Swamp_Yankee

    Created last night. Link above.

  • Swamp_Yankee

    Links above. Steyn is hysterical as always.

  • redneck_hippie

    It is up to us to capitalize on the fallout from this as well as on substantive policy errors. We’ve got work to do. Pelosi is on the march.

    • janis

      He thought he was doing something really smart, that slamming a police officer on national TV was just the most righteous thing he could have said. As to him “not knowing all the details”, boy, did he ever say a mouthful there! The officers accompanying him were Hispanic and black, a major detail he really should have been informed of before he shot off his big ignorant mouth.

      I think we’ve got lots of help in capitalizing on this one, redneck hippie. As to Pelosi being on the march, that brings to mind some scenes from “Night of the Living Dead”. Lots of bodies, no brains.

      • redneck_hippie
    • Swamp_Yankee

      Remember, the stimulus debate. Obama’s numbers were sky high. There was a sense that “something” needed to be done. When you are that popular, you can use your office as a bullypit to persuade people to do what you want.

      This week and the next couple of months, as the Dem leadership tries to coerce Blue Dogs and persuade RINOs to join them on hot button issues, they wont have Obama’s popularity to fall back on. Obama says jump, they wont say how high.

      This is the type of issue that make Dems like Melancon and Shuler walk away from Obama. Obama is probably tanking in their districts right now.

      • redneck_hippie

        be more and more evident as they push to strong arm “something” through the House. It is jarring that they are considering bypassing the committee process so they can get “something” passed immediately.

        On the Gates incident, what comes to mind is live by the race card, die by the race card. Hoisted on his own petard, etc etc.

  • redneck_hippie

    whetrein the public, unprepared for reality, are dumb-struck by Obama’s truly stunning ignorance. His economic failures have opened up the door to the revelation that the emperor has no clothes.

    That, plus, nobody likes to find out their hero is a jackass.

    • janis

      problems that we do right now, redneck hippie. If we were still living large as during the Clinton years, then not many would pay attention. I well remember that when the notion of Clinton’s behavior was brought up, way too many people reflexively said, “But the economy’s so GOOD!”, as if that was the best excuse for the man’s behavior. And to many, I guess, it was, and that’s a sad commentary on the importance of the material over the spiritual.

      Now that the economy flat sucks, many are realizing the value of morality, ethics, hard work, family values, etc. Especially now that we have a POTUS leading the charge to kill as many babies and old folks as possible. As to them finding out that their hero is a jackass, well, that would make him King of the Jackasses, because they fall into that category themselves. It will be interesting to see the ratings for the MSM in another year if they keep covering for him.

      • redneck_hippie

        Take 2 hopes for change and call me in the morning.

        http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives/2009/07/25/sarah-palin-had-a-book/

  • JadedByPolitics

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-07-22/my-daddy-the-jailbird/?cid=hp:beastoriginalsL4

    “Daddy, how did it feel to read in the police report that although you had been cooperative with Sgt. Crowley, while he was standing uninvited in your home, your behavior had been reduced to ?loud and tumultuous? after asking to see to his badge? Were you surprised at the inaccuracy of the police report? ”

    There is only one way to show the racebaiters for what they are RELEASE THE TAPES!

  • LittleL1954

    with his quick uninformed response–black man right, white police man wrong–that is all I need to know to say who is right. Obama has stepped into it again and will continue to as he desires to use his “historic” election to “bring” this nation together–HA! He has done more in 6 months to set race relations back than Sharpton, Jackson (Shelia Lee and Jessie Sr and Jr.) Wright combined. If Obama is not very very careful, he will divide the nation not only economically, socially, religiously but Racial as well. So sad–sad for America

  • Swamp_Yankee

    The trend chart is interesting. TOTUS has lost five points since Wednesday. On Tuesday and Wednesday, he had his best poll numbers in weeks. Then Thursday, a precipitous decline.

    There are few instances in his presidency when he has he lost so much support so quickly.

    http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/obama_approval_index_history

    • Swamp_Yankee

      Pusing 30,000 members in two and halff days. That’s not hits, that’s members. If you havent already, check it out.

      http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=105571724006

  • Swamp_Yankee

    For those with their heads in the sand that still don’t think this resonates, Citizens for Fair Play is selling ‘I support Sergeant Crowley’ wristbands.

    I must admit, this is too much, even for me: But the money is for a good cause:

    http://www.supportcambridgecops.com/CC/Welcome.html