"Obama stands by his assessment of Gates incident"

[jenmito]

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

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/23/756954/-Obama-stands-by

[stray cat]

1. Not unless he is violent which it doesn't appear - verbally abusive maybe

but that shouldn't be enough in your own house.

[jenmito]

2. Even Joe Scarborough, Mike Barnicle, and all the other guys on Morning Joe said

THEY would be angry if that happened to them, too. They added that there's no way it would've even HAPPENED if he were white.

[Cha]

8. Wow, I'm surprised!..I would

have thought they would join the vulture brigade like bill cosby.

Thanks for reporting that he stands by his statement, jen..I'm at work and just looking for the lastest before I wrap this up and head home for real posting.:hi:

[jenmito]

29. So would I have...

it was a pleasant surprise.

No problem! :hi:

[graywarrior]

3. Sorry, I must say this having grown up in MA

Cambridge police suck.

[EFerrari]

5. It was the opposite at Cal. The campus police were goons

but the Berkeley PD rocked. At least in the mid 80s when I was there.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

11. A report I read today said the Cambridge police have been under fire for racial profiling

including arresting a man for using tools on a bike lock for a bike that he owned.

[graywarrior]

17. I could have a personal resentment having been tear gassed by those fuckers

in the 60's. But I lived in Cambridge during the 70's and they intimidated anyone who they considered "different" from them. I have no love for them. NONE. Racist bastards.

[Ian David]

20. My few indirect dealings with them have been negative.

Except for the time I got them to arrest someone I didn't like on a warrant that had been revoked an hour before they showed-up at his door.

In THAT instance, I was kind of GLAD they were dipshits and assholes.

They even took his mugshot without his shirt on.

Poor guy.

Actually, I think it might have been The State Police that served the warrant. It was a long time ago.

Yeah, I think, after all it was the state cops, not Cambridge who arrested the shirtless guy.

Oh, well.

I guess they really have never done anything good for me.

[graywarrior]

31. Hang around Central Sq and see what shits they are.

[Ian David]

4. You mean GatesGate. n/t

[Cha]

10. I already

said that.:)

[Beetwasher]

6. *Snicker* Playing It Up To The Hilt!

I love it. The media feeding frenzy is awesome. Whoops! There goes their massive anti h/c reform propaganda campaign while they run off after this shiny morsel. Meanwhile, Obama's doing real work behind the scenes to get h/c reform accomplished but w/out the idiot media drowning everything in lies and misinformation and w/ the wingnut base all misdirected from the battle and in a frothing rage because of this shiny piece of fools gold.

[jenmito]

7. Did you see what the first thing Crowley said was when asked in an interview outside

how he felt when he hears what Obama said? "I didn't vote for him..." !!!

[SemiCharmedQuark]

9. Did he really?

[jenmito]

24. Yup. They showed it on Countdown tonight.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

25. You should start a thread on that shit.

See who still defends his stupid ass then.

[jenmito]

30. Good idea.

Maybe I will. Thanks.

[Cha]

12. You know what I gotta say..

"It figures"..anybody who's sucked in by mccain-palin would be dumb enough to arrest a man in his own home who has already shown proper ID.

[jenmito]

27. Yup. n/t

[Ian David]

14. Obama didn't wear a flag lapel pin!!!!

I dunno if he did, actually.

It would have had to be SOMETHING.

[Beetwasher]

19. I Think History Will Look Back To This Moment In The Debate On H/C Reform

And realize that this is where O outmaneuvered the rightwing. This is the key moment and he's neutralizing a large segment of his opposition by sending them off on a snipe hunt.

[Cha]

32. I know it's another moment

in history when the Stupid Vultures started swarming thinking they smelled something when it was just the stench of their own fetid breath.

[krabigirl]

36. Excellent point, indeed.

[Optical.Catalyst]

13. Why is the President letting himself get drawn into to this? It should have been handled locally

Bush leaves us with two wars, a trashed economy, a broken bank system, and a health care crisis and President Obama is spending time on a local police issue?

President Obama is our representative to the World, he should let Cambridge handle its own local affairs and he should stick to the job of the United States.

[Ian David]

15. The President is going to spend his vacations as an auxiliary policeman instead of clearing brush.nt

[ErinBerin84]

16. it's not like he's holding demonstrations

He has spent maybe three minutes total talking about it (and was first asked). The media may be wasting energy talking about this, but Obama isn't.

[Optical.Catalyst]

37. The Main $tream Media is not our friend

This was a set-up question that (from the stand point of the M$M) worked. Our President took the bait and now the M$M has a lead story that they are pushing for all it is worth.

Stupid Presidents like Bush fall into these traps, I hope President Obama (and his advisor's) learn how vicious the press really is, and avoid future occurrences of situations like the Henry Gates incident.

[Spazito]

18. He was asked a question at a national press conference

he answered it. It is the media that is spending time on this, President Obama visited the Mayo Clinic today, had a town hall meeting on health insurance reform today, just as he had planned to do before the question.

[Bodhi BloodWave]

21. could have something to do with that he was asked at a press conferance

and he did state at the beginning his views might be a bit biased since gates was a friend of his and that he might not have all the facts, so he was basically stating his opinion(something he didn't lose the right to do even tho he became the president)

[Jennicut]

22. He is the first black President, how can he NOT get drawn into something like this?

This man was a friend of his as well.

[Ian David]

23. Remember Ronald Reagan's "Helicopter Speeches?"

On his way from the helicopter to The White House, people would shout questions at him, and he'd answer off the cuff, spontaneously, and everyone loved it.

Until one day, when someone asked him something like, "What do you think of the little boy who was tortured to death in El Salvador?" (or someplace)

And Reagan said something like, "Oh, it's terrible. Just awful."

And it turned out that it was "our" guys who were the guilty party. There was an international incident, lots of bad press.

Then Reagan stopped answering questions on the way out of the helicopter.

[Jennicut]

28. Not so sadly I was just a little kid when Ronnie was Prez.

Obama could have chosen not to answer and then he would be seen as a coward and afraid to say anything because of the past (Wright). I think he gave his awesome speech on race during the campaign knowing that if he as the first black President he would be asked questions on race. I want him to answer honestly. I don't get why some here are afraid to have an honest debate about how we all feel about it. Its like we have been out of power just long enough to feel scared by the mean old media and the Rethugs. We are afraid to rock the boat. Holder was right, we are a nation of cowards (sometimes).

[mscuedawg]

26. Good! No one couldnt have said it better...n/t

[chill_wind]

33. And he absolutely should.

And now the myopic media should accept it and get over themselves.

[WatchWhatISay]

34. Good!

Now DON'T MOVE.

not an inch

[krabigirl]

35. He needs to act like this more often! I am tired of kowtowing to Republicans and thug cops/NSA types

[Wednesdays]

38. K&R

:kick: