CNN: Whalen (911 caller in Gates case) news conference at 12 noon eastern n/t

[godai]

[dave29]

1. wtf, where is MY BEER!!!!!

?

[Buzz Clik]

2. Seriously. Why does this lady need to call a press conference?

[tishaLA]

5. because she has a fame whore attorney

[Hassin Bin Sober]

7. Watch the press conference and realize what an ass you are.

[tishaLA]

11. I would repeat it, but I don't want to prove what an ass you are

[Buzz Clik]

15. ..

[Spazito]

16. Pathetic, really pathetic and I am not talking about the attorney or...

the press conference.

[tishaLA]

25. You must not know about her attorney and her love of Fox

Wendy Murphy is the East Coast version of Gloria Allred.

[Spazito]

33. I am well aware of her lawyer's reputation...

That in no way negates the validity of the press conference and Ms. Whalen's statement that she did NOT have a conversation with Sgt. Crowley.

[tishaLA]

35. I said nothing about Ms Whalen. If people have called her racist

then good for her for speaking out, although the 911 call sort of shot a hole in that theory. But Wendy Murphy is a fame whore who has been working overtime to get her face on camera during this thing and couldn't g stand not getting in a shot at Pres Obama during her opening statements about the upcoming get together with Prof Gates and Crowley

[godai]

36. I didn't know that n/t

[Hassin Bin Sober]

6. Because she is being harassed, called a racist and threatened.

She says she feels she had no choice but to come forward after reporters tracked down her mother.

[Buzz Clik]

17. Thank you for answering my question.

Now I have to wonder why you found it necessary -- just 60 seconds later -- for calling me an ass.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

20. Slow down and look at who replied to what.

[Buzz Clik]

23. sorry... you are correct.

My apologies.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

31. No problem.

:)

[JTFrog]

26. They didn't call you an ass!

That was directed at post #5 I believe.

:hi:

[Buzz Clik]

28. Yeah, I screwed up.

[JTFrog]

30. Been there done that, lol. n/t

[JTFrog]

13. The Villification of Lucia Whalen

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/7/29/03532/0558

1. Boston Media swarmed her home on day of incident, scaring the bejesus out of her elderly parents who live above her. They are Portegese and speak very little English so they were very truly frightened b/c they did not understand what reporters were asking them.

2. A shy woman Walden came home to that circus, was totally overwhelmed and begged to be left alone. Instead of respecting her pleas for privacy, Boston media continued to hound her via phone, including tracking down relatives, in-laws and co-workers to get dish on HER. Was she racist? Did she have a history of problems with black, etc. They even showed her home in Malden on TV, great job WCVB inviting whackos to visit.

3. A Belmont lawyer felt so bad watching her get tarred and feathered on the news and blamed for "two big black men with backbacks," approached her family to offer her help PRO BONO.

4. Co-workers at Harvard at furious on Gate's behalf and blaming HER, calling her a racist.

...

[Buzz Clik]

19. Thank you. This part of the story has been underrepresented in the media I follow.

I had no idea.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

38. I didn't know either until I googled her name the other day.

I mean, I saw some vile shit here - for a woman who merely reported a crime.

But you should see some of the things said about her on some blogs - accusing her of lynching and trying to start a race riot.

Edit to add: It probably affected her career because she is a fund raiser. Good luck raising funds in the liberal world of education when you have been accused of lynching Gates.

[rvablue]

39. Horrible. Hopefully Professor Gates will learn of this and send out a university wide

announcement to please let this woman be.

Imagine the effect this could have on citizen's doing their duty and calling 911 if they see a crime in progress. Now, folks will have it stuck in their minds that if they are by chance mistaken their lives could be destroyed by false and baseless accussations.

I feel so badly for this woman and hopefully after this press conference, people will lay off with their snap judgements and give this woman some peace.

[DeschutesRiver]

40. that is just awful - thanks so much for providing the background on this

When I read what you wrote, and see how nervous and sad Lucia was at the press conference, I get a much better picture of how understandably upsetting this was to her. Bad enough for the press to jump you and your parents, but to have your co-workers piss all over you because they were too stupid to wait for the 911 call to be released (and apparently, they also decided not to believe her or what the media was saying, ie, that Lucia did NOT id two black guys - because that came out while we were all still waiting to hear the actual 911 call) would really make it hell, esp. for someone who sounded very shy/nervous about dealing with such situations.

I chew people up and spit them out over situations like this, no fear, but I am old and a retired lawyer. This woman did not seem comfortable at all with the necessity to be a fierce watch dog on her own behalf, and I am really glad to hear that lawyer is doing this pro bono. Lucia definitely needs someone knowledgeable and with no fear to be riding bodyguard for her interests right now.

[DeschutesRiver]

43. Also - sounds like Harvard needs to run some of her co-workers through a senstivity class

I think that pisses me off the most, ie, that her co-workers at such a prestigious university, were perfectly content to run Lucia through the gossip mill and make her uncomfortable on the job, when they must have known (as I and everyone else did) that the evidence was not all out there regarding what happened.

Both the Cambridge Police and Harvard University have some holes in training that they should fix. Harassment on the job sucks, for whatever the reason. Those Harvard employees should be as ashamed of themselves as should the Cambridge Police Dept (yeah, I remember how they said the dispatch and 911 tapes would make it all perfectly clear that they were justified, when in fact the release did just the reverse for me when I listened to it).

[zonkers]

3. Is it streaming anywhere anyone?

[goodhue]

4. so is this happening already?

[Hassin Bin Sober]

8. now

[goodhue]

9. streaming anywhere?

[Hassin Bin Sober]

10. dunno. i got it on the tee vees

[Spazito]

18. Here's a streaming link

http://www.cnn.com/video/flashLive/live.html?stream=stream1

[godai]

12. Whalen: All I said was: I'm the 911 caller. He said: Stay right there.

Interesting, though, that her attorney wouldn't allow her to comment on the police report.

[Spazito]

21. I think there is going to be some further action from her regarding

demanding an official apology, at the very least.

[SpiralHawk]

14. "z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z" - The Human Beings

"Spare us the faux drama-rama, and puh-lease do your job as so-called 'journalists' and report on something real and important for a change. Anyone of intelligence already knows Ms. Whalen was acting out of honorable concern, not racism. How about not prolonging the drama-rama with your cameras."

- The Human Beings

[rvablue]

41. You might not have that ZZZZ reaction if it were you being harrassed

and branded a racist for having called in what you thought was a crime in progress.

So, fall to sleep. I'm sure this poor woman hasn't had a good night's rest since this happened.

[godai]

22. It's off TV now. Not sure why she did this today.

She was obviously very nervous and upset about all the harassment she's endured. But, there wasn't a lot new in what she read. Any specific questions were stopped by her attorney.

[goodhue]

24. still streaming cnn.com live feeds

http://www.cnn.com/video/

Select live video and after ad will gets choice of live feeds

[Spazito]

32. She has stated what she did and DID not say to Sgt. Crowley...

It confirms Sgt. Crowley lied in his report.

[godai]

37. True but did she talk to Crowley later? She kind of avoided that.

I wish she would have said that she never spoke to him after he said...Stay right there. From what I've heard in other posts about her attorney, I wonder why she linked up with this attorney. The attorney is really annoying.

[Spazito]

44. When someone related exactly what WAS said...

ALL that was said, why would they need to say they never spoke further? Who her lawyer is and whether she is annoying is moot to the issue of what was in Sgt. Crowley's report versus what Ms. Whalen ACTUALLY said to him and him to her.

[Buzz Clik]

27. It's really clear this lady is not cashing in on an opportunity for fame.

She looks haggard and desparate to put this all behind her.

[goodhue]

29. done now

[Politicalboi]

34. Well Obama is on with a TH on CNN

MSNBC is rporting the 911 caller. I don't get MSNBC. They don't show complete TH or press confrences anymore. Someitme I even have to resort to watching Faux Noise. And that new nurse show doesn't belong on the morning line up.

[rvablue]

42. She's an MD. Not a nurse. n/t