They arrested a man for argueing over an issue in which he was right.

They arrested a man for being disorderly in public after being warned twice. Gates wasn't arguing anything, he was yelling at he cops calling them racist.

 

Again, did you read the police report?

1. Does anyone have a link to the actual police report?

 

2. This is an issue that represents the worst part of the American political system- the fact that an issue like this is politicized. IMO the only people who have anything substantial to add in this arena are police officers and minorities who have dealt with police officers. No one else really knows what they are talking about, in my opinion. Of course each and every one of you has the right to your opinion, but most of us don't really understand the situation.

1. Does anyone have a link to the actual police report?

 

2. This is an issue that represents the worst part of the American political system- the fact that an issue like this is politicized. IMO the only people who have anything substantial to add in this arena are police officers and minorities who have dealt with police officers. No one else really knows what they are talking about, in my opinion. Of course each and every one of you has the right to your opinion, but most of us don't really understand the situation.

The Smoking Gun has a copy of it on their site. That was the only place I could find a full copy of it.

The Smoking Gun has a copy of it on their site. That was the only place I could find a full copy of it.

Thanks. For anyone who wants to read the actual report, rather than the hearsay of "left-wing media" or the equally annoying "Conservative underground", here is the report.

Thanks. For anyone who wants to read the actual report, rather than the hearsay of "left-wing media" or the equally annoying "Conservative underground", here is the report.

I was actually somewhat defending Gates to some co-workers until I read the police report.

1. Does anyone have a link to the actual police report?

 

2. This is an issue that represents the worst part of the American political system- the fact that an issue like this is politicized. IMO the only people who have anything substantial to add in this arena are police officers and minorities who have dealt with police officers. No one else really knows what they are talking about, in my opinion. Of course each and every one of you has the right to your opinion, but most of us don't really understand the situation.

 

1: http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/Gates_Arrest.pdf

 

2: So I assume you can only add substantial info to something you yourself have been personally involved in? I don't understand being a black person and having the cops stop me for no reason. I do however think I'd be happy if the police came to my house b/c there was a reported break in and wanted to make sure I was the owner of the house.

So you think the police acted "stupidly"?

 

The neighbor sees two men on the porch, one is forcing his way into the house. The reason he is having to force his way into the house is the door is messed up from a previous break in. The neighbor calls the police and they come to investigate. At which point Gates makes a huge scene. After multiple warnings he is placed under arrest for disorderly conduct.

 

Now you tell me where the police acted "stupidly"? The President was way off on his comment, plus he never should have even said anything except "I don't know all the facts so I really can't comment on it".

 

I'd go a step further. I'd say he shouldn't have had the reporter ask him the question. He wanted to make an issue of it.

So I assume you can only add substantial info to something you yourself have been personally involved in?

This isn't a topic such as economics or political philosophy that anyone can read and learn about. For myself, as a white 20-year-old who is not a police officer, I really can't claim to have an enlightened perspective on this issue. I don't know what it is like to be an arresting officer, and I don't know what it is like dealing with police officers as an African-American.

 

As for my very unqualified opinion on this matter, the police report would indicate that Professor Gates was in the wrong on this issue. However, it is difficult to say what really happened.

 

Either way, President Obama had no good options. If he says nothing, he is regarded of being insensitive to race issues. If he says something, he's accused of not having all of the facts and acting like he has the right to weigh in on every individual matter.

 

To be frank, I think that people jump to conclusions and generalizations. I think that, from my observations of this issue, many minorities have tended to automatically assume that racism played a part. I also think that many white people assume that minorities overreact to police issues and therefore do not even bother to look at the facts, instead relying on a generalization and a stereotype that is not always the case. However, I can't claim to be an expert on this issue, so my opinion is really insignificant.

 

Regardless, from reading the police report, it seems that Gates was out of line.

Then why did they ask about a Harvard professor having the cops called to his house?

 

I'm guessing to hear what he had to say. Most of the press likely didn't get out their Afghanistan questions because they had spent the day preparing to talk about health care. If I'm not mistaken, wasn't the Gates question a late jump in?

 

I'm not saying Obama handled it right or wrong, I'm just answering the initial question of why no discussions on Afghanistan.

This isn't a topic such as economics or political philosophy that anyone can read and learn about. For myself, as a white 20-year-old who is not a police officer, I really can't claim to have an enlightened perspective on this issue. I don't know what it is like to be an arresting officer, and I don't know what it is like dealing with police officers as an African-American.

 

As for my very unqualified opinion on this matter, the police report would indicate that Professor Gates was in the wrong on this issue. However, it is difficult to say what really happened.

 

Either way, President Obama had no good options. If he says nothing, he is regarded of being insensitive to race issues. If he says something, he's accused of not having all of the facts and acting like he has the right to weigh in on every individual matter.

 

To be frank, I think that people jump to conclusions and generalizations. I think that, from my observations of this issue, many minorities have tended to automatically assume that racism played a part. I also think that many white people assume that minorities overreact to police issues and therefore do not even bother to look at the facts, instead relying on a generalization and a stereotype that is not always the case. However, I can't claim to be an expert on this issue, so my opinion is really insignificant.

 

Regardless, from reading the police report, it seems that Gates was out of line.

 

 

I agree w/ everything you said and I'm not a cop myself or black. I know that black people are stopped for no other reason than being black on occasions. Guess what, so are people who are out past 1 am driving. I've been pulled over for swerving when I didn't swerve and wasn't drinking. It doesn't mean I hopped out of the car calling the officer names. I also know that there are very good cops who don't see skin color. I could never beging to understand what this man has seen in his life, but if his house had been broken into before and the cops were reporting to a called break in he should have been thankful. Not every time a cop asks a black person for his ID does he do it for racial reasons.

 

My real issue here is Obama mostly only answers questions he tells "reporters" to ask. So he obviosly chose to address this on national prime time tv. Why?

I'm guessing to hear what he had to say. Most of the press likely didn't get out their Afghanistan questions because they had spent the day preparing to talk about health care. If I'm not mistaken, wasn't the Gates question a late jump in?

 

I'm not saying Obama handled it right or wrong, I'm just answering the initial question of why no discussions on Afghanistan.

 

That wasn't actually the initial question. It was the 4th question on that post. My point is he chooses for the most part his own questions. Why get involved in a police issue that was local to the Boston area rather than national issues on the national stage?

That wasn't actually the initial question. It was the 4th question on that post. My point is he chooses for the most part his own questions. Why get involved in a police issue that was local to the Boston area rather than national issues on the national stage?

 

Fourth question, initial post. My bad.

 

The idea of him choosing his own questions, do you think that's much different than any other president in the past? I've seen excerpts from a million White House press conferences and when there are questions that president doesn't like, he just him-haws around them.

 

Now I know there are claims that the Obama administration has "assigned" questions to reporters, but those claims are often propagated by those on the far left. I don't know how much credibility there is to that claim, although credibility has never been something that has kept people from fussing about politicians.

 

I don't know if he expected the Gates question or if it was a curveball, but in my opinion Obama answered it with his own opinion, something no different from what any person on this board is doing right now.

Fourth question, initial post. My bad.

 

The idea of him choosing his own questions, do you think that's much different than any other president in the past? I've seen excerpts from a million White House press conferences and when there are questions that president doesn't like, he just him-haws around them.

 

Now I know there are claims that the Obama administration has "assigned" questions to reporters, but those claims are often propagated by those on the far left. I don't know how much credibility there is to that claim, although credibility has never been something that has kept people from fussing about politicians.

 

I don't know if he expected the Gates question or if it was a curveball, but in my opinion Obama answered it with his own opinion, something no different from what any person on this board is doing right now.

 

Yes I think he knows every question or at the very least most questions that he's going to be asked. I think he's tossed softballs all the time. IMO this question was for sure a plant. I'm fairly young so maybe every President has planted questions like you are saying. IMO it makes him even more wrong to say the cops acted stupidly. I hope for his sake it wasn't planted.

 

Either way, President Obama had no good options. If he says nothing, he is regarded of being insensitive to race issues. If he says something, he's accused of not having all of the facts and acting like he has the right to weigh in on every individual matter.

 

The worst part of the whole Obama response is that he did nothing but reaffirm this statement by admitting he did not know all the facts.

Contrary to what Gates wants everybody to believe, this case has nothing to do with racial profiling. The officer was responding to a reported break-in, not pulling people over because they are black.

 

Gates was way out of line and deserved to be arrested. Obama had no business commenting the way he did in this case and yet the left wing media has pretty much given him a pass on it.