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.

 

I don't not fault him in any way for giving his opinion. Whether you agree or disagree, that was his view. Realistically what he should have done is answered by saying something along the lines of "I haven't studied the situation closely enough to present a statement at this time."

I don't not fault him in any way for giving his opinion. Whether you agree or disagree, that was his view. Realistically what he should have done is answered by saying something along the lines of "I haven't studied the situation closely enough to present a statement at this time."

 

Or not told the reporter to ask the question at all. That's my point. If he planted the question he was making a political statement that he shouldn't have. If he didn't plant the question he should have stopped w/ I don't know all of the facts.

 

I went back and looked at some intervirews on ABC, CBS, and NBC of President Bush. They ask some really tough questions. I think they're good questions that needed answered, but nothing like the questions Obama has been getting.

I betcha after two terms there is a push to remove the term limits.

 

:scared: Don't ever say that again ! Please !! :sssh:

You mean someone saw what they thought was a break in at your house and called the police?

 

The police did their job. Came to your house, in response to the call, and asked you to identify yourself?

Actually yes. It was 1979. My father, mother and myself had moved from Murray, Ky back to St. Louis. We were moving into a first story flat. The police were called and came because someone was breaking into the flat. My father and mother were both upset. We all had to identify ourselfs.

I told the officer if people were really watching they would have saw that we were moving stuff into the flat and not out of.

 

The only thing I feel the Mr. Gates did wrong was step outside his home. Just because a person has a uniform on doesn't mean he or she is automatically right. Also Mr. Gates may not have gotten so upset if the officer had given his name and badge number as requested.

This case has obviously been completely overblown since the questioning by the reporter and whether the officer was wrong or right... I worry more about future episodes similar to this one. Say your neighbor calls the cops witnessing a break-in at your place, and when the cops arrive, the thieves argue that it is their home and that they are profiling. Will there be any fallout from this? I have no idea. Maybe some in the law enforcement industry could expound.

Actually yes. It was 1979. My father, mother and myself had moved from Murray, Ky back to St. Louis. We were moving into a first story flat. The police were called and came because someone was breaking into the flat. My father and mother were both upset. We all had to identify ourselfs.

I told the officer if people were really watching they would have saw that we were moving stuff into the flat and not out of.

 

The only thing I feel the Mr. Gates did wrong was step outside his home. Just because a person has a uniform on doesn't mean he or she is automatically right. Also Mr. Gates may not have gotten so upset if the officer had given his name and badge number as requested.

If you read the report, the cop said he gave it to him more than once and the man wouldn't quit ranting long enough to listen to him. Also this wouldn't have happened if Gates would have kept his cool and done as the officer had asked him to do.

Actually yes. It was 1979. My father, mother and myself had moved from Murray, Ky back to St. Louis. We were moving into a first story flat. The police were called and came because someone was breaking into the flat. My father and mother were both upset. We all had to identify ourselfs.

I told the officer if people were really watching they would have saw that we were moving stuff into the flat and not out of.

 

The only thing I feel the Mr. Gates did wrong was step outside his home. Just because a person has a uniform on doesn't mean he or she is automatically right. Also Mr. Gates may not have gotten so upset if the officer had given his name and badge number as requested.

So you don't have any problem with someone acting this way towards a police officer trying to do their job? It's not like the cops followed him home from the airport and tried to harass him. They were responding to a call from a neighbor. Did you read the police report?

The officer was 100% in the right on this one.

 

Once Mr. Gates identified himself as the homeowner, this would have quickly been over with had he acted normal. Instead he chose to claim racism and cause a huge scene. The cop rightfully arrested him.

Actually yes. It was 1979. My father, mother and myself had moved from Murray, Ky back to St. Louis. We were moving into a first story flat. The police were called and came because someone was breaking into the flat. My father and mother were both upset. We all had to identify ourselfs.

I told the officer if people were really watching they would have saw that we were moving stuff into the flat and not out of.

 

The only thing I feel the Mr. Gates did wrong was step outside his home. Just because a person has a uniform on doesn't mean he or she is automatically right. Also Mr. Gates may not have gotten so upset if the officer had given his name and badge number as requested.

 

Good to know you think it's okay to berate law enforcement officers.

Obama is a bigger racist than I ever thought of being. Why does the liberal loving media begin every story about this guy by calling him Harvard professor Gates. Is that suposed to make some difference? Then lets begin every news story by identifying the person as bakery worker Smith, electrician Jones, carpet cleaner Johnson. Makes about as much sense. Bottom line is police were right, a guy named Gates was wrong.

The last time I saw a leap that big I was watching the movie 'Spiderman'! Please explain how advocating doing what the cop tells you to do translates into supporting police brutality. Also note that I didn't say that the cop was always right. I said that if you refuse a police order you will be going to jail. Perhaps the order wasn't lawful and the dispute might eventually be decided in your favor but you'll be spending at least some time in police custody. Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor.

 

It's not a big leap at all. The woman refused to submit to arrest and was confrontational with the police. I feel that the police were in the right.

Actually yes. It was 1979. My father, mother and myself had moved from Murray, Ky back to St. Louis. We were moving into a first story flat. The police were called and came because someone was breaking into the flat. My father and mother were both upset. We all had to identify ourselfs.

I told the officer if people were really watching they would have saw that we were moving stuff into the flat and not out of.

 

The only thing I feel the Mr. Gates did wrong was step outside his home. Just because a person has a uniform on doesn't mean he or she is automatically right. Also Mr. Gates may not have gotten so upset if the officer had given his name and badge number as requested.

 

 

I would agree with the fact that he made a mistake stepping outside in the agitated state he was in, as long as he was in his house he was not in the public purview, and you can't be disorderly to police officers. BUT he should have never disrespected the officer, which I am sure raised the emotions of the officer too. He was called to the scene by an person (as far as I know) of unknown race, only a caring neighbor. The Police Officer was only doing his job. If he had done less I can bet Prof. Gates would have complained too. The officer was in a no win situation.

 

When Prof. Gates continued outside and became disorderly, then the officer had no choice. If he let him get away with it,how can he arrest the next guy for doing the same. His previous record is beyond question. I say the officer was right.

 

As for what happened to you when you were younger, times were different, and that is no excuse. I am sure (like everyone here) is shaped by things that happen when they grow up, and it obviously has a bearing on your opinion. I am not saying your opinon is wrong only different from mine.

 

Bottom Line the President should have stayed out of the situation and (in my opinion) he has made it tougher on every police officer who has to deal with the public on a daily basis.

FWIW, I talked to my uncle, who is a cop, and he said he and everyone he works with would have done the exact same thing the officer did based on the police report.

 

Also heard a fellow Cambridge cop, who is African-American, and was on the scene, said the officer was absolutely justified in arresting Gates, and that he would have done the same.

The great One is slowly backtracking on htis controversy. He has to wonder why he let the wrong question be asked. He is going the wrong way really fast in the popular polls and he controls his own questions. What would happen if he was asked real questions?

FWIW, I talked to my uncle, who is a cop, and he said he and everyone he works with would have done the exact same thing the officer did based on the police report.

 

Also heard a fellow Cambridge cop, who is African-American, and was on the scene, said the officer was absolutely justified in arresting Gates, and that he would have done the same.

 

So if he was justified and all cops are in agreement then why were no charges filed? Cops do this alot IMO, make an arrest because someone isn't the most friendly or a smart mouth which the last time I checked weren't crimes. A crime should be commited to warrant an arrest which obviously wasn't by the lack of charges.

I don't think he was profiling nor a racist but abusing his power to arrest I'm thinking probably so.