Gates, Crowley, racism, and Obama

[dhussdawg]

Well, the police were not doing racial profiling. Obama stepped into a pile of dog shit and is trying to wipe it off his shoe while at the same time appearing not to.

Anyway, he is still young and learning.

Yep, Obama is pretty bad about hastily coming to conclusions and letting everyone know about them. Sadly, when our healthcare becomes an ever bigger mess after him rushing it in with Congress, a kegger at the white house will not make up for the gaffe.

[arkansasbob]

Here is what the Supreme Court has to say about it (Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire):
"Allowing the broadest scope to the language and purpose of the Fourteenth Amendment, it is well understood that the right of free speech is not absolute at all times and under all circumstances.FN2 There are certain well-defined and narrowly limited classes of speech, the prevention *572 and punishment of which has never been thought to raise any Constitutional problem.FN3 These include the lewd and obscene, the profane, the libelous, and the insulting or ‘fighting’ words-those which by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace.FN4 It has been well observed that such utterances are no essential part of any exposition of ideas, and are of such slight social value as a step to truth that any benefit that may be derived from them is clearly outweighed by the social interest in order and morality.FN5 ‘Resort to epithets or personal abuse is not in any proper sense communication of information or opinion safeguarded by the Constitution, and its punishment as a criminal act would raise no question under that instrument.’ Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U.S. 296, 309, 310, 60 S.Ct. 900, 906, 84 L.Ed. 1213, 128 A.L.R. 1352."

...Your definition of threat and my definition of threat are different...

another friendly tip for good debate on the politics forum: always read the post you are responding to before formulating your response. please find in guisslapp's post to which you were replying any mention of the word "threat" or even the concept of threat.

[TYLERTECHSAS]

Anyway, he is still young and learning.

Exactly!!!! That is the whole point of the naive comments and naive thread. And this is such a small thing in the big pic of being President of the USA and "leader of the free world". And he keeps dragging this small thing out (beerfest at the WH) trying to create an even larger problem becuase of his mistake. And over race that wasn't even the problem (except for the black man involved and black Pres. making it an issue) in the first place. How dumb is that??? Major need of OJT is not what I want in a President. Those that voted for him were totally blinded by a slick talking( even screws up with a teleprompter), S.Chicago strong armed politician with zippo/nada for experience.

[saltydawg]

Exactly!!!! That is the whole point of the naive comments and naive thread. And this is such a small thing in the big pic of being President of the USA and "leader of the free world". And he keeps dragging this small thing out (beerfest at the WH) trying to create an even larger problem becuase of his mistake. And over race that wasn't even the problem (except for the black man involved and black Pres. making it an issue) in the first place. How dumb is that??? Major need of OJT is not what I want in a President. Those that voted for him were totally blinded by a slick talking( even screws up with a teleprompter), S.Chicago strong armed politician with zippo/nada for experience.

Obama is still 10x better than the Bush/Cheney duo.

[Darbonnedawg]

Not saying Bush /Chaney were world beaters(voted for them) but I just not only threw up in my mouth a little but all over the floor.

[Cool Hand Clyde]

Anyway, he is still young and learning.

Here's a life lesson for him.

[Darbonnedawg]

Richard Neal Democratic Congressman from Mass. biggest concern seems to be that they drink Sam Adams Beer. Guess that comes before health care.(per cnn)

[Guisslapp]

I would insist on a Belgian.

[inudesu]

I would insist on a Belgian.

http://www.slate.com/id/2223756/

[DogtorEvil]

I would insist on a Belgian.

with a shot of

[TYLERTECHSAS]

You gotta love Rudy!!!!

Rudy Giuliani to Obama: 'Shut Up'...

[stodgdog]

Obama is still 10x better than the Bush/Cheney duo.

That completely irrelevant whether accurate or not. Bush/Cheney were not running for office.

[stodgdog]

You're just like a dog that chases its tail. We have discussed this. Your definition of threat and my definition of threat are different. Lying on someone is a "threat" to a person because it can cause injury to person's character, freedom so forth. 1st amendment does not protect that. Now tell me how Gates' language was a threat to Crowley. I'm very interested to see what you can dream up now.

This incident has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the 1st Amendment.

[SicemDawgz]

That completely irrelevant whether accurate or not. Bush/Cheney were not running for office.

No, it's true what Salty said. He rates Bush a ZERO and if you multiply that times ten, that's what weve got now.

[TYLERTECHSAS]

Sorry if this has been posted already. Note the body language and what this all says about Obama.


(President Barack Obama, Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Sergeant James Crowley walk from the Oval Office
to the Rose Garden of the White House, July 30, 2009. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Sergeant Crowley, the sole class act in this trio, helps the handicapped
Professor Gates down the stairs, while Barack Obama, heedless of the
infirmities of his friend and fellow victim of self-defined racial profiling
, strides ahead on his own. So who is compassionate? And who is so
self-involved and arrogant that he is oblivious?

In my own dealings with the wealthy and powerful, I have always found that
the way to quickly capture the moral essence of a person is to watch how
they treat those who are less powerful. Do they understand that the others
are also human beings with feelings? Especially when they think nobody is
looking.

This photo constitutes another major Obama blunder.

As some AT commentators point out, this picture becomes a metaphor for
ObamaCare. The elderly are left in the back, with only the kindness of the
Crowleys of the world, the stand up guys, to depend on. The government has
other priorities.

One of the major subtexts of the health care
debate involves the public's fear of indifferent, powerful
bureaucrats ruling their lives. It is one thing to wait in line at the DMV
to find out which other line you should wait in, in order to begin the
process of waiting for multiple bureaucrats to go through the motions of
processing your request. I have spent entire afternoons going through this
process.

But when we get to health care, waiting often means enduring pain and
dysfunction longer than necessary, sometimes a worsening of the condition,
and sometimes death.

That's why I think this image will have genuine resonance. It captures
something that older Americans in particular can relate to. The President
presses ahead with a program that will tell them to take painkillers instead
of getting that artificial hip.

At every stage of the entire Gates affair, Obama has provided a revealing
tell. The "acted stupidly" blunder revealed that he automatically blames the
police and thinks they really are stupid to begin with. It didn't trigger a
single alarm bell in his mind as he figured out what to say.

Then, the non-apology apology revealed an arrogant man who cannot do what
honest people do: admit it when they make a mistake.

Now at stage three, the beer photo op looked OK. It didn't turn into a
disaster.

But then in a small moment that nobody in the White House had the brains to
understand, Obama goes and send a body language message like this.

I think he is going to get deeper and deeper into trouble. He is no longer
repeating the familiar scripts dreamed up for the campaign. He was a master
performer.

But when he goes improv, as a president must do, he lets his true character
show. This helps widen the level of doubt that Obama is the same guy a
majority voted for. Those doubts can only grow.