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1. 

   4uk4ata said, 4 months ago

   I liked the Daily Show version more. Seriously, what came over that man?

2. 

   Ian Valenzuela said, 4 months ago

   To say someone acted stupidly is not to call them stupid, and it is a far cry short of calling them racist. Gates acted stupidly as well, but a private citizen acting like a jerk in his own home is not illegal, and does not merit arrest, otherwise most commenters on Ucomics would be arrested daily. The officer lost control of the situation, and abused his authority. A cop on a power trip is not a race issue, but it is still indicative of a problem; the police state we live in. It should have been, “thank you, officer, for investigating what you thought was a break-in. Here is clear proof that this is my home.” “You’re welcome, sir, I agree you are clearly the homeowner, if everything is fine, I will leave now.” Neither man in this situation acted appropriately, and the President defaulted to supporting his friend without knowing all the facts, as he soon admitted. Admitting a fault and an error is, as ANandy says, a good indicator of the President’s good character.

3. 

   GNWachs said, 4 months ago

   Ian: Gates at first refused to show Crowley his ID, brought up Crowley’s mother, followed Crowley outside continuing to “harangue” (NYT word) him. He is a full tenured brilliant Harvard professor. You would think he should show the maturity that responsibility brings. Crowley was specifically informed 2 black men were seen possibly breaking into a home. He performed his duties admirably.

   Once outside and the safety of the house and its occupants was assured Crowley should have realized he was dealing with someone not in full control but innocent and simply walked away.

   The President should have simply said this conference is about my health care plan and refused to answer.

4. 

   CourageCD said, 4 months ago

   GNWachs–You are right that Gates overreacted to the situation–and probably in inappropriate ways. But we should not just isolate the situation to just “the Cambridge police checking on a possible break-in by two black men at the Gates’ home.” Gates’ inappropriate response was probably also tied to the context of the situation in which the Cambridge police have a history of racial profiling. While this does not excuse Gates’ behavior, it may make the overreaction more understandable and suggests that there are still some racial issues that need to be locally resolved. And if anything good comes of this, maybe this situation will start the conversation that needs to happen to begin coming to that resolution.

5. 

   NebulousRikulau said, 4 months ago

   So why is it that Obama is harangued for not being able to talk without a teleprompter,
   and then ins harangued for expressing an understandable gut reaction?
   .
   I’m not saying that his reaction was right, just that it’s understandable.

6. 

   GNWachs said, 4 months ago

   NRK, not certain what you mean. Obama has been teased because he is so articulate when speaking with the aid of a teleprompter but has his full share of screw-ups when he tries to speak without one. The MSM tends to protect him by not publishing those “errors” but the conservative media points them out with glee.
   Here he spoke from the heart, without a teleprompter, without a pre-prepared managed talking point and really really screwed up.

   The screw up was not necessarily what he said, and it was not his best moment, but the fact that his entire nation-wide hold the presses talk on health care was totally lost. He simply should have said I don’t know enough about what happened and besides this address was on my health care plan lets only discuss that.

7. 

   4uk4ata said, 4 months ago

   Oh, definitely. The guy talked about healthcare all the time, then devoted a minute or two to make a comment about a recent incident of little overall importance. Guess what made the headlines…

   Seriously, does the media serve any social function whatsoever anymore?

8. 

   parkersinthehouse said, 4 months ago

   i think the statement wAs on the teleprompters - you should see the words he skipped over

9. 

   tpenna said, 4 months ago

   4uk4ata, I liked the Daily Show treatment better, too.

   For the record, Crowley wasn’t told to expect two black men. The 911 caller said that maybe one of them was Hispanic, and she couldn’t tell about the other.