Obama Calls Cambridge Police Officer, Invites him for a Beer with Gates at the White House

“…And I could have calibrated those words differently. And I told this to Sergeant Crowley.”
That’s an apology?

===Obama took partial blame for the media frenzy over the story,===
He’s kidding right? Hardly anyone had even heard of this story until Lynn Sweet asked Obama about it.

“Hardly anyone had even heard of this story until Lynn Sweet asked Obama about it.”
Sweet’s question was an obviously set up: The One knew what the question was going to be. Watch the tape.
They’ll ALL be apologizing to Crowley on live teevee, in the Rose Garden, before this is over.

Oh, he’s a cop, so he drinks BEER. You don’t think he might enjoy a cocktail, or a glass of wine….

Axey:”He’s kidding right? Hardly anyone had even heard of this story until Lynn Sweet asked Obama about it. ”
Does the right really have no memory at all, or is it just knee-jerk habit to lie about recent history?
Gate’s arrest and the ultimate dropping of charges was national news since the 21st, several days before the press conference. Feel free to look at archived pages of the site of your choice. Your assertion “hardly anyone” had heard about this story is beyond an exageration, it is a flat out lie. Even Foxnews had it in rotation on by the 21st.

The One invites Gates for BEER? THAT might not be a great idea.

Obama just finished traveling the world apologizing for all of Americas sins. But when he needs to apologize for himself he suddenly can’t quite find the right words. “Impression,” “Illuminate,” “Calibrate.” Gee Mr. President, find some more words. A real profile in character.

Obama’s wet behind the ears politics are showing. He, himself, is a racist at heart. He, himself, believes he is a victim as do most Afro Americans. This guy should never have been elected to our nation’s highest office.

Bet Noir:”There’s not much “calibration” to be done on “stupid”.”
Well, we know you are lying (misquoting, slandering, bearing false witness, etc) when you claim he said “stupid.” But I’m not entirely sure if your lie should be attributed entirely to malice, or if you just have a poor grasp of English.
Obama said they had “acted stupidly.” According to 6th grade English, Obama was applying the description to the act, not the person doing the act – in the same manner he has said he himself has acted stupidly at times. You have chosen through dishonesty or ignorance of English to falsely quote him as using ‘stupid,’ which in the context would have been a VERY different meaning.
Do you understand? And can you see how indulging in making up stories about what Obama actually said ends up making you look untrustworthy and disconnected from reality?

“Obama said they had ‘acted stupidly.’”
I’m aware of that. “Acted stupidly” means the policeman’s “action was stupid”.
This attempt to calibrate the forms of “stupid” doesn’t really help The One’s case.

Obama Calls Cambridge Police Officer, Invites him for a Beer with Gates at the White House
Will Sean Hannity be invited, too?

Is this like the beer he offered to Sean Hannity? Hannity accepted, but has yet to ever get the beer. He even offered to buy the beer and host the Prez, but no dice.

“Is this like the beer he offered to Sean Hannity? Hannity accepted, but has yet to ever get the beer”
Still waiting for Hannity to get waterboarded for charity.
Guess the Bund leader realized what a fiasco that would have been after ManCow did it.

The Mayor has hushed the other officers present to keep the Truth from coming to light. If Crowley sued Gates for slander, then the other officers would have to testify and the dispatch recordings would be played in court. Harvard’s smartest black man would have been exposed as a racist idiot. Obama had to head the lawsuit off at the pass.

Obama says: “And I could have calibrated those words differently. And I told this to Sergeant Crowley.”
What does he mean? I have never heard somebody talk about calibrating their words differently. Someone please enlighten me. As to the offer of a beer with Obama and Gates, if I were Crowley I would say, thanks, but no thanks. Crazy that he would even suggest that as something that either Gates or Crowley would want to do. Obama does not impress me at all in his response to this.

“I want to make clear that in my choice of words, I think, I unfortunately, I think, gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge police department or Sergeant Crowley specifically.”
Good LUCK on making it clear that accusing the police of “acting stupidly” isn’t “maligning”.
Are we SURE English is a language that The One actually speaks? Funny he’s “friends” with literary critic Gates.

ryan says: “You have chosen through dishonesty or ignorance of English to falsely quote him as using ‘stupid,’ which in the context would have been a VERY different meaning.”
Jason says:
So if I call your comment stupid, that is ok, because I am not calling you stupid?

Posted by: Jason | Jul 24, 2009 4:28:53 PM”
I can’t seem to find the original quote s for this and I did not write who you attributed to ryan.

Ryan I apologize. I was mistaken, it was JHW539 who said that.

“Ryan I apologize. I was mistaken, it was JHW539 who said that.”
No worries.

From “THe Hill”
House healthcare negotiations dissolved in acrimony on Friday, with Blue Dog Democrats saying they were “lied” to by their Democratic leaders.
Well what do you expect from Henry Waxman and Nancy Pelosi

It was 0bama who echoed the phrase “words matter” yet he finds it surprising that his WORDS matter on such incendiary and controversial issues as RACISM (claimed by Gate) and RACIAL-PROFILING (claimed by 0bama)?
What is up with 0bama that he seems to forget who he is now, what position he holds and that what he says MATTERS a great deal in this country?! People who had never voted before came out by the busload, even the dead ones, to vote for him. Seriously, they deserve more than stupidity and divisiveness coming from the person they chose for potus. Or was THAT not part of the CHANGE he promised?

Heady start, big hopes …
Summer heat melting the dreams
“This is really hard” …

Let’s see, “change you can believe in” has become the same old tired “white people are all racists” line from the KneeGrow in charge…hope all you sheep that voted for him are quite pleased so far with the record deficits and socialist agenda. I’m just waiting for the reparations bill that will be coming up early in 2010, before the elections. At 36.4 million claiming to be black from the 2000 census, and $250,000 each per Conyers, who will sponsor the bill, that will be 9.1 trillion dollars, based on my quick math. Enjoy!

“This has set race relations back decades; this has driven a wedge between whites and blacks.”
“Talk about inflamed rhetoric . .. are you trying to encourage this to come true?”
Stop right now !!! Cant we all get along??
Let’s take the enormity of the lesson to heart and invite Danita over to the White House – well no, the Washington mall – and have a beer.
If ONLY all National Crises could be solved like this!!

It seems to me that if someone says I’ve acted stupidly, that doesn’t mean I am stupid. I am an intelligent person but that doesn’t mean I’ve never acted stupidly. And if anyone honestly looks back at their life, they will find more than a few times when they’ve acted stupidly. Those who say it is the same as calling someone stupid, are not being very accurate with their English.
I like the idea of Gates and Crowley getting together for a beer at the White House. Whenever people have acted badly, and it seems from the report that both parties did, the best way to negate the bad feeling of the experience is to just sit down and talk, after everyone has calmed down a bit. From Crowley’s point of view, a personal visit to the White House will help with the teasing I’m sure he is getting around the station. (Yep, police officers do rib each other when a bad arrest is made, just like at any office or factory when someone messes up.) And from Gates point of view, getting to know the police officer who wrongly arrested him, will help keep him from villifying him in his mind as just another racist man and help Gates see him as a fellow human being, doing a difficult, often thankless, and in my opinion, underpaid job.
Police deserve better compensation but any misuse of power should be quickly dealt with, as it should in any profession where power over people can be misused.

Not sure why the President should think he can tell a local police department how to do their job when he can’t seem to do his own job !!! Seems he is playing the race card before he even knows what he is talking about, very disappointed in our supposedly leader!!

“It was 0bama who echoed the phrase ‘words matter’ ”
Yes, in an Axelrod piece first used by Obama prototype Deval Patrick, presently the governor of Massachusetts. Note that Patrick ALSO jumped on the Cambridge cops.
According to AP, “A black police officer who was at Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s home when the black Harvard scholar was arrested says he fully supports how his white fellow officer handled the situation.”
Meanwhile, the ghastly Gibbs today: “I think the Fraternal Order of Police endorsed McCain, if I’m not mistaken.”

If Crowley were to sue Obama for defamation, would The One claim some kind of immunity? If he claimed a civil rights violation — he might as well do something: life as he knew it was over — what would the Justice Department do — get a Special Prosecutor? :^|

Jake. Check your headline. Crowley asked the President to have a beer and the President thought it was a good idea. I know you were there at the same press conference and heard Gibbs make that statement.

Some clarification – Obama started out saying “Officer Crowley, the officer at fault……. This President is an expert at thinking one thing and saying another.

“Some clarification – Obama started out saying “Officer Crowley, the officer at fault……. This President is an expert at thinking one thing and saying another.”
Has Obama now added “clarification” to “calibration”? :^}
G-d help us.
The whole country’s gonna need therapy for anxiety that “race” belly-flopper Obama has control of the nuclear football AND the Treasury — and much of the formerly-”Democratic” Party.
Too darn bad we don’t have Single Payer — we’re gonna need it.

I don’t think Obama intentionally tried to cook up a pot of racial discord, I think he just spoke from his core beliefs. Those very beliefs nurtured and stoked in Rev. Wright’s church for 20 years. i love it when he goes off Teleprompter, extemporaneous ain’t his thing.

Does Obama drink beer?
Perhaps the President would be more at home sharing some bree and a sip of Bordeaux with the professor and the policeman?

Our president made two mistakes:
1) Intruding into a local matter.
2) Assuming the policeman acted stupidly before he was tried and convicted–the very base of all that is precious in the US.
If he had not made even one of those mistakes he would not be in trouble now. Fuzzy Zeller was nearly taken off the PGA tour for mentioning fried chicken in the same breath with Tiger Woods. Our president has now mispoken TWICE (the Special Olympics correlation to his pitching the first baseball) with no consequences, and not even a REAL apology.

I WOULD HAVE HAD A BEER WITH OBAMA LAST YEAR. BUT NOT NOW. AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED HE IS A TRAGEDY IN THE MAKING FOR THIS COUNTRY AND CITIZENS WHO VALUE THOSE INSTITUTIONS THAT HELPED MAKE THIS COUNTRY GREAT, NEED TO STAND UP AND BE HEARD!! IF OBAMA WERE SHARP HE WOULD REALIZE THAT ALL HE HAS DONE IS TO HAVE AWAKENED A SLEEPING GIANT. HE HAS NO CLUE ABOUT THE POWER OF HIS OPPOSITION.

Let’s think about Obama’s first comment–even though I don’t know all the circumstances of the incident, it’s the white man’s fault.
If the circumstance were reversed any other elected official would be working on his/her resignation speech.

WHEN A POLICE OFFICER TELLS YOU TO DO SOMETHING “YOU DO IT”, AFTER FIRST, CLOSING YOUR MOUTH. THERE IS PLENTY OF TIME FOR RECRIMINATIONS LATER. THE PROF “WAS” OUT OF LINE AND “STUPID” FOR MOUTHING OFF AND CREATING A DISTURBANCE. THE POLICE OFFICER HAD A “WHOLE LOT MORE” TO CONSIDER THAN THE “FEELINGS” OF THIS LOWLIFE PROFESSOR! AND OBAMA USED VERY POOR JUDGMENT IN CALLING THE POLICE DEPT “STUPID”, BUT, THEN HIS “POOR JUDGMENT” HAS COME IN THE RECENT PAST, NO? I JUST HOPE HE DOESN’T USE POOR JUDGMNT WHEN THE BAD GUYS COME BACK HERE TRYING TO KICK OUR BUTTS.

“’They had a positive discussion during which the President told Gates about his call with Sgt. Crowley and statement to the media,’ The White House says in a written statement.”
What color is His crayon?

When the president shoots his mouth off and makes a bad situation worse,then what chance does this country have to ever heal race relations?

Obama is using PopMedia’s megahorn to try to pressure and force this innocent Cop into back-filling Obama’s poll numbers through an appearance…at which Obama will once again become The One.

“Obama is using PopMedia’s megahorn to try to pressure and force this innocent Cop into back-filling Obama’s poll numbers through an appearance…at which Obama will once again become The One.”
Never again: The One is done. Just another lame duck trying to wear the glass slippers.

“Hey stupid, go fetch us Ivy Leaguers a couple of beers.”

“Hey stupid, go fetch us Ivy Leaguers a couple of beers.”
Sergeant Crowley went to Brandeis.

Lets face it to most of his critics if George Bush had said the same thing about a black cop and a white professor nothing would have been said. It would have been okay. Why do you people continue to discard his full heritage the woman who carried him went through labor and gave birth to him was white. He is not just another black man give his mother some respect and see him as you do every other white person perfect.

When the President can give the order to launch, the President needs to be someone smart enough to get all his facts right before opening his mouth. This President didn’t do that. He acted “stupidly” instead.

“if George Bush had said the same thing about a black cop and a white professor nothing would have been said.”
Maybe nothing would have been SAID — Cheney and all — but widespread spontaneous urban combustion might have given rise to odd bits of video on teevee …

Forgive me, but weren’t the police officers doing what they are hired to do? Upscale neighborhood, police see someone breaking in a window…. wouldn’t we all have wanted them to intervene? No matter what color anyone was? And refusing to give identification? Oh, I forgot, Gates is so important that EVERYONE should know who he is, so he shouldn’t be required (like the rest of us peons) to give ID. And shouldn’t we all be treated the same way when interfering with the job of a police officer? Who cares what color anyone was? Gates screwed up! He did and said the wrong things, and behaved like a pompous ass, and now he’s going to play the race card. Now tell me who is perpetuating the divide between races? And for Obama to get involved at all was inappropriate. White cops arrest black citizens all over the US, and black cops arrest white citizens all over the US, and the President doesn’t get involved. Gates: admit you were out of line, and let it go! Don’t cheapen your ancestors by claiming that this was about race; it wasn’t.

If anybody acted “stupidly,” it’s Obama. Opening his stupid mouth before he has the facts seems to be becoming a trend with this jerk. What I find more insulting, is how he always tries to deflect attention from his idiotic actions by throwing the economy or whatnot in our faces. Fess up to your own stupidity, Obama, and being more careful about who you make “friends” with might not hurt, either. The racist, unscrupulous and arrogant group you seem to hang with says a lot about you.

Obama should have resigned when he bowed to a king. Utter idiot.

This morning I heard over the radio, that you felt you had to retract your comment made at your recent conference regarding the Cambridge Police Department. Personally I feel there are still too many haters,(like my daughter says in this world) and they look for any little things like this to bring attention to. I know you are the President and you need to be careful of what you say and do. But I don’t think you need to apologize. After all there more important issues.

Professor Gates has just now agreed to the beer, as has Sergeant Crowley. Looks like its on!
The Republican taxpayers are getting the first round. I’ll cover it from there on in . ..

I thought he was on track to help the country. If the white and black guys had been reversed, we would have never heard from the prezzzz! The leader of the country wasn’t there but he took the race card and ran with it on national television, against an entire police department that has came under real gunfire from real guns and criminals. I have personally had my life put in jeopardy, through a war, thieves and drug addicts. I would never do a policeman job, but thank god we have someone to do this for far too little pay. They have to size up the situation and make a split second decision, and they better be right, or they get sued or the leader of the country will name call them on national tv. HAS THE PRESIDENT EVER BEEN SHOT AT IN A WAR OR AS A POLICE OFFICER? I don’t know the answer to that one but I would guess he hasn’t. He needs to unite the country not play reverse discrimination!
Calibrate your words carefully Jim Crowley and tell him “hell no” to the beer offer at the White House.

Who cares about this nonsense anyway? The GOP is making a big deal to draw attention away from health care. The Fox has spoken of little else these last couple days. Ignore it.

look at what all of you have expressed as your view of the present state of race relations in this country. has everyone lost sight of the fact that you cant fight hate with hate?

It’s so nice to finally have a president who can speak well. You never would have heard Bush try to weasel his way out of a monumental gaffe on national TV by using a word like “calibrated.”

I think this incident has highlighted a long overdue NEED for some REAL racial awareness. Before we can heal, we need to openly discuss all racial issues; otherwise, the racism will rear it’s ugly head in different, but nonetheless destructive ways.

Oh, a beer makes everything O.K. then. The fact that the President didn’t know the facts, but elected to tell our children on national T.V. that law enforcement acted stupidly should be of no concern at all.

And why did the President get involved in this minutia? Well, because the Mr. Gates is his friend!
Posted by: AGT-R
Why did Bush pardon ‘Scooter’ Libby, convicted felon, tried by an American jury and found guilty?
Why were so many Bush administration officials deathly afraid to take the oath and testify?

Obama does alot of things to bring the nation together.Like contacting this officer directly.He still states that Dr.Gates should not have been arrested.I see alot of statements aainst him for saying the Cambridge Police Dept acted stupidly, well they did.He apologized for saying it publicly, but the fact still remains the Police Officer got his blood up and felt like arresting somebody.Obama just sugar coated it a bit.But he also stepped in to resolve it.Publicly.

As far as I’m concerned it’s over. Gates became nationally known as race baiter, Obama showed he’s not perfect with normal personal biases (but has a tough time admitting it), and everybody understands it if they can get past their personal biases. Let’s move on now. But from everything I’ve heard, I do think Officer Jim Crowley deserves an apology.

The resolution is very simple provided all the attempts to rationale any point are dropped and focus on two true facts:
1. Professor Gates was arrested for disorderly conduct, i.e. would not stop his verbal disrespect to the police officer.
2. President Obama’s comment was a public and international comment and therefore his apology must be made public.

I notice the esteemed Prof. Gates has agreed to a beer so this incident can help out “racial profiling?”. Did it ever occur to this so called intelligent professor that if he had been white the situation would have had the same outcome? He grew belligerent and followed the officer outside when it could have been over and then blames the whole thing on “racial profiling”. How this man can still be respected in his professional capacity is beyond me. Please officer do not accept this invitation. This idiot will obviously use it to lord it over you and try to make you out as a fool.

Don’t feel sorry for Gates. he will be a big hero at his meetings for the next 6 months, be a star on Oprah next week, publish his new book in August, and be awarded a Nobel Peac Prize for his work in rece relations by the end of the year. If he dose not make $1 million off this I will be surprised.

So, Obama spoketh with Sergeant Jim Crowley adn comments, “I have to tell you that, as I said yesterday, my impression of him was that he was a outstanding police officer and a good man, and that was confirmed in the phone conversation. And I told him that.”, but then says that the officer who was making sure his house was safe and not being burglarized came out and verbally attacked him was right and the officer was wrong to have arrested a man whom was by accounts of other officers was out of control, was wrong. Good job Obama. Way to go. Thanks for revealing what you really are more succinctly. Some folks said you were to bring change or were different or mend race relations. Well, nobody mentioned that you would side with obvious race baiters. Well, some people did, but others said these people were wrong and you were not that way, but hahaha…. You proved them wrong. You were exactly the racist we were warned of. When rev Wright was exposed as the white hating racist he was and everyone knew he was your religious mentor, some told us that you are a product of Wright’s two decades of indoctrination in Black Liberation Theology. Others said, “Nah, just because Obama chose to worship this man’s racist religion doesn’t mean Obama believes it!” Wrong. It’s not the coincidence we were told it was. Obama spent half his life being taught in Wright’s church. It shows.

This meeting shouldn’t happen unless it’s made perfectly clear that the wrongdoing was on Gates and Obama’s part. They cannot use Sgt. Crowley as a stand-in for historical wrongs. Law enforcement needs to be respected, and the president has already conveyed the idea that it’s understandable for African Americans to be uncooperative with law enforcement, and that he will back them up. He needs to correct that misperception.
An “honest” dialogue on race can’t happen as long as whites are assumed at the outset of being racist, and made to prove they are not. Gates will be lucky if Crowley doesn’t sue his pants off for the defamation.

It seems that the only professional one out of the three in this situation was the police officer. The rest seem to be flying by the seat of their pants. Get with it you two. We have enough issues without you both creating more.

Totally aside from who was right or wrong between the professor and the policeman, on many different levels it was totally inexcusable for Obama to have commented on the situation as he did. He threw huge amounts of gasoline on what was otherwise a small fire. Not just in calling the police stupid, but also with the ‘joke’ about how he’d get shot if he tried to break into ‘his’ house {news flash, its OURS not his!}.
He is the President of the United States, representing ALL of our citizens, not just his friends, not black vs white. It is totally inappropriate for the president to use the power of his office and the bully pulpit that comes with it to attack private individuals. Its disgraceful and beneath the dignity of the office.
He is supposedly a lawyer – yet he prejudiced an ongoing legal situation. At the time, Gates was threatending lawsuit – how could they possibly find an unbiased jury after Obama injected himself into the situation as he did?
Obama should offer a REAL apology. As trivial as it seems, Kudo’s to McCotter for attempting to use the checks and balances our constitution affords to rein the President in on this one.
Right after Obama said “I don’t have all the facts” the next words should have been “it would be entirely inappropriate for me to comment.” and that would have been that. Coming from the President, his comments were inappropriate, inexcusable, knee-jerk reaction (or agenda based), inflammatory, and racially biased.
As to Gates {Professor} v. Crowley {Sergent/Policeman}. Certainly there are police who abuse their power. There are also those with chips on their shoulders or alterior motives, who are happy to abuse police who are NOT acting inappropriately. It goes both ways.
As to the charges being dismissed. Maybe the police decided it was an over-reaction. However, I gather the majority of those sorts of charges are dismissed, the arrest itself having calmed the situation and ensured it didn’t escalate, and seen as enough of a punishment for a minor incident. Or maybe higher powers forced the dismissal inappropriately. Would be interesting to know which, but who knows. It certainly doesn’t prove Gates case as many have claimed it does.
One might want to seriously consider that Gates has ALREADY talked about doing a documentary on this issue TO INCLUDE IN A LARGER DOCUMENTARY HE IS ALREADY DOING ON RACIAL PROFILING. That was awfully quick. Gates surely had something to be gained were he the victim of racial profiling, before the officer ever arrived. Gee, I wonder if the president of the US commenting on this in a prime time news event might help that documentary along?
Furthermore, its quite interesting that almost immediately after the police department stated that they were considering releasing the 911 call AND recordings from Sgt. Crowley’s keyed mic while he was at the scene, suddenly Gates goes from screaming about racial profiling and threatening lawsuit to “move along, nothing to see here.” Suddenly he thinks this has gotten enough attention and its time to move on. Interesting. Goes a long way towards removing any benefit of the doubt I had extended towards Gates, and increases the benefit of the doubt I give Sgt. Crowley. I hope the police DO publicly release those tapes. I doubt they will, but one can hope.
Further note that one of the people who had congregated at the scene, a neighbor of Gates, has stated on the record that Gates was acting belligerently outside the house prior to the arrest.
Further note that there were police officers there not only from Sgt. Crowley’s department, but also Harvard — and one of the officers with Sgt. Crowley was black, another Hispanic. The black officer has stated, on the record, that he supports Crowleys’ actions 100%, and that Gates was behaving strangely.
Fortunately this one isn’t likely to be a he said vs. he said — or even a he said vs. police said, since the neighbor (a woman) who called in the apparent burglary along with 6 or 7 other neighbors all wound up there and witnessed the arrest.
Oh, and a neighbor sees two people trying to force my front door, calls the cops, and the cops show up suspecting I’m a burglar? Cops suspicious and careful to protect themselves reasonably too? I’m HAPPY. Maybe nervous until the cops are sure that I do belong there, and I’d certainly make sure they saw I was no threat to them, and then I’d explain and it was me forcing my own door and show ID to prove it. For heavens sake, I WANT my neighbors looking out for my property against possible thieves, just as I would for theirs. I sure WANT the police to respond to 911 burglary calls and then making SURE that the people they are talking to belong there and aren’t burglars!! So Obama’s “we’d all be mad if it was in our house” WRONG. Most of us would NOT, we would be GLAD.

p.s., Bush refused to pardon Libby. After Libby served something like 4 years for a questionable memory of a single call/conversation that occurred years before, with no crime committed, just a question of whether the conversation did or didn’t occur and Libby having apparently forgotten it in his initial Grand Jury testamony = 4 years of your life in prison, then Bush commuted the remainder of his sentence. That’s a far cry from a pardon.

I just hope that during this “learning moment” that Professor Gates can learn that it’s not acceptable in 21st century America to automatically assume that every white police officer you encounter is racist.

Law enforcement is over any power from President or professor.
No one has such power or reason can yell or abuse the law enforcement.
This is the hope of this multi-race country and what our tax paid for.

Come over for a beer? How low brow. What trailer are they going to meet in?

i believe that obama is wrong for saying it was the policemans fault. i mean the black man was breaking down his own door to get in and someone called the police. if someone WAS burglarizing his home and the police didnt come at all then he would have been crying that the police dont care about black peoples home. I WONDER if obama gave them old english malt liquor