In his recent press conference, the First Gasbag in Chief waded into a racial powderkeg. After admitting that he had no idea what the facts were, he decided that a police department “acted stupidly” when a white police officer arrested a black college professor.
In another incident, Barbara “You had better call me Senator” engaged in outright bigotry, and had the temerity to express shock at being a victim of her own game.
No, the only people acting stupidly in this country are leftist race mongers, who have used political correctness, aka political McCarthyism, to destroy people. Now they are getting their racial castor oil shoved down their throats in spades, and they don’t like it.
President Obama offered social racial commentary about a conflict that may have had absolutely nothing to do with race.
I initially stayed away from this story in greater detail because unlike President Obama, we simply did not know all of the facts. My blog has a policy of avoiding stories when the facts are unknown. It saves time in corrections later on.
What is not in dispute is that a woman saw a man breaking into the back of his house. As somebody who has locked his keys in his car and lost his house keys, I have had to break into my own car, and use a ladder to climb into an open window on the roof as a youngster. Somebody witnessing this who did not know me would absolutely have a right to question this and call the cops.
I recently visited my parents. My father was supposed to turn the alarm off. He left it on and then went fishing. When I tried to reenter the house, the alarm went off, alerting the whole neighborhood.
Now had I acted irrationally, neighbors would have called the cops. I walked outside, saw the neighbors, calmly laughed and shrugged my shoulders. The neighbor across the street did not know me, but she saw me pick up a cell phone to call my dad. I was relaxed about it. The next door neighbor came outside, saw me, knew who I was, and immediately figured out the problem. My dad was thankfully reachable, and he gave me the code to turn it off. The neighbors went back inside.
Now one of two things must have been true about this situation. Either I was the coolest crook on the planet, or I really was innocent. Can anyone picture a criminal waiting for the cops, shaking their hands, and playing it off? I am not that cool a customer. I didn’t have to be.
Let’s say the police officer had not bothered to show up to investigate the complaint, and it had been a burglary. Then there would be cries of racism for police inaction and neglect. So the police officer went to the home as he was supposed to do. This is where the conflict started.
Professor Henry Louis Gates claimed that he was arrested even after stating who he was, and saw this as an example of racial profiling and police abuse. Police officer Sargent James Crowley insisted that Professor Gates got belligerent, saying the phrase, “Do you know who I am?” and mentioning that he was a Harvard professor.
This is not about race. This is about arrogance. This is about what I call “Harvard Syndrome,” which is developed at various Poison Ivy League Universities. I have never met a typical black person. I also have not met a typical white person, although President Obama referred to his grandmother that way. I have met typical college professors. They are arrogant liberal gasbags that think that intellectual snobbery is an admirable quality. Professor Gates is a Harvard elitist that turned his nose up at a lowly police officer.
An episode of the television show Frasier had the lead character, played by Kelsey Grammer, say to his boss that, “as a Harvard graduate, I cannot believe (blah blah blah).” His boss replied that “it” is obnoxious, at which point Frasier W. Crane (Using the full name is definitely elitist) asks if she means the situation itself. She replies, “No, I think it’s obnoxious that you have to mention that you went to Harvard in every sentence.”
Mr. Gates is trying to make himself a victim, when the truth is this situation could have been avoided with politeness. Yes, it is an indignity when a police officer confronts a person. It has happened to me. I handle myself in a polite manner. Are there times when the police officer goes overboard? Yes. There are procedures to remedy that, from internal affairs to lawsuits. However, this professor is doing a disservice to every real victim.
The police officer is not backing down. Usually in this case the white officer would seek forgiveness, promise to attend sensitivity training, and kiss the buttocks of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. This officer is defiant. He is either one cool customer, or he is telling the truth. Also, Mr. Gates picked the wrong white man to play the race card against. Apparently this police officer once gave mouth to mouth resuscitation to the late Boston Celtics basketball star Reggie Lewis in a desperate attempt to save his life.
President Obama, the king of bland platitudes, could have offered one in this case. He could have said, “We don’t have all the facts in this case, and we should not jump to conclusions.” As my friend Bob Parks succinctly stated on the O’Reilly Factor yesterday, President Obama could have said, “No comment.”
http://www.black-and-right.com/2009/07/23/br-on-oreilly-factor/
Instead he jumped to conclusions, and everybody from Bill Cosby to Boyce Watkins took him to task.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/07/28/a_post-racial_president_97642.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32085686
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/police-union-condemns-obamas-stupidly-comments-2009-07-23.html
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/07/24/obama_is_the_one_who_acted_stupidly_97609.html
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/07/23/the-dont-taze-me-bro-moment-of-henry-louis-gates/
Will President Obama apologize? Of course not. Will the media call him out on this? Of course not. Yet this police officer, if he keeps getting slandered, should go after Professor Gates with the same ferocity that Steven Pagones went after Al Sharpton during the Tawana Brawley hoax.
Fake claims of racial mistreatment poison race relations for all of us, and hurt true victims of racism. This must stop, and President Obama must stop acting stupidly.
Yet Barack Obama is a genius on these issues compared to Barbara Boxer.
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/07/24/barbara-boxer-my-jerkish-behavior-is-great-for-fund-raising/
Senator Boxer is a leftist bully that has used her power to help drive California into the ground, as businesses leave the state.
Even her fellow liberals have privately had enough with her shrillness.
After tearing into a respected military general, she met her match in Harry Alford, the head of the National Black Chamber of Commerce.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,534265,00.html
The hearings had nothing to do with race. The Black Chamber is exactly the same as the Jewish Chamber and the Latino Chamber. They are pro-business groups that support tax cuts and other business friendly policies. Unlike Democrats, Republicans have an actual philosophy that unites us. We are not a collection of identity groups.
Mr. Alford was testifying against the environmental cap and trade bill. This makes sense. The Chamber of Commerce would be against any regulatory bill that restricts business. His race is totally irrelevant to everybody regarding this issue, except for Senator Boxer and her fellow liberals.
In attempting to rebut his arguments, Senator Boxer tried to show that she had support from other black groups. Mr. Alford immediately called her out, saying that her behavior was “racial” and “condescending.” Of course it was.
Senator Boxer saw a black man criticizing her, and resorted to pointing out the equivalent of saying that “some of her best friends were black.” She did not say those words, but why else would she inject race into a discussion about an environmental bill?
What made the situation even more interesting was that the mouth that roared turned into the mouse that squeaked. So why did Barbara Boxer back down? The answer can be found from comedienne Sarah Silverman.
When Sarah Silverman pointed out that she makes more fun of Asians than black people, it is because she looks at Asians and says, “We’re not afraid of you.”
Comedian Bobby Slayton pointed out that when he makes a joke about a black person, the white people look in the room to see if it is acceptable to laugh.
Barbara Boxer would have torn into Mr. Alford had he been anything else but black. She was afraid.
So is Barbara Boxer a racist?
I am going to be careful on this one. I think she has condescending attitudes towards the same minorities she claims to want to help. This makes her a typical smug liberal. Yet there is one more element to her.
She is a bigot, but not necessarily a racial one. She is an ideological bigot.
My life has been dedicated to stopping Ideological Bigotry. Barbara Boxer is one of its leading proponents.
She has ruthlessly castigated conservatives for years. She claims to be a champion of womens’ rights, but her entire career has been spent absolving liberal men who commit inappropriate acts toward women while lambasting conservative men who get accused by liberal women with no credibility.
In short, she makes her decision on every issue based on ideology. That is bigotry. Her job is to get to the truth. She creates her own truth, where left is good and right is evil.
Had a white conservative been arguing against her bill, she would have gone out for blood.
Thankfully, like the white police officer criticized by President Obama, Harry Alford is not backing down.
I am not going to claim that Barbara Boxer is evil. That would put me on her level. What she is, is stupid.
Until enough people have the courage to stand up for the truth, regardless of who the participants may be, bigotry and lies will continue to hurt good people.
Senator Boxer will not apologize because she truly believes in her own insufferable righteousness.
Boxer is as Boxer does.
Obama is as Obama does.
Liberal is as Liberal does.
The race baiting needs to stop, as does the Ideological Bigotry.
eric
The cops did act stupidly. They arrested a old man with cane for breaking into his own home. Not only is that stupid, but yet another example of the authoritarian conservative police state run amok. Conservatives are such quivering pansies, they demand a total police state, one that would even arrest an old man with a cane for breaking into his own home. The professor had every right to be outraged, Obama had every reason to call the police action for what it was, stupidity, and all the proof you need is the way the charges were summarily dropped. Anyone who thinks otherwise is yet another scardy-cat conservative police state authoritarian. As anti-American as you can get. This whole thing infuriates me.
I don’t know if race played into the police action, and Obama never said it did. Anyone who says otherwise is LYING. What Obama was pointing out is that you certainly blame blacks and hisoanics for being leery of the police. They are disproportionately targetted buy the police and the judicial system, serving loner sentences for the same crimes committed by whites and being arrested more than whites for doing many of the same things whites do but get away with. Sheltered quivering pansy suburban white people are simply ignorant of these facts. If the professor over-reacted to the police intrusion on his home, his life, his LIBERTY, then no reasonable, informed person would blame him. It would be a perfectly understandable reaction. The trouble with conservatives is that being reasonable and informed are an athema to their epistemology.
JMJ
[…] President Obama and Senator Boxer acted stupidly | THE TYGRRRR EXPRESS […]
First, let me say for the record, I am not a racist. I like everybody,
except perhaps former SS men and members of Hamas and Hezbollah
(military wings). I’m not fond of the Taliban or insurgents either.
I ask Obama, are you really that simple minded, or are you just
a great actor?
Both you and I know that some racial profiling is warranted, it’s called
justifiable profiling. Some people simply commit more types of crimes,
(like drive-bys), and others commit financial crimes (like swindling).
That certainly doesn’t indict everyone of a particular race, creed or
religion, but there are badges within ALL communities of criminal
activity.
What was salient with Mr. Gates and the police officer, was whether
or not the law was propertly administerred. If not, then by all means
investigate so that it doesn’t happen again, anywhere. But
reserve judgemet until all the facts are in, and analyzed.
To group anyone is not acting in the best interests of our country.
Mr. Obama, in America, we are innocent until proven guilty.
I hope your Attorney General understands that.
Let me be frank and upfront.
Recently, there were a spate of crimes in Los Angeles. Mostly
Hispanics/blacks were involved.
The LA Times reported a murder several months ago, wherein
a black tenant (age 82), for no apparent reason, shot the building
maintenance man, at least 4 times with a 45. He was about to
have his apartment pipes fixed at the time, but suddenly pulled
out the gun. The maintenance man was heard to plea for his life, to
no avail. It was later rumored that the murderer had several weapons
in his apartment and a list of people to kill (mainly Hispanic).
Of course the area was flooded with police, swat, etc almost
immediately.
The murderer is now in jail.
It would be easy for a local leader, legislator, to accuse all blacks
of such dispicable acts. Obama apparently hasn’t heard of this
incident. People have commented however, “Well, what do you expect”?
Aren’t the situations really the same with respect to their after effects?
What would have happened if instead of a white officer and a black
man, the officer was black and the home owner white, or black for that
matter, or Hispanic or Asian?
On the liberal media, we are hearing people claim that no black
police officer would have arrested a white man. It just never
would have gotten to that.
But as Rodney King said years ago, “Cannot we all be friends”.
Perhaps Obama should be watching, “Cops” for an appreciation
of how whites are often times treated by both white, Hispanic
and black law enforcement.
Obama, do US all a favor, resign, before more damage is done.
You know it just drives me nuts to keep seeing statements to the effect that black and latino people are “disproportionately” targeted, arrested, etc. by police for criminal behavior. There is an insidious, and totally false, presumption embedded in this type of statement. To Wit: an implicit assumption that all races commit crimes at the same rates, and therefore should be equally representated in arrest/conviction statistics. It might be interesting to note that asians and jews are “disporportionately” UNDERrepresented in these same statistics. If the arrest statistics were the result of social or racial bias, why are they (and other commonly “discriminated against” minorities) not being equally “picked on?” Actually the data are fairly clear, and they indicate that blacks and to a lesser extent latinos, actually commit far more of the crime, particularly the violent, and common “street” type crimes. When a witness to a crime (take for example, rape) reports it to the police, they don’t go looking for a black man unless the witness says she was assaulted by a black man. The witness doesn’t say this unless it is the case. In the Gates incident, the neighbor reported 2 black men with backpacks apparently forcing their way into the home of a neighbor (a home which had been burglarized more than once in the past). She described them as black because they were, in fact, black men, not because she was prejudiced. The police arrived looking for 2 black men because that’s what the reporting witness said they should seek. I agree that “cooler heads should have prevailed.” But the professor was the one who “lost his cool” not the cop. The police officers followed their normal procedures precisely, and had it been me who acted like an ass (I’m white/Irish) they would just as quickly arrested me. In fact, if a professor has become so arrogant and imbued with his own racist beliefs and propaganda, that he is unable to control himself when the police arrive to try and prevent his home from being burgled, HE is the one responsible for the deterioration of the situation.
In my previous blog entry, I referred to Professor Gates’ beliefs as “racist.” I base that on the fact that he immediately made the assumption, erroneous as it turned out, that the police were motivated by racial reasons when they came to his home and asked him to identify himself. Unlike the prevalent, highly self-serving, definitions of “racism,” which require the “racist” to be a member of the “ruling class” (if you don’t think this is the prevailing view, just google Racism), I would define “Racist” in a more egalitarian and inclusive manner. I consider “Racism” to be the automatic assumption that race is a motivating factor for any belief or behavior, without adequtely considering other possibilities and making a decision based upon evidence. Professor Gates clearly made such unwarranted assumptions in this incident. I would consider that racist. So would anyone else who doesn’t give special status to one or another subgroup of our society based upon their race. I actually marched with Martin Luther King Jr., and we weren’t marching for special rights for black people, but rather EQUAL rights and consideration for everyone, dare I say, “indiscriminately.”
[…] President Obama and Senator Boxer acted stupidly | THE TYGRRRR EXPRESS […]
JMJ;
Your entire comment falls based on the falsehood in your first 2 sentences.
The police, after verifying his identity, were leaving but were pursued and abused, even mooned, by Gates. It was his refusal to break off that profanity-laced nonsense that got him busted, not “breaking into his own home”.