Weasel huh? How is that weaseling anything when it's almost word for word, without changing the context of the statement? You don't believe that the thought of bringing the upset man outside would give him a legit excuse to make an arrest ever crossed his mind?

Why would he say he had the man identified, then proceed to say "keep the cars coming, and notify Harvard University Authorities" if he already had dismissed the possibility of a crime? I agree with you 100% that he didn't have the right to pull the race card and consider it a low blow myself. As stated in my first post, I don't believe this is an issue of racism, just bad police work. If you can't handle a simple misunderstanding without taking an innocent man to jail on a charge that has no defined boundaries then how are you a legitimate cop? I'm not saying that the home owner is a saint either, he definately acted inappropriately, but does that warrant an arrest?

Btw, the president never apologized. Only stated that he should have worded his statement differently. Hope I'm not weaseling by quoting someone again.

"Asking to continue to the conversation on the porch" and "telling him you are leaving and if he'd like to continue the conversation he can follow him outside" are pretty different.

He then warned him twice once outside. The guy got his chances and continued to overreact.

I still don't see how you can arrest someone who is simply "venting". He had no weapon or was not a threat to the police. He was just ranting, on his own property. Is this against the law? Does not seem fair.

People need to get the f-ck over themselves. Black or white, people are arrested all of the time and never charged with anything. The Obama statement has been taken waaaay out of context.

The police may have acted "stupidly" by making an arest when one wasn't needed, but I highly, highly, doubt it had anything at all to do with race. Beside that, these officers are trained and know what they're doing. All we do is perpetuate racism more.

This forum has hit the nail right on the head with this one for the most part.

The Woman who called the police did the right thing.

Professor Gates should have known better then to berate the officer but certainly did not need to be arrested.

The officer acted within his right to arrest Prof. Gates because he technically disturbing the peace and\or obstructing justice but he obviously arrested him not because he needed to in order to restore order, but because he was offended by Professor Gates conduct and wanted to "teach him a lesson". Within the legal circle the officers actions are called "lawful but awful".

The real mistake here is when Gates broguht race into the issue. The media ran with it instead of investigating and figuring out the truth. Gates was not arrested because he was black and the cop was a racist but because he was an a-hole and the cop was a dick. This happens all the times ignorant people and a-holes are always accused of being racist when really race was never a factor in determining their actions.

Professor Gates actions are purely racist by definition, but I would still not classify him as a racist based on this instance because he likely believed the cop was motivated by race.

President Obama's reaction was probably a foolish one and clearly a misinformed one, but motivated because the man arrested was his friend not because he was black.

Glen Beck is an idiot, his comments display just how igrorant an biased he is.

well Glenn Beck is a cartoon character anyway. What did he say?

In his own words:

Fox News host Glenn Beck calls Obama a racist - The Daily Voice - Black America's Daily News Source

He's just a man I cannot figure out.

Some of these guys you can tell have been burned by something or someone at a time in their lives.

Glenn Beck looks like a happy go luck dip**** and yet someone has become the high riser of the Republican extreame-wing.

I'm just rolling the dice on "sold his soul to the devil."

for being an "intellectual", obama sure is a fucking idiot for commenting on this joke of a story.

Could have happened to anyone. The only reason we know about it is because he's the President. He's only human.