Hume: Obama, "who travels the world apologizing for this country, couldn't quite apologize for" his Gates comments
July 26, 2009 4:16 pm ET
From the July 26 broadcast of Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday:
(via Raw Story)
Previously:
Conservative media smear Obama for purported overseas "apology tour"
Baier, Garrett add Obama climate remarks to Fox-manufactured "apology tour"
Fox hosts revive Fox-manufactured Obama "apology tour"
Echoing Drudge, Fox promotes another "apology tour"
Fox News again distorts Obama's Strasbourg remarks, promotes "another apology tour"
The other right-wing media mogul you should worry about
Palin's book and Obama's bow: a media week to forget
Media Matters: The Palin chronicles
AND ... you have to feel that the police should take absolutely no fault in arresting a man in his own home.
But hey, it's Brett Hume. Mr. Fair & Balanced. So you shouldn't actually expect him to be, ya know, FAIR & BALANCED ...
You mean the Gates thing, right?
'Cause, if you're talking about the world thing, he actually did have to apologize for something: his predecessor . . .
http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?ReportID=264
It was a bit of logical gymnastics that I heard a lot on wingnut radio; They started with the truism that sometimes doing the right thing makes one unpopular.
Then they jumped to the ridiculous conclusion that the converse must be true, that is, that if one is unpopular, they must be doing something right.
By this logic, history must be validating Adolph Hitler, as I'm sure a poll would show that his fan base has decreased in the past 60 years or so.
All of these are signs of weakness to those who see their own delusions of infallibility and lack of accountability as strengths.
They perfected it in South America in the 70's & 80's, propping up ultra "Right Wing" dictatorships, tyrants and TERRORISTS, until the pendulum was ready to swing to the opposite extreme and now we have nut-jobs like Chavez as a direct, intentional result. A classic, textbook feint,,, a country reeling after two terms of orchestrated insanity, two ultimately un-winnable Wars, an economy in shambles, pillaged by Type-A Fascists & Corporatists masquerading as Capitalists, a diminished America, a diminished opinion of Americans, the once-proud Party of Lincoln disgraced and out-of-favor, etc etc and so on.
A Nation prepped and ready for Obama's (actually his handler's) new New Deal.
A vulture can't fly with only one Wing.
Lately, I have had to apologize to the neighbors for all the noise I make when I yell at the T.V on sunday morning. Nothing like some early morning intermperance, from a bunch of self serving neo-con bozos to get the blood moving.
Now Hume says that O didn't apologize. Hmmmn, I'm so CONfused. ;-) What's a commie pinko moonbat type to think?
I think it's an interesting question. And it wouldn't at all surprise me if I was correct.
President Obama was wrong to use the word 'stupidly'. But it is more human than the canned 'I am not going to comment' response. It did not matter if he was subjected to the same experience as Gates. It was individual experience, no matter how much widespread.
The Cambridge policeman did his job. Would his behavior have been different if he saw a white man? I would say yes and I would also expect it (I am not white). Would he have just said 'have a nice day' and left, I would say not.
Gates had every right to behave the way he did. If a cop comes into my house and asks for my ID, I will ask for his ID too, regardless of whether someone said I was breaking into my own house or not.
In the end, the charges were dropped. Every one should have gone home happy at that point.
If someone, anyone, wanted to make an issue about whites and non-whites getting along in this country, this is a bad example.
President Obama's birth certificate issue is a valid one.
Boy, are you dumb. The Obama birth certificate issue isn't an issue. The birth certificate has been produced and has been verified by the State of Hawaii and its Republican governor as being 100% legitimate. He was born in the State of Hawaii. Get over it.
What it reminds me of is tapping the back bumper of someone's car by accident. There's no damage at all, and nobody's hurt. But the person you hit flies off the handle and wants to call the cops because you broke the law. So you have to be late to work because you have to wait for the police, you then have to deal with the DMV raising your points and your insurance company hiking your rates. There's no sense of judgment involved there, and that's what makes calling the police sort of crazy.
If there are whites that gin up an issue like this when a black man gets elected President, it deserves more spotlight than Pres. Obama provided to the Gates incident.
I totally agree that Obama was born in USA and qualified to be the President.
No wonder they can't focus on the issues, there's no blood in their brains...
These anti-choice, anti-sex, anti-family values, hypocritical jacka** Republicans remind me of cockroaches when the lights are turned on.
A bit of language examination here. The President did not say that the police 'were' stupid, they behaved stupidly. This ties into the Xian (pseudo-christian) claim of 'hating the sin but loving the sinner', which they do not do. The use of language (specifically English, American subset) reveals more than they intend, as 'loving the sinner,etc' would lead to comments like "Saddam Hussein did evil things" rather than their actual comment that "Saddam WAS evil". Many don't comprehend the difference, which is perfectly clear to me... they are not living according to what they claim.
As for 'doing something stupid" (which is a variation of 'behaving stupidly'), everyone has done that. (although Neocons would never admit to it) I know I have memories of events where I did something I would otherwise consider as ridiculous, and which I later realized was 'dumb'. If someone were with me and I did 'a dumb thing', and my friend told me "that was dumb", I would probably - at least at a later time when I was more rational than emotional - agree, since I know dozens of cases where my behavior was driven by emotions or misinformation rather than a logical, dispassionate examination of the situation.
To quote the title of a Leonard Nimoy book, I Am Not Spock.
(and even Spock was vulnerable to emotions)
Maybe normally Crowley is highly professional and capable. On this particular day, he behaved stupidly. Outside of political self-preservation, there's no reason to refrain from saying so.
His C.O. can stand by whatever he wants. Until I see a rational explanation of a)why Crowley didn't leave a card with his name/badge number on it, b)why he called in Harvard University Police and c)what compelled him to remain on the premises at all, since there obviously was no crime and no hostage situation at hand, then he acted like an idiot.
Again, nothing required Crowley's continued presence. The situation can be diffused by giving his badge number and getting the hell out. It wasn't a crime scene.
And also, for the thirtieth time, Obama was asked. I agree it was poor judgment to say "stupidly", but there's really no getting around that conclusion. In any event, anyone can comment on a police mistake without endangering the lives of officers. Give me a break.
I'm not disrespecting the police. The point is that this is not a sandbox. They're supposed to act in a certain way regardless of how an individual talks to them. There is no "he started it" principle in law enforcement. Whether Gates was out of line or not, Crowley acted stupidly in response.
This outrage at the president would have more credibility if the same people that see so much "reverse racism" at least sometimes see the type that has plagued this country for centuries and unfortunately still does!!!!
The story may change again, but one fact remains, Crowley should not have arrested Professor Gates.
Once Crowley established that Professor Gates was the homeowner, which he did early on, he should have left the residence.
Crowley is suppose to be a racial profiling/diversity expert, who should have been able to handle Professor Gates, not arrest him on some bogus charge.
And please don't start with the abusive language crap.
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts held that the First Amendment prevents application of the disorderly conduct law to language and expressive conduct, even when it is offensive and abusive. The one exception would be language that falls outside the protection of the First Amendment, "fighting words which by their very utterance tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace."
President Obama IS a lawyer, which is why he considered the arrest a stupid act and why he won't apologize.
See if you can understand this:
"This has been ratcheting up, and I obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up," Obama said of the racial controversy. "I want to make clear that in my choice of words, I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department and Sgt. Crowley specifically. And I could've calibrated those words differently."
The president did not back down from his contention that police had overreacted by arresting the Harvard professor for disorderly conduct after coming to his home to investigate a possible break-in. He added, though, that he thought Gates, too, had overreacted to the police who questioned him. The charge has been dropped.
Obama apologized for using "acted stupidly", nothing else.
In other words, Hume is not stupid, but his job requires him to act stupidly.
Gates should be grateful he wasn't simply tasered like an unruly farm animal and dragged away like an over-stuffed sausage. Thats exactly what would have happened to him in so many jurisdictions across this country.
This argument that is raised by Hume is only continued in the effort to break the President. THis is a barrage of non-sense, "news you can't use." Is it serving your ego to see the President apologize to the officer because he is white and this would serve the "slavemaster approach" that this media station pursues him under? Won't happen.
The only the President should not have done was given you any comment on his personal take of that situation!
I feel that I should say thank you on behalf of the President for allowing him to know early, to not ever give you insight to his internalization of an issue. SO THANK YOU>
I also would say this, Apologize to the Officer for what? He did asked a pardon for his comments......And that's all folks!
I respect law to an esteemed degree and the degree in an immediate sense for which law respects itself. I do not want to see law enforcement take sides with this issue, I want to see them take notice of what is controversial.
I am demanding that the officer check his behavior when he was interviewed and ask how he felt about the President's comment and he replies, "I didn't vote for him". What does politics have to do with this issue of perception?
THe officer did act stupidly! Once he was shown an i.d., even if the gentleman was not "smiling and doing a jig"(Jim Crowing It) which is not required by law, He should have bid a farewell.
Let's GO!