Fox News Obsesses About Gates Arrest During Exclusive Gibbs Interview

The White House was hoping that the president's impromptu address of the Skip Gates saga on Friday would effectively sweep the issue under the rug. They didn't get their wish.

The first eight questions for White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs during his sit-down with Fox News Sunday centered on Gates' arrests and the comments Barack Obama had made earlier in the week, when he said the Cambridge Police Department had acted stupidly.

Had Gibbs prepared Obama "for a question about Henry Gates' arrest" before that Wednesday night presser, fill-in host Bret Baier wanted to know?

"Did he read the police report beforehand?" he asked as a follow-up.

"Did he determine that he was going to take sides to back his friend to the extent that he did Wednesday night?"

Has he scheduled a time to get a beer with Gates and the arresting officer (which Obama had suggested might happen)?

Does the president still think this was a case of racial profiling?

Did he - Robert Gibbs - suggest during Friday's daily briefing that the Fraternal Order of Police was acting politically when he noted that the group had endorsed John McCain in the 2008 election?

Why bring up the endorsement at all, Baier asked, when Gibbs noted he was just responding to a question of who the Fraternal Order of Police had backed in the election.

And, finally, had the president been compelled to address the Gates issue on Friday because of the news conference held earlier in the day by the Cambridge police officers, in which those officers demanded a presidential apology?

Now, to be certain, Fox News is not the friendliest forum for this administration. And like countless other news outlets, they have been drawn to the racial and political dynamics of the president's involvement in and commentary on the Gates issue. But the White House likely envisioned the Gibbs interview to center on the health care debate. And having that topic come up only as the tenth question of a 15-minute interview (a stimulus question was number nine) can't be what the administration was hoping for. Fortunately for the president, it seems unlikely that the Gates story remains Topic A for discussion past this round of Sunday news programs.

Comments

[EmmaJ76]

Fox obsessing about Gates, reminds me of Fox obsessing about Rev Wright.

[AndyWright68]

Crowley violated Gate's rights, entered his home illegally, falsely arrested him and then lied repeatedly in his report. he does not deserve "a beer" at the white house.

Proof Crowley should be fired and have charges filed on him:
http://www.youtube.com/user/CopsOutofControl#play/uploads/4/gH6SjZ5wEzw

[turtleglow]

I don't think that it's necessarily a racial thing. Look what happened to two rich White men in N.M. They happen to be well known (at least to race car fans) race car drivers who have both won the Indy 500 numerous times.

Unser brothers arrested for ignoring deputies
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — Racing veterans Al Unser Sr. and Bobby Unser were arrested Wednesday after sheriff's deputies said the brothers ignored orders to leave an area where authorities had cornered a carjacking suspect.

Al Unser Sr. said he tried to drive onto his property near the roadblock and the deputies began to yell at him. He said one deputy continued to yell after he turned around to get back in his car. He claims he was then pulled out of his vehicle and thrown to the ground before being handcuffed.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/motor/2006-08-10-unsers-arrest_x.htm

Cambridge, Mass. is one of the most liberal cities in America. I doubt you would encounter much out-and-out racism there.

[Chem is she]

If you cannot try to see things from other people's perspective, you desserve the nightmare your life must be.

[turtleglow]

A female Black police officer weighs in on the Gates controversy:
http://astuteblogger.blogspot.com/

[n4m]

It's funny how the arguments aimed at the President by the officers in the clip; the President shouldn't have said anything because he didn't have all the facts , he should have recused himself because Prof. Gates is his friend, could be applied to them as well.
It appears the lesson plan the Cambridge Police Dept. and Sgt Crowley are preparing for the "teachable moment" doesn't include the virtue of personal responsibility, self examination, or graciousness.
I'm amazed the Cambridge Police Dept.and Sgt. Crowley have continued to play the victim, even after the President reached out and Sgt. Crowley accepted.
It's too bad the officers of the Cambridge Police Dept. haven't learned from the example set by Mr. Gates, who hasn't called any press conferences, as have the police, to further air his grievances.

[artamatic]

The honeymoon is over and the liberals don't like it.

The latest Rassmusen and Gallup polls are showing steady declines. The Press (all networks!!) are starting to question this administration more strongly on a lot of topics. And the Amerian public is picking up on the negativity of the Press. Let's see how Obama's spin doctors react. Axelrod didn't come off very well this weekend on the Sunday morning news programs. Gates didn't fair well either.

Round two.

[Tazru]

Rasmussen???

watapantload

Find something with credibility.

[wilray]

You and Limbaugh have been hoping that Obama would fail.

[jackbutler5555]

It is what it is and will be what it will be, not to mention it was what it was.

Fox today, tomorrow, and yesterday is going to try to undermine Obama, in its pursuit of "we report, you decide." So, we should relax, knowing that Fox audience consists mainly of conservatives in need of a reinforcement fix.

That's show biz, speaking of which FoxNews started out as a Hollywood-oriented news net.. Remember that Rupert bought Fox Entertainment Corporation to develop his media empire.

So, when Gibbs goes on Fox, he knows what to expect. And because Fox does what it does for an audience which needs what it does, Gibbs doesn't have to worry about Fox making any converts. The audience is already converted.

[chibbles]

The 911 call did not mention race? How did I get into the police report.? Anybody? Anybody?
Crowley put it there? Question is why?

[gino618]

Any documentation of an incident always includes mention of someone's race as an identifying characterisitic. Ask any police officer.

[Ping]

It's looking more and more like Professor Gates was interfering with a police investigation. And it is looking more and more like Crowley was a very tolerant Police officer.

[goodtomeetyou]

Gates was interfering with a police investigation?

Provide a link to the police report that states that was the reason for arrest. Since you can't think of a valid reason for Crowley to arrest Prof. Gates you have to invent facts to bolster your position.

What did Prof. Gates do that warranted an arrest?

[GinnyW]

How was he interfering with the investigation of a burglary attempt??? Crowley admits that Professor Gates admitted him to his home and made him aware that he was, which was obvious physically the homeowner. Crowley was interfering with Skip's Constitutional rights when he didn't comply with his request for his name and badge number, after several requests, but continued to harrass the homeowner, although he did not have a warrant to do so. Crowley should have left as soon as he knew that it was Gate's home and completed his incident report later, noting homeowner "uncooperative" if he wished. I think Gates was extremely tolerant of Crowley's STUPID reaction to this homeowner's requests for showing his ID and the police officer's illegal search and seizure.

[StevenKeirstead]

The police report states Gates identified himself, albeit reluctantly, by producing ID on a repeated request. The police report states Crowley "was led to believe that Gates was lawfully in the residence..." So then the officer wrote he was getting ready to leave, reporting his finding that there was no burglary, and his motives were questioned by Gates, who accused him of racism and demanded the police officer repeat his name, which Crowley wrote that he refused to do.

Crowley reported the insults from Gates escalated, but I read nothing that Gates said that implied violence, nothing that was obscene. Then the report records a subjective opinion that Gate's tumultuous behavior, which was only stated as being loud speech, caused other people nearby to be "shocked and alarmed." There are no witness statements to back this up. Even if nearby people were offended, that does not mean Gates was committing a crime. Even standing on his porch he was on his leased property. The speech was not an incitement to riot or a threat to the police officer. And because the police officer was done interviewing Gates this was not obstructing the officer's duty.

[StevenKeirstead]

Part 2:

At that point I think the officer had the duty to stay calm, and diffuse the situation. Perhaps if he had apologized to Gates and said "I'm just following up on a 911 call, and I'm sorry if I appeared in any way racist. That was not my intent," that would have helped. But instead he escalated the situation, as he wrote "I withdrew my department issued handcuffs from their carrying case." This was supposed to be calming to a man who thinks he is a victim of injustice and discrimination? That was stupid.

I think the arrest resulted from Crowley being offended at being called a racist. His integrity was being questioned, and his emotions got the better of his logic. And my interpretation is based on the police report, not on Gates' assertions that he was not saying offensive things to Crowley. Even assuming Gates was rude, that was no crime.

[n4m]

And furthermore, it's looking more and more like you're a very talented satirist.

[doggfather]

I'm amazed that web force no so much about being black. The biggest threat to race relations is white people being dismissive about the affects of 400 years of discrimination.

[Simmadown]

It's such an important point. There's nothing worse than a bunch of white people sitting around talking about race and dismissing talk of discrimination. It's absurd.

[Betrayed]

Blacks have been treated poorly for far too long.

This is true.

But women have been held down for tens of thousands of years.

Yet, they don't b!t@h and moan nearly as loud as many blacks.

Why do you suppose that is?

[Deontée Gordon]

Is that a joke?

[Osmona]

Yes women have been, as you put it "held down" for years. But have they been shot for reaching for their wallets or sodomized in police stations, or shot 50 times outside of a club at their bachelors party? Professor Gates had every right to be disturbed about a police officer standing in "HIS" home. From your statement I conclude that YOU and most white people will NEVER understand (or want to understand) what its like to be Black in America. And nobody's whinining. Blacks have come a very long way and NOT because anything was given to us. WE had to make noise or you might say "complain" in order to "have" rights, let alone "equal" rights. I don't think we've come far enough to say we have "equal" rights. That may take another 100 years.

[Ping]

From the Globe story:

In an interview last night, Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert C. Haas said it was accurate that Whalen did not mention race in her 911 call. He acknowledged that a police report of the incident did include a race reference. The report says Whalen observed “what appeared to be two black males with backpacks on the front porch’’ of a Ware Street home on July 16.

That reference is there, said Haas, because the police report is a summary. Its descriptions - like the race of the two men - were collected during the inquiry, not necessarily from the initial 911 call, he said.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The only contemporaneous record of the incident is in the tapes. With these facts coming to light, I doubt that Professor Gates will be able to stop their release.

[Simmadown]

The Police Commissioner acknowledged the 911 caller did not mention race.

Yet Crowley wrote that the caller observed "two black men" in his report.

Ergo, Crowley lied in his report.

What else is he lying about?

Score one for Gates. Another set-back for the Cambridge Police Dept. and Sgt. Crowley.

[Betrayed]

Gates and Obama are in a jam.

A beer aint gonna cut it.

If Crowley was wrong, there would be no drinking.

I'm a drinker, I know.

LOL

[realpolitic]

In a day of recovery from a major recession, two wars, and a health and climate crisis, Fox news just reports on sideshows to elevate them to news. It does the country a disservice in its pretense of being a news organization. They must focus on such silly events because Fox ignores the health care and climate crisis pretending they do not exist. So instead it focuses on distractions.

[publicenemy2009]

*Co-signed*

Re thug propaganda channel is how I describe fox noise. They just love to keep the wedge issues alive on that junk station.

[realpolitic]

Right on, as we used to say in the old days!

[dteg]

Fox audience can barely read. Fox can not make it that complicated.

[realpolitic]

They keep it simple!

[publicenemy2009]

*Co-signed*

Repugs propaganda channel is how I describe f.o. x noise. They just love to keep the wedge issues alive on that junk station.

[Betrayed]

Skimmed it, but it's not worth reading.

Trim it, it's LATE!

[wilray]

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-gates22-2009jul22,0,2046532.story

[Betrayed]

It's late, and only Rude Ghost and the conservatives are still standing.

God bless us all.

[Ping]

I think Ms Whalen's statement through her lawyers pretty much puts an end to the profiling accusation. Gates was not profiled by Crowley.

Then it becomes a discussion about the disorderly conduct arrest, and that is up to the police officer's discretion.

[Betrayed]

Voice of reason.

Thank you.

[Simmadown]

Oh Ping. You'll never get it.

You don't seem to understand that the 911 caller's assertion that she never said the suspects were black is a damaging fact for Sgt. Crowley. Just for starters, it proves he lied on his police report.

[Ping]

You are really grasping. Because the facts are now no longer on your side.

[publicenemy2009]

You can't teach a person to see color through white colored glasses.

[publicenemy2009]

Just the opposite Einstein. I have read some of your comments, and I'm beginning to think Rude Ghost is right you just don't like black folk. Why would you spend so much energy defending this racial profiling.

Case dismissed.

[Ping]

Because it is not about profiling it is about privilege.

This is the nail in the coffin for Gates. It pretty much proves that Crowley had no idea who was in the house and who was breaking in.

[Betrayed]

I'll say what I say, then you go away.

Is that your m.o., publicenemy2009?

[dteg]

cop has no dercreation on the charge when you are at your own home. You have free speech. read the MA statue on disorderly conduct. Also this case was never traditionally what you call racial profiling

[dteg]

could be wrong but I thought profiling was when they stopped people based on race and sort of looked for things later. Maybe this will expand racial profiling to legitimate investigation and then reacting differently because of the person's race.

[publicenemy2009]

What do traditionally call racial profiling? It may not have started out that way but it sure to that turn when officer Crowley seen a black man in the upscale house.

[jackbutler5555]

I guess police officers have discretion to arrest, but their superiors have discretion to toss the arrest out when it is unwarranted.

[Betrayed]

During the campaign, I said "anyone but Hillary".

God, how I regret those words.

[WebForce1]

Actually Hillary was my first pick. When she went down I went with Obama. I don't regret it though. I think he's doing a good job. If he gets the health care and the cap and trade through I'll be happy.

[Betrayed]

Yeah, we got a real mess on our hands.

[dteg]

I was nervous about Hillary because she went for Iraq war. I think that cost her big time.