Shouldn't the title say "surprised"

Excellent statement by the President. I don't think it could be said more fairly. And screw the hyperventilating police-union flacks, who will NEVER admit that any officer in the history of the world has ever screwed up.

It just burns that it was Lynn Sweet who started this whole stupid flap.

Nothing epitomizes the banality of political reporting better than Lynn Sweet.

I'm glad the president is standing by his comments. I was affraid he or Gibbs would try to walk back last night's press conference statement.

Louis Gates is almost 59 years old. Apart from the fact that he was in his own home, that's what makes the police's behavior all the more inexplicable.

Damn right.

Glad Obama is taking a stand on this.

The Republicans are going to step into another race-baiting pool before too long.

They should just let it go, becasue like Joe the Plumber, how soon before this Crowley guy (if he is truly a racist, which I don't think he is, I just think as Obama said he acted stupidly) or some of his hero worshippers like "Whites under siege" Limbaugh says something more stupid

The MSM are all GOP-shoe-lickign bastards.

I don't think anyone, outside of the racist GOP crowd, cares. The GOP engage in a circle jerk, and the MSM salivates as if this matters or anyone else is paying attention.

Sure, we threw the GOP out of office.

Now, how do we get rid of these craven, cowardly, stupid MSM assholes!!!!

The Republicans have to learn that there are other Amendments of importance other than the Second. If Gates would have had a .50 caliber machine gun in his home that he bought from some sleezeball gun dealer, he would be a rightwing hero -- apart from him being black and educated and all.

OK, lawyers and constitutionalists. Is the reason the cop asked Professor
Gates to "step outside" have anything to do with the Fourth Amendment...
That is, "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses..."
Would a person being arrested in their own home for being HWB be a case for
a fourth amendment lawsuit?? Just asking.

The GOP firestorm is to avoid people talking about the health care issues Obama discussed and the points he made. The less people talk about it, the less people are informed.

I just love how the conservatives are defending what the cop did. The cop goes to investigate off of the word of a phone call and sees a old black guy in the house. It should of been obvious pretty quickly that it was a mistake and then the cop should of said sorry for the inconvenience and leave the house.

Cops are supposed to be trained to handle people who are pissed off at them, which Gates had a reason to be, and arresting him in front of his own home isn't part of that training i bet.

The photo shows Gates handcuffed on his front porch. How does that become 'public space.' When the drunk kids of the lady across the street get rowdy on the porch and the cops show up, they don't get arrested, just told to go inside and keep it down - I've seen it happen more than once. Hell, when the (now departed, thank god) drug house across the street had guys on the porch threatening to kill each other the cops only drove by.

Not buying the cop's story.

In reply to Alexa, yes there is a Fourth Amendment issue, and that is no doubt why the police officer wanted to get Prof. Gates out of the house. Police cannot enter someone's home without probabale caues, consent, or a warrant. I doubt if Gates consented; in fact his alleged "belligerence" can properly be interpreted as asking the officer to leave. Was there probable cause? Certainly not once Gates identified himself and established this was his home and he clearly was not a buglar. At that point, as one of the commenters said, the officer should have said, sorry to have disturbed you, certainly you appreciate that we are concerned about the security of your home, and goodnight. Most likely Gates did get excited or "belligerent" (a rather subjective word). Who wouldn't under the circumstances? But that is where the officer lost it, as they often do. He couldn't handle his authority (and perhaps manhood) being challenged, so he used the authority vested in him, and decided to teach Prof. Gates a lesson. How often has that scenario been played out in this country between a white officer and black citizen? That is why black mothers teach their sons to be respectful of police no matter how stupid the police are being. Obviously Prof. Gates momentarily forgot that lesson, but being in his own home and having some prestige, he may have felt he could speak his mind without fear of retaliation. I guess he learned otherwise.

I wonder how our freedom loving Republican friends would like being arrested in their homes?

Regardless of what he may feel, President Obama shouldn't have said the police department acted stupidly by arresting Professor Gates. The biggest problem was the manner in which he described his position, not that he came down on Gates' side. It just opened too big a distraction on the night he was making a big public statement about the health care plans.

Why aren't the idiot conservatives on Obama's side here? What could possibly be a more egregious example of "intrusive government" than this? Haven't they been wailing about the "Obama police state" in the making? Or are they too busy misundertanding the meaning of the Boston Tea Party to remember this is one of the things we fought a revolution over?

Whatabuncha freakbot hypocrits.

Obama sounded much more reasonable and restrained today. Yes, it could and should have been resolved without arresting Gates. I still have trouble with the idea of people acting like the cops had no right to be there. Like they're not supposed to respond to 911 calls? "I call 9-1-1, they don't come correckt, I can lie here with a broken neck"

The Cambridge PD had the power in this situation and they misused it, badly. They arrested a guy in his own home. He wasn't high, drunk, making meth or kiddy porn. He just got a little angry [as I would have] at the stupidity of the situation.

And, I wouldn't be surprised if it was as much a townie/Harvard thing as anything racial. I'm not trying to minimize the racial aspect but want to throw that idea out there.

For full disclosure, I'm an alum of the night school, not the College, but the night school. And, I'm a little annoyed at how Gates has behaved now. He is not using this as a teaching moment, he is using this as a"Look at me" moment.

"Stupidly" may very well have been intended as a charitable description meant to lightly chastise such abusive behavior by the police. Lamentably, in our "back the badge" culture which forbids even the slightest criticism of cops, the term rubbed the wrong way.

I was recently called for jury duty. When they showed me the witnesss list and I saw that the state's witnesses were all police officers, I told the judge if it came down to an issue of police officer credibility I would have trouble believing the police witnesses. The Judge was incredulous and started pressing me to explain. As soon as I started giving examples of police perjury, he got flustered and told me I was poisoning the jury. Needless to say, I was quickly excused, but it goes to show the ingrained habit of thinking everythign the police say is the truth and the whole truth.

A white Harvard professor insults a black cop who came to investigate a reported robbery, calls him all those names, etc., is taken to the police station.

How many hours till he is forced to resign his position?

Just watched the presser at noontime. It was a little shocking. Very disparaging of Professor
Gates. Question. Since Gates is clearly an international scholar and travels a lot, does he now have to check "yes" when he goes thru customs or whatever, and has to fill out forms asking if
he were ever arrested? He's now as good as a common criminal (in the eyes of some).