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The GOP's Eerie Silence on Gates
Jewel Samad, AFP / Getty Images; Lee Marriner / AP Photo
Today Obama spoke with the officer who arrested Henry Louis Gates and will meet with both men at the White House. Lloyd Grove on why the GOP isn't pouncing on the controversy.
There was a time—a simpler time, to be sure—when the Republican Party would have known just how to capitalize on the Henry Louis “Skip” Gates Jr. imbroglio and President Barack Obama’s severe critique of the Cambridge, Mass., police department.
Imagine what the late Lee Atwater would have done with it. He masterminded Bush’s racially charged Willie Horton attack against Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis. In 1988, it was powerfully effective. Willie Horton, an African American, was a convicted murderer serving a life sentence in Massachusetts for stabbing a teenager 19 times. In 1986, Horton was released on a weekend furlough program that was stubbornly supported by then-Governor Dukakis over widespread opposition. While out on furlough, Horton made his way to Oxon Hill, Maryland, and brutalized a young white couple, pistol-whipping, knifing and gagging the man and twice raping his fiancée.
Republican operatives would have seen a golden opportunity to peel away so-called Reagan Democrats—a voting bloc that, two decades ago, was perceived as the opposite of a spent force.
“There is a story about a fellow named Willie Horton who for all I know may end up to be Dukakis' running mate,” Atwater snickered in a speech to Southern Republicans while Gov. Dukakis was searching for a vice-presidential candidate. “Dukakis is making Hamlet look like the rock of Gibraltar in the way he's acted on this. The guy was on TV about a month ago and he said you'll never see me standing in the driveway of my house talking to these candidates. And guess what, on Monday, I saw in the driveway of his house? Jesse Jackson. So anyway, maybe he'll put this Willie Horton guy on the ticket after all is said and done.” (Nice touch that—conflating the vicious black criminal with the respected black clergyman and presidential candidate.)
It’s no wonder that Bush media consultant Roger Ailes, now chairman of Fox News, was widely disbelieved when he disclaimed responsibility for the notorious Willie Horton commercial, which made use of Horton's photo (a sinister-looking, dark-skinned man sporting an Afro) and was produced by a close Ailes associate for an ostensibly independent advocacy group.
Twenty-one years later, the racial conversation is dominated by a close encounter between an African-American Harvard University professor and the working-class white police sergeant who put him in handcuffs. What actually happened is less than clear, but the volume of the cable chatter has been pumped up to maximum since our first black president used a prime-time White House press conference this week to comment that the Cambridge cops “acted stupidly” in responding to Skip Gates’ neighbor’s 911 call of a possible break-in.
The official Republican response has been decidedly muted. The National Republican Senatorial Committee has posted a tepid invitation on its Web site, asking voters, “Do you think it’s appropriate for our nation’s commander in chief to stand before a national audience and criticize the men and women in law enforcement who put their lives on the line every day, when by his own admission, he doesn’t even know all the facts?” A leading question, but hardly a call to arms.
Revealingly, a prominent Republican media consultant didn’t want to touch this subject with a barge pole when I phoned him yesterday. “I know it’s bannered on Drudge right now, but I don’t know what the gory details are,” he said, speaking on condition on anonymity because “I don’t want to get in the middle of this.” “I think there are too many real issues out there, so we don’t need to deal with this one.”
Another consultant, Alex Castellanos, preferred to shift the focus from the Gates incident to Obama’s “rashness and recklessness—which we can see in everything from his throwing trillions of dollars at everything to his health-care plans.”
Back in the last century, when Atwater was happily plying his trade, the GOP’s anti-Obama Skip Gates attack ad would have been released within hours of the president’s statement, decrying Obama’s lack of support for our brave men and women in law enforcement—with an unstated expression of racial resentment floating none-too-subtly below the surface. Republican operatives would have seen a golden opportunity to peel away so-called Reagan Democrats—a voting bloc that, two decades ago, was perceived as the opposite of a spent force.
Rogue Republican Party boss Rush Limbaugh was surely channeling the ghost of Atwater when he claimed on his radio show Thursday that “Skip Gates wanted to be arrested and provoked the cop… Gates instantly saw opportunity for capital "P" publicity, a chance to get out from the shadow of his former colleague, Cornel West—there's a rivalry between those two guys.” Limbaugh added that the Harvard academic division that Gates directs, the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research, is “an entire department devoted to creating racial friction.”
But the Republican establishment has just suffered through the crucible of the Sonia Sotomayor hearings, in which their attempts to portray history’s first Hispanic Supreme Court nominee as a reverse racist blew up in their faces. Once burned, twice shy—never mind Pat Buchanan’s eccentric advice that the GOP must pander to aggrieved white males if it wants to win in 2010.
That group—Atwater’s constituency—is fast becoming a marginalized minority.
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
TDB is their usual lovey dovey kiss kiss on everything the Dems and the Chosen One does attack the Repubs first for doing something or, as in this case, for not doing something..... What do you expect? In a situation like this the best thing to do is let the opposition flag in the wind. Obama put his foot in it by calling the cops "stupid" and now the WH is in the hot seat. The best move is to do nothing and see how it plays out.
See what happens when Obama speaks without his beloved teleprompter? I have always maintained he is not much of a public speaker without those. And he has shown it numerous times.
opedanderson is exactly right. TOTUS had not loaded a response to this question, and so we see the true Obama without the teleprompter. The President is hanging himself right now, even repeating his ignorant opinions on Nightline. No need for Republicans to step in. Although he's at less than 50% approval now, it would still be unbecoming to beat him up on this when Obama is doing it all himself.
Matter of opinion. I agree with Obama.
Yes and Bush was able to speak complete sentences and was noted for his oratory! Anybody with half a brian would find these comments offensive. Compared to your idols - Bush and Palin, Obama sounds like somebody that has actually had an education and paid attention in his classes! I suggest you go back to watching college dropouts on Fox Jazeera that masquerade as anchors...
If the teleprompter controls Obama, how did he manage to hold a conversation on nightline all my himself? Do you think that teleprompters are like the voices in your head talking to you constantly? Don't worry, with drugs and therapy you will some day be normal.
This continued use of the teleprompter joke smacks of the kind of willful ignorance to established fact prominent among the Birthers (Racists). Have you seen him speak without a teleprompter? He's still a damn good speaker. You can only keep your fingers in your ears and scream "la la la" for so long - eventually, you'll have to face reality.
Gawd, not the old teleprompter thing - that device that's been used by EVERY president since Eisenhower.
Being an Independent...and not relating with either party. I've been disgusted by the Republican's need to attack Obama on every not issue. And the problem lies the Republicans needing to clean house with their current leadership. It's bad. So with the poor GOP leadership, I've been on the side of Democrats during the election and until now. With Obama trying to jam health care down our throats and now commenting on the Gates issues. As he's said before, there's only one POTUS & his words carry a lot of weight. So his explanation, he can't believe people have made alot of his comments completely dissingeniuos. All his being said..I want our country to get cracking again, so I'm rooting for him to get his head out of his butt.
Wow, we still have the teleprompter/Jews/Aliens controlling Obama controversy? Why? Because he REALLY can't be that smart or that great of a speaker? Dream on!
Unlike the G.O.P., Democrats pick their leaders based on intelligence, and academic achievement. Try encouraging your Republican leaders to STUDY and work HARD in school, then you won't have to be so jealous of Obama'a brains and public speaking skills!
THIS IS A TEACHABLE MOMENT.
Hmm... seems your whine is rather bitter... guess that's what happens when it's made from sour grapes.
::groan::
Why do you think this is so? Because they jumped to a conclusion based on race, the fact that they were so strong in their opinion of Gates being wrong. Yet, they realize that they in fact were supporting a police officer who wrote a false police report. Can you say racial profiling? Not only that he defamed the character of the 911 caller, yet the GOP has nothing to say today. They are liars who support, promote, and campaigned for a lie. A police officer lied on a police report, that was what he had on his mind when he entered that house. Bottom line the GOP pundits were wrong, the President was right.....it was stooooooopid.
More speculation.
None of us were there. So I would like it if EVERYONE would just be quiet and let the parties involved work it out.
Make sure Obama gets your message. He certainly did not hesitate to voice his opinion.
Gawd forbid the President have an OPINION. Surely, THAT'S never happened before. The outrage!
You people are so achingly stupid, I fear you'll give me an aneurysm.
The charges are dropped, no criminal violation, whats to discuss, it was a nuisance charge and the cop knew it, Obama was right and your just seeing a grey area when its pretty Black & White. no pun intended.
It's been worked out prick. The charges were dropped almost immediately.
Now this is a reason for the Dems to be wary. The GOP really hopes that this dustup will do what their idiot fringe has been unable to accomplish.
I just watched the presser with the police unions. No one asked how they felt about the charges being dropped. By the time Obama made the "stupid;y" comment, the charges had already been dropped. An arrest made and not supported by a prosecution is "(try a creative search in a thesaurus)."
There's a lot of blame here. In spite of comments already made by Limbaugh, GOPers can only hope it serves them well.
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but the charges against Mr. Gates were dropped on 7/21, and Obama's press conference was on 7/22. What more information did he need to know to form an opinion as to the validity, and stupidity, of the arrest? Raising your voice to a police officer, particularly on your own property, is not a crime, and it certainly does not qualify as disorderly conduct according the the MA statute and case law dealing with disorderly conduct.
Regardless of whether this cop is racist or not he arrested a man on a bogus charge. It might be not be stupid, but it certainly is bullshit.
The whole thing could be settled by going to court with the charge. But since the charge was dropped so quickly, I have to be skeptical about the validity of the arrest.
What's the big deal about providing proper i.d. when asked? The police were responding to a 911 call for a b&e and the professor gets all prickly about identifying himself properly?
On the other hand I guess it's consistent that President Obama would play the race card here - it helps to divert attention away from his political agenda. And besides he flipped the middle finger to those that called for some proof of his true identity before he sealed the records.
Brilliant red herring at the end, there. You're the woman in red from Delaware, aren't you?
Only a white person would make this statement. "What's the big deal" - You can't possible know...I don't mean that as a racist statement - like white's don't know, I mean it like just like I can't possibly on a deep emotional level feel what someone in the Vietnam War went through. I can understand but that's not knowing. Ask any black person and they will tell you...it's a big deal. I'm a very middle class black man married to a white woman. Never had a police issue. recently for the first time I was pulled over for not using my blinkers. They pulled me out of my car at night on the side of the road, gave me a a series of sobriety tests. No problem. I followed directions. I can tell you the whole time I was thinking are these cops going to shoot me and leave me on the side of the road. Black men go through that on a very deep level every time they deals with cops - black or white cops. A black man with a cop in a conflict is a race issue by definition can't get around it. Even if neither of them is a racist. It's there. President Obama can't play the race card he is the race card. By the way, no he wasn't my first choice but I did vote for him.
You're right in this respect that since I haven't walked in your shoes that I can't know exactly how you react to events in the real world. And I'll admit that I just don't get it when black people make skin color the most important issue. I hope I don't make my skin color the most important issue. I'd rather be accepted or rejected on the basis of my perception of reality and how it coincides or contradicts reality.
I'd like to know how multiple individuals can perceive the same event or action and arrive at completely opposite conclusions. There may be many perceptions of reality but objective reality - as it really exists or occurred - is what honesty and truth define, no?
And speaking of anecdotal evidence, I know black men who are insulted that they would be pulled over by the police and insist that it is racial - even if they have been drinking and driving. I don't see the connection when you mention that you failed to use a turn signal and were stopped by the cops who then tested your sobriety. It seems logical to me that they would do that.
Very well stated judeseverin. I've never been in your situation, but I can understand.
I wonder how this story would have played out if it had been a white professor arrested in his home by a black police officer?
It's entirely proper to show i.d. when asked. You may not know the details. He DID show his i.d.
ABC is reporting that the officer may sue Obama for defamation of character.
That's not quite true. The officer's spokesman stated "he's not ruling anything out". By your logic, he may also send the president a congratulatory fruit basket. Besides, such a suit would never fly. Obama didn't name the officer directly, said that the actions were stupid, not the officers. Also, he would have to show that the comments caused some tangible harm. Not an easy task by any account.
Good luck with that. Defamation is: defamatory language on the part of the defendant, of or concerning the plaintiff; publication of the defamatory language to a third person; and damages to the reputation of the plaintiff.
Perhaps ABC explained how saying the police department "acted stupidly" was a) defamatory language, b) directed at this cop, or c) damaged his reputation?
National Republican Party figures may be staying away from this story, but sure as shooting their frontmen on talk radio aren't. Besides Limbaugh, others are shouting out blaming Gates for all sorts of belligerant behavior and the Prez for defending him. For example, I personally heard Michael Graham, a Boston loudmouth giving his anti-Gates spiel on Imus' morning show the last couple of days, with, not surprisingly, acceptance if not encouragement by the Imus crew. Completely unbalanced evaluation, with, of course, The President the main target.
The Party notables don't have to do a thing, they just have to sit back and listen.
Atwater would have told the GOP not to say anything...Obama has done a great job of making a bad situation worse. His own comments are making him like bad. According to the Rasmussen Poll, his favorability rating is now under 50%
Haha I saw another poll today that says hes ove 70% so your acting stupidily with stupid number which don't mean anything and a bullshit charge is just that a bullshit charge so the cop is either full of shit (which I think) or hes just stupid, which may not be the case but I bet he wishes he had just left now. Police are not our masters sheeple.
The Rasmussen Poll also had the president and vice president trailing or barely ahead of the D.O.A. McCain/Palin ticket for most of last Fall. We all see how that turned out.Rasmussen's samples tend to be decidedly conservative.
Talk about stupid, Mr Grove - your article about the Willie Horton imbroglio in relation to the arrest of Skip Gates does nothing but incite more racial hatred. Are you angry that the Repubs have kept their mouths shut for a change? Talk about wanting to build a cathedral around an issue.
Actually there was a time when the repcons would have been all over this for the cops intrusion on private property and invasion of property rights, but with a black president they see a means of reinvigorating their old racist strategy, and without any of their elected officials having to do it they've got enough volunteer auxiliary KKK. wasn't it Boston that had the hellacious hassle over busing to achieve integration long after the old confederacy had become resigned to the new paradigm?
And we know it must have been Atwater primarily responsible for the Willie Horton ad, because only a few short years later, he was dead and God sent him straight to hell.
Lloyd, the GOP doesn't have to weigh in on the Gates matter. It's become a big cultural blowup on its own. They're smart to let it play out in the media.
The NYT has, naturally, tried to downplay the story and spin it mainly against the cops.
But, sensible people, black as well as white, are seeing this as a class arrogance thing: hotshot Harvard professor refuses to be civil with a blue collar cop doing his job. Which includes protecting the property and life of Prof Gates himself.
Also, sensible people know that when a cop pulls you over or asks you for i.d., you behave politely, produce the required documents, and settle questions amicably.
If Gates had behaved like the civil, intelligent person Harvard professors are presumed to be, this would have been a non-event.
Your spin, Lloyd, is irrelevant. And, it only shows that the GOP is learning to play the cultural and racial things smart. In other words, when you're winning without saying a thing, keep your mouth shut.
Republicans aren't going to touch
any racially sensitive topics.
Frankly, the police should have
simply walked away after Mr. Gates
proved he was the owner of the home.
Apparently the same home was vandalized a few
months ago, and perhaps the police
response took the last incident into account.
Mr. Gates was expressing years of frustration
with the racial past, and present of this country.
Here's the problem. Everything that the republicans do have to do with either race or class. If gates was tasered, it wouldn't matter to the republicans - they still would be saying the same things. Oh, and to someone who mentioned Reagan Democrats - call what they are, republicans. Most of those rust belt republicans are not either retired or forced out of work and I hope that they can see that their votes for Reagan only helped to propel into poverty.
This is a dumb article by an obviously biased "journalist". The Republicans can't win for losing on this one. They talk about the issue, they get slammed by the left press. They shut up about the issue, they get slammed by the left press. I'm glad they aren't saying anything, not because I think it's good for them (or bad for them), but rather because this is an extremely unfortunate incident that I'm sure both guys (Gates and Crowley) wish never happened. The accusation of racism in America today carries an enormous stigma with it. The whole issue should not be made into political fodder by either side.
"why the GOP isn't pouncing on the controversy"
---------------------------
Why should they when people like you are doing their job for them Mr. Grove? I seriously question the taste of this article. You seem to be doing what you accuse the Republicans of doing in the past-increasing racial tensions for personal gain. I have a LONG list of negative things I could say about the GOP, but accusing of them of not acting in their usual lame fashion is pretty lame on your part Mr. Grove.
The left has lived on racial tension for decades. The problem is with a black president and attorney general it doesn't work anymore. The GOP does not need to do anything to fan these flames. Obama & Co. are throwing enough gas on the fire themselves. I'll bet he's down another five points next week. This like trying to ram any kind of healthcare through to meet his artificial goal show an immaturity in office.
Read a copy of the police report at Smokinggun.com
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0723092gates1.html
Hmmm It appears as though everyone was on a short fuse. I have to say, however, that if that had been me, I would have been kissing that officer's butt for making sure I was safe in my house. Having said that, Mr Gates was probably very tired from his trip and, considering possible past experiences, was agitated by this intrusion. I just can't figure out why the neighbor didn't recognize him or his driver.
why is this nonsense "...attempts to portray history's first Hispanic Supreme Court nominee" so often repeated? the first Hispanic supreme court nominee was Justice Cardozo.
Well, yes, if you consider a Sephardic Jew from New York City Hispanic. Buena suerte.
Actually, by the time Cardozo was nominated, his family had been in England for nearly 300 years, driven out by Ferdinand and isabella;-)
Why is Obama friends with such an obvious racist?
President Obama said nothing until after the cambridge DA had refused to indict (validate) the botched arrest.
To arrest a person, due to what appeared to be a decision based on a personality conflict, more than on a law being broken, possibly could have been handled better, if conflict resolution was used from the bottom up instead of from the top to the bottom.
It could have been just an option, not a choice, to over-react, arrest a man who probably would have to be let go based on lack of evidence that a law had actually been broken.
Instead of leaving it as an option to waste tax payers money, now it appears to have become a certainty.
And I think this whole situation is an example of making choices based on bias/ego not based on objectives. What was the objective? There was really no crime that was committed.
This isn't a black and white issue, this is a liberal issue. Today liberism means the US is bad, all coprorations are bad, the military is bad, the police are bad and of course all republicans are bad. Unfortunately Obama and Gates are far left liberals.
Pres Obama may get away with it this time, but I hope it serves as a wake-up call.
Jon Stewart said it best on TDS, he should have simply acknowledge that he was aware there had been a problem, that he didn't know the details and therefore wouldn't comment. (Which, by the way, is probably very close to the simple truth.)
so........................now Obama isn't going to back up the OFFICER OF THE LAW??????????
Oh, puh-leeze!
We as Americans have plenty of work to do on racial isues, but this particular situation wasn't about race.
Or it wasn't until Dr. Gates and the news media got hold of it.
This was classism, pure and simple.
I do, however, suspect very strongly that once in the police car, on the way to the station, Dr. Gates, brilliant man that he is, saw quite clearly the media firestorm the situation would provoke.
And no doubt has taken advantage of it.
So would I, if this were my situation.
Can those of us on the outside just take all of it with a grain of salt? Or two?
And then get back to work on the very real issues of racism that we have yet to bury?
Thank you.
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