Colin Powell: Gates Shouldn't Have Argued With Cop

I hate reasonable comments from middle-of-the-road centrists.

"And yes, I would say, reelect Mike Bloomberg."

I take the word of a sleazy politician, who helped to push the US into an illegal war, as gospel.

It's funny how people change their beliefs of Colin Powell depending on whatever is convenient for them.

No one gave him credit when he turned his back to the GOP during the Obama campaign, and now that the election is over and he sided with a white guy, he's a sleezy politician again.

Not to mention that he has been accountable for the war, even though he only offered information and took his orders from Bush.

Besides, what has he EVER done that was sleezy?

The sin of omission is very sleazy when thousands of American soldiers die for Bush administration's lies.

Smartest things I've heard anyone say publicly about this shit yet.

Why is Colin Powell qualified to represent the black community on this issue, aside from the fact he's black?

Who died and made him the voice?

what is the pope's take on this whole seedy ordeal?

the real idiot here is the neighbor who called the cops on Gates because s/he saw a black man on the property. Who's the profiler now?

That didn't happen.

The woman who called police isn't a neighbor, she works nearby. As she was walking past, another "elderly woman" (the caller's statement during the 911 call) asked her to call police because it looked like two guys were breaking into a house.

She called and told the 911 operator that she was calling at someone else's request, she wouldn't have even noticed that anything was going on, she couldn't really tell what was happened, the men may have lived in the house and for some reason had to push in, and she didn't know their race (said in response to the 911 operator's question; she said she couldn't tell but one looked like he "might be Hispanic.")

Seriously good advice. Don't talk back to someone who has a gun. He might be called the house knee-grow for this, but homies best be lissening, yo!

tell that to crispus attucks, boyeee.

ol' "go with the flow" powell. he always gives the best advice.

"You just suck it up"

Ooohhh... CP what are you doing man?

ps, thanks colin gop-friend-of-the-elite-i-havent-set-foot-in-the-black-world-in-ages powell!

Set foot in the black world/ What exactly is the "black world"?

Colin was a very regular person from a poor hosuehold who used good values and strong work ethic to become very successful.

His opinions have nothing to do with race. In fact, that woudl make YOU racist.

Racist! He should lose his job over this.

PPS:

THE DAMN WOMAN WHO CALLED SAID THERE WERE SUITCASES INVOLVED

wouldnt that combined with the way gates was dressed have made the cop think, shit, maybe this guy was on his way back from a trip or something, not breaking in?

weren't there airport tags on the bag that have a name time and date on them??? wasnt there a ticket or something to reference?

plain and simple... the cop didnt like some black dude being rightly pissed off and yelling at him completely within his constitutional rights, so he found a way to arrest.

thats it.

That's actually irrelevant. Gates had already proved that he lived there. Breaking and entering wasn't the charge. The charge was disorderly conduct, because the cop just had to save face since spectators heard Gates yelling at him, allegedly making insults about his mother. A true professional would have just said, "Sorry to have bothered you. Have a nice day," and walked away even as the man ranted and screamed. Let the crowd think he's a looney and prove you're the bigger man. But this officer couldn't find enough pride inside himself to let it go, so he abused his authority and arrested Gates. There should be some kind of penalty for arresting officers when charges have to be dropped.

people love to say how tough cops jobs are. but each and every one has made the decision to do the job. and be well paid to do it. not to mention the benefits.

and some people say, "well, 90% of cops do the right thing, you only head about the 10%.. give em a break!"

please.

im generalizing, but lets say only 10% of women are raped and 90% are not, do we let me go because its tough out there for ugly, undersexed psycho men? no!

THE POLICE SHOULD NOT BE ABOVE THE LAW. as custodians of the law, they should be most accountable to their actions.

the truth is that prof. gates was within his constitutional rights to be upset, and even to express his displeasure in his own home. we was lured outside of his house so that he could be arrested.

at the point where gates identified himself and they realized that someone made a mistake, the COP SHOULD'VE SUCKED UP WHATEVER DISPLEASURE HE CREATED, not arrest him.

the fact is, it would've been a COMPLETELY different matter if it had been an old white dude in fancy clothes, fancy glasses, fancy shoes. how can anyone think that the cop really didnt know he wasnt dealing with a robber when he saw the guy. or that he wouldve been more understanding and lenient with a white dude in ralph lauren. there would've been no arguement in that case because the cop wouldve been apologetic to the white dude.

come on.

What IS his job now?

That's the joke.

Anyway, I was being facetious.

But really, I'm still rankled about that guy losing his job saying, albeit not as tactfully, almost the same thing as CP is here.

Well, it wasn't a guy, but anyway. Look at it this way, when a cop is questioning you, you should just "suck it up" and cooperate with him. If you're working in a PR role (or any other where people like the press know your name) for an elected official, you should just "suck it up" and keep your opinions known on controversial issues out of public forums.

Yes, I agree it was poor judgement on behalf of the PR guy. Still, I believe one should be protected under the constitution regarding free speech. I think there should be a law that says unless your speech physically threatens anyone, you can say whatever the heck you want and not have to fear for your job.