Opinion of Thursday Night Kegger at the White House

[King]

[The Mikado]

Joe Biden's the last person in the country I'd expect to drink non-alcoholic beer.

[Beet]

A black socks kegger.

[Lief 🗽]

What an awkward however many minutes that must have been for all involved.

[MSG]

I just cant believe that our president would insult american workers everywhere by choosing a beer produced by furners.  I am so glad that fox news spent a large portion of the morning coverage telling the president off for this terrible injustice.  My hats off to fox news.  Plus why wouldn't he want the runoff from coors field bathrooms aka coors light its the greatest.

[Stampever]

It was a waste of time, money, brain cells, etc.  Obama made a minor issue a million times worse, and then tried to create a smoke screen to distract the nation from his failing/failed government takeover of the health care industry.  Each day makes me regret supporting this idiot.

[Person Man]

Smart move by Biden...

[Eraserhead]

What an awkward however many minutes that must have been for all involved.

Yeah, although probably less so for Biden than the others. Was he brought in just to even out the Irish/black dynamic?

[anvi]

I think it's interesting that everybody is ignoring what the principle participants in the discussion said about it.  It was the cop who suggested that everyone sit down for a beer in the first place, not the president.  It was also he who said he would continue to talk with Gates and build more mutual understanding.   It was the Harvard prof. who afterwards released a statement, the first sentence of which thanked God for the work that police officers do.  And the president proved that he puts his foot in his mouth sometimes...what scandalous news. 

And Biden?  Biden was there because he couldn't miss the chance to sit down at a table where he was the only one who didn't mis-speak.

The point is that three guys, each of whom made mistakes over a hot issue, can sit down at a table and talk it over.  No big solutions are necessary immediately, nobody has to lose face by kowtowing to the other guy, and  nobody takes anymore cheap shots.  That's much more than I can say for practically everyone else who has talked about this in the past two weeks.  Everybody else just grandstands.   Even that much of a contrast is worth the time.

[Lunar]

What an awkward however many minutes that must have been for all involved.

Yeah, although probably less so for Biden than the others. Was he brought in just to even out the Irish/black dynamic?

that was my thought, although black/white

All four of them have Irish blood.

[Sensei]

I really don't like the idea. Makes Obama looks like he's grabbing for the Middle-American folksiness which he just doesn't have.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Ha, I guess this cop never suspected that he's soon drinking a beer with the president when he arrested that black guy one night. Weird world we live in. With hindsight, arresting Professor Gates has certainly paid off.

[MK]

(At least Joe Biden didn't make a drunken racist comment)


Its looked funny and fake.  But at least Obama tried something.


SNL is going to have a field day.

[Eraserhead]

What an awkward however many minutes that must have been for all involved.

Yeah, although probably less so for Biden than the others. Was he brought in just to even out the Irish/black dynamic?

that was my thought, although black/white

All four of them have Irish blood.

No black man can truly be Irish, silly Lunar. Well, maybe that guy who played bass in Thin Lizzy but that's it.

[Eraserhead]

SNL is going to have a field day.

True but at least he finally gave them something to work with.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

How do we know #3 isn't true?

[Јas]

What an awkward however many minutes that must have been for all involved.

Yeah, although probably less so for Biden than the others. Was he brought in just to even out the Irish/black dynamic?

that was my thought, although black/white

All four of them have Irish blood.

No black man can truly be Irish, silly Lunar. Well, maybe that guy who played bass in Thin Lizzy but that's it.

[JSojourner]

Good, but time will do more to diffuse the situation than beer and pretzels. 

[MODU]

Good, but time will do more to diffuse the situation than beer and pretzels. 

Which situation?  The situation where the police were doing their job or Obama's perversion of the issue to create a "race" issue where there isn't one?  Personally, I think this whole beer summit was a mockery to instances of real racial profiling.  Is the President going to constantly step into these type of cases and crack open a 6-pack?

[they don't love you like i love you]

This wasn't a racial issue, it was just an issue of a cop being an asshole like most are and harassing an innocent man for no reason.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

This wasn't a racial issue, it was just an issue of a cop being an asshole like most are and harassing an innocent man for no reason.

So you think a white Harvard professor would have been treated the same?

[anvi]

Once again, the beer idea was Crowley's, not the president's.  People who get up in arms about defending Crowley always conveniently forget that fact. 

They also forget that Crowley at yesterday's press conference, Crowley said that he respected the president a great deal.  Actually, Officer Lashley, the African American officer who was also present at the arrest and said he supported Crowley, also said on an interview with Anderson Cooper last week that, after last week's initial phone conversation Crowley told him that he thought the president was a "class guy," and that Crowley had supported Obama in last year's election and continues to support him even through this incident.  Doesn't sound like an officer who thinks the president is out to destroy him, as clinically brain dead blowhard oppertunist maniacs like Limbaugh and Beck claim.

Sure, the president shouldn't have used the word "stupidly," and he has said that much.  But calling an action stupid is not in itself a racial comment, and Obama said at the same press conference that he had no idea whether the arrest was racially motivated.  And sure, Gates should have calmed down and showed the officer his id straightaway; he is definitely at fault in having provoked the police unnecessarily.  But, at the same time, I don't think even all law enforcement officers are in agreement about whether arresting a guy in his own home or even on his own porch just because the guy is yelling at you was called for. 

All the fake outrage, on all sides, over this stupid dustup is what is actually stupid.  Aw sh**t, I just used the word stupid twice in one sentence...so bring me a pitcher.

[WalterMitty]

an embarrassment.

why the hell is the president meddling in local police matters?

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

an embarrassment.

why the hell is the president meddling in local police matters?

Crowley asked for the kegger.....Obama would be happy for the whole mess to go away. 

[Sbane]

This wasn't a racial issue, it was just an issue of a cop being an asshole like most are and harassing an innocent man for no reason.

So you think a white Harvard professor would have been treated the same?

If he insulted the police officer, then yes. I really don't think Crowley is a racist, but I do think he was being an asshole cop (not that I think most cops are assholes but the profession does attract more than a few). Both Crowley and Gates acted "stupidly", and so did the reporter by asking the question and Obama by answering it.