[opaque soul]

OK now we’re back on track... The cop was investigating a possible break in, a possible crime in progress. He has a duty to run a check on the residence. Gates started badmouthing the cop from the start rather than cooperating. The cop turns to leave once he's satisfied that Gates is the owner of the home, Gates follows after the cop and continues to berate him. It doesn’t matter whether you're in your own home or your own car, you've gotta know the cop has a duty to perform and your badmouthing him A) Is a challenge to his authority to do his job, B) Can be taken as a threat to his own wellbeing, C) Is, as the cop said, a disturbance to the peace. I get your take on the matter, but my take is that the cop did the right thing and did nothing wrong... you say he was wrong, I say he was right, we disagree, that's OK... I'll bet we agree on many more things than we disagree, how about that president Obonehead acted stupidly and is continuing to act stupidly and that should be the focal point in this whole matter.

[JLS]

OK now we’re back on track...

Fair enough.

The cop was investigating a possible break in, a possible crime in progress.

Which he did.

He has a duty to run a check on the residence.

Which he did.

Gates started badmouthing the cop from the start rather than cooperating.

Which Gates did.

The cop turns to leave once he's satisfied that Gates is the owner of the home, Gates follows after the cop and continues to berate him.

It is claimed the cop asked him outside due to hearing issues in his kitchen. Since it led to a disorderly conduct arrest, that would be entrapment in my book.

It doesn’t matter whether you're in your own home or your own car,

I think it matters a great deal if you are at home or in your car. In your car you are in public. At home you are not.

you've gotta know the cop has a duty to perform and your badmouthing him A) Is a challenge to his authority to do his job, B) Can be taken as a threat to his own wellbeing, C) Is, as the cop said, a disturbance to the peace.

Nobody suggested that Gates acted like anything other than a boor. I in fact begain my original post pointing that out. As James Taranto at the WSJ Best of the Web Today said, the cop was on duty. He was representing the city. He had a greater duty to behave than Gates. The effective thing for the cop to do would have been to leave saying nothing or say I have better things to do that listen to you rant and leave. But someone let their ego get the best of them.

I get your take on the matter, but my take is that the cop did the right thing and did nothing wrong... you say he was wrong, I say he was right, we disagree, that's OK... I'll bet we agree on many more things than we disagree, how about that president Obonehead acted stupidly and is continuing to act stupidly and that should be the focal point in this whole matter.

Fair enough.