ARIZONA SHERIFF CLARENCE DUPNIK ACTING STUPIDLY

As we watched an Arizona Sheriff in Clarence Dupnik unbelievably and egregiously lay blame for the shooting that took place in his county this weekend at the feet of talk radio, reality was suspended. In the hours after the Safeway massacre, Dupnik blamed people who weren't even tangentially involved with the shooter, without evidence. In short, he 'acted stupidly.' If Barack Obama was ever justified in publicly stating that 'police acted stupidly,' it is in the case of Sheriff Dupnik.

That's the subject of my article at American Thinker:

Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik ascribed blame in a murder case to radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh - thereby labeling him an accomplice - while conceding he has no proof. At a press conference in the summer of 2009, President Barack Obama admitted to not having all the facts about an incident involving his friend Henry Louis Gates and the Cambridge Police. He then proceeded to declare that the Police "acted stupidly" anyway.

Gates was belligerent with his arresting officer Sgt. James Crowley, called him a "racist" and then demanded an apology. Crowley refused to issue one. Sheriff Dupnik last April publicly stated he would order his deputies not to enforce Arizona S.B. 1070 because it is a "racist" law. After the Safeway massacre, he proclaimed his own state a "Mecca for racism and bigotry" without having any facts.

The incident involving Gates and Crowley became a public relations nightmare for the Obama administration as the days went by. The remedy decided upon was to conceal defeat in the form of a perceived truce between Crowley and Gates at the infamous White House Beer Summit. In reality, it was an attempt to stop the bleeding (metaphor intended). Crowley was being vindicated by the minute while Obama and Gates looked increasingly foolish and angry.

If Obama was able to assert that the Cambridge Police "acted stupidly" without having all of the facts, why won't he assert that the head of the Pima County Police is acting stupidly when the facts support such a conclusion? As a lawman, it's Dupnik's job to avoid drawing conclusions relative to the motives of a suspected killer, let alone doing so publicly or while the investigation is still ongoing.

Therefore, he is not only acting stupidly but he may even be tampering with an investigation.

If ever Obama was justified in singling out a police officer for acting stupidly, it's in the case of Sheriff Dupnik. Yet, he remains silent on the issue; he even called Dupnik to thank him for his efforts after the Sheriff made the unsubstantiated charges. What should we infer from the fact that Dupnik's extremely irresponsible words seem to be falling on deaf presidential ears?

Is Obama giving tacit approval to Dupnik's words by ignoring them? After all, the Sheriff appears to be masterfully implementing one of the rules of Obama's mentor Saul Alinsky; in Limbaugh, Dupnik is picking his target, freezing it, polarizing it, and certainly personalizing it. Does tacit approval also come with a hidden smile and a word of encouragement during a phone call?

The president told us last year that he is not an ideologue. The facts don't support that in several examples but especially so when comparing the treatment received by Sgt. Crowley with the non-treatment received by Sheriff Dupnik.

Includes hyperlinks at American Thinker.

VIDEO: MAN ARRESTED FOR POSTING OBAMA JOKER POSTERS

Folks, welcome to the slippery slope. If you post a poster of Obama as the Joker (like the one below), you might be arrested if you do it in Houston. I don't know what Houston law is but this definitely seems a bit extreme.

Perhaps you're only allowed to post Obama posters approved by the NEA in Houston?




























h/t to GATEWAY PUNDIT

VIDEO: CAMBRIDGE OFFICER WHO VOTED FOR OBAMA SAYS SHE WON'T AGAIN

WOW! Don Lemon of CNN deserves some credit for how he dealt with this situation. After Friday's press conference in which the Cambridge police department stood united with Sgt. James Crowley, Lemon interviewed comrades of Crowley, including Sgt. Leon Lashley who is black and was on the scene with Crowley.

The more powerful and moving comments came from Kelly King, who admitted to voting for Obama but said she will not again. Then, after she's done speaking with Lemon, King and Crowley hug in a clear show of mutual support.

There is no way a CNN anchor, which Lemon is, walked away from this unaffected and not rethinking his initial views on the incident.



h/t to American Thinker

AUDIO: 911 TAPES LEADING UP TO HENRY LOUIS GATES ARREST RELEASED

Clearly obvious by listening to the 911 call that prompted Sgt. Steve Crowley of the Cambridge police to investigate a report of a break-in at the home of Henry Louis Gates that the woman placing the call had NO IDEA what the race of the two men who entered the home was.

In fact, as Crowley got the call from dispatch, the only information Crowley had was that the race of the two men was unknown but that one of them may have been Hispanic.

CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE AUDIO

Also pretty clear is that Crowley remained calm throughout.

It's looking more and more like Gates has created an alternate reality for himself which he seems to prefer living in.

h/t to Free Republic for providing the link.