It's come to this (UPDATED)

(please scroll to bottom of post for update)

Why does this scene have a ring of familiarity to it? An innocent bystander is minding his/her own business at a campaign rally or, in this case, just trying to do the right thing and suddenly they become the objects of scrutiny, scorn and even threats. And there is one person common to these incidents that was supposed to rise us above this pitiful sort of behavior.

The woman who phoned-in the 911 call to report what she thought was someone breaking into a neighbor's home in Cambridge MA, is forced to hold a press conference to plead here case that, no… she is not a racist. No matter - she must be destroyed.



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Our blood was boiling after we watched this clip. This woman felt compelled to bring up that she didn't even mention the race of the "intruder". Not that there would be anything wrong with giving the police a physical description of the same. As Allah Pundit notes, this is the one person who should be invited to the White House for this kumbaya kegger with Gates, Crowley and the One.

(UPDATE #1):

Here’s a news item titled: “911 caller in Gates case hurt by racist label”

Whalen says she was vilified on blogs as a racist after a police report said she described the possible burglars as "two black males with backpacks." Her lawyer has said mainstream media outlets and bloggers had concluded she was a privileged white neighbor.

Tapes of the call released earlier this week revealed that Whalen, a first-generation Portuguese-American who doesn't live in the area, did not mention race. When pressed by a dispatcher on whether the men were white, black or Hispanic, she said one of them might have been Hispanic.

"Now that the tapes are out, I hope people can see that I tried to be careful and honest with my words," Whalen said. "It never occurred to me that the way I reported what I saw be analyzed by an entire nation."

This is sickening. Here’s a woman doing her civic duty and she’s nearly reduced to tears in defending her actions and her good name.

And check out this quote from presidential press secretary Robert Gibbs regarding today’s little kegger on the South Lawn and the possibility of some contrition.

"This is not an after action report," Gibbs said, adding that the White House "is not here to mediate any apologies."

Can you believe the stones on this guy in making that statement? He deflects any culpability his boss has in this whole ordeal by saying the White House wasn’t going to play a third party go-between for Gates and Crowley.

We’re so over Gates and Crowley. What needs to happen now after this afternoon’s photo op is for this administration to reach out to Lucia Whalen to make some amends for what has turned this woman’s life inside-out. The President certainly felt he was on safe ground wading into a local issue last week so he most certainly better wade into and address this now-national issue’s real victim.

Let’s just call his visit to Cambridge the home opener of the world-wide apology tour ’09.