I think Salmo outlined what I believe. Plenty of stupidity to go around on this one. However, there is one area that I have not heard mentioned. It appears that Gates was arrested on his own property for verbally harassing the officer. Now it was called disorderly conduct, but why aren't more people talking about the obvious property rights issue here. Let me pose a hypothetical. A cop walks by your home, you lean out the window and call him or her a racist pig. Is that an arrestable offense? If Dogfish (just picking a name out of the thread, not trying to state or imply anything) walks by your home, you lean out the window and call hima racist pig, is that an arrestable offense? I would submit that both are not which is precisely the reason that the charges have been dropped. However, Gates, the cop, the neighbor, and the President all look bad in this one.