Beers In The Rose Garden: White House Pool Report

Versha Sharma | July 30, 2009, 6:43PM

Barack Obama, Henry Louis Gates Jr. , James Crowley

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Below is the White House pool report about the Obama-Gates-Crowley "beer summit" this evening, submitted by Mimi Hall of USA Today.

It was, alas, only a photo op. The pool had no opportunity to ask questions as we were roped off about 50 feet from the group.

The big surprise: Vice President Joe Biden was at the table with the men. POTUS invited him to join the group this afternoon.
Clockwise, they sat around the round, white table in this order: Obama, Crowley, Gates, Biden. (editor's correction: Counterclockwise)

The men were drinking beer from clear glass mugs and munching on peanuts and pretzels served in small silver bowls.

The beers:
POTUS: Bud Light
VPOTUS: Bucklers
Gates: Sam Adams Light
Crowley: Blue Moon

In the 30 seconds your pool was out there, Sgt. Crowley was doing most of the talking. Gates appeared to be leaning in, listening intently. At one point, POTUS laughed heartily.

Gates and Crowley wore dark suits. POTUS and VPOTUS were in white shirts, jackets off. POTUS had his sleeves rolled up.

Both Gates and Crowley brought their families to the White House and they toured the East Wing together before the sit-down. Gates brought his kids, fiance and father. Crowley brought his wife and kids. The men met POTUS in the Oval Office before moving out into the Rose Garden.

During the sit-down, the family members were given a tour of the West Wing.

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42 comments

Recommend Recommend (1)

agio

July 30, 2009 6:50 PM

Did they play Quarters? Or possibly Asshole?

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Captain Dan

July 30, 2009 10:31 PM in reply to agio

That remark was uncalled for.

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Mike Drew

July 31, 2009 3:05 AM in reply to Captain Dan

That has to be a joke; why is it funny?

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acanuck

July 30, 2009 7:22 PM

That would be counterclockwise, Versha.

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fkaZk0sm0

July 30, 2009 8:36 PM in reply to acanuck

that would be mimi, acanuck.

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miguelitoh2o

July 30, 2009 9:00 PM in reply to acanuck

Do we know for a fact that they didn't flip the image to put Obama in the 'strong' position on the right. Could be the next big scandal of how the press manipulates images and deceives the public.

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readytoblowagasket

July 30, 2009 9:17 PM in reply to miguelitoh2o

{{{chuckle}}}

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jbhelfrich

July 30, 2009 7:23 PM

"The big surprise: Vice President Joe Biden was at the table with the men."

Normally he has to sit at the card table in the living room.

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Cal Gal

July 31, 2009 10:53 AM in reply to jbhelfrich

LOL

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acanuck

July 30, 2009 7:24 PM

That would be counterclockwise. Oops, that's the pool report's mistake, not yours.

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fkaZk0sm0

July 30, 2009 8:37 PM in reply to acanuck

ah, yeah. oops.

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karakalo

July 30, 2009 7:31 PM

As Jon Stewart said, this is what happens when you wrongly arrest a man in his own home: You get to have a beer with the president. And the vice president too, apparently. "What a country!" -- Yakov Smirnov

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DavisDem

July 30, 2009 7:38 PM

Wow, four guys and four bad beer choices. Why is Obama drinking a Bud? It's not even a US beer anymore if that's his angle.

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July 30, 2009 8:43 PM in reply to DavisDem

because he's being a good host by being the one who drinks the worst beer.

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DavisDem

July 30, 2009 10:30 PM in reply to EH

It's his house, so he gets the blame for there being bad beer in the house. No one's perfect.

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Cal Gal

July 31, 2009 10:55 AM in reply to DavisDem

Because he's really a white wine drinker, and Bud Light is the white wine of bottled beer?

But seriously, at least it wasn't Coors Light. (As pronounced around here as "Curs Light," appropriately enough.)

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viking

July 30, 2009 7:46 PM

Who cares where the beer they drank is from? What an idiotic thing to focus on. Do the people who care make sure that all their clothing is made in the U.S.? Or that all of their food is not imported from anywhere else? I doubt it. Yet they get all huffy and superior about somebody drinking a foreign beer. Ridiculous.

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fkaZk0sm0

July 30, 2009 8:41 PM in reply to viking

foreign is one thing. but they aren't even drinking GOOD foreign beer. (although to be fair to biden, buckler is about as good as it gets for low-alcohol beers.)

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Cal Gal

July 31, 2009 10:57 AM in reply to fkaZk0sm0

I prefer Clausthaler when I need to forego the alcohol.

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fkaZk0sm0

August 4, 2009 5:50 PM in reply to Cal Gal

yeah, beer advocate reviews put two flavors or clausthaler and haake beck ahead of buckler.

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quinn esq

July 30, 2009 7:48 PM

Where's the most interesting man in the world when you need him?

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amike

July 30, 2009 8:28 PM in reply to quinn esq

Right here. What can I do for you?

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jazzerone

July 30, 2009 7:52 PM

"Clockwise, they sat around the round, white table in this order: Obama, Crowley, Gates, Biden."

Well then, either Obama is a skinny little black guy with a goatee and Gates is 6 foot 1 presidential material, or Crowley suffers from male pattern baldness and Biden looks like a New Haven cop. I'm confused as hell...

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"Ruthless Pragmatism" Sucks

July 30, 2009 8:04 PM

And to think, POTUS could have just said "No Comment - I'm friends with 'Skip' Gates, and I appreciate the work that all Police Departments do across this great country."

PS - I'm glad the real, progressive Democrats today threatened to spike Health Care Reform if the ruthlessly pragmatic "leaders" cave on the public option.

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Mike Drew

July 31, 2009 3:11 AM in reply to "Ruthless Pragmatism" Sucks

Yeah -- and nothing would have even stopped him from making strong but general comments about racial profiling at the same time. But you can't acknowledge that you're personal friends to a party to a dispute, and then comment on it as a public official. Crowley indeed acted stupidy, and at the time it pleased me that Obama said so. Only after thinking about it have I realized how off-base the president was in commenting on a situation in which his impartiality was clearly at least open to question.

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JohnDoe

July 30, 2009 8:08 PM

How nice! They sat black, white, black, white.

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lduvall

July 30, 2009 8:57 PM

I hope Obama's choice was a political decision, and not a preference. That WOULD be a disappointment!

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lyleleander

July 30, 2009 10:46 PM in reply to lduvall

I can see where he's coming from, in a way. If he goes for some fancy microbrew like Dogfish Head... he'd get killed by Fox Noise and so forth. Yes, it'd be ridiculous and childish, but better to just take a pass on that battle. And if he drinks a foreign, same story. Better to just be safe and not give them the chance. Although in this case he played it REALLY safe. Bud light is seriously Beer flavored water. How someone can drink that and enjoy it seriously makes me question humanity.

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nova voter

July 30, 2009 9:29 PM

i think the big news here is that gates has a fiance. apparently crowley is not only a racist, but a homophobe, too.

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Chris Brown

July 30, 2009 9:37 PM

The only guy who didn't drink light beer was Crowley. Biden's brew is barely-alcoholic.

I can't tell you how disappointed I am to learn the Obama drank Bud Light. The swill shouldn't be permitted to be called beer.

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lyleleander

July 30, 2009 10:41 PM

Come on, man-- Bud Light?! Uggh.

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unknowncitizen

July 31, 2009 1:22 AM

Me thinks all you anti Bud commenters are non-beer drinkers. Bud and bud light are some of the (if not the) most consistent tasting, smooth drinking pilsen inspired American lagers there are. True they are not full bodied or hoppy like many professed beer afficianados favor and adjunct grains (I think they use white rice) are used. Next time you visit a craft bewery ask the brewmaster how hard he thinks it is to consistently brew Budweiser, he'll tell you lighter tasting beers are the most unforgiving beers to brew. The Bud brand beers are affordable and quite drinkable, and while not my absolute favorite, very refreshing on a hot day. Did the LA beer actually get the best review here? My god. I gotta say though if Obama went the full on non-beer drinkers beer and went with the Coors Light - I would have been embarassed for him. You have to draw the line somewhere.

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Mike Drew

July 31, 2009 4:34 AM in reply to unknowncitizen

Bud sucks. Bud Light should be a banned substance. Everything you just said does apply to some Miller products (High Life) and PBR, however.

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withers

July 31, 2009 6:44 AM in reply to unknowncitizen

I can only surmise that you are paid to be a shill. No "beer drinker" would waste this many words defending the honor of Bud Light.

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kiva

July 31, 2009 2:22 AM

This whole spectacle is so freaking stupid I'm beside myself. It's worse than a Bush "Town Hall" meeting. It's so contrived as to be a complete joke to anybody with 1/2 a brain. If they really wanted to have a 'sit down' the 4 of them would have done a photo op, then retreated behind closed doors to talk freely. None of these people could say anything of meaning or emotion or "real", for fear their body language would give them away.

I'm embarrassed for Obama. Isn't he supposed to have people that pull him aside and say, "Sir...this is a REALLY stupid idea. You'll look like an idiot.....like, Bush, even."

The theater of politics sickens me and Obama just did some of the worst I've ever seen...and I freaking like the guy.

If they wanted it to not be contrived, they would have shared a pitcher of beer anyway.... ;)

kiva

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L0ngT0m

July 31, 2009 1:34 PM in reply to kiva

You know, I agree that this is a trashy spectacle, but having committed his faux pas, it wasn't a bad way out. Obama is a lot more like Clinton than we thought.

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mageduley

July 31, 2009 2:22 AM

For all you Bud fans, this pic is for you:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2453/3774509892_a648f3aa16_o.jpg

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hbobrien

July 31, 2009 3:09 AM

Actually, given Obama is from Chicago, I wish he'd gone for Goose Island, and taken the line he was supporting small, locally owned business. Or Capitol City, ditto.

Given how anti-business Fox and Republicans are, it would've been fish in a barrel.

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hbobrien

July 31, 2009 3:13 AM

Then again, I'm mostly partial to Goose Island because they make the best beer I've ever tasted. But with Obama's local Chicago connection anyway, I'd think that would be a slam dunk.

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Iluvbeer

July 31, 2009 11:14 AM

Well the POTUS could at least have drunk good old Budweiser - at least it has a hint of flavor. Back in college we used to say there were two kinds of beer - real beer and light beer. Victory Prima Pils, Bell's Lager of the Lakes, or Oskar Blues Mamma's Little Yella Pils would all have been flavorful options in the Pilsner style, and all are brewed in America by American owned companies, unlike Bud, which is now Belgian.

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L0ngT0m

July 31, 2009 1:31 PM

Agree completely with the poster above. Crowley the Cop makes a bogus arrest and gets rewarded with a personal audience with the president. Shit! First Joe the Plumbler and now Crowley the Cop! Can Obama please stop creating right wing media hypes?

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GBHeron

August 1, 2009 1:08 AM

My favorite bit is the arrogance of the MSM: "It was, alas, only a photo op. The pool had no opportunity to ask questions." Because, obviously, if the press isn't allowed to ask questions, then clearly nothing productive could have happened.

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