Video: Noted pothead escapes justice, apologizes to fascists
posted at 4:30 pm on February 16, 2009 by Allahpundit
Everybody involved — all eight of ‘em — walks, including the golden boy:
Lott said his investigators couldn’t find enough evidence to charge anyone — including Phelps — who attended the party with any crime…
By Wednesday, he said, officers had found the bong believed used in the headline-making photo.
“The bong never made it to e-bay,” Lott said, noting the people who had it were riding around in a car with it.
I was going to post the video of the sheriff’s comically somber press conference announcing that charges won’t be filed, but we can do better than that. Watch it here if you’re curious. Instead, I’m giving you the ultimate humiliation Phelps has had to endure, the capper on a series of them: Apologizing for his weed habits to a country that executes political prisoners by the thousands and is notorious for its egregious cheating in competition. Imagine how doped up China’s swimmers must have been at the Games this past summer, and he still whipped their asses. Shame on him for doing this.
Blowback
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Agreed.
Harpoon on February 16, 2009 at 4:33 PM
I didn’t have much opinion on the subject, but man you just put it in perspective.
Spirit of 1776 on February 16, 2009 at 4:33 PM
Almost the first thing he says:
Awww, poor baby.
How much jail time did you get?
How much would you get if you’d toked in your beloved China?
jgapinoy on February 16, 2009 at 4:34 PM
I thought you were referring to the sheriff before reading the post :P
lorien1973 on February 16, 2009 at 4:35 PM
Yes. 100% yes.
No kidding? I thought any kid pictured with a bong could serve some juicy jail time. Silly me.
MadisonConservative on February 16, 2009 at 4:35 PM
I hate phelps and I’m sick of seeing his beta male mug all over the place.
Darth Executor on February 16, 2009 at 4:36 PM
Don’t forget the gymnasts.
BigD on February 16, 2009 at 4:36 PM
I’m outraged. (Pssst. Collie do you remember why we’re outraged?)
My collie says:
Yeah. That’s it.
CyberCipher on February 16, 2009 at 4:37 PM
Like i said before, he never should have been punished for hitin the bong, he should have gotten in trouble for being stupid. What moron would go out in public takng a hit off a bong with all the cameraphones, when he could have just stayed in his apartment with his dog, eating nacho’s and watching Monty Python.
MDWNJ on February 16, 2009 at 4:37 PM
Everyone’s seen this, right?
Repurblican on February 16, 2009 at 4:37 PM
Megadittos. (Also weird how high he looks while apologizing for getting high.)
Now I’m just waiting for the Chinese to apologize for using 10 year old girls to win gold medals or lip sync….not to mention the hour of my life I spent watching their display of conformity and military strength aka “the greatest opening ceremony ever.”
Captain Elias on February 16, 2009 at 4:38 PM
Nope, but I like it. Thanks for the link!
MadisonConservative on February 16, 2009 at 4:39 PM
First it was ridiculous. Now it’s crossed the line into the surreal . . . And, MadCon, bongs aren’t illegal and how could they prove what was in it?
califcon on February 16, 2009 at 4:42 PM
That was my point. I tend towards the sarcastic.
MadisonConservative on February 16, 2009 at 4:43 PM
Didn’t he learn Chinese on Rosetta Stone?
Yeah, I still don’t understand how ANY charges could have even been filed based on…a picture like that.
JetBoy on February 16, 2009 at 4:44 PM
Yeah…Whatever….
CynicalOptimist on February 16, 2009 at 4:46 PM
It is disgusting he is apologizing to China. The things people do for MONEY. Judge lest ye be judged.
RobCon on February 16, 2009 at 4:47 PM
Prosecute the incompetent prosecutors!!!!
PaCadle on February 16, 2009 at 4:47 PM
Umm, it sounds like he’s apologizing to his friends in China as well as making some generic statement to “the children.”
I in no way got the impression he was apologizing to the Chicoms.
Am I wrong?
VolMagic on February 16, 2009 at 4:47 PM
Thats right! start apologizing to your new dark overlord/Landlord…CHINA!!
portlandon on February 16, 2009 at 4:48 PM
Yeah, you remember the Chinese girl who won the 200 fly? Well that was her first appearance at an international competition.
That only happened because she had way more drugs in her system than Michael Phelps. If you don’t compete in the big leagues, you don’t get tested.
Remember the Chinese girl who won the 100 breast in Athens? Of course you don’t, she can’t compete anymore because she has “heart problems”. She would have been 23 at the 2008 Olympics.
darclon on February 16, 2009 at 4:48 PM
Ah, got it. Sorry for the misunderstanding!
califcon on February 16, 2009 at 4:51 PM
Apologizing won’t get his General Mills contract back.
Bishop on February 16, 2009 at 4:52 PM
fascists. Lol.
I can’t remember the last time AP used that word. This issue has him all riled up.
Meanwhile, I just keep laughing.
jimmy the notable on February 16, 2009 at 4:52 PM
AP,
Shouldn’t that be “…apologises to Communists”? When I saw the headline my first thought was that you were referring to the non-libertarian commenters at HA.
aengus on February 16, 2009 at 4:52 PM
Phelps 2012.
For the Libertarian Party.
Bishop on February 16, 2009 at 4:53 PM
Presumably Phelps didn’t have any drugs in his system until after the Olympics were over and everybody went home.
aengus on February 16, 2009 at 4:53 PM
That’s what I meant. Sorry for the lack of clarity.
It was also pot vs. every performance enhancer that science can create. A big difference.
darclon on February 16, 2009 at 4:55 PM
Well if Phelps was smoking pot during the Olympics, I doubt he would have even found the pool. He probably would have been on his couch with 50 egg rolls.
MDWNJ on February 16, 2009 at 4:56 PM
In order for these kids to be charged he would have had to at least:
1. Prove that drugs were being smoked (no drugs in picture).
2. Recover the bong, and prove that it the bong in the picture beyond any doubt.
3. Prove that it was taken in the United States.
4. Prove when it was taken.
5. Prove that it was Phelps (that part may have been easy).
They knew they had no case from the start. He was frontin’, for lack of a better word. All they had to go on was this picture which proves nothing and maybe some testimony if they got the kids to narc. Even if they would have gotten the kids to rat him out, charging him with possession would have been very difficult. It would be equivalent to taking a picture of Phelps holding a .22 with no context and trying him for a murder somewhere.
Joe Caps on February 16, 2009 at 4:56 PM
Go away Phelps. Go away, go away, go away.
OmahaConservative on February 16, 2009 at 4:56 PM
Living proof why rich celebrities and athletes need to hire a publicist and then do as they say.
Helloyawl on February 16, 2009 at 4:58 PM
No problem, man.
*tosses califcon a beer*
MadisonConservative on February 16, 2009 at 4:59 PM
Gee, and what is it I’ve been saying this entire time?
Surely now we can all agree it was a serious waste of money?
Esthier on February 16, 2009 at 4:59 PM
Or they could have just gotten a confession. (Not likely, I know).
aengus on February 16, 2009 at 5:00 PM
no prob darclon
aengus on February 16, 2009 at 5:00 PM
They’re commies, not fascists.
Its a marginal difference, but one to be noted.
jimmy the notable on February 16, 2009 at 5:01 PM
Well if someone publicly appears to be breaking the law then the authorities publicly have to appear to be doing something about it lest they look too lax. So the loss of public money is down to Phelps and/or whoever leaked the photo imo.
aengus on February 16, 2009 at 5:02 PM
I remember reading about his 11000 calories a day during training, just to maintain weight. I’d never guessed it was 11000 calories of cupcakes and cheetos.
innominatus on February 16, 2009 at 5:02 PM
14-gold medal winner a beta? Spoken like someone who’s jealous.
You don’t consider China fascist?
Esthier on February 16, 2009 at 5:03 PM
How much money do you honestly think was wasted? All of the investigators would have been on duty anyway. Its not like anybody got overtime as far as we know. And the whole ordeal lasted less than a month.
That’s nothing in cop-time.
jimmy the notable on February 16, 2009 at 5:04 PM
They certainly aren’t mutually exclusive.
And yet this is the first time I’ve ever seen law enforcement even try to go after a case like this, without any serious evidence. I’m sorry, but common sense should have stepped in at some point.
Esthier on February 16, 2009 at 5:05 PM
Hey, I would apoligise if I had big $$ riding on it. As for his being a toker…BFD. How many tried it in the 70′s and liked it? I see no harm in it. Beets barfing on your shoes from a booze bender.
Dave M on February 16, 2009 at 5:06 PM
I don’t consider Phelps to be news.
jimmy the notable on February 16, 2009 at 5:06 PM
Its the first time you’ve seen it. Its not like every investigation of a pot offense is front-page news.
jimmy the notable on February 16, 2009 at 5:07 PM
I can’t wait to see the apology from the fireworks guy that burned down the hotel.
canklespotter on February 16, 2009 at 5:07 PM
Likely doing something else. I didn’t assume we were paying them salaries to sit around and do nothing. Do they really have nothing better to do than chase a case they never had a chance of winning?
If so, fire some of them. We need the money to bailout California.
Esthier on February 16, 2009 at 5:07 PM
I want brownies now.
faraway on February 16, 2009 at 5:08 PM
Every time it involves a celebrity it is. You can’t tell me they always bust celebrities who are obviously doing something wrong.
Snoop has been a High Time award winner several years in a row and has only been taken to jail when caught with pot.
Esthier on February 16, 2009 at 5:09 PM
If they had something better to do, they probably would have been doing it. Otherwise, yeah, for the most part we are paying them to sit on their ass. Obviously, in a really good police department, there should only be the minimal number of people on duty needed to get the job done, but that’s not the case with most police departments.
jimmy the notable on February 16, 2009 at 5:10 PM
It isn’t. The distinction might not seem important to anyone who opposes all forms of totalitarianism but during the Cold War it mattered very significantly whether this or that African or Latin American dictator was a Soviet ally or an indepdenent fascist dictator or something of that sort.
No one would call General Franco a Communist after he fought a bloody civil war to fight off Stalin’s puppets so why refer to the Chinese Communist Party as fascists? They aren’t.
aengus on February 16, 2009 at 5:10 PM
Good call. He would have to have a really stupid lawyer to agree to a plea bargain for a confession on a case that weak.
Joe Caps on February 16, 2009 at 5:11 PM
Well like I said it was all played out in public. Perhaps they do and we don’t get to hear it or perhaps they felt they should because the eye of public scrutiny was on them.
aengus on February 16, 2009 at 5:11 PM
That’s a good point. Phelps just happened to be in the wrong district when it happened.
jimmy the notable on February 16, 2009 at 5:12 PM
However, as for the “without serious evidence” part:
That’s why you do an investigation. To get evidence. If they had serious evidence, they would have levied a charge, not started an investigation.
jimmy the notable on February 16, 2009 at 5:14 PM
Yeah, I chuckled at that, too.
MadisonConservative on February 16, 2009 at 5:14 PM
Hm wasn’t he put on trial for murder years ago? He beat it, lack of evidence or something like that.
aengus on February 16, 2009 at 5:15 PM
It is a shame indeed.
Streecar on February 16, 2009 at 5:16 PM
Really?
a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
Right, because the government isn’t known for goofing off but for getting everything that needs to be done accomplished.
Esthier on February 16, 2009 at 5:22 PM
Human, he is.
Hero, he ain’t. Not any more.
pilamaye on February 16, 2009 at 5:25 PM
Accomplice, not murderer. I don’t see what that has to do with the topic though. My point is that while Snoop has been arrested for possession of pot, he was only arrested while actually possessing pot, not after the fact.
If any of you here who supported arresting Phelps can find just one case where someone has been arrested after the fact, for smoking pot, please, let me know. Just even one case.
Esthier on February 16, 2009 at 5:26 PM
What I’m saying is that if there was like a serial killer or an insanely high crime rate or something in this guy’s locale, then they probably wouldn’t have spent the time on Phelps. The fact that they did proves how little there is to actually investigate. There are places like that, you know. There hasn’t been a murder in my home town in….many years.
jimmy the notable on February 16, 2009 at 5:26 PM
There was a poster here who talked about how a woman was murdered in that area not long ago. While I’m sure it doesn’t have D.C.’s crime rate, it seems a little more dangerous than your hometown.
Esthier on February 16, 2009 at 5:30 PM
Yes, really. Your umbrella definition is too vague for my liking. Fascism is patriarchal, corporatist and extreme nationalist whereas Communism tends to be oligarchic and internationalist (Comintern) just off the top of my head.
There are lots of similarities between different systems of totalitarianism, enough that Ba’athism is a kind of synthesis of elements from both (Saddam Hussein greatly admired Hitler and Stalin), but using both words interchangeably as if they were identical political philosophies is un-clarifying and un-edifying.
aengus on February 16, 2009 at 5:32 PM
Give him a break. He’s still a young man and he is going by the advice people give him. If you want to blame someone, blame the sheriff who threatened him and the other kids with a bogus prosecution.
Blake on February 16, 2009 at 5:32 PM
Oh no, I’m talking about my hometown in New York. College Park…I don’t know what the crime here is like, its not as bad as DC, but certainly not boring.
It was actually basically the place where that mayor’s dogs got killed in that sting operation.
jimmy the notable on February 16, 2009 at 5:34 PM
Right, thanks.
Oh, okay. I didn’t what your point was so I just mentioned the murder thing off the top of head.
aengus on February 16, 2009 at 5:34 PM
Most people are out of college by the time they are 23….he’s not a kid anymore.
jimmy the notable on February 16, 2009 at 5:34 PM
Well, it’s the first definition giving at dictionary.com or whatever came up on Google first, and it’s exactly what people mean these days when they say the word.
OK, but that doesn’t actually change my statement. My point is, this place clearly has crime and other things the department could have worried about instead.
Esthier on February 16, 2009 at 5:37 PM
Hey I’m glad he got off and can get back to normal life without this hanging over him. I just don’t blame the Sheriff for launching an investigation in the first place.
aengus on February 16, 2009 at 5:37 PM
Actually, not anymore. Last I heard the average is 5-5.5 years for a Bachelor’s, not least in part due to the bureaucratic clusterfark state universities have become.
MadisonConservative on February 16, 2009 at 5:38 PM
Gnarly, dude!
thirteen28 on February 16, 2009 at 5:38 PM
But IF there wasn’t anything better to do, then this investigation would be okay?
jimmy the notable on February 16, 2009 at 5:40 PM
A definition of a complex political philosophy taken out of a dictionary is inadequate. I know that “fascist” is mostly thrown around as a curse word nowadays but it is misused in harmful instances like the bogus phrase “Islamo-Fascist” which is why I’m so pedantic on this point.
aengus on February 16, 2009 at 5:41 PM
The idea that law enforcement is going after Phelps because they want to ensure that he gets treated just like everyone else is totally ludicrous. Present them with a similar picture of average Joe doing a bong hit and I assure you they won’t do anything with it. They are going after Phelps because he’s famous, and that is wrong.
A separate idea to consider is that if he had been caught and arrested prior to the Olympics, who knows if he would have been able to accomplish the incredible feat of winning 8 gold medals. Makes one question what contributions to society have been lost due to persecution of otherwise law abiding citizens. The idea that we may take a productive taxpayer and turn him into an expensive inmate disturbs me.
maleman on February 16, 2009 at 5:41 PM
That was not argument. I said above that they may have felt they had to go after him because the photographic evidence and the vague apology (for… something?) made it into a credibility issue for the Sheriff’s Office. If Phelps seemed to be breaking the law publicly they had to be seen to be doing something about lest they looked like they weren’t doing their jobs properly. It’s not the same thing as raiding Robert Mitchum for possession of marijuana just to get a famous bust.
aengus on February 16, 2009 at 5:45 PM
Honestly – I’m a crazed right-winger but I do not see the big deal in all this. There are millions of pictures of people smoking weed … posted all over the internet. I don’t know of any that have had the sheriff make an attempt at prosecution. Way too much has been made of this. Steroids would be a big deal – because it would cut to the heart of his performance. Weed? It’s not exactly “performance enhancing”.
For one pic of a bong toke – this guy has reaped more crap than all of the baseball steriod junkies combined. Not to mention – our confessed coke freak who currently resides in the White House. I mean seriously. Nothing to see here – move on.
HondaV65 on February 16, 2009 at 5:47 PM
Persecution? That is way over the top. If you think the drug laws are unjust then just be discreet, don’t get photographed. Libertarians are the ancient Israelites fleeing from Pharaoh or Christians living in North Korea.
aengus on February 16, 2009 at 5:49 PM
Are you kidding? Almost certainly the D.A. will decline to press charges, in which case this was time that could have been better spent on other cases. Or do you believe there is a police dept. in this country that has solved all of the crimes in it’s jurisdiction? If so, I’d rather have them doing community outreach than wasting time on this.
If the D.A. does press charges, then we are guaranteed an even larger waste of time and taxpayer money as the courts fight over what is essentially a ticket offense. This is the most expensive and pointless possible outcome.
maleman on February 16, 2009 at 5:49 PM
s/b Libertarians are not….
aengus on February 16, 2009 at 5:50 PM
Again, if this is a photo of Average Joe, then they don’t feel the need to protect their credibility for going after him. That alone makes this a case of unequal treatment. Of course, for the record I don’t want them to go after Average Joe or Michael Phelps. I really just think it is an expensive waste of time.
maleman on February 16, 2009 at 5:53 PM
That’s an understandable perspective. I just think the Sheriff might have felt compelled to do something by all the public attention surrounding the incident (or non-incident). No reason to think they were being vindictive or opportunist like all those Hollywood drug busts in the ’50s.
aengus on February 16, 2009 at 5:57 PM
We agree on more things than we disagree on. A celebrity must be pretty boneheaded to do this in public, no? I do respect and understand your point that the Sheriff may feel his hand is forced because of the publicity regarding the case. If I were in his jurisdiction I would think this is a huge waste of resources and not particularly good publicity.
maleman on February 16, 2009 at 5:59 PM
No, because then they would have too many people on staff.
Esthier on February 16, 2009 at 6:00 PM
Everyone needs to chill out. Just do it legally, wink wink, which means no photographs!
Mr. Joe on February 16, 2009 at 6:04 PM
Except that people aren’t using it to describe specific political philosophy but to describe what I just showed you. The word has evolved. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Gay used to just mean happy, but don’t get upset when others use the word to indicate a fondness for same sex relationships.
Esthier on February 16, 2009 at 6:05 PM
Fair enough.
Or go to Amsterdam. Or disguise your apartment as a Dutch villa before taking any polaroids. ;)
aengus on February 16, 2009 at 6:07 PM
It’s only evolved for people who are desperate to prove that Hitler was a principled left-winger. Or that Islamism derives from some 20th century source rather than the Koran and the Sunnah – the oldest traditions of Islam itself.
I’d recommend you read this article by Paul Gottfried, Heil Hillary?, for starters.
aengus on February 16, 2009 at 6:12 PM
Just because you’re out of college doesn’t make you mature, smart, or world-wise. If it did, there would be less young democrats.
Under our laws, there is no way in hell he could prove the case in court. It was an abuse of power for he sheriff to behave the way he did.
Blake on February 16, 2009 at 6:18 PM
Why? Once again, the word’s meaning has changed. It’s history is irrelevant to that.
Esthier on February 16, 2009 at 6:21 PM
There are certain areas in which I can admit defeat. Homosexuals are called “gay” for the most part. Fair enough. Britain and Ireland are considered officialy a part of “Europe”. They aren’t – Europe is a Continent – though they are a part of the heritage of European Christian civillisation being islands so close to the mainland.
Fascism as a word and as a concept is misapplied because liberals and for the most part conservatives do not want to state baldly that Islam is an enemy of the West. In which case does anyone listen to what Geert Wilders actually says? He posits that Islamic injunctions to kill infidels come from the Koran and Mohammed and Fitna presents his case very convincingly.
aengus on February 16, 2009 at 6:27 PM
I’d argue that it hasn’t really changed just that it is now being misapplied and misused. In last the year or two newspapers have begun spelling “Communism” as “communism” which is very sinister. If we’re going to accept that words – linguistic concepts – can suddenly change horses in mid-stream then we’d also have to retire the phrase “Orwellian” or change its meaning to something else.
aengus on February 16, 2009 at 6:30 PM
Many would have argued the same thing of “gay” but at the end of the day, it really doesn’t matter.
Esthier on February 16, 2009 at 6:31 PM
Yes, many can argue that the meaning of words lose or change their meaning but arguing that gay now means homosexual (which almost everyone accepts as a matter of course) does not rise to the same level as purposefully confusing distinct political ideologies for no good reason. It would be incumbent on any conservative to be wary of this kind of obfuscation as it largely serves the interests of the totalitarians themselves.
aengus on February 16, 2009 at 6:39 PM
Shame on him for apologizing for doing something wrong? What the hell is wrong with that? What the Chinese did (or didn’t do) is their problem.
Nothing wrong with him apologizing for doing something illegal. Period.
watson007 on February 16, 2009 at 7:37 PM
He no more owes anyone an apology for taking a hit off of a bong than you do for getting a parking ticket. Christ…
MadisonConservative on February 16, 2009 at 7:48 PM
He’s showing the Chinese what is right and what is wrong.
Consider this a lecture from the USA.
unclesmrgol on February 16, 2009 at 7:56 PM
I lost respect for Phelps, not because of him smoking weed, but because he didnt tell the media and his sponsors who were questioning him and making him apologize to go shove it.
thphilli on February 16, 2009 at 7:57 PM
@ watson007 on February 16, 2009 at 7:37 PM
So during prohibition I guess everyone who took a drink should have apologized publicly? You make a classic mistake of assuming that every law that is on the books is “right” and if one breaks them they are “wrong”. The fact that the government overreaches so much in the failed war on drugs, and that marijuana is classified the same as heroin, is ridiculous.
thphilli on February 16, 2009 at 8:01 PM
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