Just a guess, but maybe nobody got outraged when Colorado Rep. Doug Lamborn used the phrase “tar baby” because he didn’t use it as a racist pejorative but in the completely accurate and widely accepted meaning of a situation that you don’t want to get involved with because it’s impossible to get out of. I seem to recall that after one newspaper attacked him as a racist for using that term, a quick archive search revealed that their own editorial page had also used it not long before.
Love how (for example) the current 75% or so unemployment rate among black teeneagers doesn’t even rate a raised eyebrow.
But the International Brotherhood of Racebaiters, Local 213, is ever vigilant, protecting the community night and day against slips of the tongue.