Posted on 08/02/2006 10:27:42 AM PDT by Jeff Fuller
PTM,
Sorry about the pot shots on people from Massachusetts . . . it's a horrible stereotype to think everyone there is liberal.
I guess I'm over-sensitized to the Mass-liberal issue because so many conservatives/southerners seem to write off Romney automatically when hearing that he's a Mass politician.
VRWCtaz,
GREAT POINT!! I really hadn't heard that explaination and I think more people should hear that . . . that it is incumbent on the listener to understand/be informed as much as the person speaking.
Thanks for sharing!
A rather niggardly apology...
I agree completely. My only objection to his use of the term is that it's too 19th century, and probably doesn't resonate clearly with a 21st century audience. I much prefer the more temporally appropriate term, 'Gorilla Glue Baby.'
It could easily be the biggest work you've ever written. Heck, it would almost write itself.
Prounounced "Go-rilla," of course.
Romney is the real deal but he will have a major perception problem. I think once people get a real look at him that will begin to change - nobody on this planet will be able to out debate him. He's amazing on his feet. The logic of Rummy, the charisma of Ronald Reagan and JFK good looks.
As I recall, he gave Kennedy the run of his life but kind of hurt himself in the end when he over-did the attack during a televised debate - he wasn't himself. It drew sympathy for Kennedy (I think Kennedy even played the "My family has sacrificed for this country card". Live and learn I guess.
His greatest negatives will be his lack of foreign policy/military experience and I'm sure some will make an issue out of his religion. Money shouldn't be an issue for him once he gets rolling.
My best guess at this point is he will be a VP running-mate unless he completely outshines the field. If nothing else, he sets himself up for the future.
1 entry found for tar baby.
tar baby
n.
A situation or problem from which it is virtually impossible to disentangle oneself.
[After “Bre'r Rabbit and the Tar Baby,” an Uncle Remus story by Joel Chandler Harris.]
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Notice that there is no mention of it being a derogatory phrase or a racial slur. It seems that Romney used the phrase correctly. (I haven't checked any other dictionaries.)
A "tar baby" obviously would be black, but just as obviously would not really be a baby and therefore not a black baby. The tar baby in The Song of the South is a trick which catches Brer Rabbit, but the color of the "baby" has no obvious invidious meaning, and the story reflects on Brer Rabbit for being petulent and for being easily fooled by a crude trick - and not on any putative model of the tar baby itself. Anyone who really objected to that should be apoplectic over ever having been called "black" - but that is not the history of the use of that adjective.The central issue is not however the particulars of the instance, but the ability of a potential presidential candidate to stand on his hind legs. The Republican Party is the party of the middle class, and the middle class is predominantly white. Whoso would represent the middle class should be willing to defend people who are unfairly attacked, even if they are white. A potential presidential candidate has to be able to defend himself before anyone would suppose that he might defend others.
Jack Kemp is a noted advocate of racial equality and of opportunity for all, blacks not remotely excluded. And Jack Kemp was the author of the Kemp-Roth bill which transformed the Republican Party in the 1970s from the party of the balanced budget to he party of sane tax rates. Kemp was a logical choice for VP nominee in '96, and failing of election then would have been the logical choice for the presidential nomination in '00.
But Kemp blew all that in the VP debate when Al Gore flattered Kemp as the only non-racist Republican, and Kemp did not defend the Republican Party. Who wanted to associate themselves with a racist party, as Kemp allowed it to be branded??? After all the good that Kemp had done for the party, his leadership in it came to an ignoble end. A textbook case of how to to lose your base.
Excellent point!
Kemp did a lot of damage there. When people accept backhanded compliments, like Kemp did, the focus is not on the compliment portion, but on the slight intended.
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