Posted on 08/02/2006 10:27:42 AM PDT by Jeff Fuller
See my original commentary at "my Iowans for Romney blog entry"
******* Boston Herald columnist, Virginia Buckingham, recently wrote a peice titled "Mitt unduly tarred with Mel’s brush". It represents a semi-apology to Romney, and, if not that, at least a well-reasoned defense of his use of the term.
It’s a coincidence that Gov. Mitt Romney is taking heat for what some see as a racial slur in the same news cycle as Mel Gibson’s anti-Semitic rant.A voice of reason coming out of Boston? I thought Romney was the only capable of that!But it would be a real shame if there was no distinction made by the guardians against discrimination between Romney’s common reference and Gibson’s disgusting tirade.
All slurs are not created equal.
Romney quickly apologized for his use of the term “tar baby” to describe his involvement in the Big Dig political mess. If unintentional bigotry loves company, Romney has plenty of it including Sen. John Kerry, The Boston Globe editorial board, the Boston Herald editorial board, White House press secretary Tony Snow and WBUR’s “On Point” host Tom Ashbrook.
In a June 2003 Boston Globe profile, Kerry described his leadership of a congressional committee on missing soldiers in Southeast Asia as a potential “tar baby.”
In a 1994 editorial, the Globe described U.S. dealings with Iran as resembling a “tar baby” and even articulated the term’s assumed meaning in a 1998 editorial on China’s censoring of the Internet: “The Communist rulers of Beijing ended last year tangling with a tar baby. The tar baby - passive, sticky and invincible - was played by the Internet, which the leaders want to censor.”
The Herald weighed in on Romney’s Turnpike merger proposal in a 2004 editorial noting “What lawmaker wouldn’t want to pass this tar baby to the guy who may be running for re-election in 2006?”
More recently, in May, the White House’s Snow colorfully refused to comment on a government surveillance program saying that doing so would “hug the tar baby.”
And Ashbrook, as well as Romney apparently, missed the resulting brouhaha since the WBUR host also used the term in a June 16 broadcast to describe the Guantanamo prison issue.
I personally have used the term tar baby, at least in conversation, if not in writing (though I’ve done that, too) plenty of times in my 19-plus year career.
And I confess not only did I not know of its racial implications, I also didn’t know of its origination as a literary trap for Br’er Rabbit. The Boston Globe’s language expert, Jan Freeman, filled me in on that in a June column.
Ignorance isn’t an excuse, it is only an explanation. I assume most, if not all, of those who were offended by Romney will accept his explanation and apology and, more, understand his comment in the spirit in which he offered it.
Seriously though, Romney was immediately denounced by the "race baiters" community and painted as a racist for using the term. I commented before how they seem to give Democrats/Liberals a pass when they use the same term. Where was the public outcry when John Kerry used it? How can the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald use the term without even a ripple, but when Romney says it to a small group in Iowa, it's major national news? How can the term be used in this Massachusetts Magazine article JUST TWO WEEKS AGO without any public outcry (Hat tip: Jason Bonham at Illinoisians for Mitt for this last one) . . . I mean Romney is NOT the first person to refer to the BIG DIG as a "tar baby". To quote the article:
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney: At first blush he appears to be a winner, as he calmly rolls up those white shirt sleeves and takes control — but not so fast. Mr. Clean may have gotten national credit for purging the Winter Olympics of scandal, but this ceiling panel thing could prove a tar baby for him yet.Funny how they can refer to the BIG DIG as a "tar baby" without repercussions but Romney cannot.
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.]
---
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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