McCain Regrets Use of Term 'Tar Baby'

AP via SFGate ^ | 3/16/7 | LIZ SIDOTI

[SmithL]

Cedar Falls, Iowa (AP) -- Republican presidential contender John McCain on Friday used the term "tar baby," considered by some a racial epithet, and later said he regretted it.

Answering questions at a town hall meeting, the Arizona senator was discussing federal involvement in custody cases when he said, "For me to stand here and ... say I'm going to declare divorces invalid because of someone who feels they weren't treated fairly in court, we are getting into a tar baby of enormous proportions and I don't know how you get out of that."

After the event, McCain told reporters: "I don't think I should have used that word and I was wrong to do so."

The senator said he hoped it wouldn't be viewed as a racial remark. He argued that he was trying to say that it wouldn't make sense for him to have a role in something left to the courts.

Last summer, a top McCain rival, Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, apologized for referring to the troubled Big Dig construction project in Boston as a "tar baby" during a fundraiser in Ames, Iowa.

The term dates to the 19th century Uncle Remus stories, referring to a doll made of tar that traps Br'er Rabbit. It has become known as a way of describing a sticky mess and has been used as a derogatory term for a black person.

[ozzymandus]

Oh, Jeeze.

[Tall_Texan]

1. I've never heard the phrase "tar baby" used in that sort of context. Ever.

2. Next time, John, try "Jungle Bunny". /s

[silentreignofheroes]

It was Brer Rabbit and Tar Baby,,hasn't been pulled off the net yet,just read it,,nothing racial about it..

[TomGuy]

Yeh.

Hillary can talk about the plantation in a Black church and it hardly gets a more than a mention.

Hillary and Barack can both speak in a condescending southern twang (which could be considered derogatory and an insult, if any one else did that) in a Southern Black church and it hardly gets more than a mention.

[doorgunner69]

Oh for God's sake, this crap is crippling our country and ability to communicate. I am praying for a huge backlash against the filthy liberals that push this.

[newzjunkey]

You see, it's 2007, context doesn't matter. He should've said "tar pit" and obviously missed when Romney called the Big Dig a "tar baby" and got in some trouble.

I've never heard of the phrase "tar baby" outside of the Br'er Rabbit story.

No clue how it was (if ever?) applied to blacks and thus became one of an endless list of "offensive" terms regardless of use and context.

[TomGuy]

And it keeps on rolling in, from the Imams to CAIR to the NAACP and on and on....

"Cooter" Says Fellow Hazzard Castmates Victims of P.C. "Vigilantes" (You ain't gonna believe this)

Posted by Hildy On 03/16/2007 3:55:36 PM CDT · 2 replies · 74+ views Internet movie Database ^ | March 16, 2007 | Hildy A performance by the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra featuring John Schneider and Tom Wopat, who appeared in the 1979-85 series The Dukes of Hazzard was canceled after complaints that the series had "racist overtones," according to Ben Jones, who played Cooter on the show and later served two terms as a Georgia Congressman. "What could these politically correct vigilantes possibly be thinking?" Jones said in a statement, in which he called the cancellation "a dangerous affront to the rights of performing artists and their audiences." Jones particularly criticized the NAACP for endorsing the cancellation. "I'm a life member of the NAACP...

[DeFault User]

I fail to understand how stories about anthropomorphic animals used to illustrate psychology, morals and principles of human behavior are racist. They date from a rich African oral tradition that can be traced several thousand years back to Sanskrit.

The same ignorant types who classify Mark Twain as a racist deem Uncle Remus the same. What makes it so--the fact that the tales are told in black dialect? What can be said about white children who are learning wisdom from a black man? What about Huckleberry Finn, an ignorant white boy who realizes that a black slave is a human being with a soul ?

[newzjunkey]

For the lurking crazies, I didn't know about Romney's problem with the phrase until I was reading about 'tar baby' at Wikipedia to try to find some kind of racial connotation. They only say it is one but have no background.

[Volunteer]

My very PC boss once told me I should not use the phrase "tar baby" because it came from a time when African-American infants were tarred and feathered.

I asked him to give me an example of when this was. There is no defense for the poor treatment of people but this was a new one to me.

He could not come up with a single time this happened.

He had been corrected by an African-American woman who "explain the origin of the term" to him in Detroit.

I searched on the origin of the term. I could not find anything remotely like this story in any materials.

[Condor 63]

I've never heard of the phrase "tar baby" outside of the Br'er Rabbit story.

I've heard it outside the story by someone referring to a situation hopeless to extract yourself from - but that is a reference to the story.

And exactly how it was used by McCain.

[prairiebreeze]

ping

[Vigilanteman]

He said nothing "racial" and had no reason to give in to the PC crowd. Shows weakness.

Yep. McCain is more afraid of the media and the PC crowd than he is of Al Qaida and his North Vietnamese captors.

Sortof sad to see a man who once demonstrated real courage throw it all away for a little fleeting media limelight.

[Menehune56]

From Wikipedia -
''Over the years, the term has also acquired a negative connotation as a derogatory term for African Americans [citation needed]''

I guess they just know this to be the case and are hoping someone, somewhere can provide that illusive citation!

[Popman]

I fail to understand how stories about anthropomorphic animals used to illustrate psychology, morals and principles of human behavior are racist.

Soon they all be un PC unless of course they are homosexual anthropomorphic animals

Then and only then, it is an important symbolic method to teach psychology, morals and principles of gender neutral human behavior

[Popman]

My very PC boss once told me I should not use the phrase "tar baby" because it came from a time when African-American infants were tarred and feathered.

Fine example of the "Peter Principle"

How stupid does a person have to be to believe that African-American infants were tarred and feathered???

[Williams]

I thought a "tar baby" meant you are identified with a position so indefensible or offensive that it sticks and you can't get it off of you, like tar. Am I wrong?

[Popman]

http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?s=tar%20baby&gwp=16

[John Will]

tar baby, i'm taking it back.

[Dante3]

Another reason not to vote for McCain the Manchurian Candidate.