What were two Republicans thinking, calling Obama 'tar baby' and 'boy'? Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado and commentator Pat Buchanan, a former candidate for president, both apologized Wednesday for using racially charged terms to refer to Obama. By Patrik Jonsson, Staff writer / August 3, 2011 Atlanta The specter of two national Republican figures apologizing for calling President Obama, the first African-American president, alternately a "tar baby" and "boy" gave new fuel to speculation on the left that underneath much of the criticism of the president and his policies lurks the shadow of racism. Last week, Rep. Doug Lamborn (R) of Colorado, on a Denver talk radio show, said, “Even if some people say, ‘Well, the Republicans should have done this or they should have done that,’ they will hold the president responsible. Now, I don’t even want to have to be associated with him. It’s like touching a tar baby and you get it, you’re stuck, and you’re a part of the problem now and you can’t get away.” The term tar baby comes from the 19th-century Uncle Remus stories, where B'rer Fox uses a doll made of a lump of tar to trap B'rer Rabbit, who gets more stuck the more he pummels and kicks the tar baby. In more recent parlance, tar baby is widely considered racial slur. Other Republicans, including Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, have in recent years apologized for using the phrase "tar baby," although in reference to various government policies and projects, not a black man. And then Tuesday night, former GOP presidential candidate and MSNBC contributor Pat Buchanan, in a tête-à-tête with the Rev. Al Sharpton, referred to Mr. Obama as "your boy." “My what?” the Rev. Mr. Sharpton shot back. “My president, Barack Obama? What did you say?” Mr. Buchanan hinted that he was using a boxing analogy, replying that the president was "your boy in the ring." Representative Lamborn, who apologized to Obama in a letter, said in a separate statement Wednesday that he shouldn't have used a term "that some find insensitive" and that he meant to criticize presidential policies that have "created an economic quagmire for the nation, and [which] are responsible for the dismal economic conditions our country faces." “Some folks took what I said as some kind of a slur,” Mr. Buchanan said on Wednesday. “None was meant, none was intended, none was delivered.” Nevertheless, to some critics, the gaffes are illuminating bits of evidence to underscore what many believe is an essentially racist view of Obama by some in America's conservative circles. Given that language is the primary purveyor of people's deepest thoughts, as well as the fact that language use is often unconscious, "even a slip of the tongue can reflect the kind of prevalence of racism that still exists within our culture," says Shawn Parry-Giles, director of the Center for Political Communication and Civic Leadership at the University of Maryland in College Park. "Progressives would say it's part of a larger conspiracy to target voters to use Obama's race as a means to help defeat him." For especially conservative critics of the president, on the other hand, the gaffes hint how the shifting sands of language and perception have become intensified in the not-quite-post-racial Obama era, when some attempts to criticize the president have far overshot the lines of political correctness. Progressives and tea party members, moreover, continue to be embroiled in a war of words and images in which liberals charge tea partyers with latent racism for some depictions of Obama, and tea party folks say their critics use derogatory terms tied to social class. "You talk about intent and reception in politics, where intent does matter, but reception is everything," says Professor Parry-Giles. "In an ideal world, when these situations happen, they can be a source of productive discussion about how language can harm and hurt, and that what may have been appropriate 20 years ago or part of the vernacular is no longer there. Oftentimes, though, it just ends up being a partisan moment on either side." http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politi...icans-thinking-calling-Obama-tar-baby-and-boy
"Tar baby" was a terrible choice of words...I didn't even know the origination of it, just the slur, so it's a shady statement. "Your boy" is nothing. He didn't call Obama "boy" to his face, he just used a term that means "your good friend".
Neither of those seem bad. Taken out of context like the first paragraph did makes them seem bad, but seeing how the words were used in what was said makes sense to me.
Context and circumstances dictate that "tar baby" is absolutely unacceptable language. Would context excuse calling Obama a "nig.ger" to economic policies since the origin means "ignorant"? That was a Freudian slip of monumental proportions.
Alright, I'm kind of sick of the whole 'Republicans are racist' trope (though it's undoubtedly true in a handful of cases) because it distracts from actually debating the issues. But seriously ... someone's going to make the argument that "tar baby" isn't racist? Really? "Tar baby" isn't racist? Really? Reaaaaaaally?! Holy ****.
uh huh . . . let me know . . the 'magically' number of gaffes before it is considered a lil racist I mean . .once. . .twice. . . 50 times? or are they all 'isolated' incidents? Rocket River
ya know, really, I somewhat agree. but as I have quite a few conservative friends that like to include me in every forwarded email they get, it shocks and saddens me to see just how many of them are derogatory in a very real and racist way. I was receptive initially to the repubs arguments that they were scattered morons, but I keep seeing more nad more of them as this administration goes on. I know some of these people are at heart good people, but they will enjoy and forward every email that is aimed at Obama no matter how racist it is. I guess anything if fair game as long as it demonizes your political opponent. Im having increasingly difficult time believing there isnt something to the accusations from the libs. Where there is smoke....yadda yadda If you are offended by this post, save it...I wont respond. Just passing along my personal experiences.
I wondered why a thread on this wasn't started earlier, but then I thought about how it would go and figured that's why.
So familiarity with and reference to a common story is racist? He didn't call Obama a tar baby, he said that whatever issue people were talking about (the debt ceiling maybe) was a tar baby, and that had he voted how they wanted he would have been stuck (not re-elected). You know, just like in the story where there is a tar baby and Br'er Rabbit touches it and gets stuck. Making the indignation all the more hilarious is the fact that this story evolved from an earlier story in which a trickster trapped a dwarf with a gum doll. That story was about Anansi and originated in West Africa. So, referencing something based on a traditional African story is now racist. LOLercoaster. For this improper use of your race card, I am now going to have to confiscate it. You cannot claim something which has even a potentially innocuous meaning is racist for the next 24 hours.
He totally should have known better. I would doubt his ability as a "leader" for the gaffe anyways - and I don't think it has racially motivated. I am just saying I don't think he meant as a slur in that context. I assume that the "tar baby" slur refers to darker skin color not the "stickiness" of a black person. If you read his quote : "It’s like touching a tar baby and you get it, you’re stuck, and you’re a part of the problem now and you can’t get away.” it seems that he is referring to the "tar baby" defined in the link below: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tar_baby If you read his quote and then read the "tar baby" story, I think his context is quite clear. I must say that I had never known of the "tar baby" story until this news story, but I suppose folks in the older generation(s) may have grown up with it. If you didn't see the "R" associated with his name, and read his quote and then the "tar baby" story, would you really be so quick to condemn?
So when the VP calls refers to negotiations by the tea party as "economic terrorism" he's not really referring to the teapublicans as terrorists: AMIRITE?
Now that I read about the origins of the term, I honestly think some older white Americans grew up with the story and are more familiar with "tar baby" in that context than with the more modern connotation. That would be a (slightly) interesting survey. Go up to old white person with a clipboard (or Ipad) and ask them "what does tar baby mean?" Am I more inclined to defend this guy because he's a Republican? Yes I admit that. But I think some on this board (not saying you) should likewise admit they are more quick to condemn because of his political affiliation too. You mentioned the "Republican are racist" trope in your post.
Reading the quotes in context I don't think they meant to be racist but it was a very very poor choice of terms. I to me this is about the same as if someone said about Rep. Wu, "There are some huge chinks in his political armor."
I think it's more complex than that. If Obama was a tea party president, the same people would say he is a hero, and it would be the left calling him things like an uncle tom which is just as racist. Racist attitudes are buried in everyone. It's a matter of how educated and conscious people are and able to see it. Most aren't. But we all have racism in us. It's a very human quality. Demonizing one's enemy makes a lot of sense. It helps you hate, and therefore in a primal way, justify killing. You look back at how we evolved and it must be pretty hard to kill another human being. But if you are able to demonize then it is easier. And that's in our genetic make-up. One thing I have realized, the darkness we see in others is built into each and everyone of our coding. We are all animals.
I agree. If you have ever made any negative comment against a black person, you are obviously racist because some redneck, at some point in history, used the exact same comment with racist intent and that forever makes it racist and forbidden.
If anybody thinks that quote is a bad choice of words or racist, grow a spine. All this political correctness terminology is all BS and juvenile.
