what is the deal with republicans and the 'tar baby' comments?
tony snow:I don't want to hug the tar baby...
mitt romney:Gov. Mitt Romney apologized for calling the Big Dig a “tar baby” at a Republican fund-raiser in Iowa...
some may say this is simply 'a term for a "sticky situation" stemming from the br'er rabbit stories from the old south'. i would call those people woefully naive. i mean aside from the undertones of the stories, you have the environment in which they were developed and the propensity for white folks to use any kind of racial slur they can get their hands on. which is why some people view the term as a racial epithet. because it's been used as one. because it sounds like one.
plus, i call my labmate 'bitch' all the time. for us it's a term of endearment. but i probably shouldn't go around calling people that in public. it may be misconstrued. regardless of whether or not 'bitch' originated as an innocuous term... say.... simply meaning 'a female dog'... it's relatively well known that it's also known as an insult.
so if, say, i was a politician, i'd have to be pretty fucking retarded to say it at all. regardless of my personal feelings on its meaning.
mitt romney:Gov. Mitt Romney apologized for calling the Big Dig a “tar baby” at a Republican fund-raiser in Iowa...
some may say this is simply 'a term for a "sticky situation" stemming from the br'er rabbit stories from the old south'. i would call those people woefully naive. i mean aside from the undertones of the stories, you have the environment in which they were developed and the propensity for white folks to use any kind of racial slur they can get their hands on. which is why some people view the term as a racial epithet. because it's been used as one. because it sounds like one.
plus, i call my labmate 'bitch' all the time. for us it's a term of endearment. but i probably shouldn't go around calling people that in public. it may be misconstrued. regardless of whether or not 'bitch' originated as an innocuous term... say.... simply meaning 'a female dog'... it's relatively well known that it's also known as an insult.
so if, say, i was a politician, i'd have to be pretty fucking retarded to say it at all. regardless of my personal feelings on its meaning.