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| Tar Baby remark gets governor in hot water; 'Ya think? | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jul 31 2006, 07:46 PM (430 Views) | |
| dolmansaxlil | Jul 31 2006, 07:46 PM Post #1 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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The governor of Massachusetts has apologized for referring to the troubled Big Dig construction project as a "tar baby" during a fundraiser with Iowa Republicans, saying he didn't know anyone would be offended by the term some consider a racial epithet. In a speech Saturday, Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican considering a run for president in 2008, acknowledged he took a big political risk in taking control of the project after a fatal tunnel ceiling collapse, but said inaction would have been even worse. "The best thing politically would be to stay as far away from that tar baby as I can," he told a crowd of about 100 supporters in Ames, Iowa. Black leaders were outraged at his use of the term, which dates to the 19th century Uncle Remus stories, referring to a doll made of tar that traps Br'er Rabbit. It has come to be known as a way of describing a sticky mess, and has been used as a derogatory term for a black person. "Tar baby is a totally inappropriate phrase in the 21st century," said Larry Jones, a black Republican and civil rights activist. "He thinks he's presidential timber," Jones said of Romney. "But all he's shown us is arrogance." Romney's spokesman, Eric Fehrnstrom, said the governor was describing "a sticky situation" when he used the phrase. "He was unaware that some people find the term objectionable and he's sorry if anyone's offended," Fehrnstrom said. White House spokesman Tony Snow sparked similar criticism in May when he used the term in response to a question about government surveillance. (from www.cbc.ca) |
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"Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst." ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson My Flickr Photostream | |
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| George K | Jul 31 2006, 07:50 PM Post #2 |
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Finally
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I just hope that the people at that fundraiser were not too niggardly. |
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A guide to GKSR: Click "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08 Nothing is as effective as homeopathy. I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles. - Klaus, 4/29/18 | |
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| Mikhailoh | Jul 31 2006, 07:53 PM Post #3 |
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
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Well.. my last Gordon Setter's registered name was Tar Baby's Blue Bayou. This is a tempest in a teapot. Now if he had said "That tunnel was nigger-rigged from day one, and I'm gonna get it fixed'" they would have had an issue.
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Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball | |
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| dolmansaxlil | Jul 31 2006, 07:55 PM Post #4 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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*snicker You know, I understand - people use these common phrases and don't even think about it. And I'm absolutely positive he meant nothing racial by it at all. But, alas, politicians should be a bit more careful about how they speak (especially when a similar incident happened not long ago in Washington over the same phrase), and now he's paying the price for it. |
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"Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst." ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson My Flickr Photostream | |
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| Stainweggie | Jul 31 2006, 07:58 PM Post #5 |
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Junior Carp
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:ph43r: |
| I have a 6' Stainweggie | |
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| Mikhailoh | Jul 31 2006, 08:00 PM Post #6 |
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
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Why should pols have to be soooo careful not to say anything that might offend anyone? Why can't they just tell it like it is and why can't some people just have a little thicker damn skin and realize that busy people just don't have time to go around offending others purposely. |
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Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball | |
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| dolmansaxlil | Jul 31 2006, 08:03 PM Post #7 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Well, they CAN tell it like it is. But it will show in the polls. That's just the way it is. |
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"Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst." ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson My Flickr Photostream | |
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| ivorythumper | Jul 31 2006, 09:10 PM Post #8 |
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
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Fergawdsake! "Tar baby" is not a racial term. What *&$%% bozos. This is not even a tempest in a teapot -- it is just stupidity and PC grandstanding. At least one of Arizona's illustrious governors actually used the word "pickininny". |
| The dogma lives loudly within me. | |
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| AlbertaCrude | Jul 31 2006, 09:25 PM Post #9 |
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Bull-Carp
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Pickininny? WTF does that mean?
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| Mikhailoh | Aug 1 2006, 03:53 AM Post #10 |
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
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Damn canucks... never up on US culture... :lol: |
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Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball | |
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| dolmansaxlil | Aug 1 2006, 03:59 AM Post #11 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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IT: While I realize that tar baby simply means a "sticky" situation, and that is the context in which it is most often used, it IS used as a derogatory term for black people (and not just in North America - I believe it's used in New Zealand as well). There are a lot of derogatory terms out there at have other meanings, and often the other meaning came first - but that doesn't mean that they don't get used as slurs. The governor's use of the term made it very obvious that he was referring to a sticky situation and not anything racial. I think people who are taking it as a racial slur ARE being silly. However, public figures are going to be attacked for using any phrase that can be taken as racial or derogatory, right or not, and as a result, he's going to be taken to task for using the term by some groups - no matter what the intentions of his remark were. |
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"Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst." ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson My Flickr Photostream | |
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| Mikhailoh | Aug 1 2006, 04:22 AM Post #12 |
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
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Unfortunately it is the same people screaming 'you can't say this', 'you can't say that' that consider themselves staunch defenders of free speech. We need a new communications paradigm in our communities, a variation on Occams razor. When an utterance could be interpreted as as offensive or benign, we should assume the good intent. I try to apply this in my life and it really helps avoid stupid conflicts like this one. One of the healthiest things one can do is realize that they are not that important... other folks just don't have the time or the energy to go about finding ways to piss you off. |
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Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball | |
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| dolmansaxlil | Aug 1 2006, 04:26 AM Post #13 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Very well put, Mik. |
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"Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst." ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson My Flickr Photostream | |
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| Mikhailoh | Aug 1 2006, 04:50 AM Post #14 |
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
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Thanks Dol. This philosophy, of course, does not apply to other drivers. Those SOBs ALWAYS do it on purpose.
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Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball | |
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| Jolly | Aug 1 2006, 06:10 AM Post #15 |
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Geaux Tigers!
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I'm with IT. It's a common derivation from the Uncle Remus story...I've heard a few racial slurs in my life, and never have I heard the term used in that context. |
| The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.- George Soros | |
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| Phlebas | Aug 1 2006, 06:17 AM Post #16 |
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Bull-Carp
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I thought they would have been calling you "whitey." |
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Random FML: Today, I was fired by my boss in front of my coworkers. It would have been nice if I could have left the building before they started celebrating. FML The founding of the bulk of the world's nation states post 1914 is based on self-defined nationalisms. The bulk of those national movements involve territory that was ethnically mixed. The foundation of many of those nation states involved population movements in the aftermath. When the only one that is repeatedly held up as unjust and unjustifiable is the Zionist project, the term anti-semitism may very well be appropriate. - P*D | |
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| kenny | Aug 1 2006, 06:20 AM Post #17 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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This is the first time I've even heard the term "Tar Baby." Just ignorant, again. ![]() But I enjoy learning. I'll add it to my ever-growing list of nono words. |
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| Nina | Aug 1 2006, 06:49 AM Post #18 |
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Senior Carp
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I'm guessing Romney wouldn't really want to align himself with ol Tin Foil Hat Mecham: " A recall petition was begun by those who disagreed with his political stances. The final number of people who signed was over twice what was needed in the time allotted. An election was scheduled by the Secretary of State, but calls for impeachment had already arisen due to illegalities he committed while campaigning for governor and while in office. Mecham was impeached for for allegedly concealing a large campaign contribution ($350,000), misuse of funds for a state loan of $80,000 to his Mecham Pontiac dealership, and obstruction of justice by ordering the head of the state police to refuse cooperation to the attorney general in a criminal investigation. Mecham had also been indicted criminally for allegedly concealing an illegal campaign contribution of $350,000 from controversial attorney Barry Wolfson, then being investigated by the attorney general along with his partner, Hubert V. Gregan, for an alleged arbitrage scam. Under the terms of the agreement Mecham had written Wolfson a letter stating the arrangement would remain confidential." Wolfson had wired the money into a special Mecham campaign bank account created solely for these transactions. That contribution, coming as it did in the final days of the campaign, had made Mecham's victory possible. Mecham was impeached February 9, 1988 just days after his state of the state address. He was found guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors and removed from office April 4, 1988. " Boy, those were the days!
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| The 89th Key | Aug 1 2006, 07:05 AM Post #19 |
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The bottom line is if you speak the truth and/or say what's in your heart and on your mind without meaning to offend others and arguably say things that aren't offensive to some, but are offensive to others who have nothing else to do except nit-pick words that quite frankly don't mean anything at all... ...you can't be a politician. |
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| ivorythumper | Aug 1 2006, 09:40 AM Post #20 |
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
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Arizona politics at its finest! So what's your take on Len Munsil? (I knew him at ASU, and he married a friend -- not a close friend, but a really wonderful gal). I haven't paid too much attention to the campaign, but I am wondering how he is being perceived from your side of the spectrum. |
| The dogma lives loudly within me. | |
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| big al | Aug 1 2006, 10:55 AM Post #21 |
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Bull-Carp
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For those unfamiliar with the source: II. THE WONDERFUL TAR BABY STORY "Didn't the fox never catch the rabbit, Uncle Remus?" asked the little boy the next evening. "He come mighty nigh it, honey, sho's you born--Brer Fox did. One day atter Brer Rabbit fool 'im wid dat calamus root, Brer Fox went ter wuk en got 'im some tar, en mix it wid some turkentime, en fix up a contrapshun w'at he call a Tar-Baby, en he tuck dish yer Tar-Baby en he sot 'er in de big road, en den he lay off in de bushes fer to see what de news wuz gwine ter be. En he didn't hatter wait long, nudder, kaze bimeby here come Brer Rabbit pacin' down de road--lippity-clippity, clippity-lippity--dez ez sassy ez a jay-bird. Brer Fox, he lay low. Brer Rabbit come prancin' 'long twel he spy de Tar-Baby, en den he fotch up on his behime legs like he wuz 'stonished. De Tar Baby, she sot dar, she did, en Brer Fox, he lay low. "'Mawnin'!' sez Brer Rabbit, sezee--'nice wedder dis mawnin',' sezee. "Tar-Baby ain't sayin' nuthin', en Brer Fox he lay low. "'How duz yo' sym'tums seem ter segashuate?' sez Brer Rabbit, sezee. "Brer Fox, he wink his eye slow, en lay low, en de Tar-Baby, she ain't sayin' nuthin'. "'How you come on, den? Is you deaf?' sez Brer Rabbit, sezee. 'Kaze if you is, I kin holler louder,' sezee. "Tar-Baby stay still, en Brer Fox, he lay low. "'You er stuck up, dat's w'at you is,' says Brer Rabbit, sezee, 'en I'm gwine ter kyore you, dat's w'at I'm a gwine ter do,' sezee. "Brer Fox, he sorter chuckle in his stummick, he did, but Tar- Baby ain't sayin' nothin'. "'I'm gwine ter larn you how ter talk ter 'spectubble folks ef hit's de las' ack,' sez Brer Rabbit, sezee. 'Ef you don't take off dat hat en tell me howdy, I'm gwine ter bus' you wide open,' sezee. "Tar-Baby stay still, en Brer Fox, he lay low. "Brer Rabbit keep on axin' 'im, en de Tar-Baby, she keep on sayin' nothin', twel present'y Brer Rabbit draw back wid his fis', he did, en blip he tuck 'er side er de head. Right dar's whar he broke his merlasses jug. His fis' stuck, en he can't pull loose. De tar hilt 'im. But Tar-Baby, she stay still, en Brer Fox, he lay low. "'Ef you don't lemme loose, I'll knock you agin,' sez Brer Rabbit, sezee, en wid dat he fotch 'er a wipe wid de udder han', en dat stuck. Tar-Baby, she ain't sayin' nuthin', en Brer Fox, he lay low. "'Tu'n me loose, fo' I kick de natchul stuffin' outen you,' sez Brer Rabbit, sezee, but de Tar-Baby, she ain't sayin' nuthin'. She des hilt on, en de Brer Rabbit lose de use er his feet in de same way. Brer Fox, he lay low. Den Brer Rabbit squall out dat ef de Tar-Baby don't tu'n 'im loose he butt 'er cranksided. En den he butted, en his head got stuck. Den Brer Fox, he sa'ntered fort', lookin' dez ez innercent ez wunner yo' mammy's mockin'- birds. "Howdy, Brer Rabbit,' sez Brer Fox, sezee. 'You look sorter stuck up dis mawnin',' sezee, en den he rolled on de groun', en laft en laft twel he couldn't laff no mo'. 'I speck you'll take dinner wid me dis time, Brer Rabbit. I done laid in some calamus root, en I ain't gwineter take no skuse,' sez Brer Fox, sezee." Here Uncle Remus paused, and drew a two-pound yam out of the ashes. "Did the fox eat the rabbit?" asked the little boy to whom the story had been told. "Dat's all de fur de tale goes," replied the old man. "He mout, an den agin he moutent. Some say Judge B'ar come 'long en loosed 'im--some say he didn't. I hear Miss Sally callin'. You better run 'long." Thanks to Project Gutenberg - See the following for complete text of the book and publishing info: Uncle Remus Big Al |
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Location: Western PA "jesu, der simcha fun der man's farlangen." -bachophile | |
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| Larry | Aug 1 2006, 07:37 PM Post #22 |
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Mmmmmmm, pie!
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It is the act of selecting a specific liberal. |
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Of the Pokatwat Tribe | |
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| AlbertaCrude | Aug 1 2006, 07:56 PM Post #23 |
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Bull-Carp
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Thanks Larry, I was about to tell Mik to hold his gaunch and just answer my g-d question. |
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| Mikhailoh | Aug 1 2006, 08:00 PM Post #24 |
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
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Well, I've already held my gaunch a couple times today, so I can indulge your inquisitive nature, AC. Pickininny is an old southern term for a black child. What I did not know, but discovered today, was that there was a centaur 'pickininny' character in the original Fantasia. See link. http://www.anomalies-unlimited.com/Disney/Sunflower.html |
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Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball | |
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Pickininny? WTF does that mean?




12:14 AM Jul 11