TOM DAVIS USES RACIAL SLUR IN OBAMA ARTICLE

"Tar Baby"?!?!  The Politico just broke the news.

Comments

[Not An Anonymous Conservative Concern Troll]

Did he say it in Breaks?

[Reston Libertarian]

Apparently Mitt Romney uses the phrase too.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/31/politics/main1851199.shtml

For the record, Tom Davis did not call Barack Obama a tar baby. Davis referred to the issue of courting Hispanic votes.

Don't overstate your accusations, and you can still get most of the effect by saying. "Tom Davis utilizes antiquated racial epithets when analyzing Obama's campaign strategy." Fewer exclamation points = more legitimacy.

[Reston Libertarian]

Apparently you have already changed the title of the posting. I appreciate your journalistic integrity.

Meh. Wake me when something that actually matters is said.

[James Young]

I see you're slipping into full-partisan mode, Ben. I guess it happens earlier in a presidential election year. In any case, the accusation is baseless. Calling this a "racial slur" ignores its context. It is no more racist in the context in which Tom used it than observing "The word 'nigger' is a racist slur" is racist in that context.

[Martin Lomasney]

Please take a deep knee bend here.

"Tar baby" comes from "Uncle Remus" by J.C. Harris and refers to a doll smeared with tar as a trap for Brer Rabbit. The racially offensive nature of the phrase is not immediately obvious to this observer.

[Not An Anonymous Conservative Concern Troll]

I actually liked "Song of the South".

Its still stupid of him to use that term though.

[Doug]

Oh deary me! The Uncle Remus story is a man made out of tar, not a doll smeared in tar. Tut tut. And I'm Brer Bear, sittin here earnin' a dollar a minute in this trap.

No sah, those stories were never racially insensitive, no sah!

FYI- Obamalemming Edwards endorses my fav. candidate. He must be from North Carolina, not West Virginia. Cue the music for Rowhey to arrive and talk about his candidate maybe winning just Arizona.

[Doug]

Song of the south rocks, btw.

And NARAL has Obamamania. And so do a whole slew more of super duper dels.

Please don't throw me in that there briar patch, Senator McSame. Oh please don't throw me in there.

*yawn*

[Joe Budzinski]

There is not ANYTHING remotely racial about that phrase and thinking there is is a sign of cultural illiteracy. Read the story.

[bwana]

Yeah...what he said

Given some of your own smears of black bloggers, Ben, what does that make you?

[Lulu]

Ben thinks he is a hot dog, but, in fact, he is just a little wiener with big buns. He and Joey can only mustard the strength to smear people, something they "relish." When Janet looks downstairs in the morning, she finds a big mess, and two "piggies in a blanket."

The "tar baby" term and story actually date back to old west african folklore, and reappears in several different cultures not just the Unlce Remus stories. Many of the Uncle Remus stories are derived from west african folktales. It's not a inherently a racist term, although racists have co-opted it as an racial epithet.

I agree with Buzinski on the cultural literacy point.

[houdon]

What an incredibly ignorant post. I wish I could black list idiots who misconstrue cultural references.

[The Wow]

Wow. Reverand Wright (shocker) Tar baby - logical explanation.......... You "people" are sick.

NLS Sucks. Part 1.

Hits for this blog must be in the toilet.

I used to log on here several times a day.

Now, it's maybe once or twice a week.

If anyone needs a lesson in how to complete destroy blog readership, just tune in here.

[Bibi]

The West Virginians proved my that race is still an issue in '08. Tom Davis proved that racist slips are ingrained in the GOP. OH But that's not what he meant! So what. He's stupid enough to have used a word that may have started innocently enough, but should know that certain words evolve and are no longer appropriate. And by the way, I can't believe, well, yes I can, that some actually spelled out the n word. Arggh. Let's talk about bitter for another month shall we. I'm bitter and Obama is right on.

Known anti-black bigot Ben Tribbett calling someone ELSE a racist? Now THAT'S funny!!!