In the heat of the political debate over the debt ceiling last week, Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colorado) may have crossed the line when he said that being associated with President Obama would be similar to touching a "tar baby".Before I comment, you should read where the term "tar baby" comes from:
"Even if some people say, well the Republicans should have done this or they should have done that, they will hold the president responsible," said Lamborn said Friday during an interview on a Denver radio station. "Now I don't want to even have to be associated with him. It's like touching a tar baby and you get, you get it, you know… you are stuck and you are part of the problem now and you can't get away."
The Tar-Baby is a doll made of tar and turpentine used to entrap Br'er Rabbit in the second of the Uncle Remus stories. The more that Br'er Rabbit fights the Tar-Baby, the more entangled he becomes. In modern usage, "tar baby" refers to any "sticky situation" that is only aggravated by additional contact.[1] The tar baby is a trap that should be avoided.Based on that description, Obama is a tar baby for Republicans. Getting involved with anything he wants is a "trap that should be avoided". The congressman's comment has nothing to do with appearance.
The media will run with it anyway, but they're not being intellectually honest when they do. But of course, they're used to that.
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Reminds me of this scandal, from the Washington Post on Jan 27, 1999:
Williams Aide Resigns in Language Dispute
The director of D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams's constituent services office resigned after being accused of using a racial slur, the mayor's office said yesterday.
David Howard, head of the Office of Public Advocate, said he used the word "niggardly" in a Jan. 15 conversation about funding with two employees.
"I used the word 'niggardly' in reference to my administration of a fund," Howard said in a written statement yesterday. "Although the word, which is defined as miserly, does not have any racial connotations, I realize that staff members present were offended by the word.
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