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Haley Barbour apologizes after calling Obama’s policies ‘tar babies’

Ockham said:
It's a polarizing term - he knows it being from the South. Uncle Remus and Song of the South have been determined to be racist - you self identify as a progressive.... you didn't know this? I even learned this morning on MSNBC that the term "whistling Dixie" is a racist term by progressive standards.
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What if your car horn plays Dixie?

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TheNextEra said:
How is that racist? Did you expect Obama to say "If I had a son he would be ginger?".
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If you are a champion of equality, then it's good to begin to treat others equally.

Let's say a non-Black, White politician like Romney made a comment after a Black man raped and beat a White female to death in a sensational new story (even though events like these are banned by the MM).

If Romney had said, "That raped and murdered girl could have been my daughter." Would that have been viewed as racist?

Of course the Liberal hypocrites would have any White person in high office making basically the same statements as Obama burned at the stake.

A fair-minded person would have expected Obama, as the President, for goodness sake, to keep his mouth shut during the Trayvon case.
 
Flamethrower said:
Let's say a non-Black, White politician like Romney made a comment after a Black man raped and beat a White female to death in a sensational new story (even though events like these are banned by the MM).

If Romney had said, "That raped and murdered girl could have been my daughter." Would that have been viewed as racist?

Of course the Liberal hypocrites would have any White person in high office making basically the same statements as Obama burned at the stake.
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That's a liberal vs conservative thing. Just like how all the conservatives pillory Obama for what he said about Travon, but would definitely give Romney a pass.
 
tres borrachos said:
Stupid politician of the day #2. But at least he doesn't hold office.

Haley Barbour called President Barack Obama’s policies “tar babies” on a post-election conference call for clients of his lobbying firm, two sources familiar with the call told POLITICO.

The former Mississippi governor made the remark as he was taking questions from 100 or more clients of the BGR Group during an hourlong call on Thursday morning. According to a person on the call, Barbour was noting how rare it is for Americans to elect a president from the same party as a commander-in-chief leaving office after two terms.

“And then he said there is no one who will run for president who will endorse Obama’s issues, because Obama’s issues are ‘tar babies.’”


Haley Barbour apologizes after calling Obama?s policies ?tar babies? - James Hohmann and Kenneth P. Vogel - POLITICO

This part really got me.

“If someone takes offense, I regret it. But, again, neither the context nor the connotation was intended to offend,” wrote Barbour

WTF is with these idiots and their half hearted apologies? "If someone takes offense, I regret it"? How about "That was an inappropriate comment and I regret making it.", Haley.

Politicians run their mouths without thinking.
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It wasnt really an apology for using the term. It SHOULDNT have been an apology. If someone is so warped and wrapped in the their own little problems that they take the words 'tar baby' as a racial insult, well...thats kinda on them. So...sorry, not sorry. Hell...I'm glad he phrased his apology that way and wish more people would stop being such little bitches about things. "Oh...you didnt like that? Sorry you took it that way. Not my intent, your problem."
 
Ockham said:
Barbour is from the South and an experienced politician. He fully knows better than to use such a term. It's as moronic and stupid as Rangels BS explanation.

How do these people get elected is what I want to know...
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Good God. Dogs sleeping with cats, pigs flying, me agreeing with Ockham. Excuse me now I must bathe.
 
VanceMack said:
It wasnt really an apology for using the term. It SHOULDNT have been an apology. If someone is so warped and wrapped in the their own little problems that they take the words 'tar baby' as a racial insult, well...thats kinda on them. So...sorry, not sorry. Hell...I'm glad he phrased his apology that way and wish more people would stop being such little bitches about things. "Oh...you didnt like that? Sorry you took it that way. Not my intent, your problem."
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He's a smart enough politician to know what he said. It got his name in a headline again.
 
A "Tar Baby" is something that convinces someone to attack it and then once the attacker is committed, entraps the attacker. Only a dimwit would think that it's racist term...
 
CanadaJohn said:
God, people in America are such wimps and desperate in their need to be offended.

The term tar baby has been used tens of thousands of times to describe a "sticky situation". The Oxford American Dictionary defines tar baby as "a difficult problem, that is only aggravated by attempts to solve it."

Thankfully, I've got far better things to spend my time on in life than getting falsely offended over nothing.
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Everyone that gets offended byt he term "tar baby" should be responded to with this post included in the response. :applaud
 
VanceMack said:
It wasnt really an apology for using the term. It SHOULDNT have been an apology. If someone is so warped and wrapped in the their own little problems that they take the words 'tar baby' as a racial insult, well...thats kinda on them. So...sorry, not sorry. Hell...I'm glad he phrased his apology that way and wish more people would stop being such little bitches about things. "Oh...you didnt like that? Sorry you took it that way. Not my intent, your problem."
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No. Being a politician is being aware of the impact of what you say. I promise you his campaign manager had a heart attack when the words came out. Overly PC? Maybe. Incredibly short sighted and stupid? Definitely.
 
rocket88 said:
That's a liberal vs conservative thing. Just like how all the conservatives pillory Obama for what he said about Travon, but would definitely give Romney a pass.
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That's funny, I don't remember any Conservative politican saying anything akin to what Obama said, even after OJ cut Goldman and Brown to ribbons.

Am I missing some classic quote from a Conservative Pol after a Black on White attack?

Please fill me in about it.
 
soot said:
Right.

Because the folks who are going to get offended by this probably have the intellectual wherewithal to research the etymology of the phrase "tar baby" and conclude, "You know what? This rich, white, southern, conservative lobbyist is on point using this quasi-racist term correctly in this case. Let's give him a pass."

Bottom line is the guy might be right, but he's still tone deaf.

The Republican Party isn't going to earn any friends among a growing minority electorate when its "star players" consistently piss all over that electorate.

This isn't about "being right". It's about winning national elections.
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I disagree.

It might be good short term politics to kowtow to whatever the left defines as racist, and that pretty much seems to be anything the right does regardless of if the left does it themselves, but it's not going to do them any favors in the long run. It is about winning national elections and at some point the GOP needs to stop letting the left define them as racists by apologizing over every perceived slight. There's nothing racist about not voting for a man whose politics you disagree with even if he happens to be black nor is there any racist about using a commonly used word correctly, in the proper context.

It's not like the black community is going to be pulling too many levers for the GOP anytime soon anyway.
 
Flamethrower said:
If you are a champion of equality, then it's good to begin to treat others equally.

Let's say a non-Black, White politician like Romney made a comment after a Black man raped and beat a White female to death in a sensational new story (even though events like these are banned by the MM).

If Romney had said, "That raped and murdered girl could have been my daughter." Would that have been viewed as racist?

Of course the Liberal hypocrites would have any White person in high office making basically the same statements as Obama burned at the stake.

A fair-minded person would have expected Obama, as the President, for goodness sake, to keep his mouth shut during the Trayvon case.
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Your strawman argument aside, NOTHING you said shows what OBAMA said is racist in saying "If I had a son he would look like". Now, was it a stupid comment to make given the situation? Absolutely. Was it racist? Nope, try again.
 
justabubba said:
apologize! ostracized! for what?
it was a very appropriate usage
some of Obama's policies ARE tar babies for those seeking election
if Obama were not black, would there be any outrage about such use of the expression "tar baby"
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USA. home of the offended
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"tar baby" is a problematical expression which it's better not to use because it offends quite a few people.

Anyone who uses this term is asking for trouble.
 
TheNextEra said:
Your strawman argument aside, NOTHING you said shows what OBAMA said is racist in saying "If I had a son he would look like". Now, was it a stupid comment to make given the situation? Absolutely. Was it racist? Nope, try again.
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Yes if BO only made just this one slip---even I would cut him a break. However, BO has made his racial biases known by writing two books with a number of pro-Black quotes. Pandering to his base, or what used to be his base of Black voters in many speeches. Or his immediate response in other racial confrontations like with Henry Louis Gates and Michael Brown where he takes sides without thinking.
 
CanadaJohn said:
God, people in America are such wimps and desperate in their need to be offended.
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The term tar baby has been used tens of thousands of times to describe a "sticky situation". The Oxford American Dictionary defines tar baby as "a difficult problem, that is only aggravated by attempts to solve it."

Thankfully, I've got far better things to spend my time on in life than getting falsely offended over nothing.
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People who aren't POC shouldn't try to decide what POC's are offended by.

OTOH: "Political correctness does not legislate tolerance; it only organizes hatred." ~ Jacques Barzun
 
Flamethrower said:
Yes if BO only made just this one slip---even I would cut him a break. However, BO has made his racial biases known by writing two books with a number of pro-Black quotes. Pandering to his base, or what used to be his base of Black voters in many speeches. Or his immediate response in other racial confrontations like with Henry Louis Gates and Michael Brown where he takes sides without thinking.
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Yet again, I'm not arguing that Obama hasn't used race before. I'm only stating that him saying "If I had a son he would look like" is not racist. There is simply no argument to support that comment as racist. His other comments, I don't support and agree with you on. There is plenty to nail Obama on for race stuff, but the one comment you said is racist, simply isn't is all.
 
clownboy said:
It's from a Disney flick Song of the South. The best music ever from any Disney flick and they've long since shelved the movie because it portrayed slavery south with positive characters. It was part of the lessons Briar Rabbit learned. Barbour used the term absolutely appropriately and it wasn't a racist term.

The movie suffers from Huck Finn syndrome where modern folk just can't handle the real past.

My Grandma used to read us the real Grimm's Fairy Tales. These days that would be considered child abuse. :mrgreen:
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no it isnt. From Uncle Remus books circa 1880.
 
TheNextEra said:
Yet again, I'm not arguing that Obama hasn't used race before. I'm only stating that him saying "If I had a son he would look like" is not racist. There is simply no argument to support that comment as racist. His other comments, I don't support and agree with you on. There is plenty to nail Obama on for race stuff, but the one comment you said is racist, simply isn't is all.
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I don't see anyone in agreement with you on the "If I had a son" statement.

Which is so obvious to the common man. Why should a Black thug like Trayvon Martin be sancitified? He was a gansta wannabe, fought and bullied others at school and was kicked-out. Wore attire that criminals do when they walk around after dark to harm others. And he tried to kill a neighborhood watchman.

Why would a sitting president say a person like this could be his own son if he did not support the Black gangsta culture Trayvon represented?
 
VanceMack said:
What is a 'tar baby'?
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We both know perfectly well what he meant. He's also been around enough to know that what he was saying would cause a stir. He's not an idiot. He knew what he was saying and he's smart enough to choose his words carefully.
 
rocket88 said:
We both know perfectly well what he meant. He's also been around enough to know that what he was saying would cause a stir. He's not an idiot. He knew what he was saying and he's smart enough to choose his words carefully.
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Good afternoon Rocket,

I have to say - nonsense. Haley Barbour is a plain spoken, colourfully eloquent man who uses southern colloquialisms on a regular basis. It's part of southern charm. People in the south aren't afraid to use language as it was defined and meant to be used. I love people who refuse to be cowed by the nattering elites who are offended by every breath someone opposed to their view of the world takes.
 
rocket88 said:
We both know perfectly well what he meant. He's also been around enough to know that what he was saying would cause a stir. He's not an idiot. He knew what he was saying and he's smart enough to choose his words carefully.
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Rocket...what is a "tar baby"?
 
Deuce said:
There was a time in history where "the standards" allowed slaves to be placed in a big arena and forced to fight each other to the death. I'm comfortable with saying "Yeah, these people were ****ed up. We should remember these sorts of things so we don't get this ****ed up ever again."
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A nice way of avoiding the fact that you'll never understand the actual history, instead you just write it off and dismiss it. Of course you're comfortable with that.
 
dogtowner said:
no it isnt. From Uncle Remus books circa 1880.
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Which is the source of the banned Disney flick. The Song of the South is where most of my generation knows the term tar baby from (I'm 63).
 
CanadaJohn said:
Good afternoon Rocket,

I have to say - nonsense. Haley Barbour is a plain spoken, colourfully eloquent man who uses southern colloquialisms on a regular basis. It's part of southern charm. People in the south aren't afraid to use language as it was defined and meant to be used. I love people who refuse to be cowed by the nattering elites who are offended by every breath someone opposed to their view of the world takes.
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He's a skilled politician who knew (or should have known) the connotations to his word choices. I can buy that he didn't choose his words carefully, but he didn't apologize for that. He was sorry that people took offense which is a different thing altogether.

His intention was to say that there were issues nobody wanted to touch. He also knew that his word choice was going to get his name in the news again, or he completely **** the bed and isn't as skilled of a politician as I gave him credit for.
 
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