Is McCain toast after his latest faux pas comments? Can he get anything right?

Question

How archaic is "tar baby"?
Isn't that WW2 era commentary?

Answer 1

Isn't he the guy who refered to asians as "gooks" a couple of years ago?
But you know, racism is dead, and anyone who points out racist stuff is living in the past and beating a dead horse. At least that's what the conservatives keep telling me.
I think he's toast cause he's like what, 80? Will he even make it to November 08? LOL.


Edit: I don't think that anyone was accusing McCain of using the expression as a racial slur. It's just really racially insensitive to use that expression when it has for all intents and purposes become a racial slur. This was all hashed out when Perot used the expression in one of his runs back in the 90s.

Answer 2

What McCain said was stupid, but, it wasn't spoken as a racial slur or criticism.


The senator from Arizona was answering a question during a Cedar Falls forum in front of 500 Black Hawk County Republicans when he used the same words that drew criticism last year when uttered by GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney and White House spokesman Tony Snow.
"For me to stand here before all these people and say I'm going to declare divorces invalid because someone feels they weren't treated fairly in court, we are getting into a tar baby of enormous proportions," McCain said, explaining his position on the federal government's role in custody cases.
McCain, who prides himself on his style of "straight talk," told reporters afterward he instantly regretted using the term.
"I don't think I should have used that word, and I was wrong to do so," he said

Answer 3

He has been toast since last year, so it hardly matters.

However, another person posted the link where he said that, and he was not referring to black people, he was refering to a Brer Rabbit character (a baby made of tar that was a trap sticking all together who tried to pick it up.) That that term was also used derogatorily against black people is coincidental. People who don't use derogatory terms for other races don't naturally assume their words would be taken to mean bad things.

Mind you, I might even vote for Hillary before I'd vote for McCain.

Answer 4

Tar Baby was way before WW2,Back in the 1800s I believe.

It was part of a story by UncleRemus. It was a cute story,that we have changed over the years to become hurtful,sad really.

Answer 5

I think enough people fed the comment out of context could easily cost him support. The comment as a whole makes sense though I have never heard a can of worms or sticky wicket or tar pit, referred to as a tar baby before.

Answer 6

McCain is the original flip flopper and always uses what ever means to the best of his convenience. I'm not surprised over his commentary, he is racist to the core too.

Answer 7

haha did you see the one where he was trying to figure out his position on sex education? Apparently the maverick hasn't heard that the use of condoms can help prevent the spread of HIV...http://americablog.blogspot.com/2007/03/mccain-doesnt-know-if-condoms-help-stop.html

I'm beginning to think the only qualification you need to become president is to be INCREDIBLY stupid.

Answer 8

re: tar baby
excerpt from link

A tar baby is metaphorically any "sticky situation"[1] that is only aggravated by efforts to solve it. According to American plantation folklore a tar baby is a trap, a human figure made of tar, that was used by Br'er Fox to capture Br'er Rabbit.

In recent years, a few conservative public figures in the United States who have used the term to mean "sticky situation" have encountered controversy and censure from civil rights leaders, members of the popular daily media, and other politicians due to the term's contemporary negative connotations:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tar_baby

And one more excerpt


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'y sayin' nuthin', en Brer Fox, he lay low.

"`Tu'n me loose, fo' I kick de natal 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."



http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug97/remus/tar-baby.html

I don't believe for a MILLISECOND that McCain meant the use of "tar baby" as a slur.
this is what Mc Cain said...


Answering questions at a town hall meeting, the Arizona senator was discussing federal involvement in custody cases when he said, "For me to stand here and … say I'm going to declare divorces invalid because of someone who feels they weren't treated fairly in court, we are getting into a tar baby of enormous proportions, and I don't know how you get out of that."
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-remark17mar17,1,2927415.story?coll=la-headlines-politics

Brer Rabbit is stories FOR CHILDREN.
Derived from African stories.

Is the world getting stupider and stupider by the minute?

one more excerpt...
The tar baby is a form of a character widespread in African folklore. In various folktales, gum, wax, or other sticky material is used to trap a person.

http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19990212

dates back to the late 1800's.....when Mc Cain was a little boy:):):)