Teabag Congressman and Black Americans
Seems that Congressman Doug Lamborn (Teabag – CO) has a new pet name for President Obama. I wonder why he just didn’t use the N-word or call him boy.
From the Denver Post:
A short clip of the Colorado Springs Republican speaking about the debt ceiling debate during a talk radio program on Friday went viral.
“Even if some people say, ‘Well, the Republicans should’ve done this, or they should’ve done that,’ they will hold the president responsible,” Lamborn said. “Now I don’t want to even have to be associated with him. It’s like touching a, a tar baby and you, you get it, you know you’re stuck and you’re part of the problem now and you can’t get away. I don’t want that to happen to us, but if it does, or not, he’ll still get properly sowed the blame, because his policies for four years will have failed the American people.”
But of course, he didn’t mean any disrespect.
Schmuck.
Tags: racism, Republican Hypocrisy, Republicans, Teabaggers
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 – wikipedia
but, I guess i see your point.
The Oxford English Dictionary (but not the print version of its American counterpart) lists “tar baby” as a derogatory term for a black or a Maori. – wikipedia
Guess you didn’t read the entire article on wiki, Phil.
TarBaby! Wow. I wonder where they will build the TarBaby Presidential Library. (The English never have understood American idioms and literature.)
We have someone at work that uses this phrase. I GET that it means a tough/sticky situation. In fact, I like to give people (including this person because racism would seem out of character for them) the benefit of the doubt that they are using it correctly. HOWEVER, WHY ON EARTH would you use a term in such a professional capacity like that when you KNOW that it will upset someone and you’ll be painted in an unflattering manner? It’s just common sense.
Also when I was little we were in that Golden Book of the month club. I got this one in the mail. I have no idea what happened to it:
http://www.songofthesouth.net/memorabilia/books/golden/tarbaby71-lib.html
I can not locate a active e-mail for this guy.
If anybody can find one, please post it….. I have a few things to say and I want to make should someone in his office sees it.
The standard email for House members and staff is firstname.lastname@mail.house.gov
I did, but if you notice, it isn’t in the american version. Maybe it was a mistake, that and all of the extra vowels that are left out of the american english version of words.
Oh so you have to go to England in order to find offense. The term is not racist or offensive.
What is offensive is the mess we are being stuck with because this administration has never gotten in touch with reality. During the second term, the last President focused so much on the war that he let the economy escape his attention until it was too late. This President paid attention for the first month and passed his ill fated stimulus bill and went to other things. We have been at drift for 5 years now you want to complain about allusions and metaphors. That in itself is a metaphor with what is wrong with the Democrat party.
The term is quite racist and is quite offensive to plenty of people. And the American who used the term certainly did know of the offense he was providing.
“During the second term, the last President focused so much on the war that he let the economy escape his attention until it was too late.”
Utterly false. Bush added nearly $4 trillion to the deficit in his first term, “only” $1.3 trillion in his second.
The problem with the gwasovernment’s budget was caused by the tax cuts and the failure to raise taxes while waging two wars.
Is this guy a racist punk? Maybe. Is he absolutely clueless? More than likely. But what’s for certain is David will excuse anything, and I mean ANYTHING, as long as it for the Home Team.
Soldiers don’t do nuance.
I think one of the Gawker commentators on this story nailed it..
“I can see how this analogy is useful…. Because if you touch a tar baby, you can get stuck. And if you try to wash it off, you’ll just end up with a wet back. All he’s really trying to communicate is that compromising with a Democratic president certainly be a chink in a Republican’s political armor. He doesn’t want to be seen as yellow to his fellow Republicans, so he’s really just ensuring his political record is spic and span. With the future of the country at stake, our representatives can’t affort to monkey around by concerning themselves with the media’s interpretation of their comments. I’m sure they’d rather just call a spade a spade…..”
The term, when used in its original context, is about as racist as the word “niggardly.”
And it is pretty rare for anyone to use this word in its “original context”.
I use it that way. The key to the metaphor is that tar is sticky, not that it is black.
David, listen to the song “Colored Spade” from Hair and let me know which terms aren’t offsensive to you.
My point is that YES there are totally innocuous meanings to these words but (when there are other choices of words to put forth your idea clearly) WHY ON EARTH would you risk being misunderstood/branded a racist when you are not by using them?
Why not say “cheap” or “difficult”? If you want to use the phrase Tar Baby when you’re at home fine, I can’t stop you from using all the richness of the English language. But don’t use it in an office when talking to clients and DON’T use it when you’re a politician opposing a black president. Seriously, if it’s not racist it’s just tone deaf and dumb. Either way it’s irritating.
The Uncle Remus stories were/are African American folklore based on older original tales they brought with them from their homeland. To call the tar baby story/analogy racist is to act as if it was invented or derived by whites or others, which it was not. It is a story told by blacks. And the shoe definitely fit in this case. The President, because of his failed economic policies, is a political tar baby in that regard. But he’s got another year to redeem himself. Let’s see what he can do.
“The President, because of his failed economic policies, is a political tar baby in that regard.”
Wrong. A “tar baby” is something that gets you in more trouble the more you attack it. That’s not the case with Obama.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Remus
They are folklore, compiled and adapted by Joel Chandler (a white guy) in 1881. He tried very hard to be faithful and they weren’t intended to be racist in 1881. Delbert’s right.
BUT LOTS OF PEOPLE WITH 2011 EYES THINK THEY ARE. I still maintain it’s dumb to use that phrase in a professional context if you want to be taken seriously.
Hell, I even learned at a very young age that you were not to refer to Black people as a tarbaby or Sambo. There’s no defense for Lamborn’s use of the term.