Article “GOP congressman uses racial slur to describe Obama” as a link to “Doug Lamborn, Colorado Congressman, Refers To Obama Dealings As Being Stuck To A ‘Tar Baby’” goes on to say:
“…The term ‘tar baby,’ with origins that stretch back to an 1881 Uncle Remus story from writer Joel Chandler Harris, can be used to imply that a situation is difficult to solve. But in more recent history, the term has developed more derogatory connotations related to describing African Americans.
“In 2006, TIME magazine discussed the usage of the term ‘tar baby’ when Mitt Romney issued an apology for his use of the term — Romney claimed he merely wanted to describe “a sticky situation.” However, Oxford American Dictionary Editor-in-Chief Erin McKean told TIME that “what’s really important is not etymologically what it means, but the effect it has.” McKean noted that Oxford American would note that “tar baby” can have derogatory connotations in newer editions…”
WATCHDOG:
Shame on liberal leaning Huff Post for such a disingenuous, misleading lead-in from its list of articles. To this editor, a “tar baby” is a problem from which you simply cannot extract yourself. That the term was publicized by “Uncle Remus” gives it no more a racial connotation than something that Martin Luther King might have said.
We have enough real problems in this world without journalists, liberal or conservative, creating them.
