Doug Lamborn has a Joe Biden Moment....

Damocles

Accedo!
Staff member
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/...aby-obama-apology_n_916017.html?ref=fb&src=sp

Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Co.) has apologized for the controversial “tar baby” comment he made on a local radio show last week while discussing President Barack Obama and the debt ceiling debate.

On the 630 KHOW Capils and Silverman radio show, Lamborn said:

“Even if some people say, ‘Well the Republicans should have done this or they should have done that,’ they will hold the President responsible. Now, I don’t even want to have to be associated with him. It’s like touching a tar baby and you get it, you’re stuck, and you’re a part of the problem now and you can’t get away.”

On Monday, Lamborn sent a personal letter to President Obama “apologizing for using a term some find insensitive,” his office said in a press release. The congressman was “attempting to tell a radio audience last week that the president's policies have created an economic quagmire for the nation and are responsible for the dismal economic conditions our country faces. He regrets that he chose the phrase 'tar baby,' rather than the word 'quagmire.' The congressman is confident that the president will accept his heartfelt apology."

Lamborn told the Denver Post “I absolutely intended no offense, and if this is at all on his radar screen, I am sure that he will not take offense and he'll be happy to accept my apology because he is a man of character.”

You can hear the remarks here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/01/doug-lamborn-colorado-con_n_915382.html?ir=Politics
 
Now, I've grown up in this state, and have never heard that term used in a racial context. While I wouldn't use it myself because it is dated and most people 25 and under probably would have no idea what I was talking about, and I certainly wouldn't use the term now that I know it could offend, how many here would have known immediately that the guy had stepped in it?

This is the definition of the term as I've heard it used:

http://www.bing.com/Dictionary/search?q=define+tar+baby&qpvt=definition+of+tar+baby&FORM=DTPDIA

tar baby
Definition
tar ba·by
tar ba·bies Plural
NOUN
1. tricky situation: a very troublesome situation, especially one that is difficult or impossible to get out of ( dated )
 
You people in Colorado can be very sheltered.

True that, especially on issues of race. Not because other races aren't here, but because it is the least "racist" place I have been. Ohio and Illinois being the worst.
 
They don't read Braiar Rabbit in Colorado, it is where I first heard the phrase.

I know the story of Brer Rabbit, but how does that mean I should know it was a term that could be offensive racially?

I'm serious. I have never heard it in that context.

As for the younger generation, the Uncle Remus stories are rarely heard nowadays.
 
I know the story of Brer Rabbit, but how does that mean I should know it was a term that could be offensive racially?

I'm serious. I have never heard it in that context.

As for the younger generation, the Uncle Remus stories are rarely heard nowadays.

Well, not much I can say, except, it is a racially offensive term used in the South to refer to blacks, as is porch monkeys, even though some whites have tried to take it back! Are there any other terms you have not been exposed to? Jungle bunnies are not rabbits whose habitat is in the Jungle, and thanks, I really blew the spelling of Brer!

The younger generation also uses niggah, and that is also socially unacceptable word which refers to blacks.
 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/...aby-obama-apology_n_916017.html?ref=fb&src=sp

Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Co.) has apologized for the controversial “tar baby” comment he made on a local radio show last week while discussing President Barack Obama and the debt ceiling debate.

On the 630 KHOW Capils and Silverman radio show, Lamborn said:

“Even if some people say, ‘Well the Republicans should have done this or they should have done that,’ they will hold the President responsible. Now, I don’t even want to have to be associated with him. It’s like touching a tar baby and you get it, you’re stuck, and you’re a part of the problem now and you can’t get away.”

On Monday, Lamborn sent a personal letter to President Obama “apologizing for using a term some find insensitive,” his office said in a press release. The congressman was “attempting to tell a radio audience last week that the president's policies have created an economic quagmire for the nation and are responsible for the dismal economic conditions our country faces. He regrets that he chose the phrase 'tar baby,' rather than the word 'quagmire.' The congressman is confident that the president will accept his heartfelt apology."

Lamborn told the Denver Post “I absolutely intended no offense, and if this is at all on his radar screen, I am sure that he will not take offense and he'll be happy to accept my apology because he is a man of character.”

You can hear the remarks here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/01/doug-lamborn-colorado-con_n_915382.html?ir=Politics

Threw himself in the briar patch, he did.
 
Well, not much I can say, except, it is a racially offensive term used in the South to refer to blacks, as is porch monkeys, even though some whites have tried to take it back! Are there any other terms you have not been exposed to? Jungle bunnies are not rabbits whose habitat is in the Jungle, and thanks, I really blew the spelling of Brer!

The younger generation also uses niggah, and that is also socially unacceptable word which refers to blacks.

That would be "nigga" and you meant "socially unacceptable", if used by a race other then black.
 
Well, not much I can say, except, it is a racially offensive term used in the South to refer to blacks, as is porch monkeys, even though some whites have tried to take it back!
.

ironic, given that in the original story the "tar baby" demonstrated the superiority of the slave versus the owner.....
 
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