What the hell is up with Senator John McCain...?

referring to helping a person with their divorce issues... as tarbaby politics? I know he knew full well the impact of the words and terminology he used and Yeah... it costed him his brief chance at being president. Why is it that non people of color think it is ok to constantly make reference to the most Horrible crime against humanity and make light of it? White America will always be glib about the subject of racism. I happen to take it very seriously. Too bad the culprits are to cowardly to face people of color on their terms.. Questions? Comments? The ignorant need not reply...

Public Comments

1. I don't like him...
2. he's turning into a neocon to get elected.
3. hmmm. I was unaware of that comment. I remember Tony Snow saying something similiar, but John Mccain?
4. I don't know. I once briefly thought that he might turn out to be the one nationally-known Republican who wasn't a raving imbecile. Wrong.
5. I agree. McCain is completely out of touch...not just with minorities in America, but pretty much with all intelligent human beings with more than an ounce of integrity. This is the guy who calls asians "gooks" and can't even figure out if we should be promoting contraception to help stop the spread of HIV. He's clueless and a political hack who sold his soul a long time ago to get a chance to become President.
6. Just another Republican opening mouth and inserting foot. It is very common these days. But let it be, the more they do stupid stuff the closer we get to a Democratic landslike similar to the one where Lyndon Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater in 1964 and Democrats were ushered to many more seats in Congress.
7. McCain was not referring to the use as a racial slur or epitaph. More meaning sticky wicket, or, problem. He admitted it was a poor choice of words immediately following his town hall meeting.
8. He is too smart and well-read to be able to pander to the far right wackos.
9. Conservatives are claiming -as he is - that that's not what he meant because tar baby has multiple meanings. True. But in American usage tar baby really only has one - and that one is extremely racist and deragatory. To claim otherwise is yet another lie. To prove this point - where in American literature or in the media in the last 50 years is tar baby employed as a sticky mess? The only time it is used is as a racist term...
10. I no longer look at John McCain as decent.
11. Yes, you are quite right--whites are far too glib about the fate of Brer Rabbit. Why, the tarbaby reference brought back the horrible image of Brer Ermine forcibly playing hide the salami with Brer Rabbit, while Brer Dove looked on and laughed. McCain should be flogged for deliberately using this racist term and pouring salt in our oppressed wounds. Shame, Senator McCain, Shame.
12. exeter12, aren't you forgetting that McCain is SEVENTY years old? He grew up and created his reference points before 'Tar Baby' was a racial slur when it was part of American culture from the Brer Rabbit stories. I will under no circumstances vote for McCain, however, this sort of 'let's be PC rather than accurate' nonsense has become ridiculous.
13. McCain has deteriorated into a sad old man who knows this is his last chance to be President and is so desparate he will say anything and kiss up to any group that he thinks MIGHT be worth a few votes! He's pathetic . . . as are most of the Republican candidates this round! (Not to mention LAST round!)
14. The most horrible crime against humanity? Read your history book. I would think mass murder of a people to be the most horrible. Are you suggesting that whites are non people. Was that a Freudian slip? Maybe you should check your own prejudices sister.
15. It is just words. They only hurt when you let them. He never had a chance at being president. The republican base hate him.
16. Perhaps you are being too sensitive? The "tar baby" is a reference to a children's story involving a sticky messy baby formed from tar. The more you struggle with the "tar baby" the more tar you spread and the messier you get. By the way, slavery is NOT a situation in the past, nor is it a strictly white on black issue. There are more than 25 million slaves TODAY, the majority of these people are Asian and Hispanic women and children; NOT African American. Perhaps your outrage could better serve the PRESENT slavery related atrocities. I personally can do nothing to change the past, but I can and DO speak and act against the horrors of modern day slavery.
17. I can't condemn anyone for a one-time, misuse of words if their heart does not convey the malice associated with those words. No one is perfect, especially me. Therefore I try to forgive those who do not display malice throughout their lives and from within their souls. McCain has never been seen to be a "bad" person and I've never heard of previous times that he used poor terminology. Correct me if I am wrong.
18. Senator McCain was already in trouble for making rash remarks. I'm glad he is out. We didn't need him in the White House. However, the tar baby didn't mean a black person. It was a joke on white people who treated slaves badly. The white person, usually meaning the slave owner, was tricked into getting stuck on the tar baby. Still, it is probably not seen as appropriate by blacks for white people to use the expression and I wouldn't use the phrase myself for that reason. John McCain has no sense.
19. Hopefully he is nominated as the Republican presidential candidate. That will ensure a Democrat victory.
20. Yes he be racist and tryin to say things so he dont look raycist he think that us Negroes like the word tarbaby and he dont even no we hates it he just tryin to get us to vote for him. I am voting for the great black man Jesse Jascoon. again
21. I guess that if you had been a POW for several years you too would call Vietnamese "gooks". Having served in Vietnam it was common to call them "gooks", right or wrong that's what we used. Guess it's the same as calling the Japanese "nips" or Germans "hinnies" . As to Mr. McCain, Iwould not vote for him if he was the only one running for office. He allowed Bush/Rove to slander him and then backed Bush for President. To me that was a cowardly thing to do. He should have hung Bush out to dry but because of pure politics he allowed it to happen. He is leaning over backwards to have the far-right christian hypocrites vote for him and back him. I have no time for him!!!
22. Not to defend the jerk (cause I don't like him either) But I think he was trying to refer to the "statical records" that people of colour are more apt to get a divorce - less likely to support their children (meaning the men), drop out of school, use drugs and commit crimes (violent or not), domestic violence in the home, and so on. And not to sound as if I'm off the subject - but this answer does apply as well. I believe that people have the right to their religious beliefs/views - if they know what the h*ll they're talking about when they speak on or about it. All these religious fanatics belly-aching about the sanctity of marriage and protecting the marriage institution haven't completely read their bibles. For if they Really Did and in full from cover to cover on their own - beginning to end - "God" has given people Free Will to Choose for themselves what they think is best for them. 2 - "Do not go out into the streets or the into the synagogues of the hypocrites and listen to them or pray among them. Instead go into a place of your choosing within your own home and pray." And 3 - even "God" says in the bible that "if your wife wants a decree for divorce than grant it to her". But the religious fanatics - as usual - want to fix your life, my life, and ignore their own problems, as well as what their bible tells them to do. Still I do not have to believe what they want to brainwash me into thinking or believing. And I think folks of his stature do have a colour and it isn't call white - it is called yellow-belly (as in chicken sh*ts)
23. Interesting. I never thought Tar Baby was racial or had been added to the catalogue of racial slurs. So I looked it up.It is Middle English and predates Public knowledge of the Subcontinent. I was surprised to learn it is an actual term with a significant meaning. Not just a character in Brer Rabbit. Here is a very interesting comment about the term I found along the way http://txsongbird.blogspot.com/2005/10/brer-buhman-and-tar-baby.html That said, McCain should have "stuck" to his guns and said yes divorce is a tar baby. Just like the War in Iraq. we are stuck to that also. Go big Red Go
24. What are they thinking?- self destructive?- I am just waiting for Hillary to make a quip using the word "spear chuc***."
25. My Gosh....a 'tar baby' is a 'sticky situation'. The term dates to the 19th century Uncle Remus stories, referring to a doll made of tar that traps Br'er Rabbit. It was turned INTO a racial slur.. And don't tell me that divorce is NOT a sticky situation. You know what people say about 'assume'ing things...dontcha?? You all automatically assume he meant it as a racial slur. But you assumed wrong!
26. I loved those Uncle Remus stories. They should be brought back, even the tar baby one. Will someone be offended by Tar heels, too? The reason I would never back McCain is that he's an open-borders kook. We do not want all these illegals in our hoods. They are taking all our jobs.