Now, I’m not one to overreact to misstatements and read too much into them, but wtf?
I cannot comprehend what meaning John Kerry intends for the term “tar baby” here, nor what other word he might have replaced with tar baby as part of a freudian slip. It is so incomprehensible, I cannot even maliciously accuse Senator Kerry of subconscious racism. Even looking at Wiki only moderately clarifies the matter. I think I can state unequivocally that tar baby is not a racial slur in his usage, which is the meaning based on the moral of an African folk tale, meaning a situation where the more you fight it, the more you get tangled up in it. Anyone who accuses him of using a racial slur should be ashamed of themselves. However, he can be accused of using a analogy that no one will understand and that does not clearly apply to the situation he uses it in.
At least I can understand why John McCain might talk about the Iraq-Pakistan border as Iraq and Afghanistan are both ongoing conflicts. I mean, if that is a sign of ignorance or senility, then the fact that my dad has for years stumbled through the names of everyone in the family (including the cat) before landing on the right one for the person he wants to address cannot be good news. Listen, Senator McCain knows there is no Iraq-Pakistan border (though he doesn’t seem to know the difference between Sunni and Shia) and I don’t think this mistake means anything about his ability to lead. His inability too lead can be determined through plenty of intentional statements.
Oh, and I don’t think those that accidentally say Osama when they mean Obama are necessarily bad people with bad intentions, their names are close and they both are on people’s minds. This whole gotcha game is a bit annoying. Politicians, bloggers and mainstream press alike could do well to consider whether there is actually anything meaningful in controversial or accidental statements before jumping on them.
ETA: I said anyone who accuses him of using a racial slur should be ashamed of him or herself. Well, subject of frequent citations here, Jessica at Feministing, should be ashamed of herself. This game where you cannot use any word that has a insulting meaning attached to it, lest you be accused of bigotry needs to end. We are all smart enough to determine context and determine whether a statement is truly offensive and do not need to rely on simple heuristics of offense.
