# Stupid Republican idea of the day **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 26, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897 "2009-03-26T18:48:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 165
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3281 "2011-07-19T23:56:02Z")
Yeah, he spent a pile to convice Californians to recall Grey Davis, and then Arnold terminated his plan to step in to be our new governor… ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3282 "2011-07-20T00:56:22Z")
Oh, that Darryl Issa! He-he. Darryl. Nice pick, Mr and Mrs Issa! ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3283 "2011-07-28T11:53:52Z")
Reported in the L.A. Times; John McCain reads a WSJ editorial and the Tea Party responds: > [@](#): > > "The idea seems to be that if the House GOP refuses to raise the debt ceiling, a default crisis or gradual government shutdown will ensue and the public will turn en masse against Barack Obama… Then Democrats would have no choice but to pass a balanced-budget amendment and reform entitlements, and the tea party hobbits could return to Middle-earth having defeated Mordor… > > “The reality is the debt limit will be raised one way or the other… If conservatives defeat the [GOP] plan, they will not only undermine their House majority, they will go far to reelecting Mr. Obama and making entitlements that much harder to reform.” > > Mark Meckler of the Tea Party Patriots responded via CNN. “Clearly he’s been corrupted by the Ring of Power,” Meckler said. I do realize that satire is ineligible for this thread: if Meckler’s comment was a joke, it would be evidence of intelligence, not stupidity. But by this point I’m not sure Meckler’s words were anything but sincere. Is there a way to force drug tests on Congressmen and other national political figures? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3284 "2011-07-28T12:36:40Z")
How did we miss this one: [Lower the Debt Ceiling? Republican Wants to Decrease Limit](http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2011/07/lower-the-debt-ceiling-republican-wants-to-decrease-limit.html) > [@](#): > > Rep. Paul Broun, who introduced the Debt Ceiling Reduction Act [on July 6], says his measure would compel Congress to actually pay off a portion of the national debt and drastically cut spending by the start of the next fiscal year, Oct. 1. > > “We have overspent, we are overextended, and now have to get out of debt,” Broun, R-Ga., said on the House floor [on July 7]. “We need to turn this country in a completely different direction.” > > Broun says his proposal would “force Washington to make the spending cuts we so desperately need to pay down the debt.” Is he going to tell the Chinese to return the check? ---
**Author:** ![legalsnugs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@legalsnugs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/legalsnugs)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3285 "2011-07-28T15:26:31Z")
Tea Party Republican Freshman from Illinois apparently thinks it’s equally okay to financially screw the American public AND his own children. > [@](#): > > Rep. Joe Walsh, a tax-bashing Tea Party champion who sharply lectures President Barack Obama and other Democrats on fiscal responsibility, owes more than $100,000 in child support to his ex-wife and three children [Cite](http://www.suntimes.com/mobile/6720892-463/tea-party-rep.-joe-walsh-sued-for-100000-in-child-support). According to this article and others, even after losing his condo to foreclosure and being unable to pay child support, he was nevertheless able somehow to lend his campaign $35,000 and take foreign vacations with his girlfriend. Just more of those good old conservative GOP fiscal and family values, right? I am just disgusted. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3286 "2011-07-28T15:42:06Z")
To be ruthlessly fair, this hasn’t been proven yet. I would bet on it, but fair is fair. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3287 "2011-07-28T15:50:40Z")
Mitt Romney, [political mastermind](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/romney-visiting-ohio-factory-says-obamas-policies-are-bad-for-business/2011/07/27/gIQA5pchdI_story.html?hpid=z3). > [@](#): > > **Romney, visiting Ohio factory, says Obama’s policies are bad for business.** Mitt Romney donned safety glasses and toured a rock-crushing-equipment factory here on Wednesday, saying President Obama’s economic policies have choked the manufacturer and thousands of other businesses across America. Same ol’, same 'ol. Oh, but wait: > [@](#): > > Yet it’s been the government — and Obama’s policies in particular — that has helped propel Screen Machine’s growth at its sprawling new headquarters here, even during the recession. The company, which builds heavy-duty crushing and screening machines used in construction, mining and recycling, received four stimulus awards totaling $218,607. and: > [@](#): > > And Screen Machine, which is expanding its global sales, recently won a federal contract to deliver its machines to Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan. That base doubled in size to accommodate Obama’s troop surge. Hmmmm. _rubs chin_ Hmmmm. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2011, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3288 "2011-07-29T23:25:53Z")
The Republican’s [want to force the military to use dirtier fuels](http://www.grist.org/energy-policy/2011-07-27-conservatives-force-military-accept-dirty-fuels), even though the military is perfectly happy with the rules as they exist. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3289 "2011-08-02T15:47:13Z")
Last Friday, Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) [compared President Obama to a **tar baby**](http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/08/01/doug_lamborn_tar_baby/): > [@](#): > > LAMBORN: Even if some people say “well, the Republicans should have done this, or should have done that,” they will hold the President responsible. Now, I don’t even want to **be associated with him, it’s like touching a, a tar baby** and you get it…you know you’re stuck and you’re part of the problem and you can’t get away. His apology included some pretty weak tea: > [@](#): > > Congressman Doug Lamborn (CO-05) today sent a personal letter to President Barack Obama apologizing for using a term **some find insensitive**. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3290 "2011-08-02T16:01:18Z")
This guy used the term in the same way that the original story intended. It was nice of him to offer an apology, but it was clearly a literary allusion that was apt, even though I disagree with his larger point. I don’t think he committed any serious foul there. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3291 "2011-08-02T16:43:20Z")
What the hell is a tar baby? Don’t want to google from my work computer. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3292 "2011-08-02T16:47:42Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > What the hell is a tar baby? Don’t want to google from my work computer. Pretty much what it sounds like. It’s a bunch of tar shaped to look like a baby. You touch it, you’re stuck and you can’t get the tar off, and struggling only makes it worse. The first I heard of it was in Song of the South, but it may be from before that. It’s also considered an incredibly racist term, since, you know, tar is black and all. I’ve heard it used with more venom than nigger, if that’s possible. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3293 "2011-08-02T16:50:54Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > What the hell is a tar baby? Don’t want to google from my work computer. In the Uncle Remus stories, it was a child-size human figure made out of tar and clothed by B’rer Fox to trap B’rer Rabbit. Fox put it on a log near the trail and when Rabbit passed it, he greeted it, thinking it was a person. When it didn’t answer, Rabbit got into a one-sided argument with it, finally going to slap it for ignoring him and getting stuck to it. I forget how Rabbit got out of it at this point, though. Since the tar baby was black (made out of tar, after all), the term became used for African-Americans, and it’s considered a slur. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3294 "2011-08-02T16:52:24Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > Pretty much what it sounds like. It’s a bunch of tar shaped to look like a baby. You touch it, you’re stuck and you can’t get the tar off, and struggling only makes it worse. The first I heard of it was in Song of the South, but it may be from before that. Yeah, it’s a Br’er Rabbit story. It’s too bad it has come to be so racist (so the baby is black. so what? It’s a decoy that traps you by touching it), as has so much of the Uncle Remus stuff, because there’s some rich metaphor in there. It’s still OK to talk about the briar patch, right? ---
**Author:** ![howye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9adbd/32.png) [@howye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/howye)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3295 "2011-08-02T16:58:11Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > This guy used the term in the same way that the original story intended. It was nice of him to offer an apology, but it was clearly a literary allusion that was apt, even though I disagree with his larger point. I don’t think he committed any serious foul there. awwww… Bullshit. In the cold light of rational discussion without the context of modern American politics and the racial history of this country, sure the allusion is perfectly fine. IN the real world, it was a racist call to arms, dog-whistle politics at its worst. Either this guy knew he was juggling gasoline and torches or he is monumental dumbass. I am all done giving out my free passes to dumbasses slips. You simply do not speak in public and choose as a metaphor one of the few things that could come off worse than simply calling Obama a nigger. There simply is not an adult in this country he could both use that literary allusion and not understand its racial connotations. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3296 "2011-08-02T16:59:32Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Yeah, it’s a Br’er Rabbit story. It’s too bad it has come to be so racist (so the baby is black. so what? So, decades of crackers saying, “Hey Tar Baby, shine my shoes!” has changed the meaning from what it was in the book. > [@](#): > > It’s still OK to talk about the briar patch, right? Has “briar patch” ever been used as a racial epithet? ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3297 "2011-08-02T17:05:00Z")
It’s kind of offensive in the same way that ‘Sambo’ is offensive. Some of us went a good portion of our lives, into early adulthood even, not knowing there were racially charged uses and connotations. Knowing origins didn’t make a difference, either–if anything it may have even prolonged the in-earnest ‘what are you talking about, it’s racist? How so?’ perspective. But it doesn’t take long to recognize the connections and unseemly usage, and thankfully the language and literature is rich enough to avoid using phrases that have been co-opted or otherwise associated with racial pejoratives. That someone with enough astuteness to get elected somehow missed the racial overtones–particularly in referencing a black person–is dubious at best. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3298 "2011-08-02T17:08:15Z")
It’s such an obscure phrase. I mean if people like [Frank Gaffney](http://bigpeace.com/fgaffney/2010/08/13/obamas-ground-zero-mosque/), Tony Snow and Mitt Romney can use “Tar Baby” in the same sentence as “President Obama” without realising the offense it would cause, then you ought to give Congressman Lamborn a pass. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3299 "2011-08-02T17:11:28Z")
I acknowledge all that. Still, it’s a shame that some few of the black characters (understanding Brer Rabbit and associates to be black, although a minute’s research showed the briar patch story is Cherokee) in American childhood stories have to be excised because of racism. And the stories aren’t racist - the tar baby is just a decoy without any negative stereotypes - it’s just hateful fuckers ruining things for everybody. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/3300 "2011-08-02T17:32:55Z")
> [@howye](#): > > There simply is not an adult in this country he could both use that literary allusion and not understand its racial connotations. Other than people complaining about how racist the term is, I have never once heard the term used in a racist way. But that’s just my experience, and I’m not doubting your strong feelings on the subject, so I did a little research. I started looking through dictionaries, which seem like a good impartial source of the usage of the term. I couldn’t find any that indicated that the term was offensive. [Link,](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tar%20baby) [link](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tar+baby), [link](http://www.google.com/dictionary?aq=f&langpair=en%7Cen&q=tar+baby&hl=en), [link](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/tar+baby), [link](http://dictionary.infoplease.com/tar-baby), [link.](http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/tar+baby?region=us) Then I got tired of looking through different dictionaries. (I further note that dictionaries, do, indeed, warn about racially sensitive terms, even if literary in origin: [link.](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/uncle+tom)) If I can’t find a dictionary that even makes a vague caution about the racial connotations of the term, I can’t assume that someone is making a racist comment about the President. It was fine and good that he apologized, but I think the automatic assumption that it is a racist term seems to be easily questionable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=164) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=166)