REPUBLICAN congressman steps in it

Why not?

What's the threshold? 'Macaca'? 'Golliwog'? 'Sambo'? Should he lose his seat if he uses 'Sambo'?

 

When I was younger those in my circles used the "tar baby" metaphor in the benign sense, as in: "You think you want to get involved with that, but once you do, you're going to regret it AND you're not going to be able to get out of it." That was the usage. That it carried racist overtones was not something that I was aware of until much later.

 

All that was missing in that editorial was pointing out that the Congressman has a best friend who is black.
And really, the problem isn't racially insensitive statements, it's when you can't point to a legislative accomplishment that refutes the notion you might be a racist.

 

Next he'll say that Obama is just hopping around in the jungle like a bunny.

 

The threshold is whatever his constituents want it to be. I'm sure there are more than a few parts of this country where an elected official can get away with saying something like that about Obama, just as I'm sure there were more than a few parts of the country where an elected official could have gotten away with saying a similar epithet about George W. Bush.

 

We're taking it back.

 

He doesn't have to be recalled by his own constituents - he can be disciplined by the House. Everything from censure to expulsion.

And if there's a parallel racial epithet for a white male Christian American, I'd be very interested to hear it.

 

If the implication of that youtube link is that somehow I was advancing a similar argument, then I resent the hell out of that. Never once in that period of time to which I referred was "tar baby" used in reference to a person. Rather, it was used to refer to situations, opportunities or options. I have not used that metaphor in years PRECISELY because I became aware of the overtones to which I referred and I absolutely did not want to be misunderstood.

 

He was born and bred in a briar patch.

Didn't Romney make some reference about one of Obama's policies needing to be "strung up" or something?

This is worse. But he'll get nothing more than a slap on the wrist from the House. If he called Obama a "tar baby" then it would be worse, but he didn't do that. He's an idiot who needs to go buy a clue, but he won't lose his job over it.

 

He should be sent to prison.

 

How about he just be held accountable for what he says?