Haley Barbour Apologizes For ‘Tar Babies’ Comment On Obama’s Policies

Former Gov. Haley Barbour participates in a discussion about the challenges Mississippi's capital city faces with a declining tax base, crumbling infrastructure and other challenges,Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013, at a fund... Former Gov. Haley Barbour participates in a discussion about the challenges Mississippi's capital city faces with a declining tax base, crumbling infrastructure and other challenges,Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013, at a fundraising luncheon of 500 people for Operation Shoestring, a nonprofit group that does education and mentoring programs for low-income residents of central Jackson. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) MORE LESS
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In what’s become a repeated gaffe in American politics, former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) has apologized for describing President Obama’s policies as “tar babies.”

In an article published Monday morning, Politico reported on a pair of anonymous sources who said Barbour made the comment during a conference call last week involving clients of the lobbying firm BGR Group.

Barbour, a cofounder of the firm, confirmed to Politico that he used the phrase.

“If someone takes offense, I regret it. But, again, neither the context nor the connotation was intended to offend,” he told Politico in an email.

“Tar baby” has two very different meanings. Derived from American folklore, it can refer to a difficult situation. It is also used as a racial slur.

That history has gotten a number of politicians in trouble, including former GOP presidential nominees Mitt Romney and John McCain. Like Romney and McCain, Barbour apologized but insisted that he didn’t think he was using a slur.

“The Oxford American Dictionary defines the term as ‘a difficult problem, that’s only aggravated by attempts to solve it.’ This is exactly what I meant and the context in which I used the term,” Barbour explained to Politico.

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Notable Replies

  1. Poor Haley. He can’t help he was born with an ax handle in his mouth. But he stopped saying “ni**er” years ago. So he’s not racist.

  2. I’d be interested to hear when it was used as a racial slur. I’ve always understood it as a problem that you can’t get off, like tar.

    In every article where they say it’s been used as a racial slur, there’s never examples of it actually being used that way. It’s just said that it is.

  3. I take it you’re not from the South.

  4. Avatar for mantan mantan says:

    Another buttery gaffe from Little White Hambo…

  5. Ho-kay, I’m assuming that since this is not a stupid man he clearly intended the double meaning to be heard and appreciated by a certain audience and doesn’t mind making a mealy-mouthed nonpology for it after the fact.

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