…with false “racial slur” accusation against John McCain

by Bill Levinson

The National Jewish Democratic Council, proud defender of the hate organization MoveOn.org and slinger of anti-Semitic “Jew as Christian hater” prppaganda, is now falsely accusing John McCain–a strong advocate of American national defense–of using a racial slur. Not content with publishing anti-Semitic propaganda to damage Jewish-Evangelical relations, NJDC is now knowingly and willfully slandering a war hero and one of the few political figures who is known for his honesty and integrity.

The National Jewish Democratic Council is JINO (Jewish In Name Only), and is less worthy of respect than the Nazi-appointed Judenrats that were appointed to run ghettos during the Second World War. Judenrat members usually served unwillingly, or in the hope of at least alleviating the Nazi’s abuses, but NJDC is a willing prostitute for the absolute worst elements of the MoveOn.org wing of the Democratic Party. Just as Judenrats and other collaborators tried to hide the true nature of “relocation camps” from Jews, NJDC tried to use its “Jewish” identity to whitewash MoveOn.org’s knowing and willful propagation of not only anti-Semitic, but also racist, anti-Evangelical, and anti-Christian hate speech through its disgraced Action Forum.

Now we come to NJDC’s latest attack on John McCain, whose shoes its leaders are not fit to shine.

Cedar Falls, Ia. - Republican presidential candidate John McCain used the term “tar baby,” which is sometimes associated with racist connotations, during a campaign stop in northern Iowa on Friday and immediately expressed regret.

“Tar baby” is not a racist expression, although it comes from a 19th-century book whose language (similar to Ebonics) and terminology might be considered racist today. It is from a series of folk stories by Uncle Remus, and it was well known to children as recently as thirty or forty years ago. Its primary connection to Black people seems to be that the story may have originated in Africa, in which the butt of the joke attacks a doll or figurine made from gum, tar, or a similarly-sticky substance and becomes entangled in it. While it is of course racist to tell jokes about Black people, it is not racist to tell jokes or funny stories created by Black people, which seems to be the case of the Tar Baby.

The story of the Tar Baby is part of a slapstick exchange between Br’er Rabbit and Br’er Fox, who wants to eat Br’er Rabbit. The fox makes a doll out of tar (actual tar, it has nothing to do with skin color) and puts it where the rabbit will find it. The rabbit becomes indignant when the doll will not respond to his greetings, and finally becomes so indignant that he hits the doll. His fist naturally gets stuck, whereupon he gets even angrier and hits the tar doll with his other hand. Needless to say, he soon becomes totally entangled in the tar. When McCain said,

…we are getting into a tar baby of enormous proportions,” McCain said, explaining his position on the federal government’s role in parental rights in custody cases.

he was referring to exactly the same image: the stupidity of getting into a fight with an inanimate object (or the equivalent, getting the Federal Government into an issue in which it seems to have no business) and then being unable to detach oneself from it.

Needless to say, readers of The Tar Baby wonder if the rabbit is then eaten by the fox. In the sequel, the fox shows himself to be far from wily or smart. He theatens to cook, hang, and skin the rabbit, who tells him he is welcome to do any of those things, “as long as you don’t throw me in that briar patch over there.” The fox quickly gathers that this is the worst thing he can do to the rabbit, so he naturally throws him into the briar patch–whereupon the rabbit reveals that that was where he had been born and raised.

Needless to say, “tar baby” is racist in the eyes of NJDC only when used by Republicans like John McCain and Mitt Romney. It is a perfectly acceptable term to describe how the Bush Administration has gotten us bogged down in Iraq:
http://www.citypaper.com/columns/story.asp?id=12952

Well, how about that? Sanity from Washington! Except for the fact that we went and punched the tar baby (in the classic, Uncle Remus sense) three years ago, and, sadly, there’s no unsticking ourselves any time soon.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2004/06/29/
meet_the_new_boss_same_as_the_old_boss.php

That dictatorial order, however, will continue to be backed up by 140,000 U.S. soldiers, apparently with more to come. Bush is stuck so deeply in the Iraqi tar baby that he might as well give up struggling to extricate himself before the election in November; he can’t do it. His approval rating, mostly thanks to Iraq, stands at 42 percent, heading down.

http://www.ericmargolis.com/archives/2003/05/the_iraqi_tarbaby.php

But CIA was correct in warning the White House and Pentagon that Iraq would turn into a version of Uncle Remus’ fabled tar-baby for the US, a stocky mess impossible to drop. This is precisely what is now happening. Iraq is in chaos and near-anarchy, scourged by banditry, revenge and ethnic killings, and looting. US occupation forces have so far been unable to form even a puppet regime, as was done in Afghanistan.

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/000894.php

Now Sen. Joe Biden may try to do some fancy footwork and drop his support for Iraq as his previous positions prove unpopular and lacking in foresight, but Iraq is Joe’s tar baby and he is stuck with his open and strong support of the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Meanwhile, John McCain, unlike NJDCs friends at MoveOn.org, is able to distinguish the democracy from the terrorist organizations in the Middle East:

McCain sounded a pessimistic note on the viability of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, at least in the short term. “There can be no comprehensive peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians until the Palestinians recognize Israel, forswear forever the use of violence, recognize their previous agreements, and reform their internal institutions,” he said.

“Unfortunately, with the election of Hamas, this process has taken a huge step backward, and it’s simply impossible to push today for a comprehensive accord.”

Our only criticism of John McCain is that he apologized to the politically-correct Thought Police, whom we regard about as highly as the things that tend to live on the underside of rocks, for using a perfectly-acceptable and inoffensive term to describe getting stuck in a mess. In any event, since the National Jewish Democratic Council obviously does not know what a tar baby is, perhaps the following picture will help: