Tar baby

I was watching the John McCain interview on Hannity Tuesday nite and McCain referred to the AIG situation as "a tar baby" . What are the chances the democrats will try to turn that comment into a big racial debate??

I don't think they have to. Both parties are doing a fine job making themselves look like idiots these days.

The term tar baby helped lose the election for Perot. Are there still that many idiots in America now? Uhh wait, I withdraw the question after thinking of Obama, McCain, and the Hillarcow being the top presidential choices.

The Wonderful Tar Baby Story by Joel Chandler Harris

Chronological References in Print of "Tar Baby:" (source = Wikipedia)

1881- Joel Chandler Harris publishes Uncle Remus, a collection of African American folklore including the stories of Brer Fox, Brer Rabbit, and "The Wonderful Tar Baby Story:"

"Brer Fox . . . got ‘im some tar, en mix it wid some turkentime, en fix up a contrapshun what he call a *Tar-Baby."

1910- a "Mark Twain" Autobiog. (1924):

"For two years the Courant had been making a ‘tar baby’ of Mr. Blaine, and adding tar every day and now it was called upon to praise him."

1924- Rudyard Kipling’s Debits and Credits(1926):

"Number Five Study . . . were toiling inspiredly at a Tar Baby made up of Beetle’s sweater, and half a dozen lavatory towels; . . . and most of Richard’s weekly blacking allowance for Prout’s House’s boots."

1946- Charles Parrish, Journal of Negro Education, "Color Names and Color Notions:"

In this census type of document, "tar baby" is used with other adjectives such as "medium-light" and "dark" to refer to the shade of an African American’s skin.

1948- S. Lewis’ Kingsblood Royal:

"I didn’t know she was a tar baby."

"Don’t be so dumb, can’t you see it by her jaw?"

1959- M. Shadbolt’s New Zealanders:

"What a hide, though-"

"Those tar-babies and that fellow in the sweater."

1976- National Observer(U.S.)May 15:

"The troubled U.S. Postal Service is fast becoming the political tar baby of the year."

1978- J. Updike’s Coup (1975):

"She was one of those white women who cannot leave black men alone . . . some questing chromosome within holds her sexually fast to the tar baby."

1981- Toni Morrison’s Tar Baby, the novel (see also Tar Baby Myth).

1996- Richard T. Cooper, Los Angeles Times, April 21:

"Far from bestriding the Washington scene like a master or painting Clinton into corners, Dole last week looked a lot like the rabbit who wrestled the tar baby."

1996- Lance Morrow, Time, August 26:

"Before Johnson fell for the tar baby of Vietnam, Americans believed their presidents almost always told them the truth."

2000- John Williams, November 25. He submitted what is believed to be the earliest known use of "tar baby" in print to The Oxford English Dictionary. The term appeared in a magazine pre-dating Uncle Remus by 11 years (1870).

2001- the Tar Baby website debuts to feature an all girl (predominantly white) band from London.

I remember that tar baby story from grade school. I remember it was on TV once too, many moons ago.

I liked Brer Rabbit stories as a kid. I ate a few meals at Sambo's also.

I worked at Sambo's when i was a teenager.

wasn't Sambo's located where Village Inn is at?

Sambos was on E 27th if my aging brain cells recall right.

Sambo's was in the building that is now occuppied by the Village Inn. I was one of the short order cooks when it first opened up.

Hmmm What am I thinking of on 27th just east of Vine. Was there in the 70's.

Sandy's

I initially thought the same thing.

Ratzilla wrote:

Hmmm What am I thinking of on 27th just east of Vine. Was there in the 70's.

Potholes?

There was an Ice Cream shop (at one time the first TCBY in Hays) in the building that is now the Golden Belt Credit union that was ran by O K Baker, the retired shoe seller from Main Street.

When did Sambo's become Village Inn?

Back in the early 80's, because I worked there shortly after I graduated around 1976.

From a blog, the Sambo's chain was not too Politically Correct when they first opened Linky thingie!
Back in the 1970s, I used to frequent a restaurant called Sambos (there's still the original in Santa Barbara, CA). It was started in 1957 by Sam Battistone and Newell Bohnett. They obviously used their names to come up with the name of the restaurant, but they didn't stop there. I remember the wallpaper in the restaurant I went to on Emerson Avenue just south of Beech Grove, IN. The wallpaper told the story of "Little Black Sambo". Although it was supposed to be about a boy from India, the character looked more like Memin Pinguin than Mahatma Gandhi. I always liked the restaurant, because my friends and I could BS with each other all night long drinking bottomless cups of coffee for only ten cents each. One night we went to find the restaurant gone, soon to be replaced by a Denny's which would soon have their own little history with Black America.

The more things change, the more they remain the same. I'm not sure who said that, but it sure seems to be holding strong. I remember reading back in 1998 that the grandson of one of the originators of Sambo's restaurant was thinking of expanding again like his grandfather before. And the "Little Black Sambo" book? Well, it's been re-released with a new name and illustrations that actually look like a kid from India. The title . . . "The Story of Little Babaji."

All I can add is Vincente Fox should expect another call from Jesse Jackson.

suzyr wrote:

Sandy's

I initially thought the same thing.

Yeah, those two names are pretty close. It's surprising how many things about a town you can forget over time.

Sandy's was on the corner of 27th & Vine, where the Hardee's/Boinic Burger building used to be.

I remembered Sandy's after suzyr mentioned it. Been alot of places come ond gone over the years.

After Sambo's closed It was reopened as a german restaurant. Not sure but "Das Essen Haus" comes to mind?

I worked at a Sambo's in Florida.

wasn't that same building also the Drummer Boy restaurant?

In Hays? Yes

In Florida? No.

yeah I meant the one in hays, my bad