Here’s an exercise in media spin for ya:

Governor Mitt Romney yesterday apologized for using the expression ``tar baby" -- a phrase some consider a racial epithet -- among comments he made at a political gathering in Iowa over the weekend.

"The governor was describing a sticky situation," said Eric Fehrnstrom, the governor's spokesman. "He was unaware that some people find the term objectionable, and he's sorry if anyone was offended."

Sorry, but “tar baby” isn’t a phrase that some consider a racial epithet – it is a racial epithet. And a particularly ugly one at that. So what’s worse: that the governor of one of the least diverse states in the union is an unhinged bigot, or that he is so far out of touch that he honestly as no clue that people might have a problem with his choice of words.

Question number two: can anyone provide me with an example of this phrase being used in any benign context – either the way he claims to be using it or otherwise?

UPDATE: after reading the article further, it makes the following claim (verified by a Google search):

A definition from Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary traces the expression to the tar baby that trapped Br'er Rabbit in an Uncle Remus story by Joel Chandler Harris, which became popular in the 19th century. The dictionary now defines the expression as ``something from which it is nearly impossible to extricate oneself."

So, ok … we have one instance from a vernacular used almost 200 years ago. Anybody have anything more recent? Now taking comments.