During a recent interview on Fox News, Megyn Kelly (yummy) was interviewing Michelle Malkin. During the interview Fox News splashed the following caption “Outraged Liberals: Stop Picking on Obama’s Baby Mama.” Here is a picture
While I normally like Fox News and I find them more balanced then the rest of the network coverage, this was probably poor usage at best, possibly racist at worst. I think this phrase has some origin in the black community (if anyone knows more that would interesting to know) but used by Fox News, it just sounds very tacky. The left, of course, is up in arms over this, pointing out that Fox is up to their old tricks again. While I think this was tacky, in fairness to Fox, Michelle Obama has often referred to Barrack as “my baby’s daddy” so I guess from Fox’s point of view that is where this reference to “baby’s mama” comes from. The big problem with this whole election cycle is going to be constant charges of racism that occurs even for benign stuff. Of course, the real consequence of the constant racism charges is that it has a real chilling effect on legitimate criticisms of the Obama campaign. There are real issues that we can disagree with him about, but if we are going to be charged with racism every time we do so, there is not much motivation to speak out.
Here is a video of the event:
June 12th, 2008 at 11:08 am
“Baby mama” has become a mainstream slang term about as common as “the bomb” was ten years ago. It has nothing to do with race. We see our with-it celebrity bloggers use it, for example:
http://sports.rightpundits.com/?p=270
http://sports.rightpundits.com/?p=92
June 12th, 2008 at 11:17 am
The usage here is incorrect, however. Baby Momma is NOT your wife. It is used for the mother of your children out of wedlock.
June 12th, 2008 at 11:43 am
ig, that is generally the context but not always as it is growing in use. As Bryan noted, Michelle Obama herself referred to Obama as her “baby daddy” in an introduction earlier this year.
The lesson is that news should never by hipped-up, and that FoxNews must have some all-too-enthusiastic college intern writing their splashes, which is pretty irresponsible from an editorial perspective.
June 12th, 2008 at 11:50 am
And the intern was disciplined with a terrorist fist jab.
June 12th, 2008 at 11:53 am
Remember the mispelling of “Niger Johnson” on CNN?
June 12th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
So for example, you can read Tom Cruise referred to as Katie Holmes “baby daddy” (they are married) in Salon.com, which is now being hypocritical on the Michelle Obama flap.
http://www.salon.com/ent/col/fix/2006/04/19/wed/index.html
The English language is a very interesting and ambiguous language at times.
June 12th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Context, McCain. All about the context. In this context, I agree with you that it was inappropriate.
But, then, this is Fox News.
June 12th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
It depends on what you mean by “inappropriate.” In any context, putting slang terms this way on a hard news broadcast is inappropriate, whether it is Michelle Obama or Tom Cruise. But the term itself is appropriate in other settings including entertainment journalism, whether Michelle Obama or Tom Cruise.
If that is what we agree about, then consider us agreed.
June 12th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Considering that there was a recent popular movie (tina fey and amy poehler) called “baby mama,” Fox probably gets a pass on this. But it is always questionable judgment, for a news network of all people, to use a phrase that has origins in the black community and is grammatically incorrect. Baby’s mama would be one thing, but baby mama is a little tough on racially sensitive ears. They should know better, but as ig said, it’s fox, a station that has some of the most un-pc shows in the world (e.g., family guy, hilarious but offensive to virtually everybody).
June 12th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
So many people in this country are utterly confused about so many things.
Most Americans don’t even know that presidential Barack Obama carries a small idol of the Hindu God “Hanuman” with him for good luck. A picture of Obama displaying this idol and his other good luck charms has been found.
Here is the link to this incredible photo:
http://shatteredparadigm.blogspot.com/2008/06/picture-of-hindu-god-that-barack-obama.html
June 12th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
What about “terrorist fist bump,” and terrorist scarves? What about using “democrat” an adjective (because we don’t want to call them FAR LEFT MOONBAT DEMOCRATS “democratic”).
Carries a Hindu God with him, in his pocket? So what? I got a couple on my desk ’cause I work with a few people originally from India. I used to have a little marble rabbit god my mother got somewhere that I carried around. So what? What is so incredible about that? What is so terrible about that? What is that supposed to say? It means nothing. I’ve carried other good luck charms, and lots of people do. This is a really damning thing. Oh my god. Obama carries a good luck charm. He must be a Muslim, no matter what he says. He must be a terrorist. He must be the Antichrist.
Now, Ronald Reagan…let’s talk about astrology, a little. Damn good thing WW III wasn’t in the stars….
June 12th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
I got it.
Hes all three. Muslim Christian, Hindu.
just depends where he is at the time.
Baby Momma ?
That would be a really young mother.
Besides that. I am fu***ng am so tired of “baby”
Anyone who uses it shows an incredible lack of originality and imagination.
Everytime song writer needs to fill a gap , baby gets pulled off the shelf.
How many times have we heard someone meaning to demean someone call them a baby ?
If I called my wife baby mama she would look at me crosseyed.
i’ve had thgree black girlfriends, each for a good amount of time and neither one of them ever called me that.
Anyone using the term, FOX, Michelle , whoever, need their head slapped and be told to grow up.
Ranting, sorry.
There, I feel better
June 12th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
It seems as if the Republicans are getting their knickers in a knot over Michelle Obama. And getting ready to take aim at her over the next few months. But maybe they should take a look in the mirror and ask themselves what are they so “proudâ€? of? Maybe they should revisit what Michelle Obama has seen from her American leaders since she was born the year after President Kennedy got killed. And then, no matter what they come up with and manage to spin, I’ll still take a straight shooter who doesn’t mince words – the Michelle way. That’s American. That’s the American way. And the choice of spouses also tells me loads of the candidates themselves. And not the way you think.
June 12th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
“i’ve had thgree black girlfriends, each for a good amount of time and neither one of them ever called me that.”
well if you have had three black girlfriends then “neither” does not apply
and you would not be their baby moma either
June 12th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
Lisa.
I see that you are carrying on the snotty liberal tradition of attacking peoples grammar whom you cant make decent arguement against.
Maybe you should learn to read a little better before you open your yap.
I was talking about the word “baby” which was the main issue in my statement.
Oops, I’m soory I guess “get near a keyboard” would be the proper application.
And by the way. Its spelled ” Mama” not “Moma”.
Moma is a town in Mozambique. Or better known as the Museum of Modern Art.
Also, you forgot some punctuation. The capitalization in “Well” os missing and the period at the end of the same sentence.
Also the capitalization and period in your last sentence is missing also.
You may not be the biggest jerk I’ve ever met, but you’ll do just fine until that person arrives.
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/neither
Usage notes.
Neither is used to mean none of two or more. Although some suggest that using the word neither with more than two items is incorrect, it has been commonly used to refer to more than two subjects since the 17th century. The more modern usage does prefer none with more than two things.
There is considerable variation in regards to the number of the verb employed with this construction.
Blow it outchera$$
June 12th, 2008 at 9:39 pm
A guy who likes skinny girls with small boobs is bound to have a baby mama. Once she has a kid, he loses interest.
The question is, then why did this term originate in the the Af. Am. community, where skinny girls with small boobs are definitely NOT prized?
June 12th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Angry African.
Can you explain Michelles scripted comment
“For the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country” being used at three seperate occasions ?
The republicans will not pay too much attention to her in the near future as you think they will. Unless she actually says something controversial in relation to a serious issue it would be suicide to attack her on any other grounds. We would quickly be accused of being mysogynist by the left.
But she also has to take some responsability for the risk she poses by putting herself out there. The candidates whi have usually done the best are the ones whos wives have remained more or less in the background.
Ask John Kerry.
If I were a black man I would look in the mirror and ask myself ” in the fifty years that blacks have been voting democratic, what has the democratic party done for the black man ?”
As I look in the mirror I can be proud that it was not the republicans who fought to free the black man.
June 12th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
I’m sorry, I must be tired.
Correction
As I look in the mirror I can be proud that it “was” the republicans who fought to free the black man.
June 12th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
“The question is, then why did this term originate in the the Af. Am. community, where skinny girls with small boobs are definitely NOT prized?”
one reason is that instead of it being “the man’s baby’s mother” it is the man’s baby’s young mother … so young she could be a baby herself. referring to the many young mothers in the african american community
June 12th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
“i’ve had thgree black girlfriends, each for a good amount of time and neither one of them ever called me that.”
neither can be used with more than one, but not in the way you used it.
you can say, “neither A, nor B, nor C etc.”, “neither one of them” is incorrect.
June 12th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
Lisa, how much wine does it take to write like a baby mama?
ig, nobody likes skinny girls with no boobs, which means in practice there can be no baby mama.
micky, thanks for the interesting history of Mozambique and the punctuation lesson for our liberal friends.
Angry African, someday you will make sense when you are less angry. By the way, do you think Michelle Obama was proud when we put a man on the moon?
June 12th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
“I see that you are carrying on the snotty liberal tradition of attacking peoples grammar whom you cant make decent arguement against.”
do you mean “people’s grammar”, “peoples’ grammar”, “a peoples’ grammar”, or “a person’s grammar”?
or do you mean neither “people’s grammar”, nor “peoples’ grammar”, nor “a peoples’ grammar”, nor “a person’s grammar”, but something else instead?
June 12th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
So whats your point Lisa?
That you cant read or spell and contradict yourself ?
Or that you cant make decent point in relation to the post ?
Ya know, I’m just typing a post. It was a little bit of a rant which I apologized for.
It even had some missed and misspelled words in it. It had nothing to do with you at all and I really havent botherd with you in a while.
And what do you do ?
You come out of freaking no where and start on my grammar like I fuc**ng care what you think of it.
Get a life. And while you’re attempting that get some purpose besides leaving a trail like a snail everywhere you go.
Or better yet.
I’ll bet that if you were to walk around on your hands nobody would be able to tell which end is which.
The surest way for you to make me look bad would be for you to engage me on some intellectual level concerning a real issue.
I’ll be waiting
June 12th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
well, we could have a “discussion” about logic
“I was talking about the word “babyâ€? which was the main issue in my statement.
Oops, I’m soory I guess “get near a keyboardâ€? would be the proper application.”
i assume you are jesting … certainly you were “posting” on a blog, not “talking”.
but in any case, to sum up your argument if i may, neither the first, nor the second, nor the third black woman, all of whom you dated for long periods of time, ever called you “baby”, is that correct?
is that not an inappropriate generalisation disguised as a modus ponendo ponens?
June 12th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
“The surest way for you to make me look bad would be for you to engage me on some intellectual level concerning a real issue.”
at last we agree. we now have a foundation upon which to build.