Filed under the “who cares?” section:

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) – Republican presidential contender John McCain on Friday used the term “tar baby,” considered by some a racial epithet, and later said he regretted it.

Answering questions at a town hall meeting, the Arizona senator was discussing federal involvement in custody cases when he said, “For me to stand here and … say I’m going to declare divorces invalid because of someone who feels they weren’t treated fairly in court, we are getting into a tar baby of enormous proportions and I don’t know how you get out of that.”

Merriam-Webster defines tar baby in this way:

Main Entry: tar baby
Function: noun
: something from which it is nearly impossible to extricate oneself

Since the term was used in proper context with no racial intent, McCain did the appropriate thing to placate angry liberals and immediately apologized for using a term correctly:

After the event, McCain told reporters: “I don’t think I should have used that word and I was wrong to do so.”

The senator said he hoped it wouldn’t be viewed as a racial remark. He argued that he was trying to say that it wouldn’t make sense for him to have a role in something left to the courts.

I’m not a McCain fan, but clearly McCain was using the term in context. Get over it. I mean, come on people. This is meaningless.