Akkam’s Razor

Q Second question, why did you choose to wear the yellow bracelet today? What's the importance to you?

MR. SNOW: I had cancer last year. And having cancer, it's one of these things — thank Terry Hunt for having provided — I lost my old one when I was in the hospital having my last cancer surgery. It's going to sound stupid, and I'll be personal here, but — just having gone through this last year — and I said this to Chris Wallace — was the best thing that ever happened to me. It's my Ed Muskie moment. (Laughter.) I lost a mother to cancer when I was 17, same type — same type, colon cancer. And what has happened in the field of cancer since then is a miracle.

I actually had a chance to talk today with Lance Anderson [sic] about this. You know, it's one of these things where America — whatever we may say about a health care system, the technologies that were available to me that have me standing behind the podium today, where a doctor who said, you don't have to worry about getting cancer, just heartburn, talking to these people — (laughter) — that's a wonderful thing. And I feel every day is a blessing.

CBS REPORTER: Why not declassify [the NSA's call records database]? I mean, the President did talk about the surveillance program a day after the New York Times broke that story. This would seem to affect far more people and it did sound like the President was confirming that story today when he was answering questions.

 

SNOW: If you go back and look through what he said, there was a reference of foreign to domestic calls. I am not going to stand up here and presume to declassify any kind of program. That is a decision the President has to make. I can't confirm or deny it. The President was not confirming or denying. Again, I would take you back to the USA Today story to give you a little context. Look at the poll that appeared the following day [...] something like 65% of the public was not troubled by it. Having said that, I don't want to hug the tar baby of trying to comment on the program… the alleged program, the existence of which I can neither confirm or deny.

QUESTION: What are your personal goals? What do you hope to achieve here? Will you continue to televise these briefings? And would you put into English the phrase (OFF-MIKE) the tarbaby?

SNOW: Well, I believe hug the tarbaby, we could trace that back to American lore.

Based on the context of the term, we believe you meant tar baby to mean: "a situation almost impossible to get out of; a problem virtually unsolvable."

But in "American lore," the expression tar baby is also a racial slur "used occasionally as a derogatory term for black people." Use of the term has resulted in people being fired.

As Random House notes, "some people suggest avoiding the use of the term in any context." Now that you are no longer at Fox News, you may want to take them up on their advice.