Brit Hume called former Senator John Glenn a "partisan---spearchucker" to describe his role in a Fred Thompson investigation back in his old Senate days on FOX News Sunday. (via Wikpedia: Glenn also served as the ranking minority member on a special Senate investigative committee chaired by Tennessee senator and actor Fred Dalton Thompson that looked into allegations China attempted to influence U. S. politicians prior to the 1996 elections)

I had to watch it a few times for it to sink in. I looked up "spearchucker," on Dictionary.com, but they didn't recognize it so I wonder how he will explain this one away?

Download Download (rough transcript)

Hume: ...he had a mixed record in the Senate and he's a man who always seems somewhat frustrated and bored by the Senate...I particularly remember an investigation that occurred after the Clinton/Dole campaign. We were new here at FOX news and we carried a lot of the hearings live. It was in the campaign finance alleged irregularities with monies supposedly seeping into the American political campaign of Bill Clinton from Chinese sources and so on---it was pretty juicy stuff it looked like a very big deal. Fred Thompson was the chairman of the Investigating committee and it went absolutely nowhere. he was effectively buffaloed in that investigation by none other than John Glenn---who was a wonderful man, but not somebody normally you would think capable of being a real partisan..ahh...ahh.. spearchucker, who could, who could undo an investigation. So it didn't go very well and I think Fred Thompson has acknowledged since then that it wasn't his finest hour...

The Urban Dictionary writes:

A derogatory phrase for a black male used in reference to his primitive abilities to hunt animals with a long sharpened object.

More info under the fold:

This isn't the first time a Republican has used a racist term as a description. Tony Snow used "tar baby," as the WH press secretary, but later said he would no longer use that phrase. Mitt Romney used "tar baby" also, but he apologized for it and Cafferty said:

Cafferty: It’s comforting to look at guys like Romney and the "tar baby" remark and know that we have such a high quality stable of candidates ready to take over the nation’s highest office. What the hell is he thinking-"tar baby?" I mean come on

The WSJ's James Taranto wrote this about an article by Sam Fulwood back on May 16, 2006:

Slur, Yes Sir!

Sam Fulwood, a Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist, last week wrote this about Colin Powell, the former secretary of state: Powell rose higher than almost any black Republican by making the party faithful comfortable with his non-threatening and non-demanding presence on racial issues. Powell flamed out after his ego no longer allowed him to be an unquestioning spearchucker in Mr. Bush's war. Fulwood obviously meant to say Powell was a spear-carrier, "a person whose actions are of little significance or value in an event or organization." Instead he used a racial slur that likens black men to African savages.

It's a bit reminiscent of the incident we noted in March, in which a radio host was talking about Condoleezza Rice and said "coon" when he meant "coup." But whereas the host apologized immediately and nonetheless was fired on the spot, Fulwood is unrepentant and appears to have drawn only mild criticism from the Plain Dealer ombudsman.

Peevish is British slang and calls it a derogatory/offensive term for a black person: http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/s.htm

Poynter has more.

The Color of Words: an encyclopedic dictionary of ethnic bias in the United States By Philip H. Herbst: page 29: Terms used largely, but not exclusively, by white people about black people.

It turns out that it was the name of a character on the first season of MASH, who was fired when they found out there were no black surgeons in Korea:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spearchucker_Jones

(h/t to Nicole for help with some research.)