2:55 pm July 16, 2009, by jgalloway
Zell Miller is back, and as edgy as ever.
The former Georgia governor and U.S. senator, who has kept out of the limelight these last couple years, today put in an appearance at a meeting of the Republican-oriented American Legislative Exchange Council in downtown Atlanta.
My AJC colleague Aaron Gould Sheinin was there, and posted a full account on Gold Dome Live. Here’s the part that will resonate:
Miller said [President Barack] Obama’s decision to try and close the Guantanamo Bay prison where suspected terrorists and enemy combatants are held, is “nuts.”
“This strange Obama sense of justice penalizes our civilians’ with their loss of freedom while rewarding the terrorists with new rights they never had before,” Miller said.
Obama, “our globe-trotting president,” Miller said, “needs to stop and take a break and quit gallivanting all around. I think [chief of staff] Rahm Emanuel ought to get some Gorilla Glue and put it in that chair in the Oval Office and say ‘Sit here awhile.’”
Oh, Zell. How we’ve missed you.
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132 comments Add your comment
Diana
July 16th, 2009
3:18 pm
I think that “Gorilla Glue” is a poor choice of reference that’s going to come back to bite Mr. Miller. All he had to say was the word “glue” to convey his point, as misguided as it is. At least Obama is engaging world leaders and making diplomatic inroads for the United States unlike that other guy who spent most of his time at the ranch.
Keith
July 16th, 2009
3:24 pm
Gorilla Glue is supposed to be the strongest glue on the retail market and that was the point Zell was making. My God! This political correctness nonsense has got to end!
Diana
July 16th, 2009
3:36 pm
I know what Gorilla Glue is and that it is a brand. He still chose to use it to refer to a black man. Maybe political correctness will end the same time racism does.
Tim
July 16th, 2009
3:37 pm
How about Krazy Glue or Elmer’s Glue? It was a racial barb in minimal disguise. It’s not political correctness but the Rethugs like to attempt to classify it as such. Dream on Keith.
Birdie
July 16th, 2009
3:41 pm
@Keith: As you can see by the comments on the original post at Gold Dome, though, it isn’t just Obama supporters who are viewing that last comment through the prism of race. At least two people have already said that was a good joke to suggest putting a monkey in gorilla glue. So, I guess I’m with Diana: maybe pc will disappear when racism does.
Lou Reed, mr. jims
July 16th, 2009
3:53 pm
Problem? I always hire a negro to apply gorilla glue. It’s the only thing to do. Wouldn’t you?
Bill White
July 16th, 2009
3:56 pm
I agree with Keith. If any of you liberal McFlys knew anything, you would know all about how good Gorilla Glue is. Zell is right as usual. This installed-president is trying suck up to Secular Europe and the Islamists in countries that would like to wipe us off the earth. I’m sad that Pres. Hussein Obama has abandoned the Bush Doctrine which showed the world that we are the leaders.
Will Jones - Atlanta
July 16th, 2009
4:04 pm
Bill White is demonstrating his ignorance of wood adhesives. GG is very “yesterday,” it was almost all hype. Any argument on the point is being presented by blustering ignorance and a producer of inferior workmanship.
Zell is whitetrash…and should keep his Lincoln off the road.
P.S. Moron, America’s Motto is The New Secular Order…but perhaps you aren’t actually an American or you would have known and appreciated just why that’s a third of Our Creed.
Bill White
July 16th, 2009
4:14 pm
Let me revise myself then: that little Rahm fella ought to cement Lil Hussein to the Oval Office chair. This installed-president has created the worst economy ever and it’s getting even worse as he tries to expand the already fat welfare state that consists of unlimited handouts to those who don’t deserve them. So, what does Lil Hussein do? He goes over to Secular Europe to check out underage girls and dance the night away with France’s perverted president. It’s a disgrace.
Mike
July 16th, 2009
4:15 pm
How do you know he chose it to refer to a black man? You actually know Zell Miller personally and had the same conversation with him? If so, I’d like to meet him…think you could set that up?
I think you’re right…it will come back to bite him but because it’s only a poor choice of words when everyone automatically assumes that he’s being racist. If he’s referring to Obama as being a gorilla…and gorilla’s are extremely strong animals(hence “Gorilla Glue”)…maybe he’s really saying that Obama is the strongest President we’ve ever had. People compared Bush to a chimp…but wait, Bush is white. Some racists also refer to black people as “Mondays”…so if any politician says “I hate Mondays” – are you also going to automatically assume he/she is talking about a black person??
Redneck Dumb@ss
July 16th, 2009
4:20 pm
Typical of his breed. All hot air and hyperbole. I guess when your party has run out of ideas and failed miserably, nothing let to do but whine and yell like child. Fun to watch though.
retiredds
July 16th, 2009
4:50 pm
Oh my, Zell comes out of the woodwork to tell the President what he should stay put in the Oval Office. I suggest Zell return to his mountain retreat and count grass, a feat more suited to his current status as citizen.
2Old4This
July 16th, 2009
5:08 pm
Wow! A blog copied from another blog on the same paper! Nice work if you can get it.
The REAL GodHatesTrash, Superstar
July 16th, 2009
5:10 pm
Zell is inbred hillbilly trash, and the inbred hillbilly trash of Georgia still love him.
Uncle Daddy
July 16th, 2009
5:49 pm
You tell him, Zell!
Zag
July 16th, 2009
6:08 pm
Zell needs to shove some Krazy Glue in has mouth and say quite.
dave
July 16th, 2009
7:01 pm
zell is a typical racist
Patrick
July 16th, 2009
8:11 pm
@ Bill White: You dumbass, Obama did NOT create this awful economy, he INHERITED it from that dumbass Bush. And what’s wrong with talking to other world leaders? I guess you just want to shut the world out, drive your SUV through the National Wildlife Refuge, eat McDonalds, and jerk off to Limbaugh, you ignorant, racist piece of trash. Oh and how clever of you to call him by his middle name. Who’d you get that from, Palin or that other dumbass, Joe the plumber? Sit down and shut up you idiot.
Joann Hill
July 16th, 2009
8:15 pm
I think Zell Miller is pitiful. F
Joann Hill
July 16th, 2009
8:15 pm
I think Zell Miller is pitiful!!! First of all, he doesn’t even know what he believes. He needs a little gorilla glue for his mouth!
Hank
July 16th, 2009
8:19 pm
Zell is a Democrat! nuff said…
will jones and the church of boogity!
July 16th, 2009
8:22 pm
come and listen to a story
’bout a man named zell
told his state just what to do
or they could go to hell
then one day, with a lobbyist’s tool
he was suckin’ up the moolah
like a pac-crazy fool.
Gawga gold. Sweet $ tea!
So, the next thing you know
oh zell’s a millionaire
then the kin folk said
zell, get the hell outta here!
Said, old atlanta’s, the place you oughta be,
so he packed up his donkey
and moved to paces ferry
Buckhead, that is. Moonshiners and movie stars.
Keith
July 16th, 2009
8:51 pm
ACORN will be protesting outside Gorilla Glue headquarters demanding they change the name of the product to something else… like maybe “Really Strong Glue”. Wow… that really has a marketing impact doesn’t it. The late Bill Mays couldn’t sell that.
Tom
July 16th, 2009
9:02 pm
Hey Zell! You think you’re so tough? Let’s see you make that speech in Bed-Stuy, South Central, or the South Side of Chicago!
J
July 16th, 2009
9:05 pm
Zell turns my stomach, but to educate some of you posters: 1) He is NOT a democrat. He was so elected, but had a converstion experience of some kind and switched sides. He did a lot for teachers when he was Gov. of GA, and I appreciate that, but he went nuts during the Bush years. 2)”Gorilla Glue” is a well-known brand — strong, heavy glue. I’ll give him a pass on that one.
ALAN
July 16th, 2009
9:19 pm
WHAT A MORON !! USELESS LOSER !! GO GET A LIFE !!
Helana
July 16th, 2009
9:21 pm
“Keith
July 16th, 2009
3:24 pm
Gorilla Glue is supposed to be the strongest glue on the retail market and that was the point Zell was making. My God! This political correctness nonsense has got to end!”
Keith,
It’s not political correctness that needs to end, it’s lack of sensitivity or wisdom. I agree that maybe/perhaps he meant no racial implication, however if I am to believe that Zell is as intelligent as you or I think he then she would possess some keen awareness of the word Gorilla. After all, such words were often used during Zell’s era as a child and young man. So much so, that a Republican colleague recently referred to an escaped monkey from the Zoo in Carolina as “decendants of First Lady Michele Obama.” I’m beginning to wonder about Zell because I considered him a decent man. However, I remember he support the Iraq war b/c of weapons on mass destruction. He wanted to “bomb the hell out of them” any opposers were anti-american and “Nuts”. Well, we all know there were NO WMD and Iraq had nothing to do with nine-11. An unjust war. Who’s nuts?
G.O.D.
July 16th, 2009
9:21 pm
It’s a shame so many racist in this “supposedly” Christian nation can’t take the fact that an intellingent, sensible, and studios citizen of this country (who happens to have a white mother and african father), beat the crap out of a out of touch, cranky, not very bright citizen (who happens to be white).
If McCain were president, we’d be at war with Iran, N. Korea, Mars and the Moon.
Get over it already and join the present!
G.O.D.
July 16th, 2009
9:24 pm
Zell (I challenge you to a duel) Miller is a complete dinkleberry! He looks like he needs more Metamucil.
Jon
July 16th, 2009
9:27 pm
He used the term “Gorilla Glue” purposely. Simple. It’s a veiled ignorant insult from a generation too slow to die off.
yellowdog
July 16th, 2009
9:27 pm
Zell is an embarrassment and so is Newt. Why do the media promote them so?
Faye
July 16th, 2009
9:32 pm
Another racist MF.
Faye
July 16th, 2009
9:32 pm
Enter your comments here
Copyleft
July 16th, 2009
9:34 pm
There was nothing racist in the “Gorilla Glue” comment, covert or otherwise.
Madman Zell just ain’t that smart, folks. He just babbles random things when he wants attention–kinda like Newt.
Al
July 16th, 2009
9:38 pm
Indeed the poor choice of words still seem rather intentional. Hank, Zell is/was a democrat who sold out his party long ago. Mike, why lob such dubious hypotheticals? Patrick, it seems unnecessary to debase others with profanity and presumptions.
And Bill White, you only believe Obama was checking out underage girls if you purely rely on Fox, or any other biased form of media to shape your optics. In a Global Economy, no American president can ignore the G8 and tell the world we’re going alone. Obama also asked Europe for help isolating Iran as well. He also met with the Vatican. (Hardly secular)
I’m also unaware of any legislation that indicates the bailout money went to welfare recipients, unless you are including AIG, Goldman Sachs, BofA, GM, JPMorgan.
If folks are truly honest with themselves and others, they can acknowledge that Obama did not produce this current crisis. As president, he’s responsible for fixing it, but he didn’t create it.
Time will tell if he’s made the right choices. Until then, if you love your country, you love it now, and are willing to work towards making it better now, not tear it apart in for partisan points.
I’m a Vet, A Republican, and God-loving. Our nation deserves better discourse.
Helana
July 16th, 2009
9:39 pm
Why do the republican base have such strong anomosity towards talking or building coalition with other nations? Its seems they(the repub base) are becoming more hostile as other countrys are warming to U.S. diplomacy.
smurfysax
July 16th, 2009
9:39 pm
Bill White Boy and the rest of you idiot loving wanna be slave owners. Zell’s reference to “globe trotting” first of all is an attempt to make a basketball reference and the “gorilla glue” quip was an attempt to reference a monkey. we’re not stupid, we can read between the same lines you’re reading sissy. What he really wanted to call Obama was a basketball playing monkey, he just figured out a different way of saying it. Most of you racist low lifes think blacks are good at sports only anyway. Dumbass!!!!
smurfysax
July 16th, 2009
9:41 pm
Because people who are only lovers of themselves and no one else, can’t phathom coalitions unless they are hooking up with other folks with strong hateful fews as themselves. Let’s take the conservatives for example…
StephenK
July 16th, 2009
9:44 pm
For zell miller: Somewhere there is a saying “Ivory will never glow out from a dog mouth”. Sound bite from a barking dog is barking dog’s sound bite, no more and no less.
The hard work from Obama Administration is gaining progressively to calm down American disaster created by republicans, your buddies. Your later part of your life as well as your children and grand children may be beneficial from him. If you can not do that, just shut up. .
Angel
July 16th, 2009
9:47 pm
The beauty about Mr. Zell is that he will be dead very soon! His life is expiring and I’m sure that’s all he thinks of! Bye, Bye bigot Zell’s! May you be Gorilla Glued to a chair in hell!
Zell Miller, Gorillas, And The Selective Virtue Of Switching Sides
July 16th, 2009
9:47 pm
[...] Georgia political bashing for the time being. I was reading a brewing mini-controversy over the comments of former Georgia Governor and Senator Zell Miller saying that someone should put “Gorilla Glue” on the office seat in the Oval Office to [...]
Helana
July 16th, 2009
9:49 pm
Smurfysax
I doubt that you are an african american which you want us to believe. If you’re trully hurt or disgusted by racist ugly remarks, then you would know that you can’t remedy it by doing the same. Enough.
mark-kez
July 16th, 2009
9:54 pm
Ok, here is a bit of honesty for all involved in this conversation, I don’t know what Zell’s intention was with his comment. Maybe he has missed a pill or two and he can’t find his way home. But the truth of the matter is, it doesn’t matter! When you’re black in America you learn early on that everything is about your race; EVERYTHING. Even when it’s not, it’s the first thing to cross your mind and you have to make the choice not to make it about race. Most whites don’t understand that and nmany blacks don’t want to admit it but there it is. So Zell will have some ’splain’ to do.
Helana
July 16th, 2009
9:56 pm
Sad, but true. Well said Mark-kez.
diogeron
July 16th, 2009
10:01 pm
Yes, Obama should do what Zell did as senator: nothing except collect a check and shoot his mouth off making a fool of himself and the people who elected him.
Angel
July 16th, 2009
10:01 pm
Hey Mark-kez, this also apply’s to latinos… so your choice of word “splain” is of poor choice.
skyview
July 16th, 2009
10:16 pm
Zell Miller is a redneck cracker with about as much sense as the deer that run through his backyard.
skyview
July 16th, 2009
10:18 pm
Bill White, your are as crazy as Zell
Galoco_lee
July 16th, 2009
10:27 pm
Zell Miller is 100% correct on each and every point!
Shirley
July 16th, 2009
10:29 pm
I think it is time everyone stopped yelling “racist” and started thinking about what this President is doing to the United States. I think Zell Miller may have caused people to wake up before it is too late.