Deal expresses regret for ‘ghetto grandmothers’ remark
The list of forbidden phrases in Georgia politics grew by one this morning: “Ghetto grandmothers.”
On Saturday morning, before a breakfast gathering of the Cherokee County GOP, congressman and candidate for governor Nathan Deal was describing his role in legislation to demand proof of citizenship for federal or state health care benefits.
Said Deal:
“We got all the complaints of the ghetto grandmothers who didn’t have birth certificates and all that. We wrote some very liberal language as to how you can verify it. My mother was born in 1906 and she didn’t have a birth certificate. They didn’t give birth certificates back then. But we got her one, because you can do it under the proper procedures of your state.”
Unfortunately for Deal, videographers from the rival campaigns of Karen Handel and Eric Johnson were there to record the moment. One of them provided this:
This morning, Deal issued the following statement: “I regret my choice of words and in no way meant to offend anyone.”
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301 comments Add your comment
Jessica
October 5th, 2009
1:03 pm
@BS Aplenty: Your post is too long to read. No one cares that much about this. This blog is for short, to the point comments. If you want to write a book, get a publisher.
Atlanta BNP
October 5th, 2009
1:04 pm
Ghetto Grandmother, in the context (seemingly) used, is simply a factual/pragmatic statement that is quite amusing to intellectually honest folks. As ever the ONLY real offence caused is by the phony manufactured outrage by the left and other cynical professional racebaiters. “Ghetto: is a racially neutral term, the inferences drawn on this forum by racebaiting blacks and white liberals are quite shameful, but utterly unsurprising.
Blacks are undeniably overwhelmingly “racist” in their voting patterns. According to ALL the 2008 exit polls around 95% of blacks voted for Hussein Obama – and look how that disaster is already turning out. Blacks are by far the most racially biased voting bloc in the USA. Rarely, if ever ever voting for a non-white conservative against a black democrat. Blacks overwhelmingly vote for democrats, at a level even higher than the drive by state controlled one party media hacks.
rio
October 5th, 2009
1:04 pm
Let’s just do the damn thing. We just need to throw down. I’m tired of this trash talk. We all have weapons
AG Smith
October 5th, 2009
1:05 pm
Enter your comments here
janie Hopwood
October 5th, 2009
1:07 pm
Enter your comments here How sad, this probably did go over well with his audience. Doesn’t say much for our civility does it? Wonder if he would define morality for us?
AG Smith
October 5th, 2009
1:09 pm
I can top that…did anyone hear insurance commish candidate Sen Seth Harp’s ill fated attempt at a joke over the weekend when he suggested that running former Lt. Gov Mark Taylor off the road might be “justifiable homicide?”
Tomhere
October 5th, 2009
1:10 pm
Take a minute and research this clown’s voting record. He backed W Bush and Cheney 100 percent. His district has some of the highest unemployment in the nation yet he voted against extending Unemployment.
America needs SOLUTIONS – Not RHETORIC and NAME-CALLING.
Obama will be president for another seven years. Is this who we want as governor of Georgia?
This backwoods redneck?
rio is spanish for gay
October 5th, 2009
1:10 pm
rio you’re such a riot with your oral beat-off. Next you’ll be talkin’ ’bout shootin’ off missles and such…
Ernest
October 5th, 2009
1:16 pm
I am black and was raised in some “ghetto’ areas in the north and south, now whether this guy is a racist I can’t say? But I do know this, “GHETTO” is not synomous with being “BLACK” it has no bearing on your race! I refuse to claim the term as being descriptive of me as a “BLACK MAN” or person! This is one where I am not siding with any “racist” jabs out here, just the facts!
Norma
October 5th, 2009
1:16 pm
I blame his comment on his education. It’s like people who use curse words…limited vocabulary. Just shows how stupid he is that he couldn’t come up with a more intelligent way of getting his point across.
Get Real
October 5th, 2009
1:20 pm
Let’s face facts – there are grandmothers in the ghetto’s – white,black,yellow etc. In fact in some situations there are 4 generations in one building – from grandmother to great grandchildren. In many of these cases we rarely see grandfathers and fathers!
Wake up America, for some people this is a way of life – a career no less. We can only discourage this way of life by making it less easy and comfortable to maintain. This would require that some politician(s) make serious decisions that could affect their re-electibility even though it would be better for the habitual ghetto dwellers and the rest of us taxpayers in the long run.
Actually THINKS
October 5th, 2009
1:23 pm
TD: I’m really having trouble figuring out how stating a statistical FACT, that roughly 95% of blacks vote Democratic, makes me “rude, stupid, and racist” I didn’t make any value judgements about their votes, I didn’t make any innaccurate statements, and NOTHING I said could possibly construed as racist. YOU however, TD, took a simple comment about a FACT, and turned it into a personal attack. TYPICAL DOUBLE-STANDARD DEMOCRAT. Thanks for proving my point. And…I got $100 that says YOU are part of the 95% I alluded to.
That is all.
dwjhd126
October 5th, 2009
1:24 pm
Confederate! XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Elle
October 5th, 2009
1:25 pm
“Ghetto” belongs to EVERY ethnic/social group, not black, not white, not Jew, but ALL. We can go there with blacks right in Atlanta, we can go there with whites in a trailer park in Cobb County, we can go there with Mexicans and Asians all along Buford Highway, we can go there with the homeless who live in impoverished conditions all over this country.
The point is, the “ghetto” is not a race, it’s a condition. Most choose to stay in that way of thinking, others have no choice. We live in a “free” country and people live the way they deem fit. Wouldn’t it be great for us to stop being so judgmental for a change? Maybe then, we can see when someone is trying to blow up one of our great cities in attempts to destroy what we are supposed to represent – The “United” States of America.
Grow up, people!
ghetto
–noun, plural -tos, -toes. 1. a section of a city, esp. a thickly populated slum area, inhabited predominantly by members of an ethnic or other minority group, often as a result of social or economic restrictions, pressures, or hardships.
2. (formerly, in most European countries) a section of a city in which all Jews were required to live.
3. a section predominantly inhabited by Jews.
4. any mode of living, working, etc., that results from stereotyping or biased treatment: job ghettos for women; ghettos for the elderly.nter your comments here
Mom of Two
October 5th, 2009
1:26 pm
To these people who can’t understand the reasons why ghetto is bigoted at best let me enlightened you! No one aspires to be “ghetto” when they grow up! Did you? He was talking to a specific group of people about a specific group of people! And he wants to be the ghetto grandmother’s governor! That is what I love about rope, give ignorant people enough and the eventually hang themselves. And secondly if it is in you it will come out you.
BS Aplenty
October 5th, 2009
1:28 pm
Jessica,
It’s an essay and all high school graduates are required to be proficient writers and, dare I hope, readers at this length work.
Mom of Two
October 5th, 2009
1:31 pm
Elle, you proved with your very own definition that it is race. Racism is not just black and white. Are blacks, asians, hispanics not a minority group? He surely wasn’t talking about himself, and if not then who? Let’s call a spade a spade. “
Alex
October 5th, 2009
1:34 pm
I am a minority that has lived in the ghetto and was at the event in Cherokee. I saw no offense at to what Deal said, he shot straight from the hip and told the truth. I came into the event leaning Handel, I left supporting Deal. I was impressed by the way he spoke from the heart and pulled no punches. He took questions from the floor, and had good workable solutions for Georgia’s biggest problems. Handel should try coming up with solutions rather than spending resources she does not have taping her opponent. For having raised the least money amongst the credible candidates, is this the best way to spend her resources? Is this an indication of how efficient she will spend my taxes? I will return to the event next month for some questions for Mrs Handel?
rio
October 5th, 2009
1:34 pm
Blacks have been voteing for white people all our lives. The economy and the rest of the mess was here before Obama. Its sad how whites practice hipocracy and deciet so proudly like that’s the way to live. Always speak of honor, truth, justice but don’t practice what you preach. White people have controled the world for a long time and look at the condition of the planet.
Big AL
October 5th, 2009
1:37 pm
Ok, this is pointless, but entertaining to say the least. I would rather deal with a person like Deal who “keeps it real” before I get stab in the back by YOU that are incognito. However, I will not vote for him because I’m black and you know we all vote Democrat. Be that as it may, If I were him I would do the same, entertain those that support me.
Sad Stuff
October 5th, 2009
1:38 pm
Dude, you just lost any chance of ever being governor.
Jay
October 5th, 2009
1:42 pm
So Rep. Deal was talking about the Warsaw ghetto? That would
make him an anti-semite (which I’m guessing that he also is).
Independent Thinker
October 5th, 2009
1:43 pm
@ EnterUrban, I am A Black American and I don’t use that word….the question you should be asking is WHY would he use that work, this is not a black issue, or white issue, or hispanic issue, it is an American issue. So really, he could have been talking about anyone’s grandmother, including yours.
Toe
October 5th, 2009
1:44 pm
Jessica,
Maybe you should stick to reading fashion updates in Jezebel. You seem lost here.
Captain Midnight
October 5th, 2009
1:45 pm
BS aplenty, very informative. Too bad it’s what everybody already new. What’s funny to me now is that lately if someone says something ie “you lie” it goes from what was actually said to ” Oh what he really meant,Oh what he was really sayin” etc.. You don’t even have to actually say anything offensive anymore. Kinda scary .
BS Aplenty
October 5th, 2009
1:46 pm
What’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is subject to negotiation.
–Russian proverb
It’s always comforting to hear a ‘person of color’ confirm that racism is perfectly acceptable in the ‘person of color’ community. HOWEVER, at all other times, racism is simply a cudgel to be used to negotiate with the majority community.
Captain Midnight
October 5th, 2009
1:47 pm
And Jessica, Step on over to the Living section and read up on the “Real Housewives” the grownups are talking.
Luv 2 Hate Me
October 5th, 2009
1:47 pm
(laughing) People i’m black and I don’t think what he said was racist but more of bad choice of words to express what he was trying to say. He shot his self in the leg like PLEX.
Captain Midnight
October 5th, 2009
1:48 pm
BS Aplenty, just blow after unanswered blow. Awesome.
Braves fan since '66
October 5th, 2009
1:49 pm
Nathan Deal is one of the finest people I’ve ever met and I have complete trust in him.
concerned citizen
October 5th, 2009
1:49 pm
One more apparent case of crackers gone wild!
Captain Midnight
October 5th, 2009
1:49 pm
It’s himself. There is no such word as hisself.
Captain Midnight
October 5th, 2009
1:52 pm
Oh right concerned citizen. When “crackers” go wild they use mildly offensive terminology. When “coloreds” go wild they open fire.
DSKI
October 5th, 2009
1:52 pm
BREAKING NEWS
WDSKI – (Georgia) Nathan Deal said he regrets his choice of words. However he said it was not meant to offend anyone. ‘I’m trying to attract younger voters in urban areas, and thats why i use words like ghetto, shawty, homie, and fo shizzo my nizzo. Sometimes i forget that i’m now a congressman who should use better terms….MY BAD G’ said Deal.
Those who knew Deal as a child had nothing but good things to say about him. ‘When he was younger, he would at least let everyone leave the house before he and the other Klan members burn it down. The next day in school he would always apologize. I always thought that was pretty nice of him’ said Buck (former neighbor/classmate). Sadie Brown 85, said she use to baby sit Deal as a kid. ‘i’se memba (remember) back in 65 when d (the) only bluck (black) chutch (church) got boint (burned) down. he told’ed (told) me that he sabb (save) mise (my) Bible fo (before) he and his friends perred (poured) gasaline (gasoline) and set the place on fiya (fire)….he aint (did not) hafta (have to) do dat (that) fo (for) me’. when asked if she beleives Deal meant to use the word Ghetto Grandmother, she without hesitation said YES! he use to try his best’est (best) to talk like D (the) bluck (black) kids. he’s do ok til (until) it was time to dance. I’se never know why white folks dance to D wuds (words) and nutt (??? we think not) D beat’, Sadie.
D. Price
October 5th, 2009
1:54 pm
This is the same guy who said his only job in the current session of congress was to defeat anything the other side (Democrats) proposed. These are not the words of a person I want representing me in congress or sitting in the governor’s office. When he’s not reading from a scripted speech, his true colors seem to come out. Surely the GOP can come up with a better candidate for governor.
Nonya
October 5th, 2009
1:55 pm
Hey Captain Midnight…while you’re “correcting” people, your 1:45 post should have been “already KNEW” not “new”. And if you really want to get petty about it, “kinda” isn’t a word in the dictionary, either. No need for the grammar police…
jester13
October 5th, 2009
1:57 pm
Ghetto was origionally used to refer to communal Jewish people living in Europe. Try reading a history book once in a while !!
Big AL
October 5th, 2009
1:58 pm
Some things will never change. It’s all because most of you are cowards. There will always be racisim, because we all are afraid of the unknown or things we don’t understand. So get over it, do what you got to do and live your life. We will never be on the same page until America has another tragedy. Then we will love each other for a little while.
Charles
October 5th, 2009
1:59 pm
Let me first begin by saying that I am an African American male who knows Congressman Deal personally and I can assure that while he may have used a poor choice of words, he certainly is no racist. He has met and worked with many African Americans on numerous issues and unlike other candidates on both sides; he is an actual friend to African Americans. God Bless!!
Nonya
October 5th, 2009
2:00 pm
@ Big AL…so sad, and yet so true.
GayBlackCripple
October 5th, 2009
2:01 pm
You damn fool crackers just don’t get it do you?
That honkie is a pu$$y. If he was a real man, he’d said what he really meant but because his testicles have pulled back up into his abdomen he tried for a laugh with a wink and a nod…
This Deal fellow is the worst kind of bigot.
I prefer my bigots out and proud just like me.
If makes it easier to identify them and smack ‘em with two by fours.
only human
October 5th, 2009
2:01 pm
Im sorry about that whole slavery thing. It was our founding fathers, not us.
phoenix falcon
October 5th, 2009
2:01 pm
Black Man’s view
poor white’s = trailer park trash
poor blacks = Ghetto
phoenix falcon
October 5th, 2009
2:02 pm
GayBlackCripple
ditto
phoenix falcon
October 5th, 2009
2:03 pm
Charles
how long have you been his driver?
DSKI
October 5th, 2009
2:04 pm
(QUOTE)how long have you been his driver?(QUOTE)
TOOOOOO FUNNY!
DSKI
October 5th, 2009
2:07 pm
ok, I’m black. what if Deal’s daughter brought me home to meet the family. she walks in and say, Dad, this is the DSKI i was telling you about. would he:
a. welcome me into the family
b. pay me off to leave his daughter alone
c. other
PLOW
October 5th, 2009
2:08 pm
Let’s ask him what race he was referring to when he said ghetto Amy – I got $20, any takers?
BCatl
October 5th, 2009
2:14 pm
He’s just preaching to the “conservative” choir. Note Galloway’s use of words: ….”Unfortunately for Deal…” In other words, it’s just unfortunate that he got caught, not unfortunate that he said it.
sam
October 5th, 2009
2:15 pm
i love it when a stereotype is proven true…