Nathan Deal now says ‘ghetto grandmothers’ video was ‘out-of-context’
Let’s get this straight. On Saturday, at a breakfast meeting of the Cherokee County GOP, U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal makes a reference to ghetto grandmothers. Two opposition campaigns are in the audience and catch the gaffe on video.
On Monday morning, Deal issues a quick but definitive apology: “I regret my choice of words and in no way meant to offend anyone.”
Three days later, the Deal campaign sends out this fund-raising e-mail:
Once again, the liberal Atlanta media has unleashed its venom on the Deal campaign and we’re fighting back
When Nathan was explaining his fight in Washington against health care benefits, one of our Republican opponents made an out-of-context video clip and placed it in the hands of the Atlanta media.
It is a classic example of desperation politics.
Nathan Deal: “It’s time for my opponents to put down their video cameras and stop taking my words out of context and join me in standing up for the taxpayers of Georgia. Providing health care for those who have violated our laws and are in this country illegally is costing hardworking taxpayers billions of dollars.”
When a business owned by Nathan and a partner made a decision based on safety, it was the same. Atlanta media that tried to paint the decision as political…..
We called the Deal campaign and asked spokesman Harris Blackwood if he could explain under what circumstances a reference to “ghetto grandmothers” could be considered proper and in the correct context.
Blackwood declined comment.
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36 comments Add your comment
JImmy-o
October 8th, 2009
6:32 pm
Dude this blog is like a mile a minute. It’s like riding on the Concord.
cletus T. Rockafella
October 8th, 2009
6:38 pm
Nathan deal offends me by his mere existance. He is a liar, a thief, he is in government to line his pockets. Deal should be in jail with no bond.
Just Wait
October 8th, 2009
7:01 pm
HAHAHAHA. Wow. 2 things.
1- How could something VIDEOTAPED possibly be taken out of context?
2-Calling on your opponent to put down their videocamera is just sad. Go cry with George “Macaca” Allen. If you think this is bad, just wait until November Mr. Deal. You’re making this way too easy for us. Roy is going to crush you.
Aaron Burr V. Mexico (the original)
October 8th, 2009
7:43 pm
20 years ago this Paper, The Urinal-Constipation, ran a story on a 22 year old grandmother. This person had a kid at 11 and that kid had a kid at 11. The AJC call her the “ghetto grandmother.”
Huh?
October 8th, 2009
8:20 pm
A Republican said it and his 2 Republican opponents videotaped him and passed it out, but it is a ‘liberal’ plot?
Jobu
October 8th, 2009
9:51 pm
It is such a cliche for a politician to be caught in embarrassing statements or actions only to blame some amorphous enemy for taking them “out of context.”
JWB: “My shooting Lincoln in the head is being taken OUT OF CONTEXT by liberal supporters of derringer control who are trying to rob real Americans of our God-given Second Amendment rights!”
Then again, anyone supporting Nathan Deal doesn’t know what “context” means — or cliche, for that matter.
Wow
October 8th, 2009
10:16 pm
Nathan Deal is beyond slimey.
Just how low can he go?
The scumbag politician’s politician!
And On The Third Day, He Arose From His Apology And Descended Into Ox Territory — Peach Pundit
October 8th, 2009
10:40 pm
[...] Jim Galloway seems to cover it pretty well, as usual. In summary: [...]
Ghetto Grandmother
October 8th, 2009
10:48 pm
You have got to be kidding me. Under what scenario, circumstance, in this modern world is it ever appropriate for a public official, candidate for office, or really anyone to refer to someone as a “ghetto grandmother”.
This is just sad. I will not vote for any elected official who continues to support this blatant racist. Regretting the statement was one thing, but now to just say that it was out of context is pure blatant racism in its worse form.
Realist...
October 8th, 2009
11:07 pm
Here is one voice of sensibility in a sea transgression and stupidity that we are currently facing in the swath of liberalism. This guy makes sense, the rest of you are entitled to their opinons, as stupid as they may be??? I want my America back I am sick of this Sh… along with everyone I know. Just wait and see… If you think he is bad then he has my vote!!!!!!!!
Urban
October 8th, 2009
11:41 pm
All I can say is, “Whatever! It is what it is! At the end of the day, there are ghetto grandmothers, sistahs, brothas, and baby mamas!”
Bedobe Merran, Th.D.
October 9th, 2009
12:47 am
Face it, ole Deal Pickle ole boy, you got caught pandering (no, slobbering) to the right wing. Want a pickle on it?
Surrealist
October 9th, 2009
1:12 am
Frankly, Realist, your America is a dystopian hellhole and the rest of us got tired of watching you and your kind wallow in willful ignorance. That’s why the folks you voted for are no longer in power and never will be again.
I sincerely hope Deal gets the GOP nomination, because he’ll do more to defeat himself than any Democratic opponent ever could. But it sounds like he’s going to self-destruct long before that.
frugal voter
October 9th, 2009
3:45 am
As a Congesssman, Nathan Deal is paid (I couldn’t say “he earns”) $174,000.
His inspection business yields, to him, $150,000.
And, for the greater good of the state, he’ll forgo those two sources of income to become Governor at $135,000 per year.
Yeah…right.
Ted Striker
October 9th, 2009
4:08 am
The cops wanted the guy who videotaped them with Rodney King to put down the video camera too.
Barky Obummer
October 9th, 2009
6:19 am
I know what a ghetto gramma is…
deborahinAthens
October 9th, 2009
6:23 am
I once sent an e-mail to Nathan Deal, who was my Congressman at the time, protesting his rubber stamping anything that the Bush Administration put out there. Several weeks later I received a letter apologizing for having taken so long to respond to my “concerns”. The excuse was that, “because of the anthrax scare, all of the mail to the representatives had to be handled in a special process by the postal service…blah, blah…”. I sent him an e-mail asking him, since I sent an e-mail, what did the postal service have to do with it. Believe it or not, several weeks later, I got the same form letter about the postal service scrubbing his mail. Either he is very stupid, or his minions are very stupid. Either way, there is no way in hell I’d vote for the cretin.
Caveman
October 9th, 2009
6:43 am
He was afraid there was anthrax in his email?
Deb, thank you for that morning laugher. You made my day.
Stole from the Peach Pundit
October 9th, 2009
6:48 am
I do believe Deal has become completely unelectable at this point in the game. One must really wonder about the elected officials that continue to offer him their support. Do they condone his inside deal with the state or his racially insensitive comments? Why have they not spoken out against these actions?
How many other programs within our cash strapped state are making current and former lawmakers like Nathan Deal a millionaire? I hate to say it, but Deal’s “deal” for lack of a better term reminds me of none other than the king of corruption Former Augusta State Senator and current convicted felon Charles Walker. I think Walker had one of those deals with the state that made him and his family wealthy.
You take the inside dealing with the state government – a program that he helped create as President Pro Tem of the State Senate – and the subsequent MILLIONS he made off of it and combine that with a dash of “ghetto gradma” and you have a recipe for a disaster.
Republicans need to look elsewhere for a viable candidate. A vote for Nathan Deal is like signing up to volunteer to help Roy Barnes move back into the Governor’s Mansion.
Stole from the Peach Pundit
October 9th, 2009
6:51 am
Turns out he “regretted his choice of words” right up until he decided to blame the AJC for publicizing them and is using that to raise money now.
Stole from the Peach Pundit
October 9th, 2009
6:52 am
Deal: “I was FOR getting a sweetheart deal before I was AGAINST it.”
Stole from the Peach Pundit
October 9th, 2009
6:54 am
My lobbyist friends in Atlanta tell me that Nathan Deal, while a Democratic State Senator 20 years ago, brow-beat the State Pardons and Paroles Board into moving their local office into a building that he and his law partner Tom Jarrod own together. Annual rent is $50K, so looks like they’ve taken in nearly a cool million buckaroos over this 20 year lease period. Like an old Cobb County politician name of Harold Willingham was fond of saying, “You never have to worry about a conflict of interest if you always put yourself first…”
BPJ
October 9th, 2009
7:11 am
His REPUBLICAN primary opponents make an issue of this, and he tries to blame the “liberal media”. That’s creative.
GoOx
October 9th, 2009
7:57 am
My man Ox is not taping the opposition.
GayBlackCripple
October 9th, 2009
9:04 am
Nathan was lover.
Tiny unit but a wonderful tongue.
Buster
October 9th, 2009
9:59 am
Deal is a crook. It’s obvious. And any politician endorsing him or supporting him is endorsing and supporting that crookedness. Makes you want to look at their finances too doesn’t it….
GoOx
October 9th, 2009
11:15 am
Deal, Real, Ghetto, Steal, it’s now becoming clear why he has not been in the forefront for his congressional tenure. He has been focused on making himself richer.
liz
October 9th, 2009
2:16 pm
Deal is out of context not just his statement…He offers the old school approach of Bush and Perdue… apologize after you make your point…
Base
October 9th, 2009
5:12 pm
Deal is a crook looking for a way out.This is what he really thinks,in Georgia tilt as far right as possible especially if you are a Dem turncoat.Look at Sonny.
Brad
October 9th, 2009
6:00 pm
I have heard that Deal was a champion for teachers and our public schools. We need champions during these rough times. Carry on Mr.Deal, good job.
Hall County Teacher
October 10th, 2009
2:04 pm
Brad. He’s not. For his own wife and friends in almost all white North Hall maybe, but as for the rest of us? Most would say no.
Republican Gut Check
October 10th, 2009
8:50 pm
If Hall County teacher is really a teacher in Hall County, I’m a oil rigger in Vermont. If someone actually checked his voting record, he has consistently been one of the strongest supporters of education at the state and federal level. Anyone who says likewise is a) uninformed, or b) not smart enough to research the facts and his voting record before showing their ignorance on a blog. If you are really a teacher, no wonder some of our schools need help!
World (Atlanta) Without (Lisa) Borders
October 10th, 2009
9:03 pm
If your man Ox isn’t taping the other candidates its because he can’t figure out how to remove the lens cap.
As for Deal, yes please GOP,nominate this turkey. Its not like we can make bigger fools of ourselves…move over South Carolina, here comes JAWGA!!!
White House says it: Fox News not a legitimate news outlet | Jay Bookman
October 12th, 2009
8:34 am
[...] Running against the media has a long, rich history. Back in the ’30s and ’40s, Gene Talmadge would travel rural and small-town Georgia railing about “them lying Atlanta newspapers,” stirring the resentment of voters against those fancy-pants big-city folks always printing stories about corruption and other shenanigans. You see a variation of that still today, with candidates such as John Oxendine and Nathan Deal blaming the “liberal Atlanta media” for forcing them to take $120,000 in illegal campaign contributions or spout off about “ghetto grandmothers.” [...]
GoOx
October 12th, 2009
11:54 am
From the Augusta Chronicle:
Nathan Deal wants us to believe his remark about “ghetto grandmothers” has been taken out of context.
So we’re just curious: Under what exact circumstances would it not be offensive for a white male gubernatorial candidate to be talking about “ghetto grandmothers”?
Hmm. We can’t think of any, either.
Sorry, Mr. Congressman. What you said is highly offensive in any and all contexts. Quit trying to blame your opponents for your own moronic remark, sir.
Here’s what he said, regarding voter verification, to a Cherokee County Republican Party gathering recently:
“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.”
There. There’s the context. Feel better?
We thought not. The remark represents a 1950s-era sensibility.
Not only is Nathan Deal radioactive now — and quite likely unelectable — but he’s in even more hot water than that: Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has filed an ethics complaint against Deal with the U.S. House after it came to light that not only was his private company doing business with the state of Georgia, but he and his congressional staff have been contacting state officials to keep the deal going.
Deal and a business partner had a contract with the state to inspect salvaged vehicles that have been rebuilt. Deal has recently ended the 20-year arrangement. But according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Deal previously met with state officials to try to convince them to preserve the program.
Deal also wants us to believe that his and his staff’s dealings with the state are being taken out of context.
“Deal said in August he did nothing wrong and was not using his public office for personal gain,” the Atlanta paper reported. “Instead, he said, he was helping constituents and making sure an important state program continued to protect the safety of Georgians.”
Oh, so it was for our benefit. Right.
He’s now going about the business of trying to salvage his 2010 run to succeed Gov. Sonny Perdue.
He’ll be doing that for our sakes, too, one supposes.
rtb100
October 13th, 2009
12:03 pm
Poor taste: Yes….Racist: How?
By the way, is what he said true?