CARLTON FLETCHER: I’m ready to swap apologies with Gov. Deal

It’s all about the money.

— Travis Tritt

It’s always fun when someone throws your own words back in your face.

Such was the case Monday when Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal announced he would veto HB757, the so-called “Religious Liberty Act.” I had declared in an earlier column in this space (“HB757 is toxic,” Feb. 27) that Deal would no doubt sign the bill into law.

Here, in part, are my words from that column: It will be interesting, then, to hear Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal’s comments when he, no doubt, signs HB 757 into law. … Deal would be wise to veto this legislation, but expecting wisdom from this governor is akin to tossing up a three-quarter court prayer at the buzzer in a one-point game.

Less than an hour after news of Deal’s decision, I got the following email:

I ran across your asinine opinion piece when I was doing research on HB757. First of all, I think you’re just a jerk. I don’t care what anyone does in their bedroom or with their womb. But I’m entitled to NOT do something I don’t want to if I disagree. I think you owe Governor Deal a HUGE PUBLIC APOLOGY. I’m sure that’ll never come, though. Also, your righteously indignant stance that people who’ve built a business with their blood, sweat and tears, without government handouts, shouldn’t have the right to decide WHOM they serve, is just ignorant. So, as one of the commenters on your article stated, I look forward to a restaurant owned by muslims being FORCED to cater a pork barbecue dinner at a wedding for gays. Because, what’s good for the goose and all … I guess articles like this are why you’re nothing more than some no-name “journalist” (what a joke) at a no-name, podunk newspaper in the ugliest part of our great state.

And your typical liberal bull(expletive deleted) makes me want to vomit. This is America. At least what’s left of it since the muslim in chief has done his best to destroy it. I’m 1000% entitled to a point of view, even if it doesn’t jive with yours. I always find it funny how liberal pukes SCREAM tolerance, as long as everyone agrees with them. The second someone disagrees, though, it’s all accusations of racism/sexism/ageism, death threats, riots and idiotic quotes like the one above.

… I eagerly await your published, public apology to the Governor I voted for.

I responded to this person’s email by noting a few things: 1) That he/she was right in declaring how wrong I was about Deal’s action, although only the most gullible would believe that the governor did so out of some sense of conviction and not when heavy hitters like Disney, Apple, Intel and the National Football League were threatening economic sanctions.

2) I opined that people who use religion as an excuse to exercise their prejudices demean their religion of choice and the people who truly believe in its tenets.

And 3) I pointed out that calling me a “no-name journalist,” while mean-spirited, is pretty much right on the mark. But while The Herald is no USA Today, “podunk” is a pretty harsh swipe at a publication that has been in business for more than a century and tends to paint everyone who works here — not just us no-name pukes — with the same brush. As for Albany being the ugliest part of our great state, I can name a few places that might be more deserving of that honor.

(The writer, by the way, is from north Georgia, where natural beauty is, no doubt, a way of life.)

To sum up: I was wrong about Deal signing the bill. I’ll cop to that. But I think I’ll hold off on my apology until he apologizes to me and others downriver for telling me — that’s me, to my face, at a campaign rally in Albany — that he had no intention of interfering with the flow of the Flint and other state rivers once he claimed the governor’s seat and then doing just that not long after taking that seat.

Being a no-name journalist puke is one thing. Breaking campaign promises before you’ve even settled into the state’s highest office is, I believe, deserving of derision and distrust on a whole other level. Of course, on some level you have to consider the folks who elected him in the first place.

Email Carlton Fletcher at [email protected]. Follow @ABH_Fletcher on Twitter.