Georgia s Republican governor Nathan Deal stirred up a hornet s nest of controversy when comments he made referring to black Americans as  colored people  surfaced on Wednesday night.Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R) went after opponents of an education ballot measure known as Amendment 1 in a speech last month, saying if they wanted to help  colored people,  this measure was a good place to start. The irony of some of the groups who are opposing doing something to help these minority children is beyond my logic. If you want to advance the state of colored people, start with their children,  Deal said in an Oct. 3 speech, Fox 5 in Atlanta reported Wednesday.Deal told a local news station that he meant to reference the NAACP, and didn t mean to say  colored people,  which is a dubious claim at best.The governor is a former member of congress who once wrote a formal letter to the Obama White House to formally raise questions about President Obama s place of birth as part of the birther conspiracy theory.Many have pointed out that the birther conspiracy is steeped in racist attitudes about the presidency and President Obama being the first black president, who was quickly challenged to present papers verifying his place of birth (it is Hawaii).Deal s comments come precisely when Republicans are still being forced to grapple with their presidential nominee Donald Trump s blatant embrace of racism. Trump s bigoted push has emboldened cells of white supremacists, who see their beliefs reflected in his words. That includes former Klansman David Duke, who is now a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Louisiana. And on the same night Deal s comments were publicized, Duke took part in a debate at a historically black university. Within the Republican Party, Duke has attracted a small following, but enough to qualify him for the debate stage.Featured image via screen capture