This past November, Nathan Deal (R-GA), a conservative former congressman, won Georgia’s governorship. Throughout his campaign, Deal vowed to crack down immigration. When Arizona implemented its draconian immigration law he promised to “work to pass and sign similar legislation.” He came out in favor of changing the 14th amendment to deny the U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants citizenship long before it was even popular.

Along those lines, Deal’s predecessor — outgoing Gov. Sonny Perdue (R-GA) — shad some words of wisdom to share with the GOP. The Associated Press reports:

Perdue said his party needs to avoid “a gang-type mentality” that could be harmful to those “who want the American dream.”

“The Republican Party needs to be very, very careful that it maintains the golden rule in its rhetoric regarding immigration policy,” Perdue told The AP.

Perdue said the GOP needs to ensure that “people of color and people who are not U.S.-born” feel welcome. “And I think that’s the challenge of the Republican Party.”

“(Immigration) is a very emotive, emotion-filled topic that I think sometimes gets us out there where our hearts really aren’t,” Perdue said.

Perdue is likely concerned about the fact that the foreign-born share of Georgia’s population rose from 2.7 percent in 1990 to 9.4 percent in 2008. Almost 35 percent of those immigrants are naturalized U.S. citizens who can vote. The new census data shows that, in Georgia, the share of the Latino population has grown by nearly 50 percent since 2000. It may have not been enough to stop someone like Deal from taking office; however, in a close election their voting power could tip the scale.

Finally, Perdue is not exactly a saint on immigration himself. In fact, he once stated, “It is simply unacceptable for people to sneak into this country illegally on Thursday, obtain a government-issued ID on Friday, head for the welfare office on Monday and cast a vote on Tuesday.”

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) has been receiving significant attention this week for the fact that he has issued recognized April 2010 as Confederate History Month, but didn’t include any mention of slavery in his proclamation. He explained that he didn’t include a reference because slavery wasn’t one of the “most significant” aspects of the conflict between the states.

However, McDonnell isn’t the only Southern governor to honor the Confederacy while omitting any mention of slavery — he joins Georgia and Mississippi.

The Confederate History and Heritage Month proclamations are being spearheaded by a group called the Sons of the Confederate Veterans. Other projects around the country include trying to erect a monument remembering South Carolina’s secession. Today, Calvin E. Johnson, Jr., who chairs the Confederate History and Heritage Month Committee for the Sons of Confederate Veterans, sent around a press release touting the group’s success:

In 2009, the Georgia General Assembly approved Senate Bill No. 27, signed by Governor Sonny Perdue, officially designating April permanently as Confederate History and Heritage Month.

In 1999, Texas Senate Resolution No. 526 passed designating April as Confederate History and Heritage Month.

Georgia’s Governor Sonny Perdue, Mississippi’s Governor Haley Barbour and Virginia’s Governor Robert F. McDonnell have all signed a proclamation designating April as Confederate History and Heritage Month for 2010.

Texas’ resolution does mention slavery. Perdue’s proclamation does not, nor does the Georgia Senate bill (with the exception of a reference to “Georgia’s best new history museum chronicles the civil rights struggle of Georgia’s oldest African American community from slavery to the present”). Barbour’s 2009 proclamation also has no slavery mention, and we received no response from Barbour’s office to our request for a copy of the 2010 proclamation. Perdue’s office also didn’t respond to our request for an official copy of their 2010 proclamation.

Today, ThinkProgress spoke to Johnson, who said that he supported McDonnell’s decision to leave slavery out of the proclamation:

JOHNSON: No, I don’t think so [that he should have mentioned slavery], because really, there was slavery on both sides. That was the issue — some of the Union commanders owned slaves. So that wasn’t really the issue of the war. The issue of the war was states’ rights, a lot of which you’re hearing today. … I wouldn’t say it didn’t play any role, but remember that slavery was recognized by the U.S. Constitution. It was protected. You still had slavery even in the North back then — in Washington, DC. [...]

TP: So Virginia’s proclamation didn’t need to apologize for slavery, you don’t think?

JOHNSON: I’m not saying it was right, but then again, both sides — No, I don’t think it should be in there. It was part, but like I said, it was on both sides — North and South. The reason it was more in the South, of course, was because the South was agricultural. But no, I don’t think it should have been in there, personally.

Matt Yglesias, Jack Balkin, and davenoon all point to historical evidence showing that the Civil War, indeed, was significantly about slavery.

During the debate over the economic stimulus — while most state budgets were deeply in the red — the House GOP unanimously opposed the recovery package, arguing in favor of more tax cuts for the wealthy. Highlighting a schism in the party, however, several GOP governors, such as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gov. Charlie Crist (FL), and John Huntsman (UT), readily accepted the federal aid.

In a comment marking a break with the Reagan-embracing hard right, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue (R) raised skepticism about the GOP philosophy of using supply-side tax cuts to plug budget deficits:

In essence, Perdue said the economic theories espoused by Ronald Reagan and Jack Kemp — that lower taxes actually generate more government revenue — are a gamble that don’t have a place in Georgia. Not in hard times.

Here’s what Perdue said, as aired on Friday: “Georgia’s a balanced budget state. And it’s very difficult to do the stimulus-type bills in a state that’s starved for revenue and cash at the same time. So that kind of destroys a supply-side theory within a state government.”

Listen here:

Perdue was responding to pressure from Republican state legislators to sign the “Jobs, Opportunity, and Business Success Act of 2009,” a businesss tax cut-centered bill that would cost $340 million a year in lost revenue. True to conservative form, the legislation cuts the state capital gains tax in half. The bill would also be a “substantial tax increase on most low- and middleincome Georgians,” notes the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

Indeed, supply-side tax cuts tilted towards big business and the wealthy are anti-stimulative during a deep recession, and do not lead to appreciable gains in revenue for cash-starved budgets.

Perdue’s comments mark a stark departure from the rhetoric of the House GOP leadership, Govs. Bobby Jindal (R-LA) and Mark Sanford (R-SC), and Newt Gingrich — all of whom are resistant to anything other than tax cuts. In an interview with Time, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) said of the GOP, “Marginal tax rates are the lowest they’ve been in generations, and all we can talk about is tax cuts.”

It remains to be seen, of course, if Perdue will buckle to right-wing pressure and sign the supply-side legislation. Perdue signed significant business tax breaks just last week.