Perdue ‘disappointed’ by insulin pump controversy
MARIETTA, GA. — Businessman David Perdue (R) says he’s “disappointed” that a Democratic tracker sought to “politicize” him signing what at first was reported to be a young woman’s torso — and later turned out to be an insulin pump.
{mosads}”I’m really disappointed. I mean, how much lower are they going to go?” the Georgia Senate candidate told The Hill Friday evening following a GOP unity rally with Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R). “They had the Ferguson flyer, we have this nonsense about a 13 year old. That’s why people are so disenfranchised with this process.”
The liberal group American Bridge had posted a video of Perdue bending down to sign something near a teenager’s torso before the camera angle was blocked by supporters, which Buzzfeed initially incorrectly suggested was a signature of the teenager herself. Video later surfaced from another angle that showed Perdue was signing the diabetic teenager’s pump.
Perdue then pivoted into an attack on ObamaCare, claiming the teenager’s family had struggled because of the law.
“I really just don’t know what to say, I’m just so disappointed in an attempt to politicize a poor young woman’s medical situation and the situation they’ve got with ObamaCare,” he said. “The woman was telling me about how much more she has to pay because she lost her insurance and now under ObamaCare she’s got to pay something like $6,000 a year. And worse, is every three months she has to go and get it rectified. I’m just disappointed they tried to politicize this.”
American Bridge tweeted that it had posted the video “as it was recorded without commentary” and regretted “any confusion it caused.”
But Perdue wasn’t ready to let things go.
“No, it was no misunderstanding,” he said.
On Saturday, Perdue spokeswoman Megan Whittemore said the Senate hopeful was asked to sign the diabetic pump to help raise awareness for juvenile diabetes.
In a statement, the family of the young girl called the video “disrespectful” and asked for privacy.
“We were shocked when we discovered this being taken out of context because our daughter requested to have her diabetic pump signed. This is something she has done with multiple other prominent figures and will continue to do in raising awareness for juvenile diabetes. We were surrounded by friends and family who understood our daughter’s desire for privacy. We hope that the media and others will respect our wishes and make this go away for our daughter and our family.”
This post was updated Oct. 25 at 12:45 p.m.
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