House Majority Whip Spoke at White Supremacists Conference

[RogueBeaver]

Richmond is also defending Scalise, saying he knows he doesn't have a racist bone in his body and won't allow him to be made a scapegoat.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

Guilt by association sucks. It's also very selective.  Knowing the spineless nature of Republicans,Scalise will get the Lott treatment.

Meanwhile, Democrats will schedule speeches at La Raza, kiss Sharpton's ring, and elect Presidents who attended Jeremiah Wright's church -- without media attention.

Why Republicans will never win Latino or Black voters: they make false equivalencies between white supremacy and Black churches or progressive Black politicians.

[RogueBeaver]

Scalise speaks to the Times-Picayune. Emphasis mine.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[RogueBeaver]

Duke speaks to WaPo. Says he knows Scalise "a very nice guy" and that 2 of Duke's longtime associates invited Scalise to that conference. While Duke himself spoke via teleconference, he did know Scalise was invited.

[Joe Republic]

Trent Lott resigned (rightly so) for less than this.

[RogueBeaver]

Duke says he doesn't know whether Scalise knew what the conference was about. But even if you didn't know, how else could the name "European-American Unity and Rights Organization" be interpreted other than as a white supremacist group?

[memphis]

Anybody who would offended by this already a Democrat. The Republican caucus, especially when there isn't an election for almost two years, isn't going to give a rat's Inks. There will be a new infotainment story tomorrow and everybody will forget all about this.

[Vosem]

Cedric Richmond is the most prominent African-American elected official in Louisiana, so him defending Scalise could very well make the difference: http://thehill.com/homenews/house/228228-democrat-scalise-doesnt-have-racist-bone-in-his-body

[Likely Voter]

seriously? It is like going to a Star Trek convention and saying you didn't know Klingons were going to be there.

I suspect that everything this guy has attended, voted on, said, etc is going under the microscope right now.

One thing that has emerged is that he twice voted against establishing a Martin Luther King day and he was one of only 6 and 3 nay votes for those. But perhaps he didn't know what a MLK day was when he cast those votes

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

Cedric Richmond is the most prominent African-American elected official in Louisiana, so him defending Scalise could very well make the difference: http://thehill.com/homenews/house/228228-democrat-scalise-doesnt-have-racist-bone-in-his-body

Yeah, this probably gives him the cover he needs to survive this and keep his position.

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

seriously? It is like going to a Star Trek convention and saying you didn't know Klingons were going to be there.

I suspect that everything this guy has attended, voted on, said, etc is going under the microscope right now.

One thing that has emerged is that he twice voted against establishing a Martin Luther King day and he was one of only 6 and 3 nay votes for those. But perhaps he didn't know what a MLK day was when he cast those votes

Source for the last paragraph?

[justfollowingtheelections]

I cannot believe some of the things I have read here (by the usual suspects).  Marxists or Al Sharpton (!!!!) are the same as KKK and other racist groups?

Also is Steve King (R-IA) serious?  His comments are disgusting.

[pbrower2a]

Don't be surprised to see more such stuff.

Let's all remember -- loathsome as David DuKKKe is, the Koch syndicate and its front groups have far more capacity to gut democracy in America.

[ElectionsGuy]

People are making too big of a deal out of this. It was 12 years ago, and does anybody seriously believe that he meant to support white supremacist ideas?

[justfollowingtheelections]

People are making too big of a deal out of this. It was 12 years ago, and does anybody seriously believe that he meant to support white supremacist ideas?

I personally do.  And I'm sure many of his voters probably share those beliefs.  I think it might even improve his favorability ratings in his district.  I'm also sure a big number of his fellow congressmen have a better opinion of him now.
But if the Republicans are serious about not being seen as the racist party they should ask him to quit IMO (unfortunately they're doing the exact opposite).

[Miles]

Some interesting observations:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Duke himself did an interview on the Donahue show in the 90's where he said MLK day shouldn't be a holiday.

From the Roll Call archives, circa 1999:



After bombing the 1996 Senate race, Duke was pretty much relegated to being a sideshow.

[Indy Texas]

People are making too big of a deal out of this. It was 12 years ago, and does anybody seriously believe that he meant to support white supremacist ideas?

If I say or do something racist, how much time has to elapse before it doesn't matter anymore? Please let me know so that if I ever want to run for office in the future, I can get my white supremacy fix at least a decade or so ahead of time and I should be good in your book.

For someone Scalise's age (he was born in 1965) to have ever had notions of white supremacy in his head is, to me, an automatic disqualifier from holding public office (not literally, but if I were to find out someone had this type of history, I would not vote for them under any circumstances). Even if they had a "change of heart" and repented, I'd say the fact that they were ever sympathetic to that sort of thing is proof that something is wrong with the way their mind works.

Steve Scalise knew exactly who David Duke was, and he favorably compared himself to him anyway and he legitimized a hate group by speaking at their event. There's no context you can add to this to somehow make it okay.

[DrScholl]

12 years ago is not that long ago and Scalise was already an elected official when he spoke at that conference. He could claim ignorance, but that is never an excuse, as professionals always do their homework. His comments regarding Duke pretty much show he had an attitude that Duke's views were okay, but just needed to be presented in a more subtle, electable package.

[RogueBeaver]

Duke tells WaPo that he doesn't think there's video of the conference.

[user12345]

HuffPost has a pretty interesting article about Scalise and Duke Link.

[ElectionsGuy]

People are making too big of a deal out of this. It was 12 years ago, and does anybody seriously believe that he meant to support white supremacist ideas?

If I say or do something racist, how much time has to elapse before it doesn't matter anymore? Please let me know so that if I ever want to run for office in the future, I can get my white supremacy fix at least a decade or so ahead of time and I should be good in your book.

For someone Scalise's age (he was born in 1965) to have ever had notions of white supremacy in his head is, to me, an automatic disqualifier from holding public office (not literally, but if I were to find out someone had this type of history, I would not vote for them under any circumstances). Even if they had a "change of heart" and repented, I'd say the fact that they were ever sympathetic to that sort of thing is proof that something is wrong with the way their mind works.

Steve Scalise knew exactly who David Duke was, and he favorably compared himself to him anyway and he legitimized a hate group by speaking at their event. There's no context you can add to this to somehow make it okay.

Do you think I'm suggesting its okay? No, I think that people are taking things out of context and exaggerating the situation. I have a very hard time believing that a sitting Congressman elected in 2014 can condone the ideas of David Duke, that's all. What he did was unacceptable and I think he should be forced to resign out of the house or at least give up the majority whip position.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Today I learned that democratic socialism is like white supremacy, Al Sharpton is like David Duke, and La Raza is like the KKK.

[RogueBeaver]

Duke tells WaPo that while he and Scalise didn't have a personal relationship, Scalise knew and was friendly with his campaign manager in '02, and that's why Scalise was invited to the conference.

[King]

"2002 was a long time ago" is something I'll keep in mind whenever Hillary Clinton and the Iraq War get brought up by my forum friends.

[Likely Voter]

seriously? It is like going to a Star Trek convention and saying you didn't know Klingons were going to be there.

I suspect that everything this guy has attended, voted on, said, etc is going under the microscope right now.

One thing that has emerged is that he twice voted against establishing a Martin Luther King day and he was one of only 6 and 3 nay votes for those. But perhaps he didn't know what a MLK day was when he cast those votes

Source for the last paragraph?

http://www.legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=533842

http://www.legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=614535