House GOP Whip is a David Duke Fan

[FuckmouthedRube]

The story (which slate is now casting doubt on) was fed to a liberal blogger and the greater media by the son of Scalise’s 2008 Democratic challenger according to the hill

That plus the facts that (a) Scalise has never shown any evidence of being a racist and (b) there is now significant doubt whether he was speaking to a civic group in the morning, whereas the convention started in the afternoon (per Slate) makes me suspect that this story is poorly researched rubbish. Par for the course in today's media...

If there's any doubt that Scalise even spoke to this group then why aren't he and his staff loudly proclaiming that to anyone and everyone who will listen? The formal leadership vote is on Tuesday. They already apologized for the "mistake", but why would you reflexively apologize if you weren't even sure if you spoke to them or not? Claiming incompetence and cluelessness about whether you spoke to the group or not isn't great, but it's a whole lot better than apologizing for mixing it up with neo-Nazis and the KKK. Get that the media can be biased and screws up way too often, but I also don't think anyone can claim Scalise and his staff have covered themselves in glory handling this issue.

Also thought that Scalise was brought into House leadership as a red state conservative to appease the Tea Party. Now Palin et all are calling for Scalise's head because he's not conservative enough. Looks like they want to get rid of both Scalise and Boehner so they can replace them with "true conservatives". Louie Gohmert, who makes Bachmann look like James Madison, is challenging Boehner. What a massive clusterfuck.

 

[RJKarl]

As Rube states, if there was any doubt when and to whom Scalise spoke, either his staff or most assuredly Boehner's staff would have brought it up by now.

Scalise himself called it a "Mistake I regret".

Why would Scalise say it if it didn't happen?

 

[93Deac]

Gee, RJ, I can't think of any reason why a politician would prefer to avoid further muddying a 14-year old issue by pleading mea culpa rather than going into a lengthy explanation that absolves him/her. If only Scalise had defended himself from the start... I'm sure you would have accepted his explanation at face value rather than calling him a liar on top of a racist, right?

Particularly since he had to respond quickly, may not remember the event (how many dozens of these do politicians do a year?) and might not known what exculpatory or incriminating data was available.

 

[RJKarl]

Boehner also wasn't happy.

Even in the best case, he attended a racist gathering. That he knew was a gathering of racists headed by David Duke.

 

[RJKarl]

"Scalise said he was 'David Duke without the baggage,' so it’s up to the Republican conference to decide” whether he should remain in a leadership position, he said."

Scalise, himself said that.

 

[Go]

We gotta start electing better people in this country who don't go to David Duke meetings and hire Al Sharpton as their "race czar."

 

[fayettedeac]

We gotta start electing better people in this country who don't go to David Duke meetings and hire Al Sharpton as their "race czar."

How can I get a gig as a "race czar?" I could dig being a consultant.

 

[ImTheCaptain]

#raceczar

 

[RJKarl]

We gotta start electing better people in this country who don't go to David Duke meetings and hire Al Sharpton as their "race czar."

Comparing David Duke to Sharpton is so wrong I can't even imagine anyone taking it seriously.

 

[knowell]

Which one is worse?

 

[RJKarl]

to even ask that question is moronic. It shows how far down the rabbit hole the lunatic right has gone.

 

[knowell]

to even ask that question is moronic. It shows how far down the rabbit hole the lunatic right has gone.

Come on RJ, I am a lunatic libertarian, not the lunatic right. Keep it straight.

I assume you are saying that Sharpton is much worse since he had a much greater racist influence?

 

[DeaconSig]

Al Sharpton is a pretty good litmus test for the fuckwits on this board.

 

[TownieDeac]

Al Sharpton is a pretty good litmus test for the fuckwits on this board.

It's a good litmus test for fuckwits everywhere, the amount of times Al Sharpton will come up completely out of context in conversation.