House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA), the #3 Republican in the U.S. House, has Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) “full confidence as our Whip,” according to a statement put out by Boehner’s office. That’s despite the fact that Scalise spoke at a white supremacist event in 2002.
This sentiment is echoed by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who claims that he’s known Scalise “as a friend for many years and I know that he does not share the beliefs” of the organization that hosted the event.
The event in question was hosted by an organization called the European-American Unity and Rights Organization, or EURO, which was founded by David Duke, a former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Although Scalise spoke at the event more than a decade ago, his appearance at the event did not become widely known until a local blogger uncovered several posts buried in the archives of the white supremacist cite Stormfront. According to one Stormfront user’s account of Scalise’s speech, “Representative Scalise brought into sharp focus the dire circumstances pervasive in many important, under-funded needs of the community at the expense of graft within the Housing and Urban Development Fund, an apparent give-away to a selective group based on race.”
Boehner labeled Scalise’s decision to appear at this event an “error in judgment.” Scalise, meanwhile, blames his attendance, at least in part, on the fact that he did not have a scheduler at the time of the event.
That excuse has not convinced at least one prominent conservative. RedState blogger Erick Erickson, who is influential among Republicans, appeared baffled Monday night that Scalise did not know who he was speaking to when he spoke before a former KKK leader’s organization. “How do you not know? How do you not investigate?” Erickson wrote, adding that “By 2002, everybody knew Duke was still the man he had claimed not to be. EVERYBODY.”
5 thoughts on “GOP continues to support #3 House Republican who spoke at white supremacist event”
Comments are closed.
I’m willing to give this guy the benefit of the doubt unless some pattern of behavior emerges indicating he really does support this group. He has publicly condemned the group in question. But Erickson’s point is well taken. Any group associated with David Duke should have been a red flag.
Of course, Scalise would condemn, deny, or reject Duke et al NOW after the election. The next election is two years down the road and this will be “old news” by then.
How typical!
The questions to be asked here of parties involved based upon this incident are three fold x 3:
1. Is Scalise a racist, an enabler of racism, or “merely” selling his conscience for political support?
2. The same question may be asked of Speaker Boehner.
3. Ditto the GOP national leadership.
You?
It would be interesting to see an unedited transcript of his speech there.
The man has free speech rights…but that doesn’t mean we don’t remind everyone about his past every time he hits the news.