Hey Hey, It's a Louisiana Racist!

A few years back, right after I started at AM 950, when I was doing the old evening show, I was asked by a regular listener/pseudo friend if I could come and speak at his group's monthly event.  I said, "sure," even though I really didn't know too much about his group.  That was my mistake.

When I realized this was a fringe, bizarre, conspiracy gathering, I could not go through with it.  If I was to have spoken that evening, unless I went up and did a scathing speech, condemning their cause and calling the groups members delusional idiots, I would've been endorsing the groups message, by proxy, even bringing my employer into the mix.  I said I couldn't speak and I had to go.  It's what you do when you realize you've agreed to speak to a extreme fringe group, a group you didn't understand was that extreme when you agreed to talk, and you have to prevent your mistake from becoming a much larger one.

This brings us to the case of Representative Steve Scalise, Republican from Louisiana.  Rep. Scalise was just elected the incoming US House Majority Whip, and, when he was a State Representative in Louisiana, he also spoke at a conference of white supremacists in 2002, according to white supremacist website Stormfront.  The organization he spoke to was one dedicated to the promotion of white rights, and the website states he spoke about "civil rights and heritage related activism," went after HUD as an "apparent give-away to a select group based on race," and later was a receiver of white supremacist support, them saying [Scalise] offered "his support for issues that are a concern to us."

Also to note, then State Representative Scalise was only one of six state representatives who voted against the MLK Holiday in Louisiana.  He also is taking the position Eric Cantor held, the only Jewish Republican in the US House, who was recently run out of the party by right wing extremists.

Now, let's get the obvious out of the way.  In my opinion, Representative Scalise is a racist pig.  In my opinion, he knew exactly who he was speaking to when he agreed to speak before them, and even if he didn't, the KKK and Nazi paraphernalia likely adorning every aspect of their white power pride rally should have been a big red flag...if he wasn't a racist pig (in my opinion).  My guess is he insisted on being there to let his loyal followers know exactly where he stood.

The excuses he's frantically trying to get to stick to the wall are hilariously weak.  "I don't have records from back then"?  Really, from WAY back in 2002, or are you having a hard time 'finding' them over the sounds of staff members frantically shredding paperwork and hitting delete keys?  "I detest these types of groups"?  Then why did you stay when you realized what they stood for?  Was there a nice buffet (probably a lot of white sauces)? "I was only speaking about slush funds"? But, according to Stormfront,  it seems you did so with a sickening racist slant which won rave reviews from the racist conference goers.

These excuses are not sincere, heartfelt or honest, instead they are designed with three purposes.  First, to give his Republican colleagues the ability to defend their new US House Majority Whip by deflecting to Scalise's deflections.  Second, to give his followers a thin Kleenex veil to hide their racism behind, but the real purpose of the excuses is a jab at the American people.  What racist politicians really want to say is, "you caught us red handed as the racists we are, but, in America, we allow people to hide behind 'innocent until proven guilty.'  We'll throw these nonsensical excuses out to muddy the waters just enough to prevent us from ever having to acknowledge the behavior we so proudly express."

Now, we get to see what the rest of the GOP does.  This is supposed to be an open arms Republican party today, but what do they do with a politician with a race issue which sizes up the mindset of a large percentage of people who vote Republican?  This guy is the Whip, partially due to his popularity with the Republican voting base.  If he didn't want his name associated, by proxy, with racists, then he should have never spoken at that conference, and if the GOP wants to avoid to endorse his decisions, by proxy, whether they voted for him or not, whether they knew about it or not, they need to remove him.

Representative Scalise could learn a lesson from another Louisianan, Harry Connick Jr.  While appearing on an Australian variety show Hey Hey It's Saturday, he was to judge an act who did a Jackson 5 parody in blackface.  Did Harry condemn it like I wish he had?  Sadly no, but for him to speak out like he did, criticizing the 'act' in a later segment (something he received a lot of grief from some Australians for doing), it was an appropriate response to being caught off guard in a situation he didn't agree with or endorse.

But let's face it, for Scalise and the GOP, it's not about admitting a mistake, it's about trying to hide in plain sight.