House Majority Whip Steve Scalise admitted yesterday that in 2002, as a Louisiana state rep, he addressed a white-supremacist, Neo-Nazi, KKK-associated, David Duke-founded group known as EURO (the European-American Unity and Rights Organization). Scalise protests that he knew nothing of the organization or its ideology.
At the time, swirling amidst Scalise's professed ignorance, the New Orleans hotel hosting the racist gathering publicly acknowledged its mortification at having booked the confederate conference of dunces, an out-of-state minor-league baseball team in need of rooms knew enough of the group to avoid its venue, and EURO had already made national headlines for its assorted imbecilities.
One can believe whatever one wants to believe about Scalise's defense of know-nothingness, but one cannot deny the hilarity of the Washington Post's magnificent understatement: "The news [of Scalise having addressed a white-supremacist, Neo-Nazi, KKK-associated, David Duke-founded group] could complicate Republican efforts to project the sense of a fresh start for a resurgent, diversifying party."
Nearly as funny and equally unhelpful to Scalise's defense is the amicus brief uttered by Iowa's Rep. Steve King, who blathered to the Post that "Jesus dined with tax collectors and sinners. It’s not the healthy who need a doctor, it’s the sick." A lofty comparison indeed, however the point of King's parable is that Jesus knew he was dining with sinners (unless, of course, he was inadequately staffed).
Whatever. The 114th congressional party of robust values is off to a rather bumpy start. Its #3 man comes recommended by David Duke as a "nice guy," its Staten Island rep is an office-resigning felon, and its wannabe ass-grabbing inebriate from Texas, Rep. Blake Farenthold, is being sued for harassment.
Welcome to the "fresh" faces of the GOP.
(Hey, it's not the New Year yet. I can still afford to be hysterical.)