Steve Scalise Says he is NOT a Supremacist
The new Republican whip, Steve Scalise, was accused by certain Democrats earlier this week of having supremacist tendencies. We're used to politicians accusing each other of things, but I think it's an important aspect of being a public figure to research your claims before you publish them. In this case, we have a badly supported claim. The evidence? A speech he gave to a group in Louisiana as a state legislator. The group was founded by a member of the Ku-Klux-Klan and has been classified as a hate group. But the largest hole in the accusation? The speech was 12 years ago and was only one in a series of many speeches he gave to inform the public of a new tax bill.
Now, I don't agree with many Republicans in many ways, but accusing a probably innocent man of being a supremacist? That's a little too far. Isn't it?
original story:
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/gop-leader-i-regret-speech-to-white-supremacists/ar-BBhlRe5
This just goes to show how insanely polarized the current congress is. (It ends in 3 more days, though!) So much of politics has become about following the party line. The party used to represent the politician, now that has switched around quite thoroughly. Too many people are willing to do just about anything to eliminate a possible competitor. Forgive my cynicism.
ReplyDelete-Liam Brookhart
I remember reading in the textbook about how people get elected, and how candidates and incumbents have to be careful about what they say to certain groups of people (like how they avoid certain issues completely in some states). Now more than ever, the parties and politicians attack each other. Sometimes I think it is a wonder politicians say anything at all!
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