Steve Scalise, David Duke, and electability over principle

I left Louisiana after the Edwin Edwards vs. David Duke gubernatorial race. That was 1991 and when I graduated in 1993 I left the state.

By 2000, Duke had shown everyone insider and outside Louisiana he really was not the penitent soul he’d claimed to be. So going to his group in 2002 does not sit well with me.

Here, though, is the thing. Again, I do not think Scalise is racist or bigoted or even a bad person. He’s actually a very nice person. The thing is, the GOP holds conservatives to a standard they do not hold themselves to. This very year the GOP Leadership denounced Chris McDaniel because he had spoken to a Sons of Confederate Veterans group — something Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS)HERITAGE ACTIONSCORECARDSen. Thad Cochran51%Senate Republican Average63%SEE FULL SCORECARD51% had also done. But the leadership told us all that we could not abide the “racism” narrative that would spring from it.

So we can all agree that Scalise is a good person and we should all agree he is not racist. But if Scalise was the conservative his spokesmen would have us believe, there is no doubt in my mind he’d be boxing up his office today.