The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is not
impressed with John Boehner's (r-OH) defense of
Steve Scalise's (r-LA) racist neo-Nazi sympathizing. …
The repugican House leadership held an awkward press
conference Wednesday morning, in which they dismissed Steve Scalise’s
white supremacist, neo-Nazi sympathizing as not being in his “heart” and
blamed Obama for being President while taking credit for his veterans’
jobs bills. It wasn’t a pretty sight.
To the surprise of no one, the Democratic
Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is not impressed with
John Boehner’s (r-OH) defense of Steve Scalise’s (r-LA)
racist neo-Nazi sympathizing. They pointed out years of Scalise’s racist
policies, which aren’t erased by Scalise announcing that he doesn’t
have bigotry in his heart.
Boehner also insisted that Scalise had a good heart.
Boehner added, “He’s a decent person who made a mistake, we’ve all made
mistakes.”
Scalise announced that it’s not in his heart to be a
bigot. He also informed the press that the story of his sympathizing
with neo-Nazi Holocaust deniers and racists is over. Sure, he’s the
number 3 in leadership in the House, but this story is over.
That doesn’t sound like an apology. It sounds like a
dismissal and a lot of privilege, which is the opposite of the tone he
should be adopting in public.
This gave the DCCC a great opener to wonder in a statement, “What is actually in repugican Steve Scalise’s Heart?”
Because of course, this isn’t just about the one
time Scalise spoke to a white supremacist group meeting that David Duke
founded and attended. That is a symptom of Scalise’s years of racist
policies, and policies matter. They matter more than what he tells us is in his heart.
The DCCC listed a few problems for Scalise:
Just now, John Boehner again defended embattled repugican Steve Scalise (whose nom de plume is David Duke without the Baggage). Boehner said “I know what’s in his heart” in defense of Scalise’s decision to troll for votes at a White Supremacist David Duke rally.
So let’s look at what’s in repugican Scalise’s heart…
- One of six (out of 104) to vote against making MLK day a required state holiday- [HB 20, Final Passage, 4/06/04]
- One of two (out of 104) to vote against making Juneteenth a special day in Louisiana- [HB 2076, Final Passage, 6/05/01]
- Voted against passing hate crimes legislation- [SB 914, Final Passage, 6/17/97]
- And, as has been widely reported, Scalise chose to speak at a White Supremacist rally sponsored by known Neo Nazi David Duke.
Awkward.
As pointed out during the presser, “Everything is emotions with the repugican cabal. What does
Scalise’s heart have to do with racist policies he’s pushed?” Because
really, even though repugicans tried to pass Scalise’s pallin’ around
with neo-Nazis as a “mistake”, at that point in time David Duke was an
international embarrassment and was well known as “toxic” to his own repugican cabal in his home state of Louisiana.
Scalise knew what he was doing, but an apology has
not been forthcoming. Instead we are being treated to his special
privilege as a member of the repugican cabal — he is forgiven for his
“mistakes” because he, unlike others (see Obama), has “a good
heart.” We are to presume only the best of his intentions, in spite of
his actions to the contrary and the record of his actions.
The real problem for repugicans is that Scalise
could unveil to the general public the way repugicans have been using
the Southern Strategy to get suckers to support policies that harm them,
by stoking the fires of racism in the hearts of Americans. They’ve been
doing this for over 40 years and it’s how they manage to serve the 2%
and still get elected.
No one knows what is in Scalise’s heart, and I for
one do not care. I care what he does as a lawmaker and elected official.
His policies and the racism he has consistently used to push them is
beneath the dignity of a U.S. Congressperson.
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