# False equivalence of the day, Rep. Scalise edition **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 2, 2015, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-equivalence-of-the-day-rep-scalise-edition/708799 "2015-01-02T20:17:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Donald\_Rump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Donald\_Rump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donald_Rump)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-equivalence-of-the-day-rep-scalise-edition/708799/1 "2015-01-02T20:17:58Z")
Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), majority whip in the House of Representatives, is in hot water for having [spoken](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-majority-whip-scalise-confirms-he-spoke-to-white-nationalists-in-2002/2014/12/29/7f80dc14-8fa3-11e4-a900-9960214d4cd7_story.html)in 2002 to a white supremacist group, the European-American Unity and Rights Organization ([EURO](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European-American_Unity_and_Rights_Organization)). Whatever happens to Scalise, the controversy has occasioned a bunch of right-wing commentators to respond with the defensive argument that Scalise talking to white supremacists is [as bad](http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2015/01/02/charles_krauthammer_on_steve_scalise_unfortunate_but_republicans_cant_change_their_minds_now.html) as, or [worse](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/02/reverend-jeremiah-wright-was-worse-than-scalise.html) than, Obama sitting through sermons by Jeremiah Wright or associating with [Al Sharpton](http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/why-attacks-on-scalise-misfired/article/2558089). > [@](#): > > **Krauthammer** : I think [fellow panelist] Steve [Hayes] is right, that there is a terrible double standard. Barack Obama didn’t wander into Jeremiah Wright’s Church one time twelve years ago, he sat in it for 22 years as the man, who was a racist, raved against America, and talked about 9/11 being chickens coming home to roost." > [@](#): > > **Ron Christie** : What I find ironic is that Scalise is being excoriated for one speech before one group in which the gentleman in question professed no knowledge of white supremacist ties—while the current occupant of the Oval Office had to have known about the racist invective Pastor Wright issued from his pulpit each Sunday. > [@](#): > > **Byron York** : Suffice it to say that Sharpton has been behind some of the ugliest racial episodes in recent decades. Yet Sharpton has visited the White House more than 70 times since the first Obama inauguration. Sharpton is said to be on texting terms with Obama confidante Valerie Jarrett and Attorney General Eric Holder. And the president himself has addressed Sharpton’s National Action Network, standing in front of the group’s “No Justice No Peace” logo. So Republicans ask why they should excommunicate Scalise, who may have done absolutely nothing wrong, while Obama embraces Sharpton. > [@](#): > > **[Jonah Goldberg](http://www.nationalreview.com/article/395526/year-liberal-double-standards-jonah-goldberg)**: Countless conservatives want to know: Why the double standard? Barack Obama was friends with a domestic terrorist, Bill Ayers. His spiritual mentor was a vitriolic racist, Jeremiah Wright. One of his administration’s closest advisers and allies is Al Sharpton, a man who has inspired enough racial violence to make a grand dragon’s white sheets turn green with envy. Ron Christie [sums up](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/02/reverend-jeremiah-wright-was-worse-than-scalise.html) the argument nicely: > [@](#): > > Again, I do not know House Majority Whip Scalise or President Obama personally. What I do know is that for the media to dismiss our President’s 20-year association with a racist pastor, while expressing moral outrage over one speech given 12 years ago before a group Scalise claims he knew little about, reeks of rank hypocrisy by a Pretorian Guard interested in protecting Obama at all costs while tearing down Scalise for what appears to be an honest and genuine mistake. How far the media have fallen. To be fair to these commentators, partisanship makes it cognitively dissonant to admit that a politician you support has done something stupid and/or unprincipled. The natural response is to make the dissonance go away by downplaying the stupid or unprincipled thing, an exercise that can give rise to hypocrisy and intellectual dishonesty. Both sides should stop doing this and strive to be impartial. As an overall Obama supporter, I’m comfortable admitting that Rev. Wright was a poor choice of “spiritual mentor” and that Al Sharpton is a basically sleazy figure from whom Obama would distance himself, if it were up to me. That said, when conservatives draw these cheap false equivalences every time one of theirs gets caught either making [bigoted](http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2014/04/24/cliven-bundy-utters-racist-remark-liberals-everywhere-rejoice/) remarks or, in Scalise’s case, pandering to bigots, they miss an obvious point. There’s a REASON why racists like EURO are more obnoxious to our society than racists like Jeremiah Wright or Al Sharpton. Expressions of white racism exist against a historical backdrop of oppression of African-Americans by whites, beginning with slavery, followed by decades of disenfranchisement, and terror in the form of lynchings and other horrors. They inherently carry a terrible whiff of historical violence and implicitly suggest nostalgia for an era of systematic violent oppression of black people. I’m sorry, but whatever offensive nonsense Jeremiah Wright and Al Sharpton and the like have spouted, it’s just not the same thing. But go ahead, conservatives. Continue to be baffled that Jeremiah Wright didn’t send everyone’s outrage-o-meter to the same level as the GOP’s #3 leader giving the time of day to a known white supremacist hate group. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-equivalence-of-the-day-rep-scalise-edition/708799/2 "2015-01-02T20:32:36Z")
We aren’t baffled by it at all. Liberals are hypocrites - this is news? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-equivalence-of-the-day-rep-scalise-edition/708799/3 "2015-01-02T20:38:31Z")
I think it’s cute how someone seems to send out a chain email to all the more ridiculous right wing commentators suggesting their talking points for the next week and…_presto_, Bob’s your uncle. ---
**Author:** ![Donald\_Rump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Donald\_Rump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donald_Rump)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-equivalence-of-the-day-rep-scalise-edition/708799/4 "2015-01-02T20:47:44Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > We aren’t baffled by it at all. Liberals are hypocrites - this is news? That all liberals are hypocrites is clearly hyperbolic nonsense. That some liberals are hypocrites is true but obvious. Some conservative commentators have a habit of exaggerating liberal hypocrisy on specific issues. This is one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Lemmytheseal2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/82dd89/32.png) [@Lemmytheseal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemmytheseal2)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-equivalence-of-the-day-rep-scalise-edition/708799/5 "2015-01-02T20:53:47Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > We aren’t baffled by it at all. Liberals are hypocrites - this is news? > > Regards, > Shodan So you can’t see the difference between punching up and punching down? These people can’t see the difference between the responses of marginalized, oppressed groups, and the actions of a domestic terrorist death-squad that seeks to enforce white supremacy. Once again, I find myself wishing most of what was said about Obama was actually true. I wish he had taken a cue from Bill Ayers in opposing American imperialism, rather than actively engaging in it. I wish he lived up to the slogan “no justice, no peace”, rather than furthering injustice. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-equivalence-of-the-day-rep-scalise-edition/708799/6 "2015-01-02T20:59:24Z")
Scalise [didn’t speak](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/01/01/report-event-organizer-says-scalise-didnt-speak-to-white-supremacist-group/) to the white supremacist group. Or, if you prefer it from a left-wing source: [Now David Duke’s Aide Says Scalise Wasn’t At Hate Group Meeting - TPM – Talking Points Memo](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/kenny-knight-steve-scalise-euro) ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-equivalence-of-the-day-rep-scalise-edition/708799/7 "2015-01-02T21:03:33Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Scalise [didn’t speak](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/01/01/report-event-organizer-says-scalise-didnt-speak-to-white-supremacist-group/) to the white supremacist group. > > Or, if you prefer it from a left-wing source: [Now David Duke’s Aide Says Scalise Wasn’t At Hate Group Meeting - TPM – Talking Points Memo](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/kenny-knight-steve-scalise-euro) So he apologized for not speaking at it then? ---
**Author:** ![Donald\_Rump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Donald\_Rump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donald_Rump)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-equivalence-of-the-day-rep-scalise-edition/708799/8 "2015-01-02T21:04:35Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Scalise [didn’t speak](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/01/01/report-event-organizer-says-scalise-didnt-speak-to-white-supremacist-group/) to the white supremacist group. > > Or, if you prefer it from a left-wing source: [Now David Duke’s Aide Says Scalise Wasn’t At Hate Group Meeting - TPM – Talking Points Memo](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/kenny-knight-steve-scalise-euro) According to Steve Scalise himself, he [did](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-majority-whip-scalise-confirms-he-spoke-to-white-nationalists-in-2002/2014/12/29/7f80dc14-8fa3-11e4-a900-9960214d4cd7_story.html) and according to your own cite (#1) he apologized. I’ll take his admission and apology over the statements of Kenny Knight and someone Kenny Knight was dating in 2002. FTR, I have no problem entertaining whatever mitigating circumstances may exist to clear Steve Scalise from blame, particularly if it turned out he didn’t do the deed at all. This thread is really more about the response by conservative commentators than Scalise’s actions per se. ETA: what **Happy Lendervedder** said. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-equivalence-of-the-day-rep-scalise-edition/708799/9 "2015-01-02T21:08:15Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > So he apologized for not speaking at it then? Apparently he got confused it as well. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-equivalence-of-the-day-rep-scalise-edition/708799/10 "2015-01-02T21:20:02Z")
Kenny Knight, [the guy who said he wasn’t a member of EURO in 2002 when he was its treasurer](http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/12/david_duke_adviser_kenny_knigh.html), [Kenny Knight](http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/01/steve_scalise_defenders_ties_to_white_nationalist_group_closer_than_he_first_disclosed_documents_show.html)? ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-equivalence-of-the-day-rep-scalise-edition/708799/11 "2015-01-02T21:26:35Z")
It would be easy to check. Is there such a thing as Jefferson Heights Civic Association? Did it have its meeting at the same place, but before, the European-American Unity and Rights? Did Scalise speak to Jefferson Heights Civic Association? And yes, Kenny Knight, the head of the Jefferson Heights Civic Association. That Kenny Knight. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-equivalence-of-the-day-rep-scalise-edition/708799/12 "2015-01-02T21:39:05Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > We aren’t baffled by it at all. Liberals are hypocrites - this is news? > > Regards, > Shodan Im libertarian right. It’s worth pointing out both sides are hypocritical pieces of shit at the best of times. Yes, I believe liberals are often worse, but both sides are hypocrites. Only the most partisan idealogue would insist otherwise imo. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-equivalence-of-the-day-rep-scalise-edition/708799/13 "2015-01-02T21:42:08Z")
How long has Krauthammer been undead now? 10 years? 20? The classic nosferatu traits are coming along nicely… ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-equivalence-of-the-day-rep-scalise-edition/708799/14 "2015-01-02T21:56:04Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](#): > > Im libertarian right. It’s worth pointing out both sides are hypocritical pieces of shit at the best of times. Yes, I believe liberals are often worse, but both sides are hypocrites. Only the most partisan idealogue would insist otherwise imo. This. ---
**Author:** ![Donald\_Rump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Donald\_Rump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donald_Rump)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-equivalence-of-the-day-rep-scalise-edition/708799/15 "2015-01-02T21:56:03Z")
Well, I just want to give a shout out to the vigorous defense conservatives have put up in this thread so far. 1. Liberals are doo-doo heads. 2. Scalise didnt do the thing he apologized for doing. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-equivalence-of-the-day-rep-scalise-edition/708799/16 "2015-01-02T23:01:28Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > It would be easy to check. Is there such a thing as Jefferson Heights Civic Association? Did it have its meeting at the same place, but before, the European-American Unity and Rights? Did Scalise speak to Jefferson Heights Civic Association? > > And yes, Kenny Knight, the head of the Jefferson Heights Civic Association. That Kenny Knight. Gee, you make it sound like the _Jefferson Heights Civic Association_ was just a front for the _European-American Unity and Rights Organization_! CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-equivalence-of-the-day-rep-scalise-edition/708799/17 "2015-01-02T23:13:20Z")
The big question is what did he say. Was it a standard stump speech he has given dozens of times–or was it a speech supporting white supremacy? ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-equivalence-of-the-day-rep-scalise-edition/708799/18 "2015-01-02T23:45:56Z")
> [@Donald\_Rump](#): > > Well, I just want to give a shout out to the vigorous defense conservatives have put up in this thread so far. > > 1. Liberals are doo-doo heads. > 2. Scalise didnt do the thing he apologized for doing. David Duke says there nothing at all wrong with Scalise speaking to his group. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-equivalence-of-the-day-rep-scalise-edition/708799/19 "2015-01-02T23:50:52Z")
[Bill Clinton praised a Holocaust Denier](http://dailycaller.com/2014/12/31/bill-clinton-once-praised-an-undercover-holocaust-denier-for-keeping-the-lessons-of-the-holocaust-alive/?advD=1248%2C276772&bt_alias=eyJ1c2VySWQiOiI5Y2MxYWRjYi1iZWFkLTQ5NGMtOTIwMy0xYzk5MzMwNmU2YjQifQ%3D%3D#mnetint) ---
**Author:** ![Donald\_Rump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Donald\_Rump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donald_Rump)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-equivalence-of-the-day-rep-scalise-edition/708799/20 "2015-01-02T23:53:29Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > The big question is what did he say. Was it a standard stump speech he has given dozens of times–or was it a speech supporting white supremacy? That is _a_ question. The fact that he showed up to speak to such a group at all (if in fact he did) is damaging independently of whether he was just there to extol our troops and apple pie. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-equivalence-of-the-day-rep-scalise-edition/708799.md?page=2)