It’s not clear that Steve Scalise, the No. 2 Republican, would be able to win votes for speaker any more readily than Kevin McCarthy. But he is seen by many members of his party as the most obvious backup.
supposed to talk to the people. even people with whom they disagree. arguably especially with people who they disagree. right now there s at least one member of congress wishing he never accepted one particular invitation to talk. steve scalise, now in his third term is a republican party s new majority whip, and right now he s in hot water for talking. scalise admitted he spoke at a conference held by the european american unity and rights organization, or euro in 2002 while he was still still a louisiana state representative. the anti defamation league listed the 2002 conference as an extreme event that year. the story was broken by third-year law student and political blogger lamar white jr. and provoked calls from the chicago tribune, usa today and one congressman for scalise to
fact, almost every day, i did a telephone hook-up. by the way, we have to make something really clear here. they say former klan leader or whatever. this was 37 years ago in my life. okay. and but true. admittedly over a long time period but true. it s also true that robert bird was in the klan but a lot of people were friends of robert berg, democrats and republicans. it s really a biased situation. because i denounce first i was never violent but i denounce even then violence. i left it because i didn t want to be associated with that kind of taint. i have never supported white supremism yet i read about it. this wasn t a hate group, in fact, the european american unity and rights organization was an organization dedicated to true civil rights and stopping the discrimination against people, the best qualified people should be engaged and every people have the right to preserve their heritage, freedom and values. you founded it. this is a huge story.
of people were friends of robert berg democrats an republicansch it s really a biased situation. because i denounce first i was never violent but i denounce even then violence. i left it because i didn t want to be associated with that kind of taint. i have never supported white supremism yet i read about it. this wasn t a hate group, in fact the european american unity and rights organization was an organization dedicated to true civil rights and stopping the discrimination against people the best qualified people should be engaged and every people have the right to preserve their heritage freedom and values. you founded it. this is a huge story. it s a nationwide so i have to believe common sense would tell me david, that as the story has broken you picked up the phone or gotten on line and said to the people hey, what s the deal? so what s the deal? i certainly did and i got conflicting reports. one person said that he was a no
the group s not so subtle name and the european american unity and rights organization. it was founded by former coup clucks clan wizard david duke. today speaker boehner stood by scalise saying he has his full confidence to continue has whip. will that support last? ed rendell, former governor of pennsylvania and nbc news political analyst. welcome to both of you. so hogan, is scalise on the hook here, or is this going to go by the boards because it s not a real political story? well i don t necessarily know it s a real political story, but right now, racial tensions in this country are at an all-time high. so this is the news. when you head into the new year there s not much going on and people glom on to stories like this. not that there s not something here, but the real story, from 12 years ago, you ve been a candidate, you know you go into