“And maybe he did something he shouldn’t have done come and he spent the rest of his life making it up. And that’s what a good person does. There are no perfect people. There are certainly no perfect politicians.”

Those are the words of one politician attempting to justify another’s allegiance with a known hate group. If you followed anything in the media this evening, you might think [mc_name name=’Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA)’ chamber=’house’ mcid=’S001176′ ] said it about David Duke. As a matter of fact, it was Bill Clinton speaking of his friend, Senator Robert Byrd.

Now, by no means can we say it is a good thing that Scalise spoke to the European-American Unity and Rights Organization, a white supremacist group established by Duke, who in recent years was arrested for trying to start a neo-Nazi group in Europe and was formally banned from Italy at the request of Swiss. What we can say is that, in the absolute best-case scenario, this was a serious oversight by a small state politician’s staff.

As Erick mentioned, by the time of this event in 2002, everyone in this state knew what Duke was about. We have known for a while that he is not a great fellow to have in your social circle, but according to everything that’s come out, there is no proof that the two are friends. Scalise, a Catholic, isn’t exactly the type of guy you’d see running around with that crowd.

What I can and will say about Scalise is that, while he is not my favorite politician, I’m not sure he’s worth the attack he’s getting now. Remember that the news broke on a liberal blog, has been pushed heavily by the liberal media, and is targeting a man who is referred to as a conservative (having even led the Republican Study Committee, the most conservative group in the House). His record is not the type conservative die-hards like, but this attack is meant to portray him as something he isn’t. In fact, Louisiana Democrat [mc_name name=’Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA)’ chamber=’house’ mcid=’R000588′ ] is joining in the defense of Scalise, saying “I don’t think he has a racist bone in his body.”

The media will continue to make this an issue to talk about, and will continue to push this story… But we didn’t get a whole lot of coverage on Clinton’s eulogy of Byrd, did we?