Blackmail politics -- Former KKK Grand Wizard threatens to expose his links in Congress

Anyone who thought we were in a fallow season for politics until congress returns to Washington later this month had a rude awakening just before the new year.  That was the revelation that House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) -- the #3 leadership position among House Republicans -- spoke at a 2002 conference of white supremacists organized by former KKK Grand Wizard and sometime political candidate David Duke.

Scalise did not deny speaking to the group but offered in his defense that at that time, as a Louisiana state legislator, he spoke to any group that invited him to talk about the conservative fiscal legislative agenda he was attempting to pass.   He claimed not to have known anything about the nature of the group (European-American Unity and Rights Organization) and that he did not attend any of the meetings other than the one he spoke at.    He also explained that, in those days, he was operating without a staff to thoroughly vet such invitations and that he had never supported any hate organizations.

Other questionable quotes from Scalise have surfaced, such as having told a Duke supporter that he was like Duke but without the racist, anti-Semitic, KKK baggage.   He is on record of having voted twice against establishing a holiday for Martin Luther King, Jr.   

None of that seems insurmountably damaging, and Republican leaders have defended Scalse, indicating that, unless something else surfaces, they are likely to keep him in the leadership.

Now, David Duke has entered the picture, saying that he was flabbergasted at all this furor over Scalise's speaking at a meeting he organized.   He says he hosted both Republican and Democratic leaders at meetings many times over the years, and that he has met with Democratic legislators at least 50 times in his political career.

He also said that he is "inclined to release" those names.   “If Scalise is going to be crucified — if Republicans want to throw Steve Scalise to the woods, then a lot of them better be looking over their shoulders.”

Nothing like a little political blackmail from your own ranks to spice up the fallow period between sessions of congress.    With President Obama suddenly getting his groove back and acting boldly on one side, and now scandal and in-fighting among their ranks on the other, it should be an interesting year ahead.

And that doesn't even factor in the pawing-the-ground lead-in to all the announcements of presidential campaigns that will be coming.

Buckle your seat belts, ladies and gentlemen.   Flight 2015 is taxiing down the runway and we are next in line for lift-off.

Ralph