The best part of this is paragraph five. Here Scalise draws a moral equivalency between David Duke and, wait for it,,,, the League of Women Voters.
Amazing.  

"I spoke to a lot of groups during that period. I went all throughout South Louisiana, I spoke to the League of Women Voters, a pretty liberal group … I still went and spoke to them. I spoke to any group that called, and there were a lot of groups calling.”

Rep. Steve Scalise: I might have attended white supremacist event

Majority Whip Steve Scalise says he abhors hate groups, but acknowledged on Monday that he may have spoken at a white supremacist conference led by the notorious former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke in 2002.

“I didn’t know who all of these groups were and I detest any kind of hate group,” Scalise, the third highest-ranking Republican leader in the House, told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “For anyone to suggest that I was involved with a group like that is insulting and ludicrous.”

The interview came hours after Scalise’s office acknowledged that a report claiming that the Louisiana congressman spoke at a gathering of the Duke-run European-American Unity and Rights Organization (EURO) as a state legislator in 2002 could be accurate. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks extremist organizations, has listed EURO as a “white nationalist” hate group.

According to NBC News, an aide to Scalise said it was “highly likely” the Congressman spoke before the group, but Scalise told the Times-Picayune he had no memory of the event in question. He blamed a combination overzealous campaigning and an overworked staff for his alleged appearance.

“I don’t support any of the things I have read about this group, but I spoke to a lot of groups during that period. I went all throughout South Louisiana,” Scalise said. “I spoke to the League of Women Voters, a pretty liberal group … I still went and spoke to them. I spoke to any group that called, and there were a lot of groups calling.”

The Democratic National Committee pressed Scalise to come clean on the speaking engagement, saying in a statement that the congressman’s explanation was insufficient. “That weak attempt at an explanation doesn’t pass the smell test and raises far more questions than it answers,” DNC communications director Mo Elleithee said. “Does he not believe that speaking to an anti-semitic hate group legitimizes them and elevates their racist and divisive existence? How abhorrent does a group have to be to decline their invitation? These questions are just the tip of the iceberg – Rep. Scalise and all of Republican leadership need to start giving some real answers soon.”

The statement from Scalise’s office was prompted by a report from blogger Lamar White Jr., who noted that posts on the white supremacist site Stormfront had praised Scalise for addressing EURO in person and being attentive to their concerns.

“Representative Scalise brought into sharp focus the dire circumstances pervasive in many important, under-funded needs of the community at the expense of graft within the Housing and Urban Development Fund, an apparent give-away to a selective group based on race,” one commenter with the username Alsace Hebert wrote on the site at the time.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/gop-leader-steve-scalise-may-have-addressed-supremacist-rally