that if steve had been truly aware of what this group apparently was about and if he actually spoke with them there was some question i know whether or not, in fact that was the group with which he spoke. there was some question about whether or not there was a different meeting at the same venue. the reporting from the times said there was there was a main conference of this group that was being held in europe at the time and david duke was at this main conference and this was sort of a satellite thing and it was a workshop right. for organizers but it still was very connected at least according to the reporting at the time. i think more details obviously remain to be revealed. but certainly i have no reason not to believe steve when he says look i didn t know who this group was or what they were about. i talked about issues that i talk about with anybody. i didn t endorse or explicitly endorse any philosophy.
about that and, you know, steve has always been an honest guy in my experience, he s not being truthful about that that s going to be bad. but look what happened with president obama with jeremiah wright there was legitimate controversy there about whether or not he was implicitly endorsing very divisive form of rhetoric from the reverend wright because he attended that congregation for many years, you know not just one session with them but repeatedly over and over. and, you know, these are things that we do need to address as a nation, you know, there is a difference between propounding a line of rhetoric that is divisive, that is hateful, that all of us should reject and to to listening to the national debate including, you know, all its aspects because, of course we do have a first amendment and have been is allowed to have a voice so it s healthy that we re having this discussion.
15 years since he s j in the news probably for good reason. but he spoke to fusion as he got involved. his quote if scalise is going to be crucified, if republican want to throw steve scalise to the woods then a lot of them better be looking over his shoulders and he add he wasn t afraid to release a list of names of politicians he s connected to. he s saying there s more steve scalises out there. wouldn t it be funny if david vitter was on that list trying to survive all the other things. a lot of this is about optics and theater. let s be honest the republican party particularly in louisiana and the conservative district that he serves in this is part of who you reach out to. there are people who are on these white people on the fringe, they do vote. these are people being appealed to. again, i make this point he spoke to this group and there s a big backlash as there should be but there are all the other appeals made to the voters. you have to wonder where s the line it become
different entree into that situation. and the second thing is he s extremely clear that government has a positive role to play in protecting the least and the most vulnerable and he s really challenging governments to stand up and to do the hard work that they re called to do. that is using catholic social teaching which we usually keep on a shelf. it s putting it front and center and saying we need to do hard work of taking care of those who are left out. that s the change and emphasis i think. i m curious, too, about, you know, the pope sort of called this conference late in the year, late last year ambassador, on the family in rome. and made some news in terms of it seemed he was trying to nudge the church on issues of acceptance of homosexuality, the status of divorced catholics. it seemed he was nudging the church towards more acceptance there. is that something you expect to see more of in 2015? steve, i think sister s
with people and his availability. those are all good trademarks that make a good communicator. but in your summary of pope francis year steve, i think it s very important to point out that pope francis is neither conservative or liberal. and i know that politicians and the media try to make something of that to define him. but his policies are traditional catholic social teaching. his position on inequality income inequality, is consistent with the catholic church. his position in fighting for social and economic justice is consistent with the catholic church. so really nothing has changed except that he has a unique and a great ability to communicate and he s not afraid to speak out. but connell temporarytrary to a lot of opinion there s not going to be significant changes in