About 15 years ago, David Duke got the idea that he could be accepted as a Republican. Republican elected officials from around the country went to Louisiana to campaign against him and urge votes for his corrupt Democrat opponent, bearing a simple message -- "Vote for the crook -- It's important."

On the other hand, in Minnesota, Democrats embrace those with a long history of racist and anti-Semitic affiliations -- and nominate them for Congressional seats in safe districts.

Imagine that a Republican seeks his party's endorsement for the U.S. House of Representatives, despite having been allied with a white supremacist organization just a decade earlier. Imagine that this candidate had once sarcastically proposed setting aside certain states for white citizens and had shared a stage with a speaker known for excoriating Jews as "bloodsuckers."

You're right. That man wouldn't get his party's endorsement. He would probably want to go into hiding after the howl of negative media coverage.

So how did we get Keith Ellison?

State Rep. Keith Ellison of Minneapolis is the DFL-endorsed candidate for the Fifth District congressional seat. In this DFL bastion, that means that -- barring a primary loss -- Ellison will succeed Martin Sabo when Congress reconvenes next year.

Ellison's background is, shall we say, unorthodox. He is a former outspoken supporter of Louis Farrakhan's notorious Nation of Islam, a virulently anti-white, anti-Semitic organization once led by Black Muslim leader Elijah Muhammad.

Ellison claims he has changed, that he never really held those views, and that he wasn't affiliated with the groups all that long. He says he should be forgiven and his past ignored.

Fine -- except for the fact that even in this Ellison wants to apply a racial (dare I sa racist) double-standard.

There's a strange irony here. In April 2004, Minnesota's public safety commissioner at the time, Rich Stanek, resigned after acknowledging making racist comments in 1992. At a news conference, Keith Ellison and other black leaders condemned Stanek's remarks and vowed to fight his confirmation.

Stanek repudiated the comments and said he had changed. Nevertheless, Ellison didn't give him the benefit of the doubt. "He's definitely one to hold other people accountable, so I held him accountable," Ellison told the Star Tribune.

So we are looking at the same sort of behavior -- if not more severe. Ellison claims his associations and misdeeds are long in the past -- but they are from the same time period as the inappropruate comments that led to his demnds that a white man withdraw from consideration for public office. So shouldn't Ellison be held to account in the same way he held another man?

Or does he believe that the color of one's skin should determine the standard to which one is held -- proving that he remains a racist, unfit for office.

A much more detailed piece is found at Powerline.

UPDATE -- 6/11/2006: Well, here is some candor.

"I wasn't proud of my work with the Nation of Islam," Ellison said Sunday, "but I was hoping it wouldn't come up." He said now that he's in the spotlight, "I have come face to face with my past."

Yeah, I bet he didn't want it to come up -- but it is there, on the public record, and must not be ignored. Ellison's failure to address these issues earlier speaks volumes about his honesty and trustworthiness.

So off he goes to meet with the men's group at a synagogue. And it seems that at least some of them have forgotten the lessons of the 1930s and 1940s.

Bill Prohofsky, who attended the breakfast, liked what he heard from Ellison. "I think he convinced me," he said.

"Until today, I was very much against him," said Dick Hoffman. "I think a lot of his thoughts co-exist with mine. ... I could support him."

Said Richard Hunegs, "I was favorably impressed by him. I was refreshed by his honesty."

Elliot Miller said, "I think he's a good candidate, but he needs further seasoning in the Legislature."

Perhaps if you are lucky, you will get a leading role in "Ellison Goves The Jews A City".

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