Remember him? He's the one who chose a right wing radio host for his chief of staff. That would be the same radio host who said
if ballots don't work, bullets will. Thank goodness she resigned.
He told the Palm Beach Post that he would not change his rhetoric, says we are using the AZ shooting for "political opportunism."
Rep. Allen West decries ‘opportunism’ in wake of Arizona shooting; has no plans to change rhetoricWithin hours of the shooting that killed six and critically injured Giffords, some commentators placed the massacre in the context of the nation’s heated political climate and blamed the tea party movement, Sarah Palin and other conservatives although no public evidence has suggested accused gunman Jared Lee Loughner was associated with or sympathetic to any of them. Some critics pointed to West’s own words — such as saying citizens must be “well-informed and well-armed because this government that we have now is a tyrannical government” — as contributing to that climate.
West has rejected such criticism and accused those making it of trying to score political points.
“One of the concerns I do have is the political opportunism that has come out of this. That’s kind of deplorable and unconscionable what some people are doing. This is not the time to start looking for grandstanding and things of that nature,” West said on his way into a West Boca Chamber of Commerce breakfast at Boca Lago Country Club.
That is an example of who can be elected in our state now.
From Florida blogger The Reid Report, more about what West said about liberals.
Allen West Unplugged
Letting his bandanna down, as it were, the biker mag columnist, ex-military mock executioner and musket musterer chosen to lead a District that includes toney Palm Beach, ripped the people he thinks brought Joyce down.Joyce Kaufman, the woman he chose for his chief of staff...a conversation with her on the radio. Weird stuff. Like we have entered a twilight zone of politics.
The incoming congressman just called into Joyce Kaufman’s radio show and told her while she’s taking on the left in South Florida, he’II “fight them on the battle field in Washington DC.
“I’m even more commited, even more focused on making sure that this liberal, progressive, socialist agenda, this leftwing vile, vicious, despicable machine that is out there is soundly brought to its knees,” he said.
Kaufman pushed back against depictions of her as a gun crazy nut. After suggesting she wants to “exterminate” the left, she laughed and said, “I mean that in a pest control way…in a humane way, trap them and release them in their homes.
“I’m really nice, sweet tempered,” she said. “Sometimes I get a little ballistic, but I don’t want to hurt anybody, I just want to see my country go back to what it was.”
Here is more on his tough talk after the AZ massacre from the Broward Politics Blog:
Allen West says there's no need for him to tone down his languageHe said it’s too soon to rush to a judgment that heated language in the political world had any influence on the Arizona shooter who wounded one of his colleagues and killed six people.
And he doesn’t see a need to change now that he’s a member of Congress instead of just a candidate.
“Now that I’ve been sworn into Congress I’m still the type of person that if there are means by which I can inspire people I will use historical references and metaphors, which I have done. My background is I am a tough guy, and in tough times you have to use a little bit stronger language when you start talking about the future legacy of my country.
“Look, I am not anyone that anyone should be concerned about. I’m just an everyday guy,” he said in an impromptu news conference before a speaking engagement Tuesday morning west of Boca Raton.
That's terrifying to me that he may be right....that he may be "just an everyday guy."
The People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch chose him as one of the top 10 scariest Republicans in Congress. I agree.
Allen West named in top ten scariest Republicans.Meet Allen West: Fanatical Opponent of Muslims, Immigrants, Progressives & Obama
In one of the Tea Party's biggest victories, Florida's Allen West defeated incumbent Democrat Ron Klein in a rematch of their 2008 race. West, an Army veteran, became a YouTube sensation by criticizing "this tyrannical government" and crying out: "if you're here to stand up to get your musket, to fix your bayonet, and to charge into the ranks, you are my brother and sister in this fight." He said that the country was engaging in "class warfare" between "a producing class and an entitlement class," which is composed of Obama supporters. While serving in Iraq, he was forced out of the Army for his violent handling of an investigation of a police officer. During the interrogation, West dragged "him outside, pushed his head into the sand, and fired a gun next to his face to get him to sing." According to West: "It wasn't torture. Seeing Rosie O'Donnell naked would be torture."
West also has close ties to the Outlaws motorcycle gang, which an NBC News report found had criminal ties and a website that features a page honoring members who are in prison, extolling "members convicted of violent crimes, including murder." In a letter, West wrote: "Please, no more references to ‘criminal' because I can tell you, they have the utmost respect for me and that which I seek to achieve. I was never more amazed at how members of the Outlaws guarded me during a one hour cell phone radio interview."
West has addressed events sponsored by Outlaws-linked organizations, used Outlaws members to harass his rival's campaign workers, and writes a column for the group's magazine. The magazine, "Wheels on the Road," has published anti-Semitic, racist and sexist material, and once called women "oral relief stations."
West encouraged his supporters to use violence in suppressing the votes of opponents, saying, "You've got to make the fellow scared to come out of his house."
And the Broward Politics blog has a statement of his that is really the icing on the cake in whole pathetic right wing political atmosphere in our country.
And, West reminded reporters on Tuesday, he has a permit to carry a concealed weapon, “and when it’s appropriate, I’ll take the necessary precautions.”