The Man Who Can Close All The Rifts On The Right
by digby
Right Wing Watch’s latest entry in the “Ten Scariest Republicans Heading to Congress” series (how did they pick just 10, I wonder?) is truly blood curdling:
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 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.” He maintains that it is “unfortunate” that gays and lesbians are serving in the military, and compares homosexuality to adultery. West is also radically anti-choice. On abortion rights, he has said “I believe all future discussion on this issue should move us toward the elimination of abortion except in the most extraordinary of circumstances,” and accused pro-choice groups of “promot[ing] abortion as a means of birth control.” West wants to eliminate the progressive tax system. He supports tax cuts for the rich, and calls Wall Street Reform a “sham.” He’s advocated for eliminating the Departments of Energy and Education. On immigration, he claims that illegal immigrants should not have access to care in emergency rooms, and that Muslim terrorists are coming through the border with Mexico. Radio talk show host Joyce Kaufman, who is slated to be West’s chief of staff, called for illegal immigrants to be “hung on the central square.” A Republican partisan, West said: “I hate big-tent. I hate inclusiveness. And I hate outreach.” West uses extreme rhetoric against Democrats and liberals. He said that liberals resented the fact that he saved the lives of American soldiers. On the anti-Islam blog Atlas Shrugs, he wrote that progressives “detest anyone who has the courage of conviction and love of America, something which they find unconscionable.” In the same post, he wrote, “”Liberals seek to destroy any institution of intrinsic value: God, country, family, honor, valor, courage, VIRTUE… Why? Because if such things exist, then they must be defended, which brings them back to their fear of action.” He also claims that Democratic combat veterans Joe Sestak and Patrick Murphy “hate the military.”
Read on, there’s more much more. In a way, he’s refreshing. He’s letting it all hang out and there’s do doubt about his agenda.
West was touted not long ago as one of the libertarian darlings of the Tea Party (someone even liberals could work with) until the fourteen libertarians among them figured out that he’s a warmonger and a psychopath. The rest of the Tea Party didn’t mind that at all. In fact, it’s what they love about him.
West raised more money than any non-incumbent in a House race, making it the second-most expensive House contest in the country. He received major backing from the Republican Party and its major players — he was named a “Young Gun” by the National Republican Congressional Committee, was endorsed by Sarah Palin, and got a campaign visit from Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), the presumptive Speaker of the House.
He is also black which proves that Tea Partiers have nothing against good African Americans who adopt their homophobic, xenophobic, anti-feminist hatemongering. It’s “the bad ones” they don’t care for. (I have been hearing some unhappy rumblings about West’s decision to try to join the congressional black caucus, so he may end up being one of the “the bad ones” regardless of his Teabag orthodoxy. I don’t think he’s allowed to fraternize with other black people, much less with liberals.)
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