Allen West may be Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, but he is not the dullest tool in the
Republican Big Box of Tools.
Or perhaps he is, and he simply dodged a bullet. I'll leave it to you to decide.
What follows is a verbatim copy of a discussion with gavinb, a poster whose writing and analysis I always enjoy. We were talking about the episode this week and, well, follow me below the fold to see why if Allen doesn't keep up the front, Peter King might just have to bitch-slap some sense into him. Yeah, like that would ever happen. But, it could, if Peter King was doing his job.
Gavinb has given me permission to post this exchange.
Gavin:
Allen West fearlessly tells us there's 80 card carrying Communist Party members is Congress, and when asked to name one, West refuses for fear of a lawsuit for libel. The House Homeland Security Committee should demand West name all 80 communists and if he won't, they should cite him for contempt of Congress for refusing to disclose the names of clandestine enemies of the United States.
West is so out of touch he doesn't realize that there's probably less than 80 card carrying Communist Party members left in the entire United States. Most of them are old men on walkers who refused to give up the Stalinist dream in 1958.
Lensy:
Gavin...I think you are overestimating Allen West's ability to think past the next stupid thing he says.
Gavin:
I get your point, Lensy...I'm simply saying that Allen West should cut the crap. Mr. West's falsehoods are either the premeditated lies of a jaded political hack, or the paranoid fantasies of a former combat veteran with a bad case of post traumatic stress syndrome. Either way Allen West lacks the temperament, good judgment and fundamental honesty to serve in the United States Congress.
If indeed Mr. West knows of card carrying Communist Party members who are serving in Congress, he has a patriotic obligation to report the names of those anti-American infidels to the House Homeland Security committee, instead of making his ludicrous claims of "Commies in the Congress" before Tea Party rallies and on Fox News segments.
Peter King, chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security should subpoena Allen West to appear before his committee and demand that Mr. West provide him with a list of the 75 to 80 Congressmen who are card carrying members of the Communist Party USA; and if West refuses to do so, he should be held in contempt of Congress . Upon his refusal Mr. West should be remanded to jail cell until he provides the names of the 75 to 80 Communist members of the House. Why would Mr. West want to conceal the names of 80 communist moles in the highest echelons of Congress... unless he's one of them?
If Allan West backs down and admits he didn't have his facts straight, then he's a liar and should be referred for criminal charges by the House Ethics Committee for violations of False Statements Act (18 U.S.C. Section 1001) of the House Ethic Rules under Section 2:
Any Congressman who knowing and willingly makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation shall shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years.
Gavin:
I think it's time we begin to holding political buffoons like Allen West responsible for their incendiary remarks, misrepresentations, calculated half truths, libelous statements and flat out lies. Getting elected to a Congressional seat in affluent Palm Beach County doesn't give you a license to libel, slander and publicly attack your Congressional peers as enemies of the United States.
Rush Limbaugh can claim blanket immunity for all of his outrageous false statements because he's an entertainer, but Mr. West is a public servant and he's required to have his facts straight before falsely accusing his Congressional peers of being clandestine agents for the Communist Party. I get the creepy feeling that West has no appreciation of the serious nature of the charges he's leveling against his fellow Congressmen. West seems to think that falsely accusing members of Congress of being communist agents is just another routine act of partisan brinkmanship designed to get a rise in the negative ratings of your partisan enemies.
The Republicans will continue to tar the Democrats with their libelous swill and lurid falsehoods until the Democrats take decisive actions to bring down a world of pain upon the right wing buffoons who have transformed our political system into one big Jerry Springer pie fight. Allen West should be exposed for the being the hate mongering demagogue and professional liar he is and unceremoniously kicked to the curb by the House Ethics Committee. Americans deserve better public servants that a two-bit con artist like Allen West
Lensy:
Brilliant!
~end transmission~
With this I would like to formally ask Gavin B to diary here at Daily Kos. What do you think folks?