West leaves congress in true ‘bagger style: whiny and fact-free.
In an exit befitting his outspoken, controversial two years in Congress, Rep. Allen West (R-FL) said that he only lost his re-election because his opponent cheated.
West lost narrowly to Democratic up-and-comer Patrick Murphy last month, but refused to concede for weeks, demanding a recount of ballots in St. Lucie County. Only after a re-tabulation slightly increased Murphy’s lead did West finally accept defeat just before Thanksgiving.
However, the Tea Party congressman appears to be handling the loss acrimoniously. Appearing on Mark Levin’s radio show last Thursday, West accused Murphy of only winning by breaking the rules. “I’m not going away just because of a congressional race where he seems to have to cheat to beat me,” said West. He did not specify precisely how Murphy supposedly cheated.
“Anyone who knows Allen West knows that he is not a bashful man. If he actually had evidence that his opponent won through fraudulent means, he would have presented it weeks ago and Fox News would run a piece every hour on the matter,” the report tells us. “That West has not shown any evidence gives a clear indication of how truthful his accusation is.”
That’s a very good point. West clearly has no evidence of any cheating at all, but his monumental ego dictates that he can’t possibly have lost fair and square.
And that’s all the evidence the lunatic Allen West needs.
How many times can you lose the same House race? Allen West is finding out.
Florida Rep. Allen West’s reelection prospects grew dimmer Sunday, as a recount of early ballots showed him falling further behind his Democratic opponent.
Democrat Patrick Murphy, a 29-year-old construction company executive, gained 242 votes after the St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections completed its re-tabulation, increasing his lead to more than 2,100 votes over West, a tea party hero. Murphy’s lead is just outside the 0.5 percent margin that would trigger an automatic district-wide recount under Florida law.West won a legal battle Friday when the office’s canvassing board decided to re-tally all early votes that had been cast. The Republican had argued that those votes had been accidentally double-counted on election night and provided a winning margin to Murphy.
But with Murphy’s margin growing after the recount, West’s legal options appeared to narrow. With St. Lucie County having a noon deadline Sunday for certifying its election results, Murphy’s campaign argued that the election was effectively over. Florida has a Tuesday deadline for certifying the results from all three counties that make up the 18th Congressional District.
“By state law, he is effectively the winner,” Eric Johnson, a senior Murphy advisor, said in an interview.
Not surprisingly, West is still not conceding. Never underestimate the sore-loserism of a Tea Party nutjob.
It really, really ain’t happening, but the more this sort of talk circulates in the fever swamps, the less flexibility Romney is going to have to pick a running-mate who is a general election (or White House) asset instead of an act of submission to movement conservatives and a nod to racial, ethnic or gender diversity. This is, after all, precisely how John McCain wound up giving the nation the great gift of permanent celebrity for Queen Esther of the Permafrost.
News Roundup for 7/21/11
Totally not-insane Rep. Allen West greeting visitors to his office
-Headline of the Day-
“West: Wasserman Schultz And Dems Attack Me Because I’m A Black Conservative.”
When Allen West let his rage get away from him, it got him into a little hot water. After Debbie Wasserman Schultz said she didn’t like the way West voted, West fired off an email that stopped just short of accusing her of being the Whore of Babylon. I guess because he’s a thin-skinned prick or something. Really Al, if you want nothing but praise, you really picked the wrong profession.
Anyhoo, West’s email struck a lot of people as pretty sexist (how would he have responded if Schultz wrote to tell him he proved he wasn’t a man?) and now a bunch of Democratic women are demanding his apology.
Well, that’s not going to happen. See, these commie whores — including this one and this one — are just being racist. They’re mad because a black man had the guts to leave the liberal “21st-century plantation” — whatever the hell that’s supposed to mean (conservatives really seem to like inapt slavery metaphors).
“The thing that really most aggravates me is that there is this double standard, in that the people on the hard left can continue to attack conservatives and especially minority conservatives, and female conservatives,” said West. “But yet when all of a sudden you stand up and you say that you will not tolerate this anymore, then they claim to be a victim — which I find just absolutely laughable.”
This strikes me as an odd statement to make while you’re playing both the victim and the race cards. (Talking Points Memo)
-Cartoon time with Mark Fiore-
Hey kids, have you heard about the big drought in Africa? No? There’s a reason for that…
Click for animation
The thing about starving people is that, if you ignore them, they really will go away. (MarkFiore.com)
-Headline of the Day-
“Fox Host: Free Birth Control Is Liberal Conspiracy To ‘Eradicate The Poor.’”
Kinda, yeah. If people aren’t having kids that they can’t afford, a lot fewer of them will wind up in poverty.
Explain to me again how that’s a bad thing? (ThinkProgress, with video)
Stories to Watch: 7/20/11
Hot. I left some pig iron laying out in the backyard and it melted. True story. Now here’s the news…
Even Eric Cantor’s wealthy donors think the rich should pay more in taxes. Meanwhile, the forecast for a debt limit deal in time getsvery, very cloudy.
After holding out for a “grand bargain,” the White House now says it’s open to a short-term debt deal to avoid default.
Sen. Tom Harkin dares state the obvious; “One of our two parties has morphed into kind of a cult driven by a singular fixation and obsession: preserving tax breaks for the wealthy at all costs.”
Al Franken nails Focus on the Family to the wall during a Senate hearing on the Defense Of Marriage Act. Fact-based governance — what a concept.
Tim Pawlenty makes it pretty obvious he was the one who dropped the Bachmann migraine story.
Rep. Allen West is such an asshole.
If the election were held today and it was between Obama and Romney, it would be tight.
Finally, the AFL-CIO points out that of six Wisconsin primaries against Republican plants running as Democrats and the first general recall election last night, Democrats have not lost a single recall contest so far.
Stories to Watch: 5/17/11
Finally getting to bed at a (halfway) decent hour. Lately, I find myself getting immersed in something and the next time I look at the clock, it’s stupid-o’clock in the morning. This is not good and it’s actually an effort to change it. Now here’s the news…
Newt Gingrich is not good with money. Politico reports that, at one point, Newt was into Tiffany’s for half a million. Now seems like a good time to remind everyone that, among his many indiscretions as in congress, he also wrote three bad checks as part of the House banking scandal.
On the other hand, Newt may be finished anyway — because Paul Ryan’s unpopular Medicare wrecking ball has inexplicably become a sacred cow to the GOP. Weren’t they all running screaming from it just a couple weeks ago?
Not helping mend Gingrich’s ties with the GOP establishment, Tea Party fave Allen West stops just short of calling him a racist.
Fox News coins the term “Bachmania.” I’m sure that, in terms of cultural impact, it’ll give Beatlemania a run for its money.
Remember, I totally called this: Paul Ryan won’t run for Herb Kohl’s Senate seat.
The “Gang of Six” senators who were supposed to be knocking out a compromise budget agreement loses Tom Coburn. The press still calls them the “Gang of Six,” for some reason.
Remember the last idiot ideologue who came out of the Texas Governor’s Mansion to run for president? That worked out well, didn’t it? Let’s do it again.
Finally, what liberal media? The press has joined the GOP in ignoring the unemployed.
Stories to Watch: 4/28/11
Cold. Dark. Drizzly. I don’t want to talk about it. No here’s the news…
Now that we’ve (failed to) put the birther thing behind us, here’s more ridiculous horseshit polluting our national dialogue — all debunked.
Donald Trump doesn’t like being called racist, but goes ahead andtells a black journalist — absent any evidence other than skin color — “I know you are a big Obama fan.”
And, no matter what Trump is, Oklahoma Republican state rep Sally Kern is most definitely and inarguably racist.
Put the storms that rolled through the south last night together and it qualifies as one big natural disaster and national tragedy.
Ben Stein’s a jerk. Rep. Allen West is a coward.
A really great flowchart on whether or not you should care about the royal wedding.
As is so often the case, a Republican proposal — this time Paul Ryan’s fantasy-economics porn — loses a lot of support in polls once voters are told what’s really in it. Once again, I find myself wishing there were some sort of “news media” capable of informing people.
Finally, Democratic recalls against Republicans are going swimmingly.
Stories to Watch: 4/27/11
Pancakes for dinner. Life is good. Now here’s the news…
Proof positive that no matter what President Obama does, Republicans will find a way to criticize it: Eric Cantor — whose party makes up the vast, vast majority of birthers — thinks Obamashouldn’t be wasting his time with birtherism.
And, of course, the birthers don’t care. It’s not about proof, it’s about faith.
House Republicans vote to restrict collective bargaining rights, because that’s working out so great for them in the states. Fun fact: the party that claims to be all about jobs still hasn’t put together anything close to a jobs bill — just crap like this to make working people’s jobs worse.
Lefty radio host Nicole Sandler raises a ruckus at an Allen West town hall in Florida, gets arrested. Imagine if the ideologies were reversed and it was Limbaugh walking out in handcuffs. Free speech is a two-way street, guys. You had your disruptive town halls and cheered them.
Donald Trump thinks Americans should buy less “crap” from China — so don’t buy anything with a Trump label.
Big news overshadowed by the birth certificate — CIA director Leon Pannetta’s bumped up to Defense Secretary and Gen. David Petraeus is taking his place at the CIA. Lefties will likely be unhappy when that sinks in.
Speaker Boehner’s favorables nosedive from January.
Finally, we have the first images of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords post-shooting. The video is extremely unclear — she’s barely more than a silhouette — yet sad nonetheless.
