Tweet of the Day: June 11, 2013

The West in question is former representative (and kicked out of the military) Allen West (R-FL).

VP Biden On Allen West's Defeat

From Huffington Post:

"I'd like to say to all of you, you did the country a favor," Biden told the crowd at Murphy's party, according to TCPalm.

Despite results showing West trailing Murphy by 1,900 votes, West refused to concede the election, suggesting "disturbing irregularities reported at polls" affected the outcome. It wasn't until two weeks after the election that he finally conceded while still insisting on "inaccuracies in the results." 

"While a contest of the election results might have changed the vote totals, we do not have evidence that the outcome would change," West said.

Allen West Is (still) A Sore Loser

From Think Progress:

LEVIN: You are a national treasure. You are way too important to have something like this to happen and off you go. That can’t happen. So I’m really curious to know. Do you have further public service in mind, potentially?

WEST: The most important thing everyone has to understand is my voice is not going to be lost. We’ve gotten a lot of opportunities, a lot of offers, and we’re going to make sure we continue to have that platform. [...] I’m a warrior and I’m a statesman and I’m a servant of this republic. I’m not going away just because of a congressional race where [Patrick Murphy] seems to have to cheat to beat me.

LEVIN: He sure as hell did. It’s disgusting.

Or maybe the people of his (former) district didn't want an idiot representing them. I guess that equals cheating in West's mind.

Allen West refused to concede his congressional race on election night when the count was extremely close. In the recount that West himself demanded, he actually lost even more ground to Patrick Murphy. West did not concede for some weeks after Election Night. Now, he is lashing out in bitterness. It is amazing how this man is so self centered that he can not imagine someone beating him in a fair fight. We do not need such a one in Congress, there are already too many like that in the halls of power. Good riddance to Mr. West.

Allen West Concedes...Finally!

After a contentious House race, being behind after Election Night, and falling even farther behind after the recount that HE demanded, conservative fire-brand and Tea Party favourite has conceded. It sure as Hell took him long enough. Congress is that much the better for not having this man amongst its ranks.

Election 2012: Trouble For The Tea Party

Election 2012: Allen West is a Liar

From The New Civil Rights Movement:

Allen West, the Tea Party Republican U.S. Congressman from Florida is claiming that his Democratic opponent — who has never served in Congress — cut Medicare by $700 billion. West, who is a documented liar, is so desperate that he’s willing to actually run an ad that claims Patrick Murphy cut Medicare.

~

As it turns out, Patrick Murphy released a statement in response:

“Congressman West has completely disregarded the truth in his latest attack ad by claiming that Patrick Murphy cut Medicare by $700 billion.  First of all, Patrick has never voted for anything in Congress since he has yet to be elected.  West also fails to mention that he voted for the Ryan Plan twice, which takes the same $716 billion from Medicare as the Affordable Care Act, but instead of addressing overpayments, the Ryan Plan uses the $716 billion for tax breaks for millionaires,” said Murphy for Congress communications director Erin Moffet. “The truth of the matter is, the only candidate in this race who has ever cast a vote in Congress is Allen West – and his votes have continually put the interests of millionaires and billionaires over the interests of seniors and middle class Americans. The lies in this latest ad show West’s desperation to hide the fact that he has voted twice to cut Medicare and turn it into a voucher program.”

If I were Patrick Murphy, I would release an ad calling West's claim exactly what it is: an outright lie. Something to the tune of, "My opponent says that I voted to cut over $700 billion from Medicare. I'm not sure how this is possible given that I have never actually served in Congress. Unfortunately, my opponent, Allen West, has chosen not to give the voters of the district the actual facts." Allen West just gave Patrick Murphy tons of ammunition with which to fight back. I certainly hope that Murphy has the good sense to go after West with everything he has (including West's dubious military record).

The Wrap-Up: May 30, 2012

Apparently black people started what has since become Memorial Day. You're welcome for the long weekend folks.

While making a Memorial Day speech, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) was heckled by a protester. I'm no fan of McCain for the most part, but there are times when he says things worthy of being heckled...and this was one of those times.

Tea Party darling Rep. Allen West (R-FL) has praised elements of the Affordable Care Act (aka "Obamacare"), meaning he probably won't be a Tea Party darling for long.

A Minnesota pastor may lose his church because he supports marriage equality. Of course this is happening at the same time that other churches who are using their pulpits to gather money to fight marriage equality retain their tax exempt status. Where is the justice in this?

A Florida high school is under investigation after a straight student attempted suicide because of anti-gay bullying (the state has an anti-bullying law that may have been ignored).

One of the victims of Florida's voting purge: a veteran of the Battle of the Bulge.

The European Union adopted a resolution condemning anti-gay laws in the continent. Hopefully Russia (among other countries) is paying attention.

The Boy Scouts will receive a petition some 275,000 signatures strong supporting a den mother who was ousted from her position solely because she is a lesbian.

And lastly, Liberty Council's Matt Barber thinks it is offensive and demeaning the the NAACP (the nation's oldest civil right organization) supports equal rights for ALL Americans.

Allen West Dodging Marriage Equality

It's very telling that Representative Allen West (R-FL) is dodging this question. Here is a Republican Congressman, back by the Tea Party no less (which shows how "right" he is) and yet when given the opportunity to denounce marriage equality as Republicans/conservatives all too often do, he tries to change the subject. What do we take away from this interview? Republicans are increasingly gun-shy about denouncing LGBT equality, even those Republicans backed by the Tea Party. Gone are the days when Republicans would proudly say how anti-gay they were only to ride that wave into political office. Now, doing this will incur the ire of not just the political left, but also an increasing numbers of independent and Republican voters. This is another sign of the changing dynamic surrounding the issues of LGBT equality, and it's a damn good sign at that.

And since Rep. West didn't ever answer the question he was asked, I'll just let you know that he is on-record as being AGAINST marriage equality.

The Wrap-Up: February 10, 2012

Rep. Allen West (R-FL)

For those thinking of not voting for Barack Obama, here is one reason why you should (especially given that battles coming in the next few years).

Luckily, many of the trends (though not all) are in Obama's favor.

CPAC's convention began today, which I suppose explains this headache I have.

A British politician has stated that his country's conservative party is "riddled with homosexuals." And to think I thought American Republicans had cornered market on that brand of hypocrisy.

Rick Santorum has a real knack for not knowing what the Hell he is talking about.

Former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ)

Out-spoken (Tea-Party backed) Allen West, who has many outrageous statements to his credit) may have a strong "well-financed" Democratic opponent for his congressional seat.

Uganda's government tries to have its cake and eat it too...but fails in doing so. Unless you categorically denounce this bill, you are, at the very least, tacitly complicit.

Rep. Gabby Giffords had an interesting request for one of her former aides.

And lastly, today in political stupidity, a Mississippi legislator wants to axe the Gulf of "Mexico."