For Rep. Allen West, the political campaign never ends. (Photo by Gage Skidmore.)
By Ralph De La Cruz
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
In the parlance of Internet message boards, a person who says outrageous things to get a rise out of people is a flamethrower, or flamer for short.
There are many words to describe Congressman Allen West. But out of deference to his office, I will simply describe him as a flamethrower.
Before he was even elected congressman in District 22, which covers eastern portions of Broward and Palm Beach counties, West’s campaign was throwing flames.
He chose right-wing shock jock Joyce Kaufman to be his chief of staff. This is a woman who said of illegal immigrants in 2007: “If you commit a crime while you’re here, we should hang you and send your body back to where you came from, and your family should pay for it.“
Even her son didn’t understand Kaufman’s immigrant-focused, English-only hate speak.
“It seems odd from someone who is bilingual to want to live in a country that doesn’t celebrate her ability to speak two languages and that only wants to have everyone conversing in one language,” he told Miami New Times. “I don’t see the purpose behind it other than sort of latent hatred toward others — and that, to me, makes me uncomfortable. She obviously doesn’t hate other people; she’s always been a very compassionate person. So I don’t know how she reconciles that view.”
Yep. Turns out her Puerto-Rican mother likes to watch Spanish-language Telemundo.
But West understood. He named her his chief of staff after getting elected.
Then came this infamous remark from Kaufman:
“I don’t care how this gets painted by the mainstream media. I don’t care if this shows up on YouTube. Because I am convinced that the most important thing the founding father did to insure me my First Amendment rights was they gave me a Second Amendment. And if ballots don’t work, bullets will.”
The outburst forced West to remove Kaufman as his chief of staff. But she remained a solid part of his staff. When he spoke before a noted conservative political action committee, the caustic Kaufman was the last person who reviewed his speech.
“I wrapped up Friday by developing my first draft of the CPAC speech and sent it to my two closest confidants, my Chief of Staff Jonathan Blyth and Joyce Kaufman … based upon their review and insights, I knew we would have a winner,” West gushed in an e-mail to constituents reminiscent of a teen’s diary entry about going to the prom.
And the speech was indeed flame-on red meat for the far right:
He attacked multiculturalism. He attacked gay marriage. He advocated cutting the Environmental Protection Agency. He blamed the financial crisis not on the lack of oversight of financial institutions, but rather, on government not “getting out of the way of the private sector.” He demanded that the corporate tax be cut from 35 to 20 percent and to do completely away with capital gains taxes.
He quoted dozens of brilliant people — often out of context. And he gave a stirring recitation of his life, reverently referring to himself in the third person.
“He went off to serve his country,” West said of himself, “… and he stood on the wall to tell his country, ‘Sleep peacefully at night because this man stands ready to do the violence and to do the things that are necessary to protect you.’ ”
West conveniently left out the part that the man standing on the wall was willing to do violence that violated military law.
In 2003, in connection with the beating and intimidation of an Iraqi civilian, West was charged with assault and violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice. He could have received a court martial and a dishonorable discharge. Instead, he received an administrative Article 32 hearing and was fined $5,000 for misconduct and assault.
But hey, that’s political editing, I suppose.
If only his outrageousness had ended with far-right principles and third-person self-aggrandizement.
But, of course, it didn’t.
Perhaps he became drunk with ego. Or was so stirred by the applause he received for demanding this country had to stand firmly behind Judeo-Christian beliefs. Maybe it was just a coldly calculated political move to appeal to the anti-Muslim fears of older Jewish constituents. Or maybe he’s been listening too much to Kaufman.
But West has just kept going further and further off that wall on which he envisions himself standing.
It wasn’t long before he was on The Shalom Show, attacking all Muslims, including his congressional colleague Keith Ellison.
And when a Muslim courageously showed up at one of his town hall meeting, which are stacked with shrill tea partiers for just such an occasion, to ask why West was making such anti-Muslim statements, West told the man, “Don’t try to blow sunshine up my butt”:
Then there were his comments calling President Barack Obama a “low-level socialist agitator” who had “third-world dictator-like arrogance” and spoke with “Marxist demagogic rhetoric.” West likes to begin his missives with “Dear Patriot” and wears his military service not just on his sleeve, but on his shirt, shoes, and even his underpants. And he’s calling the president of the United States, the commander-in-chief, a socialist agitator and comparing him to a third-world dictator?
Then he went and spoke to a conservative women’s group, saying that American women needed to be more like Spartan women. And that … well, let me not get in the way of his eloquence:
We need you to come in and lock shields, and strengthen up the men who are going to the fight for you. To let these other women know on the other side — these Planned Parenthood women, the Code Pink women, and all of these women that have been neutering American men and bringing us to the point of this incredible weakness — to let them know that we are not going to have our men become subservient. That’s what we need you to do. Because if you don’t, then the debt will continue to grow … deficits will continue to grow.
Now, I’m not even going to speculate about what neutering men has to do with federal deficits. But it’s very clever of him to put down activist women and most American men (except perhaps those such as West who know how to bully unarmed Iraqis).
Finally — and I do hope it’s finally, although I have my doubts — there was this shocker at another town hall meeting: Medicare will destroy this country. For a man who’s constantly crowing about American exceptionalism, he sure has a habit of running it down.
You know, I had always thought that when a campaign ends, the winner turns around and promises to represent all the people of the district. But apparently, the campaign never ends for West.
If you’re a Muslim in his district, it’s pretty obvious that West has no interest in representing you. If you don’t think the president of the United States is a pinko traitor, well, you might as well just move along. If you’re gay, forget about it. If you’re a liberal woman, he definitely isn’t interested in representing you. If you’re someone who doesn’t want the uber-rich to pay a little more in taxes or who doesn’t want Medicare to disappear, well, you’re downright anti-American.
That’s a lot of folks in District 22 whom West has no interest in representing.
So whom does he represent?
The tea party and those who share his ideology.
So I refuse to call him Florida Congressman Allen West. He’s Tea Party Rep. Allen West.
He has become the most divisive figure in Florida politics this side of … Rick Scott.
And like Scott, he’s proud of it. Almost seems to revel in it.
Hmmm.
Allen West: Political neophyte. Ideologue. Tea partier. Flamethrower extraordinaire.
Rick Scott: Political neophyte. Ideologue. Tea partier. Flamethrower extraordinaire.
And as with Scott, the ultra-far-right is quivering with love.They’re absolutely drooling at the thought West might someday run for president.
Could it be that division and hate are the cornerstones of tea party politics? Could it be that the moment those things are lost, the gig is up?
No wonder West can’t stop throwing flames.
And guess what? Kaufman is considering running for Congress.
Better get your fire-retardant gear ready.