Allen West and his Critics

Allen West, R-FL

So Allen West, Republican congressman from Florida’s 18^th District, wants to exercise his right to have a full hand recount of the votes in the wake of Tuesday’s disputed election result.  Here is how he framed the issue on his Facebook page—

“Our race is far from decided and there is no rush to declare an outcome. Ensuring a fair and accurate counting off all ballots is of the utmost importance. There are still tens of thousands of absentee ballots to be counted in Palm Beach County and potential provisional ballots across the district. Late last night Congressman West maintained a district wide lead of nearly 2000 votes until the St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections “recounted” thousands of early ballots. Following that “recount” Congressman West trailed by 2,400 votes. In addition, there were numerous other disturbing irregularities reported at polls across St. Lucie County including the doors to polling places being locked when the polls closed in direct violation of Florida law, thereby preventing the public from witnessing the procedures used to tabulate results. The St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections office clearly ignored proper rules and procedures, and the scene at the Supervisor’s office last night could only be described as complete chaos. Given the hostility and demonstrated incompetence of the St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections, we believe it is critical that a full hand recount of the ballots take place in St. Lucie County. We will continue to fight to ensure every vote is counted properly and fairly, and accordingly we will pursue all legal means necessary.”

That opens the window a crack and lets us see some of what sort of things a conservative congressman has to put up with.  The wonders of social media, however, allow us to open that window much wider.  Here are some examples …

Leslie Stone, female, a resident of Royal Palm Beach, Florida (not a constituent of Mr. West), commented, “Did anyone really think West would leave graciously?”  I wonder if she had the same opinion of Al Gore’s request for a recount in his 2000 race against George W. Bush.

Tony Salvador, from just north of Palm Beach, writes, “NBC just called Murphy the winner. I am so happy you are out of office after only two years. You are a disgrace to the U.S House and to the United States Military. Fox news has a position for you right next to Sarah dumbass Palin.”  And he probably thinks Congressman West is the problem.

“At long last, congressman,” writes Joe Arthur of Dunedin, Florida, “have you no shame?”  Mr. Athur studied “edumacation at Ohio State University.”  At long last, he still appears to have no clue.

Kilt-wearing Hamish Mitchell, from who knows where, but who posts pictures of himself, one supposes, wearing a skirt, says, “Getting harder to sell Insane these days, ain't it, Allen?”  Methinks “Ms” Hamish should pay more attention to buying than to selling; for he has obviously purchases a bill of goods.

There’s no particular pattern to this.  I’m just picking idiots at random.  At this writing, West’s post has more than 2000 comments.  Not all of them, by any stretch, are kooks.  Some of the posts, one can tell, are by great Americans.  Still, the kooks are much more fun to blog about.

Jim Zimmerman, from Pittsburgh, of all places, sniffs, “Thank god you are gone you are a bigger asshole than Mitt....”  The Z-man studied “Elementary Ed at Slippery Rock University,” and once “worked at Masontown High School.”  He’s a fan of Bruce Springsteen and finds both Bill and Hillary Clinton inspirational.  That pretty much explains Jim’s manners.

Former Comfort Suites employee, Annie Cole Bullock Cox, from Alabama—and maybe that explains her—shouts, “All this shouting about the votes not being counted right in Fla, this is the same thing that happened in 2000 when we had to wait days to find out who really won the election. Do you people in Fla not know how to count. Give it up the election is over.”  Does she really think the candidates count their own votes? 

Then there is Kevin Singh—“ Hey Allen, since you were so obsessed with allowing insurance companies to deny medical coverage to persons like myself, will you be man enough to give up the taxpayer-funded Cadillac health insurance plan that all congressmen are entitled to and keep after they leave office? Since you're so much against government spending, why not set an example?”   Scintillating intellect, that Kevin.  On his Facebook page, under “About,” he has this blurb—“Reclusive. Live and work out of my home. Have two wonderful boys and a beautiful dog. I have what I need.”  Actually, he doesn’t.

The sad thing is that all these critics of West---not one of whom could score above Category IV on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery---are voters.  It's not the economy, stupid.  That was so twenty years ago.  These days, it's the stupids, stupid!

Rush Limbaugh is right.  It's not that the Republican Party has a "messaging problem,"  America has an idiocy problem.  We are outnumbered.  But this Allen West string is really much more fun if you following on his page.