Allen West Is All Out Of Bubble Gum

Allen West Is All Out Of Bubble Gum
The Florida congressman loses patience with Mediscare tactics.
by John Hayward
07/20/2011

Congressman Allen West (R-FL) came to Congress to do two things: kick ass and chew bubble gum. This week, he ran out of bubble gum.

On Monday, he wrote an essay for Red County delicately entitled, “At This Point, Anyone with an Obama 2012 Bumper Sticker is a Threat to the Gene Pool.” In this essay, he expresses his disgust with the President’s debt ceiling scare tactics:

It was appalling to hear the President of the United States truly threaten our nation’s senior citizens and Military Veterans/Retirees. Furthermore, the blatant lie that 80% of Americans want their taxes raised is beyond unconscionable.

After outlining his plans for dealing with our unsustainable national debt, he goes on to explain why those Obama 2012 bumper stickers cause him to fear for the genetic destiny of the human race:

As for President Barack Obama , he has no such plan. He has never had a plan, just words, just speeches. His Budget for Fiscal Year 2012 failed 0-97 in the United States Senate. Speaking of the Senate, it has been over 800 days since the Senate, under Democrat control, has passed a budget.

President Obama has added some $4.5 trillion to our national debt in less than three years. President Obama has produced record deficits, the negative difference between revenues and spending, of $1.42 trillion, $1.29 trillion, and an estimated $1.65 trillion for each year since taking office.

The unemployment rate under President Obama is a problem of epic proportions, national (9.2%), black community (16.2%), and among veterans (approx 12%). This comes from someone who told us his almost trillion-dollar stimulus would keep unemployment in America under 8%. As well, the almost $2 trillion Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has been a disaster, and the worst is yet to come.

Along the way, West expresses particular disgust with Obama’s “blatant lie that 80% of Americans want their taxes raised,” and House Democrat Sheila Jackson-Lee’s allegation that all opposition to Obama’s demands for more debt is grounded in racism. (Rep. West himself is black, although judging by her rhetoric, Jackson-Lee would probably put scare quotes around “black” in his case.)

The next day, West found himself on the receiving end of some cobwebbed Medi-Scare nonsense from Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL), the Democrat National Committee chair who has previously advanced the deep political insight that Republican politics are motivated by a desire to kill old people and women. To date, she has never apologized for this. No one is holding their breath waiting for her to do so.

“The gentleman from Florida,” intoned Wasserman-Schultz, “who represents thousands of Medicare beneficiaries, as do I, is supportive of this plan that would increase costs for Medicare beneficiaries, unbelievable for a Member from South Florida.” By “this plan,” she meant the “Cut, Cap, and Balance” bill that passed the House yesterday.

This “Medi-Scare” rhetoric is so old and tired that it should leave clouds of tomb dust in the air when Democrats speak. Wipe out that $1.6 trillion deficit Obama has built up, and you’re pulling life support tubes out of old people. Americans cannot survive without indenturing themselves!

On the other hand, it’s refreshing to her Wasserman-Schultz speak in the highest traditions of the Founding Fathers. Everyone knows they envisioned an America where certain regions, such as South Florida, fought bitter political battles to forcibly extract funding for their benefits from other regions.

Rep. West responded to Wasserman-Schultz’s attack with an email:

I understand that after I departed the House floor you directed your floor speech comments directly towards me. Let me make myself perfectly clear, you want a personal fight, I am happy to oblige. You are the most vile, unprofessional and despicable member of the US House of Representatives. If you have something to say to me, stop being a coward and say it to my face, otherwise, shut the heck up.

You have proven repeatedly that you are not a Lady, therefore, shall not be afforded due respect from me!

Note that, although I have no doubt that Allen West is a master of the Man Laws, I’m not sure he’s empowered to strip Wasserman-Schultz of her ladyship. I’ve got an email out to Burt Reynolds to check.

You know, I’d like to have a more sober and decorous Congress, but Allen West isn’t the one who made it ridiculous. They did that to themselves - by, among other things, running up a $14 trillion national debt, and then announcing they need even more funny money. Very few members of Congress appear to take their duties seriously, in the sense that private-sector managers who face possible jail time for accounting fraud take their fiduciary duties seriously.

It should also be noted that Debbie Wasserman-Schultz delivered her offensive and ridiculous broadside on the House floor, while Allen West’s trenchant response came by email. Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee delivered her disgusting racial broadside from the floor of the House as well. Allen West did not pitch the tents for this circus, nor is he the ringmaster.
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To read another article by John Hayward, click here.