WEST PALM BEACH — Lost in Herman Cain’s surprise endorsement of Newt Gingrich Saturday night at the Kravis Center was a rousing speech by Rep. Allen West, who received a bigger applause and ovation than either Gingrich or Cain. West gave a 10 minute speech at the Lincoln Day Dinner, telling a very approving audience that, “We need to let President Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and my dear friend the chairman of the Democratic National Committee (Debbie Wasserman Schultz), let them know Florida ain’t on the table.”…. West then told his rivals to, “Take your message of economic dependency, take your message of enslaving the entrepreneurial will and spirit of the American people somewhere else. You can take it to Europe, you can take it to the bottom of the sea, you can take it the North Pole, but get the hell out of the United States of America.”
It’s tempting to refer to Rep. West an an idiot, but that would be too easy…and frankly, it would be an affront to idiots, most of whom likely have a higher functional IQ than West. How else can one describe a man who would insult and question the patriotism of Americans who have the temerity to be Liberals and Democrats?
I’m not altogether certain what else one could reasonably expect from an officer cashiered out of the Army for discharging a pistol next to an Iraqi detainee’s head in an ill-advised attempt at intimidation. West doesn’t possess an intellect capable of processing or appreciating grey areas. He lives in a world where Right makes right…and if you happen to occupy the Left side of the political spectrum, you’re scum unworthy of counting yourself as an American. I’m glad he was booted out of the Army…but I’m not sure a seat in Congress is really an improvement. A rational person who have to wonder just the Hell (or if) the voters in West’s district were thinking; the man makes Michele Bachmann like a paragon of reason and rationality.
“This is not about 1 percent or 99 percent. This is about 100 percent,” West said. “This is about 100 percent of America, and I will not stand back and watch anyone defame, degrade or destroy that which my father fought for, my older brother, my father-in-law, my nephew and all my friends in uniform. I will not allow President Obama to take the United States of America and destroy it.
“If that means I’m the No. 1 target for the Democratic party, all I have to say is one thing: Bring it on.”
Here’s thing that West can’t seem to wrap his head around: disagreeing with him doesn’t mean that you’re bad. Or stupid. Or evil. Or un-American. Or a traitor. It means that you’re an American exercising your freedom of speech and expression. Evidently West feels that the 1st Amendment applies only to those who espouse reliably and consistently Conservative views.
I’d submit that West is exactly the sort of junior despot who poses the greatest threat to this country. As much as he bleats about loving America and revering the Constitution, he seems unable to grasp that America’s strength is in its diversity- of thought, belief, opinions, and lifestyles. West may despise Liberals, which is certainly his right as an American. Unfortunately for him, his despotic, intolerant Conservatism confers upon him neither the opportunity nor the right to oppress those who happen not to be enlightened enough to think as he does.
As much as West professes to love America and what it means to be an American, he clearly doesn’t know the first thing about either. Can one love America while hating Americans? If you live in Allen West’s head, the answer’s a resounding “YES!!”
