… and is even crazier.
Echoing the tactics of the late Senator Joseph McCarthy, Congressman Allen West (R-Florida) says that he “has heard” that up to 80 Democrats in the US House of Representatives are members of the Communist Party but he won’t give their names. At least he did not say that he had the list of names in his hand.
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Steve
April 11, 2012 at 3:16 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
He probably thinks that the Russians hordes will rush through the Fulda Gap any minute now
Randomfactor
April 11, 2012 at 3:17 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
He must have a very low opinion of his constituents’ IQ. Then again, they voted for him, so I do as well.
Alverant
April 11, 2012 at 3:20 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I heard that 80 congressional Republics make monthly donations to the Army of God. No I’m not going to prove it. If West doesn’t have to, then neither do I.
had3
April 11, 2012 at 3:43 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I love a party. He’s just jealous that he wasn’t invited.
thewhollynone
April 11, 2012 at 3:45 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Did West really say that? How unoriginal of him! He must be desperate for attention.
unbound
April 11, 2012 at 4:42 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@thewhollynone – Well, he is one of the tea party rethuglicans, so you really can’t expect originality.
slc1
April 11, 2012 at 4:53 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
As Ed Brayton has noted in several posts, West is a worthy challenger to Iowa Congressman Steve King as the dumbest person in Congress.
Ned Champlain
April 11, 2012 at 5:24 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The competition for that title is to close to call and several more candidates make it a very hard one to win
slc1
April 11, 2012 at 7:39 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Yeah, Michele Bachmann, James Inhofe, and Joe Barton are right up there.
'Tis Himself
April 11, 2012 at 5:52 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Remember that for Teabaggers like West, “socialist” is anyone to the left of Sean Hannity and “communist” is anyone to the left of Bill O’Reilly.
The Chad Mitchell Trio singing “The John Birch Society”.
JohnW
April 11, 2012 at 7:20 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Well given that “up to 80″ means exactly the same as “less than 81″, and 0 < 81, he's right.
jufulu
April 11, 2012 at 10:17 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
You have to admit that the term communist has been revised since McCarthy’s days, so it would probably be quite easy to come up with 80 communists among House Democrats. I believe that just being Democrats would probably qualify.
Scott
April 12, 2012 at 10:16 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
He did say “members of the Communist Party,” which would mean they are not just commies, but actual members of an organization, though. I agree, most Democrats are probably commies in the eyes of the tea partiers, but to say that they are actual members of an organization is an empirical statement. An empirical statement for which he has no evidence, I might add.
But is ANYONE a member of the Communist Party any more?
'Tis Himself
April 12, 2012 at 3:46 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Gus Hall, who was the Secretary of the Communist Party-USA during the 1940s and 1950s, liked to explain how J. Edgar Hoover was a supporter of the CP-USA. Hoover insisted that his spies and infiltrators in the party remain current with their dues. Hall said that the FBI informers were generally the only people who did pay party dues regularly. As a result, the FBI was the main financial supporter of the party and the party regulars could easily tell who was working for Hoover.