Allen West Tackles 2012, SOTU And Olbermann

Congressman Allen West (R) FL-22

In an interview Saturday evening on ‘Conservative Republican Forum’, with hosts Steven Rosenblum and Daria DiGiovanni, Republican Congressman Allen West (FL-22) was asked if he was thinking at all of running for President or Vice-President in 2012. His response was, “Well of course not.” He went on to say, “It’s so important that we as conservatives avoid the cult of personality style of leadership. But we really do elevate people based upon merit and talent. And, you know, I have to prove myself as an American statesman, as a political leader, and not just someone that is able to, you know give some good speeches. I have to be able to get up there and create legislation and get legislation pushed through and make myself a game changer on the House floor.”

Congressman West went further saying “What I am concerned about as far as on the Republican side is that we don’t continue with the entitlement mentality when it comes to elevating people to the next levels of leadership. We’ve got to break this paradigm. We cannot continue to have the model of Bob Dole against Bill Clinton or John McCain against Barack Obama. We’ve got to do something totally different.”

When asked about the current uprising in Egypt in terms of its unfolding from a historical perspective, West proceeded to give an in depth analysis -- first recounting the 2009 uprising by the Iranian youth where students rose up against the autocratic regime while the Obama administration turned their backs on them. He then recounted the 1979 student uprising against the Shah of Iran, reminding the listeners how Jimmy Carter's failure to support the Shah's bid to stay in power- while granting him sanctuary in the U.S.- led to the American Embassy hostage crisis, and ultimately to the tenuous situation that exists with the Iranian regime today.

West’s concern -- that the chaotic situation we see in Egypt today could leave a vacuum that the Muslim Brotherhood, an illegal political group in Egypt, with ties to CAIR, Al-Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah – is well-founded. If they succeed in taking control of Egypt, it could have detrimental and even catastrophic affects for Israel, the U.S. and the entire world, especially if it led to the closing of the Suez Canal (which would be an economic and strategic disaster). It could also lead to further uprisings and destabilization in Yemen, Jordan and throughout the Middle East.

The Congressman reminded listeners that, “the radical Islamic movement is looking for chaotic situations they can take advantage of”, citing the example of the Soviet Union’s retreat from Afghanistan, causing that country to collapse into a civil war until the Taliban came to power, promising civility and order. Next thing you know, they instituted the 7th Century, radical Shariah Law and played host to Al-Qaeda.

When a listener in the chat room asked why Israel is so important, Congressman West clearly articulated the critical strategic and historical importance of our strongest Middle East ally and the only democracy in the region.

Asked about members of the opposing parties sitting together at the State of the Union Address, in what the media termed “Date Night”, (which he declined to participate in) the Congressman simply stated, “Americans don't care where we sit, they care where we stand”.

On the subject of the State of the Union speech itself, Congressman West said President Obama is, “a Commander-in-Chief, a president, that is trapped between two worlds, and he’s trying to occupy both of them. The first world is the reality of what happened on the 2nd of November last year with the mid-term elections. And there are many points in that state of the union speech where the President sounded just as conservative as I am. But then he also has to operate in the world where he must appease and placate his liberal-progressive base. And so there are many in times in that speech -- within paragraphs even -- where he contradicted himself.”

With respect to the Tea Party, Congressman West referred to it as a “constitutional-conservative, grassroots movement”, observing that the “American people have awakened -- and that threatens both political party establishments.” He encouraged the American people to “continue to put pressure on the elected officials that they send to Washington, DC, or to their states, to their counties and to their local municipalities, to make sure that what happened in Bell, California does not happen anywhere else”.

West of course was one of the first “tea party” candidates, propelled to victory largely with the support of grassroots groups like the Broward and Fort Lauderdale Tea Parties, the South Florida 912, Any Street and DC Works for Us.

Congressman West did reveal that he is not sleeping in his congressional office, but instead has found a little basement apartment. He says you need a place to get away and decompress. He also says he has suggested possibly creating a “congressional barracks”.

On a lighter note, West was asked about the firing of his “friend” Keith Olbermann from his show on MSNBC (when he was asked about this at his first town hall meeting West’s answer was to do a little dance). West’s facetious reply was “I will miss Keith Olbermann, because I think I made The Worst Person In The World 5 or 6 times and I had my eyes set on at least making it to number 10, definitely by the summer, so I guess Rachel Maddow or Laurence O’Donnell will step up and take his place.”

You can listen to the entire 40-minute interview with freshman Congressman Allen West on ‘Conservative Republican Forum’.


Steven Rosenblum is the host of 'Conservative Republican Forum' on BlogTalkRadio and a 2010 Republican nominee for Florida State House.

Obamacare Debate Reveals Democrat's "Civility"

More than 9 months after President Obama signed the Affordable Healthcare Act into law, the controversy and debate over the law better known as Obamacare is far from being over.

On Wednesday the U.S. House of Representatives voted 245-189 to pass H.R. 2, which would repeal Obamacare. It is widely assumed that the Senate will not pass the legislation- if Majority Leader Harry Reid allows it to come to a vote at all.

Democrats, who have used “creative accounting” and outright lies to try to convince the American people that the bill they forced down their throats will create jobs, lower costs, decrease the deficit and increase coverage, resorted to angry rhetoric and even more lies in their attempts to now convince voters that repealing the law will increase the deficit and kill Americans.

Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) opined, “… even the title of their legislation, H.R. 2, ‘job-killing’ — this is killing Americans if we take this away, if we repeal this bill.” Lee also tried to claim that repeal would violate the Fifth Amendment by depriving people “of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”, a specious argument to be sure.

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN)- who is Jewish- had the unmitigated audacity to compare the Republican Majority in the House to the Nazis when he said, “They don’t like the truth so they summarily dismiss it. They say it’s a government takeover of healthcare. A big lie just like Goebbels. You say it enough and you repeat the lie, repeat the lie, repeat the lie until eventually people believe it. Like blood libel, that’s the same kind of thing. The Germans said enough about the Jews and people believed it, and you have the Holocaust. You tell a lie over and over again.”

Speaking of the individual mandate to purchase health insurance that is the backbone of Obamacare’s financing, Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) tried to argue that the Preamble and 14^th Amendment of the Constitution give Congress the right to require Americans to purchase a product that they may not want. He began with, “Well, when you start off with the Preamble of the Constitution, you talk about the pursuit of happiness.” Then went on to say, “You go to the 14th Amendment–it’s equal protection under the law and we have not repealed the 14th Amendment. People have a right to have health care. It’s not a privilege but a right.”

Okay, so first of all the phrase “pursuit of happiness” is not in the Premable to the Constitution and second it cuts both ways. If you force someone to purchase healthcare insurance, or any product, that they do not want then you deprive them of happiness. As for the 14^th Amendment argument, health care insurance is not a right. No one is deprived of healthcare in the United States. Even an illegal immigrant or a convicted felon is given healthcare if they need it, regardless of ability to pay.

The lies about Obamacare are myriad, but they are coming from those that have proposed and passed it, not it’s opponents. Democrats claim that their healthcare “overhaul” will lower costs. What they don’t tell you is that they use 10 years worth of taxes to pay for 6 years worth of benefits. They also don’t count the cost of enacting the legislation in terms of the bureaucracy and I.R.S agents that will be necessary to enforce it.

Democrats claim that Obamacare will prevent insurance companies from denying coverage to those with preexisting conditions. What they don’t tell you is that while you will be able to get insurance, the company will NOT cover your preexisting condition. What this means is if you have asthma, an insurance company will give you an insurance policy with a rider that excludes asthma.

Rep. George Miller (D-CA) seems not to have heard the voters’ message that government control and bureaucracy is not what they want. Speaking against repeal he ignored the vast bureaucracy that Obamacare creates when he said: “You want to talk about bureaucracy, ladies and gentlemen. That’s why this legislation is growing in popularity because small businesses see, senior citizens see, parents with children under 26 they see a chance to liberate themselves from the most arbitrary, the most capricious, the most bureaucratic system in our entire free economy. And that’s the insurance companies. Everybody has been run around the block by their insurance companies. It’s something they all share. It’s almost the problems they share with their cable company. Not quite. But it’s not as dramatic here because this is life and death. This is the security of your family. This is whether or not you can change jobs. This is whether or not your children will be protected. This is whether or not your parents will be able to afford their drug because that’s what this legislation enables and gives the freedom to American families to have.”

This diatribe is chock full of lies. The idea that the legislation is getting more popular is just the first. Just the opposite is true as the public learns more about what is in the law. Senior citizens are learning that in order to pay for this legislation that $500 billion has been cut from Medicare Advantage. The American people do not believe that treating adults up to the age of 26 as children is a good idea. Given the choice of dealing with the bureaucracy of an insurance company, which is regulated by state laws and free market forces or that of the federal government, which would you choose?

The passage of this repeal bill is far from the end of the fight over healthcare. This debate will continue right into the 2012 presidential campaign. It remains to be seen whether the Senate will take up this legislation. But what is certain is that Republicans will continue to work to repeal and defund elements of the legislation, while proposing market driven alternatives that will address the real issues, which are with health insurance, not healthcare.

In addition 27 states are now suing the federal government over the constitutionality of Obamacare. 26 states led by Florida are involved in one suit, based on the federal government’s claims that they can regulate health insurance via the Commerce Clause and that the Medicaid expansion violates the 10^th Amendment. Meanwhile Virginia is suing separately based on their contention that Obamacare violates a state law that says individuals cannot be forced to purchase health insurance. Eventually these lawsuits will wind their way to the Supreme Court where it is likely that the States will win by a 5-4 margin. 

After The Shooting Stopped The Attacks Began

On Saturday, January 8, 2011 a deranged, lone gunman shot 19 people- killing 6 including a 9-year old girl. Yet Jared Lee Loughner, the person who actually committed the crime, was among the last to be blamed by those on the left and what used to be known as the mainstream media.

Before the blood was even dry on the ground, and long before all the facts were known about the shooter or the circumstances behind the incident, liberal pundits, bloggers and alleged journalists were looking to blame prominent conservatives, like Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck and Mark Levin for the attack.

The traitorous Jane Fonda, a.k.a. “Hanoi Jane”, who has the blood of many an American POW on her hands, posted on her Twitter page that “Progressive Arizona Rep Gabrielle Giffords is shot. In her ads, Sarah Palin had her targeted in a gun site. Inciting to violence.” Then she posted “Glen Beck guilty too. Shame. It must stop!” Of course Fonda was wrong on all counts, as Giffords is a Blue Dog Democrat, not a Progressive, and neither Governor Palin nor Glen Beck has ever suggested that anyone commit any act of violence against anyone.

The vicious, hate-monger and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman said, “We don’t have proof yet that this was political, but the odds are that it was.” Wrong Paul, by all accounts the gunman’s favorite books are ‘The Communist Manifesto’ and ‘Mein Kampf’. He seems to be just a very disturbed guy whose psychosis turned violent. But if he does have a political agenda it’s decidedly left wing or anarchist, not right wing.

The so-called “targeting” that the hypocrites on the left kept pointing to all last week is political targeting which both sides engage in all the time. There’s nothing wrong with saying that we’re targeting Congressman A in a primary, or for a general election defeat. It’s a metaphor and most clear thinking people know this. In fact progressive Markos Moulitsas, of the Daily Kos- who posted “Mission accomplished, Sarah Palin” on his Twitter page last week, himself put a bulls eye on Gabrielle Giffords in June of 2008, yet no one from either side of the aisle accused him of having any responsibility for what happened on Saturday, nor should they have.

Lost in all this finger pointing and attempts to lay blame on political opponents are the victims of this heinous crime.

9-year old Christina Green, who was born on September 11^th, 2001 and was laid to rest Thursday, had just been elected to her class council and was taken to Congresswoman Giffords’ “Congress on the Corner” by a neighbor so she could talk about politics with her representative.

Gabe Zimmerman, one of Giffords’ aides, was recently engaged and was well liked.

Dorwin Stoddard who shielded his wife from the shooter’s bullets.

Phyllis Schneck a 79-year old great-grandmother.

Dorothy Morris a 76-year old retiree.

Federal Judge John M. Roll who was a friend of Giffords’ and came to say hello after attending mass.

These people all died while simply, peacefully exercising their 1^st Amendment rights.

They and all the others that were shot and have survived, not mention the families of the victims, are deserving much better than what they got from most of the media last week.