But as it turns out, he's doing, for once in his life, exactly the right thing. Admittedly, for all the wrong reasons. But, like Hermann Göring saving a kitten from drowning, Allen West is doing a good thing.
See, here's the problem. For Allen West, losing the race for reelection would be evidence the the world is not falling into chaos. He has had one of the most evil, dishonest and hate-filled political careers of any political operative since Joseph McCarthy, and if anyone deserves to lose, die in ridicule and be crushed in the trash compactor of history, it would be Allen West.
He is, after all, the man who claimed, with nothing more than his own paranoid feelings as "proof," that all of the Democrats in the House of Representatives were Communists and essentially slaveowners. (Not to mention his history of torturing prisoners and endorsements by the worst figures of recent Republican history: Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and Ted Nugent, among others.)
But West has every right to ask for a recount, especially on a razor-thin margin of loss: the last recounts, late though they were, show West's campaign trailing by a margin of 0.58 percent; any spread of less than 0.50 percent would have triggered an automatic recount. That's pretty damned close, though - well within the margin of error.
And here's the thing: we just finished a campaign season full of voter suppression by the GOP, and outright fraud, incompetence and election theft for the last decade or more, and so any attempt to ensure a fair and complete election has to be taken seriously.
More than that needs to be done: laws need to be passed to punish the criminals who try to subvert the democratic process, and laws need to be repealed (I'm looking at you, Citizens United) to ensure that people can't just buy an election.
And, admittedly, Allen West's fight to continue the recounts, much like the rest of his political career, are based in fear-mongering and conspiracy theories. But there is enough actual evidence of impropriety, or at least mismanagement, that the Allen West fight must be allowed to occur.
It would be a tragedy of Biblical proportions, but Allen West might not have lost his seat in Florida. And the only way to be sure is to get a full and fair accounting of the votes in every county affected by this election. (You know, the thing that the Supreme Court wouldn't allow in Florida back in 2000?)
Few people in America deserve to lose as much as Allen West. But his fight must be allowed to continue.
It's called "democracy." And we have to support it.
We can agree to disagree. West is not just a lying, hate-filled sack of shit. He's likely suffering from some form of clinical mental instability. He is NOT a person who should be in public office, at any level.
ReplyDeleteYou say there are improprieties and mis-management? There is a LOT of mis-management and far too many improprieties in U.S. electoral politics. West's race is in no wise exceptional in my mind.
I understand your commitment to honesty and transparency in the electoral process but go with your gut on this one. The world is a better, safer and saner place with one less asshole like West in the U.S. Congress.
I think the disorder is called Paranoid Teapartophrenia and it's obviously highly contagious. He was brought to this district because He was likely to be tossed out in his former district. The GOP sees him as an asset that needs to be kept in the fight and my county is about the only place around that would vote for him.
DeleteI don't know where they'll run him again, but they will, and I hope they do. I hope they run him for president actually, because the only thing that will finally discredit and destroy the Tea-Panzer juggernaut is their own drooling insanity.
"As Joe "Child Support Deadbeat" Walsh did not gentle into that good night,
ReplyDeleteAllen "War Criminal" West still burns and rages against the dying of the far right."
Well, yes, I see your point about the importance of an honest recount. However, an honest recount still does account for an honest election. The problem here is gerrymandering - redrawing district maps to make elections safe for incumbents. Allen West's district was redrawn after the last census and, despite tilting the odds heavily to favor West, the overall voting pattern points to a clear rejection.
Consider, for example, the actual vote versus the number of House representatives returned to office in 2012. Democrats won the popular vote by a clear majority; yet the GOP won more House seats. How? Through gerrymandering! Fraudulent re-districting can out win a fraudulent vote count any day.
Here is a rhetorical question. During Election Cycle 2012, if Democrats won an overwhelming majority of the popular vote - yet Republicans won the majority of House seats - how can this result be consistent with the concept of "One man, one vote?"
ReplyDeleteNope, this is not democracy either.
"One man, one vote"
ReplyDeleteWhat a quaint concept. Sorry, the God's Own Party has a celestial mandate so anything that puts a putz like West in power is God's will. So if you "bend the rules" as West supporters call beating a man half to death and emptying your Beretta into a barrel with the man's head in it, you can bend other rules too. He did it to "protect his men" as he says, which is an interesting concept, or at least a good way to describe cowardice. I guess I could justify beating the shit out of him if I somehow felt threatened by a rumor that he was out to get me. I'd like to talk to him about that sometime.
The numbers are getting worse for West. The box of 300 early ballots that went uncounted added to the gap and put his opponent further ahead but West's 'volunteer' lawyers (working pro bozo) are continuing to file suits even though the State will likely certify his defeat tomorrow. He has until the 30th to file his last challenge, but I think it's hopeless. Still, you should see the rabble ranting and raving on his behalf. They wouldn't want him living next door, but what the party says, the Tea-zombies do.
Yes, District 18 was re-gerrymandered, but the previous district boundaries were more absurd, giving the representative isolated constituents on both coasts and 150 miles apart. The new boundaries include parts of Palm Beach county and St Lucie County which aren't as monolithic politically as Martin County where the idiocracy would vote unanimously for a Chimpanzee if you could teach it to babble taxtaxtax and wear a tie.
But hey, the end of the world is only a month away, right?
Demo, Octo, I'm sorry, but I reject your theories.
ReplyDeleteYes, the man is batshit crazy, a liar and an idiot, but the people of Florida elected him. (What that says about them is entirely secondary...)
Yes, gerrymandering is bad. But it's a standing part of American history, and another part of what we call the "democratic" process. It needs reform. But it exists, and has existed since pretty much the beginning of our grand experiment in self-governance. (Failed experiment? Possibly. An argument can be made that we need an adult.)
See, here's the thing. Our electoral system needs some significant checks and balances thrown on it. It's too easy to steal an election right now, and Florida may well be one of the worst examples of that problem.
Now, the average Democrat may well just accept his loss and walk away, but the average delusional Republican, unable (like Karl Rove on election night) to accept that "his" election was just lost, will scream and squirm, and demand recounts and investigations. It's an ego thing.
And all that the investigation will turn up is electoral improprieties; and the wildly variable differences in the vote counts will highlight the problems with the voting systems, and maybe, just maybe, we can get something done about it.
Besides, relax. Ol' Flattop got one recount done, and managed to get farther behind. Which is ironic, but also means that we won't have to think about him much longer.
West will continue to defy the elections results until he runs out of dollars. He has approximately $4 million in the bank! Of course he will not have to reimburse the tax payer for all the expense of gratifying his ego and the electorate will not be in better shape for all his crying fowl! Even when the Secretary of State and the Governor of Florida accept certification of the votes he will fine it hard to hold his ego in check and concede.
ReplyDeleteI have personally been involved in a number election recounts over the years. When there is the large number of votes separating the winner from the loser recounting all of the votes will not change the results. The winner will still be the winner even if it is by a lower number of votes. It is almost impossible to change over 1900 votes to reflect a different winner. Manipulation of the votes in this election would certainly reflect a manipulation of our democracy and a chipping away of our freedom! I hope that never happens!
I hope this morning's concession was agonizing! One would think a few people would feel embarrassed after having accused the Democrats of tinkering with the ballots to find that the numbers suggested otherwise, but madmen and Republicans seem to be immune to things like shame.
DeleteGo to Townhall.com and read the epic bullshit about "massive voter fraud" by Heather Ginsberg. The comments are an incredible display of the alternate conservative reality.
ReplyDeleteThe St. Lucie county commissioners voted him a recount of the early voting ballots that he contested and he lost more ground.
ReplyDeleteHe's finished. Hell, the Florida republicans gerrymandered his original district to force him out and he moved to a district he thought he could win.
This bullet head has been given every chance and he has continually made a mockery of the process.
The dinosaurs tend to agree with Nameless on this -- West is a particularly loontastical loon-faced loon, but he got himself elected once and is free to pursue his Quixotic recount quest if he can convince the relevant authorities to go along. Looks like he got his recount and ended up looking like even more of an ass than he already looked. Whatcha gonna say? The man's an "ass act." Whenever I come across an image of said soon-to-be ex-congressman, all I see is eyes filled with crazy-hate looking for an object to destroy, mock, humiliate, or otherwise injure. I think he's exactly the sort of person who doesn't belong in public service but who, you can be sure, is enormously attracted to it as a staging ground for his massive id.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there are ten million village yokels with cell phones out there just waiting for some cable show or radio program hosted by West to "enlighten" them on various and sundry, and I doubt that he'll disappoint. A healthy society tolerates the likes of Allen West, even though toleration is a word he clearly can't abide.
If at first you don't concede, try, try again. Finally!
ReplyDeleteYes, he conceded with a bilious barrage of God and country sufficient to put tears in the eyes of his followers: that fine, upstanding, courageous southern gentleman. Meet it is, I set it down. That one may smile and smile and be a villain. At least it may be so in Florida.
ReplyDeleteO villain, villain, smiling, damnèd villain!