Allen West for Congress Blog

From Anne Patterson

Jun 30, 01:29 PM

Let me tell you about Allen West. My name is Anne Patterson, I am 69 years old, and I followed the shameless way he was treated. Allen is honest, caring, God fearing, and HE LOVES AMERICA. He wants to make this country safe for our children. I am not educated enough yet to tell you about his other goals, but I know Allen, so they have to be for the best of our American Country.

God Bless you Allen and God bless American. I corresponded with Allen the time he was being held on those ridiculous charges. I would have pulled the trigger.

Anne Patterson

P.S. For those narrow minded people who wonder, I am a white woman. His color is only skin deep. He is a red blooded American just like me.

In Response to Porter County Politics Blog

Jun 30, 08:16 AM

In response to the question of how the Republican party can reach out to black Americans, here is my response:

The Republican party first must define itself and get back to its fundamental values and principles rooted in conservatism. That message appeals to people of all groups. It must restore itself as “America’s Party”. Right now everyone else is defining the Republican party and the message is confused.

A prime example of the success of that message comes from Utah’s 3d Congressional District’s Republican primary, Jason Chaffetz vs Congressman Cannon. Another is in the success of Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. The American people of all races understand lower taxes, limited government, national security, enforcing our laws against illegal immigration, and moving towards complete energy independence.

The bottom line is that Americans want leaders—not petty charlatans with silly slogans—but right now this country is so thirsty for direction, it would drink the sands of a desert (or believe a mirage if you call it “hope”) thinking it is water.

I am sure no one “reached” out to Jason, but he felt the call to duty for his country, and I can certainly confess that no one
“reached” out to me. I answered the call to serve America as a US congressman after seeing the debacle of November 2006, while assigned in Kandahar Afghanistan.

There is a wealth of indivduals who would happily volunteer as viable candidates, if the national party has a clear vision for its future, and a legacy for our republic. However, even if they do not figure it out, there are patriots like Chaffetz, Jindal, and West who did.

Regards, Lieutenant Colonel Allen B West (US Army, Ret)
Candidate, Florida US Congressional District 22

A response to Rep. Hastings

Jun 26, 01:53 PM

My friends, I have just read the most disturbing words from someone purporting to be an American Congressman, Alcee Hastings, an impeached federal judge. His words, regarding the soaring price of gasoline, “There ain’t no answer, OK? ... All the talk is feel good talk”, are the most pathetic and abyssmal response I have heard. Perhaps I can offer Congressman Hastings and his cohorts a lesson from American history.

On the second day at Gettysburg, a young professor of rhetoric from Bowdoin College in Maine, LTC Joshua Chamberlain, was told he was the end of the Union line along Seminary Ridge. He was given a position at a place called Little Round Top. That day Chamberlain and his Maine Men took repeated attacks from the Confederate forces on that hot July day. Chamberlain’s 20th Maine Regiment eventually ran out of ammunition, and as the Confederates prepared for another charge up Little Round Top, Chamberlain gave a simple order, “Bayonets!”

Can you imagine Alcee Hastings at Little Round Top? “We aint got no bullets and there ain’t nothin we can do,?” and the salvation of our Union would have taken a different course. Because the victory at Gettysburg was the first defeat of Gen Robert E Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia, turning them back from an eventual attack on Washington DC.

If Congressmen Hastings, Klein, Wexler, Mahoney, and Congresswoman Wasserman-Schultz all share this defeatist attitude, then South Florida and indeed America, need them no longer. This is not leadership, not to mention bad grammar. It is abject failure and the lack of intestinal fortitude to take responsibility and accountability to find a solution. There are many solutions to our country’s energy independence.

Having served this Country in several combat zones, I can attest to this: when in a firefight, a bad decision is better than no decision at all. There can be no doubt as to why this Congress under the presumed leadership of Speaker Pelosi is a collection of whining losers, and we as the American people should not have to suffer for their lack of courage, competence, and character.

Finally, as to the issue of timelines for solutions; in World War II
Pacific theater, the USS Yorktown had received incredible battle
damage, I believe at Midway, and limped into Harbor. It was estimated that the damages would require 6 months to repair. The USS Yorktown made headway back into the fight three days later.

Americans are not quitters, Congressman Hastings! We find a way to win!

Best Regards, Lieutenant Colonel Allen B West (US Army, Ret)
Candidate, Florida’s US Congressional Distict 22

West Answers Obama:Run as a Man and Leader

Jun 26, 09:19 AM

June 22, 2008
Clarice Feldman
American Thinker

In response to Obama’s claim that Republicans will use race to stoke fear, Lt. Col Allen West, candidate for Congress in Florida’s 22 District issued this release:

My advice to Senator Obama is to run as a Man and Leader, and the American people will evaluate you as such, not as a victim. This is a Presidential race, based solely on a capacity to lead the United States of America. It is not about skin tone…however, perhaps we should come to expect these immature statements.

It also seems rather humorous that the Presidential candidate who was supposed to be such a “uniter” and transcend race is the one talking about it the most. If Senator Obama was confident in his abilities and character, he would not need to create a crutch for failure. Senator Obama has just tipped his hand, any criticism of him and his policies will be directly attributed to racism. I congratulate Senator Obama for taking race relations in America back some 30 years.

American Spectator Blog

Jun 21, 06:49 AM

Bloomberg for Obama in Boca Raton – Friday, June 20, 2008 @ 4:44:15 PM

The New York Times reports from Florida:
Injecting himself directly into the presidential campaign and speaking before one of its most crucial constituencies, Jewish voters, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on Friday morning forcefully rejected what he called a “whisper campaign” in the Jewish community linking Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, to Islam.
Note that Bloomberg made this speech in the 22nd District, where Republican challenger Allen West’s campaign manager told me that many Jewish voters were “uncomfortable” with Obama. I don’t think such discomfort can be rightly attributed to a “whisper campaign,” but is far more due to Obama’s affiliation with radicals like Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Rev. Michael Pfleger.

Posted By: Robert Stacy McCain

Colonel of Truth

Jun 20, 02:27 PM

Campaign Crawlers
By Robert Stacy McCain
Published 6/20/2008 12:08:12 AM

Conservatives seeking a gleam of hope amid gloomy prospects for November are beginning to turn their eyes toward sunny Florida, where an Iraq war veteran is waging a David-and-Goliath battle for Congress.

Allen West, a retired Army lieutenant colonel who made headlines five years ago with his gunpoint interrogation of an Iraqi prisoner, is challenging first-term Democratic Rep. Ron Klein in Florida’s 22nd District.

After the 2006 midterm meltdown that helped Klein defeat 13-term incumbent Clay Shaw, many Republicans—including presidential candidate Sen. John McCain—are campaigning as boring centrists.

West, however, is bringing a back-to-basics conservative message. He takes a strong stance against illegal immigration, favors drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and criticizes free-spending Washington ways.

“What you see happening is that the Republican Party has gotten away from its basic ideology,” West says, adding that 2006 “was a bad year for Republicans because they started acting like Democrats.”

TWO YEARS AGO, congressional scandals—including the House page imbroglio involving Rep. Mark Foley in the neighboring 16th district—helped drag down Shaw in the 22nd District.

Republicans were hurt, West says, by “the kind of corruption that people expect from liberal Democrats.” This year, West has sought to turn that issue around. He has criticized Klein for “personal earmarks totaling more than $12 million” and accused the incumbent of spending taxpayer money for mailings that contain “blatantly political statements.”

While Klein has an enormous fundraising advantage—as of April 1, the Democrat had about $2 million in campaign cash to about $100,000 for West—West points out that Klein is an incumbent in a year when congressional approval ratings are at an abysmal low.

West charges that much of Klein’s money comes from PACs and “special interests,” and he quotes the Florida Democratic Party chairwoman’s criticism of taxpayer-funded mailings: “The people of Florida are suffering…Your campaign coffers are not.”

The Republican challenger can expect a surge for his own campaign coffers, as he is rapidly emerging as a favorite of conservatives across the country.

West has already been featured in Human Events and other conservative publications, gotten a boost from the right side of the blogosphere, and appeared on radio talk shows with Laura Ingraham and Michael Savage.

Considering that Florida’s 22nd District is home to such media figures as Matt Drudge, Ann Coulter, and Rush Limbaugh, it’s likely West will get more national attention as the campaign progresses.

WEST’S FIRST exposure to the media spotlight in 2003 was the result of an assassination plot against him while he was serving with the Army’s 4th Infantry Division in Iraq’s Sunni Triangle.

According to National Review, West was interrogating a prisoner (an Iraqi policeman identified by military intelligence as part of the plot) and fired a pistol next to the prisoner’s head. The prisoner confessed, giving up detailed information that helped foil a plot to ambush West’s unit.

“If you’re a bad guy, don’t ever get between me and the safety and the lives of the American people,” West says of the incident. “As a commander, your moral responsibility is to take care of your troops.”

Two months later, however, the Army told West he had a choice: Retire or face a court-martial. West retired and moved to Florida, where he spent the next year teaching high school in Broward County.

It was while speaking at a local Republican Party event that West caught the attention of Florida political consultant Donna Brosemer, whose son had served in the military in Iraq.

After the 2006 GOP debacle, Brosemer—who calls West an “inspirational” and “compelling” candidate—got in touch with West by e-mail. By then, he was working as a civilian adviser to the Afghan army (he’d “kind of got the itch” for another taste of military life, he explains).

Brosemer convinced West he “had what it takes to make a run at Congress,” and became his campaign manager after he agreed to run.

So far, West says, the campaign has gotten “an incredible response” from the district that stretches along the Atlantic coast north of Miami.

“It’s not just with conservative Republicans, it’s everybody, all across the district,” West says. “People are hungry for someone who gets back to the basic conservative message.”

AFTER HIS 51 percent win in the previously Republican district two years ago, Klein has accumulated a liberal record, scoring a zero rating in 2007 from the American Conservative Union.

Klein may also be vulnerable, Brosemer says, because voters in the district overwhelmingly favored Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama in the Democratic primary.

About 12 percent of district’s voters are Jewish, and many of those voters have responded warmly to the tough-on-terrorism message from West, who is staunchly pro-Israel.

“What we cannot lose our focus on is the enemy we need to be pursuing,” West says. “We have to be able to identify the enemy, the radical Islamic ideology.”

Many of the district’s Jewish voters are “uncomfortable” with Obama, Brosemer says. While liberals might interpret that discomfort as racism, such an accusation can hardly be made against West, who is black.

Last month, after the Politico reported that Republicans were “heading into the 2008 election without a single minority candidate with a plausible chance of winning a campaign for the House, the Senate, or governor,” West replied in a Human Events column, “That came as a particular surprise to me, since I am a conservative black Republican running for Congress in FL 22, with a good chance of winning.”

WEST, WHO DISMISSES Obama as “an empty suit,” normally doesn’t raise the race issue himself, preferring instead to emphasize what he calls “American issues” of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Riding the strength of that message, West says he’s not intimidated by the Democrat’s money advantage. “We don’t need to match Ron Klein dollar for dollar,” he says. “There’s a difference between being a fundraiser and being a leader.”

Reflecting on his own experience of being pushed out of the Army for doing what he felt necessary to protect his troops, West touches on the theme of character that is central to his campaign.

“In life, you’re going to get knocked down,” he says. “The measure of someone’s character is what you do after you’ve been knocked down.”

Robert Stacy McCain is co-author (with Lynn Vincent) of Donkey Cons: Sex, Crime, and Corruption in the Democratic Party. He blogs at The Other McCain.

Allen West's response to: Black Conservatives Conflicted on Obama Campaign

Jun 18, 05:04 PM

Email from Allen West | June 14, 2008 | Allen West

Posted on Saturday, June 14, 2008 8:46:01 PM

For most of my adult life I took an oath to a simple document, the US Constitution, to support and defend it against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and to bear true faith and allegiance to the same. My allegiance is to America, its people, and their rights as put forth in that superb document. I shall not discard my principles and commitment to my God and Country, just because. I applaud Senator Obama for his accomplishment, however, there is no way I will vote for someone that is so contrary to my beliefs in lower taxes, limited government, individual rights and freedoms, individual responsibility and accountability, not collective prosperity sharing.

I grew up in inner city Atlanta Georgia, and my elementary school, Our Lady of Lourdes, is across the street from Ebenezer Baptist Church. Dr King’s seminal ideal of “content of character vs color of skin” resonates with me. Regardless of the probable ensuing vitriolic name calling, my ideology and principles are not in concert with those of Senator Obama. I wish him well, but I dont wish him to be President of THESE United States of America”.

Lieutenant Colonel Allen B West (US Army, Ret)
Republican Candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives
Florida District 22

From New Media Journal May 3, 2008 at http://www.newmediajournal.us/guest/e_christmas/2008/05032008.htm

Jun 17, 08:29 AM

If they were alive today, would the signers of the Declaration of Independence notice that there is less fidelity to the will of the people, for example in protecting the sovereign borders of the U.S. – sovereignty for which William Hopper, John Penn, George Walton and Arthur Middleton bravely signed that 1776 document, knowing full well that they were opening up themselves to suffering the full wrath of the King of England?

Terrorists murdered almost 3,000 innocent Americans on September 11, 2001. We rightfully waged war on both known and suspected terrorists. Good so far. We even helped some countries build borders to protect their sovereignty. Somewhere along the way in fighting “terror” in foreign countries by land, sea and air, we forgot that we also have land, sea, and air to protect!

Are the bravery and courage, so ably exhibited by the 56 signers, now in danger of extinction 232 years later? It is with deep chagrin that I look at the “presidential” campaign and witness “cooks” who should not be in the kitchen because they cannot stand the heat. Have “whining” and well-timed sound bites now been elevated to “qualifications” to be president?

I care not at all who gets the first question in a debate. I do not want to hear the potential president, who will control that red phone, whining about ducking from buffets. But I do want to see or hear that candidate grab the damn buffets and hurl them back. Pretend that the buffets are being hurled by some two-bit dictator threatening harm to the “governed.” Should any dictators threaten the country, what action would be taken? To call in the pastry chef!

When my freedom is at stake, I want to see a division of Marines shooting to kill, and asking questions later. I “consent” to be governed, but I want to see strength and truth in action, not speeches about paté and croissants! I do not want to see “typical white grandmothers,” or, for that matter, typical any color, thrown under the train in order to protect a candidacy. I want to hear a modern-day John Paul Jones rally: “I have not yet begun to fight!”

Now I am beginning to see why those guns should never be taken, not even from our “cold, dead hands.” We may need them to protect our land, if those to whom we have given our consent to be governed, are of a squeamish disposition. Bring back Lt. Colonel Allen West, who lost his military career because he dared to allow a gun to be shot in the ceiling (or wherever) in order to scare a suspected “insurgent” in Iraq, thereby saving the lives of soldiers under Lt. Col. West’s command. I get the impression that Lt. Colonel West does not have the time to discuss the culinary merits of quiche or arugula, but he could not only stand the heat in the kitchen, he would probably be the source of that heat!

###

The Other McCain http://rsmccain.blogspot.com/2008/06/update-col-west-fl22.html

Jun 17, 07:45 AM

Monday, June 16, 2008
Update: Col. West & FL22

UPDATED & BUMPED: Just got off the phone with LTC West himself, who told me he’ll be interviewed Tuesday on The Laura Ingraham Show.

While talking to the colonel, I learned, among other things, that he’s an Atlanta native like me. We talked SEC football—he’s a University of Tennessee alum, while I’m a University of Alabama fan. He said he’d be happy to give me a “Roll Tide!” When I accused him of pandering, he added, “Except on the Third Saturday in October.”

PREVIOUSLY: Just got off the phone with a campaign staffer for Col. Allen West, the Republican challenger to Rep. Ron Klein in Florida’s 22nd District. The staffer said the campaign’s baseline poll last month showed Klein “surprisingly weak” and that, despite Col. West’s relatively low name-recognition, there was a lot of excitement because he is “such a compelling candidate.”

The district “went heavily for Hillary” in the Democratic primary, which the West campaign feels is a good omen for their candidate, because Clinton voters were generally more hawkish than Obama’s. The district, which extends along the coast northward of Miami, has about 12 percent Jewish voters, many of whom are “uncomfortable” with Obama, the staffer said. (Unless I’m mistaken, El Rushbo lives in the 22nd District.)

While West’s fundraising so far is no match for Klein’s $2 million war chest, the staffer said the record-setting 2006 campaign—where Klein and incumbent Republican Rep. Clay Shaw spent more than $3 million combined—was an anomaly. Usually it doesn’t take that much to win FL22, and “we feel we will have enough to be competitive,” the staffer said.

Asked whether it was a possibility that the John McCain campaign might make an appearance with Col. West, the staffer said probably not before October, if then—especially since Team Obama is making noises about ceding Florida to McCain. If there is a fight for Florida, however, the West campaign may help boost McCain more than vice-versa, the staffer said, because Col. West is such an “inspirational” candidate.

BTW, the staffer said the West campaign is very much aware of, and grateful for, their support within the conservative blogosphere.

From MichelleMalkin.com June 14, 2008

Jun 14, 11:51 AM

It’s not race, it’s arugula
By see-dubya • June 14, 2008 07:50 AM

The Weekly Standard’s Noemie Emery disputes the media’s facile, predictable racial interpretation of Obama’s poor showing in Appalachia. It’s not because of race, but rather reflects a deep national divide between action-oriented Jacksonians versus clerical, paper-pushing Brahmins:

Let us call this rival approach the Barone Manifesto, after its author, political analyst Michael Barone, who crunched the poll numbers for Obama’s primary battles with Hillary Clinton and discovered that while the former did exceedingly well with white voters in university towns and state capitals, he did poorly almost everywhere else. From this, Barone broke the electorate down into two large divisions–academics and state employees who live in these places, whom he calls Academicians, and Jacksonians, who live elsewhere, especially in the regions close to the Appalachian mountains.

Yep, that’s it. Academicians eat arugula, and worry about its price at Whole Foods. Jacksonians don’t.

There’s nothing wrong with being an academician or eating arugula (hey, I do), you’re just going to have a hard time selling yourself to Jacksonian America as the kind of bold leader they’re looking for. Even if you were the bestest “community activist” in all of Chicago.

Emery’s last paragraph is interesting:

Now let us imagine a different candidate, one who looks like Barack Obama, with the same mixed-race, international background, even the same middle name. But this time, he is Colonel Obama, a veteran of the war in Iraq, a kick-ass Marine with a “take no prisoners” attitude, who vows to follow Osama bin Laden to the outskirts of Hell. He comes from the culture of the military (the most color blind and merit-based in the country), and not the rarefied air of Hyde Park. He goes to a church with a mixed-race congregation and a rational preacher. He has never met Bill Ayers, and if he did he would flatten him. He thinks arugula is a town near Bogota and has Toby Keith on his favorites list. Would he strike no chords at all in Jacksonian country? Does anyone think he would lose 90 to 9 in Buchanan County? Or lose West Virginia by 41 points? For those Jacksonians who would be fine with a black man in the White House (not as tiny a group as Newsweek thinks), Colonel Obama is the one we are waiting for. When we will get him is anyone’s guess.

I don’t know about Colonel Obama, but there’s one politician on the scene this year running for Congress in Florida who completes Emery’s List (heh) pretty nicely: Lt. Col. Allen West. What an amazing biography– and he’s even against amnesty:

“In my time spent in Afghanistan I saw first-hand how an unprotected border can destabilize an entire country. All you hear coming out of Washington is foolish rhetoric about writing new laws and creating new government programs that sound good on paper but do nothing to solve the problem. Our border patrol officers put their lives on the line every day protecting our borders and engaging in high-powered gun battles. The duties they perform go beyond those of an immigration official. They are defending our borders and it is time we equip them with the tools they need to secure our border. As your congressman, I will push to move the Border Patrol out of the INS and into the Department of Defense. This is not a social issue; this is a national security issue.”

Furthermore, something tells me LTC West isn’t going to be very patient with the Supreme Court’s handwringing on interrogation.

LTC West’s feelings about arugula remain unknown, although I think we would be willing to overlook a few youthful indiscretions of that nature.