West Weekly Wrap-up (W3) Report for the week of Oct. 19, 2009
Last week was very busy and it almost ended with a really big bang. Unfortunately my Tennessee Volunteers fell to the Alabama Crimson Tide as their field goal attempt for the win with 4 seconds left was blocked. A close loss, of course, but a loss nonetheless. We can all take a lesson from a game like that as we move forward towards 2010. We can't accept any moral victories from close losses....we need to work together, harder than ever to realize a win for positive, conservative values.
So much happened this week, that at times it seemed as though I was taking a lap at Daytona. It began with the President's Chief of Staff, Rahm Emmanuel, stating that we will base our Afghanistan strategy on the Afghans. This is dismaying on many levels as we formulate our military strategy on the unreliable and corrupt Afghan government. The lives of our soldiers are at stake and, rather than rely on the experience and recommendations of General McChrystal, the President and his staff remain indecisive on strategy and may decide to lean on Hamid Karzai and his weak, ineffectual government to provide an answer our government refuses to produce.
On a campaign note, a "hat tip" goes out to West Palm Beach businessman Dale Hedrick for hosting a fabulous fundraiser. There were many people in attendance and we had a great opportunity to spread our message of a production society vs an entitlement society. The Democrats, led by Nancy Pelosi and her buddy Ron Klein, want to increase dependence on the federal government and pass government-controlled health care. The growth of another entitlement that costs over $1 trillion will not be cost effective, nor efficient. We can look at what they've done recently when they squandered billions of our tax dollars on the "clash for clunkers" program. The real numbers came out and the taxpayers ended up with a bill for each car sold in the amount of $24,000 per "clunker"....definitely a lot more than the $4,500 per vehicle promised by the Democrats (see great video here ). You just can't trust them with our tax dollars. This reckless spending is going to cause permanent damage to our economy and it won't matter how much money Pelosi and Klein print, we will all be in trouble.
I also had the pleasure to address a variety of groups and supporters: the newly begun Sunshine Republicans, the Safari Club, Holy Cross Hospital, a nice one-on-one with former Broward County Sheriff Nick Navarro, and Steve Rosenblum and Daria Giovanni of Conservative Republican Forum, blog talk radio.
While provided an opportunity to speak at Holy Cross Hospital, I was surprised by the decision of the administration to monitor my speech for content, regardless I was happy to speak about the issues regarding health care in our country but was most certainly taken aback by the necessity of having an administrative "note taker".
On Wednesday, BET.com released an opinion piece referring to me as an "Uncle Tom". What I love about liberals is they cannot tolerate individual independent thought. They preach the virtues of different ideas and challenging the mainstream, but in truth it actually frightens them. I stand up for what I believe in and see the world for what it should be, a color blind society that judges on the "content of our character" and not the color of our skin. Unfortunately, when the ideas of black conservatives such as Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams and myself don't follow the liberal line, we are smeared with hateful slurs. Thankfully, the color of my skin is less important as the thickness of it, and I and all of my supporters will enjoy our win in 2010 so much more as we unseat a member of the liberal machine, Ron Klein. The sweetest reward for all of us will be the opportunity for victory that awaits us all next year, an opportunity to reject this "politics as usual" race baiting.
In a continued effort of politics as usual for the Democrats, the administration and their surrogates attacked Fox News in an attempt to destroy the news organization. Perhaps Nancy Pelosi, Ron Klein and the President should be more focused on the true enemies of our country: joblessness, the bloated federal budget and Islamic terrorists threatening our nation. Sadly, it seems they want us to be distracted by their Chicago-style tactics to silence opposition and accept the actions of an anointed czar who institutes a 90% pay cut to private sector employees, a harmful federal government takeover of our health care, 10% unemployment, and a disturbing lack of direction in Afghanistan. Consider the dangerous precedent that has now been established, that government may arbitrarily decide what constitutes "proper" wages and may soon determine what constitutes "proper" medical care for you and your family.
Next year's election will be a chance for all of us to return fiscal sanity to our government rather than wasteful spending and government takeovers. Ron Klein is a part of the politics as usual that so damages the leadership in our nation's Capital. We would love for all of you to join our team and if you have the time or can make a donation to the effort, please find your way to our website at www.AllenWestforCongress.com. I really do appreciate all of your kind words, vocal support and financial support. We can win this race together!
Lastly, Hat Tips go to Miami Mike who celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Wheels on the Road, South Florida's definitive motorcyclist magazine. A final hat tip goes out to Mr Jim Big, who invited Angela and I to the 4Kids of South Florida gala dinner in Ft Lauderdale. It was amazing to see the stories of young lives being turned around and their refusal to be victims in life. They broke the cycle with hard work and determination and refused to become part of an entitlement class. It is always a treasured experience to witness hard work be rewarded with success!
Steadfast and Loyal!
Allen
