GOP Rep. Allen West: I Have No Plans to Tone Down My “Strong Language” in Wake of Giffords Shooting…
Stand strong.
(Palm Beach Post)- U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, this morning criticized “political opportunism” in the wake of Saturday’s shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and said he has no plans to tone down his own “stronger language.”
Within hours of the shooting that killed six and critically injured Giffords, some commentators placed the massacre in the context of the nation’s heated political climate and blamed the tea party movement, Sarah Palin and other conservatives although no public evidence has suggested accused gunman Jared Lee Loughner was associated with or sympathetic to any of them. Some critics pointed to West’s own words — such as saying citizens must be “well-informed and well-armed because this government that we have now is a tyrannical government” — as contributing to that climate.
West has rejected such criticism and accused those making it of trying to score political points.
“One of the concerns I do have is the political opportunism that has come out of this. That’s kind of deplorable and unconscionable what some people are doing. This is not the time to start looking for grandstanding and things of that nature,” West said on his way into a West Boca Chamber of Commerce breakfast at Boca Lago Country Club.
Asked if he had any regrets about his choice of words in the past, West said, “No I don’t, because I think when you look at the president saying don’t bring a knife to a gun fight and the fact that the president talked about if the Republicans were to win in the midterms we’re going to have hand-to-hand combat.”
He also said a blogger in Broward County had once said West should be skinned alive, so “I think there are some things that both sides need to be concerned about.”
Posted by ZIP on Tuesday, January 11, 2011, at 10:31 am | 
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Well said, Representative West. Since political rhetoric had nothing to do with the tragedy, there’s no reason to stop telling it like it is. This is no time to give in to the left’s lies and slander.
Damn the torpedoes!
i *love* this man
A true patriot. I’m proud to call him my representative.
Damn shame that a Freshman has to make a statement like Col West’s.
Where the hell is Boehner and McConnell?
They are letting the leftist mantra promulgate without check.
THANK GOD FOR THIS MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!
From the “R Plantation”…
The hell is that supposed to mean?
Leadership in action. Meanwhile the “leadership” in Congress is doing this: (from twitter) @snarkandboobs: GOP to “temper rhetoric”. Are you kidding me? Way to validate fallacious and vile spin, morons: http://is.gd/kyIDz
A one way ticket to the WH for this MAN…no doubt about it.
Thank you, PRESIDENT WEST!
Brian, I am totally jealous!
Gotta love him!
Tank is sooooooo Right.
I am so glad West came out and told the left to stop being pussies blaming the Right for something a insane kid did.. It is a shame that a Freshman Congressman had to come out and speak up for the Conservatives and the Tea Party.
The Tea Party needs to get better organized so when crap like this happens there’re people set up to defend us… We really need to get united on this before 2012 or we are screwed.
Right now we have so many different groups and no real leader to say Hey this is the Tea Party and we object to being vilified by the left do to some wacked out druggy who has a love affair with Communism and Satan.
due….
Our government has become tyrannical as Col. West has said.
It is our right by God to resist the forces of tyranny.
If we are not willing to resist, then we deserve no freedom, nor the benefits derived thereof.
They can call us what they will. Right wing fanatics, traitors, whatever.
I’m sure the Patriots were called the same things by those sympathetic to King George.
We should not be swayed in our resolve.
We should stand fast as Col. West is, and fight them to the end.
EXCELLENT. The tragedy is nothing about scope sites, tone, hate speech, or any other made up bull. It’s about a lone sicko moron murderer.
We need many more “Allen West’s”. Someone who sticks up for what he thinks, and says, and protects the right of others’, to be able to do the same. He is not going to be made to feel guilty or responsible for speaking his mind.
I really like this guy. Wish he would have been our first President of Color.
That would have been an accomplishment to be proud of.
“R-Plantation”? It’s customary to write “R-Florida”. I don’t read the PB Post, so I don’t know if this is there habit. But it sure does seem that they’re out on some pretty thin ice.
How did they refer to Giffords – D-Tucson?
Wish he had been around in 2008!
said he has no plans to tone down his own “stronger language.”
***********
Thats just why I love this guy !
Florida, consider yourself very fortunate to have this man.
Colonel anytime your ready…..Texas is ready for you.
…..just kidding Florida!
“No,” I’m Not “
Yeah I noticed the “R-Plantation”…me thinks that Palm Beach might be trying to insinuate something there.
Should be West R-Florida.
Love this man! My respect for him grows with every comment. I’m proud to be able to say I contributed financially to his campaign and hope to do so again when he runs for president. Run West Run.
Although Col West and his family reside in Plantation, FL, would it not be correct to say 22nd District or Broward County or just FL? Is this the journalistic integrity we can expect now?
Love the guy! West for President 2012!!!!!
Suppose Dear Leader was from the same area – there would be no such R-Plantation “oversight” to be sure.
Isn’t “R-Plantation” what the liberals call “coded language”.
Allen, just keep on keepin on.
my kind of guy
Look at how much love the “racist” tea party gives a black man this is just shocking…
Do you think that Allen West and Marco Rubio could be our dream team for 2012? Though neither have vast experience, sometimes, it is the “times, that call for the man”. If we weren’t at a time of war, and turmoil, a different man could fill the position. These times call for leadership, and resolve, and someone who isn’t afraid to offend. They call for someone who is proud of their country, and can actually say that “There is such a “THING as AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM”. It is neither naive nor arrogant to believe that.”
Both of these men, West and Rubio are smart, articulate, and diplomatic. I think they would make a strong team. They have as much or more experience than Obama, and we know most everything about them, (they are not trying to hide anything). I am sure there will be those that will call West’s experience into question, which is laughable–considering who is in charge right now.
is someone insinuating that the use of the word plantation is *gasp!* Racist?
Pssst. Timmy Pawlenty.
Courage to Stand. Allan West haz it.
Go, Col. West!
It is instructive that it had to be a freshman congressman who said this instead of the so-called leaders of the country.
This is a man I can follow, and support politically. Everything he says and does speaks to his intrinsic honesty and honor.
A pity I can’t say that about a lot of other “leaders”.
Last paragraph in the article:
“West said he wasn’t armed at today’s event. At least two of West’s colleagues — Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and Heath Shuler, D-N.C. — have said they’ll consider arming themselves at constituent events.”
Please note, that with other representatives, both Republican and Democrat, the article correctly identifies each one with their state; “Rep. Jason Chaffetx, R-Utah, and Heath Schuler, D-N.C.”
So, one has to wonder, exactly what was the subtext of the opening “U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation?” Code-speak by the leftist media? Or are we on the right just “racists” for having noticed?
He always tells it like it is… So many hypocrites out there for the sole purpose of “political opportunism”. I also like that he stated, when asked if he had any regrets, “No I don’t”. But, there shouldn’t have been the “because of ..President…”. Yeah, sure, it’s good to mention BO stated that, but, I don’t think that’s the reason to stop, or not to have “regret” because of. It’s called freedom of speech, and sometimes you need to use symbolic comparisons to get your point across.
His steadfastness reminds me of Reagan.
The asshole the Left is trying to sponge credibility off Reagan reminds me of Jimmy Carter if Carter had spent time in Chicago learning Marxist theory and associating with terrorists.
Really, do they honestly think anybody buys that? Sheesh, what idiots.
Plantation, Florida is in Wasserman-Schultz’s District – not West’s.
What’s going on here?
Zip, could you (or someone else) pursue this?
Does that photo come in POSTER SIZE??!!
Plz?? I want one for my livingroom.
Looks like in the hour of our nation’s greatest danger, a true fearless leader is emerging dedicated to protecting and defending our Constitution and the continued existence of a free Republic.
Where the hell is the so-called leaders of the Republican Party. Fight back and do not play the marxists’ game. Fight back Sarah Palin. True leaders do not give an inch and indeed do not retreat at the first sign of trouble.
Notice Rush Limbaugh is not sitting down but is on the offensive and telling the truth.
Allen West for President!
Tone down your rhetoric or you will cause Pawlenty to cry Allen West.
He speaks for me and millions of us…I love this MAN!
Pence/West ’12!
OTP…
That works for me!
A true patriot!
Thank you sir for calling a spade a spade.
Wish we had folks like you in Michigan’s local and federal government in years gone past to have limited the political damage they created!!!
Call it like it is……..
You people are pathetic, Plantation is a town in Florida.
http://www.postonpolitics.com/2011/01/fyi-u-s-rep-allen-west-lives-in-plantation-fl/
As the above poster said, Plantation is a town in Florida, a town Allen West lives in. He is listed as R-Plantation in all the local papers, just as other local U.S. Reps in Florida are listed as R or D followed by their city.
As for the confusion about the fact that Plantation is in Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s district, this is correct, it is. Allen West does indeed live in Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s congressional district. He was not enough of a man to challenge her because he knew he had no shot of winning, so he took on an opponent in CD-22, which is much more of a swing district. This shouldn’t really be allowed, but it is, so West took advantage.
Also, this feigning of outrage about West and the R-Plantation already happened earlier to the Sun Sentinel, another South Florida newspaper which cites its local U.S. Reps in the same way. No one is being racist. You people need to get lives and stop trying to think the liberal media is out to screw you. The Palm Beach Post may be somewhatr liberal in its editorial board, but the reporter who wrote these articles, Bennett, is pretty fair and balanced, and may have some conservative leanings in his personal life.
So get the hell over it.
@Clarification, your post appears to be self-righteous. The liberals overwhelmingly try to infer, and point out racism on the Right, in the most ridiculous ways. They have even called people of color, “racist” if they happen to be Republican, instead of Left-leaning. If we disagree with Obama politically, we are supposedly racist. People on the LEFT have stated this on TV; they have proclaimed it from the rooftops. If we make a valid point on most anything, the Left looks for some other reason for the statement; “these people are so against a black man in the WH, they will say anything”, etc., etc. Do you not see any of that?
The Media on the Left has been trying to “smear the Right” at every turn. If you can’t see that, you must be blind, or narrow minded. Do not preach to people who see a real bias. It shows your intolerance for opposing views.
Those whom are making accuations and screaming all this crap, sounds like the third world countries, with remarks like “the mother of all shootings” and crap such as that. So it just shows how to take these idoit’s remarks and how they are in the power positions they are in.
Great man WEST is, not giving in or up and taking a stance for “One nation under GOD” type of attitude. What the God remark well this is a nation where one may make a personal opinion isn’t it. God Bless America.
Go Representative West ….
You are the TRUE American !!!!
What a fine example of a leader and public servant this man is! Those other reps in the House must follow his example abd strive to act as he does.