Georgia Crackpot Barry Loudermilk Wants To Be The New Allen West

Barry Loudermilk reads Revelations while waiting for his make-up artist to arrive

Unindicted war criminal/torturer and one-term far right congressman Allen West, was widely considered an embarrassment even to the Republican Party. Although Democrats had their collective fingers crossed that he would run for the Rubio Senate seat if Rubio decided to run for vice president, those hopes were dashed last month when West took a job at an extremist think tank in Dallas. He celebrated his new position on Fox with Sean Hannity, describing a Jeb Bush vs Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential race as "a big government progressive Republican running against a bigger government progressive socialist Democrat."

West had built up quite a money-milking machine on the fringes of the psychotic, paranoid right of the GOP and he started and ran his on PAC, the Guardian Fund. Last year the PAC raised $6,418,777 and spent $6,088,154. Most of the money, of course, made it into the West's now pockets but $70,000 went to right-wing candidates and $1,536,951 went into Independent Expenditures. The extremists who West gave $5 and $10,000 checks to were

• Dan Bongino (R-MD)
• Will Hurd (CIA-TX)
• Lawrence Kaifesh (R-IL)
• Barry Loudermilk (R-GA)
• Mia Love (R-UT)
• Martha McSally (R-AZ)
• Steven Russell (R-OK)
• Lee Zeldin (R-NY)
• Ryan Zinke (R-MT)
• Tom Cotton (R-AR)

West's biggest independent expenditures were on behalf of extremists Joni Ernst ($551,937), Tom Cotten ($450,257) and Dan Sullivan ($349,075). Of the $6,418,777 reported raised, over $4.2 million was spent on fundraising itself, a very profitable endeavor for GOP hucksters like West.

Last week, he turned over the keys to his kingdom one of the craziest extremists elected in 2014, Georgia sociopath Barry Loudermilk. Already considered one of Congress' silliest crackpots. Loudermilk was elected to Phil Gingrey's seat-- when Gingery made an abortive run for the U.S. Senate-- beating libertarian Bob Barr in the primary runoff 34,641 (66.1%) to 17,794 (33.9%). GA-11 is one of Georgia's most politically backward districts-- R+19-- and the Democrats didn't field a candidate in the general election. Loudermilk was excited to don West's whacky mantle as he took over the PAC:

“Under the exceptional leadership of Allen West, the Guardian Fund led a grassroots conservative movement that led the way in taking the Senate back from liberal control and expanding our conservative majority in the House,” Lourdermilk emailed supporters on Friday. “Colonel West always leads by example, valuing decisive action over cheap talk. And I'm honored that he's asked me to follow him as chairman of the Guardian Fund. It's my intention to carry the torch forward as he would -- with direct action against the liberals who are trying to destroy America by sending strong constitutional conservatives to serve in Washington.

“Allen West played a major role in helping me get to Congress,” Loudermilk continued. “I am an Air Force veteran who served in intelligence during the Cold War, and when I made the decision to run for Congress, it was because I wanted to preserve liberty for my children and grandchildren. The Guardian Fund shares that desire and stood by me through victory in November. Now it's my turn to lead and I'm ready to go to the ends of the earth to fight for veterans, constitutional conservatives, and minority candidates, all of which we need more of in Washington.”

Calling President Barack Obama “dangerous,” Loudermilk tore into the president’s record on terrorism and immigration.

“Barack Obama, with his failed leftist ideology, is putting America at risk,” Loudermilk insisted. “Just like Allen West, I swore an oath to defend this country and its Constitution that I intend to uphold. The fight is on.”

Louder milk has already lost considerable credibility among the lunatic fringe, having solemnly vowed to vote against Boehner for Speaker while he was campaigning, but then voting for Boehner last week. On July 5 he told the Marietta Daily Journal that “I think Speakers have a term limit. They have a shelf life. And nothing personal against Boehner. He’s probably a great man, but I think we’ve got to have some leadership. Really, the deciding factor for me was allowing the bill to give Obama the ability to raise the debt ceiling at his will without any Congressional constraints whatsoever for over a year. I think that was irresponsible. That was irresponsible for the American citizens, and so it’s nothing personal, I think it’s just time for rotation in the leadership.” The same newspaper reminded Loudermilk's constituents that on the very first day of Congress he broke his first promise to them:

Loudermilk, when running for the seat, emphasized his objection to what Washington does and how its does it, i.e. to the status quo. He wanted change. The theme worked well as he demolished former Congressman Bob Barr in the Republican primary for the seat.

Loudermilk’s first official action as a new member was to cast his vote for John Boehner to continue as Speaker of the House. In so doing, he helped put down the largest revolt of House back benchers against sitting in place leaders in more than 90 years. Arguably this was not a bad first vote for the freshman member who must gain his footing by learning the ways and means of the legislative body he has joined. It is, however, hard to explain coming from a new member who believes, as Loudermilk is quoted as believing Boehner has already retaliated against Loudermilk for having voiced opposition to Boehner continuing as speaker in the November Republican caucus meeting. The danger is that Loudermilk and his fellow would-be reformers will fall into the habit of supporting the Congressional leadership, which typically means supporting the status quo.

In the recent effort to dethrone the speaker, the media reported that Boehner’s opponents claimed he was not sufficiently conservative. Those who characterized the contest that way were not listening or watching. The contest was more about legislative strategy and tactics, neither of which appears to be Boehner strengths.

...The problem for Barry Loudermilk is that his first vote could put him on a path of going along to get along. The attitude is the death-knell to the politics of reform. Opposition to Mr. Boehner in the caucus grew out of the fact that he has for years embraced the go along to get strategy. Congress as an institution is today approved by less than one quarter of the nation’s voters because of this kind of cynical cronyism.

As Loudermilk finds his footing he needs to remember he ran for the position he holds by opposing business as usual. This will be achieved only if Boehner hears from the members of his caucus that it is time for a change. If the reform impulse in lost in undue allegiance to the speaker and his leadership team, Loudermilk will have very quickly become part of the problem before he ever tried to become part of the solution.