There's A Reason Adam Hasner Won't Disassociate Himself From Romney's Disgusting 47% Diatribe In Boca Raton

We finally heard Romney articulate a policy. The video shot in Boca Raton Florida may have been the most in-depth look we have had from the Romney campaign about what he will actually do if he wins in November. What other policies has he detailed behind closed doors over $50,000/plate meals? A Modest Proposal perhaps?

One of the men who might be better briefed on the details Romney’s campaign against the 47% is Adam Hasner. Hasner is running for Florida’s 22nd Congressional seat against former West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel. He’s also a  co-chair of the Romney campaign in Florida. Hasner prides himself on his partisanship, though you wouldn’t be able to tell that from his mailers in the Democratic-leaning district, which conveniently leave out mention of his own party. But as a true partisan, he has remained silent on Romney’s umpteenth-- and most spectacular-- gaffe.

Silence makes sense for him. Romney’s moment of truth-- and it can be argued the Republican Party’s moment too-- happened not only in Hasner’s district, but at the home (or rather latter-day Versailles, by way of Trump) of Marc Leder, one of Hasner’s biggest backers. Leder, the co-founder of private equity firm Sun Capital, was Romney’s inspiration to enter the private equity game, as we saw in the report by the New York Times. Leder currently oversees $8 billion in equity. Leder has maxed out twice to the Hasner campaign-- and has personally pumped $372,900 into right-wing political candidates over the last few years (plus a couple of sleazy, corrupt Democrats like Debbie Wasseman Schultz, of course). Although not as salaciously as the other New York dailies, the Times has exposed Leder for his sex orgies and for his shady dealings with investors. This is from January:

It was, the gossip pages would later report, the talk of the Hamptons-- a midsummer night’s bacchanal in the playground of the 1 percent.

Beyond the windswept dunes in Bridgehampton, at a $400,000-a-month oceanfront mansion, bright young things bubbled up and the Champagne flowed fast. Into the small hours, professional dancers in exotic clothing gyrated atop platforms. One couple twirled flaming torches. The sounds of techno boomed over the beach.

The New York Post summed up the evening’s Dionysian mysteries with the following headline: Nude Frolic in Tycoon’s Pool.

The Post’s tycoon, and the party’s host, was a financier named Marc J. Leder, and those weekend revels last July had the East End of Long Island buzzing. Like many deal makers, though, Mr. Leder, 50, is virtually unknown outside financial circles. But from his headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla., he presides over a multibillion-dollar private empire. He is a practitioner of a Wall Street art that helped define an age of hyperwealth, and which has now been dragged into the white-hot spotlight of presidential politics: private equity.

It was through private equity that one Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, amassed his wealth-- and, it turns out, it was through private equity that Mr. Romney first met Mr. Leder. A couple of months after the blowout in Bridgehampton, Mr. Leder was host for a fund-raiser at his Boca Raton home for Mr. Romney’s campaign. But the connection goes back even further. Years ago, a visit to Mr. Romney’s investment firm inspired Mr. Leder to get into private equity in the first place. Mr. Romney was an early investor in some of the deals done by Mr. Leder’s investment company, Sun Capital, which today oversees about $8 billion in equity.

...[I]n many ways, Mr. Leder personifies the debates now swirling around this [vulture capital and private buy-out operations] lucrative corner of finance.

To his critics, he represents everything that’s wrong with this setup. In recent years, a large number of the companies that Sun Capital has acquired have run into serious trouble, eliminated jobs or both. Since 2008, some 25 of its companies-- roughly one of every five it owns-- have filed for bankruptcy.

Among the losers was Friendly’s, the restaurant chain known for its Jim Dandy sundaes and Fribble shakes. (Sun Capital was accused by a federal agency of pushing Friendly’s into bankruptcy last year to avoid paying pensions to the chain’s employees; Sun disputes that contention.) Another company that sank into bankruptcy was Real Mex, owner of the Chevy’s restaurant chain. In that case, Mr. Leder lost money for his investors not once, but twice.

Yet Mr. Leder doesn’t seem to be suffering too much himself. In fact, he is living so large that he can’t avoid the limelight. Last July, he used part of his personal fortune to join a group of investors in buying the Philadelphia 76ers. In December, he was spotted on St. Bart’s with Russell Simmons, of Def Jam and Phat Farm fame, and Rachel Zoe, the celebrity stylist. That again landed him in the New York Post, which dubbed him a “private equity party boy.”

Hasner always tries to portray himself as a "family values" guy but Leder is one of his top campaign financiers. And Hasner’s silence speaks volumes. He has opted for the Republican path of money and power over the interests of the people in his district. Medicare recipients find themselves part of Romney and Hasner’s 47%. South Florida being South Florida, that equals nearly half-a-million people in Hasner’s district that he believes don’t take responsibility for their own lives. The 47% also includes veterans who utilize the VA and other veterans services. They put their lives on the line for this country, but, when it comes down to it, they’re just freeloaders and "moochers." Adam Hasner; partisan to the core.

Other Republican candidates, such as Scott Brown in Massachusetts and Linda McMahon in Connecticut, have hinted at being uneasy with Romney’s comments. It’s worth noting that both these Republicans come from Democratic-leaning states. Why then has Hasner remained quiet when his compatriots haven’t? That the Super PACs are lining up around the corner and down the street to bombard the 22nd with television ads is undoubtedly the answer. He can depend on Super PACs, like Eric Cantor’s Young Guns, to come in, spend thousands, and attempt to buy this election. It doesn’t really matter what Hasner says and does, including stomping all over a big portion of his electorate. All that matters is that he has the money, or other people have the money for him, so he can lie and manipulate his way to Congress. So here it is folks, your Citizens United lesson of the day; Republicans believe that money can outweigh bad and dangerous politics and policies. Surprised?

As we know, just because Republicans believe it, doesn’t make it true. In fact, it may be the opposite. There is a big chance that if Hasner stays silent, even with his boatloads of money, he will lose. He only articulates the bad policies of Ryan and Romney and can’t really win on policy against Frankel. Medicare is no minor issue, especially in the retirement communities of South Florida. And Lois Frankel is a force to be reckoned with. She also has a real background of economic revitalization and job creation in West Palm Beach. The question here isn’t who the better candidate is and who will better represent their constituent’s interests. Frankel wins that contest hands down. It’s a question of money. This is going to be a tight race and may turn out to be one of the most important this cycle. The result of the race in Florida’s 22nd will speak volumes-- even if Hasner says nothing-- of what our electoral system and our politics have become.

Thuggish Republican Allen West Says It's OK To Beat Up Peaceful Protesters

Sometimes I worry about my old pal, radio host Nicole Sandler. She keeps pressing her luck. Her district is represented by fascist Allen West and she keeps questioning him. Fascists don't like being questioned. He had her dragged out of a Florida townhall, arrested and jailed a few months ago. And this week she had the temerity to show up at his DC office with a whole bunch of other constituents to talk with him about his voting record against the middle class. You know, even before he managed to get into Congress, West was known for having been kicked out of the military for torturing a suspect he didn't like. That's why I worry about Nicole; West is a dangerous sociopath and if he can hurt her and get away with it, he will.

"It sickened me to see his name on the door of a congressional office," Nicole told me today. "Allen West should be in a military brig, not in Washington DC. I went with a group of other constituents to see him, and he refused to meet with all but four of us. Even his staff was rude, something I didn't encounter in any other office I visited. I guess that's just his leadership trickling down.

"I've invited him on my show numerous times, as he says he represents ALL of his constituents. I think that means all of his constituents who agree with his twisted way of thinking."

West, an Army veteran, became a YouTube sensation by criticizing “this tyrannical government” and crying out: “if you’re here to stand up to get your musket, to fix your bayonet, and to charge into the ranks, you are my brother and sister in this fight.” He said that the country was engaging in “class warfare” between “a producing class and an entitlement class,” which is composed of Obama supporters.

While serving in Iraq, he was forced out of the Army for his violent handling of an investigation of a police officer. During the interrogation, West dragged “him outside, pushed his head into the sand, and fired a gun next to his face to get him to sing.” According to West: “It wasn’t torture. Seeing Rosie O'Donnell naked would be torture.”

A real comedian!

Lois Frankel, the frontrunner among Democrats eager to challenge West at the polls next year, doesn't think he's very funny. After his appearance on Fox earlier this week, glorifying violence to some zombie right-wing propagandist masquerading as a journalist, against his own constituents for protesting, peacefully, at his office-- this is, after all, specifically guaranteed by the Constitution he's sworn to defend-- Mayor Frankel had a suggestion for him: "Allen West needs to re-read the copy of the constitution that he carries around in his pocket. West is there to represent all of his constituents not just the four that he let in his office." She issued an even stronger statement to West Palm voters:

Congressman West has again shown how out of touch he is with the concerns of the middle class. For Congressman West to joke about violence directed at citizens exercising their constitutional rights and expressing their outrage at a system that he helped tilt against them is disgraceful. West's contempt for working families and seniors will not create jobs for Floridians or help the country tackle the deficit responsibly. Mr West, when will you actually have the courage to defend your plan to protect billionaires at the expense of Medicare and a middle class tax break? Once again Allen West panders to the most extreme Washington elements and makes fun of the very people he is supposed to serve and represent. Congressman West's behavior proves why we need to make a change in Congress and get it working for Florida's hard pressed families. West's behavior yet again confirms that he is an arrogant elitist who embodies all that is wrong with Washington.

The is an important race-- a Democratic district with one of the most-- if not the most extreme right-- Member of Congress. The one percent is running their own candidate in the Democratic primary, "former" (he switched party registration a few months ago so he could run) Republican Patrick Murphy. If it's an Allen vs Murphy face-off, the one percent wins-- and laughs. Lois Frankel has a record of standing up for the middle class and working families. Allen West and Patrick Murphy don't. When Allen West becomes a fulltime Fox commentator in 2013, let's make sure he's replaced by a real Democrat, not a rich Blue Dog type. And, yes, West is already practicing for his new role: "I’m very concerned about this very divisive rhetoric the president is using when he continues to talk about ‘equality’ and ‘fairness’ and this thing that I think is really contrary to the principles that I mentioned, as far as life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Because the government cannot guarantee happiness."


UPDATE: Patrick Murphy Fundraiser

If you're a wealthy Republican-- but like a mainstream one, not a crazy one-- you might want to consider going to Patrick Murphy's fundraiser at Morgan & Ibrahim Al-Rashid home at 2443 Fisher Island Drive on Fisher Island this Tuesday evening. Minimum contribution is $500 but you get to schmooze with that great Democratic fighter for progressive values, ex-Governor Charlie Crist, perhaps more of a Democrat than Murphy is.

How Is Right-Wing Extremist Allen West Working Towards A Win In A Blue District?

A crop of unique and extraordinarily unqualified men and women were elected to Congress last year. It's the ultimate damage the Koch-funded Tea Party did to America. And a case can be made that there was no worse outcome than the defeat of moderate Florida technocrat Ron Klein by raging right-wing extremist and proven sociopath Allen West. Disappointed Democrats and left-leaning independents in Broward and Palm Beach counties didn't bother coming out to vote. In the mid-term before (2006), 43,746 Broward voters gave Klein a 51-47% victory over longtime Republican incumbent Clay Shaw. In Palm Beach County is was 63,611- 59,120 for another 51-47% win for the challenger. Last year it turned around... badly. Klein only managed 39,654 votes in Broward (to West's 46,146) and 60,150 in West Palm (to West's 72,744). In both counties, the GOP vote went up and the Democratic votes... just evaporated. The 22nd CD had been steadily supporting Democratic presidential candidates in recent times. Gore beat Bush 52-48%. Kerry beat Bush 52-48% and in 2008, Obama beat McCain 52-48%.

That brings us to 2012... well first to 2011. The Republican legislature, in strengthening several endangered neighboring Republican districts (Webster's and Rivera's particularly), gerrymandered the area in such away that clearly threw West under the bus. McCain's 48% in 2008 would have been a 44% in the new boundaries... very bad news for West, who doesn't even live in the district.

Ironically, the crazed and clownish West, who will probably get a Fox TV show in 2013, leads all GOP freshmen in fundraising through Sept. 30, bringing in $4.2 million and managing to raise more than half, $2.3 million, in amounts of $200 or less. Two years ago, he’d collected only $543,808 in the same period. The kooks and nuts across the country identify with his sick Jack Bauer persona.

There are two Democrats running for the nomination to take on West, former West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel and Patrick Murphy, a rich young businessman with suspicious credentials as a Democrat. In fact, until last January he was a registered Republican, something the DCCC never lets stand in the way of recruiting. They LOVE rich, conservative candidates, regardless of politics.

Miami Dade Supervisor of Elections records shows that Murphy was a registered Republican in Miami-Dade county from 2004 up until January of 2011 and he cast his vote in the 2010 elections as a registered Republican.  Murphy changed his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat mere months ago- on January 10, 2011, according to the Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections... [W]hat’s most revealing about Murphy’s party switch is that given its proximity to the announcement of his candidacy for Congress, it appears that it was done much more for political expediency than for any other possible motive.

Like Frankel, Murphy has raised more than $1 million, although, unlike hers, which comes primarily from small donors, he's getting larger sums from suspicious, wealthy sources.

Before buying his way into the Democratic Establishment's good graces by giving "ex"-Blue Dog Steve Israel, the corrupt and reactionary head of the DCCC, $2000 in March (plus $2,400 to Florida's Democratic Senator Ben Nelson in January, $2,500 to Obama and $4,800 each to Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Ted Deutsch this year), Murphy had been a GOP donor and had been contributing thousands of dollars to Charlie Crist (that's them together below) and Mitt Romney.

Something about Murphy stinks. I'm wondering if he's not part of a Republican scheme to give Allen West an easy time. Is it possible that he was recruited by the GOP to run against Frankel in the primary so that she spends all her money and isn't prepared to fight off West's millions in teabaggy and corporate cash?

Murphy sent an email to supporters, claiming he's "proud to stand with the 99 percent" and denounced West's name-calling comments identifying the Occupy protesters as "communists," "Marxist," "Stalinist," and "socialist" in the same sentence and adding that they're just a bunch of "gangs." But what does this rich Republican Mitt Romney donor know about OccupyWallStreet?

This is smelling more and more like a typical Republican trick, where the GOP incumbent recruits his own weak "Democratic opponent." DWT uncovered this type of scheme in 2006 when California's most crooked congressman, Jerry Lewis, manufactured his own make-believe opponent, Louie Contreras, who completely disappeared after winning the primary. Since then we've seen other Republicans trying the same trick. It's the second best thing to not having any opponent. We're going to have to dig a little deeper into Murphy and see what's really there.


UPDATE: More West Antics Roil Florida Politics

Although yesterday's biggest news regarding West was his call for Herman Cain to drop out of the presidential race/book campaign because of his philandering, a bit of West news is exploding inside Florida political circles. After the new maps came out he supposedly decided to try to switch districts by challenging Tom Rooney. West never lived in the 22nd CD anyway and now it's way bluer than it was when he managed to pull off his win last year. He lives in Debbie Wasserman Schultz's district but he doesn't have the guts to challenge her; he's always been a big mouthed coward. So he's going after Rooney, a befuddled GOP backbencher in way over his head.

"Allen's strongly considering making a move," said a highly placed source affiliated with West's camp. "It's not a big move, just a few miles away."

West's best move-- running for U.S. Senate-- still appears to be off the table. But West gave it a second thought recently, another source said. And he could jump in that race, though it's less likely.

All this talk is both premature and potentially too late. On one hand, the Legislature has yet to meet to sign off on the plans. And the Florida House hasn't even proposed its own version. But, sources in the Legislature tell us that the House is more inclined to adopt major portions of the Senate's Congressional map. So West needs to start making noise now, in part because legislators will have to decide whether to help him. Rooney has a key connection in the Legislature: uber-lobbyist and political fundraiser Brian Ballard, who has represented the gambling interests of the representative's family for years.

Regardless of what West and Rooney work out between themselves, DWT is supporting school teacher and progressive Democratic activist Dave Lutrin for the seat he should have won-- if not for interference from Rahm Emanuel-- in 2006. Lutrin filed for the 16th yesterday. You can contribute to his campaign here. Between Grayson, Ruiz, Frankel and Lutrin, Florida Democrats may be fielding one of the most progressive batch of House candidates in the country!

Even In Rick Scott's Over The Top Florida, Allen West Stands Out As The Worst of The Worst

In yesterday's Sun Sentinel Stephen Goldstein makes the case that the area's crackpot congressman, Allen West, is following in traditions antithetical to the American spirit he blindly believes he's following. A third of the colonists in Revolutionary America were conservative and stuck with the British, fighting for them in many cases, and fleeing after the success of the Revolution against the crown. West and the self-styled "teabaggers," delusional defenders of corporate dominace, would most certainly have been among them.

If the original Boston tea partiers had had to follow Congressman Allen West's rules, we'd still be a British colony. He needs to "man up" and apologize to radio talk-show host Nicole Sandler.

She was arrested at one of his recent town hall meetings for the crime of exercising her First Amendment right-- and "becoming physically aggressive," according to the police report, a charge which she denies. It shocked and grieved me to see her being treated like a common criminal-- eventually held overnight in jail (three hours in solitary confinement) and maced. Watch the videos of her ordeal at radioornot.com. In one of them, West's wife tries to grab Sandler's camera, before she even speaks out.

Hypocrisy of hypocrisies: Tea party/Republican West was elected in 2010, benefiting from a wave of disruptive, mass, orchestrated tea-party protests around the country during town hall meetings on health system reform. Sandler acted alone. But now that West, who went to Washington to "take back" the government for "the people," is a member of Congress, he appears only to want to hear from "the people" if their questions are screened and sanitized.

First, a little about my history with Sandler. I have known her personally for many years. Well-known and respected, she is a passionate advocate for liberal issues. Controversial, she knows what she's talking about: Her positions are solid and well-researched. She had her own radio show on WINZ, the Air America affiliate in South Florida, now hosts a weekday radio show at radioornot.com and pinch-hits for nationally syndicated Randi Rhodes. Sandler has interviewed Kingsley Guy and me numerous times-- and we have guest-hosted her program.

Second, a little background about my history with West. I met him only once, which was quite enough. My "Dueling Columnist" partner, Kingsley Guy, and I had been invited to debate at the Tower Forum in Fort Lauderdale. During the Q&A, no one stopped West from publicly telling me that, because of my political views, I was destroying the country.

He appointed himself judge and jury of my patriotism. No one made him write down his comments and hand them to someone else to censor or deliver-- as attendees at his "town hall" were required to do. No matter how subjective, offensive, or outrageous his comments were to me, no one muzzled him. He didn't hesitate to be confrontational. I told West that I would see to it that he wasn't elected to Congress, which of course I had no intention of doing-- because I don't engage in revenge journalism. We spoke civilly after the event.

West could have diffused tension when, ignoring his rules, Sandler spoke up. He could have listened to her, answered and then continued. Instead, he watched as she was handcuffed and taken away.
But the retired Army lieutenant colonel needs to get out of military mode and take a course in "How to handle objections," because he's in for opposition wherever he goes. His extremist voting record puts him at odds with most Americans, even most Republicans-- especially because he defends the GOP destruction of Medicare, the subject Sandler wanted clarified.

She, who lives in West's district, wonders why he doesn't. (He lives in Plantation and his member of Congress is Debbie Wasserman Schultz.) She also finds it odd that the Calvary Church, where he held the town hall she attended, isn't in his district.

West's handling of his town hall set in motion a shameful chain of events that is typical of today's divided America. But it's not too late for him to take the high road and acknowledge mistakes made in his name.

I have not discussed this with Sandler, but he would rise in everybody's estimation if he were big enough publicly to clear the air with her-- even give her the hearing she was denied at his town hall by being a guest on her radio program. I'm waiting for him to show me he's a bigger man than I have reason to believe he is.

Goldstein will be waiting a very long time. West is a common thug, if not a psychotic and deviant criminal. He was kicked out of the military for running his own crazy little torture operation in Iraq. I hope he winds up with a progressive opponent because whichever Democrat runs against hi in 2012 will in all likelihood beat him... badly. and since we mentioned, Florida Gov. Rick Scott in the title, here's Doug MacGregor for Gannett:

Allen West Changing His Emphasis From Anti-Healthcare Extremism To Anti-Something Else Extremism

West palling around with fascist publicity hound Pamela Geller

There's a lot of competition for the title but probably the most unhinged and deranged of the teabaggers elected last November is Florida war criminal Allen West, who lives in Plantation and represents the nearby 22nd congressional district. West, who was booted out of the military in 2004 for running his own personal, unauthorized torture operation in Iraq, is in the news again. This time he's doing an about-face on his jihad against healthcare reform. After voting for all the Republican Party efforts to overturn healthcare and to destroy Medicare, West, who came under attack from his own constituents for his votes in the last few weeks, suddenly crossed the aisle and voted with the Democrats against another pointless GOP bill to defund healthcare, this time for school children. Michael Burgess's mean-spirited bill, H.R 1214 is meant to repeal the program requiring the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants to school-based health centers to support the operation of such health centers. It passed on May 4, 235-191, with only 4 Republicans in opposition, all, like West, in Democratic-leaning districts. The difference is that the other 3-- Steve LaTourette (OH), Joe Heck (NV) and Mike Kelly (PA)-- have reputations as mainstream conservatives, unlike West's reputation as an out-and-out, over the top fascist who invariably mouths tea party talking points. His antics are going over poorly in one of the country's most Jewish districts and he appears to be trying to change his approach to being rabidly pro-Israel to try to win back their allegiance.

West spokeswoman Angela Sachitano said in an email that the congressman “believes there are bigger funding issues to be focusing on right now including the numerous developments in the Middle East, concerning Pakistan and whether there is a link to [Osama bin Laden] and the recent unity agreement with the [Palestinian Authority] and Fatah and Hamas."

He also questioned the House’s continued efforts to dismantle the healthcare law on a piecemeal basis, she said.

“He voted to repeal Obamacare, and it was dead on arrival in the Senate,” Sachitano said. “He questions what the goal is of chipping away like this if it’s almost certain that the Senate is not going to take it up.”

A day earlier, West voted in favor of a GOP bill to strip funds from the state-based insurance exchanges created by the 2010 healthcare law. Sachitano would not say why West supported that bill but not the second measure targeting school health centers.

A frequent speaker at Tea Party rallies, West has pushed the GOP leadership to be more aggressive on cutting spending. His actions this week flummoxed members of the conference, a GOP aide said.

The aide said West and his chief of staff were urging Republicans to vote against the health center bill on the grounds that Congress should be solely focused on the conflict in Libya and asserting its constitutional prerogatives under the War Powers Act. The aide said West was “sorely mistaken and is out of step with the rest of his conference.”

The aide was speaking for Republican majority Leader Eric Cantor, the only Jewish Republican in the House. And Cantor isn't the only senior Republican legislator who looks at West as a worthless clown. West was quick to start screeching incoherently about not sending any more money to Pakistan, unmindful as ever about the delicate nature of the internal politics of that unstable, nuclear armed country. He ran to Fox News to get some attention and politicize a very thorny situation. The senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Dick Lugar, would probably like to stuff a rag in his mouth. Appearing on CNN's State of the Nation yesterday, Lugar said that "[i]t appears to be very logical that if Osama bin Laden was in that home for six years of time, a group of people there connected with the military, that a lot of people in Pakistan knew about his whereabouts." But Lugar cautioned against a bull-in-a-china-shop approach to relations with Pakistan. "Pakistan is a critical factor in the war against terror, our war, the world's war against it, simply because there are a lot of terrorists in Pakistan... Now, that's a big difference from the thoughts that bin Laden might have been proposing attacks on American trains or bridges or this very possibly and a portfolio of circumstances. But Pakistan is a very critical country."

Is The Very Conservative Steve Israel Recruiting Candidates Too Conservative To Win Back Disaffected Democratic Voters?

Nancy Pelosi appointed a conservative "ex"-Blue Dog-- a concept I believe in as much as I believe in an "ex"-gay-- to head the DCCC and win back the majority. Steve Israel has already boasted he's basically the same as Rahm Emanuel but without the potty mouth. Yesterday's NY Times ran a flattering profile of Israel and his troubles as DCCC Chair. It starts with how his conservative buddies in the Blue Dog Caucus-- who not only drag the whole party down with their Republican philosophy but who get the bulk of whatever money the DCCC manages to wring out of the disillusioned Democratic base-- have again refused to contribute to the DCCC. The same way that freeloader states like Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee take far more from the federal treasury than they pay in, the Blue Dogs-- and many are from those very states-- mooch off the DCCC and never pay their fair share. Maybe it's something in the water down there-- or in the history.

It may seem surprising that the job of taking back the House-- Democrats need 25 seats to do so-- has fallen not to a bloodthirsty partisan, but to the easygoing Mr. Israel: an unassuming centrist from Long Island who once voted with President George W. Bush nearly half of the time and has barely made a mark after a decade in Congress.

Yet in a day spent shuttling back and forth between the House and Democratic headquarters with a reporter in tow, Mr. Israel, 53, shows signs that beneath his neighborly exterior-- he once formed a “Center Aisle Caucus” to promote civility in a polarized Congress-- lies a cold-eyed player of the inside game.

On the phone with a Democratic official who was wavering about a run in a crucial swing district in upstate New York, he has no time for niceties.

“If you’re standing on one foot, waiting and wishing, you’re just not going to be in the House of Representatives,” Mr. Israel says, putting the screws to his prospect like a salesman at an auto mall.

“I know what that feeling’s like,” he goes on. “You wake up, and there’s a new Democratic member of Congress that could’ve been you, except you didn’t move fast enough.”

Israel may have "once voted with President George W. Bush nearly half of the time" but lately he's tending towards voting an awful lot with John Boehner and Eric Cantor instead of with progressives. According to ProgressivePunch, since January Israel has reverted to his worst instincts, scoring an abysmal 47.83 crucial votes score, voting more often with the GOP than with the Democrats-- although only on the big issues. In fact, he has the exact same score as his buddy Heath Shuler-- just a teensy weensy better than Republican Ron Paul's 47.06. Several Blue Dogs have more progressive voting records than Israel.

Israel seems to have had a hand in recruiting West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel-- who is being termed out of a job-- to run for a seat universally viewed as one of the most vulnerable GOP-held districts in the country, Allen West's Broward County/Palm County 22nd CD. In November's low-turnout election-- with energized teabaggers and disappointed and disillusioned Democrats creating a tsunami that hit Florida worse than any other state-- swept away innocuous but competent moderate Ron West and replaced him with one of the most extremist and batshitcrazy congressmen ever elected. This is a district that Gore, Kerry and Obama has each taken with 52% and a district that had previously elected Klein with 55% (2008 against West) and 51% (2006, against long-term incumbent Clay Shaw).

As we mentioned last week, a non-politician, environmentalist Patrick Murphy, has already jumped into the race. Although Frankel's Assembly voting record got more and more conservative as her 14 year stint wore on, she has every right to run and she may even be the best candidate-- I don't know. But what I do know is that Israel and the DCCC (and Debbie Wasserman Schultz) should stay out of the race and let the Democrats of FL-22 decide.

Teabagger Allen West Finds Himself A Crackpot Chief Of Staff Who May Actually Be Crazier Than He Is!

People For the American Way's Right Wing Watch blog is doing a fantastic series on one aspect of the new Congress that will be seated in January, The Ten Scariest Republicans Heading To Congress. I can't imagine who the grand finale will be but yesterday they featured South Florida psychopath Allen West. West is already causing some waves in DC because of his determination to pick a fight with the Congressional Black Caucus because of the Hate Talk Radio host he hired as a chief of staff. We'll come back to that in a moment since she's had some memorable things to say on-air. I don't know if they're as outrageous as West referring to women as "oral relief stations," although, presumably, if Florida women would have minded West wouldn't have won last week.

West, an Army veteran, became a YouTube sensation by criticizing “this tyrannical government” and crying out: “if you’re here to stand up to get your musket, to fix your bayonet, and to charge into the ranks, you are my brother and sister in this fight.” He said that the country was engaging in “class warfare” between “a producing class and an entitlement class,” which is composed of Obama supporters.

While serving in Iraq, he was forced out of the Army for his violent handling of an investigation of a police officer. During the interrogation, West dragged “him outside, pushed his head into the sand, and fired a gun next to his face to get him to sing.” According to West: “It wasn’t torture. Seeing Rosie O'Donnell naked would be torture.”

West also has close ties to the Outlaws motorcycle gang, which an NBC News report found had criminal-ties and a website that features a page honoring members who are in prison, extolling “members convicted of violent crimes, including murder.” In a letter, West wrote: “Please, no more references to ‘criminal’ because I can tell you, they have the utmost respect for me and that which I seek to achieve. I was never more amazed at how members of the Outlaws guarded me during a one hour cell phone radio interview.”

Moreover, he addressed events sponsored by Outlaws-linked organizations, used Outlaws members to harass his rival’s campaign workers, and writes a column for their magazine. Their magazine, Wheels on the Road, has also used anti-Semitic, racist and sexist material, and once called women “oral relief stations.”

West encouraged his supporters to use violence in suppressing the votes of opponents, saying, “You've got to make the fellow scared to come out of his house.”

He maintains that it is “unfortunate” that gays and lesbians are serving in the military, and compares homosexuality to adultery. West is also radically anti-choice. On abortion rights, he has said “I believe all future discussion on this issue should move us toward the elimination of abortion except in the most extraordinary of circumstances,” and accused pro-choice groups of “promot[ing] abortion as a means of birth control.”

West wants to eliminate the progressive tax system. He supports tax cuts for the rich, and calls Wall Street Reform a “sham.” He’s advocated for eliminating the Departments of Energy and Education.
On immigration, he claims that illegal immigrants should not have access to care in emergency rooms, and that Muslim terrorists are coming through the border with Mexico. West’s first decision as Representative-elect was to choose as his chief of staff right-wing radio talk show host Joyce Kaufman, who called for illegal immigrants to be “hung on the central square.”

A Republican partisan, West said: “I hate big-tent. I hate inclusiveness. And I hate outreach.” West uses extreme rhetoric against Democrats and liberals. He said that liberals resented the fact that he saved the lives of American soldiers. On the anti-Islam blog Atlas Shrugs, he wrote that progressives “detest anyone who has the courage of conviction and love of America, something which they find unconscionable." In the same post, he wrote, “Liberals seek to destroy any institution of intrinsic value: God, country, family, honor, valor, courage, VIRTUE... Why? Because if such things exist, then they must be defended, which brings them back to their fear of action." He also claims that Democratic combat veterans Joe Sestak and Patrick Murphy “hate the military.”

West says that Obama does not “care for this country” and wants to “make it like some type of third world socialist cesspool,” and is not an American since he grew up in Indonesia and “never played little league baseball.” He compared Obama and his “tyrannical government” to the rise of Adolph Hitler and the Nazi party in Germany, and dubbed the Obama Administration a “thugocracy.”

Militantly anti-Muslim, he consistently criticizes Arabs and Muslims, and he told Atlas Shrugs’ Pamela Geller that the Bible is evidence the Arabs are a “wild” people: “the Angel of the Lord said to [Hagar]: Behold you are with child, and you shall bear a son, you shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has heard your affliction. He shall be a wild man; His hand shall be against everyman, and every man's hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.' Ishmael of course became the beginning of the Arab people....and God's word is immutable truth.”

He has suggested that there are “thirty-six training camps” run by terrorists inside the US, and that soldiers are becoming “brainwashed” by terrorists who “infiltrated the military.” According to West, Islam is “not a religion” but a “theo-political belief system and construct” that must be destroyed.

Yes, this is now an elected Member of Congress. When West ran against Klein, then a freshman, in 2008. West got 140,104 votes (45%) to Klein's 169,041. Klein drew 55% in both Palm Beach County and Broward County in the Democratic-leaning 22nd. (At the same time Obama won 52% of the district.) This year Democratic voters just did not come out to the polls. 115,411 of West's voters came out but only 97,051 of Klein's did. West won in both counties by about the same margin. The post above referred to the Hate Talk Radio host he hired as chief of staff, Joyce Kaufman. If you think he's a crackpot, just take a look at some of her rantings and ravings (what he refers to as "her 20 years of experience on the political scene in South Florida" that he claims will give him "helpful insights and perspective."

* She said Jewish people voted for President Obama because “they don’t embrace being Jews anymore.”

* She said Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan “looks basically like Ed Schultz in drag.”

* Discussing illegal immigrants on her show, she said: “If you commit a crime while you’re here, we should hang you and send your body back to where you came from, and your family should pay for it.”

* At a rally with West standing by, she said: “Calling illegal immigrants ‘undocumented workers’ is like calling a drug dealer a pharmacist without a license.” “There are people who want to change your way of life, and some of them may be your gardeners,” she said.

* She also blamed undocumented immigrants for pollution and disease: “We are destroying the environment in this country at an incredibly accelerated pace because of this group of people who have come to this country and have to live a very substandard existence. They don’t have mufflers on their cars. I mean, it sounds like silly nonsense, but it’s not. The cumulative effect is huge. They live, you know, 10 to a household; they bring disease with them.“

The district was described by The Almanac Of American Politics as being "affluent, elderly, with a large Jewish population politically very active in condominium groups." Don't ask me... but weren't these the same elderly Jewish people who screwed up so badly when they went to vote, casting ballots for Buchanan instead of Gore, that we wound up with George W. Bush in 2000 because of their inability to read a ballot? I mean, literally, the exact same ones? It's like some kind of fatal attraction for Nazis or something!