Rep. Allen West Tries To Walk Back Telling Obama To ‘Get The Hell Out’...

[ProSense]

Rep. Allen West Tries To Walk Back Telling Obama To ‘Get The Hell Out’: ‘I Did Not Refer To Any Person Leaving’

By Tanya Somanader

Rep. Allen West (R-FL) once again sparked controversy with a demagogic speech in Florida this past weekend where he demanded that liberals and President Obama “get the hell out of the United States of America.” Now, West is engaged in a rapid backpedal, appearing both on CNN and Fox this morning to insist that what he said is not actually what he said.

On CNN, West demanded that a skeptical host Soledad O’Brien view the entire speech an realize that “he was simply trying to draw attention to the decline of a country” at the hands of people who hold values that are “not in concert with our constitutional republic.” “And if you can’t understand that,” he added, “please come down to South Florida, you and I can read the Federalist Papers.” Later on Fox and Friends, West told host Steve Doocy, “I did not refer to any person leaving”:

WEST: The other thing is that I did not refer to any person leaving. If you go back and read the transcript of the message that I gave, it was about equality of achievement, it was about economic dependence, it was about enslaving the American entrepreneur’s will and spirit. That message needs to leave this country. And that was what I was referring to. And I think that anyone that sat back and looked at the entirety of that 12 minute, 45 second speech would understand that we’re talking about a contrast of visions of this country.

Watch both interviews:

<...>

Looking back at the transcript as requested, it’s pretty clear that West specifically named “President Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and my dear friend, the chairman of the Democrat National Committee [Debbie Wasserman-Schultz]” to “take it to the North Pole, but get the hell out of the United States.”

- more -

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/01/31/415222/rep-allen-west-tries-to-walk-back-telling-obama-to-get-the-hell-out-i-did-not-refer-to-any-person-leaving/

Dumb fuck. It's easy to understand why he's a Republican.

[MADem]

1. If bullshit were electricity, he'd be a powerhouse. nt

[roguevalley]

18. he's demented. truly demented.

[Plucketeer]

21. West is...

an oozing, festering sore on the ass of humanity. He's the one that oughta leave - before his affliction spreads!

[Old and In the Way]

2. "what he said is not actually what he said"

Ahhh, another victim of conservative speech syndrome. They were just giving a normal speech when other words suddenly were spewn from mouths. In spite of videotape evidence that clearly show what they said, the victim disavows the words as his/hers. Or maybe clear thinking and a command of the English language is problematic for the typical conservative politician-clown?

[xxqqqzme]

6. Even more curious is how this

syndrome seems to only afflict rethuglicans.

[The Wielding Truth]

15. Words mean nothing to them, thus integrity means nothing.

[Fuzz]

29. Liberal media, of course.

[Lawlbringer]

3. So it's like this:

"See, I never just did things just to do them. Come on, what am I gonna do? Just all of a sudden jump up and grind my feet on somebody's couch like it's something to do? Come on. I got a little more sense then that."
[pause]
"Yeah, I remember grinding my feet on Eddie's couch."

[mikeytherat]

16. cocaine is a helluva drug

mikey_the_rat

[Loge23]

4. He's a typical coward

West likes to talk big and bad until it's time to own up to his words, then he's all of a sudden a misunderstood gentleman whose words are being distorted by the ever-imaginary "liberal media".
He's basically a fringe nut job who was asked to leave the military for aggressive interrogation actions (can you say War Criminal?).
The hardest thing for him, now that he holds a legitimate job, is trying to sound like a reasonable human being.
He'll be out when his term is up, thankfully.

[yellowcanine]

5. "you and I can read the Federalist Papers.” Someone should call his bluff on that.

Read a quote from the Federalist Papers and ask him where it came from.

My hunch is that West and most of the Tea Party types have never read the Federalist papers, at least in any detail. Their main purpose was to promote and defend the Constitution by arguing the virtues of a strong central government which the Constitution provides for, unlike the weak central government in the Articles of Confederation. Specifically things like judicial review and the Commerce Clause are defended, neither of which are held in high regard by Tea Party types. Even where the Federalist papers got it wrong it does not support the Tea Party positions. For example, Madison makes an argument that the Bill or Rights is unnecessary. With the way Tea Party types support gun rights enshrined as they see it in the 2nd Amendment, it is hard to see why they are such a fan of Madison and the Federalist Papers. Clearly they do not know about this argument which Madison makes.

[renie408]

10. Bingo. n/t

[a2liberal]

19. +1 (n/t)

[Peregrine Took]

7. Does he have his civilian suits especially tailored to look like miliatry uniforms?

Something really weird about the way they fit.

[russspeakeasy]

8. West is a coward and nothing else needs to be said.

[LiberalArkie]

9. West said what he said to his audience at that time. None of his audience will see his retractions

on CNN, or any other media. As I do not think FoX ever covers the retractions during normal hours.

[AtomicKitten]

11. I called his Florida office yesterday and wonder if others did too.

No I don't think my phone call precipitated this; just wondering if others complained too.

[surfdog]

12. just spoke with three different people at his Washington office

All three of them said he never mentioned names in his statement

[Iliyah]

13. Same gopper BS

This type of behavior always remind me of a movie, ummmmm, I think was "????" wherein a married middle aged man was making out with a young woman in his bedroom when his wife suddenly walks in but he and the young lady dresses (and she leaves) all the time ignoring the fact that they were actively, sexually involved, he makes up the bed all the while telling his wife what woman(?), and he keeps saying that and acting like nothing had happened and then his wife started believing him and thinking maybe she didn't see her husband making out - LOL

OK, thats the logic of the goppers.

[rationalcalgarian]

45. "Guide for the Married Man"?

Sometime in the late 50's or early sixties, I think. Hilarious movie. The scene you describe had Sid Caesar as the husband and Carol Burnett as the wife.

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. "No I didn't torture those prisoners! You're wrong!"

That's how he got out of serving any time for his war crimes. Why not try this trick again?

[era veteran]

43. Should be doing time at Ft Leavenworth

A pisspoor example of leadership.

[fishwax]

17. lol -- sadly typical

I don't know what reading the Federalist Papers has to do with understanding this: "Take your message of equality of achievement, take your message of economic dependency, take your message of enslaving the entrepreneurial will and spirit of the American people somewhere else. You can take it to Europe, you can take it to the bottom of the sea, you can take it to the North Pole, but get the hell out of the United States of America."

[rocktivity]

20. Okay, so exactly what he DID he say?

Last edited Wed Feb 1, 2012, 12:40 PM - Edit history (1)

[div class="excerpt" style="border:1px #000000 solid"][font size="3"]"We need to let President Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, (audience boos) and my dear friend the chairman of the Democrat National Committee, we need to let them know that Florida ain't on the table," West said. "Take your message of equality of achievement, take your message of economic dependency, take your message of enslaving the entrepreneurial will and spirit of the American people somewhere else. You can take it to Europe, you can take it to the bottom of the sea, you can take it to the North Pole, but get the hell out of the United States of America."

Following cheers, West added, "Yeah I said 'hell.'"[/font]
Look on the bright side -- the realization that he's made a gaffe means he's probably back on his meds again.


rocktivity

[Botany]

22. u damn liberal!

w/ direct quotes and using the google machine 2.

[Bruce Wayne]

25. It's unfair to quote him in context

...or something...

[Major Nikon]

23. How dare the 'liberal media' use his own exact words against him?

Shameful.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

37. "reality has a well-known liberal bias"

-- Stephen Colbert, standing about five feet from GW Bush at the 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner.

[Bruce Wayne]

24. It's plausible. If they were leaving, you don't have to tell them "get out"

Otherwise, it's pure bullshit.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

26. Rumor has it West is about to cut-and-run to another district

Knowing that the moderate purple he currently represents is going to give him the boot in the fall.

[DFW]

38. His opponent, Lois Frankel just confirmed it

This was in an email from her (campaign):

Allen West just announced that he is cutting and running from a fight with me - he is retreating to another district. Mr. West had to see the writing on the wall- after spending his time in Washington practicing his extreme tea-party politics, he lost touch with our district’s values.

Let me tell you one thing: I am staying right here in the 22nd Congressional district. I am proud of my record for fighting for the children, seniors, and working families of South Florida.

I look forward to continuing to run for the 22nd Congressional district, and I look forward to having your support.

Thanks so much

Lois

[Tommy_Carcetti]

44. Allen West, a warrior in the great tradition of Sir Robin.

http://theknightsoftheroundtable.punbb-hosting.com/img/avatars/TheKnightsOfTheRoundTable$10.jpg

[WCGreen]

27. All I know is my Ex Buddy Ron Klein must have been an awful congressperson

to get himself beat by this wack-a-doodle-do.

At the very least, former congressperson Ron Klien hired an awful campaign staff.

[sulphurdunn]

28. I doubt Allen West

ever swore an oath of allegiance to the Federalist Papers. There is no small irony in the suspicion that this "representative" appears unfamiliar with the 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, a document to which he has sworn an oath of allegiance.

[The Doctor.]

30. The media used to shame people out of such blatant bullshit.

Now it enables them.

[backscatter712]

31. Looks like Uncle Ruckus got into more trouble than he could handle...

Gotta love The Boondocks...

[muntrv]

32. Hey Al! Reality has a liberal bias!

[BlueIdaho]

33. What a disgusting piece of shit

Congressman West turned out to be.

[dothemath]

34. not factual

It wasn't meant to be factual.

[Zoeisright]

35. Fuck off, West.

And shut the fuck up, too.

[lpbk2713]

36. West is an asshole, a punk and a disgrace.

It seems like he's always shooting his mouth off trying to get attention.

When he gets called on something he said, he's a river in Egypt.

No accountability, no spine.

[roosterpack]

39. west.....................................

.......................you get the fuck out.

fuck you.

and your teabagging supporters.

you're not winning this present civil war we are now engaged in.

we..................................outnumber you.

we...................................will fight just as dirty as you do.......................maybe a little more.

civil discourse?...............................shove it up your fuckin ass.

my gloves have been off for about 10 yrs..................or more.

[Amaril]

40. Ummmm, excuse me, MISTER West..........

......apparently we (as in the people who voted for the elected officials you named) are the majority in this country (otherwise those folks wouldn't have been elected in the first place, now would they?), so how about YOU get the fuck out. Frankly, we're sick and tired of your nasty, hateful attitude and your lack of ideas and solutions beyond further decimating the lives of average Americans, and bad mouthing people who actually give two shits about this country. The US would be a much better place all around if YOUR kind were to seek a new.........errrr..........fatherland for yourselves.

Sincerely,

The American People a/k/a The 99%

ps........you can SO bite us!

[SemperEadem]

41. and what is so jacked up about this

is that O'brien wasn't enough up on what she should have been up on with this idiot that she could
challenge him on his idiocy and fling the truth back in his teeth--cnn's anchor/newsreaders have taken being clueless on the facts
of their guests to a new art form. John King, Wolf Blitzer and now OBrien--all 3, when challenged
with keeping the record straight, as all journalists are, they shrink and wilt when put on the spot.

Of course that idiot named Obama, Pelosi and all liberals who needed to get the hell out of the US--but they aren't the ones
who have the issue--west and his ilk are--and they are perfectly welcome to go find whatever place it is that they feel
the US no longer is and set up camp there.

[JHB]

42. West went Newt-ular, but he's flubbing it now...

Pay attention to the master, Allen. When you say something outrageous because all the alligators in your audience just love having gobbets of meat thrown to them, don't backtrack. Double down!

You get points for trying to toss it back on the reporter, but you need to double-down there, too, and outright accuse them of having an agenda, of twisting your words and attacking you merely because you dare to speak out against their cold, gray Party Line.

The press will forget about it, but your alligators will love you all the more. Win-Win!