Present at the Creation: Adam Hasner, with Marco Rubio Against the Florida GOP Establishment

“A day in politics is like an eternity. A lot of recent events have altered the political landscape,” Adam Hasner told me by phone. Until last week was running for the U.S. Senate, but he is now running for the congressional seat vacated by Allen West.

Though Hasner hesitates to compare himself to West, the two have a lot in common. They are both principled, “minorities of minorities” who have to make  the case to groups not necessarily receptive to the conservative message. “When you are a black Republican or a Jewish Republican, you have to be even more firm in your beliefs and more principled,” Hasner explains.

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In a deal with several moving parts, Conservative favorite Rep. Allen West will move over and run in Rep. Tom Rooney’s old district, as Rooney moves on to run in a newly created district. Additionally, Adam Hasner will drop his Senate bid, leaving a somewhat clearer path for Rep. Connie Mack to run for the Senate nomination.

U.S. Senate candidate Adam Hasner will likely leave the race and run for Allen West’s soon-to-be-vacated Congressional seat, a source tells us. West’s seat looks a lot like Hasner’s old legislative Delray Beach-based district.

Meanwhile, to avoid a bloody primary, leadership in the U.S. House asked Hasner to run for West’s seat. But first, West had to announce he’d leave his seat and run for Tom Rooney’s seat. And before that happened, Rooney had to announce he’d leave his district and run for a new district.

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The White House continues to tip its hand on Obama’s reelection strategy even before 2012 rolls around. High on the priority list for next year: make the Tea Party a toxic brand. White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer singles out conservative Congressmen Allen West and Joe Walsh as the reason Obama’s payroll tax holiday may not be extended, failing to address concerns over the Senate’s version of the legislation which only extends the holiday for two months.

From MSNBC:

Speaker Boehner’s position on Sunday was not the position that he had on Saturday when the 89 Senators came together to pass a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut. Let’s think on that. 89 Senators, the Republican leadership. You can’t get 89 votes in this day and age for apple pie, yet they all supported this. The did it with the understanding that the House would approve this two-month extension and Speaker Boehner got on the phone with his caucus, tried to sell it. He had a Tea Party revolt. He reversed his position and he’s now putting danger, a tax increase of a $1000 on 160 million Americans in like 12 days now.

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MRCTV visited the 41st Annual Legislative Conference of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and found that some of those we met up with believe the Tea Party and/or its members are racist, and some even hurled racial slurs at Republican Presidential candidate Herman Cain and Rep. Allen West. Curiously the mainstream media was absent while we were there, not asking questions of the CBC attendees like the ones they vigorously asked of Tea Party members at their rallies.

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Ed Schultz, MSNBC talk show host and serial race baiter, has reached a new low: on his last Thursday night broadcast, he attacked Congressman Allen West (R-FL) for not doing enough to help his own brother, Arlan, find work. Arlan, a father of four living in Atlanta, has been unemployed for more than two months.  Congressman West encouraged his brother to attend a jobs fair hosted by the Democrats. That has Schultz piping mad. “Congressman West,” he railed, “what kind of conditions have you set for your brother to get a job? What have you done? …You haven’t done a damn thing about [unemployment in America].”

If politicians’ families are fair game, Mr. Schultz, it’s worth asking what President Obama has done for his own extended family.

Take, for example, his half-brother, George. George was discovered living in a Kenyan shantytown by the Italian edition of Vanity Fair in 2008. Life’s been tough for George, who claims that he lives on less than a dollar a month. He’s so ashamed of his station in life that he often denies even being related to Obama. It’s easy to see why. His two-meter by three-meter shack features a calendar showing exotic beaches of the world, vistas he most likely will never see. Maybe Barack Obama can bring Brother George on his next trip to Martha’s Vineyard?

Meanwhile, one of the president’s other half-brothers, Malik Obama, decided he wanted not two, but three wives. Last year, the then-52-year-old married a then-19-year-old high school dropout. The girl’s mother wasn’t pleased and wanted her daughter to stay in school, but the marriage went ahead nonetheless, and President Obama, insofar as I can tell, said nothing about it, despite his hope that everyone go to college and having been best man at Malik’s other wedding.  Indeed Malik was, according to him, best man at Barack’s wedding, but this time I don’t think Barack even bothered sending a wedding present.

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Lost in the blow-up between Representatives West and Wasserman Schultz is that only two days earlier, Allen West said something much more significant and more massively belligerent — about Barack Obama — something the left would prefer drowned out.

Must we “know the enemy” or is it enough for those elites in the know to go through their motions and machinations, while mushroom managing the Sovereign American People?  Apparently, most “conservative” members of Congress think it is just okay for us all to be kept in the dark and fed manure, at least those politicos who are not too fungous, themselves, to see.

Very exceptional is the former combat officer of Florida, who seems to think it important to give his superiors the actionable intelligence we need, in order to make our ultimate decisions — in measured doses, at least.  By last weekend, he even went as far as using a word with which most readers in Big Government are already familiar in the identification of Barack Obama: Marxist.

Gasp, choke, a milestone in Congressional honesty was reached.

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Normally, for a situation to be blown out of proportion, there must be a situation to actually blow out of proportion. And Allen West’s comments to Debbie Wasserman-Schultz are precisely not a situation, but liberals have failed to grasp this common knowledge.

As you read this, those on the Left are cowering in a corner, because due to the email that congressman West sent to congresswoman Wasserman-Schultz, Keith Olbermann thinks that West might actually shoot someone. Because clearly, using the words “vile”, “unprofessional”, and “despicable” are the worst things someone involved in politics has ever said.

Liberals seem to have made a sport of selectively criticizing comments made by elected officials or people in power, especially those who identify as conservatives. It seems that their buddies-in-arms have been given a free pass, so long as they vigorously defend the philosophies of a president who promotes socialist health care plans and flip-flops on more subjects than any president I have heard of.  To be fair, I might be made to believe that West was wrong in his comments….if making such comments were not the modus operandi of the Left.

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As I’ve written about before, when Iowa Congressman Steve King recently tried to stop funding for the fraud infested Pigford settlement he was opposed by a number of his fellow Republicans.  At least one of them —  Florida’s Allen West — has admitted that his vote was “a mistake” while others such as California’s Darrell Issa have so far remained silent.

Now Missouri Congressman Billy Long has gone on the record with one of his constituents about why he wanted to continue funding a bill that doesn’t actually help the black farmers that it was designed to aid in the first place.

Here’s what he said in a recent letter…

Thank you for contacting me regarding Roll Call Vote number 444, which addressed the Pigford discrimination case at the United States Department of Agriculture; I appreciate hearing from you.

As you know, the amendment offered by Congressman Steve King (R-IA) would have prohibited funding for payments relating to the final settlement of claims from the Black Farmers Discrimination Litigation, also known as the Pigford case.  I voted against this amendment, along with several other Republicans, because stopping payments could increase the risk for additional litigation.  I firmly believe I must take every step I can to curb costly litigation, which hurts businesses and job creation in this country.  I also believe I must take every step to slow out-of-control government spending at every turn.

A fear of “additional litigation” is a horrible reason to support Pigford. In fact, one of the main reasons that it’s important to stop Pigford II as soon as possible is because of the additional litigation that it supports.

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Want to hear the sound of people making a difference on the Pigford story?

I mentioned in a previous post that Allen West had voted no on Rep. Steve King’s amendment to stop Pigford funding. This vote struck me as strange because of Rep. West’s reputation as an opponent of wasteful spending.

Talk show host David Webb asked West about his vote today and Rep. West seems to feel that he made an error in his vote. I watched the ‘lightning round’ of forty (40!) or so amendments live on C-SPAN and I can see where an honest error is certainly possible. I accept his explanation and appreciate his straightforward answer.

But listen to what Rep. West as soon as Webb asks him about Pigford – he says he’s answered the question about his Pigford many times. And THAT is the sound of the tide turning. Pigford is clearly getting onto people’s radar, thanks to you. If you haven’t done so, please sign the Pigford Petition.

And blogger The Right Scoop  has another example of West answering a Pigford question.

Here’s Rep. West explanation from his newsletter:

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Rep. King’s amendment failed – here’s the roll call vote. Every Democrat voted against it – but it lost because 78 Republicans also went against stopping over a billion dollars in money being paid out for fraud. Two votes jumped out at me.

Tea Party favorite Allen West (R-FL) voted with the Congressional Black Caucus to keep Pigford funding flowing to fraudsters.

But worse, Darrell Issa (R-CA), who would be the one to get investigations going.

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Freshman lawmakers have served less than two months in Congress, and they’ve already had a sizable impact. Now, as the House considers a $100 billion spending cut, they’re leading the charge to rein in out-of-control government spending.

Last week during an internal GOP debate about the size of the cuts, freshmen rose up to push their party in the right direction. That shouldn’t come as a surprise. As the newest members of Congress, they are the farthest removed from Washington’s ways of doing business.

The result: Republican leaders added $26 billion more in spending cuts and promised to support additional cuts during the floor debate.

Some of the outspoken freshmen included Reps. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) and Allen West (R-Fla.), who made it clear that cutting spending is their top priority.

“The Beltway braintrust seems to think it’s OK to spend beyond your means and just keep doing it and kicking the can down the road,” said Kelly, the oldest member of the GOP’s freshman class. “I was home this weekend in Erie and I was also down in Butler, and as you go up and down the district, everybody there understands you can’t spend more than you make without causing harm to the future.”

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Texas congressman Ron Paul has won the straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference, while former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has finished second.

Paul got 30 percent, while Romney got 23 percent of the votes of those attending the conference in Washington. Others were grouped far behind. Paul is a hero to libertarians and has a fiercely loyal following. Paul also won last year.

The straw poll was co-sponsored by CPAC and The Washington Times.

A total of 3742 people, about a third of total CPAC attendees, voted in the poll, a 64% increase over last year .

Comprehensive results here.

Ron Raul: 30%, Mitt Romney: 23%, Gary Johnson: 6%, Chris Christie: 6%, Newt Gingrich: 5%, Tim Pawlenty: 4%, Michele Bachmann: 4%, Mitch Daniels: 4%, Sarah Palin: 3%, Herman Cain: 2%, Mike Huckabee: 2%, Rick Santorum: 2%, John Thune: 2%, Jon Huntsman: 1%, Haley Barbour: 1% (more…)

Will the NAACP be celebrating the arrival of two new black faces to the U.S. House of Representatives?

Don’t hold your breath. They certainly will not. These two new black congressmen are Republicans.

There’s a powerful message here that should and must be digested.

We have arrived in post-racial America but establishment blacks – lodged in the political left – refuse to accept it and are doing all they can to get black citizens to refuse to accept it.

The sobering reality is that the black political establishment doesn’t want Dr. King’s dream. They don’t want an America where people are judged by the content of their character. They want an America that is Democrat and left wing and this is what they promote today under the banner of civil rights.

The campaign by the NAACP and leading black journalists – all liberals – to paint the Tea Party movement, the push back against government growth and intrusiveness over the last two years, as motivated by racism is shameful.

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From FoxNews:

Two black Republican victories tonight mark the first time African-Americans will represent the GOP in Congress in seven years.

Retired Lt. Colonel Allen West’s win in Florida’s 22nd District and South Carolina State Rep. Tim Scott’s victory in that state’s 1st Congressional District is also the first time two black GOP members will serve in Congress since 1996.

Scott defeated Democrat Ben Frasier in an open contest to replace retiring Republican Rep. Henry Brown to the first black GOP in Congress since former Oklahoma Congressman J.C. Watts retired in 2003.

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Don’t ask me what I think of the NAACP’s desperate, politically timed report, ask Cedra Crenshaw, Damon Dunn, Tim Scott, Ryan Frazier, Allen West, Star Parker, Bill Marcy, Charlotte Bergmann, Robert Broadus, Ryan Frazier, Charles Lollar, Stephen Broden, Michel Faulker, Bill Randall, Patrick David King, Chuck Smith, and Isaac Hayes, all conservative black candidates running for higher office, endorsed and embraced by tea parties around the country. This malicious “report” is crafted and timed as a cynical means to scare the black community to the voting booth, and is dutifully played up by the same media that ignores the aforementioned black conservative candidates because it goes against the “narrative”.

Or ask former chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and liberal icon Mary Frances Berry, who said:

“Tainting the tea party movement with the charge of racism is proving to be an effective strategy for Democrats. There is no evidence that tea party adherents are any more racist than other Republicans, and indeed many other Americans. But getting them to spend their time purging their ranks and having candidates distance themselves should help Democrats win in November. Having one’s opponent rebut charges of racism is far better than discussing joblessness.”

The same media that plays up the NAACP’s desperate smear campaign continues to trot out the provably blatant falsehood that a “mob” of Tea Partiers hurled the N-Word at Congressmen John Lewis, Emanuel Cleaver and Andre Carson the day before the health care vote on the steps of the Cannon House Building.

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You might think that a prominent veterans organization like the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) would actually reserve its political endorsements for, you know, veterans, or at least those politicians that actually demonstrate some level of respect for the military.  But you would be wrong.  And the problem is not just the VFW; rather, the VFW’s current lobbyist-driven fiasco simply serves to illustrate how out-of-touch the Washington in-crowd is with the feelings of us benighted souls dwelling outside the beltway.

In the Florida 22^nd Congressional District race, incumbent Democrat Ron Klien is running against Republican challenger Allen West.  Actually, he’s properly addressed as Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Allen West, a decorated combat veteran who commanded a battalion in Iraq until he was forced to retire after making a 9mm suggestion to a captured terrorist that it would be a very, very smart move to give up some information about future attacks against LTC West’s men.  Now, that’s not to say Congressman Klien does not have a distinguished military record of his own – to be fair, apparently he saw most of Saving Private Ryan on AMC once, though he found it pretty scary.

After due consideration- which apparently means the VFW’s lobbyists told it to do so – the VFW endorsed Klein.

Okay, sometimes an organization makes a mistake.  I mean, it’s not like the VFW decided to endorse, say, a liberal Democratic senator who tried to humiliate an Army general testifying by demanding that he call her “Senator” instead of the perfectly appropriate “ma’am,” or who allowed her fundraisers to be hosted by the likes of Hanoi Jane.  That would be, well, crazy.

Oh, wait.  The VFW is endorsing leftist Senator Barbara Boxer.  Yeah, the same Barbara Boxer who voted to undercut us troops as we sat out in the desert waiting for Operation Desert Storm to start.  Yeah, the same Barbara Boxer who undercut the troops by voting to cut and run in Iraq.  Yeah, that Barbara Boxer – the one who will be running around using the VFW’s shameful endorsement as a shield against the truth of her track record of contempt for our military.

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