Fla.’s West says 81 colleagues are communists, offers no proof

By The Red Phoenix on April 14, 2012 • ( 0 )

By Aaron Blake / The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — Consider this one of the many reasons that Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., won’t be the GOP’s vice-presidential nominee:

At an event late Tuesday — shortly after The Washington Post wrote about how Mr. West is too much of a bomb-thrower to be the GOP’s vice-presidential choice — the freshman congressman suggested that as many as 81 Democrats in Congress are not only secret communists, but actual members of the Communist Party.

When a questioner asked Mr. West about Marxists in “the American legislature,” some in the crowd jeered, but he took a different approach.

“No, it’s a good question,” the congressman said, adding: “I believe there [are] about 78 to 81 members of the Democratic Party that are members of the Communist Party.” After a long pause, Mr. West added that he was talking about the Congressional Progressive Caucus, a group of 76 more liberal House Democrats as well as a senator.

Mr. West’s comment clearly states that these lawmakers are also actual members of the Communist Party. There is no evidence to support that.

West campaign manager Tim Edson pointed out that some Democratic members of Congress have traveled to communist Cuba in recent years (as have Republicans). He also noted that certain Democratic members have also praised Cuban President Fidel Castro. (Illinois Rep. Bobby Rush and former California Rep. Diane Watson, both caucus members, have indeed praised Mr. Castro.)

“He stands by the comments,” Mr. Edson said. “Call them what you want; they’re clearly people who oppose capitalism and free markets and individual economic freedom. So, if the shoe fits.”

Pressed on whether those members are actual communists, Mr. Edson said the label isn’t the point. “We can quibble about the terminology used to describe them, but it’s clear,” he said. “Whatever you call people that oppose capitalism and free markets and individual economic freedom — maybe it’s ‘socialist,’ maybe it’s ‘communist’ — but that’s the point the congressman was making, and he stands by the words.”

Congressional Progressive Caucus members said Mr. West was trying to turn back the clock to the 1950s era of Sen. Joe McCarthy, R-Wis., and the so-called “Red Scare.” During the Cold War, McCarthy claimed that communists and Soviet spies had burrowed their way into the federal government. He never produced documentation to back up his claims.

“Allen West is denigrating the millions of Americans who voted to elect Congressional Progressive Caucus members, and he is ignoring the oath they took to protect and defend the U.S. Constitution — just like he did,” said CPC co-chairmen Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., and Keith Ellison, D-Minn. “Calling fellow Members of Congress ‘communists’ is reminiscent of the days when Joe McCarthy divided Americans with name-calling and modern-day witch hunts that don’t advance policies to benefit people’s lives.”

Mr. Grijalva and Mr. Ellison said Mr. West “repeatedly polarizes the American people instead of focusing on their interests. When people like Rep. West have no ideals or principles, they rely on personal attacks.”

The caucus, founded in 1991, has 75 House members and a senator and describes its goals as economic fairness, civil rights, environmental protection, energy independence and global security.

Another CPC member, Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., pointed to a more recent member of Congress who accused his colleagues of being communists: former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, R-Calif., now in federal prison after a corruption conviction. “Mr. West is in really very extraordinary company here,” Mr. DeFazio said. “He should get in touch with Duke in prison, and they can chat about this conspiracy that’s going on.”

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