From THINK PROGRESS:
Republican Allen West was just elected to the House of Representatives in Florida’s 22nd district, defeating two-term Democratic Rep. Ron Klein. His first move since being elected is rather strange: he has hired a conservative talk radio host, Joyce Kaufman, to be his congressional chief of staff.
WFTL said in a statement that Kaufman will continue to work for the station but not as a host: she has been “retained as our Washington correspondent, with details on her new exciting schedule to be announced soon.”
Carol Dixon, counsel for the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, told ThinkProgress that she had not heard of Kaufman’s situation in particular, but said that generally this setup could be “potentially problematic.” “There may be potential confidentiality issues — some of the issues she’s reporting on may be gained by virtue of her House status. At a staff level it seems problematic,” Dixon said.
…snip…
As a Tea Party mini-star, West raised more money than any non-incumbent in a House race, making it the second-most expensive House contest in the country. He received major backing from the Republican Party and its major players — he was named a “Young Gun” by the National Republican Congressional Committee, was endorsed by Sarah Palin, and got a campaign visit from Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), the presumptive Speaker of the House.
West retired from the Army after facing a court martial for abusing an Iraqi man, and ran an unusual, bombastic and often offensive congressional campaign, frequently targeting Islam.
…snip…
One of the places West liked to talk was Kaufman’s radio show on WFTL in Florida, making over 100 appearances over the past four years. Like her new boss, Kaufman is also no stranger to offensive statements:
– 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.“
This just in! From POLITICS DAILY:
Joyce Kaufman’s controversial statements have afforded her a radio career, but now they appear to have cost her a job on Capitol Hill.
Just days after being hired as chief of staff for incoming Congressman Allen West (R-Fla.), the conservative talk show host has dropped out because of remarks she made at a tea party rally during the campaign, Politico reported Thursday.
Her comments had made their way around the Internet in the days since she was tapped for the congressional position. “I am convinced that the most important thing the founding fathers did to ensure me my First Amendment rights was they gave me a Second Amendment. And if ballots don’t work, bullets will,” she said at the event earlier this year, adding that some things were “worth dying for.”
Of course, what she really means is that she will spout rhetoric to push other people into killing others or getting killed themselves, but she’ll never put her own life on the line. But, let’s continue…
West, a tea party favorite, said in a statement Thursday it was with “deep regret” that he was announcing that Kaufman would not be joining his staff after all.
“Joyce is a good friend, and will remain loyal to South Floridians and to me,” said West, who unseated Democrat Ron Klein in the South Florida 22nd Congressional District. “I will always seek Joyce’s counsel for being a good representative of this congressional district.”
Politico said after West’s statement was released, Kaufman took to the airwaves on South Florida’s WFTL-AM to slam her critics.
“You may think that because you made me change my mind, that you got the win, but I believe that God always gets the win, and he wanted me right here where I am, where I’ve been very successful,” she said Thursday afternoon.
Sadly, I can’t even look at this with humor. It’s sad that politics has sunk this low. What’s wrong with the American public?
i can’t look at this with humor either. there are a few reasons: 1. i’m jewish and voted for obama, and joyce can go screw herself for saying i don’t embrace my heritage. 2. my sister lives in west’s district, and he does not in any way, shape, or form represent her. 3. west’s remarks about the outlaw motorcycle gang not really being a criminal enterprise. i take that personally. i won’t say why publicly, but i will share that info by email with the people i know if they want to know.
Great poster!
Kaufman is a cupcake compared to Representative-elect Torturer.
i wasn’t going to make a new poster, and i had to make a run to walgreens today for ice packs, because i didn’t trust my instincts to not photoshop for a while, but i despise these asswipes, and i’m taking this personally for the reasons i listed to apples above.
Nonnie, MY district, too. it is mortifying that my neighbors voted for this man. I hope he keeps it up so he will be a one-termer……
i didn’t know you lived so close, sara. we’ll have to get together one of these days.
that would be fun!
It’s awful your hand is not cooperating when there’s so much to rant about! You must have the luck of the Irish (all bad)😉
i’m so pissed off. i’m probably going to have to go to the doctor, and i hate, hate, hate, hate going to the doctor.
nonnie, i am so sorry to read about your hand.
i think i’ll live, fotc. i’m my own worst enemy. i don’t stay off the computer, and i don’t call the doctor. i’m an idiot. 😛
I hear you Nonnie. I hate going to the doctor too but take good care of yourself and do what you need to to get better.
i’m about to encase all my parts in ice. i went and bought ice packs tonight, and i think they’ve been in the freezer long enough now.
Sorry to hear you’re nursing a hand, Nonnie. I’ve already learned that ice is a chopper’s best friend; but I’m just like you I hate hate hate going to the doctor; why the hell do I want to pay for bad news?
As long as the ibuprophin and ice holds out, I think we’ll be fine.😉
ibuprofen? i’m no wuss!😉
If the Founders had any idea how the Second Amendment would be used these days, they would have worded it differently.
I’m pretty sure that they would have included a provision saying, “This doesn’t mean you’re supposed to threaten violence against lawfully-elected candidates that you don’t like, morons!”
Glenn Beck hits on this meme that liberal Jews aren’t really Jews, too. Then he accuses other people of being anti-Semitic. His audience is too … ummm … free-thinking to get the sickening irony.
I don’t have high hopes for this next Congress. Honestly, I voted an almost-straight Democratic ticket this year even though I liked a couple of the Republican candidates, just because I knew that they’d be in line with the party bosses. In a normal year, I would have voted for Kelly Ayotte, for example. I went for Paul Hodes in hopes that there would be some kind of check on the TP-ing of Congress. We’ll see …
i think they would have also thrown in that there’s no reason that anyone outside of the military needs automatic or semi-automatic weapons.
i have no hope at all for this congress. the house will do nothing but obstruct any progress. in this case, congress really is the opposite of progress, like the old joke goes.
Even Robert Bork agrees with you on this one. I think he referred to as “silly” the view that the Second Amendment had anything to do with individual gun rights.
oh geez, is the fact that bork agrees with me supposed to make me feel good, wken?
Only in the sense that even BORK isn’t crazy enough to take the NRA/TP position.
I wouldn’t ordinarily take a whole lot of comfort in that, no. But it does give a sense as to how far out of their minds people have to be.
when bork is the voice of reason, the whole world has gone nuts.
that does it! i’m firing the gardener.
fotc!!! 😀 where’ve you been?
i have not had the access for two months. major trouble with an at& f’in t screw up bad when i moved. the good news is that i was able to get my brother to quit claim his interest and i now have a house to support.
sorry about the internets, but that’s awesome about your brother! 😀 i know how much that was weighing on you. what happened? are you living in the house now?
yes, it is very homey. i had to take the fool to court. he didn’t seem to think i would do it but, i would. he was completely unreasonable and the judge thought so, too.
good for you! so glad you don’t have to be a nomad anymore. 😀
I’ve never heard of either of the fascist A-holes before and frankly I wish I could have gone through my life without ever knowing they existed.
i wish they didn’t exist.*
*that’s not me wishing anyone dead.
So you’re not exercising your first amendment rights to exercise your second amendment rights, right?
i’ll second that! 😉
mike lee, new utah senator, hired a lobbyist to be his chief of staff.
hey jenn! 😀
a lobbyist as chief of staff doesn’t surprise me at all, but what do all the teabaggers who got him elected have to say about that? i thought they didn’t like lobbyists. 🙄
“And if ballots don’t work, bullets will…”
Chilling. What happened to civil discourse in this country?
want to know how chilling, ahab? did you click on the link in the post? if not, allow me to quote from wsvn, one of the local channels here:
hate talk has consequences, and these pieces of shit couldn’t care less, just as long as they get what they want. i despise them.
These people consult with lawyers to know just how close they can get to encouraging violence without being legally liable for it. Morally, of course, the line is WAAAY farther back, and they crossed it long ago.
i honestly think they want someone to do violence because of the thing they say. that would cement those feelings of power they crave.
Oh, you know that Beck took great delight in the Tides Foundation incident.
If he can inspire someone to take a shot at George Soros, he wouldn’t even be able to fake tears for a day or two, he’d be so delighted.
Besides the megalomania, there’s lots of free publicity that comes with these incidents, and then they get to go on TV whining about how people want to censor them for inciting violence when they incite violence.
you’d think faux news would implode one of these days when filth like what blechhh said about soros is not only allowed but celebrated, endorsed, and encouraged by the powers that be. however, they just keep getting away with it. scary as hell.
I had the puke’s show on the radio for a little bit yesterday, and he was claiming that Soros has threatened to kill him, and that that’s why he has to tell all this stuff.
If Soros was really what Beck claims, Beck would already be dead. Or else there would be children coming forward claiming that he’d molested them. Or something.
The fact that he spews this crap openly more or less proves that it’s untrue.
that’s how he makes himself sound more important–everyone is after me! i’d pity him, if i didn’t despise him to the depths of my soul.
Horrifying . . .
I really think it’s time for me to write a diary on the Big Orange entitled “Is it time to use the F-word yet?” In this case, the F-word is “fascist.”
i’ve been using the f word all day long. wanna borrow a few?
Shall we dub this mid term madness??
The list of comments are so over the top & offensive, they are not even funny.
Sorry to hear about your hand.
Anti inflammatories (Aleve) do more than mask the pain, but don’t take them on an empty stomach.
i think the people referred to are batshit insane all year round. it’s not limited to the midterms.
i’m not in pain. part of my hand (and part of my arm) are numb. it’s really getting on my last damned nerve. maybe i’ll try some aleve and see if that helps.
my mother was telling me about kaufman today
and all her democratic friends that voted for west and the other criminal – Rick Scott
what a state we are in
and you know what – i cannot laugh anymore
is there any explanation for them voting for a maniac and a criminal? i don’t know if i was more shocked by scott winning or west winning.
Too bad about West. Things will change when he censors the free press’ Maybe the crazy lady can hang out with the Nuge now….Like the WSS theme. Just thinking the other day that we should do a net revival of the classic work, updating things so the kids will understand it. The only material developed so far are songs like…Nonniea…I just blogged a girl named Nonniea…..and then the confrontational song of her sister singing “A Goy like that” Still working out storyline and new lyrics but it’s plain to see we quickly need to perform “one hand, one icepack”!
i started rewriting west side story back when chimpy was still in office. i never finished. i ahve 4 songs sort of done. maybe i’ll post them one of these days when i’m in a musical mood.
Keep those handy, might need them in the future. At least you need not worry about the Sgt. Krumpki song, as timely now as when it was written. It was my favorite as a kid and it still cracks me up.