Hecklers May Upset Allen West’s Re-Election Chances
BY BUDDY NEVINS
It is payback time for the Tea Party and its darling, U. S. Rep. Allen West.
Allen West
Taking a page from the party’s own playbook, West’s town hall meetings are being disrupted by Democrats.
Tea Party activists spent the summer of 2010 trying to shout down Democratic congressmen at similar town hall meeting.
West looks like the victim to some. To others, he looks like the cause.
It is the later group that is a danger for West. Every time his town hall meetings turn into a circus, it spotlights just what a polarizing figure West has become.
West serves as someone who pushes opinion on both sides to the extremes, but the vast majority of the voters are somewhere in the middle. He needs that middle to be re-elected next year in what promises to be a tough election.
Victory in his current Broward-Palm Beach County district hinges on independents. The congressman’s district will be a new one next year because of reapportionment and it is doubtful many more Republicans will be added. In addition, President Barack Obama’s re-election team will be working hard to get more Democrats to vote.
So West will still need independents and moderate Republicans to win. These same voters may be turned off by someone who triggers a disturbance when he shows up in public.
As much as I disagree with interrupting public speakers, it just may be a tactic that works for Democrats.
April 27th, 2011 at 12:56 pm
Allen West will upset his own re-election efforts….he doesn’t need any party’s help…..
April 27th, 2011 at 12:56 pm
You may be interested in a piece via Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/26/gop-town-halls-reps-duck-out_n_854157.html?igoogle=1
April 27th, 2011 at 1:28 pm
Too many of the Republicans elected in 2010 think they were given a mandate to be extremists. And they are now being told differently.
April 27th, 2011 at 2:14 pm
The key quote to take away from that town hall meeting was “I will not be intimidated”. I respect any person of any party that has the courage of their convictions.
April 27th, 2011 at 2:40 pm
Silencing anyone is no cause for celebration.
April 27th, 2011 at 5:26 pm
Allen West is all full of Jesus and his sense of “Manhood.” I have no reason to doubt that he would throw himself on the sword and into the flames for his “convictions.” Problem is, I fear he would also throw the rest of us into oblivion with himself. He seems to be one of the “let’s destroy this city to save it” kind of guys. People who think we are living in the “End Times” and who also have an issue of demonstrating how much of a “Man” they are scare me.
April 27th, 2011 at 6:38 pm
Right. He “will not be intimidated” by those female “hecklers” he turned over to the police. That’s courage? What a warrior.
April 27th, 2011 at 6:49 pm
Not to obviate what ‘What?’ has to say, but if it drops in the pot, I’d rather have an Allen West next to me than someone who has to ruminate on the implications of a frontal assault before taking action.
It’s why West was elected.
He has walked the walk in Afghanistan and proven himself to be a man willing to put himself between his troops, his family and his nation and war’s desolation.
There are precious few who have done that and been appreciated by the sideline cynics who are ‘anti-violence.’
April 27th, 2011 at 11:12 pm
I arogant women shot her mouth off. I see its allright if Sgt Schultz s infests her town hall with a lot of thugs from the SIEU an threw out 20 folks with valid questions but you haters of the right make a big deal about 1 loud mouth woman
April 28th, 2011 at 2:48 am
Greetings,
I was there Tuesday night. From my reading of this Buddy Nevins post I do not think that Mr. Nevins was there.
I was given a card (along with everyone else), upon my arrival at the town hall meeting, to write any question I wanted the congressman to answer after he gave his report from Washington, D.C.
A woman and a man read about twenty to thirty questions from different topics, i.e. economy, defense, medical, etc. which the congressman answered.
I do not know if the woman availed herself of that opportunity.
You could not miss her. She was right down in front. She never stopped fussing from the beginning of the congressman’s report through his answering of the people’s questions.
She acted like a person that “cuts ahead into a line” of people waiting at the grocery or bank.
I do not see how that kind of behavior will win Democrat votes from anyone, including Democrats.
Regards,
Dennis
April 28th, 2011 at 6:17 am
I want to know who the FTL Sargeant was that arrested the woman.
April 28th, 2011 at 7:17 am
They should have tazed the bitch. She was most likely taking instructions from Wasserman-Shultz. I know Debbie did not like it when someone was disruptive at her girl friend’s event…..
April 28th, 2011 at 9:05 am
Buddy,
remember, that district might look substantially different next year (I have no idea how you could make that district much more Republican, given its geography, but who knows).
Kevin.
April 28th, 2011 at 9:38 am
Rage, she spent the entire night in jail and got maced; so you and your goons should be thrilled. We’re so impressed that West is so tough that he isn’t intimidated by one arrogant woman.
April 28th, 2011 at 10:16 am
How many TeaPartiers got arrested during the rabid, screaming, frothing at the mouth healthcare town hall meetings? Don’t recall seeing any led off in handcuffs.
So it is hilarious to see Mr. Military “I’m a Bigger Patriot than You” Tough Guy himself, needing to have questions asked from pre-screened cards, and needing to have one female heckler arrested. Pretty tough, indeed. Very, very funny. And he professes to be one of the few who understands what America represents (free speech only when you agree with him?) Hypocrisy does make for the best comedy.
April 28th, 2011 at 10:43 am
Rupert
people who do not conduct themselves so everyone has a chance to listen should be removed. It was not the crazy bitch’s town hall meeting, it was Allen West town hall meeting. Why do you confuse West being intimidated by her with just plain bad manners? Why do you think Debbie send these assholes to the meetings to disrupt? If she has a problem she should bring herself there and asked the questions.
April 28th, 2011 at 12:08 pm
Rage, don’t be an idiot; Debbie had nothing to do with this, and Nicole Sandler could have been allowed to leave without being arrested. I’m not the least bit confused. You’re the bad-mannered one calling people “bitch.”
April 28th, 2011 at 1:04 pm
Well said Rupert.
April 28th, 2011 at 3:03 pm
Being an independent I can promise I would never vote for this idiot..Fyi it only takes one lod mouth woman to change voters minds ill mannered or not…. look at kaufman she is a loud mouth some would say she is ill mannered but there are people in the world who listen to her.
April 28th, 2011 at 7:12 pm
Sorry Buddy,
The heckling helps Rep. West. Independents don’t like folks that can’t comport with reasonable standards. And I’m not big on West. But heckling by Sandler and the DEC area leader was childish and only helps West.
April 28th, 2011 at 10:40 pm
Great Supreme Court case a few years ago about uninterupted free speech.
In the case, a gay group sued that they had a constitutional right of free speech and therefore could not be excluded from the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Boston.
The court ruled 9-0 in favor of the city of Boston and the parade organizers, holding that free speech (organizers) have a right to their message (parade) to be uninterupted.
Unlike some of the uninformed who chose to heckle and interupt. The speaker’s right to speak is great than the heckler’s right to interupt. A speaker not only has a right to free speech, but the court recognized that it is only truly free when it is uninterupted.
April 29th, 2011 at 8:18 am
Allen West is a negative force on politics. He is a divider rather than a uniter.
April 29th, 2011 at 10:39 am
So the Prof says it’s okay to protest funerals as Westboro Baptist does, but West’s so-called town halls are really monologues, and people must sit silently.
April 29th, 2011 at 11:06 am
West is a zealot…his kind will destroy on principle…my wingnut friends tell me their support of him shows they’re not racist…ugh
April 30th, 2011 at 12:02 pm
@Professor: Does a heckler deserve to be handcuffed, transported to 2 different jail facilites, maced, incarcerated for the better part of a night and part of day? Makes you want to go hmmm! Then we have Allen “the Jackboot” West’s hand selected Chief Aide appointment of Joyce Kaufman, “ole bullets over ballets”. The rude and obnoxious town hall meeting interruptions by the Tea Party activists were okay? The bringing of assault rifles to political rallys and town hall meetings was okay? But one middle aged liberal Democrat woman gets “jackbooted”? Shame on the Fort Lauderdale Police Department. Shame on the Broward County Sheriff’s Office. I’ve always been a supporter, but now I feel afraid of local law enforcement. I feel afraid I could get “jackbooted” and incarcerated too.
May 2nd, 2011 at 9:21 am
I only wish you had been there too Rupert. Then two bitches would have been arrested.