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GOP lawmaker says 75-plus Dems are communists

Sarah Palin's favorite choice for a vice presidential running mate in 2012, Rep. Allen West of Florida, apparently thinks it's time for another good old

Sarah Palin's favorite choice for a vice presidential running mate in 2012, Rep. Allen West of Florida, apparently thinks it's time for another good old fashioned Red Scare.

A constituent asked West yesterday at a town hall in Jensen Beach, Florida, how many members of the House are "card-carrying Marxists." Evoking the ghost of Sen. Joseph McCarthy, West said he believes 78 to 81 House Democrats are members of the Communist Party. He provided no names.

In a statement today, West's office said he was referring to the 76 members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, an internal group of the most left-leaning members of House Democrats. Current and past members have included Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Barney Frank, civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis, and many others. 

West's office cited a May 2010 article that appeared in the Communist Party USA pre-convention publication that referred to caucus members as allies. The article, however, carried the disclaimer that the party took no responsibility for the piece's opinions.   

Just eight days ago, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, announced that she thinks the eventual GOP nominee should go "rogue" and tap U.S. Rep. Allen West for the No. 2 position.

"I love that he has that military experience" Palin told Fox News' Sean Hannity on April 3.  "He is a public servant willing to serve for the right reasons. He understands the Constitution. He understands our national foreign policy issues that must be addressed. He has served. I really like him,” she said.

Six days later, on April 9, former GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain joined the "West for VP" bandwagon.  


"Col. Allen West is a dedicated patriot, he served in the military and he’s willing to serve his country some more,” Cain said on the Steve Gill Show.

As noted before on this blog, West was fined and essentially forced to retire from the military (thereby avoiding a court martial) after he was accused of using improper methods to force information out of an Iraqi detainee.

And since entering Congress in 2011 as a Tea Party star, he's best known for making a series of outrageous comments.  So many outrageous comments, in fact, that our friends at Think Progress made a list of his 15 most outrageous in February (I guess it's time to update that list!). 

One of our least favorite on the list was when West played the Nazi card in December 2011, saying that Hitler's propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels would be "very proud" of Democrats:

Wait, didn't the Nazis hate the Communists?  After all, they did fight each other in a bloody front during World War II.  

So, which are these Democrats, Mr. West, Nazis or Communists?  Please get back to us when you figure it out!

Ed has figured it all out, of course, and will have more on this tonight on The Ed Show AT 8pET on msnbc!