The Hill News

I carry no brief for Florida Rep. Allen Westâ€"as I wrote just last week for The Root, the Republican congressman’s recent cheap shot at his Democratic colleagues, describing “78 to 81” of them as “communist” at a constituent town hall meetingâ€"was, among other things, “just plain lazy.” The pander hearkened back to the ‘50s-era scare-politics of Sen. Joseph McCarthy and sent a message to constituents that they needn’t take him seriouslyâ€"because thus far, he’s long on insults and woefully short on solutions.
 
But if West is lazy, thenâ€"franklyâ€"so is the Martin County, Florida chapter of the NAACP: because just like West’s constituents should be able to expect more out of him, the members of the local NAACP should be able to expect that their leadership won’t cut off a! ccess to Westâ€"or any other politician who’s looking to engage them.
 
Unfortunately, that’s exactly what they did.

Read more...