Allen West, grade A wingnut:
Florida Rep. Allen West’s reelection prospects grew dimmer Sunday, as a recount of early ballots showed him falling further behind his Democratic opponent.
Democrat Patrick Murphy, a 29-year-old construction company executive, gained 242 votes after the St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections completed its re-tabulation, increasing his lead to more than 2,100 votes over West, a tea party hero. Murphy’s lead is just outside the 0.5 percent margin that would trigger an automatic district-wide recount under Florida law.
West won a legal battle Friday when the office’s canvassing board decided to re-tally all early votes that had been cast. The Republican had argued that those votes had been accidentally double-counted on election night and provided a winning margin to Murphy.
But with Murphy’s margin growing after the recount, West’s legal options appeared to narrow. With St. Lucie County having a noon deadline Sunday for certifying its election results, Murphy’s campaign argued that the election was effectively over. Florida has a Tuesday deadline for certifying the results from all three counties that make up the 18th Congressional District.
“By state law, he is effectively the winner,” Eric Johnson, a senior Murphy advisor, said in an interview.
Remember the good old days when Republicans wore Sore/Loserman shirts after 2000? This jerk should be in a military prison, not wasting taxpayer money on recounts he doesn’t deserve.
(via OTB)
Comrade Jake
I think it’s safe to assume West will never concede this one, but I bet he’s already been offered a job at Fox News.
PsiFighter37
It’s not sore losing when a Republican does it; it’s ensuring that the Black Panthers didn’t intimidate the white vote and encourage black people to vote more than once.
God, John, why is that so hard to understand?
gex
Just like with Franken. It’s only poor form if a Democrat wants to fight until the end.
mai naem
@Comr The affirmative action african american on Fox?
Dan
Weren’t you a Republican 2000? Did you have 1 of those shirts?
Mr Stagger Lee
Via Democratic Underground but some unhinged Freeper threatened to assassinate Patrick Murphy. You think maybe JimRob might ban this nut and report himself. But this is (not so)Free Republic we are talking here.
Cargo
When a Republican wins an election, it’s the natural order of things. When a Republican loses an election, it is cheating by Dems. There is no such thing as a legitimate election with a Democratic victor. When this is accepted, everything else from birthers to the Starr Report to the Brooks Bros. Riot to this makes perfect sense.
Mandalay
I wish West nothing but a speedy exit, but the original vote counting process, and the recount process, both stink of fail.
I wonder how we’d feel if West had been declared the winner rather than the loser by the same margin?
dmsilev
Wolverines!
MobiusKlein
Count the votes! There can be no harm in Mr West bankrolling a recount. In fact, ask all the GOP fat cats to contribute.
And if it turns out that the recount changes the lead, then the certification will be overturned. It’s not rocket surgery.
BGinCHI
Dick is dickish.
dmsilev
My understanding is that if the margin is outside the automatic-recount threshold, which it is in this case, any recount would have to be paid for by West and his
suckerscampaign donors, not the taxpayers.Haydnseek
Perhaps he can illegally discharge his sidearm again next to the head of his opponent and desert cammo unicorns and monochrome rainbows will magically appear…….
JPL
FL has a recount system in place and West didn’t meet the criteria. To compare the results in FL with other contests is just plain silly. BTW The Palm Beach Post says the next move for West is to whine to the governor and secretary of state.
Schlemizel
As long as he does not concede it is just evidence that the election was stolen!
Alan’s problem is he may be too nuts for FAUX News. Unless he can dial it back he will be stuck on AM radio hell with clowns like Glenn Beck. A better fate than he deserves but not as bad for humanity.
Villago Delenda Est
And none of this easy work for disgraced officers shit. The vile maggot should be making little rocks out of big rocks.
Cacti
Allen West’s entire political career was launched by being a war criminal.
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
gex
Too bad for him. We have a non-precedent precedent that suggests we should just call a winner at a certain point over doing thorough recounts. That seemed fine with the GOP when it called their guy the winner.
Smiling Mortician
@gex: Yeah, but at least now it’s a precedent of a non-precedent precedent.
r€nato
fret not for Allen West: a bright, lucrative future awaits him with a publishing deal at Regnery (some whiny tome about how the libruhls stole the election) and a regular pundit slot at Fox News Channel.
Losing a race is a great career move for a conservative. They can only fail upwards.
Davis X. Machina
@Cargo:
It’s more than that. It’s in the Constitution. Article Four, Section 4.
Jay C
@Mandalay:
Probably quite pissed off, and marveling in disgust at the disgraceful fact that Florida voters would send an unhinged crank like Allen West back to Congress. But if the vote count were unambiguously in his favor (as it is for Mr. Murphy) – well, them’s the breaks: and if Patrick Murphy made the same lame-ass stink about the count as West has, (speaking for myself), I’d say the response would be same: “Dam’ shame, but you lost. Get over it.”
Ben Franklin
Allen West, grade A wingnut:
is this NEWS? I am shocked, shocked to find Cole is aware.
Chris
@r€nato:
That is really, really true.
? Martin
Meh. If you’re eligible for a recount, take it. Point taken on the double standard, though.
Mary G
It’ll be amusing when the RNC sends him someplace like an NAACP convention to do outreach.
Tripod
I like the magic think that if he doesn’t concede, the county and state election boards won’t dutifully certify the results.
Tosses board game, Do over! Do Over!
Bruuuuce
Just saw this bullshit on FB: http://www.theminorityreportblog.com/2012/11/18/allen-west-recount-update-7-registered-voters-and-900-ballots-cast-voter-fraud-alert/
Worse, there are people out there who believe this.
Worst, some of them are my friends.
freelancer
As TNC is fond of saying these days: I win or you cheated.
? Martin
@Bruuuuce: They built a whole precinct around 7 registered voters?
Yeah, that makes sense.
gnomedad
It pisses me off that wingers can believe that 99.99% of blacks voted for Obama because they’re stupid and want free stuff, but supporting Allen West proves liberals are the real racists.
dmsilev
@? Martin: Hush, you. Logic not allowed.
Bruuuuce
@? Martin: Yeah. Hence “bullshit”
some guy
your US tax dollars at work:
http://twitter.com/Mogaza/status/270290154239954944/photo/1
anibundel
Is there a Sore Loserman shirt for Romney to wear? He needs one.
JWL
The GOP dilemma in a nutshell: the bum West will remain in good standing with the GOP because he’s crazier than a loon, while the bum Christie will be ostracized merely for thanking Obama for doing a good job during a bona fide state of emergency.
JPL
@anibundel: who dat
freelancer
@some guy:
You’re disgusting.
SiubhanDuinne
@some guy:
Jeezus. A little warning about graphic image would’ve been nice.
Anoniminous
@dmsilev:
Only THREE days until Red Dawn, The Re-Run is released! How excited are we?
Citizen_X
@Anoniminous:
zzzzz…znk..(yawn) what?
Shalimar
@? Martin: I heard a radio report last week about a Minneapolis precinct that had 0 voters. They blamed it on a computer error drawing the precinct entirely in a lake.
LD50
@Mr Stagger Lee: I think the wingnuts are getting over-excited about West because he’s their last opportunity to say that some of their best friends are black people.
Comrade Jake
@Anoniminous: I love that they changed the Chinese invaders to North Koreans, so as not to offend our new bankers. Sign of the times.
GregB
Go West. Just fucking go.
NotMax
And the rosette on the icing on the cake is that West is not eligible for Congressional pension, which one becomes vested in after 5 years in office.
Full Metal Wingnut
That scumfuck is an embarassing shitstain on this country.
What fucking microcephalics voted for West? Even my most Republican friends voted for Obama because of Palin. Is nothing a dealbreaker for these morons? Will they vote for anyone with an R next to their name?
Full Metal Wingnut
@? Martin: But West wasn’t eligible for a (automatic, state-funded) recount, the margin was greater than 0.5%. I would have supported Murphy taking this to court asking for a recount, but not dragging it out like West is doing. This just reeks of butthurt.
The Real Obama Gifts
I am going to have to disagree with the crowd here. Given all of the problems Florida has with election administration, any recount that might shed light on irregularities is a good thing.
However, if the House refuses to seat Murphy in January, that would be completely unjustified, especially now that the votes have already been recounted. West had the right to seek a recount, but I don’t understand him not conceding after the recount was finished.
Stentor
I’d love to get my hands on a bunch of those old Sore/Losermann t-shirts & re-tool them, schaudenfreude-style. to say:
Sore/Losermann my ass!
Payback’s a Motherfucker, Assholes!
Suck it Bitches!
Obama/Biden 2012
Four More Years!
What do you think? Not enough snark?
juandos
Whining libtard john cole from the safety of mommy’s basement is brash enough to Allen West a jackass…
Good job ass-wipe parasite….