ABOUT TOWN: Colonel West Comes to Stoughton, Says "Benghazi Makes Iran-Contra Look Like Romper Room"

Rabbi Jonathan Hausman once again transformed Ahavath Torah Congregation into a venue of alternative views on Thursday, August 15.

The Rabbi played host to a few media types, and to former Congressman Colonel Allen West.  An appreciative crowd of hundreds filled the auditorium, and parked as far away as the high school to get a space. 

Colonel West entered to a standing ovation from the overflow crowd. And, he immediately lit into President Obama. 

“He talks about the middle class. America is not about a caste and class system. As Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. said, 'It’s about the content of your character, not the color of your skin.' That’s what brings me here. The message is in a book I carry around with me. It’s the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence.  The spirit was born right here in Massachusetts with the Minutemen who answered the call. They stood against the powerful Redcoats. If they lost, they would have been hung by the British. They fought against an ‘invasive, intrusive and onerous government’.”

Colonel West, a Tea Party favorite, spoke about the country’s piling debt.

“A limited government is fiscally responsible. The unfunded debt is truly close to 17 trillion dollars. That is not the promise of the future of our founding fathers."

He said, "This country has been around for 237 years. This nation has created, exported and shared much with the world. I ran for Congress in an area that was 97% white. Where else can that happen? That’s the promise our Founding Fathers left for us. My parents were registered Democrats. My parents always told me you need to have faith in something greater than yourself. My parents also taught me not to charge anything—not to buy what you cannot afford. They paid cash."

He continued, "But, times have changed in the African-American communities.  Only 28% of children in the black community live with both a mom and dad at home. And, inner cities have horrible schools. Opportunities are limited.  We were taught to seize the opportunities, you can be what you want.  But this administration has taken over everything - health care, the auto industry, banks, and employment.  There are now more people working part time than full time.”

West, who took office as the first black Republican Congressman from Florida since Josiah T. Walls left office in 1876, continued, “We have gotten away from helping those in need. We’re making them dependent on the State. We’re making the American people the American Sheeple. There are less people worshiping God. Instead they worship Government. The President wants to separate us by race, sex, and income level. That’s not the promise of the American Dream. Hope and opportunities are being taken away.  We’re allowing people to make careers of politics. We can’t be the first generation to leave less than we came with to the next generation. 45% of college grads are unemployed or underemployed. That’s not enabling them to achieve the American Dream.”

West,  elected to Congress in 2010, was forced to run for re-election in another district due to redistricting in 2012 and lost by a couple thousand votes.

He touched upon many current topics in his visit to Stoughton, including the city of Detroit going bankrupt.

“Detroit is the result of what Obama’s Progressive Democrats believe in. But, we can’t just sit back and watch this unfold.  The beacon of liberty and democracy shines in all of us. If we allow the light to go out, this ship will go ashore.”

West prodded the crowd - but he was preaching to the choir. 

In his commanding voice, he asked, “What can you do to make the past promises of our Founding Fathers get passed on to the next generation?

As Winston Churchill once said, ‘Americans will eventually do what’s right—after they have tried everything else.’" 

He urged those in the crowd to write letters to the editor, call radio shows, write op-ed pieces, and get involved. “There is power in the people. You have to exercise that power. The DC powers want you to think you have no recourse. As long as they keep lying, you keep speaking out.”

As for Obamacare, Colonel West said that the pieces of it, particularly on pre-existing conditions, and 26-year-olds on their parents policies, should be kept.

But, he said “the other 2,680 pages, and all their built in taxes, should be shelved. But, I do not think anyone should threaten to shut down the government. Obama has been cherry picking which laws to enforce or delay. Congress should not get exemptions. Obama repealed, delayed or replaced seven portions of the law. Let’s delay the whole thing.”

On Benghazi, he said: “I believe President Obama was sleeping through the entire episode. He was resting up for a fundraiser the next day in Las Vegas. Why was Ambassador Stevens in a combat zone on September 11 in the first place? He was given Islamist security! When the words ‘We’re under attack’ comes over the radio, to say we had no forces available is a lie. We had special forces that may have gotten there in time. How did they know when the attack was going to end? They didn’t. They should have sent forces there. Who gave the orders to ‘stand down’? The Americans in that building planned for reinforcements. 400 Surface to Air Missiles ‘disappeared.’ Something is horribly wrong. And, to call it a ‘fake scandal.’ It’s abominable.”

He said that Benghazi makes the Iran Contra scandal during the Reagan presidency look like "Romper Room."

On the Ft. Hood Shooting he said: “Major Hassan should not have been sent to Fort Hood. And, to classify it ‘workplace violence’ even after he renounced his citizenship and embraced the Taliban? I remember what we did to Benedict Arnold.”

On the Muslim Brotherhood: “I’m glad the Egyptian military are taking it to the Muslim Brotherhood.  They are the granddaddy of all terrorist groups. We should never have allowed President Obama to collude with them. Something is very wrong. These are bad people. They are using propaganda to make themselves look good. We need to crush them.”

The #1 Issue in the black community: “We need to challenge the Democrats in the arena of argument.  Urban schools are the worst.  They are an impediment to the black community. The answer is school choice.  This would allow inner city minority youth to attend excellent schools outside their neighborhood. But, President Obama killed the school voucher program. Why?”

West said he would be running for public office again. “I need to travel around the country and get the people engaged in their government and the political process. I have a book coming out early next year. Maybe I will do a tour of historic black colleges. We need a message and a messenger. We’re right and we should fight.”

The Rabbi spoke about the clown at a Fair in Missouri which sparked controversy in the mainstream press by poking fun at President Obama.  “It was seven years ago when they made a paper mache head of President George W. Bush with a sword going through it, and blood dripping off it. The media said nothing then. What happened to my America? I’d like to bring that Fair clown in here.”

Jeff Katz, former WRKO morning man, and now the morning man on Boston Herald radio, joked, “I spent a day with Colonel West and the next day our radio station shut down. I’m hoping that the Herald is still in business tomorrow.” 

Katz added that “We are obligated to do the right thing for the right reason. We need to do right by our family and our country. It’s not about the rodeo clown in Missouri, or the rodeo clown in the White House. (I apologize to rodeo clowns.) It’s not even about Republican or Democrat, or conservative or liberal. Colonel West’s message in about what is right and has made this country great, and rebuilding the damage of the past five years.”

Helen Glover, a radio personality at WHJJ (920 am) in Providence, said of Colonel West, “The Left saw a need to take him down. I think that the election was stolen from him. God will work through him. He’s a good and decent man. [But] We don’t reward that.  We reward incompetence."

The Second Annual  “Citizen’s Patriot Award” was presented to former State Representative Karyn Polito.  The inaugural award went last year to Congressman West. 

Polito, who lost the 2010 State Treasurer’s race to Steve Grossman was grateful for the award. 

“It’s worth the fight when you are saying things people need to hear...Colonel West inspires us to walk a path our families are proud to follow. My great grandfather came from Sicily. He left his family and friends to make his, and his family’s life, better. He had purpose, values and courage. He, with hard work, achieved a better life for his family. I want this dream to be alive and reachable for our children. That ladder to the top is too steep for those at the bottom. The Republican National Committee has no message. Colonel West has a good message. We are citizen patriots together. We need to get our country and our Commonwealth back.”