Fred Barnes‘ latest Weekly Standard article focuses on the only Republican member of the Congressional Black Caucus, new U.S. Rep. Allen West of Florida. Barnes suggests West’s relationship with the CBC could be interesting: “Chances are, West and the CBC’s 42 Democratic members won’t find much on which to agree—unless he pulls them to the right.”
West … has done nothing to mask his conservatism. When he addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in February, he said federal spending should be capped at 18 percent to 20 percent of GDP and the corporate tax rate slashed to 25 percent from 35 percent.
“Liberal progressivism,” he said, “has been tried and has repeatedly failed all over the world. So why should we think it can be successful here?” And if the health care law enacted in 2010 “is so great, someone explain to me why over 200 Democratic political groups are going to the president and asking for waivers.”
As you might expect, West is hawkish on national security and foreign affairs. “A weak America has never proven good for the world,” he declared in the CPAC speech. He’s also pro-Israel. “I shall never let Israel down,” he said.
West believes “there’s a growing black conservative voice” in the country. “There’s something happening out there. The left doesn’t want to admit it.”
The black community “is a very conservative community,” West says. If Republicans take advantage of this, they can cut into the Democratic lead among blacks. “It’s never going to be better than 70-30.” But if 30 percent of blacks vote for Republicans, “that’s huge.”
