Allen West: Keith Ellison 'The Antithesis Of Principles' Upon Which Country Was Founded (VIDEO)

Freshman Tea Party-backed Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) recently got personal in an attack on one of the House's two Muslim representatives, declaring that Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) represents "the antithesis of the principles upon which this country was established."

During an interview with "The Shalom Show," West also said that he plans to "defeat" Ellison, an outspoken Democrat who "supports Islam," according to host Richard Peritz, "intellectually in debate and discourse."

As ThinkProgress notes, West has repeatedly sought to connect Islamic religious beliefs to supposedly anti-American views.

At a town hall meeting during his campaign, West claimed that people who display the popular "Coexist" bumper stickers, which use various religious symbols as font, are those who would "give away our country" and "our rights and freedoms and liberties because they are afraid to stand up and confront that which is the antithesis, anathema of who we are."

If the connection between the bumper sticker and Islam wasn't made clear by that statement, West went on to drive home his claim that Islam is a "very vile and very vicious enemy that we have allowed to come in this country because we ride around with bumper stickers that say 'coexist.'"

For more on West's controversial views of Islam, check out ThinkProgress's report here.

WATCH:

Comments

[grf67]

11:28 AM on 01/26/2011

So much for the Constitution and freedpom of religion in Florida? What a monumental hypocrite. He could only exist in the repub party.

[walleymr]

09:10 AM on 01/26/2011

he's knows there were muslims here before those bumper stickers, right?

[juhar]

09:35 AM on 01/26/2011

He doesn't know much. If Americans didn't want Muslims then why bring over African Muslims and enslave them as free labor to solve their labor deficit. Why didn't they kidnap poor White European Christians?

[walleymr]

10:25 AM on 01/26/2011

if I remember correctly, something in the Bible said they couldn't enslave fellow xtians

[ATrumanDemocrat]

10:50 AM on 01/26/2011

Check your facts. The African slaves were not Muslim.

[tmon23]

08:15 AM on 01/26/2011

Allen West will tell the Truth regardless of the P.C. crowd. We did good sending this Man to Washington !!

[ATrumanDemocrat]

10:51 AM on 01/26/2011

"Truth"? Alan West is unfamiliar with the word.

[liberal]

11:01 AM on 01/26/2011

As a Florida resident and a registered voter, I think you need your head examined

[Eric Flanagan]

12:48 AM on 01/26/2011

Mr. Allen West may want to keep in mind that during the framing of the Constitution, he would have been a slave, and even further down the road would only be considered 3/5 of a person. For all its shortcomings, the Constitution in its original form did advocate explicitly, the Free Exercise of Religion. The same people who don't uphold his "principles" were the same people who endured through the longest filibuster ever to ensure Civil Rights laws protecting all Americans; they made it possible for him to be in the position he is in today.

[naijaman]

10:27 PM on 01/25/2011

Wait...so this guy is a religious bigot and was deployed to IRAQ?

[juhar]

10:00 AM on 01/26/2011

fanned and favorite.

We can only imagine the countless hearts and minds he didn't win over.

[BushSmahers]

11:13 AM on 01/26/2011

Or the countless civilian Iraqis he shot for no reason other than being muslim.

[raphaelbonee]

08:04 PM on 01/25/2011

"Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) represents "the antithesis of the principles upon which this country was established.""

Probably meant to say "Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) represents 3/5 of "the antithesis of the principles upon which this country was established.""

[chaya]

07:23 PM on 01/25/2011

Oh cool! I didn't know about those Coexist bumper stickers. I'm a-gonna go and get me one right this very minute. :)

[liberal]

11:03 AM on 01/26/2011

Me too.

[mjtaylor22]

06:23 PM on 01/25/2011

muslim radical extremist, who America once supported inthe bid to rid afghanistan of the Russians are the ones who attacked the USA on 9/11.......
simultaneously America has seen the corporate sponsored of a more extreme version of conservatism...of which Allen West is happily part of....
not Pot you miseed the kettle...so stop playing with the dishes......

[ATrumanDemocrat]

10:53 AM on 01/26/2011

Check your facts. Osama Bin Laden is a Saudi. His beef is with the US support of the Saudi regime. The Mujahadeen that we backed in Afghanistan in the proxy war with the Soviets DID NOT ATTACK US ON 9/11.

[AlanDente]

02:23 PM on 01/31/2011

Well that's not the entire truth of it.

The following have been listed by Mr. Bin Laden as motivations for his novel approach to the furtherance of Islam:

Bin Laden has stated that the occupation of the holy sites of the middle east is the main reason to conduct terrorist campaigns and attacks. Self-defence by proxy, to his mind I'm sure. Isn't it more the fact that non-Muslims dare to enter and stay in so-called Islamic lands that is the problem for our man Osama?

American sanctions against Iraq was a justification. I think this proves that Osama is completely immune to reason. He only cares about that because Iraq is seen as important historically for Islam.

Also, the West daring to stand up against the rabid anti-semitism of much of the Islamic World is cited.

Having said that, the original poster mjtaylor22 is still wrong. It would actual make slightly more sense for 'Afgans' to attack America than Bin Laden. I would never defend that kind of attack, but at least if a bunch of impoverished, poorly educated fanatical guys perpetrated such an attack, you could reason that they were horribly misguided, embittered by poverty and vulnerable to indoctrination.

As it happens, they were well-educated, comparatively well-off individuals, who can't even use the tawdry excuse I just described. And they weren't Afgan. They were Saudi, UAE, Eygptian and Lebanese

[Marcus C Love]

03:10 PM on 01/25/2011

to begin with the principles that this country was built on was treachery,slavery and pure evil...from killing Indians to making Africans there property...so to say this country was built on civil liberities for all is a bunch of crap...and for him to be apart of this" tea party" speaks volumes for his stupidity and being" uncle Rukers"(boondocks) is a testimony to his being.

[Doug Sandlin]

01:58 PM on 01/25/2011

"While serving in Taji, Iraq, on August 20, 2003, West was in charge of the interrogation of Yahya Jhodri Hamoodi, a civilian Iraqi police officer suspected of having information about attacks on American troops in the area.[8] Interrogators had been informed the detainee knew about a planned ambush. When the detainee refused to talk, LTC West was asked to assist. Hamoodi continued to withhold information, and West was accused of firing his pistol past the prisoner's head, frightening him into talking. According to West's sworn statement,[5] the detainee told West:
“ [The attack] was to occur Friday morning in Saba al Boor vicinity of the police station by positioned snipers supposedly being brought in from Fallujah. [The detainee] was to ID my vehicle and myself for these rooftop firers. We took this information and the following day established flask CPs and used AH-64s overhead. There was no attack and no further attacks have emanated from the town since the apprehension of [the detainee] and his named associates. ”

West, who had completed almost 22 years of active service, was charged with violating articles 128 (assault) and 134 (general article) of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. He was processed through an Article 32 hearing in November 2003, where he admitted he was wrong to fire the pistol and was fined $5,000. LTC West accepted the judgment and retired with full benefits in the summer of 2004.[10]"

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_West_%28politician%29

[MWChris]

01:11 AM on 01/26/2011

Seems to be torture to me, but I suspect that West has no respect for the Geneva Convention.

[jamw]

01:06 PM on 01/25/2011

West claimed that people who display the popular "Coexist" bumper stickers, which use various religious symbols as font, are those who would "give away our country" and "our rights and freedoms and liberties because they are afraid to stand up and confront that which is the antithesis, anathema of who we are."

Does he hear what he is saying?? My gosh he's really confused about who we are as Americans. Where did he go to school...Texas??????

[seanj]

12:54 PM on 01/25/2011

Progressives attack every conservative. Nothing new. We should get the civil war over with. Or do progressives want to leave that for their children to do.

[sixtieschild]

04:35 PM on 01/25/2011

Are you calling for a civil war? How is that going down? Are you going to shoot me and my family in our beds? Maybe drag us out and tar and feather us first???

[ATrumanDemocrat]

10:55 AM on 01/26/2011

The Civil War was over in 1865. Your side lost. Get over it.

[Char59]

12:31 PM on 01/25/2011

Who cares what you say West, why should we listen to a man who was investigated in the military for his own conduct? Retired early huh??

[seanj]

12:44 PM on 01/25/2011

Tell the whole story. The guy is a hero.

[ATrumanDemocrat]

10:55 AM on 01/26/2011

So was Oliver North- as long as you overlook the treason thingy.

[tapatiogalactus]

12:29 PM on 01/25/2011

and no thats not a compliment

[tapatiogalactus]

12:27 PM on 01/25/2011

allen west.... reminds me of jackie robinson when he tried to get political.. you would almost expect what mr west says and does or thinks would be like be heard fromk a white southern republican