Lt. Col. Allen West

Allen West is a retired Army officer who spent 21 years in military service, including combat tours in Operation Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2003 he faced a potential court martial for conducting what is now euphemistically called "enhanced interrogation tactics" in Iraq. Col. West had been interrogating an Iraqi police officer who was reluctant to give up details of a plot against several of Col. West's men, as well as himself. Col. West's crime? Squeezing off a couple of rounds near the police officer's head to jog his memory. "If it's about the lives of my men," this real-life Jack Bauer told investigators, "I'd go through hell with a gasoline can." In short, Col. West is one tough son-of-a-bitch.

After Iraq, he spent some time as a high school teacher but gave that up to go back to Afghanistan as a civilian advisor to the Afghan army. In 2008 he ran against first-termer Ron Klein in Florida's 22nd Congressional District. Despite having no support from the Republican National Committee, Col. West garnered 45% of the vote against the Democrat incumbent in a year in which  Barack Obama had very long coattails.

Col. West, a recipient of the Bronze Star, is back running against Rep. Klein in the 2010 election. Klein has refused to debate Col. West on healthcare or to hold a town hall meeting on the subject this past year. One would assume that the reason he has avoided Col. West is that West is a no-nonsense speaker whose words electrify conservatives in the same way that Barack Obama energized liberals in 2008. His campaign video, shown below, has received more than 1.5 million hits in the short two months it has been posted to You Tube.

 More than that, Allen West has a passion that has been missing in conservatives for many years. He speaks with a clarity and conviction that the political classes and academics rarely do. Take a look:


Few candidates, his opponent included, can match Col. West's chops in national security and defense issues. But in domestic policy he excels. Allen West grew up the child of lower-middle class parents in the segregated South. He speaks from experience about economic opportunity and education. For too many politicians on both sides of the aisle domestic issues such as the economy, education and healthcare are academic exercises. Most members of the political class have never experienced poverty, or if they did, it's now been replaced by the trappings of power. But Allen West speaks from experience on both domestic and foreign policy.

Allen West may not win, but he will not be ignored. And conservatives who have been dying for a passionate, experienced, articulate spokesman since Ronald Reagan, could do worse that Col. Allen West.

Just thought you might like to know.