alan west last week said that 78 to 81 members of the house were democrats were communists.s an awesomely made-up number. communists, what were they? marxist, what goes on in his mind? the fantasy that is goes on in his mind. you may want to to back pedal. not if you're your alan west. >> back at the turn of the century communists decided to caning their name to progressives but the basic principles that they operate under are still the same. >> expect that's not true at all. they're not remotely communist. you made that up. you don't know what a communist is because you're a fool. if democrats said this about republicans, and said it's well-known that approximately 85 to 98 members of the republican party are fascist. here they just changed from nazis to republicans. what would happen? the news would explode. oh my oh god how can they say that. well, now they say this, and that's the way it goes. alan west should be immediately voted out of office in the next election if the people of florida have any sense at all. he was and thenewt gringrich decided there should be an int

we again with alan west doubling down on his crazy claim. and i mean it is certainly crazy. that eight house members, house democrats, are communists. david corn, from mother jones, author of the book with "showdown." there it spp you can buy that book. and even go to amazon. this very instant. gene robinson, rit written the column for the post and credited from msnbc. allen west told a voter in k congress there are about 80 communists in the u.s. house of representatives. let's watch it. >> what percentage of the american legislature do you think are card card-kaerrying -- >> about 78 to 81 members of the democratic party that are members of the communist party. >> oh, the precision. 78 to 81 card carrying members of the communist party. yesterday congressman west said of those comment, quote, i don't regret it whatsoever. there is a thin line between communism, progressivism, markism, socialism. it's about nationalizing production, it's about creating an expanding the welfare of the state. ate about the idea of social and economic just justice. >> it is smiles. it is ocean

you've got anthony weaner, and obviously you cataloged what happened to him, and alan west. there's almost a strange admiration within the house for the guys that have gload brightly because they say crazy things on tv or pause they are louder and brassier than their colleagues. >> and weaner is a case in point you said. this is a guy who is understood the capitol stage as performance art, basically. the problem with weiner-- well, many problems with weiner, but before he undid himself-- yeah, okay. >> jon: it's like we're on a different show right now. ( laughter ) let me tell you the problem with weiner. ( laughter ). >> yeah, that's right. he-- he-- you know, being the ultimate entrepreneur in a body of 435, he alienated all of his colleagues. he was abusive towards his staff. so finally, when his world did explode, there was no one standing beside him. >> jon: is it-- one thing that you were able to avoid in some ways is the judgment, this sense of "ask here's why this is so frustrating a place" to the american people. when you read it, you have a great empathy for-- i c

>>> critics are comparing alan west to joe mccarthy after he claimed that about 80 house democrats arembers of the communist party. i'll talk to one of congressman west's targets. keith ellison, about this modern day red scare. >>> and the mayor of newark, new jersey rushing into a burning building while a security guard tried to hold him back. cory booker explains what he was thinking when he risked his life to save a neighbor. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room". -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> united nations is calling north korea's attempted rocking launch deplorable and destabilizing, even though it broke apart and fell into the sea and now, u.n. officials are warning the nation. stan grant is getting rare access inside north korea. stan? r. >> reporter: it started with a day of so much hope. this was the crowning achievement, the day they put a satellite into orbit. it went terribly wrong. that will not deter this nation. they're going to press ahead with more. ♪ fro

should john boehner be doing that for alan west?alan west is so ridiculous that it speaks for itself. i can't set a standard for what the republicans do and what they tolerate and what their members say. you would think, i mean i think we saw all that we needed to see when rush limbaugh made the horrible statements they did and the response from the republicans was to minimal poor choice of words. poor choice are words? no, poor choice of thoughts. so if they would not even respond to that, alan west calling ever calling the progressive caucus communist in the house. >> ate one i think 78-81. >> but nothing surprises me about them but it's up to the public to make a judgment as to whether that should be how they want to be represented in congress, but i'm just happy that you're in the war room and i'm glad to be in the war room with you today. >> i'm glad you joined us. thank you for coming in, for leading well. >> i come here as former speaker and current leader and christine's mom. >> exactly and everybody knows who watches the wa

mike huckabee talk show host, alan west out there defending him. what do you make of this? are they fronting for romney now? now that the national rifle association took it off his website, it kind of gives romney cover. >> what was interesting the alan west quote that president bush had exactly the same experience. really. do you recall a pied piper like donald trump questioning whether president bush was an american. do you remember anybody equating president bush with islamic terrorists the most hated criminals on the earth and repeatedly casting aspersions on his christian faith, do you recall that? of course you don't? mitt romney can't condemn them because he needs their validation more than their veracity. that's why you will never hear him offer a condemnation you said at the beginning of this segment is the decent right and appropriate thing to do. >> he needs that head shaking crowd because of some of his positions on firearms when he was governor of massachusetts and needs the ted nugent mentality behind him. he can't lose that crowd at all because president obam

>> i'm not a rabid communist, as disappointing as that may be to alan west. >> continue with your answer> mr. west's outburst. >> here's the thing with him. he's got a group of people that supports that kind of rhetoric which is obviously dead end. it doesn't solve a lot of problems or even define or explain them. i think it's an effective fundraising strategy for him. some of the folks in congress who say really outrageous things then go on the internet and there's enough loopy folks like loopy billionaires that will write checks the more in secendy the comments. bottom line, it might be a fundraising ploy for mr. west. >> let's go to what the "washington post" has called selective math. does this all come back to the citizens united decision, and how on earth is this going to be changed unless there is a clean sweep of democrats through the house, through the senate and the presidential election victory? >> well, ate zecitizens united really a crossroads in american democratic life. this is the first time corporations have been defined as people. the supreme court made that decision 5-

comments by alan west could put him out of the running in the tea party running. says, good question, 80% are part of the communist party. >> i have not been never have been. >> very fast. >> what do you make of that? he has the backing of sarah palin, newt gingrich, nikki haley and herman cain. >> and alan west. look, this is why west is allen west. i've interviewed him several times. he has this way of being incredibly lieu sucid and then saying -- complete insanity -- >> there's a medical word for that. >> sounds a bit like newt actually. no. what i make of this is the head of the communist party said he was highly insulted. >> and sorry, what was that? >> the head -- i mean, their party said they were highly insulted -- >> right, the progressive -- >> i don't blame the guy, poor thing. >> the clarification from west communication director, the congressman was referring to the 76 members of the congressional progressive caucus. the communist party has referred to them as the allies. >> i think he's happy we're sitting around talking about what allen west said. >

west. i think you meant alan. do all wests look the same to you? george clooney is here tonight.orrow he's set to appear before alan west. george is hosting a fund-raiser event for the obama campaign for $3 you can enter a raffle and the winner gets to have din we are the president at george clooney's house. i've always dreamed of eating a hot pocket with the president and batman. and now i can do it for only $3. and if you don't win the raffle, you can still win dinner with george yourself if you are 6'1" blond with a perfect body. sully sullenberger, where is he? sully, would you mind driving lindsay lohan home? make sure you don't run into a goose, especially a gray goose. george stephanopoulos is here. "good morning america" just beat the "today" show for the first time in 16 years. george is riding -- well, high maybe isn't the word, but let's say he's very pleased. 16 years ago, there was no facebook or google and the tweet was something barbara walters gave her dog. this is really incredible. what a collection of people. here in one room, we have members of the media, corp

alan west said that alan west -- the congressman with the hoodie was a security threat.ould have been a second tragedy. >> they could have shot him because he was there with a hoodie. >> stephanie: it is incredibly improbable they were able to recognize rush considering he entered the house with a suit and tie and was recognized by the chairman to speak on the floor. >> he was recognized, formally recognized. >> stephanie: i see. so he could have been shot for his stunt according to alan west? >> if geraldo was in charge of security. >> stephanie: rush said he pulled -- he did the hoodty thing to protest racial profiling because his own son was shot and killed in chicago and i thought it was a very powerful statement on the house floor. security threat. okay. [ applause ] >> stephanie: mittens on the campaign trail yesterday. >> the president says he wants to transform america. i don't want to transform america. i want to restore america to the principles that made us the hope of the earth and together, we're going to do that on tuesday and every day thereafter until we

republican congressman alan west of florida is threatening to take its party back to an era it would get. the infamous speech in wheeling, pennsylvania in 1950, west told people in the town there were 80 people in congress that were members of the communist party. is that really the message that the gop wants to be sending in 2012? howard fine is an nbc political analyst. chris freed is the reporter for the national journal. it's at a town hall meeting on tuesday. he's fielding a question by an attendee. >> what percentage of the american legislature do you think are card-carrying marxists or international socialists? >> there are about 80 members of the congress that are members of the communist party. >> afterwards, the congressman's staff didn't back away from his comment, they doubled down saying, quote, the congressman was referring to the 76 members of the congressional progressive caucus. the communist party has publicly referred to the congressional caucus as its allies. an extreme example of the loose language that has become part of our political lexicon. >> yes, it is, and

i was disappointed to hear representative alan west from florida had a meeting on capitol hill with a dearth of black conservatives and invited a member and they didn't show up, and while the pragmatic side of me understands the feeling they're going to invest time building a coalition they probably aren't going to get a whole lot out of working in the black community. one of the things i learned as a person in the political arena and has run for office myself is very much into a return on investment approach to dealing with voters. if they don't like they're going to get a quick and substantial our ally going after particular demographic the the right to dismiss it and move on and that is essentially what they've done with the black community. they concluded there is no fertile ground there and i think that's a mistake. the need to take a long-term view and remember why the republican party was created in the first place and the need to reconnect with black voters not only politically but philosophically because i believe fundamentally that it is a conservative community tree by just

while you got him. >> to people on both sides of the aisle, enjoy alan west while you got him. boehner outlined why the party might be in trouble. 50 members in tough races, 89 freshmen running for re-elections and 32 districts in states where there's no presidential campaign being run, we call these orphan districts. take 18, california, illinois, new york, where we're not likely to do well at top of the tick the and those districts are vulnerable. we have not focused too, too much as yet on the congressional races and how they play out for whoever is in the white house. if the house goes back to the democrats and the senate stays blue, that's a major change for the white house in terms of the policy they can enact. conservative groups are rafrpg ramping up, $17 million spent in 12 states. i want to play sound from a new claire mccaskill ad that's out. >> they're not from around here. spending millions to attack and attack. but what they're doing to claire mccaskill is nothing compared to what their special interest agenda will do to you. they want to end medicare as we know i

. >>> back here at home florida congressman alan west claims there are communists in the house. the comments were made at a town hall event in jenson beach, florida tuesday night. he said somewhere around 80 members of the communist party are sitting in congress within the democratic party. west specifically singled out the congressional progressive caucus. and in a joint statement the co-chairs of that caucus called west's charges quote outrageous. here's a look at some other stories making news. cameras were rolling when a group of thieves held up a new york city deli. one camera being their own the suspect's video-taped themselves robbing a store employee at knife point. the trio did not take any merchandise or cash before escaping with the victim's phone. no arrests have been made. philadelphia police are looking for a thief who stopped and robbed a 94-year-old woman right in broad daylight. surveillance cameras caught the suspect dragging the woman to the ground as he ripped her purse away. the victim fell and it caused her to suffer a broken arm and multiple cuts. and fina

i was disappointed to hear that representative alan west from florida had a meeting on capitol hill with a group of black conservatives and invited a representative from the republican national committee and they didn't show up. and while the pragmatic side of me understand they feel that if they're going to invest time in building an electoral coalition they probably aren't going to get a whole lot out of working in the black community. one thing i learned both as a person who has been in the political arena and run for office myself, is that they're very much into a return on investment approach to dealing with voters of. if they don't feel like they're going to get a quick and substantial r.o.i. in going after a particular demographic, they're just going to dismiss and it move on and that's what they have done with the black community. they concluded there is no fertile ground there, and i think that's mistake. they need to take a long-term view and need to remember why the republican party was created in the first place, and they need to reconnect with black voters, not only politica

about who would be mitt romney for running mate and right now the focus is on florida representative alan west who says he would consider joining the ticket a fast >> i think we would be able to come together as a team and it developed the right type of platform to turn this around >> he is the first african- american republican elected to congress in florida since reconstruction. rick santorum 3 year-old daughter has been hospitalized. she suffers from a rare genetic condition. santorum had already taken a few days of the campaign trail for the easter holiday >> jolie is filling in for roberta. >> anything for you guys. we do have a pretty nice forecast for you, let's go ahead and start off with a look outside. temperatures are inching their way up, 63 in livermore, 62 in san jose. why are we warming up, it is thanks to this. high pressure building in place making for a pretty nice pass over saturday and most of easter. weekend time it out for you on future cast. most of the day on sunday does stay dry. sunday morning easter a hunting should be fine. sunday evening at 5:00 we start to see the

congressman alan west, palin said some things about him.y of those folks you think has even a chance? >> no i don't. no, they don't have a chance. alan west particularly has zero chance of being on the national tick. let me ask you a big theoretical question. a fun one to debate over a cup of coffee or glass of went. mitt romney is not the most scintillating speaker, he is not somebody that revs up a crowd. does he get someone like that because that might be useful in going out and fundraising and getting people excited about the ticket, or do you not want a palin comparison? >> i think it depends how close the polls are. if in september and august obama's leading by five points it becomes like a how do you rev up the ticket and then you have to go in a rubio or someone more exciting direction. fit tied in august, july or august, i think he leans in the rob portman, mcdonald direction, someone safe and it's obama versus romney instead of the ticket versus the ticket. depends how close things are. my guess it will be close and he'll go safe,

this is alan west in a town hall in florida. let's take a look at this. >> what percentage of this legislature do you think are carried carrying marxists? >> corporate -- >> i believe there's about 70, 80 to 81 members of the democratic party that are members of the communist party. >> he's suggesting that 80 or 81 members of the democrats in congress are members of the communist party. i mean, this is a tea party conservative. >> talk about a fact check. >> where does he pull this stuff out? >> one of the most amazing story lines i've had, i've been amazed at over the last two weeks is all these people including sarah palin alan west for vp. reason he won't be the vice president is right there. this is a beyond ludicrous claim that regardless of your ideological leanings. >> how many pinocchios would the "washington post,." >> four is the most. you might have to create that's like a double -- this is west in a nutshell. it's why the people who love him are not a broad swathe of the american electorate. >> to be continued. chris

hair on fire guys are rewarded, like alan west, who says a lot of outlandish things, but isn't equal opportunity offender. he is always on call to be on those shows. joe walsh is a right of center tea party freshman from illinois. same thing. that kind of behavior is rewarded. at the same time, sitting in the audience, that is all you hear. you hear people from the far left and the far right. you begin to have an appreciation for why it is that our governing institutions cannot come together and get things done. tavis: someone to talk about "we the people." these folks do in fact get elected by somebody. you are right this last class was a pretty large class of freshmen, 87 freshmen. that is not typical in washington, as you well know. typically, incumbents get reelected. you do not want to beat up on the american people, but we have complicity. what role do the american people have in of vetting this dysfunction on the hill? >> one answer will be we will find out in november. after all, congress had, a few months ago, an approval rating of 9% for a republican- controlled house. repu

>> top of my list is alan west. he is a public servant willing to serve for the right reasons.really like him. there are so many, shawn, that are out there, and when i talk about going rogue, i want to encourage the gop nominee to not think that they have to go with somebody necessarily safe -- >> no not qualified -- intellectually capable. no. >> for once i finally agree with sarah palin. >> uh-huh. >> i think it was be a tremendous move for mitt romney to pick allan west as a candidate. he can bring the motorcycle gang that have killed people that he has defended. >> yeah. karl frisch a highly paid political strategist, that is for free. >> that is for free. i would be willing to help on the selection process. >> you give and give. all right. 17 minutes after the hour. i just saw some screen shots of the current show yesterday. i was not aware they did other cameras on me. that is not a good angle -- stop it. >> do i have nothing in my contract? >> i believe that's the ass cam. >> that's the proctology cam. >> yes. >> did i agree to this? i must have been drunk. >> 17 minutes

. >> alan west said some crazing [ censor bleep ]. so there is always news.rse. >> he said we have to understand when the tolerance becomes a 1-way street it leads to cultural suicide, blah blah blah. >> by the way, courtney said i get paid in hugs. >> i tried that on you. >> a spokesman for the fbi declined to respond to his remarks because he is a douche nozzle. >> yeah. >> by the way, maybe 80 or so communists are -- >> and he has this list right here. >> that has resulted in the cancel ration of an naacp event. >> speaking of canceled. ted nugent booted from army concert. yay! can you believe that he was supposed to play at fort knox kentucky after threatening the commander and chief. styx will still there be. [ applause ] >> in other bad news for ted nugent. he is in trouble for illegally shooting and transporting a black bear in alaska. [ applause ] >> perhaps he'll be in prison. julia louis-dreyfus did you see "beep beep." >> i haven't watched it yet. >> she is not a sarah palin fan. i knew there was another reason i loved her. she would like to to see

mean for us as a nation last kaitlin bell barnett in tonight's conversations with great minds also alan west thinks the congressional progressive caucus is filled with communists but the maturity of americans agree with the caucus is new budget for all so does that mean a majority of americans are communists who pose that question and more tonight it's guests in our big picture rumble and in tonight's daily take with one of the most important elections in our history on the horizon this year could be a make it or break it for america's future so how do we come together to create the lasting change this country so badly it's. going to make for tonight's conversations with great minds as caitlin bella barnett caitlin is a journalist blogger and author she writes about mental health topics for the huffington post about young people's experience medications at my meds myself a blog at the psychology website site central she's held positions at the atlanta constitution journal and st louis post dispatch has worked as a freelance journalist for a variety of publications including the new york obse