There's a storm brewing in Florida. But rather than a storm conjured by Mother Nature, this tempest is of the man-made political variety.
From NPR's report of his comments that Islam is not a religion but a "theocratic political ideology" that poses a threat to America to his response emailed to the Weekly Standard following criticisms over the controversial Marines' video telling the “over-emotional pundits and armchair quarterbacks” who have never been “shot at by the Taliban” that “war is hell” so “shut your mouth,” it’s pretty safe to say that Florida's Republican House Rep. Allen West isn’t afraid to tell you what he really thinks.
Then there’s Florida's Republican Senator Marco Rubio. In a blistering Jan. 6 letter sent to Barack Obama -- and obtained by Human Events -- Rubio excoriated the destructive effects of the president’s first three years in office saying it has caused a growing number of people “to believe that America is becoming a deadbeat nation.”
In October, The Hill reported how the freshman Senator from the Sunshine State slammed Obama’s new jobs bill, calling it nothing more than a "bailout" and "stimulus 2.0." Clearly, Rubio isn't exactly what you would call 'shy' when it comes to expressing his opinions either.
While Rubio vows to fight Obama's endeavor to tack another $1.2 trillion onto the national debt, West is going megaphone on slamming Obama for his habit of bypassing congress to do things like starting illegal wars and snubbing the War Powers Resolution -- and for his recent unilateral move of making recess appointments of cabinet members he knew the Republican Senate opposed.
Now it looks like West and Rubio are combining forces.
As reported by The Shark Tank, Rubio said he “could work with West.” Frankly, Rubio could rub wet rags together and make fire. Give him another sharp piece of flint that's just itching to spark and the political potential is absolutely combustible.
In 2010, the staunchly conservative Rubio defeated left-leaning moderate Gov. Charlie Crist – who desperately switched his party affiliation after failing to win support as a Republican -- in a landslide. Since then, Rubio maintains strong approval among Floridians for his performance as a United States Senator.
Allen West defeated Democrat incumbent U.S. Rep. Ron Klein to represent Florida's 22nd Congressional district and still remains popular with Florida’s politically influential tea party members despite his vote for the compromising deal that raised the federal debt ceiling.
Considering the number of congressional seats up for grabs in 2012, Democrats have more to be concerned about than losing the White House due to Obama’s dismal poll numbers.
While approval numbers for congress as a whole remains embarrassingly low all around, Gallup’s poll shows congressional Democrats with lower approval numbers than those of their Republican counterparts.
A September poll by National Journal shows vulnerable House Democrats faring worse than they did in the 2010 midterms and Rasmussen’s January survey shows the same for Democrats in the Senate.
“This potential alliance between two of the most influential “new guard” Republicans,” predicted The Shark Tank's Javier Manjarres of Rubio and West, “could very well signal that Republicans are beginning to unite their efforts to advance their agenda and to defeat President Obama and the Democrat political establishment which is still clinging to power in the Senate.”
A December survey by Tel Opinion Research and shared by Real Clear Politics shows former House Speaker Newt Gingrich surging to a statistical tie with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the Sunshine State. In November, Gingrich named both Rubio and West as potential picks for his potential running mates. Where Rubio has repeatedly ruled out the possibility that he would accept the offer to become vice president -- West has not.
Florida is known for storms, hurricanes mostly. But tsunamis are rather rare in the Sunshine State, especially of the political variety -- until now. But that's the thing about a powerful storm. Where most think that all storms are destructive there is a glorious benefit as those things which are weak will be swept away and those things strong enough to remain will be cleansed.
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