In case you missed it — One-Term-Wonder Congressman Lee Zeldin joined fellow Tea Party firebrand and former One-Term-Wonder Congressman Allen West for a “victory event” in support of West’s former PAC last week. An attendee described the event as “an enthusiastic celebration of the conservative comeback in America.” Zeldin has wasted no time embracing the Allen West “comeback” in Washington – standing in solidarity with West’s radical ideology at the expense of New Yorkers’ safety by voting to shut down the Department of Homeland Security earlier this year.
West has been a major backer of Zeldin’s – fundraising for him in 2014. His single term in Congress was marked by a number of incendiary and highly offensive statements including:
- Emailing a female Representative to call her “the most vile, unprofessional and despicable member of the U.S. House of Representatives” and “not a lady.”
- Comparing the Democratic Party to a slave plantation.
- Slandering his opponents with Nazi rhetoric.
- Comparing Obama supporters as “a threat to gene pool.”
And Allen West isn’t the only the controversial company Zeldin is keeping these days. Zeldin’s celebration with West came the same week he met with the Oath Keepers, an extremist rightwing militia group equally notorious for radical views and hateful rhetoric. The group’s founder even compared Hillary Clinton to Hitler and Mao, and called John McCain a traitor who “should be hung by the neck until dead.”
“While Congressman Zeldin is getting feted by Allen West, his time in office has given Long Island families nothing to celebrate,” said DCCC spokesperson Jeb Fain. “A politician who stands with purveyors of hateful rhetoric has no place representing Long Island. Zeldin owes his constituents an explanation for his associations with Allen West and the Oath Keepers and needs to condemn their vitriol.”