About 300 or so Allen West supporters gathered on Monday night for the Allen West Goodbye and Thanks for All the Crazy BBQ.
It was apparently a night of BBQ, thank yous, and obscure military references at his campaign headquarters in Stuart.
West, who finally conceded to Patrick Murphy when he realized that the recount he insisted on actually gave him an even larger margin of defeat, addressed his loyal supporters as only West knows how: by referencing American battles and shoehorning a Revolution-era quote to express... something.
Either way, West won't stop talking. Because real American leaders have voices that never disappear.
"Leaders don't need a title to be able to lead," West told the crowd. "They can continue to stand up for the principles and values that make this the longest-running constitutional republic that the world has ever known. So you will not see my voice disappearing."
West also quoted Thomas Paine's "These are the times that try men's souls" line from his revolutionary American Crisis pamphlets of 1776. Because losing a race in a Florida district and having a president you disagree with win reelection is the same thing the Founding Fathers fought and bled for.
"We will overcome this fiscal crisis," West said to his supporters. "We will overcome this energy independence crisis. We will defeat the enemies that want to destroy us and our best ally in the world that is Israel. We will be triumphant. The harder the conflict, the greater the triumph will be."
Truly inspiring words from a guy who did absolutely nothing in his one and only term as congressman. Unless you count him calling Obama a Socialist, Muslims evil, Debbie Wasserman Schultz "vile," women a hindrance to men, Obama supporters dumb, and people who live off government programs "slaves," then he totally did a lot, and Thomas Paine would seriously be impressed.
"So don't come here tonight crying over your barbecue," he continued. "Come here tonight and understand that at this place at this time, there will be an awakening that will go forth all across the United States of America, and you can tell your children that on the 26th of November 2012 that you stood here right where it began."
The awakening starts right here at our barbecue! Just as soon as I'm done with these corn niblets, we're totally going to revolution all up in this place!
Oh, Allen. We miss you already!
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