Others are convinced that RINO Mitt Romney is behind it all, but I doubt it. Dark speculation about Mitt’s nefarious mitts in all of this is a little overblown.
These are state matters, and usually more parochial issues are what drive stuff like this. Redistricting is fought over tooth and nail, and an outsider presidential candidate who barely has a 50-50 chance of being president is not going to swing that much weight. Somebody wants to carve out a district for a favored politician, or trade it for a political favor, or something like that. There is a lot of “go along to get along” in state politics, and a state politician is not going to expend political capital to satisfy a weak national candidate.
I’m an occam’s razor guy, so I gravitate towards the least convoluted answer. Also, it is most logical to go with the answer or opinion that explains the most data
Sean Trende has the best explanation I have seen. West’s district is already jerrymandered to the max; a patchwork of small conservative enclaves in a sea of urban liberal blue. He’s boxed in by redistricting rules and other districts that cannot be encroached upon. This may be the best they could do for him. Trende does a good job illustrating what he is talking about with color-coded maps. Go read it all here: The Trouble with Saving Allen West’s District
H/T to Bunkerville
See also: The Shark Tank - Redistricting Goes Awry?
16 comments:
All's fair in love, war and politics as the say.
Good luck to West he's going to need it.
The GOP has created this fictional version of Obama:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ3FppzmG8g&feature=youtu.be
Thanks for the link. According to the interview with Mark Levin, no one even discussed this with him. At least give him the courtesy. The last I heard on the radio, West may run in another district.
I agree, while I'm no Romney fan; I'm going to need more proof before I believe he moving behind the scenes in redistricting efforts. It's a bit of a stretch.
The Baggers are finished. They have been pushed back everywhere they tried to exercise power.
If your hopes are with Allen West then you're further off in the weeds than I thought.
Look at the primary. They wiped the floor with the Baggers.
9-9-9. Absolutely asinine.
Romney just kicked the Tea Bagger corpse. It's over.
... however, there's not much doubt that the party elders are sick of West's act and would like the embarrassment removed.
I live and vote in Florida.
In 2010 we voted for new "anti-gerrymandering" amendments and they passed. Though the implications are not exactly "anti-gerrymander," just the same, the legislature was impelled to draw districts that were as compact and as determined by natural and preexisting political boundaries as possible. West's district had to go, because it meets none of that. It's as simple as that.
Personally, hopefully, we'll be rid of him, as he is a complete embarrassment to the state.
JMJ
SF, I'm with Bunkerville on this one....VERY odd that they wouldn't discuss something this big with West if they were being respectful and were happy to have such a patriot in office.
z, why do you assume there is any intention to be respectful to a man who has himself been unable to show respect.
This patriot (LMAO) is an opportunistic stooge whom the party wants out.
West is a loose cannon, and threatens every day to be a huge embarrassment to the Republican party. I suspect they are as happy to see him go as the Democrats. This is really a case of someone who ended up with no friends at all, and it's hardly surprising that he ended up losing the game of musical chairs.
I have to disagree with Ducky.
Romney's not kicking the Teabagger corpse (as he IS the Tea Party). He's merely excising the Teabaggers that won't stay bought and paid for.
Ducky, glad you've got the skinny on what the party wants :-)
Yes, he is a patriot.
How could anyone be expected to win on a supposedly "level playing field" when The Forces of Darkness literally make the ground shake and shift beneath your feet and open up fissures that swallow you up just as you're running triumphantly ahead of the pack in sight of the goal posts?
And then they keep moving those goal posts farther and farther away in the midst of play as well, don't they?
It's not the CANDIDATES, it's the ESTABLISHMENT, Stupid!
~ FreeThinke
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss, FreeThinke.
Romney's shaped and groomed his "Tea-stablishment" for going on 6 years now.
Remember when "McCain will be the 3rd term of Bush" was Romney's smear, before it became Obama's?
Understand what you you're saying, Beamish, and agree about the nature of "bosses" -- old and new -- but Romney doesn't appear to be very popular with what-may-be-left of the Tea Party, so I don't understand you there.
The Tea Party seemed to have a huge impact for GOOD in the last congressional election, but where is it now?
NOWHERE!
Unless it's gone underground.
Romney is the New Dole-McCain -- i.e. picked to lose. Nobody wants him but The Establishment. The question we should be seriously entertaining is "Why?"
~ FreeThinke
Understand what you you're saying, Beamish, and agree about the nature of "bosses" -- old and new -- but Romney doesn't appear to be very popular with what-may-be-left of the Tea Party, so I don't understand you there.
You're not seeing the polls that put Romney at 75+% approval among people who identify themselves as "Tea Party?"
The only group of Republicans (Tea-publicans?) that are on the "any Republican facing Obama" train are the Tea Party minus conservatives and libertarians.
The Tea Party is 45% of the Republican Party, while 70% of the Republican Party self-identifies as "conservative." 45 out of 100 Republicans are also Tea Party, 70 of those 100 Republicans are conservative.
Obviously not all of the Tea Party is far left wing.
Statistically speaking, that allows a number between 1 and 45 Republicans out of 100 being both Tea Party and conservative. I believe that number is a lot closer to 1 than 45. Definitely within the 20-25 range, where non-conservative Tea Partiers would be the majority of Republican Tea Partiers.
Teabaggerism is not conservatism.
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