Rep. Allen West, R-Fort Lauderdale, called into the right-wing talk radio show of the woman he originally hired as his chief of staff, Joyce Kaufman, responding to criticism of Kaufman’s controversial statement “If ballots don’t work, bullets will” in light of the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz.
Kaufman began the segment by playing a clip of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz on Meet the Press yesterday. During her appearance, the Pembroke Pines Democrat said that “the shock jocks and the political movement leaders that are out there on both sides of the aisle need to have some pause as well,” specifically naming Kaufman’s words as an example of rhetoric that needs to be “toned down.”
“It just shows how low people will go for political opportunism,” West said, calling the criticism a “political cheap shot” and defending Kaufman’s statement, made during a 2010 rally.
“I was standing there when you said that,” West said, “and guess what, we did it by the ballot box.”
