Commies in Congress?! No Such Luck, Says Party

Allen West may have made some headlines with his McCarthy-esque charge that 80 members of Congress are Communists, but the Communist Party itself thinks his "sad ploy" shows that he needs a lesson in democracy. “I didn’t know that being a Communist in Congress was off-limits or out of bounds," a vice-chairman of the national party tells Politico. The real number is zero, adds Libero Della Piana. "There aren’t any now and if there were in the future does that mean that the voters don’t have a say? Can’t choose a Communist to be in Congress?”

The Republican congressman said he was referring to the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and his office released a statement today explaining his rationale, notes the CBS affiliate in Miami. "The Communist Party has publicly referred to the Progressive Caucus as its allies," it says. "The Progressive Caucus speaks for itself. These individuals certainly aren't proponents of free markets or individual economic freedom." (More Allen West stories.)