Abe Lincoln of our Times -Lt. Col. Allen West

Abe Lincoln of our Times
Introducing Lt. Col. Allen West
Lincoln Bicentennial Dinner Keynote Speaker
and recipient of Lincoln Bicentennial Award

February 3, Queens Village, NY: When Republican candidate Lt. Col. Allen B. West, U.S. Army (Ret.) was running for U.S. Congress in Florida in 2008, his supporters declared him “a true American hero with the charisma of Ronald Reagan,” a “great man with the stature of Lincoln,” and “presidential material.” His adversaries label him a “crazed wingnut who represents all that is wrong with the war,” and MSNBC political commentator Keith Olbermann named him the “Worst Person in the World.”

Ladies and gentlemen, The Queens Village Republican Club and the Go West Blog proudly present Lt. Col. Allen West. On the occasion of Lincoln’s 200^th birthday celebration LTC West will be honored with the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Award on Feb 8^th at the Lincoln Bicentennial Dinner at Antun’s of Queens Village. West picked up 45% of the vote in last year’s campaign for Florida’s 22nd Congressional District, losing to incumbent Representative Ron Klein (D-FL-22). Just as Lincoln lost to Stephen Douglas for the Illinois U.S. Senate seat in 1858 by a slim margin, but gained national prominence and won the presidency of the United States in 1860, West debated Ron Klein who then went into hiding, and West’s path is now on a similar trajectory to Lincoln’s.

Saturday evening, one week before the Feb 8^th event, West held a live nationwide conference call with dozens of his core supporters, energizing the troops for the two year battle ahead starting with his award dinner in New York. In the first “Town Call Meeting,” with a Q&A format, West expressed his delight with the election of another black GOP standard bearer, Michael Steele, as chairman of the RNC. Steele is not just a token black because the other party’s got one, West said, but an articulate media savvy voice who will communicate the conservative grassroots message to the town halls and town squares across America. This is the start of the new GOP.

Looking back at 2008, West said we lost the image war with the former Bush administration’s failure to communicate to the American people, and we lost the substance war since the McCain campaign didn’t have a solid foundational platform. So, instead the message came out according to whichever way the wind was blowing at the time. West went on to outline the strategies for the GOP to win both the image war and the substance war.

The image war will be won by someone young, appealing and media savvy, not an elderly Mr. Wilson type from the Dennis the Menace genre. West learned the importance of image as a commander in the military since you were always assessed before you even opened your mouth. We’ve got to get the party into the 21^st century, said West, taking advantage of new technologies such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and a new venue called BlogTalkRadio which carries Freedom Radio, a talk show hosted by conservative Patricia Carfagno.

On the substance war, West said we will win when we take a principled stand on the issues, and never back down. On such issues as illegal immigration, national security, the stimulus bill, individual responsibility, energy independence, elevating the individual over the collective, limited government and all the rest that Rush, Hannity, Glen Beck, Joyce Kaufman, The Kato Institute, the Heritage Foundation and many others have been hammering the Republicans for years, we need to formulate a platform and get it out there. Just as Lincoln stuck to the nascent Republican Party’s platform of the non-expansion of slavery and the Declaration of Independence, and saved the Union, we need to craft a set of principles based upon our Constitution and Declaration of Independence and stick to it.

Earlier this past summer, a group of New Yorkers who attended a Go West fundraiser in Manhattan, became instant supporters and formed the Go West Blog. Since West was a military commander and decorated war hero, who served America on the battlefield for 22 years, he came across as a political figure people can rely on to take his oath to public office to protect and defend the Constitution from enemies foreign and domestic. His call to stand up for our American core values, which are being quickly deconstructed, harkened back to the core group of Spartans who stood with Leonidas against the invading Persian armies and saved Western Civilization. More than a political campaign, this became a crusade to save America and our core principles from being eroded.

Back in August, the Go West Blog team launched a nationwide on-line petition drive to have West speak at the Republican National Convention in order for his voice to reach a wider audience. The petition, although it had 1000’s of signatures never reached the eyes and ears of “old guard” of the Republican establishment. Now with new RNC chairman Michael Steele, who praised West as a man “with the stature of Lincoln” and helped him in his Congressional campaign, there is a new wave enveloping the GOP and LTC Allen West is one of the rising stars.

On February 8^th West will give a keynote address at the Lincoln Bicentennial Dinner that will set the tone for the next phase of the Republican/Conservative movement. He will speak on the legacy and meaning of Lincoln’s principles and why it matters for Americans today. For years since its inception in 1875, the historic Queens Village Republican Club, the oldest in the nation, has been hosting Lincoln Day Dinners in order for the Republican Party to recommit itself to be the party Lincoln intended it to be. Lincoln is one of the founders of the then revolutionary Republican Party, the new Party of anti-slavery Northerners who stood against the idle Southern aristocrats and their economic system based upon human bondage that the Democratic Party championed. Like Lincoln, West has taken a solid stand against today’s economic and mental slavery fostered by the entitlement mentality of big overweening government, oil dependence on enemy states and other adversaries eroding our core principles of freedom and liberty. We look forward to hearing his keynote address and carving out a new revolutionary era for the GOP with LTC Allen West at the helm.

Who is Lt. Col. Allen West?

This is a brief bio to introduce Lt. Col. Allen West. Queens Village Republicans have the proud honor of presenting LTC West to address the dinner on the historic occasion of Abraham Lincoln’s 200^th birthday commemoration.

Born and raised in Atlanta, Allen West received BS (UT) and MS degrees in political science (KSU). He also holds a Master of Military Arts and Sciences from the US Army Command and General Staff Officer College in political theory and military history and operations. In his 22 years of military service in the U.S. Army he did combat with the world’s most violent terrorists in Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom. As a decorated military hero, he has received a Bronze Star, three Meritorious Service Medals, three Army Commendation Medals (one with Valor as a Captain in Desert Shield/Storm), a Valorous Unit Award, and he was the US Army ROTC Instructor of the Year in 1993.

As battalion commander for the Army’s 4th Infantry Division in Iraq, Col. West was responsible for 700 men and women, who were constant targets of Sunni terrorists after the fall of Baghdad. After interrogating an insurgent Iraqi policeman, thereby stopping a planned ambush, he was discharged, fined and demoted by the military for doing what he had to do to protect the lives of the soldiers in his battalion. “I sacrificed my career for my soldiers and that’s the bottom line,” he said. One of his soldiers, Michael Montas said: “I served under you in Iraq at the al-Taji airbase… You made a statement during your trials when asked if you would do it again, to which you said “If it’s about the lives of my men and their safety, I’d go through hell with a gasoline can.” Well sir if you would have to go through hell with a gas can I would drive for you.”

In 2004, when it was time to retire from more than 20 years of service in the US Army, he brought his wife and two young daughters to Broward County, Florida, where he taught high school. He then returned to Afghanistan as an advisor to the Afghan army for two years. In 2007, seeking to serve his country on the home front, he began his campaign for Florida’s 22nd Congressional District, and lost by a narrow margin of 5% to incumbent Ron Klein. He is poised to run again in 2010 and will kick off his glorious campaign for Congressional and higher office on February 8^th 2009 at the Lincoln Bicentennial Dinner.

For more information, contact:

Phil Orenstein, maduroman@att.net 718-465-2481

Michael Ackerman, michael.ackerman56@gmail.com 561-470-9227

Please visit http://qvgop.org/ and http://gowestforallenwest.wordpress.com/

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