GETTING SMART – AT 9:08 A.M. ET:  The Congressional Black Caucus, whose leftist credentials have never been in doubt, has now come to its senses and says it will welcome the two new black Republicans elected to the House:

The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) said this week it will welcome a pair of newly elected black Republicans if they wish to join.

“Membership in the Congressional Black Caucus has never been restricted to Democrats,” the group said in an unattributed e-mail to its members. “Should either of the two African-American Republicans recently elected to the House of Representatives request membership in the Congressional Black Caucus they will be welcomed.”...

...The announcement breaks the CBC’s silence on the possibility that GOP Reps.-elect Allen West (Fla.) and Tim Scott (S.C.) be allowed to join the overwhelmingly Democratic group. West has said he’ll seek membership, while Scott reportedly hasn’t decided.

The CBC’s message also seems to run counter to statements made last month by CBC Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), who told The Economist that, while the group is technically bipartisan, it also “has an agenda.”

“Our agenda is about lifting people out of poverty, providing middle-class tax cuts, supporting climate-change legislation,” she said. “Do [incoming black Republicans] embrace this agenda?”

COMMENT:  Next step for the CBC, in my view:  Dump Barbara Lee.  An extreme leftist and Castro supporter, Lee was the only member of Congress to vote against military action following the 9-11 attacks.  And yet, that didn't count against her in the CBC, which shows just how far left that body is.  (It is a reflection of the Marxist influence on the civil rights movement, which is one of those unmentionable issues.)

West has said he wants to join, Scott is undecided. 

Do you know Allen West, the retired Army lieutenant colonel?  He's about as dynamic and blunt a man as you can find, a man whose personality says "win" all the way.  I'd love to be there when he goes to his first CBC meeting, and confronts the old, worn-out ideologists.  The guy's got guts, but we already knew that.

November 10, 2010