Allen West, meet dustbin of history

By Michael J.W. Stickings

It says a lot about Allen West's character (or lack thereof) that he refuses to accept defeat. But the facts are the facts:

Florida Rep. Allen West's reelection prospects grew dimmer Sunday, as a recount of early ballots showed him falling further behind his Democratic opponent.

Democrat Patrick Murphy, a 29-year-old construction company executive, gained 242 votes after the St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections completed its re-tabulation, increasing his lead to more than 2,100 votes over West, a tea party hero. Murphy's lead is just outside the 0.5 percent margin that would trigger an automatic district-wide recount under Florida law.

West won a legal battle Friday when the office's canvassing board decided to re-tally all early votes that had been cast. The Republican had argued that those votes had been accidentally double-counted on election night and provided a winning margin to Murphy.

Obviously, West and his campaign were just full of shit. And it's rather hilarious that he's now even further behind.

As Doug Mataconis writes at Outside the Beltway: "The odds of West being able to make up this margin in a recount are infinitesimal at this point, and his advisers would most assuredly know that. At this point, the ball in his court. Do the honorable thing and accept defeat, or continue to fight a battle that he will ultimately lose."

I would just note that honor isn't exactly one of West's strengths. He's one of the most despicable people in politics.

Good riddance.