# Will Allen West and Tim Scott join the Congressional Black Caucus? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 3, 2010, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-allen-west-and-tim-scott-join-the-congressional-black-caucus/559357 "2010-11-03T18:16:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-allen-west-and-tim-scott-join-the-congressional-black-caucus/559357/1 "2010-11-03T18:16:43Z")
Last night Scott and West became the first black Republicans elected to Congress since J.C. Watts left in 2003. Scott has stated he probably won’t join, though West said he would think about it. Anyway there’s also some question as to whether the CBC will invite them, at least according to this story: [http://dailycaller.com/2010/11/02/congressional-black-caucus-mum-on-whether-it-will-welcome-black-republicans-in-2011/](http://dailycaller.com/2010/11/02/congressional-black-caucus-mum-on-whether-it-will-welcome-black-republicans-in-2011/) > [@](#): > > But CBC Chairman Barbara Lee implied a few weeks later in an interview with The Economist that black Republicans would be welcomed only if they conform to the group’s liberal guidelines. “The CBC has an agenda,” Lee told The Economist. “Our agenda is about lifting people out of poverty, providing middle-class tax cuts, supporting climate-change legislation. Do [incoming black Republicans] embrace this agenda?” Also Republicans tend to stray away, or at least claim to want to stray away from, racial identity politics. It’d be interesting to see the GOP base would react if these two joined the CBC. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-allen-west-and-tim-scott-join-the-congressional-black-caucus/559357/2 "2010-11-07T17:07:15Z")
[West is willing to.](http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/128005-rep-elect-west-plans-to-join-congressional-black-caucus) ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-allen-west-and-tim-scott-join-the-congressional-black-caucus/559357/3 "2010-11-08T13:40:22Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > Last night Scott and West became the first black Republicans elected to Congress since J.C. Watts left in 2003. Scott has stated he probably won’t join, though West said he would think about it. > > Anyway there’s also some question as to whether the CBC will invite them, at least according to this story: > > [http://dailycaller.com/2010/11/02/congressional-black-caucus-mum-on-whether-it-will-welcome-black-republicans-in-2011/](http://dailycaller.com/2010/11/02/congressional-black-caucus-mum-on-whether-it-will-welcome-black-republicans-in-2011/) > > Also Republicans tend to stray away, or at least claim to want to stray away from, racial identity politics. It’d be interesting to see the GOP base would react if these two joined the CBC. JC Watts himself did not join, although I seem to recall that Connecticut’s Gary Franks did and was the only Republican member. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-allen-west-and-tim-scott-join-the-congressional-black-caucus/559357/4 "2010-11-08T16:18:37Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > Also Republicans tend to stray away, or at least claim to want to stray away from, racial identity politics. It’d be interesting to see the GOP base would react if these two joined the CBC. It would be even more interesting to see how the Tea Party base would react. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-allen-west-and-tim-scott-join-the-congressional-black-caucus/559357/5 "2010-11-09T10:48:07Z")
re a black Republican joining the caucus… [quote=“BrainGlutton, post:4, topic:559357”] It would be even more interesting to see how the Tea Party base would react.[/QUOTE You haven’t got a clue do you? … or maybe what you mean is it would be interesting (for you) to have MSNBC find one sign that might criticize West so that your gang could run with it and make further claims that the Tea Party are predominantly racist. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-allen-west-and-tim-scott-join-the-congressional-black-caucus/559357/6 "2010-11-09T14:34:25Z")
> [@What\_the](#): > > re a black Republican joining the caucus… > > > [@BrainGlutton](#): > > > > It would be even more interesting to see how the Tea Party base would react. > > You haven’t got a clue do you? > > … or maybe what you mean is it would be interesting (for you) to have MSNBC find one sign that might criticize West so that your gang could run with it and make further claims that the Tea Party are predominantly racist. :dubious: No, I mean it would be interesting to see how the Tea Party base would react if two Congresscritters they just elected were to get involved directly in “racial identity politics” as the GOP defines them. Cognitive dissonance is always interesting, however manifested. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-allen-west-and-tim-scott-join-the-congressional-black-caucus/559357/7 "2010-11-10T11:39:40Z")
I don’t expect that their involvement would go that way though. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-allen-west-and-tim-scott-join-the-congressional-black-caucus/559357/8 "2011-01-06T03:27:50Z")
Allen West joined the caucus today. > **[The Washington Post - Breaking news and latest headlines, U.S. news, world...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/)** > > Breaking news, live coverage, investigations, analysis, video, photos and opinions from The Washington Post. Subscribe for the latest on U.S. and international news, politics, business, technology, climate change, health and wellness, sports,... ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-allen-west-and-tim-scott-join-the-congressional-black-caucus/559357/9 "2011-02-13T23:04:28Z")
> [@What\_the](#): > > I don’t expect that their involvement would go that way though. Joining the Congressional Black Caucus _is_ engaging in racial identity politics. It’s not just a name. Which is not to say I disapprove.