GOP lawmaker says 75-plus Dems are communists

WASHINGTON — Republican Rep. Allen West said he believes 75-plus House Democrats are members of the Communist Party, a claim that echoed Joe McCarthy's unsubstantiated 1950s charges that communists had infiltrated the top ranks of the U.S. government.

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File

Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., talks about the standoff between Democrats and Republicans over the debt crisis on Capitol Hill in Washington on July 30. West said he believes 75-plus House Democrats are members of the Communist Party, a claim that echoed Joe McCarthy's unsubstantiated 1950s charges that communists had...