Weigel

On her Florida radio show today, conservative talker Joyce Kaufman announced that she would not come to Washington as Rep.-elect Allen West's chief of staff.

I will not be used in an electronic lynching by proxy... you guys can do all the things you want to me, but I will not participate in you trying to destroy him.

The "lynching" in question: Stuff like this.

I'd speculated that West had been emboldened by his 8-point win (he lost by 10 points in 2008) to be exactly as conservative as he wanted to be, in this district that has been trending oh so slightly Democratic. It took nine days for him to experience his first setback, although in his statement he says "Joyce is a good friend, and will remain loyal to South Floridians and to me" and "I will always seek Joyce's counsel."