EVERYONE WILL BE SO SURPRISED WHEN ALLEN WEST BEATS JEB BUSH IN IOWA IN 2016

I think Allen West is going to be the Rick Santorum/Newt Gingrich/pre-sex-scandal Herman Cain of 2016 -- the candidate who does much, much better than anyone expects, even though (or more likely because) he's clearly from Crazytown. He'll definitely be successful if he keeps this up:

Florida Rep. Allen West ripped President Barack Obama's United Nations speech Tuesday, saying he would have told the U.N. that America would be an "Angel of Death" that wreaks "havoc and destruction" on anyone who attacks the U.S.

"My statement to the United Nations would have been, 'The future does not belong to those who attack our Embassies and Consulates and kill our Ambassadors. The Angel of Death in the form of an American Bald Eagle will visit you and wreak havoc and destruction upon your existence,'" the Florida congressman wrote in a Facebook post Tuesday....

For the third cycle in a row, there'll probably be one heavy-hitter candidate who's not completely bonkers running against a bunch of utter nutjobs and zealots (Rand Paul, Paul Ryan, possibly Rick S. and Newt and Michelle again, plus perhaps Joe Scarborough in the Jon Huntsman role); this time it will be Jeb Bush as McCain/Romney, and he'll probably get the nomination -- and spend all of 2016 desperately trying to prove he's almost as loony as the zealots and nutjobs.

But before Jeb wins, West is going to fire up the base with nonsense like this.

Will the base still be crazy four years from now? Yes, the base will still be crazy four years from now. Until Roger Ailes, Rush Limbaugh, and their sexagenarian/septuagenarian audience leave this vale of tears, the base will still be crazy. I'm pretty sure Ailes and Limbaugh have excellent health care.

Yes, I know: Allen West may not even keep his seat in Congress this year. But why would that prevent him from being a competitive Republican presidential candidate? Santorum lost his last Senate race in a blowout. Gingrich left the House in disgrace. If wingnut voters think you were driven out of Congress by the evil liberals, that's a badge of honor.