1. Mediaite
  2. Gossip Cop
  3. Geekosystem
  4. Styleite
  5. SportsGrid
  6. The Mary Sue
  7. The Jane Dough
  8. The Braiser
Advertisement

Rep. Allen West On Tim Geithner: ‘When You Open That Refrigerator Door The Lights Don’t Come On’

Video
» 108 comments

Republican Congressman Allen West appeared on Fox & Friends and was none too pleased with remarks by Senator John Kerry and advisor to President Obama, David Axelrod, where both described the credit situation as the “Tea Party downgrade.” West replied “I find those comments to be absolutely the most insidious thing I ever heard.” Yet Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was West’s real verbal target.

Upon hearing the news that Geithner plans on sticking around in the role of Treasury Secretary throughout the rest of Obama’s term, West provided a blunt assessment of Geithner’s job performance:

“Having had Timothy Geithner sit before us and testify in a small business committee and I had an opportunity to query him, when you open that refrigerator door, the lights don’t come on, so I really think he should move on . . . I don’t think that Timothy Geithner really has a handle on the fiscal situation here in the United States of America.”

Steve Doocy was amused by West’s colorful description, and West’s stone-faced delivery of such a humorous line about a refrigerator light only adds to the enjoyment. Overall though, West makes it clear that with such a financial crisis on hand, he really believes everyone in Congress should get back to Washington and start making deeper cuts immediately. And according to West, it would be nice too if “the left” realized “they are the ones that are totally to blame” for the downgrade.

Watch the clip from Fox News below:

Follow us on Twitter.

Sign up for Mediaite's daily newsletter.

Email Twitter Facebook Digg Reddit Stumble Upon Yahoo Buzz LinkedIn Tumblr Delicious
  • Michelle

    I don’t care who you are, that there’s funny.

    Allen West is awesome!  If you don’t want to know what he really thinks, you shouldn’t ask. 

  • Hugo Daun

    The expression goes:

    “The lights are on, but nobody’s home”, Allen.

    The walking Q-tip can’t even get a popular expression right…

  • http://www.sarainitalyblog.blogspot.com/ sarainitaly

    racist.

  • Anonymous

    HA !

  • Michelle

    You’re a few french fries short of a Happy Meal.

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    Yes, West is a master of heavily recycled humor. A veritable Henny Youngman of the political sphere. BTW: Have you heard West’s opponent? Terribly articulate and so upbeat and positive after the mean and dour West? Did you see the popular former Republican Governor Crist has endorsed and contributed to Patrick Murphy’s campaign? 

  • Anonymous

    Geithner was baffled and confused by Turbo Tax software, so why should he be trusted with the economy? Geithner is merely a symptom, though, of the fringe left, which has hijacked the Dem party. The whole lot of fringe left extremists in DC, need to be ran out of town.

  • Anonymous

    Gotta love Allen West’s plain talk and humor.

    As I said before, legitimate economists and financial commentators have called for
    Geithner to step down or be removed since at least the Spring of 2009.
    There were a few that argued against his appointment in the first place.
    Tim
    Geithner isn’t a terrible person, he is just demonstrably inept and in
    way over his head. He has been consistently wrong ever since TARP and
    isn’t showing signs of improvement. He seems incapable of learning from
    his mistakes. He has repeatedly used the word unexpected as a response
    to negative turns in the economy when we need someone who is able to
    accurately predict and prevent the problems. People on CNBC, FBN and the
    financial periodicals sent out warnings with their predictions and
    Geithner apparently didn’t listen or consider them in his decisions.
    Geithner’s track record shows that he is simply not able rise to the demands in these difficult times.
    It
    isn’t about politics, it’s about job performance. We need and deserve
    the best of the best and that is especially true right now. To hell with
    all the right left crap.

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    Why is it always deep fat fried foods with you? Let’s talk about healthy food choice once in a while.

  • Moderate

    “Republican Governor Crist has endorsed and contributed to Patrick Murphy’s campaign?”

    Sore loser.

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    I particularly enjoy all of his plain talk and humor about the First Amendment. A laugh riot.

  • Anonymous

    Fact: West said that they all should start entitlement cuts sooner than later and demarodents should admit at fault and get down too cutting is the correct thing to do! Perry was also right that prayer is needed for these ingrates.

  • Anonymous

    Fact: watermelon?

  • Anonymous

    So Allen West…..

    Isn’t funny. 
    Belongs in Jail. 
    and, 
    Doesn’t understand economics. 
    Glad we’ve got that straight. 

    PS. Implying that Allen West has stolen Christopher Reid’s haircut and is not giving it back is not racist. It’s funny. 

    PS2. While I don’t agree with everything Geithner has done. Allow me to quote Non-Elite. 

    “People on CNBC, FBN and the
    financial periodicals sent out warnings with their predictions and 
    Geithner apparently didn’t listen or consider them in his decisions.”

    There is a reason why Talking Financial Heads are on TV and Geithner is where he is. It’s because when TV financial pundits are breaking news or are issuing warnings….It’s already to late to do anything about it. Anyone who knows anything about financial markets will tell you that.

  • Anonymous

    So Allen West…..

    Isn’t funny. 
    Belongs in Jail. 
    and, 
    Doesn’t understand economics. 
    Glad we’ve got that straight. 

    PS. Implying that Allen West has stolen Christopher Reid’s haircut and is not giving it back is not racist. It’s funny. 

    PS2. While I don’t agree with everything Geithner has done. Allow me to quote Non-Elite. 

    “People on CNBC, FBN and the
    financial periodicals sent out warnings with their predictions and 
    Geithner apparently didn’t listen or consider them in his decisions.”

    There is a reason why Talking Financial Heads are on TV and Geithner is where he is. It’s because when TV financial pundits are breaking news or are issuing warnings….It’s already to late to do anything about it. Anyone who knows anything about financial markets will tell you that.

  • Republicans are Liars

    I would love to stand in front of Allen West and tell him to his face what ill informed twit he is.

  • Republicans are Liars

    I would love to stand in front of Allen West and tell him to his face what ill informed twit he is.

  • Anonymous

    Fact: Kerry, Geithner and Axelrod where the three stooges of lame street media tour this weekend provided much needed comedy for Obama’s downgrade tragedy. I really liked the 401K joke on us all!

  • Anonymous

    Fact: They quit making platform shoes high enough for him to even notice that you where there!

  • Anonymous

    Ha Ha Ha Ha that’s hilarious!

  • Anonymous

    Robert fancies himself a comedian also.

    For his act, he dresses up as Moms Mabley , chews tobacco , and talks about how he don’t want no old men .
    It’s a riot . Literally . People are stampeding for the exits there at the alternative lifestyles bar .

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    That would be a healthy choice. I love it.

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    If it’s just the same to you, I can do without Tollbooth’s prayers. He had a week-long prayer fest in April to end the drought, and it hasn’t rained since. I’m pretty sure there’s a connection.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ECYBIXNKAG5E46BC3GCJQPA7CQ well_its_no_cannibal_holocaust

    A little advice for Fox News and Allen West in the future, when you are talking about the financial crisis we are currently in, and claiming to be a member of the common, salt of the earth, tea party, don’t sit in front of a backdrop of a yacht, kinda gives you guys away.

  • Anonymous

    When Allen West opens the refrigerator door it’s usually a prelude to his favorite form of torture in Iraq where he just suffocates people.

  • Anonymous

    The Democratic party used to be a party of principled, hardworking, rational, mainstream Americans, but no longer.  The Democratic party has been taken over by spend crazy attack dogs whose only goal is to buy votes with government handouts while demonizing those who disagree with their selfishness and their madness.  

  • Anonymous

    Beat you to it. Already have. With a Broward Sheriff standing right next me laughing and cheering. It was great and I will do it again. 

  • Eman

    you   are a  munt

  • Jerry Baustian

    What about the next downgrade, and the one after that? Will the lefties continue to blame the people who want to end the deficits and stop the borrowing?This downgrade has been 40 years in the making, from President Nixon’s decision to remove the link between gold and the dollar, to Congress’s decision to index Social Security to inflation, to every regulation written by the bureaucrats that added an additional burden on business. One might even blame the states, because the national economy cannot recover while the economies of the biggest states — like California — are in such a deep hole.

  • ImNotBlue

    Yeah, how dare he practice his religion the way he wants to, with other people who appreciate what he has to say!

  • ImNotBlue

    It’s good to have goals.

    It’s better to make an actual difference.  But baby steps are important too, I guess.

  • ImNotBlue

    Since when are you the judge of what’s funny and what’s not?
    Why does West belong in jail?
    What does it say that Geithner was quoted a few months ago saying the downgrade would never happen?
    Have you forgotten about Geithner’s own tax problems?

    Start there.

  • Frod

    Geithner might be abject but getting West, an unashamed fascist and one of the great halfwits in American politics, on to make this point does not help advance the discussion.

  • ImNotBlue

    Seriously?  That’s your complaint?

    Tom and the Heartbreakers just called… he wants his last name back.

    PS-
    What state was he in? Maybe it was John Kerry’s boat.

  • Anonymous

    I’d love to watch that.

  • Michelle

    And I would love to see that.  I’m thinking he would be the one to come out on top of that exchange.

  • Anonymous
  • Anonymous

    Well if Crist has supported him he’s a lock… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…. :)

  • Anonymous

    Very sore… he rarely sits down nowadays. 

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    You’re some kind of whacked-out paranoiac. I don’t care what religion he practices or with whom he practices it. Just keep me out of all this cultic, vodoo krap.

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    Who do you mean by “he”? You have no antecedent. 

  • Anonymous

    Yeah, judging from your well thought out moniker and hyper-intelligent comment, you’re far better informed than Allen West.

  • ImNotBlue

    Oh, I didn’t realize that Perry had FORCED you to go to his event.

    So how did it happen?  Did he drag you?  Kidnapping?  Perhaps he tricked you by saying there was “free ice cream” and you got all excited?

    I had no idea he required you to go.  How did I miss that?

  • Anonymous

    You shouldn’t comment when you’re drunk. You end up saying dumb things and exaggerating. I can guarantee that the Broward County sheriff wasn’t there laughing and cheering, and had one of his deputies done this, he/she would have been reprimanded. You are a fool and a liar.

  • Anonymous

    Thank you for that first video. Well not the video but the first comment in the comments section. “There goes Allen West the next president of the United States”

    I haven’t laughed so hard in months. 

  • Anonymous

    Let’s see, the democrat controlled senate passed the bill, the president signed it into law, the tea party people got none of the spending cuts they were gunning for, and .. ?

    Somehow, I don’t think the libbies can count on independents being as stupid as they were last time.

  • Anonymous

    So off duty police officers aren’t allowed to go to Political Rallies? Geez I better call my friends in the sheriffs office and see if they still have jobs. 

    It’s amazing how moronic people are. 

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    That should very much surprise me, although I have respect for Crist. He showed himself an able leader, and Floridians would sure like a leader now.

  • Anonymous

    Just like Obama, along with his entire regime.

  • Anonymous

    Ah, but you conveniently left out the “off-duty” part, which makes his profession a complete non-issue; he could have been a janitor at Taco Bell, and it wouldn’t have meant any more or less. You knew exactly what you were trying to convey, which makes you dishonest and dishonorable.

  • Dflojak

    So a democrat is endorsing West’s opponent. Whoop de do.

  • Dflojak

    So a democrat is endorsing West’s opponent. Whoop de do.

  • Hugo Daun

    Awww, what’s the matter, Michelle?

    Did my comment on West get your magic underwear all in a knot?

  • Hugo Daun

    Awww, what’s the matter, Michelle?

    Did my comment on West get your magic underwear all in a knot?

  • Dflojak

    They have Barry, what more could you ask for. Oh, you said leader, I thought you said weasel.

  • Dflojak

    Sorry, the expression is correct. There’s more than one way to express your dislike of a dim bulb like little timmy. But he’s done such a great job, why would anyone denigrate him? I’m a ridin’ the Obama recovery express, choo choo, jump on board.

  • Dflojak

    Why don’t you take a bite of my tube steak, is that healthy.

  • Anonymous

    he was cheering for the ripples in your fat every time your hands connected…

  • Dflojak

    I guess you could call this a birds of a feather moment for the whitehouse, based on the description.

  • Dflojak

    I guess you could call this a birds of a feather moment for the whitehouse, based on the description.

  • Anonymous

    And you are a moron….Which you do a stupendous job of conveying. Congrats. 

  • Dflojak

    Allen West would rip your heart out and shit in the hole before you were able to figure out what happened to you. Come to a town hall meeting in south florida, big mouth, and watch West destroy the Moveon.org plants in the audience. He sends them packing with their tail between their jackass legs.

  • Anonymous

    Obama always hires disposible, useless idiot failures for these position. He doesn’t want competence, he wants people who will do what they are told and someone else to blame. It’s the Marxist way. Your usefulness has expired Comrade Geitner, next job up for Timmmy, Harvard economics dept. chair. Congratulations.

  • Anonymous

    You are calling West a half-wit fascist? The real reason is that you can’t stand to see a black man do well. You hate black people. Why don’t you just call him the ‘N’ word and get it over with. Racist!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NWVKX2P2QBPQ6FHQHCHVIC2ALQ Fedup in Florida

    LOL This interview was filmed in Wasserman Shultz’s district where he lives.

  • Tonetel

    lol, yeah, and the ad hom is really advancing the discussion.   Amazing.

  • Anonymous

    The Democrats will throw Geithner under the bus.  Trust me, this is inevitable.  But Geithner’s big mistake was just to give such total support to the Obama agenda.  He would have done much better to listen to what the business community was trying to tell him.

    A recent survey of small business owners, showed that 75% of them mentioned the cost, regulation and uncertainty of Obamacare as a major reason why they are not hiring people.

    Of course, you won’t read about that on Mediaite.  Or hear about it on CNN, MSNBC, CBS, etc. 

  • Dflojak

    Why don’t you join him for lunch then, unclepuke,he’ll gladly help you get the orsdouvre’s out of the fridge.

  • Dflojak

    Only intelligent and articulate black people that don’t need a teleprompter to be able to speak. Dem’s hate them black people.

  • Anonymous

    Fact: Another one gets a donut high and complains when they can’t run down an eighty year old!

  • Dflojak

    watch out raj, not wo got caught lying again, here comes the name calling.

  • Anonymous

    Fact: Bachman, West and other Tea Party elected will get rid of union trash. Change you can count on! Oh yes we can and all those other wacky tail dragging slogans!

  • Anonymous

    Fact: Just sounds to me the sun is bright behind Perry’s leadership in Texas! Connection only to steers and queers which one are you!

  • Frod

    Yeah whatever

  • Frod

    I’m not trying to advance the discussion, I’m saying that having Allen West on television to advance the discussion is a bad idea

  • Frod

    I’m not a “Dem”

  • Republicans are Liars

    I am a small business person. That is Horse shit.

  • Anonymous

    I’ve wondered if this “Geither isn’t going anywhere” talking point isn’t just a diversion. They may have taken him aside and given him the option to “honorably” step down “of his own accord”.
    Let’s face it, Obama’s Presidency is in trouble and Geithner is an albatross around his neck. He needs a serious boost on the economics front and losing Geithner to gain someone who will be accepted by the public as being far more qualified is just what he needs right now.
    It might just be window dressing since Obama requires a yes man, but he could fool the public. The MSM would eat it up and make him a hero for his courageous move. I’m sure it would be just more smoke an mirrors, but I could see this happening.

  • Republicans are Liars

    Why are you so stupid. What is it you think is in this for you? You want your social security taken from you? You want your medicare taken from you? You want not to be able to get unemployment when your ass is shown the door? Every dollar you take out of the federal budget is cporresponding to another job loss and you want the economy to come back around? Are you blind to these indisputable facts? This is what TeaIdiots want to have happen. They are masochists who want self-flagellation. TAX people at a reasonble level. Make people pay for the cost of having a civilized society.  

  • Republicans are Liars

    Why are you so stupid. What is it you think is in this for you? You want your social security taken from you? You want your medicare taken from you? You want not to be able to get unemployment when your ass is shown the door? Every dollar you take out of the federal budget is cporresponding to another job loss and you want the economy to come back around? Are you blind to these indisputable facts? This is what TeaIdiots want to have happen. They are masochists who want self-flagellation. TAX people at a reasonble level. Make people pay for the cost of having a civilized society.  

  • Frod

    I am a tall business person. That is a cuckoo’s nest.

  • Republicans are Liars

    Thank you, I appreciate your insight. This is probably the only intelligent thing you have ever posted on this board.

  • Republicans are Liars

    Thank you, I appreciate your insight. This is probably the only intelligent thing you have ever posted on this board.

  • Republicans are Liars

    Thank you, I appreciate your insight. This is probably the only intelligent thing you have ever posted on this board.

  • Anonymous

    Fact: Welfare buisiness doesn’t count as real buisiness that earns money not just waits for it to be mailed to you!

  • Anonymous

    I hate to say this, but almost anyone Obama would put in to replace Geithner would even be worse.   Remember that 92% of Obama’s appointees have spent their entire careers in government.  Geithner looks like a business genius by comparison with the rest of the cabinet — true, that wouldn’t be hard. A kid who ran a lemonade stand would know more about business than most the team. Geithner’s big failure (in my opinion) was trying to please his boss instead of trying to educate and advise him.

  • Anonymous

    Fact: Lean mean government yes. Government high on entitlement Twinkies No!

  • Anonymous

    TAX CHEAT geithner: “Incompetence We Can Believe In.”

    As the symbol of NO INTEGRITY, NO ETHICS, NO CONSCIENCE and NO BRAINS in the TAX CORRUPT pelosi-hussein regime, geithner is a constant reminder to voters of the horrific mistake they made in the last presidential election.  tiny tim geithner will help motivate voters to correct that mistake in the next one.

  • http://www.youarestupidif.com Nate Tanguay

    I think I’ll take that bet.  You can’t change stupid.

  • wlv

    Dems have to be planning on putting Hillary on the 2012 ticket for the Dems.  How much damage can one lousy leader cause?  Obama as POTUS is definitely a textbook case study on lack of leadership.

    Allen West is one tough dude.  Truth hurts.

  • http://www.youarestupidif.com Nate Tanguay

    Hey libtards.  In case you happen to come across my site http://secondamendmentwarrior.webs.com make sure you leave it quickly as it will scare you and make you cry.

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    Schools begin starting next week. Huge classroom sizes. Bursting at the seams. Tollbooth will be even less popular next week.

  • http://ja-js.blogtownhall.com Chuck Fowler

    West cracks me up, and not just because he’s a retired soldier and so am I. The light in the refrigerator remark about Geithner may even be better than the one he used to put “I never ran into facts I couldn’t ignore to make a point” Debbie Wassermann Schultz in her place and, here, I’ll go ahead and finish it for him. He basically only said there was a saying in the Army, “Don’t poke me in the chest” and left it at that. The rest of it is “Don’t poke me in the chest, unless you want to get slapped up side the head.”

    Carry on, Colonel. Carry on.

  • Anonymous

    I’ve seen more intelligent website commentary emanating from a cord of firewood.  Next time, try commenting using your Marcus Bachmann voice instead.

  • Dflojak

    You haven’t been reading my highly intelligent posts, bozo. I have said in the past on numerous occasions, first, as in the 12 steps that are out there, we have to admit there’s a problem. Let’s get the spending under control, let’s get rid of the waste, fraud and entitlements that shouldn’t have ever been approved, then we need to tackle a fair reform of the tax code, purging the system of corporate and personal tax loopholes that are in the IRS codes. Even rich people and large corps will be much more ameneable to paying higher taxes if they feel the wasteful spending on fraud, etc has been reduced if not eliminated.

  • Dflojak

    So ignore my posts. You seem to be ignorant, which goes along with ignore.

  • Dflojak

    No, it’s a little exaggerated, but not horse shit. Many business owners are distressed over the anticipation of costs of Obamacare for both existing and future employees, so are waiting until a more defined explanation is available of the real costs. In addition, the obama administration has added over 100 billion dollars in regulations to existing laws that business will have to deal with, along with the bureaucracy it creates. All in all, not a business friendly environment, unless of course you’re a supporter of Nancy Pelosi and she can get you released from the obamacare mandates.

  • wlv

    I wish you were right.  But the only thing that scares me more than Obama and the current Democrat leadership is the Obama voters.  They totally looked past Obama’s complete lack of leadership experience, failure to ever vote anything but “present” in Illinois, total absence of any work in the Senate.  If those voters were willing to look past all that, do you really think they’ve changed now? 

  • Anonymous

    REAL small, no doubt!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NWVKX2P2QBPQ6FHQHCHVIC2ALQ Fedup in Florida

    Is that you Debbie Washedup Schultz….  I think I was there at that townhall, and that deputy was not cheering you on…  he was calling you an asshole, I remember quite well.

  • http://www.youarestupidif.com Nate Tanguay

    Are you homophobic or latent?

  • http://twitter.com/cek100248 charles kirtley

    Geithner’s intelligence matches that of his boss.

  • adler56

    West is an airhead who was booted from the military.
    Anyone who likes him is obviously out to lunch or is a few bricks shy of a load which are more standard expressions of stupidity than his lame refrigerator light story that no one has ever used before. He has no sense of humor.

  • adler56

    You can thank the tea baggers for your 401 disappearing. It won’t be back this time. Thank a righty.

  • bob ross

    It’s always fun watching Steve Doocy kiss Allen Wests neck, run his fingers through his hair, it just looks like love…But hears some advice Steve, Don’t let West handcuff you! West has a nasty habit of Hitting people in handcuffs, That’s why they ran him out of the Military. West is kinda butch that way.

  • Anonymous

    So, if your not crazy and full of hate, you’re a liberal or RINO?

  • Anonymous

    For this nutjob to question anybodies intelligence is laughable.

  • Anonymous

    better yet stand in front of the other wacko, Joyce Kaufmann, the radio talk show host that campaigned for him non-stop on the air.. She’s the one that said ” If ballots don’t work, bullets will”. Just listen to one, just one of her segments on the radio. Then you’ll know birds of a feather flock together.

© 2012 Mediaite, LLC | About Us | Advertise | Newsletter | Jobs | Privacy | User Agreement | Disclaimer | Power Grid FAQ | Contact | Archives | RSS RSS
Dan Abrams, Founder | Power Grid by Sound Strategies | Hosting by Datagram