By Javier Manjarres

The Republican Congressional primary race in Florida’s 23rd congressional district has officially gone completely in the gutter. We all know about Ozzie deFaria’s “UNELECTABLE” past of domestic violence and battery assault, not to mention a slew of bad business dealings and liens that plague his campaign. deFaria has falsely attacked Karen Harrington, and has spread egregious lies about her, even calling her a “slut.” (Angry deFaria)

Now, the other “crazy” in the race- Joe Kaufman has delved into the same pool of desperation that deFaria has been swimming in for the past several months.  Kaufman has put out a mailer stating that Karen Harrington supports terrorism and has hired a “staffer” that is involved with the nefarious Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

 So who is Joe Kaufman? Joe Kaufman is a self-described “expert on counter-terrorism” that is best known for his tirades on street corners where he shows up equipped with a bullet-proof vest and a bullhorn.

 Kaufman is highly respected for the work he has done to counter Islamic infiltration in the U.S.  But aside from this, Kaufman is unstable.

 Kaufman has recently implied that Iran should be dealt with militarily and that a nuclear strike of Iran should be on the table.

 And furthermore, if we’re not using them, why do we have the nukes in the first place? After all, there is no more Soviet Union to compete with. If the attacks are not a good enough reason to use them, then what are we holding on to them for?!!!

 Then there’s this-

 Now, at this point, you may think of me as being no less than a madman, but hear me out, for I have a method to my madness.

In using nuclear weaponry, I do not suggest we randomly take out cities and towns around the globe. That would be highly irresponsible. What I do suggest, though, is that we perform, like our Administration has been saying, strategic targeted attacks.

First stop, Syria! Over twenty terrorist organizations, including a handful of the major ones, have their home offices located in the city of Damascus, the capital of Syria. Instead of trying to woo Syria into our coalition against terrorism, as our Administration (Bush) has been doing, by offering to take them off the “terrorist list,” we should nuke Damascus and send the members of each one of its housed terrorist organizations scurrying around like a chicken with its head chopped off. If we’re truly looking to eradicate terrorism, this is the first place I would have gone after.-Joe Kaufman(Florida Jewish)

Kaufman also supported Senator Robert Smith over Senator Marco Rubio in 2010-

During the 2010 Republican U.S. Senate race that was ultimately won by now Senator Marco Rubio won, Joe Kaufman was part of the Bob Smith(pictured in blue) for U.S. Senate team.  Yes, this is the same Bob Smith who made a full-throated endorsement of Sen. John Kerry over President George W. Bush in 2004.  While helping to lead Bob Smith’s Senate campaign, many in South Florida speculated if Joe Kaufman was involved in the reprehensible racial slurs and attacks that came out of Team Smith that were directed at Senator Rubio.

While I don’t believe Kaufman was directly responsible for some of these nasty attacks, this is where ‘guilt by association’ plays a part in politics, and we will never know if Kaufman personally initiated the attacks or if he merely privately agreed with the attacks by the campaign and its surrogates which were indefensible.-Joe Kaufman Opposes Marco Rubio

Kaufman then used a fake Sarah Palin endorsement to solicit donations, actually using a Palin’s words and picture in a mailer that strongly implied that Palin had endorsed his candidacy.  

In sum, the Kaufman’s and deFaria’s campaigns are jokes. Neither of them could pose a serious challenge to Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and would only embarrass the Republican Party, as the Democrats would paint other Republicans with the same crazy brush these two have painted themselves with.