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    The Dumbest Thing Ever Written On Congressional Stationery

    Florida Representative (and arch-rival of Debbie Wasserman Schultz) Allen West received a letter from the Council on Islamic-American Relations (CAIR) requesting him to cease relations with "anti-Islamic extremists." This was his response that the Miami New Times called "the dumbest thing ever written on congressional stationery".

    Jed Oliver
    by Jed Oliver

    Community Contributor

    If you don't get the reference, that's OK. Neither did I (at first) and neither did CAIR's executive director.

    It comes from an incident during the Battle of the Bulge in WWII where American General Anthony McAuliffe received a letter from a German Commander demanding his surrender.

    This was the General's response:

    To the German Commander, NUTS!, The American Commander

    Pressed for a further explanation (apparently "Nuts!" doesn't translate well), Colonel Joseph Harper (the man who delivered the message) offered his own explanation to the Germans:

    If you don't know what 'Nuts' means, in plain English it is the same as 'Go to Hell'. And I'll tell you something else, if you continue to attack we will kill every goddam German that tries to break into this city.

    So it could be assumed that 'NUTS!' was Allen West's way of telling the Center of American-Islamic Relations that they could 'Go to Hell.'

    For more on Allen West's letter, go here.

    For more on Anthony McAuliffe and the Battle of the Bulge, go here.

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