U.S. Rep. Allen West will be the keynote speaker at the Minnesota Republican Party's Lincoln Reagan dinner in March.
Republican Party chairman Pat Shortridge praised the Florida Republican as, "a great American who fights every day in Washington to curb out of control government spending, stop tax hikes on hardworking families and businesses, and spur economic growth and job creation in Florida and throughout the country."
The annual dinner is one of the party's biggest fundraising events, attracting hundreds of donors each year. This year, the dinner will be on Thursday March 15.
West, who had a long military career, has become an outspoken hero of the right and is called a Tea Party star but the left has oft derided his statements.
On Saturday, he said to cheers at the West Palm Beach Lincoln Day Dinner: "This is a battlefield that we must stand upon and we need to let president Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and my dear friend, the chairman of the democrat national committee, we need to let them know that Florida is not on the table. Take your message of equality of achievement, take your message of economic dependency, and take your message of enslaving the entrepreneurial will and spirit of the American people somewhere else. You can take it to Europe, you can take it to the bottom of the sea, you can take it to the North Pole, but get the hell out of the United States of America."
Amid post-speech outcry, he said his comments were misinterpreted and advised critics to listen to the entire speech.
Watch a video of that Florida speech here:
