Florida Republican Rep. Allen West defended his skepticism surrounding the September non-farm payrolls report in an interview on CNBC early this afternoon. West got rather testy with interviewer Tyler Mathisen, who wasn't buying West's reasons for joining the conspiracy.
Here's a particularly edgy exchange:
MATHISEN: 'You are alleging specifically that the president is engaging in a cover-up of the data. You are saying that the administration is actively manipulating that data. Correct?'
WEST: 'Well, absolutely. Look at what happened with our GDP numbers. Fourth-quarter GDP numbers last year were 3 percent...'
MATHISEN: 'Do you have any basis on which you say that? Do you have any basis on which you say that? Any source? Anyone that has come to you and said, 'This is the case?' I mean, do you realize how difficult it would be for someone to pull off that kind of conspiracy, given the number of people in the labor department, given the number of surveyors out there, one of whom would probably say, 'Wait a minute! That's not the right number!''
WEST: 'Well, if you would stop yelling in my ear and allow me to answer your questions, maybe we could get to the bottom of this. When you look at the GDP numbers — which have gone from 4.1 percent, then it went to 1.9 percent, then it was at 1.7 percent. It got revised down just about a month ago to 1.3 percent. We've got .