Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) said at a Florida town hall on Tuesday that he’d “heard” 80 of the 190 House Democrats are Communists. According to the Palm Beach Post, West “wouldn’t name names.”

The Tea Party favorite — who Sarah Palin put at the top of her “list” for VP to run alongside the 2012 GOP nominee — has recently been in the media for making controversial statements.

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Last month, West posted on his Facebook page that he “vehemently condemns” the “reprehensible” $10,000 bounty offered by the New Black Panther Party for the citizen’s arrest of George Zimmerman. He called for the Department of Justice to prosecute the group, which he’s previously told Sean Hannity should be on the “terror watch list.”

Addressing a group of senior citizens at a retirement home in West Palm Beach recently, he said he thinks President Obama’s 10 percent tanning tax is “racist.”

“You want to talk about something that’s really racist? They have a tanning tax,” he said. “I’m not tanning.”

Despite overwhelming Republican opposition to President Obama’s health care law, West has stated that he supports parts of it, such as the provision that allows young adults to remain under their parent’s insurance until age 26.

At Tuesday’s event, which took place at Florida Atlantic University, West told the crowd of supporters that he’d like to have a conversation with the president about their difference of opinion on the health care law, but that “ain’t never gonna happen.”

When an audience member asked why not, West claimed that Obama is “scared.”

Follow Briana Lopes on Twitter at @briananikohl