The kids may be all right after all. Two of the three children of Steve West, a Missouri Republican running for a seat in the State House, are urging citizens not to cast a vote for their father.

“A lot of his views are just very out there,” Emily West said. “He’s made multiple comments that are racist and homophobic and how he doesn’t like the Jews.” On Tuesday, her brother contacted The Star to say that he, too, was concerned about their father’s candidacy. “My dad’s a fanatic. He must be stopped,” said Andy West, the middle of Steve West’s three children. “His ideology is pure hatred. It’s totally insane. “If he gets elected, it would legitimize him. Then he would become a state official, and he’s saying that Jews shouldn’t even have civil rights.”

They’re not wrong to be worried. Since winning his primary in August, news reports have noted West’s comments about “Jewish cabals” at Planned Parenthood that are “harvesting baby parts.” His own website calls for vaccines to become voluntary.

He also said “Hitler was right” regarding what was going on in Germany.

West says he was taken out of context… but good luck finding a context where praising Hitler is ever a good strategy for a wannabe politician.

As for his two kids, West said his ex-wife “poisoned” them against him, ignoring the fact that there is a long record of his vile, bigoted comments, such as linking homosexuality to pedophilia and calling women’s sports a “breeding ground for lesbianism.”

What more does he have to do before Missouri voters reject him for being a homophobe and anti-Semite?

His behavior is so vile, even the state’s Republican Party denounced him. (Do you know how awful you must be when today’s GOP says you’ve gone too far?)

The Missouri Republican Party issued a statement in August saying that West’s “shocking and vile comments do not reflect the position of the Missouri Republican Party or indeed of any decent individual.” “West’s abhorrent rhetoric has absolutely no place in the Missouri Republican Party or anywhere. We wholeheartedly condemn his comments.”

The message from his children, however, should give us hope that not all children of bigots are guaranteed to end up like their parents. It doesn’t matter if you’re a preacher’s kid, a descendent of Fred Phelps, or the children of a Republican bigot, you can break free from your parents’ views.

Let’s hope their message gets through to voters.

