Teamsters Thug James Hoffa Should Be Condemned for Tea Party Remark

on September 7, 2011 at 4:52 PM

On Labor Day, James Hoffa gave a rousing speech at a union rally in Michigan before President Obama took the stage. With no small amount of passion, the Teamster president emphatically told the crowd to take out those Tea Party “son-of-a-bitches.”

No, seriously, he did. I’m not putting words in his mouth or selectively editing him. Here’s the full quote:

We got to keep an eye on the battle that we face: The war on workers. And you see it everywhere, it is the Tea Party. And you know, there is only one way to beat and win that war. The one thing about working people is we like a good fight. And you know what? They've got a war, they got a war with us and there's only going to be one winner. It's going to be the workers of Michigan, and America. We're going to win that war ... President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. Let's take these son of bitches out and give America back to an America where we belong.

Civility!

Naturally the media was outraged, the White House declared that Hoffa had acted stupidly, and the public demanded a formal apology and a son-of-a-bitch beer summit.

Insert sarcasm here.

What actually happened was that nothing happened. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney refused to condemn Hoffa on the president’s behalf. Congresswoman and Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz refused to discuss it on Fox and Friends.

These are the same people calling for “healing words” and a “new tone of civility”?

Maybe liberals could lead by example and stop calling people who want a solvent federal budget terrorists, racists, hobbits, cunts, Nazis, crazy, grandma-murdering teabaggers.

Just in case you were wondering, Hoffa stands by his remark and says he’ll never take it back. What an SOB.

Image via Colorado Luis/Flickr

Filed Under: barack obama, corporations, economy, discrimination, human rights, in the news, media, politics, tea party

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Comments (25)

jkm89

on Sep 7, 2011 at 5:02 PM

Ha, I was wondering what took so long for your post on this. He should have come up with a different way of saying it. But this is a serious case of a mountain out of a molehill. At least you provided the whole quote. I agree with him though ( in nicer, more civil terms haha).

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billsfan1104

on Sep 7, 2011 at 5:04 PM

If this would of been a republican, theStir and their bloggers would cry foul, and write at least five blogs about how hateful republicans are. Its a double standard for sure.

michiganmom116

on Sep 7, 2011 at 5:08 PM

"....the workers of Michigan..."

Yeah, like there are a lot of THOSE left.

Nonmember comment from Rocin

on Sep 7, 2011 at 5:10 PM

Don't worry, President Obama will come down on him like a ton of bricks! He has vociferously called for a "new civility".

hoticedcoffee

on Sep 7, 2011 at 5:12 PM

Classy bunch, those union thugs. Obama's ratings are in the toilet - all he has left are union thugs and similar ilk, so he's certainly not going to tsk-tsk the bad behavior - better to just go ahead and take the stage, THANKING the crowd for their enthusiasm.

I was having a conversation about this exact event with a few of friends over lunch - one with conservative views, the other two very left-leaning. The left-leaners had no idea what we were talking about, despite being very current on watching their (pre-digested for their consumption) "news" programs. They couldn't believe this comment was made as part of an introduction for Obama, who took the stager minutes later and said NOTHING. We pulled up the video on a phone. The were outraged not only at Obama for saying nothing, but also that they never heard a peep about it on the mainstream media outlets. Talk about clouds clearing? I told them to go home a check out some Maxine Watters brilliance for extra outrage.

Nonmember comment from Dan Olson

on Sep 7, 2011 at 5:32 PM

You say you didn't selectively edit but yet the whole part where he was talking about voting is missing from your 'direct quote'. You even have ellipses where the voting mention is. That is the definition of selective editing. Without that key part, it makes it sound like he was talking about violence but it was about voting.

on Sep 7, 2011 at 5:35 PM

You do know that half of those words (and worse) have been used by conservatives to describe liberals as well. But I don't see articles from you complaining about that.

micheledo

on Sep 7, 2011 at 6:00 PM

I'm glad to hear he is standing by his words! It really annoys me when people are so quick to apologize. Man up and admit you meant EXACTLY what you said.

That being said, he was rude and shouldn't have talked like that. No one should.

Facebook comment from Ashleigh Munson

on Sep 7, 2011 at 6:07 PM

Dan, he said "Everyone here has a vote." That's all that was left out. But that wasn't the offensive thing, it was the name calling.

And why should Jenny have to do an article about conservatives saying idiotic things? We've got 10 other writers here who are all over it.

starrsitter

on Sep 7, 2011 at 6:52 PM

What Dan said.

"Everyone here's got a vote." (the part that's missing) is pretty important to the context of "take those sons-of-bitches out." It changes 'take them out' from a reference to violence to a call to remove people from office the normal way...by electing someone else.

And, I don't know where you are but what I've heard most conservatives bitching about is the "violent rhetoric" not the cussing.