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September 7, 2011
Toning Down the Rhetoric?
On Monday, Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa, Jr, urged labor to "win the war" on the Tea Party, told the President "we are your army" and "let's take these son of a ****** out" amid cheers from the crowd.
Just your usual Teamster rally? Not exactly, not when the President then follows those words with a speech on the same stage. No condemnation for the words, nothing asking Mr. Hoffa for civility in public discourse, as he did back in January
"...only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to our challenges as a nation, in a way that would make them proud.”
Waging war on the Tea Party? We are your army, ready to march? Take them out? This is what the President considers to be civility in public discourse?
The President has been asked to condemn the words of Mr. Hoffa and all we have so far is White House Press Spokesman Jay Carney stating,
"These weren't comments by the President," he said."The President wasn't there -- I mean, he wasn't on stage. He didn't speak for another 20 minutes. He didn't hear it. I really don't have any comment beyond that."
And later
"Mr. Hoffa speaks for himself and the labor movement, and the President speaks for himself."
It's now been a few days and Mr. Hoffa has had time to think about his comments. Asked what he thinks in hindsight,
"I would [say it again] because I believe it," he said. "They've declared war on us. We didn't declare war on them, they declared war on us. We're fighting back. The question is, who started the war?"
Carrying this to a ludicrous extreme, if a racist gets up on stage and goes off on a ridiculous anti-Obama diatribe and then Rick Perry or Michelle Bachmann or Mitt Romney follow that speaker on the stage, will Obama and the Democrats be fine with an explanation of "Hey, those were the comments of that guy, not ours!" Of course not. That would be just as unacceptable as the President's current stance on Hoffa's rhetoric.
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I don't know Patrick, before labeling Hoffa's speech as uncivil, you better ask Froma Harrop. Remember, it's not uncivil if she agrees with it.
Posted by: Marc at September 7, 2011 11:00 AMireally do't want to try and force the President to "repudiate"Hoffa if he agrees with him.
Posted by: joe bernstein at September 7, 2011 12:51 PMHoffa is a scumbag like his father and that's that,although I have many friends who are Teamsters and they're generally good guys-Hoffa was no more a working Teamster than Pat Crowley ever was.Organizers are frequently short on requisite work experience.
I actually was a Teamster in 1972,but we lost the workplace election.
Now,I believe the President or anyone else needs to sink or swim with their real beliefs.
The Tea Party wants to butt heads,so OK,don't whine for an apology-give it back in spades.
Political correctness sucks.
Apologizing for your opinion sucks also,unless you are convinced you were wrong,and then it is the right thing to do.
Middle class dude here. I don't feel that banks, corporations, and billionaires are waging war on me. I really don't get it.
Even a bozo can do the math: If we taxed ALL the billionaires 100%, we'd only be able to plug the federal budget hole. If all the corporations gave all their cash away to the people it would barely cover a quarter of America's consumer debt.
Would the average American's life be dramatically improved if their credit card debt went from $9,000 to $6,000? If the federal budget was perfectly balanced for a few years?
I feel the same way about these 'corporate war' folks as I do about the Republicans who think raising or lowering taxes a notch is going to matter substantially in the big picture. It won't. Both philosophies are fundamentally flawed by the time they're reduced to phrases that can be spat out to a cheering crowd.
Posted by: mangeek at September 7, 2011 2:36 PMYou won't get any argument from me that Hoffa sounded pretty intemperate in his remarks.
Posted by: bella at September 7, 2011 3:13 PMIf I'm Obama, I respond like this: "Mr. Hoffa should not resort to threats real or implied and quit trying to sound like the governor of Texas."
Jimmy Hoffa? I remember when they took the make-up off Tammy Fay Baker and found his father. Oh, uncivil, uncivil. But still, it is not a declaration of war.
Posted by: Warrington Faust at September 7, 2011 4:56 PMI'm with Marc. Its only uncivil if a liberal says its uncivil until then its "permissible in civil discourse."
Posted by: Max Diesel at September 7, 2011 5:32 PMThere's a new video game where one gets to kill Palin,Beck,etc-IOW conversatives.
Posted by: joe bernstein at September 7, 2011 9:52 PMNot a peep from the MSM or the disgusting Froma Harrop.
Imagine if Debbie Wasserman-Schultz or Chris Matthews were on it-hmmm?You'd hear the whining on Mars.
"nothing asking Mr. Hoffa for civility in public discourse, as he did back in January"
An apology is secondary. As Patrick points out, the issue here is that the President is not holding up the standard THAT HE HIMSELF SET.
"Imagine if Debbie Wasserman-Schultz or Chris Matthews were on it-hmmm? You'd hear the whining on Mars."
lol Yes, you would.
Posted by: Monique at September 7, 2011 10:23 PMIt's really amazing how deaf the "President" of the USA is. Hussein never heard Jeremiah Wright either...for 20 yrs. And we trust him with the nuclear football? A deaf corn borer resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. doing his job everyday ripping through the fiber of the American culture.
Posted by: ANTHONY at September 9, 2011 12:02 AMA "deaf corn borer"-LOL-except it ain't really funny.
Posted by: joe bernstein at September 10, 2011 2:44 PMBumper sticker idea-ABO-and it's not an ad for blood types.