Timeline Of A Right-Wing Media Smear: Hoffa's Call To Vote Became "A Call For Violence"
After Fox News aired a doctored version of Teamsters president James Hoffa's Labor Day speech, the right-wing media pointed to the clearly edited video to accuse Hoffa of encouraging violence against conservatives. In fact, unaltered video -- video aired by Fox hours after the clearly edited version had been heavily promoted throughout the conservative media -- shows that Hoffa was encouraging the crowd to vote against Republicans in the 2012 election.
Hoffa Used Labor Day Address To Emphasize The Need To Vote
Hoffa: "Everybody Here's Got To Vote ... Let's Take These Son Of A Bitches Out And Give America Back To America Where We Belong." During a Labor Day event in Detroit, Michigan, Teamsters president James P. Hoffa said [emphasis added]:
We gotta 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 got a war. They got a war with us, and there is 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. And president Obama we want one thing: jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs. That what we're going to tell him. He's going to be - and when he sees what we're doing here he will be inspired. But he needs help and you know what? Everybody here's got to vote. If we go back and we keep the eye on the prize, let's take these son of a bitches out and give America back to America where we belong! Thank you very much! [ABCNews.com, 9/5/11]
How Fox News Helped Turn Hoffa's Call To Vote Into A Violent Threat Against Conservatives
Drudge: "Jimmy Hoffa: 'President Obama, This Is Your Army. We Are Ready To March. Let's Take These Son Of Bitches Out." At 12:36 p.m. ET on September 5, a Drudge Report headline excised Hoffa's comments:
[The Drudge Report, 9/5/11]
Fox's Henry: Hoffa "Said Of The Tea Party And Of Republicans, Quote: 'Let's Take These Sons Of Bitches Out.' " At 1 p.m. ET, September 5, Fox News reported on Hoffa's comments. Fox News White House correspondent Ed Henry reported:
HENRY: The Teamsters president, Jimmy Hoffa Jr. [sic], was speaking a couple of moments ago and saying, "We'll remember in November who's with the working people." He was chiding Republicans, specifically named the tea party, and then his language got a lot stronger. And pardon my language as I repeat it, but he said of the tea party and Republicans, quote: "Let's take these sons of bitches out." It got some cheers from this crowd here in Detroit. [Fox News, America Live, 9/5/11]
Fox Then Aired Clearly Edited Video Of Hoffa's Comments. Approximately 20 minutes after Henry's initial report on Hoffa's comments, Fox News' Megyn Kelly reported that Hoffa had issued "a pretty harsh attack on the tea party and Republicans. Here's some of that now." Fox News then aired a clearly edited version of Hoffa's speech:
HOFFA: We gotta keep an eye on the battle that we face: a war on workers. And you see it everywhere, it is the Tea Party. And you know, there's 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 got a war, they got a war with us, and there's only gonna be one winner. It's gonna be the workers of Michigan and America. We're gonna win that war.
[...]
HOFFA: President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march.
[...]
HOFFA: Let's take these son of a bitches out and give America back to America where we belong! Thank you very much! [Fox News, America Live, 9/5/11]
Blakeman: "I Think It's Thuggery At Its Best." After she aired the clearly edited version of Hoffa's remarks, Kelly asked Republican consultant Brad Blakeman to respond. He said, "I think it's thuggery at its best" and "these are the kind of remarks you'd expect out of Tony Soprano, not a union president." Blakeman further said: "When a union president says, 'let's take these son of a bitches out,' it usually means somebody's legs are going to get broken, somebody's going to disappear." [Fox News, America Live, 9/5/11]
Fox's Henry: "Full Quote, Jimmy Hoffa Jr: 'Everybody Here's Got To Vote. If We Go Back & Keep The Eye On The Prize, Let's Take These Sons Of Bitches Out." At 1:26 p.m. ET -- approximately the same time Kelly was delivering her report that included the clearly edited video of Hoffa's comments -- Henry posted what he called Hoffa's full quote on his Twitter feed:
[Twitter, 9/5/11]
Dana Loesch: Hoffa Issued A "Call Of Violence Against Americans." Minutes after the doctored video of Hoffa's speech aired on Fox News, CNN contributor and editor of Andrew Breitbart's Big Journalism site Dana Loesch characterized Hoffa's comments as "the call of violence against Americans by union thugs." [Media Matters, 9/5/11]
Real Clear Politics Used Doctored Fox Video To Claim: "Hoffa Threatens GOP At Obama Event." The website Real Clear Politics posted Fox's doctored video of Hoffa's comments with the headline: "Hoffa Threatens GOP At Obama Event: 'Take These Son Of Bitches Out'." [RealClearPolitics, 9/5/11]
Drudge Report Linked To Doctored Fox Video. The Drudge Report later added a link to its initial headline, which directed readers to the Real Clear Politics post that included Fox's doctored video. [Drudge Report, 9/5/11]
Big Government Posted Altered Video, Criticized Obama. At 11:08 a.m. (presumably Pacific Time as Breitbart sites are based in Los Angeles), Big Government posted the edited Fox News video under the headline: "Obama Declares He's 'Proud' of Hoffa -- After Hoffa Declares 'War' on Tea Party 'Sons-Of-Bitches'." [Big Government, 9/5/11]
Big Journalism Posted Doctored Video, Claimed Hoffa "Threatens Tea Party." At 11:09 a.m. PT, Big Journalism also posted the doctored Fox News video with the headline: "Union Boss Intros Obama in Detroit, Threatens Tea Party 'Let's Take These Sons of Bitches Out'." [Big Journalism, 9/5/11]
Fox News Then Showed Video Of Hoffa Urging People To Vote. At approximately 3 p.m. ET -- after the edited Fox News video had been promoted by right-wing blogs -- Fox News finally aired Hoffa's comments urging people to vote. The full context verified what Henry had reported via Twitter hours earlier -- that Hoffa was simply emphasizing the need to vote:
HOFFA: Everybody here's got to vote. If we go back and we keep the eye on the prize, let's take these son of a bitches out and give America back to America where we belong! Thank you very much! [Fox News, Fox Report, 9/5/11]
Hot Air Also Used Doctored Video Of Hoffa. Hot Air blogger Allahpundit posted the doctored Fox video of Hoffa's speech and wrote that Hoffa was "threatening his political enemies while a union-stooge Democratic leader sits by and smiles." [Hot Air, 9/5/11]
Gateway Pundit Used Doctored Hoffa Speech. Right-wing blogger Jim Hoft posted Fox News' edited video and wrote: "Jimmy Hoffa took his attacks on the tea party to a whole new level today during his Labor Day speech." [Gateway Pundit, 9/5/11]
The Five Doctored Speech And Said Hoffa "Essentially Declared War On The Tea Party." At 5 p.m. ET -- two hours after Fox News aired Hoffa's full statement urging people to vote -- Fox News' The Five again broadcast a clearly edited video of Hoffa's speech that did not include his comment that "everybody here's got to vote." Co-host Kimberly Guilfoyle said that Hoffa "essentially declared war on the Tea Party." [Fox News, The Five, 9/5/11]
Fox's Palin Called Hoffa's Speech "Thuggery." In a Facebook message posted at 2:50 a.m. on September 6, Fox News contributor Sarah Palin urged union members to not be "taken in by union bosses' thuggery like Jim Hoffa represented yesterday." [Facebook, 9/6/11]
Beck Claimed Hoffa Was "Inciting Violence" During Speech. Glenn Beck aired a doctored audio version of Hoffa's speech but left out his call to vote out Republicans and forwarded the fabrication that Hoffa was "inciting violence" against conservatives. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Glenn Beck Program, 9/6/11]
RedState: Hoffa "All But Called For" Tea Party Leaders To Be Killed. Citing the doctored Fox News video posted by Real Clear Politics, a RedState blogger wrote that "on Labor Day, James Hoffa all but called for the leadership of The Tea Party Movement to take a nice, refreshing dirt nap in The Meadowlands End Zone." [RedState, 9/6/11]
Limbaugh On Hoffa's Speech: "That's A Call For Violence, Folks." After playing a doctored clip of Hoffa's speech, Rush Limbaugh said: "That's a declaration of war. I mean, that is a come on to violence. That's a call for violence, folks. From Don Hoffa to Barack Obama." [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 9/6/11]
Nah, couldn't be....
I can't seem to find that.
Sure, Hoffa talked about marching to war with Obama's army to take the sons of b!thces out, but the evil FOX News wants us to think that what he really meant was marching to war with Obama's army to take the sons of b!thces out!
How out of context can you get!
What he really meant was to work together as Americans to responsibly elect sound and capable leaders, to recognize different opinions, end the violent rhetoric and find peaceful solutions for all so that we can repair the economy and live together, respectful of all races, creeds, colors & political affiliations.
I mean come on! That's what someone really means they say they are ready to march to war with Obama's army to take the sons of b!thces out.
How stupid does FOX News and the evil Koch Brothers think we are?
I mean, it's not like he said if the Democrats lose the elections then many would look to their 2nd Amendment rights. Now THAT would be a call for violence!
its what they do with those stupid o'keefe videos, but i nthis case, they arent the only ones with a full recording. The dominionist rightwigners are either idiots, insane, or malicious in these lies.
I think you are responding to one such scumbag.
You are a LIAR you are a punk and you are a brainwashed moron. Hoffa talked about taking them out of OFFICE through the vote. Even as STUPID as you are you know that but you are a LIAR.
The only real question is how stupid are YOU. It seems there is no measure large enough to quantify your level of stupidity
From Wiki:
"However, research has shown that the proponents of the FUVA have greatly exaggerated the existence of union violence. In a law review article, Julius G. Getman and F. Ray Marshall, The Continuing Assault on the Right to Strike, 79 Tex. L. Rev. 703, 712-13 (2001), law professor Julius Getman and former Secretary of Labor Ray Marshall, analyzed the evidence of union violence.
The claim that strike violence is "escalating" has no empirical basis. Even the study conducted by the National Institute for Labor Relations Research - cited regularly as authority for this proposition by FUVA's proponents - draws no such conclusion. And the study itself is a scholarly monstrosity that seeks to study union violence by compiling media reports, mainly newspaper articles concerning strike violence. The Institute admits that it did not actually investigate any of the incidents reported and does not know if the reports are accurate. It concludes: "Because it relies on news accounts the Institute cannot guarantee the accuracy of the file itself." In fact, articles about employer-instigated violence are included in the study's effort to determine union violence. n59 It seems obvious that the methodology employed confuses those strikes most written about with those most violent. Further, the Institute includes incidents of "psychological violence; i.e., intimidation, coercion and verbal threats" - terms which it does not bother to define. It seems clear, however, that this definition would include nonviolent civil disobedience of the type used by the civil rights movement and increasingly by the labor movement. But whatever the definition, it is almost certain that strike-related violence has decreased since the Enmons decision because the number of strikes has declined significantly."
Either way it doesn't reflect well on him. He better hit a grand slam with his jobs talk or its curtains for '12...Oh, I've been feeling a disturbance in the force...there is talk amongst dems that Young Barry may be challenged for the nomination? Biden may be dropped with the hopes that St. Hillary will play second fiddle...oh the possibilities!
both sides really, but fox only plays the one.
President Obama to you, ICEHOLE!
and Hoffa never called for violence you worthless heap of parrot droppings!
And there we have a perfect example of circular reasoning. Tbone uses evidence A to support conclusion X. Mary shows that A is not true. Tbone responds that it doesn't matter, because we already know that his conclusion X is correct.
That raises the question: then why bother with evidence A to begin with? Why not just say you believe something despite the facts?
>>Barry punting on the subject or Barry not even listening to the platitudes!
Oh yes, "Barry." Just keep up the stupid partisan rhetoric.
Your text to link here...
Do you really expect to be taken seriously by adults?
You are a stereotypical LIAR and brainwashed moron. You are such a brainwashed PUNK. You think it is clever to call the president Barry because it sounded cute when Rush said it and you are so mindless you can only repeat the lies and stupidity you are told to think. I have been a union member for more than thirty years. Been through two strikes and have never even SEEN a union thug but you are so pathetically mindless you cant even say the word union without following it with thug. You are programmed, STUPID, and have never had an original thought in your entire pitiful life
Yet when Palin posts a "tergeted DISTRICT map" we are to assume that she wanted someone to go around and shoot those people.
Double standards are just sad.
And speaking of the Klan, remember the great Democrat President Woodrow Wilson? After a screening of D.W. Griffith's paean to the Ku Klux Klan, "Birth of a Nation," Wilson, turned-movie critic, said of the film: "It is like writing history with lightning. And my only regret is that it is all so terribly true."
-Is that the kkk you are speaking of?
Yes folks. You read kabnuts comments right. I had to read them three times because I was so astonished kabnuts would be insane enough to actually write and post such words - after all of his posts saying the same EXACT garbage about every "wingnut" on the planet being LIARS, STUPID, BRAINWASHED, and MORONS.
My favorite kabnuts one is "GOD but you are stupid." Only read that one about a thousand times.
Then again, I consider kabnuts to be a freak of nature OR he was dropped on his head when he was an infant a couple years ago.
True. As I have pointed out several times you are a MORON. You give me nothing to work with in your pathetic attempt at posts except constant lies, brainwashed repitition of nonsense you were told to think and mind boggling stupidity. Nothing I can think of is more descriptive of ignorance like yours than GOD but you are stupid and it is so obviously true.
You use the word consider. You are not capable of any such higher brain function. You are simply a mindless propaganda parrot without even the semblance of a brain. Dropped on my head or not I am ten times smarter than you will EVER be. I could get a lobotomy and still be smarter than you will ever be.
It is not a badge of honor that I keep pointing out post after post that you are a LIAR. Perhaps if you ever just stopped your constant LYING that might help. Everyone here knows when I am not just slapping the stupid out of mindless trollposts like yours I am quite capable of thoughtful posts. If you ever in your LIFE accomplish facts, insight, or logic in your pathetic posts you will thrill me with the chance to do something other than point out that you are a LIAR and a brainwashed moron
Re-invent yourself dude, maybe try some poetry
Aw kabnuts, I must have said the truth at least ONCE! The law of probability would confirm I'd stumble onto something truthful at least one time out of a few hundred posts!
BTW, thanks for affirming in spades what I said in my prior post. I do have a question, if you don't mind: Do you copy and paste all your posts - with minor variations in an attempt to make them look original?
GOD but you are stupid!
"I bet they would not even follow their own candidate if he/she were black. When you completely dishonor the President of the US simply because he is Dem and black, you are sick."
It's very sad that you have such haterid. I feel sorry for you.
Citation? Just claiming that the NLRB is the source is not a citation.
This "research" of theirs is bogus and has been debunked.
actually most of people who knew him agree MLK was a repulican. but that goes to the history in the south repubs were on the left.
In the 1960's especially MLK and the civil rights movement aligned itself closely with the Democratic Party. King voted for Kennedy and LBJ and directly rejected support of Goldwater. It is a terrible argument to push the idea that MLK was a Republican, but I guess it is flattering that even Republicans see the Civil Rights Movement as so successful, they want to rewrite their part in it. You know the old saying: "Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan".
I like pancakes!
You cant stop laughing because you are so STUPID that reality has no effect on you whatsoever. You are ignorant and you love to be lied to so you naturally assume everyone is a LIAR like you are. It isnt so.
I think. I havent quite figured out the formula for this one. Same deal as that bizarre thing they say about him having some huge ego. Anything anyone says that the rightwing doesnt like is immediatly right-wing-retconned into being words obama wrote, spoke, and had etched onto the moon with a giant laser. And possibly even operating said laser personally, you know, to suppress glenn beck.
God rightwingers look stupid when I put it like that, dont they? I mean, moreso than usual.
It's really the essence of modern conservatism.
No one should go there and check it out. It is rude.
It's great!
>^o.-^<
Not that theres any good reason for it; I certianly didnt go to that awful site you linked. and I definetly didnt spend the time that i wasnt there snickering. Was that site that none of us went to laggy for anyone else? Like it was getting a huge amount of traffic?
I mean, hypothetically, since I never went there.
Minutes after the doctored video was edited and aired by Pox News, Dana Loesch again displayed her ignorance by regurgitating exactly what her master, race-baiting ignoramous Andrew Breitbart told her to think and say!
The sycophant Loesch did not have the mental horsepower available to draw a similar line to a statement about "Second Amendment Remedies" made by failed Senatorial Candidate Sharon Angle just last year, again displaying an amazing lack of memory, honesty or integrity...all of which must be surgically removed prior to employment by Andrew "The Hater" Breitbart!
Leading me to believe our Democratic leaders need to do a great deal more of it!
And Levin repeated referred to Mr. Hoffa as a "Union thug" or just "thug."
He's really gettind desperate, isn't he?
Its like beholders in D&D: They are insane, and only work together when theres a threat to them all. Once the threat is dealt with, they turn on each other, viewing each other as mockeries of the true form of their deity, which they all think they are.
If you want a real time example, any time a rightwinger says this is a Christian nation, ask whether they mean Protestant christianity or Catholic christianity. It Tends To Cause Much Trouble.
And just how is the pro-union model working for MI there mr. Hoffa? LOL!
So please, think for yourself, other wise you're doing a disservice to our national bird, which by the way, Republicans support the killing of by turning a blind eye to the dumping of waste in the Eagle's primary food sources habitat, fish.
But I cant be certain.
You are a LIAR and you are stupid. No if Palin had talked about taking Democrats out of office by voting we wouldnt have gone crazy, the difference being we are not as STUPID as you and we are not brainwashed the way you are.
Under the current political climate, I think everyone, on both sides, needs to relax and take a deep breath.
Nope, don't agree with you. The only ill-chosen words were "S~O~B~s", not good for the family audience.
Those same words coming from Palin would mean something else.
Palin's words are always ill-chosen, when she speaks, you just wince from the first moment, and you know you're going to hear an intellectual train wreck. When Hoffa speaks, he has something substantial to say, and you listen for the substance. Again, you listen to Palin blathering for emotion's sake, it doesn't even need to make sense; you listen to Hoffa for substance, and he might be emotional. Those are two completely different contexts.
If they voiced those same words above, you KNOW that "prize" would mean completely different things to each. Listening to Hoffa, I would think okay, he means "Everybody here's got to vote. If we go back to the polls and we keep the eye on the prize, we can get our middle class back." If it were Palin, I would think okay, she means "Everybody here's got to vote. If we go back and we keep the eye on the prize, then you suckers will keep my taxes low now that I get paid a lot, and I don't care what will happen to you, because I got mine."
Neither is a call to violence, but they come from different planets, so no way am I going to assign the same gravity to the same words coming from two markedly different people.
Oh is that sort of like Palin's targeted DISTRICT map you know the one first used by Democrat strategists was responsible for some nutjob that wasn't even political deciding to shoot Rep. Giffords and so many others?
I think that's called "hypocrisy".
Cantor and McConnell and make them a one term congressional idiot before they reallly ruin america. Hey Cantor, Boehner and McConnell where is that job bill you promised us when you were elected? your days is office is numbered if the people dont want you there they can take you out.
Joe opined that Palin only had those targets (gun sights) on a PAC website, but this was a speech heard all over the USA, right before the President spoke, so this was much, much worse. Mr. Obama should denounce Hoffa immediately.
Mika is a smart woman and she is sensible on many issues, but she is so blatantly anti-union and anti-labor it's painful to watch. It literally changes her appearance when the subject comes up - her whole body tenses up and she really does look down her nose at everyone. She crosses her arms against herself and her face gets really pointy.
I changed the channel fast, but I still nearly lost my lunch. I mean, breakfast.
You are such a LIAR. Not to mention far too stupid to know what hypocrisy is. No, had a Republican said the same thing I wouldnt bat an eye, no liberal media would have lied about it, most likely being so innocuous I would never have even heard about it. GOD but you are stupid
Given the choice of discussing politics, or hand bathing a full grown feral cat. Most americans would rather take their chances with the cat.
Nope, don't pay attention to "war (five times)", "battle", "army", "fight" then for good measure he calls Republicans son of a bitches.
Like I said before, MMfA is DESPERATE if they gotta support THIS! And those of you who buy into it are just as desperate.
Talk about spin!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good grief, MMfA NEVER shoulda covered this. Be honest. This is horrible.
I am sorry you are too stupid to know what a metaphor is. He WAS talking about voting which the context makes clear. That you are too stupid to understand this and too brainwashed for it to make a difference simply isnt OUR problem. If you ever grow a brain, if the day ever comes that higher brain function becomes something other than a dream for you, then on that day YOU will understand things too. Until then I guess you can just keep spewing out what you were told to think. My GOD but you are stupid.
You never should have pretended that you could actually read with any comprehension beyond that of a gerbil because it is obvious you cannot. Hoffa was talking about voting the SOBs out. Nothing a braindead moron like you can say will change that. Why dont you stop embarassing yourself?
Yes, you sound this stupid.
Pathetic. So desperate to explain away Hoffa's comments you leftists will say ANYTHING. Really pathetic.
Why won't any of you just admit Hoffa went too far?