Obama aide: No apology for Hoffa comments

[TomCADem]

Source: USA Today

It doesn't sound like President Obama or the White House will be apologizing for Monday comments by Teamsters Union President James Hoffa, describing Tea Party members as SOBs.

"Those weren't comments by the president," said White House spokesman Jay Carney. "The president ... wasn't on stage. He didn't speak for another 20 minutes. He didn't hear it."

"Mr. Hoffa speaks for himself," Carney said. "The president speaks for himself."

Some conservatives are calling for an apology after Teamsters Union President James Hoffa described Tea Party members as SOB's during remarks that preceded President Obama's remarks at a Labor Day event in Detroit.

Read more: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2011/09/tea-party-wants-obama-to-apologize-for-hoffa/1?csp=hf&loc=interstitialskip

---

So, when are Mitch McConnell and John Boehner going to apologize for the actions of right wing terrorist Breivik?

[tularetom]

1. Nah, not good enough

"The president wasn't there to hear the remarks by Mr. Hoffa, but he agrees with the sentiments expressed and wholeheartedly urges all working Americans to register and vote in order to achieve the goals espoused in Hoffa's speech". That would have been a better response.

Even better: "Apologize? Apologize? Are you fucking kidding me?"

But seriously, why would the question even come up? Goddamn liberal media anyway.

[razorman]

14. Whether or not we agree that the remarks had anything to do with the president,

or whether he should apologize, there are certain realities we must face. In today's media climate, as far as the general public is concerned, if President Obama does not disown the remarks, then he owns them. He will be blamed. Aside from that, I am concerned that the harshness of Hoffa's rhetoric has now opened the floodgates for more of the same, from both sides.
Many here on DU may agree with Hoffa on this, and cheer him on, but what are they going to say when some Republican uses nearly identical language about President Obama? I am sure Mr. Hoffa meant it in political terms (i.e. the ballot box), but that is not how it is being interpreted. If someone says the same thing about the president, will it get the most benign interpretation?
I do not see much good coming from all of this. Batten down the hatches. It's going to be a bumpy ride.

[quakerboy]

16. Empty

1) he did disown them. And yet he will still own them as far as the RW media is concerned. So what did he gain by doing so?

2) You don't think the floodgates were opened long ago by the RW? When exactly have they held back from using violent imagery to refer to democrats or this president in particular, and when have they apologized for doing so. The Republicans already use nearly identical language. Don't retreat, reload. The tree of liberty, blood of tyrants. Etc. Recall those? They do it daily, and they are not stopping whether someone on the left says boo or not.

3)Its been a Bumpy ride. Do you not recall the 2008 elections? The years following them? The armed men showing up at various events just to show they can? The targets on districts? The congresswoman shot? The incitement that if elections didn't work, 2nd amendment solutions would be justified?

[Hubert Flottz]

2. How else could the SOB's be described?

I've described the SOB's like that for a couple of years.

[gateley]

3. Don't recall Boehner and McConnell rushing to apologize to

Obama after Wilson called him a liar, but maybe my memory just isn't sharp.

[6000eliot]

4. Hoffa showed remarkable restraint.

He should have called them "Scumbag fucks," as I said in another thread.

[ProfessionalLeftist]

5. What a bunch of whiny-ass hypocrites. They've openly called Obama every name in the book

and even made up a few, and openly threatened his life. James Hoffa calls the effing terrorists what they ARE (and Hoffa was being NICE) and the whiny-ass hypocrite Republicans are having a hizzy and demanding an apology?

Pffft.

I've been waiting 51 years for the Republican SOBs to f*cking GROW UP. It hasn't happened yet. And it likely never will.

[gordianot]

6. Even though it comes down to subversive act of voting Republicans like to mix it up rough.

It gives them an excuse to do such things as yell "liar". Mr. Hoffa exercised his free speech in a proper manner.

[Posteritatis]

7. ...Why the hell are people calling for the WH to apologize for a statement it didn't make? (nt)

[joshcryer]

8. Conservatives are calling for a repudiation which the President refuses.

[qanda]

12. Until tomorrow or the next day....

I love Obama but there is a troubling pattern with stuff like this.

[rpannier]

11. To create an issue

When teahadists make threatening comments we're told how both sides do it and the republikkans should not be lumped in with a few crazies
When someone aligned with the Democrats says something that the press blows out of proportion Obama should apologise

[Peace Patriot]

9. Only the corpo/fascist press cares about this--their darling Tea Party getting called SOBs!

But Mr. Hoffa shouldn't have wasted his breath on that scum. They're just the front. He should have gone after the real serious SOBs behind the scenes. And I don't mean the Koch brothers. Even they are a front. I mean the private, far rightwing-connected corporation, ES&S, which bought out Diebold and now controls 80% of the voting machine 'market' in the U.S., all run on 'TRADE SECRET' code--code that you and I are forbidden to review--with virtually no audit/recount controls. That IS the problem.

[rpannier]

10. Obama owes no apology

He didn't say it
Tapper is a moron and a shill

[Kahuna]

13. Somebody help Will Pitt off his fainting couch. nt

[proud patriot]

15. Good , and I encourage FB DUers

to visit the White house wall on Facebook . A RWer actually told me yesterday that the guy who shot Gabby was a
Flaming Liberal. (eyes)

[bvar22]

17. I've never seen a better example of...

...Distancing Oneself from Something.



Who will STAND and FIGHT for THIS American Majority?
Jim Hoffa & The UNIONS WILL!!
Will YOU stand with Them?

You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their excuses.

Solidarity!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Bodhi BloodWave]

19. where is the bleedin distancing?

surely you agree that Hoffa speaks for himself?

[buckrogers1965]

18. Good for Hoffa.

Finally someone on the left has a set of balls.

Y'all really need to grow a set and stand up to the bullies on the right.

[Scurrilous]

20. Kick

:kick:

[Quantess]

21. Fuck Them!

Anybody who says Obama should apologize for anything Hoffa said can SHOVE IT!

They deserve to have their asses kicked---and I mean that literally as well as figuratively. I'd gladly plant my pointy-toed shoe in their fat, expensive-suited ass! Too bad it'll never happen, but a girl can dream, LOL!