Republicans found a new fake controversy to jump on. Just when you thought they might actually talk about jobs and the economy, they found a new distraction-James Hoffa telling people to vote out the Tea Party.

During a Labor Day rally, Teamsters President James Hoffa called out the Tea Party. “We’ve got to keep an eye on the battle that we face — a war on workers. And you see it everywhere. It is the Tea Party, and there’s only one way to beat and win that war — the one thing about working people is we like a good fight.”

Hoffa went on. “President Obama, this is your army, we are ready to march. But everybody here’s got to vote. If we go back, and keep the eye on the prize, let’s take these sons-of-bitches out.” However, that is not the version Fox News likes to recount, over and over. Sort of like the Black Panthers thing during 2008.

Fox edits out the part about voting so it sounds like Hoffa is inciting violence. Not the kind of violence that Palin incites with a crosshair, but still…

The Republicans are demanding that President Barack Obama apologize for Hoffa’s remarks. Upon taking the microphone afterwards, did President Obama condemn this call to violence against Republicans? No. In fact, President Obama did the opposite: he praised Mr. Hoffa,” read a fundraising email by the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC).

Executive Director Rich Jesmer continued, “By failing to condemn them, President Obama once again demonstrated a failure of leadership. And President Obama knows this.” Fox and Friends host Gretchen Carlson used her show to rally against the comments as well.

Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz was a guest on Fox and Friends to discuss Obama’s job plan, but of course Carlson pounced on Wassserman Schultz about Hoffa’s comments. Wasserman Schultz declined to comment on Hoffa’s remarks but Carlson continued to press about the “violent language.”

Wasserman Schultz eventually had enough and turned on Carlson. “How many times have you called out coarse language at Tea Party rallies on this network. Almost never,” the congresswoman said. Hoffa has stood by his remarks and is refusing to apologize. “We didn’t start this war — the right wing did,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

“My comments on Labor Day in Detroit echo the anger and frustration of American workers who are under attack by corporate-funded politicians who want to destroy the middle class. We’re tired of seeing good-paying jobs shipped overseas. This fight is about the economy, it’s about jobs and it’s about rebuilding America.

As I said yesterday in Detroit, we all have to vote in order to take these anti-worker politicians out of office.”

Image Courtesy of  http://www.facebook.com/jimhoffa

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About the author

Erin Chavez
Erin Whitney-Chavez has been writing professionally since 2009. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts from St. Bonaventure University and received a Master of Arts in mental-health counseling from Argosy University. Erin Whitney-Chavez is a licensed mental health counselor and has worked in the mental-health field for more than 10 years.