James P. Hoffa - Labor Day Speech Controversy

Labor Day Speech Controversy

On September 5, 2011, he caused some controversy when introducing President Obama at a Labor Day rally in Detroit, Michigan. In his remarks, an animated Hoffa stated "We have to keep an eye on the battle we face—a war on workers. And you see it everywhere there 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’ve got a war with us and there is only going to be one winner. It is going to be the workers of Michigan and America – we are going to win that war. All the way." He then urged the audience to vote in the coming election and in reference to the Tea Party, stated, "Everybody here's got to vote," Hoffa said. "If we go back and we keep the eye on the prize, let's take these sons-of-a-bitches out and give America back to America where we belong!"

Following the fiery remarks, some conservative media outlets chastised the Democrats and President Obama for not condemning Hoffa for using violent rhetoric of the kind they had cited as leading to the 2011 Tucson Shooting, while the White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said, “Mr. Hoffa speaks for himself, he speaks for the labor movement...The president speaks for himself." However, Hoffa responded to the controversy by stating, “We didn’t start this war—the right wing did. 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. We’re fighting back. That’s what Teamsters do—we stand up for what is right,” Hoffa said. “I will never apologize for standing up for my fellow Teamsters and all American workers.” The National Review's Jonah Goldberg supported Hoffa's language, if not the content, saying "We are in a really weird place where the head of the Teamsters can't talk tough. I mean, I guess ex-cons are the only ones left who can still talk like men every now and then." Goldberg went on to state that the issue was not the language, but the "absolutely bizarre standard" for language established after Tucson.

Some commentators and journalists have charged that the context of the quote was changed by editing out the "Everybody here's got to vote" passage by Fox News Channel and other media outlets, thus fueling the controversy by making the speech sound like a call for violence instead of a call to vote.