Fox News contributor Brad Blakeman Monday rebuked Teamster president Jimmy Hoffa Jr. for using "hate speech" at a Labor Day rally in Detroit prior to remarks from President Barack Obama. After presenting what appeared to be heavily edited video of Hoffa referring to Republicans by saying, "let's take these sons of bitches out," Fox News host Megyn Kelly gave Blakeman a chance to respond.
September 5, 2011

Fox News contributor, Brad Blakeman Monday rebuked Teamster president Jimmy Hoffa Jr. for using "hate speech" at a Labor Day rally in Detroit prior to remarks from President Barack Obama.

After presenting what appeared to be heavily edited video of Hoffa referring to Republicans by saying, "let's take these sons of bitches out," Fox News host Megyn Kelly gave Blakeman a chance to respond.

"I think it's thuggery at it's best," Blakeman replied. "It's what unions are good at. It's what we've seen in Wisconsin and other places, intimidation... This is the touchy feely act before President Obama arrives? I mean, these are the kind of remarks you'd expect out of Tony Soprano, not a union president. Well, I take that back. Hoffa presidency is the type of person you'd hear this type of rhetoric."

"When a union president says, 'let's take these sons of bitches out,' it usually means somebody's legs are going to get broken, somebody is going to disappear. Tea party people don't use that kind of rhetoric."

UPDATE: From TPM -- Teamsters President: ‘No Regrets’ After Fiery Speech Draws Right-Wing Criticism:

Teamsters union president James Hoffa would say it all again if he could, he told TPM Monday.

Hoffa riled up Fox News and the right wing Monday with a Labor Day speech in Detroit in which he called Republican members of Congress "sons of bitches" and said union workers are ready to "go to war" with the tea party next year and "take out" Republicans at the ballot box.

Hoffa said he'd say the exact same words all over again.

"I would 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?" Read on...

And as they noted in the TPM article, from Media Matters -- Fox Doctors Hoffa Speech To Fabricate Call For Violence:

Right-wing bloggers misled by dishonest Fox News video editing are attacking Teamsters President James Hoffa, Jr. for supposedly urging violence against Tea Party activists during a Labor Day speech. Conservatives are also attacking President Obama, who appeared at the event, for "sanctioning violence against fellow Americans" by failing to denounce Hoffa. But fuller context included in other Fox segments makes clear that Hoffa wasn't calling for violence but was actually urging the crowd to vote out Republican members of Congress.

During the segment that the bloggers have latched onto, Fox edited out the bolded portion of Hoffa's comments:

HOFFA: Everybody here's got to vote. If we go back and 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!

In an initial report on Hoffa's speech at 1 p.m. on Fox News, Ed Henry reported that Hoffa said that "we'll remember in November who's with the working people" and "said of the Tea Party and of Republicans, 'let's take these sons of bitches out.'" Read on...

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