Last night, Toby Harden of the London Telegraph asked, “Will Barack Obama condemn Joe Biden and Jimmy Hoffa for calling Republicans ‘barbarians’ and ‘son of a bitches?'”
Hoffa, the Teamsters president, was warming up a Detroit crowd when he said: “President Obama, this is your army, and we are ready to march. Everybody here’s got a 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.”
Biden, whose mouth has long been a liability for Obama, was at an AFL-CIO rally when he told union members: “You are the only folks keeping the barbarians from the gates…the other side has declared war on labour’s house.”
These comments were not nearly as bad as the statement last week by Congressman Andre Carson that members of the Tea Party want black people “hanging from a tree”. Let’s not get too sanctimonious here – they’re fairly common sentiments behind the scenes on both sides of the political divide.
The difference, of course, is that they were uttered publicly by someone chosen by the White House to introduce Obama and by the sitting vice-president at a time when Obama is calling for a bipartisan coming together to tackle the economy. To add to their foolishness, they follow on from Obama’s sensible call in January for “civility” in public discourse and for people to talk “in a way that heals, not a way that wounds”.
Hoffa’s comments were much worse than Biden’s, though the vice-president’s demeanour suggests he could be a liability on the campaign trail (I’d wager there’s a campaign plan for him to be used only in “rev up the base” type events). Put together, they are embarrassing enough to require an apology from Obama. [And note that the normally Obama-friendly Politico is still very much standing by their report that Biden referred to the Tea Partiers as terrorists back in August. — Ed]
But will Obama have the political and moral courage to repudiate a powerful union boss and his own vice-president?
Maybe he’s waiting for the big jobs/NFL kickoff speech on Thursday to do so, but in the meantime, the president is maintaining radio and teleprompter silence. Hence the headline above, suggested by an Insta-reader in response to the left’s “Norman coordinate! Norman coordinate!” lack of response to the rhetorical meltdown of Hoffa and Biden yesterday:
Wait … so the White House is refusing comment? I guess then that the President does not condemn these violent remarks then, right? Because Obama did condemn this violent and hateful rhetoric, he’d have a comment.
Right?
So much for the “new civility.”
At Real Clear Politics, DNC head “Wasserman Schultz Avoids Hoffa Question,” and as Robert of Small Dead Animals adds:
A quick search of Twitter reveals that Schultz isn’t the only one in denial. The agreed upon narrative of the Leftist cult appears to be “Hoffa was taken out of context”. Yeah, right.
Joe Scarborough & co. had a discussion on the subject. Peter Kirsanow, of NRO, has some questions for President Obama. Mark Steyn provides his analysis.
This event also provides a brilliant teaching moment of how incredibly biased and corrupt the mainstream media is. CNN’s John King interviewed Hoffa after his infamous words but refused to broach the subject with him. You think Mr. King missed his classes on “professional & responsible journalism”?!?
At CNN, where’s it’s hard to talk when you’re tea-bagging, shilling for Saddam, building the Wright-Free Zone, and baking cakes for Obama, that’s the very definition of professional and responsible journalism.
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