"Let's Take These Son of a Bitches Out"
“At a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized, at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do, it’s important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds."
--President Barack Obama, calling for "a new era of civility" after the shootings in Arizona, January 12, 2011
"They've got a war, they got a war with us and there's only going to be one winner....President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. Let's take these son of bitches out...."
--Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa, Jr., introducing President Obama at a rally in Detroit, September 5, 2011
How did President Obama respond to Hoffa's introduction? Delivering not one word of disapproval, uttering not a phrase about the "new civility," the President merely offered Hoffa his thanks.
- Comment (36)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (6)
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
Comments:
Jun '10
Re: "Let's Take These Son of a Bitches Out"
The other reason (besides costing too much) that we don't want the government to be all things to all people is: the stakes for winning elections get so very high. Everything turns on who runs that giant federal money-distribution center. For a lot of people--at least in their minds--it becomes life or death, and then "all things are fair." That's no way for freedom-loving people to live.
Re: "Let's Take These Son of a Bitches Out"
Beautifully put.
Jun '10
Re: "Let's Take These Son of a Bitches Out"
and then John King on CNN interviewed Hoffa and did not ask him a single question about the "army" comments. Michelle Bachmann gets asked repeated questions about theological arcania, but the lefties in the press don't seem to this this anti-american rant is even worth a passing mention.
If it weren't de rigeur it would be shocking.
Apr '11
Re: "Let's Take These Son of a Bitches Out"
Don't forget the Dropkick Murphy's endorsing the Wisconsin protests with their "Take the Bastards Down" song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKgM68MzXpg
Oct '10
Re: "Let's Take These Son of a Bitches Out"
Such charning and well mannered dialog we meet these days.
Perhaps the old saying, The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease, should supplant the Unions and Democratic slogans.
It seems it may be time to get some mud on those polite shoes.
Justify that action for a better cause, Yes or No ?
Apr '11
Re: "Let's Take These Son of a Bitches Out"
I guess Obama's remarks really mean that:
1. Wounds come from those who disagree with him
2. Healing requires eliminating those who disagree with him
Jan '11
Re: "Let's Take These Son of a Bitches Out"
i'm glad to see Mr Robinson finally speaking his mind. :-)
Jul '10
Re: "Let's Take These Son of a Bitches Out"
The Teamsters are a big, juicy target. Picking a feud with a huge number of businessmen and customers, nudging business to competing shops, across the country, just makes his thuggery more dependent on federal payoffs. Their lifeline dies Inauguration Day, 2013.
Hoffa is an idiot.
Feb '11
Re: "Let's Take These Son of a Bitches Out"
I thought the official rule was:
If the left does it, it's just telling the truth.
If the right does it, it's just vile hate mongering.
Or does that only apply to matters of race, gender, and religion? and the word 'nuts'?
May '10
Re: "Let's Take These Son of a Bitches Out"
The most unseemly thing about this language, I think, is that Obama's real army is the actual Army. It's as if Hoffa literally forgot that Obama is president of the whole country.
(Of course, the U.S. Army isn't Obama's army, but I think you know what I mean.)
What we have here is a union leader claiming exclusive possession of the U.S. President on behalf of his union members, a relatively small subset of the American population. And Hoffa is backing up that claim using actual martial language, volunteering the members as ready to march against what he perceives to be an internal enemy, if his claimed leader would only give them the green light to do so.
Almost by definition, this is the most divisive public language I've ever heard. It's sick.
Oct '10
Re: "Let's Take These Son of a Bitches Out"
Sisyphus: The Teamsters are a big, juicy target. Picking a feud with a huge number of businessmen and customers, nudging business to competing shops, across the country, just makes his thuggery more dependent on federal payoffs. Their lifeline dies Inauguration Day, 2013.
Hoffa is an idiot. · Sep 5 at 11:01pm
Yes, but that idiot owns the resident of 1600 Penn Ave. And the majority party in the Senate. How often do you hear Republicans taking on Big Labor? Sure, there’s some voiced opposition when the most blatant self-service is being done, like Card Check. Otherwise, it’s crickets chirping. No, I’m afraid ‘idiot’, though accurate, isn’t the best frame to view the guy who is eating your lunch every day. Unless, that is, you are planning on using his idiocy against him. Thus far, I don’t see the rocket scientists in the Republican Party doing that. That’s not surprising from the Party that nominated McCain three years ago. So don’t be too surprised if we’re living with these idiots for another four years from Inauguration Day 2013.
May '10
Re: "Let's Take These Son of a Bitches Out"
Ah, Jimmy, its "sons of bitches".
Besides failing to abide by Obama's (empty) plea for civility, it seems that Mr. Hoffa hasn't even got the requisite finesse for employing foul language properly.
Dec '10
Re: "Let's Take These Son of a Bitches Out"
Michael Labeit: Ah, Jimmy, its "sons of bitches".
Besides failing to abide by Obama's (empty) plea for civility, it seems that Mr. Hoffa hasn't even got the requisite finesse for employing foul language properly. · Sep 5 at 11:30pm
Or, if you're from around here, it's "sumbitch".
As in, "That sumbitch is fixin' to get a whippin'!"
Fewer syllables, more efficient, etc. Also can be said with fewer teeth, which is always a plus.
For the union guys, I'd fall back to a favorite of my father, "If you feel a little froggy, you just jump. See what happens."
Let 'em bluster. Stuff like this tells me that they're pretty much out of options, and they know it.
Dec '10
Re: "Let's Take These Son of a Bitches Out"
Toby Harnden has taken note of Hoffa's and Biden's comments and reported them in his column in the Daily Telegraph:
Will Barack Obama condemn Joe Biden and Jimmy Hoffa for calling Republicans 'barbarians' and 'son of a bitches'?
I enjoy political hardball as much as the next reporter. It’s barely concealed truth that campaign journalists, like the operatives we cover, love negative campaigning and revel in OTT insults and martial rhetoric. Even candidates often lapse into the language of “rip his throat out”, “tear his eyes out” or “drive a stake through her heart”.
It’s no secret either that many Republicans despise Democrats with a passion and vice versa. Just as British MPs hide their contempt of their opponents by referring to them as “the honourable member’, American politicians have their own, albeit less formal, ways of masking their true feelings with anodyne language for public consumption.
But the statements today by Jimmy Hoffa Jr and Vice President Joe Biden demean the presidency and, tactically speaking, are stupid own goals.
Dec '10
Re: "Let's Take These Son of a Bitches Out"
By the way, the classic line from The Women is:
"There's a word for women like you, but it isn't used in polite society -- outside of a kennel!"
Jul '10
Re: "Let's Take These Son of a Bitches Out"
HVTs: I think you are mostly right, but it depends a lot on the nominee. And the congressional races. Hoffa has made it clear I should avoid arrangements that bring him profit and influence. He was unequivocal on the point. A few million likeminded souls can have an effect as well. And last I looked Fox in running with the story.
The Teamsters and the sort of people they run with prefer not to be noticed the way they are right now. The Tea Party won't intimidate, and independents aren't impressed with union thuggery. Do not be surprised if the 70 year old Hoffa takes retirement.
Jun '10
Re: "Let's Take These Son of a Bitches Out"
In Polish its sukisyni or if you want the singular, as in a description of Jimmy Hoffa alone, it would be sukisyn, which is likely unfair to his jimmy's mother. It's obviously not spelled the same way (Cyrillic alphabet), but the Russian pronunciation is the same: sue-key-sin for the singular and for the plural it is sue-key-sin-i. I could go into linguistic detail on other Polish swear words, expletives, and descriptors, but we do have a code of conduct. Suffice it to say that the Poles in their swearing are very English and generally swear by referencing sexuality, which is unlike the French, who swear by referencing the sacred or holy.
Jul '11
Re: "Let's Take These Son of a Bitches Out"
Comment of the year - wonderful job!
Jul '11
Re: "Let's Take These Son of a Bitches Out"
Another double post ... damn! I might as well use the spot to thank Peter for this post. As tiresome as the President's words about "new civility" are, it's important that their hollowness be exposed as widely and frequently as possible.
Edited on September 6, 2011 at 12:25pmMay '10
Re: "Let's Take These Son of a Bitches Out"
Are any of the House Republican leadership or presidential candidates going to punch back? Or or they going to just supinely let the bullies push them around?
Will they let Obama frame them as unpatriotic for not supporting his latest speech?
Remember how ugly it got in 2004 with union thugs busting up Republican campaign HQs in West Allis, WI, and Florida. Beating up on elderly campaign workers? You're going to see it in 2012 writ large.
The Tea Party-ites will only allow themselves to be pushed so far, for so long and it's really going to get ugly. I'm not promoting disorder, but I am predicting it if events stay on the vector Obama and his union supporters are steering them.