If you watch Fox news or read the right wing blogs, that’s exactly what you would think. Yesterday Fox ran this clip of Hoffa warming up the crowd for President Obama:

The “let’s take these son of a bitches out” is the big part the right is focusing on. You can see that by just looking at this thread on memeorandum or by reading Drudge:

But is that what Hoffa really said, or did Fox go into some creative editing? If you guessed creative editing, then you are the winner. Here’s the context Hoffa was talking in, which was conveniently edited out by Fox:

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!

Ed Henry on CNN did set the record straight on exactly what Hoffa was talking about – VOTING the Republicans out in November:

But that isn’t stopping the right. Instead they have drank the Kool-Aid and believe the edited clip. Here’s one of the top cultists of the right, Jim Hoft, and his going after Media Matters for reporting the truth:

“We like a good fight. And you know what, they got a war and they got a war with us and there’s only going to be one winner and it’s going to be the workers of Michigan and America. We’re going to win that war. All the way. But it starts with your involvement. It starts with next November. We got a bunch of people there that don’t want the president to succeed. And they’re called the tea party. The people that don’t want him to do anything right and he’s working hard for us. And president Obama is frustrated by what’s going on. Well guess what. We got the vote. And the answer what we say is, ‘we remember in November.’ We will beat the tea party and give this country back to workers and America. We can do it together. And we also gotta talk about jobs. I get so tired of these people who sit on these big corporations that send our jobs to Mexico. They send our jobs to China. And they have the audacity to say ‘where are the jobs?’ Well I got news for you It’s time to bring those jobs back to America and put America back to work. That’s what we’ve got to do.”

“We’re going to hear from President Obama in a few minutes. And I’m so glad he’s come to Michigan because this is where he sees the real America. He looks out on this army of people and you know what I say, ‘President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march.’ And, President Obama we want one thing – jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs… That’s what we’re going to tell him. When he sees what we’re doing here he’s going to be inspired. But he needs help. And, you know what. Everybody here’s gotta vote. If we go back and keep the eye on the prize – Let’s take these sons a bitches out and give America back to America where we belong. Thank you very much.”

The emphasis there was added by Hoft and since wingnuts can apparently only read highlighted terms, I can see how they would take that as violent. I mean “we will beat the tea party”? Yeah that sounds really violent, but read the sentence proceeding that:

And the answer what we say is, ‘we remember in November.’ We will beat the tea party

Isn’t that what the winner in an election usually does – beat the loser? That doesn’t sound violent at all. I mean it’s not like Hoffa said they were “locked and loaded” and put targets over GOP districts. That would be Sarah Palin who did that; the very same Sarah Palin defended by people like Hoft when she made those comments.

So what about the aftermath?

Well this morning Joe Scarborough said that President Obama should call on Hoffa to apologize. Funny, but I thought MSNBC was the big “liberal media outlet”, yet one of their hosts is buying into the edited video? Didn’t MSNBC cover this event on their own?

This war on unions has been created by the fringe elements of the right wing this past year. Of course if we look at facts, something Republicans HATE, we will see a totally different story. The right has been saying that the loss of American jobs is the result of the unions. That has been the catalyst for their war against unions, but that isn’t the case:

Although most industrialized countries have seen a drop in unionization rates, the drop in union density (the unionized proportion of the working population) has been more significant in the United States than elsewhere.

Unions now account for less than 8% of the private workforce, yet the right has made them the scapegoat for all our problems. Unions have not been causing jobs to leave our country. If that were the case then other industrialized countries, with a far bigger percentage of unions, would be in worst shape than we are. But the numbers show that isn’t the case.

But hey – we are in rough times and it’s a lot easier to create a boogey man than it is to address the actual problems. The only problem with that is we are ignoring the real cause of our problems and if we keep ignoring it, then how can we fix it?

It’s time for grown-ups to take over this country and really address our problems. The unions aren’t causing our problems, just like a corporate tax rate of largely 0% isn’t causing our problems. These are made up by the right. Our problems are much deeper than that and until we are serious about addressing them, America and her people will continue to suffer. That is the cold, hard truth and something no one in politics or the media wants to address.