White House spokesman Jay Carney put only a bit of distance between President Obama and incendiary comments Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa made warming up a crowd before Obama’s pro-union speech Monday.
Hoffa’s comments caused a stir in GOP circles with many conservative figures and commentators accusing the Hoffa of inciting violence against Tea Party activists and the members of Congress they support.
“President Obama, this is your army,” Hoffa said. “We are ready to march. Let’s take these sons of bitches out and give America back to an America where we belong.”
In wake of the Tuscon shooting and Obama’s warnings against “violent rhetoric” back in January, reporters wanted to know whether Obama would distance himself from Hoffa’s fiery speech. When pressed about whether Obama approves of the comments during a briefing with reporters Tuesday, at first Carney was a little put off by the question.
“These weren’t comments by the President,” he said.
“I understand that there is a ritual in Washington that somebody says something and you link the associations, and then everybody who has an association with him or her somehow has to avow or disavow it,” Carney said. “The President wasn’t there — I mean, he wasn’t on stage. He didn’t speak for another 20 minutes. He didn’t hear it. I really don’t have any comment beyond that.”
ABC News’ Jake Tapper pressed further, arguing that the Obama campaign made a stink in 2008 when a McCain surrogate said something offensive at an event before the Arizona senator spoke and McCain eventually apologized.
“Is this the new standard?” Tapper demanded.
An exasperated Carney then said only: “Mr. Hoffa speaks for himself and the labor movement, and the President speaks for himself.”
Hoffa earlier Tuesday told TPM he has no regrets over the comments and 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?”
Evan McMorris-Santoro contributed to this report.
