Teamsters chief says unions didn't start 'war' with Tea Party, battles with conservative media

Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa maintained Tuesday that union workers are at "war" with Tea Party-affiliated politicians, but insisted he wasn't inciting violence.

Hoffa stood by remarks he made over the weekend at a Labor Day rally in Detroit at which he called for workers to “take these son-of-a-bitches out” in 2012.

"I will never apologize for standing up for my fellow Teamsters and all American workers," Hoffa said in a press release Tuesday.

Hoffa also accused what he called "anti-worker media," including Fox News Channel and the website Drudge Report, of editing the clip of his speech to make it appear he was "inciting violence against members of Tea Party organizations."

“We didn’t start this war — the right wing did. My comments on Labor Day in Detroit echo the anger and frustration of American workers who are under attack by corporate-funded politicians who want to destroy the middle class,” Hoffa said. The remarks were "referring to voting out Tea Party politicians in 2012," according to the release.

“We’re fighting back. That’s what Teamsters do — we stand up for what is right,” Hoffa said.

Tea Party organizations condemned Hoffa's remarks on Tuesday. Tea Party Caucus Chairwoman and presidential contender Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) condemned what she called Hoffa’s “violent rhetoric."

White House press secretary Jay Carney said that although Hoffa's remarks were made in advance of President Obama's speech at the same event, Obama did not hear Hoffa speak. "The president wasn't there. I mean, he wasn't onstage. He didn't speak for another 20 minutes," Carney said Tuesday in his briefing.

Fox News Channel host Gretchen Carlson confronted the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee on the topic Tuesday morning. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) downplayed the controversy as an issue of "language" in a move that Reince Priebus, her counterpart at the Republican National Committee, labeled "hypocrisy."

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