A tale of two transcripts

Via Memeorandum, I see that there is a flap over the editing of a transcript from which I quoted last night. I got the portion I quoted from Real Clear Politics, and while I didn’t watch Hoffa’s speech, it was clear to me that he was calling for war against the Tea Party, using what the left would call “eliminationist rhetoric” had it emanated from any Republican.

Obviously, the full transcript contains many more words than those I quoted, (including a call for voting — said to change the meaning of everything) so I thought that in the interest of accuracy I would provide the transcript.

Here is a version purporting to be an “actual, unedited transcript of Hoffa’s remarks“:

We got to keep an eye on the battle that we face: The war on workers. And you see it everywhere, it is the Tea Party. And you know, there is only one way to beat and win that war. The one thing about working people is we like a good fight. And you know what? They’ve got a war, they got a war with us and there’s only going to be one winner. It’s going to be the workers of Michigan, and America. We’re going to win that war.

President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. AndPresident Obama, we want one thing: jobs, jobs, jobs… That’s what we’re going to tell him. He’s gonna be … and when he sees what we’re doing here, he will be inspired. But he needs help. And you know what? Everybody here’s got to 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 an America where we belong.

Except, according to Gateway Pundit, (who quotes the following transcript), the actual transcript is considerably longer. (Emphasis his.)

“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.”

War, war war. Tea Party, Tea Party, Tea Party. Army, army, march.

It’s hard to interpret the above as anything but a call for war against the Tea Party.

And it doesn’t require much interpretation, either.

I find it amusing that people complaining so vociferously about edited transcripts would themselves be offering an edited transcript. Why the inaccuracy in the name of accuracy? What’s the problem with the full version? Too many references to the Tea Party, perhaps?

If OTOH, I am misinterpreting a peaceful call for merely going to the polls, my sincere apologies to the president of the Teamsters Union.