"Joe the Plumber" is a fool...

[NYBURBS]

People shouldn't beat on this guy. I'm seeing all these Obama supporters converge like vultures on him. People are accusing him of being a fraud, where in reality it appears like he's a decent hard working guy that asked a question to a political candidate. Perhaps his plans were more like aspirations but so what??? It was a simple question to challenge a proposed tax plan. It's sad to see how some supporters of both candidates behave.

[Buzz]

The BBC with details on this story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/ame...08/7675278.stm

Maybe McCain and Palin, instead of continually asking the crowd "Who is the real Barack Obama" at their rallies, should have been asking "Who is the real Joe the Plumber" ??

It seems that nothing is ever as it seems as it seems as it seems.

------ update ------

Joe the Plumber? More like Joe the Keating Family Operative

I guess it's no wonder John McCain was so happy to use "Joe the Plumber" as a debate prop last night -- he's a partisan Republican who also happens to be a member of McCain's old friends, the Keating family.

From Martin Eisenstadt:

Turns out that Joe Wurzelbacher from the Toledo event is a close relative of Robert Wurzelbacher of Milford, Ohio. Who’s Robert Wurzelbacher? Only Charles Keating’s son-in-law and the former senior vice president of American Continental, the parent company of the infamous Lincoln Savings and Loan. The now retired elder Wurzelbacher is also a major contributor to Republican causes giving well over $10,000 in the last few years.

Now I guess we know why Joe is telling the press that Obama is a "socialist" and that the Obama tax plan "infuriated" him. After all, it would hit families like the Keatings and their minions the hardest.

Not to mention that Obama's economic-recovery plan would put the crimps on influence peddlers like McCain's old friends, the Keating Five.

But he sure made for a good one-day story.

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiw...eating-family-

[Cuchulain]

Joke the “Plumber”: America, You’ve Been Had
- written by Lionel

It all started with this “chance” encounter with Barack Obama. “I’m getting ready to buy a company that makes $250,000 to $280,000 a year,” he told Obama. “Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn’t it?” And then we were off to the races. The newly-minted conservative media darling, America’s new favorite sandbagging, rube hatchling was born.

A Michael Chiklis doppelganger barged onto the media scene and I smelled the proverbial rat from the get-go. We had just completed the final presidential debate and instead of weighing the possibilities and choices before us, all eyes were on this bald-pated simp who was a tad too camera-ready for anyone’s sensibilities. Enter Joe the “Plumber.” Make that Joke the “Plumber.” Move over Josephine. Holy Jane Withers, Batman! Here comes Schmoe, er, Joe, the cubic zirconia of tile grouters.

(Incidentally, New York fixture Pete Hamill said it best when he suggested that the name of this fictive plumber invokes the image of a Gambino soldier. Touché, Pete.)

I don’t know exactly what bothers me so much about the unlicensed Joe the fugazy “Plumber” distraction. Is it that the Buckeye witling lied on his MySpace page about being a licensed plumber? Again, not for being well-schooled, traveled or rich, no, he lied about being a licensed plumber. (For what it’s worth, he’s a contractor and not one who plumbs. He works for a man who does have an Ohio state license and one with the City of Toledo. Seems, Joe, you also need one, you rogue “plumber,” you!)

Am I distraught because this yahoo hasn’t a clue as to rudimentary and fundamental taxation principles? Is it because he was a ringer, a mark, an ersatz average American whom the media fell for? Is it because this alleged “plumber” was an obvious acolyte of rightwing talk radio nitwits who spewed the party line flawlessly? Is it because it took – yet again – the liberal blogosphere to do the job that the MSM should have done in the first place? Why was a correspondent from NBC, assigned to stake out “Plumber” Joe’s front yard, an unquestioning dupe, no doubt more interested in securing the first interview with America’s favorite “plumber” than vetting his bona fides?

I’m awash in questions. Next to the question on everyone’s mind (Who was the brain surgeon who thought Jack Welch would be an interesting guest on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”?), what we must ask is what significance this mendacious Ohioan holds and what’s the symbolism of his sudden attention.

Or is it this idiotic love affair with the non-elite, the simple, albeit mendacious blue-collar lug that we supposedly love? Is this an extension of our connection with everyone’s favorite abderite, Itsy Bitsy Sarah Palin? Whatever it is, it makes me sick.

As I predicted, the information is now pouring in about Joe. Reports show that Joe the “Plumber,” “whose legal name is Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, owes the state of Ohio $1,182 in personal income taxes, according to tax records that show a lien for that amount filed against him in January 2007.” And you wonder why taxes are anathema to him.

Newsweek reports the following as to the “Plumber” and his hypothetical predicament. “When he buys that small business, he's likely to earn more--but not $250,000. That's because $250,000 is the amount of revenue [e.s.] the business is said to pull in; after expenses--equipment, employees, etc.--his personal profit will be significantly less. Let's say a still-healthy $100,000.” An amount taxed less under Obama’s plan than that other guy’s.

Moreover, Newsweek reports that Joe the “Plumber” “(the guy making, say, $60,000 a year) would see his tax bill slashed by $319 under McCain and $1,042 under Obama. That's a $723 difference. Meanwhile, Joe the Small-Business Owner (the guy making $100,000 a year) would pay $1,009 less under McCain and $1,290 less under Obama, for a difference of $181.Even if Joe's profits are higher--say $160,000 a year--he'll still score a $2,204 tax cut from Obama, which is only slightly smaller than the $2,614 rebate he'd receive from McCain.” Joe the Dolt apparently never did his research. Then again, what do facts have to do with anything?

Did any of the news whores care to even consider whether this guy’s claims were close to being factually correct? Of course not. Anyone can be a media darling, anyone. Look at Billy Mays. Claim to be a vascular surgeon on national TV, no sweat. So long as you’re perceived by some producer or (allegedly) America at large as noteworthy and you’re in. Remember, we don’t even have follow-up questions at debates. Journalists don’t “journalize,” they just report, that is, jot down stenographically everything and anything unchallenged. They’re society’s amanuenses. And when you have a mindless 24/7 “news” beast that must be fed hourly, a beast that eats protein and garbage alike, a monster that must masticate and swallow anything, a scavenger, a vulture lapping up B-roll road kill and carrion, an indiscriminate specter that dupes us video-crack addicts of the first order into thinking that whatever they slap on a flat screen is per se valid, accurate, relevant or, worse, important – then you get a Joe the “Plumber.”

No, I don’t blame Joke the “Plumber.” He’s probably on the phone with William Morris, as we speak, negotiating plumbing supply endorsements, maybe an HGTV gig, personal appearances, Home Depot openings, perhaps his own ring tone, a university chair, a MacArthur Foundation grant. Skies the limit for Ol’ Joe.

But I’ve got other concerns.

Eighteen days.
http://airamerica.com/lionel/blog/20...%99ve-been-had

[natina]

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Li...debate/768721/


Joe the Plumber is going to the toilet and taking McCain with him

Senator, Joe the Plumber is going into the toilet and taking you with him.

So, naturally, you have taken the next step — umbrage over Joe the Plumber.

That he approached Obama, lied to Obama's face about a business that wasn't worth what he said it was, that he wasn't about to buy like he said he was, has gotten lost in this barrage of nonsense, Senator.

That you made him some kind of phony every-man symbol for economic savaging of the middle class which Obama wouldn't effect but you in fact would, has gotten wallpapered over, Senator.

You're mad that people have made fun of him, when he didn't ask to be famous. You made him famous! You're mad that people questioned his story, when he didn't ask for people to question his story. You made a story out of his question! You're mad that people have criticized him, when he didn't ask to be criticized. Senator—these are not attacks on Joe the Plumber!

They're attacks on John the Liar! Not to mention Sarah the Shopaholic and Phil the Economy-Killer; G. Gordon the Domestic Terrorist; Steve the Schmidt-Head; Charlie the Banker; The other Joe the Fact-Checker; Rick the Lobbyist; Randy the Lobbyist; Wayne the Lobbyist; William the Saddam Lobbyist; Vinnie the Chin and, of course, Bob the Builder.

Sen. McCain, I'm pretty sure Sen. Obama is right. He can probably survive two more weeks of personal attacks, but America probably can't survive four more years of government by the Republican Party. However, even more urgent, more pressing. He isn't working for you, and he's driving the rest of us to consider going back to the days of out-houses and wooden aqueducts.

On behalf of a tortured nation, with blood streaming from its collective ears.

Enough with Joe the Plumber already!

—Keith the Anchor
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27351270/