Joe the Plumber jumps the shark

[shecky]

Joe the Plumber staged a nice gotcha on Obama and got his fifteen minutes of fame. The taste has been too good to give up, however. He's joined the McCain campaign trail in Ohio:

At a stop in Columbus, he fielded the question on Israel from a self-identified Jewish senior citizen.



The questioner said he was "concerned" with Barack Obama's associations and "It's my belief that a vote for Obama is a vote for the death to Israel."



Wurzelbacher responded: "I do know that."

More where that came from at the link.

Odd how an unlicensed plumber, who's name isn't Joe, who isn't planning to start a business, doesn't make anything near $250k, and would seem to actually benefit from Obama's proposed tax plan, is not only proclaiming the US progressive tax system as socialist, but is now finds his opinion on foreign policy of value to the campaign of John McCain.

Taken to task over his statement about Obama's danger to the existence of Israel, on Fox News no less, he manages to wiggle around even when confronted with contrary evidence by the newscaster.

Joe the Plumber. Spokesman for John McCain. Is there any wonder why McCain is thought to be flailing? I suppose there's something else he could fall back on:

“Joe” – aka Samuel Wurzelbacher, a Holland, Ohio, pipe-and-toilet man – just signed with a Nashville public relations and management firm to handle interview requests and media appearances, as well create new career opportunities, including a shift out of the plumbing trade into stage and studio performances.

 

[dudalb]

Most GOP commentators are now blasting Joe, saying he is making a fool of himself by acting like he is a foreign policy expert,and is becoming an embarassment to the campaign.
Joe's Warholian Fifteen minutes will soon be up.

 

[shecky]

Most GOP commentators are now blasting Joe, saying he is making a fool of himself by acting like he is a foreign policy expert,and is becoming an embarassment to the campaign.
Joe's Warholian Fifteen minutes will soon be up.

They're just a bunch of intellectualoids. What do they know? I'm sure the McCain campaign knows what it's doing by keeping him around. If Palin's wardrobe is worth $150k, surly Joe The Plumber's policy expertise should be worth enough to get him that $250k gig he couldn't pull off in the plumbing racket.

 

[Pardalis]

OK, now it's official, Joe Schmuck is a Republican plant.

The Republicans have found an indirect way to say things they can't say outloud, sort of a decoy they can both deny and agree with without having to endorse and take responsibility.

Quite clever actually.

 

[PitPat]

The taste has been too good to give up, however.

I find that pretty comical too, since just a week ago he had been complaining about all the media attention. What better way to avoid the press scrutiny than by joining McCain and Palin on the campaign trail and granting a bunch of interviews to major news outlets?

 

[Ausmerican]

"...new career opportunities, including a shift out of the plumbing trade into stage and studio performances."

Umm doing what? This guy is famous for at best asking a hypothetical and more realistically for lying. He could bill himself as the ant-George Washington I suppose. But really he has a skill set that Paris Hilton wouldn't be in envy of.

 

[hgc]

Now I'm starting to feel bad for Joe the unlicensed plumber (just a little). Here he is being grilled by Shep Smith on Fox News about that Death of Israel business.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQYcVO5DhqQ

Some angry old idiot asked him if a vote for Obama is a vote for the death of Israel, and he processed the question at the very top of his intellectual capacity, answering, "I'm gonna go ahead and agree with that." He clearly knows nothing about anything, and he's letting the McCain campaign parade him around like a prize cow. Low wattage people like Joe shouldn't be shoved into public embarrassment by cynical scumbags like McCain.

Please don't read this as a defense of Palin.

By the way, Shepard Smith gave a really strong defense of Obama in this grilling. His career at Fox News is probably about to draw to a close.

 

[nemo]

Palin - Plumber 2012

 

[XBoxWarrior]

Palin - Plumber 2012

Classic!

Will the McCain/Palin ticket ever disclose the amount paid to "Joe"?

I will go out on a limb and suggest it is about $252,000, just enough to
buy some business, pay off his tickets, and pay his taxes...

You go Joe!

 

[TheJim]

I think I saw it on the dailydish, it could have been someplace else, but apparently Sam the not licensed plumber is trying to get a major label recording contract and has signed a high profile nashville PR firm.

 

[MattusMaximus]

Joe the Plumber is a wedge - the simplest of all the tools

Props to Shep Smith for taking Joe to task, I wouldn't have expected that from Fox News. Either Shep didn't get the day's talking points, or things really are going so bad for the McCain campaign that even Fox News is starting to write them off.

ETA: This thread should be retitled "Joe the Plumber - in the toilet"

 

[mortimer]

OK, now it's official, Joe Schmuck is a Republican plant.

The Republicans have found an indirect way to say things they can't say outloud, sort of a decoy they can both deny and agree with without having to endorse and take responsibility.

Quite clever actually.

They must also have moles in Obama's campaign, otherwise how would they have known to "plant" him at one of Obama's unscheduled stops?

 

[XBoxWarrior]

They must also have moles in Obama's campaign, otherwise how would they have known to "plant" him at one of Obama's unscheduled stops?

Huh? He was a "mole".....Obama was in his neighborhood knockin' on the doors...He never knocked on the "Joe" the morons door, but "Joe" found Obama.......

Coinicidick? I think Not.

Joe should run for a House seat...and lose whatever dignity he has left.

 

[Pardalis]

They must also have moles in Obama's campaign, otherwise how would they have known to "plant" him at one of Obama's unscheduled stops?

It's not completely implausible, I think the McCain campaign went a little over the top this time with their "folksy" approach, it's showing.

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

Doonesbury did a great strip on this character on Sunday.

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

Odd how an unlicensed plumber, who's name isn't Joe, who isn't planning to start a business, doesn't make anything near $250k, and would seem to actually benefit from Obama's proposed tax plan,
<snip>

You're obviously not counting his income now that he's on the McCain-Palin payroll.

 

[UnrepentantSinner]

Now I'm starting to feel bad for Joe the unlicensed plumber (just a little).

Me too, for the same reasons I did with Cindy Sheehan, although she got what, 4 years of fame from her antics? We might be seeing Joe around for a while to come.

 

[Puppycow]

Most GOP commentators are now blasting Joe, saying he is making a fool of himself by acting like he is a foreign policy expert,and is becoming an embarassment to the campaign.
Joe's Warholian Fifteen minutes will soon be up.

Best if used before Nov. 4, 2008

 

[Puppycow]

Doonesbury did a great strip on this character on Sunday.

As longtime readers of FAQ will recall, the syndication schedule requires that Sunday strips go into production six weeks before they appear in the paper. Sometimes this works in GBT's favor, as when a particular strip seems so perfectly timed that readers write in crediting GBT with psychic powers. In this instance the synchronicity has worked against him. Written and turned in weeks before "Joe the Plumber" arrived on the national stage, the strip in question was about the insanity of putting ideology ahead of competence. The fact that GBT chose a plumber to illustrate the proposition only confirms that when most people think "competence" and "knows way more than I do about what he's doing", they think "plumber".

He did that strip before anyone had ever heard of Joe the Plumber. (I wondered why the plumber didn't look like Joe).

 

[T.A.M.]

You gotta love it so now a self admitted "average guy" plumber, sees himself as:
1. Foreign Policy Expert
2. Future Congressman
3. Country/Western Artist
4. Media Celebrity

Yah, I think "jumped the shark" is pretty appropriate at this time.

McCain 2008 - Doing Stupid One Mistake at a Time.

TAM