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Say It Ain’t So, Joe

Posted by JOE WINDISH, Technology Editor in Politics.
Oct 16th, 2008 | Comments

Martin Eisenstadt says Joe the Plumber wasn’t vetted:

John McCain did great tonight in the debate. But every time John mentioned “Joe the Plumber,” some of us in the campaign banged our heads against the wall. If Steve Schmidt had any hair left, I hear he would have been pulling it out tonight. He reportedly screamed at John’s debate prep team tonight (out of earshot of reporters, of course). “You idiots – he’s related to Charles Keating… of the Keating Five scandal!” They thought they had a real live Joe Six-Pack who’s spurned Barack Obama’s tax plan. But what they forgot to do was check on Joe Wurzelbacher’s background.

Joe’s registered Republican. Shaum mentioned earlier that he doesn’t have a plumbing license. Steve Benen points out that by the premise of his own question, “Wurzelbacher would probably get a tax break under Obama’s plan.”

And you might guess that the folks over at DailyKos are asking if this average Joe doesn’t always bother to pay his taxes. On the other hand, James Joyner salutes him for telling ABC News:

“that the government should not tax some Americans at a higher percentage than others and argued that this principle should extend not only to taxpayers at his income-level but also to the world’s richest man. [Bill Gates].”

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roro80

I guess my comment on the Joe thread below was a little late...

StockBoySF

Joe the Plumber wasn't vetted? And we're surprised because McCain did such a good job at vetting his advisors, his VP pick and so this Joe is an anomaly in an otherwise fantasticly run campaign?

Rambie

I'm *so* over "Joe the plumber"

onleyone

d'oh! can you even imagine the surprises we'd get as a president mcCain nominated his new cabinet heads, or the next SC justice? robert bork would fade gratefully into history, i'd wager.

as jerry seinfeld's TV persona might have said: "...and you want to be my president!"

skippy

lol, stockboy, that's what i said!

Slamfu

Anyone who still thinks flat taxes are fair needs a remedial course in basic math before they should be allowed into voting booths.

Ricorun

Maybe I'm crazy, but one thing that leaped to mind when Joe the Plumber originally showed up on the screen in the rope line complaining about the taxes he might incur upon buying a plumbing company that he estimated would net him $250-280K was... who is funding this acquisition? Granted, I have no knowledge of how a plumbing company is structured, but it seems to me that if he realistically expects to clear $250K or more per year the company has to be worth at least a few million in capital assets, inventory, name recognition, customer lists, etc. I suppose there are numerous roads up that mountain (although less currently than there used to be), but none I can think of imply that he's your typical "Joe the Plumber".

That doesn't necessarily obviate any of the issues he rose, but it does help to put his situation in perspective. So I guess I'm not entirely surprised at the other elements to the story that are coming out.

onleyone

uh-oh. not a Keating? if this is true, boy, is MY face red!

pacatrue

I'm very worried about the need of some partisans to attack Joe the Plumber personally. Obama seemed to me to handle the conversation with old Joe just fine. Things should stand or fall based upon Obama's proposed policies and that conversation. This remains true whether Joe is the reincarnation of Mother Theresa or a jerkwad. Hundreds of bloggers on the left don't need to spend their time attacking this random guy who asked a question.

StockBoySF

pacatrue: "Hundreds of bloggers on the left don't need to spend their time attacking this random guy who asked a question."

I agree with you, but Joe the plumber is different than a random guy who asked a question. From what I understand Joe presented himself as an independent (he's a registered Republican) and he was worried about the tax consequences of buying a company that he was about to buy a plumbing business which would net him $250k/year (the business he was referring to is his boss's business and only brings in $100K/year while Joe earns $40k/year. (And he's not even trying to buy the business anyway.) Joe the plumber is not even a licensed plumber- he's a contractor. So Joe clearly misrepresented himself. There's a huge gulf between who Joe the plumber McCain presented himself as and who Joe actually is.

But yes, pacatrue, I agree with you. If a random guy asks a legitimate question bloggers should lay off. But Joe the plumber as presented to America is a complete fabrication.

kritt11

Given the judgment that McCain has shown during the campaign, I'd be afraid to se who he'd pick for his Cabinet. This , and the sleazy campaign tactics, is why I no longer vote for Republicans. If they just stopped at distortion and spin, I could take it-but they show they are racist Machiavellian xenophobes.

Before I get flamed-- I am just talking about the campaign operatives and those who approve of these ads---- not all Republicans.

onleyone

i'm with you, kritt11:

we badly need a legitimate, functioning, loyal opposition, especially if we're heading into an era with both a democratic administration AND a democratic congress.

my hope is that some of those CRAZY rational libertarian ideals might some[how] be used to reincorporate a newer, thinking GOP 3.0.

Don Quijote

we badly need a legitimate, functioning, loyal opposition, especially if we're heading into an era with both a democratic administration AND a democratic congress.

Why? We didn't need one when our great leader was selected by the Supreme Court!

To oppose the Great Leader was to be an Anti-American, Terrorist Loving, Would be Communist Traitor, a member of the fifth column who deserved to be shot on sight for the greater good of America.

USA!!! USA!!! Number One!!! USA!!!

sam1

I noticed that Martin Eisenstadt, the blogger/pundit/war profiteer, is in the news again as the McCain insider who broke the story connecting "Joe the plumber" to Charles Keating. I recently shot an unauthorized mini documentary on Martin Eisenstadt called "The Last Republican" that I am showing as a webseries on my youtube channel, "youkaysam". http://www.youtube.com/user/youkaysam
At times charming and knowledgeable, Martin is, in fact, a dangerous McCain surrogate who hides behind layers and half truths that I like to believe I succeeded in identifying and exposing.

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