Comments on: Say It Ain’t So, Joe

By: Martin Eisenstadt’s Blog » Blog Archive » Updates on the Joe the Plumber story

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 00:36:12 +0000

[...] Poor Mojo Newswire, Kudzu, Mon Amour, Muckmakers, Jeff Juliard, Chris Capone, Repeated Expletives, The Moderate Voice, Blog Bites, 23/6, Blue Herald, Neil Rogers, Cogitamus, Talking Points Memo (plebnista), Boulder [...]

By: sam1

sam1 — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 18:03:36 +0000

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.

By: William K. Wolfrum Chronicles » Blog Archive » Why is it so hard to Google the name “Martin Eisenstadt” before going on a Plumber Joe freakfest?

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:47:10 +0000

By: Don Quijote

Don Quijote — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 05:11:01 +0000

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!!!

By: onleyone

onleyone — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 04:39:02 +0000

i'm with you, kritt11:

we badly need a legitimate, functioning, loyal opposition!, especially if e're heading into a democratic administration AND a democratic congress.

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

By: kritt11

kritt11 — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 03:44:16 +0000

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.

By: StockBoySF

StockBoySF — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 03:18:55 +0000

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.

By: pacatrue

pacatrue — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:37:06 +0000

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.

By: onleyone

onleyone — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:01:21 +0000

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

By: Ricorun

Ricorun — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 23:46:41 +0000

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.

By: Fact-Checking the Angry Progressive Mob | The Sundries Shack

Fact-Checking the Angry Progressive Mob | The Sundries Shack — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 23:08:30 +0000

[...] those bloggers on the left who have decided to root through his life and wave every bloody chunk of his life over [...]

By: Slamfu

Slamfu — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 22:54:13 +0000

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

By: skippy

skippy — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 21:18:21 +0000

lol, stockboy, that's what i said!

By: onleyone

onleyone — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 21:05:50 +0000

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.

as jerry seinfeld's TV persona might have said: “…and you want to be my president!”

By: Rambie

Rambie — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 20:50:16 +0000

I'm *so* over “Joe the plumber”

By: StockBoySF

StockBoySF — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 20:44:14 +0000

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?

By: roro80

roro80 — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 20:07:46 +0000

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