America's New Hero!

[Ralph]

Joe the Plumber:



Wanna bet he'll be on the inaugural stand in January no matter which candidate wins?

[Chalkperson]

I hope he makes enough money to buy his Business...actually I think he'll do quite well from this...

[Ralph]

I hope he makes enough money to buy his Business...actually I think he'll do quite well from this...

*****

I don't know-the salary for Secretary of Commerce isn't better than that from a successful plumbing business.

[Ralph]

Ohio plumber becomes focus of debate
10/15/2008, 10:42 p.m. ET
By PHILIP ELLIOTT
The Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Who is Joe the Plumber?

He's Joe Wurzelbacher, an Ohio man looking to buy a plumbing business who came to symbolize the middle class in Wednesday night's presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain.

Days earlier, Joe the Plumber had told Obama that the Democrat's tax plan would keep him from buying the business. McCain, the Republican candidate, cited Joe's exchange with Obama when he was asked about his tax plan and why it would be better for the country than Obama's.

Wurzelbacher was mentioned several times during the debate.

So what does he have to say about literally being at the center of the debate.

He says his name being mentioned in the campaign is "pretty surreal."

[anasazi]

I'm always a dollar short and a day late. If only they had debated why my IRA has tanked.

[pizza]

I hope he makes enough money to buy his Business...actually I think he'll do quite well from this...

*****

I don't know-the salary for Secretary of Commerce isn't better than that from a successful plumbing business.

Well, you know the old joke:

A physician notices a leak in his basement pipe and tries to fix it, but instead he starts a small flood. In a panic, he calls a plumber who arrives, quickly figures out what's to be done and repairs the leak in 5 minutes.

Plumber: "All done. That'll be $1000.00."

Doctor: "What? A thousand bucks? I'm a doctor and I don't make that kind of money for 5 minute's work!"

Plumber:"Neither did I when I practiced medicine!"

[Ralph]

He's got a lien but no license. Another hero toppled.

*****

From The New York Times:

October 17, 2008
Real Deal on ‘Joe the Plumber’ Reveals New Slant
By LARRY ROHTER

One week ago, Joe Wurzelbacher was just another working man living in a modest house outside Toledo, Ohio, and thinking about how to buy the plumbing business where he works. But when he stopped Senator Barack Obama during a visit to his block last weekend to complain about taxes, he set himself on a path to becoming America’s newest media celebrity — and as such suddenly found himself facing celebrity-level scrutiny.

As it turns out, Joe the Plumber, as he became nationally known when Senator John McCain made him a theme at Wednesday’s final presidential debate, may work in the plumbing business, but he is not a licensed plumber.

Thomas Joseph, the business manager of Local 50 of the United Association of Plumbers, Steamfitters and Service Mechanics, based in Toledo, said Thursday that Mr. Wurzelbacher had never held a plumber’s license, which is required in Toledo and several surrounding municipalities. He also never completed an apprenticeship and does not belong to the plumber’s union, which has endorsed Mr. Obama. On Thursday, he acknowledged that he does plumbing work even though he does not have a license.

His full name is Samuel J. Wurzelbacher. And he owes back taxes, too, public records show. The premise of his complaint to Mr. Obama about taxes may also be flawed, according to tax analysts. Contrary to what Mr. Wurzelbacher asserted and Mr. McCain echoed, neither his personal taxes nor those of the business where he works are likely to rise if Mr. Obama’s tax plan were to go into effect, they said.

None of that is likely to matter to those who see Mr. Wurzelbacher as a symbol of the entrepreneurial spirit they hope to foster with tax cuts, but even Mr. Wurzelbacher said he was shocked by all the attention.

“I’m kind of like Britney Spears having a headache,” he told The Associated Press on Thursday. “Everybody wants to know about it.”

Just five days ago, Mr. Wurzelbacher, 34, lived in anonymity in Holland, Ohio, a single father who, as he said on national television, worked all day and came home to fix dinner and help his son, 13, with his homework.

But he became the hero of conservatives and Republicans when he stopped Mr. Obama, who was campaigning on his street, and asked whether he believed in the American dream. Mr. Wurzelbacher said he was concerned about having to pay higher taxes as an owner of a small business.

“I’m getting ready to buy a company that makes $250,000 to $280,000 a year,” he told Mr. Obama. “Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn’t it?”

That encounter wound up on YouTube and led to appearances on the Fox News Channel, interviews with conservative bloggers and a New York Post editorial, all of whom seized on a small part of Mr. Obama’s long reply. “I think that when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody,” Mr. Obama had said.

Mr. McCain invoked Mr. Wurzelbacher in Wednesday’s debate as a way to criticize Mr. Obama’s tax plan and wealth-sharing argument, and picked up the theme again on Thursday.

“You know what Senator Obama had to say to Joe? That he wanted to spread his wealth around,” Mr. McCain said at an event in Downingtown, Pa. “America didn’t become the greatest nation on earth by spreading the wealth,” he said. “We became the greatest nation by creating new wealth.”

After some version of “Joe the Plumber” was mentioned two dozen times during the debate, Mr. Wurzelbacher found news crews outside his home and Katie Couric on the phone.

Mr. Wurzelbacher told reporters that the company he works for, Newell Plumbing & Heating, has two full-time employees: himself and the owner, Al Newell.

Neither Mr. Newell nor Mr. Wurzelbacher responded to telephone calls. And Mr. Wurzelbacher has provided only vague information on his and the company’s finances since talking to Mr. Obama. But if the plumbing business remained a two-person company and the net proceeds — after deductions for business expenses — were shared by the two men, both incomes would most likely fall well below the top tax brackets on which Mr. Obama wants to raise rates, as would the company itself.

Both, in fact, would probably be eligible for a tax cut, said Bob Williams, senior research associate at the independent, nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, though the cut would probably be greater under Mr. McCain’s tax plan than Mr. Obama’s.

According to public records, Mr. Wurzelbacher has been subject to two liens, each over $1,100. One, with a hospital, has been settled, but a tax lien with the State of Ohio is still outstanding.

In his interview with Ms. Couric, Mr. Wurzelbacher, who voted Republican in Ohio’s March primary, said that his encounter with Mr. Obama had been prompted by his desire “to ask one of these guys a question, and really corner them and get them to answer a question for once instead of tap dancing around it. And unfortunately I asked the question, but I still got a tap dance.”

He added, “He was almost as good as Sammy Davis Jr.”

Liz Robbins contributed reporting.

[SaulChanukah]

Haha!

[Agnes Selby]

Oh, Dear!!! Did Joe the Plumber need all this attention!!!
He was going A - O.K. Business was good because
he is a good plumber. But now the Press has discovered
he does not have a licence, he does not have a plumber's
diploma and hence he has no rights.

Now the Press will call him names, his plumber-brothers
will complain about his TV appearances and Hey! he does not
even belong to the Union.

While the Press will persecute Joe the Plumber, they will give
a rest to Sarah Palin. Madonna is too busy anyway with her new lover
and she is a little shy to call Mrs. Palin on the subject of
morality.

Oh, dear, this is just so confusing, I better go and take an asprin.

Love to you all,
Agnes.

[Corlyss_D]

One wonders if the NYT would have been so diligent in debunking Joe if he had been used by Obama to attack McCain.

On second thought, one doesn't wonder. One knows they wouldn't have bothered.

[Ralph]

One wonders if the NYT would have been so diligent in debunking Joe if he had been used by Obama to attack McCain.

On second thought, one doesn't wonder. One knows they wouldn't have bothered.

*****

The Times was a Johnny-come-lately. The AP got the story online before anyone else.

I don't think I'll ever look at my toilet plunger the same way again.

[living_stradivarius]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ ... rnational/
"Joe the Plumber" isn't
SIRI AGRELL
From Friday's Globe and Mail

October 16, 2008 at 8:55 PM EDT


Joe Wurzelbacher, better known as Joe the Plumber, the nickname Republican John McCain bestowed on him during Wednesday's presidential debate, is not a licensed plumber in his county, and currently has no plans to start a business.
“I'm kind of like Britney Spears having a headache. Everybody wants to know about it,” he joked.

In Toledo on Sunday, Mr. Wurzelbacher told Mr. Obama that he was preparing to buy the plumbing company, which earns more than $250,000 a year, and said: “Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn't it?”

Mr. Obama said that under his proposal taxes on any revenue from $250,000 on down would stay the same, but that amounts above that level would be subject to a 39 per cent tax, instead of the current 36 per cent rate.

Mr. Wurzelbacher said Mr. Obama's tax plan wouldn't affect him right now, because he doesn't make $250,000. “But I hope some day I'll make that,” he said.

[Agnes Selby]

I hope he makes enough money to buy his Business...actually I think he'll do quite well from this...

*****

I don't know-the salary for Secretary of Commerce isn't better than that from a successful plumbing business.

Well, you know the old joke:

A physician notices a leak in his basement pipe and tries to fix it, but instead he starts a small flood. In a panic, he calls a plumber who arrives, quickly figures out what's to be done and repairs the leak in 5 minutes.

Plumber: "All done. That'll be $1000.00."

Doctor: "What? A thousand bucks? I'm a doctor and I don't make that kind of money for 5 minute's work!"

Plumber:"Neither did I when I practiced medicine!"

Don't laugh Pizza, a man who went through Medicine with
my husband has a very successful plumbing business.
He gave up Medicine soon after graduating and has been
a plumber for many, many years.

Regards,
Agnes.

[Ralph]

I hope he makes enough money to buy his Business...actually I think he'll do quite well from this...

*****

I don't know-the salary for Secretary of Commerce isn't better than that from a successful plumbing business.

Well, you know the old joke:

A physician notices a leak in his basement pipe and tries to fix it, but instead he starts a small flood. In a panic, he calls a plumber who arrives, quickly figures out what's to be done and repairs the leak in 5 minutes.

Plumber: "All done. That'll be $1000.00."

Doctor: "What? A thousand bucks? I'm a doctor and I don't make that kind of money for 5 minute's work!"

Plumber:"Neither did I when I practiced medicine!"

Don't laugh Pizza, a man who went through Medicine with
my husband has a very successful plumbing business.
He gave up Medicine soon after graduating and has been
a plumber for many, many years.

Regards,
Agnes.

*****

I assume this guy did his internship in urology.

[RebLem]

Millions of people are going around talking about Joe the Plumber without any but the slightest idea what they are talking about. This enables John McCain to go around emphasizing that Obama says he wants to "spread the wealth around," seizing on that phrase to suggest he is a radical income redistributor. Even Morton Knodracke on FAUX News says that Joe "thinks the graduated income tax is socialism," to which Brit Hume responded, "In other words, he's a right wing nut job." Indeed he is. Obama's "spread the wealth" statement was made in the context of giving bigger tax cuts to people with lower than $250,000 incomes so that they could afford the services of people like Joe the Plumber.

So, I have this novel idea. LETS FIND OUT EXACTLY WHAT JOE AND OBAMA SAID TO ONE ANOTHER. D'ya think that might be a good idea, or should we, instead, avoid that, and continue to speak from ignorance? Here is the entire 5:47 encounter. I think you will see that McCain's characterization of his comments amounts to less than a tenth-truth. Then, compare it to the shorter excerpts as broadcast on FAUX News morning program and other sources, and their commentator's comments, and you will get a very dramatic idea of why we liberals say that FAUX News is a bunch of lying sleazeballs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFC9jv9jfoA

Posted on October 18th, 2008, the 1,994th day after Shrub announced that major combat operations in Iraq had ended, the 17th day before the November 4th US general election, and the 95th day before the end of the Cheney Kakistocracy. RebLem

[Agnes Selby]

I hope he makes enough money to buy his Business...actually I think he'll do quite well from this...

*****

I don't know-the salary for Secretary of Commerce isn't better than that from a successful plumbing business.

Well, you know the old joke:

A physician notices a leak in his basement pipe and tries to fix it, but instead he starts a small flood. In a panic, he calls a plumber who arrives, quickly figures out what's to be done and repairs the leak in 5 minutes.

Plumber: "All done. That'll be $1000.00."

Doctor: "What? A thousand bucks? I'm a doctor and I don't make that kind of money for 5 minute's work!"

Plumber:"Neither did I when I practiced medicine!"

Don't laugh Pizza, a man who went through Medicine with
my husband has a very successful plumbing business.
He gave up Medicine soon after graduating and has been
a plumber for many, many years.

Regards,
Agnes.

*****

I assume this guy did his internship in urology.

Ha, Ha!!! No, I don't think so, but he did very well
financially. Also he was the talk of the town.
---------------

[Corlyss_D]

October 18, 2008, 7:00 a.m.

Joe the Plumber vs. Joe the Hair-Plugger
Put that in your pipe and solder it.

By Mark Steyn

Give a man enough rope line and he’ll hang himself. There was His Serene Majesty President-designate Barack the Healer working the crowd at some or other hick burg, and halfway down the rope up pops a plumber to express misgivings about the incoming regime’s tax plans.

Supposedly, under the Obama tax plan, 95 per cent of the American people will get a tax cut. You’d think that at this point the natural skepticism of any sentient being other than six-week-old puppies might kick in, but apparently not. If you’re wondering why Obama didn’t simply announce that under his plan 112 per cent of the American people will get a tax cut, well, they ran it past the focus groups who said that that was all very generous but they’d really like it if he could find a way to stick it to Dick Cheney, Rush Limbaugh, Karl Rove and whatnot. So 95 per cent it is.

By the way, like the nightly news shows, this column now has an exclusive lavishly funded Fact Check Unit set up at great expense (a colorful graphic with the words “FACT CHECK ALERT!”) in a lame attempt to pass off our transparent political bias as some sort of scientific exercise. Our accredited credentialed licensed expert Fact Checkers from the University of Factology in the Czech Republic are standing by to rigorously Fact Check the candidate’s claims. We check facts so you don’t have to. All you have to do is sign up to our Fact-Check-Me-Now! service and we’ll send you a daily Fact Check on your Facts Machine, which costs only $79.95 from Radio Shack (sorry, no checks).

Anyway, our Fact Check Unit ran the numbers on the Obama tax-cut plan and the number is correct: “95.” It’s the words “per cent” immediately following that are wrong: that’s a typing error accidentally left in from the first draft. It should read: Under the Obama plan, 95 of the American people will get a tax cut.

Joe the Plumber expressed his misgivings about the President-in-waiting’s tax inclinations, and the O-Man smoothly reassured him: “It’s not that I want to punish your success,” he told the bloated plutocrat corporate toilet executive. “I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they’ve got a chance for success too. I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”

In that sentence about you spreading the wealth around, there’s another typing error: that “you” should read “I, Barack.” “You” will have no say in it. Joe the Plumber might think he himself can spread it around just fine, but everyone knows “trickle-down economics” don’t work. So President-presumptive Obama kindly explained the new exquisitely condescending “talking-down economics:” Put that in your pipe and solder it.

Evidently the O-Mighty One was not happy after his encounter with Joe. He’s still willing to talk to Ahmadinejad without preconditions. But never again will he talk to Joe the Plumber without preconditions. Outraged at the way the right-wing whackos were talking up Joe the Plumber as if he were an authentic regular Joe like Joe Biden, the O-Bots of the media swung into action. Vast regiments of investigate reporters were redeployed from the Wasilla Holiday Inn back to the Lower 48.

“We need you down here checking out this Joe the Plumber,” editors barked to journalists.

“But I’m this close to wrapping up the Wasilla Town Library banned-book investigation!”

“Forget it! The Atlantic Monthly is claiming Joe the Plumber is Trig’s real father. We can’t get behind on this. Get to Minneapolis Airport. Joe the Plumber was seen in the bathroom with Senator Larry Craig.”

“Yes, but he was installing a stopcock…”

“Look, you went to Columbia School of Journalism. This is what we bold courageous journalists do. We’re the conscience of the nation. We speak truth to plumber.”

“Er, shouldn’t that be ‘Speak truth to power’?”

“That’s the old edition of the handbook. Now we speak truth to power-tool operators. Joe the Carpenter, Joe the Plasterer, Joe the Electrician… When you’re building utopia, you don’t want any builders getting in the way.”

Alas, as a result of this massive investment of journalistic resouces, no investigative reporter will be free to investigate ACORN voter-registration fraud or Obama’s ties to terrorist educator William Ayers until, oh, midway through his second term at least.

Under the headline “Is ‘Joe The Plumber’ A Plumber? That’s Debatable”, John Seewer of the Associated Press triumphantly revealed that Joe is not a “licensed” plumber. In fact, he doesn’t need to be licensed for the residential plumbing he does, but isn’t that just typical of Bush-McCain insane out-of-control deregulation? It wouldn’t surprise me to discover that most of these subprime homeowners got Joe in to plumb their subprime bathrooms. Next thing you know, the entire global economy goes down the toilet. Coincidence?

Joe is now the most notorious plumber in American politics since the Watergate plumbers. And they weren’t licensed, either. It turns out Joe doesn’t even make 250 grand, and it’s only the 250-thousand-a-year types who’ll be paying more (please, no tittering) under Good King Barack. Joe Biden — that’s Joe the Bluecollar Senator — said that he didn’t know any 250,000-dollars plumbers in his neighborhood, or even in the first-class club car on Amtrak he rides every night to demonstrate his bluecollar bonafides. On Good Morning America, Diane Sawyer emphasized this point, anxious to give the apostate plumber one last chance to go with the flow:

“Well, I just want to ask you now about the issue that was raised, because it’s been a little confusing to me as I try to sort it out here. To get straight here, you’re not taking home $250,000 now, am I right?”

“No. No. Not even close,” confessed Joe.

So what’s he got to be worried about?

The heart of the American Dream is aspiration. That’s why people came here from all over the world. Back in eastern Europe, the Joe Bidens and Diane Sawyers of the day were telling Joe the Peasant: “Hey, look, man. You’re a peasant in the 19th century, just like your forebears were peasants in the 12th century and your descendants will be peasants in the 26th century. So you’re never gonna be earning 250 groats a year. Don’t worry about it. Leave it to us. We know better.” And Joe the Peasant eventually figured that one day he’d like to be able to afford the Premium Gruel with just a hint of arugula and got on the boat to Ellis Island. Because America is the land where a guy who doesn’t have a 250-grand business today might just have one in five or ten years’ time.

I’m with Joe the Plumber, not Joe the Hair-Plugger. He’s articulated the animating principles of America better than anyone on either side in this campaign. Which is why the O-Bots need to destroy him. As Obama’s catchphrase goes:

“Joe the Plumber!

Can we fix him?

Joe the Plumber!

Yes, we can!”

For the record, I am not a government-licensed pundit. But I expect they’ll fix that, too.

© Mark Steyn 2008

[Seán]

Posted on October 18th, 2008, the 1,994th day after Shrub announced that major combat operations in Iraq had ended, the 17th day before the November 4th US general election, and the 95th day before the end of the Cheney Kakistocracy. RebLem

That is a great countdown, the end is nigh, or will it hearald a new beginning?
"Kakistocracy" is a priceless description. From January 2009 I'm certainly going to miss your footnotes.

[karlhenning]

So his foreign policy remarks on the McCain stump aren't always . . . true.

Joe the Foreign Policy Plumber agrees with a voter at a campaign event that "a vote for Obama is a vote for the death of Israel." Prompting Fox anchor Shepard Smith to say: "I just want to make this 100 percent perfectly clear — Barack Obama has said repeatedly and demonstrated repeatedly that Israel will always be a friend of the United States, no matter what happens once he becomes president of the United States." Which is why we don't have plumbers at the State Department.