10 thoughts on “Joe Wurzelbacher talks to the press”

  1. If he’s so rich as McCain says then why is he behind on his state taxes? I’d love to shove my state taxes up my Republican governers what’sit. He’s bawling about lowering property taxes but sure as heck raised them on farmers. My taxes have more than doubled under his term of office.
    It wasn’t a setup. Joe W was after a way to not vote for Obama, and when the tax thing fell through he started looking for new ways to not vote for Obama.

  2. @Warren
    The guy insists on talking to Obama while he wades through the crowd. Then he asks his question re how his business would be taxed under Obama’s tax plan. Obama patiently builds an argument for why he intends to reduce taxes for people who net less than 250k/yr in order to give them more buying power, and how this tax cut would have to be compensated for by getting additional revenue from higher-income people. Then Joe the Plumber automatically rebounds with another question on Obama’s stance on the flat tax. This guy is really concerned with macroeconomic issues more than with the level of his own taxation. This is how it looks like: he had to ask him about the flat tax.
    Obama-Joe the Plumber exchange.
    I may be wrong, but it was so convenient for John McCain to raise the issue using a spot-on real-life example that was produced before the debate, a guy people could identify with, someone who represented the middle-class entrepreneurship and who would complain that he would be negatively affected by Obama’s taxation schemes. It’s a very convenient thorn raised in Obama’s way of dealing with issues, which is usually ambiguous and flexible. On this account, it is good for voters that this happened and Obama was confronted with the issue. But I think that his use of the expression “spreading the wealth” has been exaggerately interpreted as a harbinger of socialist policy.
    So, the whole thing could be genuine, because you can easily notice that Wurzelbacher is very nervous and has been ruminating his questions to pluck the courage to ask the Dem, but on the other hand, the guy turns out not to be a plumber but someone who works for a plumbing business. Moreover, it seems that he is not exactly in the income bracket that he mentioned. So his motivation to tackle Obama so eagerly seems a little shaky, more virtual than actual – ‘So, if I buy this small company, how can I afford to pay for it if you plan to get more tax from me?’ Then: ‘Hey, but what’s your position on the flat tax?’, and so on.
    Right after that, a certain part of the media gets inflamed over Obama’s choice of words, accusing him of having a socialist mindset about taxation. The issue is also taken up by McCain during the debate.
    It’s normal occurence that a few weeks before elections words, issues and past deeds get blown out of all proportion and are used in negative campaigning. This is what makes people more stressed about the candidate they support, more defensive, more likely to believe the enemy is more dangerous than it seems, which can make partisan actions and statements less and less credible. It may be that this guy is genuine but he gets more scrutiny than he would have a few months ago. Or maybe Obama’s lead in the polls makes Republican activists more willing to do whatever is necessary to bring McCain back on top.

  3. Does Romney/Santorum 2012 mean that you don’t think McCain/Palin or Palin/anybody have strengths to warrant a second term?
    Eddy,
    No, I don’t “think” there will be a second term for either – I could be wrong. I like them both a lot and they will get my vote, however, they are not Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum with the strengths both would have brought. It is a no brainer for me to choose between Obama and McCain – the later being the clear and obvious choice.

  4. Eddy, Evan – Obama came to his neighborhood. Obama was going house to house in a campaign event and Joe lives in that neighborhood.
    Not scripted unless by the Obama campaign. Weird.

  5. Eddy,
    I think you’re right about “Joe the Plumber.” The whole thing reeked of media stunt. The guy had all the arguments in his pockets and was right on the spot to intercept Obama. Which is OK, because Obama raises more questions than answers.
    One thing is sure: Joe the Plumber is going in the textbooks of people who study political campaigns.

  6. My point is only that it’s going to come out that Joe was so far from that $250,000 point of concern…that it’s going to become obvious that the question wasn’t really his…that it was scripted for him. I had that impression when I saw the first news story about the question prior to the debate. What I missed was that they felt they could use a mascot to bolster the campaign and that they had plans to make “Joe the Plumber” a symbol all along. The smile on John McCain’s face the first time he brought “Joe the Plumber” into the debate was quite revealing; the man should not play poker.
    I keep having flashbacks to the final season of “Cheers”…Rebecca falling for the honest, hard-working plumber.
    Ann–
    Does Romney/Santorum 2012 mean that you don’t think McCain/Palin or Palin/anybody have strengths to warrant a second term?

  9. Breaking News…
    Turns out Joe the Plumber isn’t even a licensed plumber. Neither is the guy he works for.

  10. I can’t wait til this scene blows up. I saw an interview with him this morning and it seems that he isn’t really in that $250,000 class…seems that’s still a way off.
    Just now, on the evening news, reporters were already trying to get to the truth of his financial situation…and ol’ Joe got a bit snarky and defensive.
    I predict his 15 minutes of fame will last twice as long as Joe thought it would…and that he’s going to regret it in the end. I’m figuring this story will play at least through Sunday. We’ll likely see an influx of Joe the Plumber homemade halloween costumes. And, thankfully, the end of this election is also in sight.

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