Originally posted by: Blackjack200
I love the whole "Joe the Plumber" thing. It illustrates perfectly how McCain operates, how the media responds, and the false indignation and crocodile tears that follow from the wingnuts on the right, including on this board.
Let's review:
#1: "Joe the Plumber" approached Barak Obama after a campaign event and lied. He told Obama that the Candidate's tax plan would raise his taxes. In fact, they would almost certainly lower his taxes, but Obama couldn't have known this, and took him at his word. I don't put a lot of blame at the feet of Joe for this, he was just trying to make a point.
#2: John McCain does absolutely no research, no homework, no checking to see if things are as they seem. Just like with his selection of Sarah Palin he launches headlong into his narrative, and and exploits Joe for his own gain. He spends far more time talking about "Joe the Plumber" than he does about anything else in the debate, even reviving the narrative when the discussion turns to health care. McCain was determined to give this "Joe the Plumber" theme legs.
#3: The media had never really heard of Joe before. Yes, they were there when Joe had his initial encounter with Obama, but these encounters happen all the time, and they hadn't pursued it. Just like with Sarah Palin, they scrambled to get the story. Just like Sarah Palin, they got some facts wrong in their zeal to be first.
#4: Democrats, anxious to defend their candidate's middle class tax cut from accusations that it may not be the best for those making $250,000 a year, point out the inconsistencies and are immediately painted as targeting 'poor old regular joe the plumber six pack'
It's a story of depravity, willful deceit, and pathetic demagoguery. Make no mistake, it was McCain that made an issue of Joe, and forced it down the throats of the Democrats and the media. It was McCain that kept talking about Joe after the debate and on the trail. And it is McCain that is to blame for the media circus that now sits on Joe the Plumber's lawn. All because he's looking for an excuse to cut taxes on the rich, and a quarter million dollar plumber sounds a lot better than a quarter million dollar lawyer or investment banker.
Oh, and one more thing, I did wonder for a little while if "Joe the Plumber" was a plant. But now I'm almost certain he's not, and it shows just how out of touch McCain is. Obviously McCain thought there was nothing strange about a Plumber making five times the national average for plumbers (according to government data, which I would assume he has access to.) McCain has no clue what a typical working salary is. The plumber probably could have said he was making $3 million a year and McCain wouldn't have blinked.