As many of you doubtless already know, the guy who confronted Obama over tax policies may have a few skeletons in his closet (failure to pay taxes and trouble with a medical bill, failure to get a plumbing license when that is apparently required to do his job).
That’s not nearly as interesting to me as some of the misleading information about him. He is a registered republican. Not sure if he ever said he was undecided, but people sure got that impression somehow. He said his plumbing business would rake in over 250k/year. It doesn’t and it wouldn’t. Turns out he makes a whole lot less than that, and would be, if I understand correctly, taxed less under Obama’s plan than McCain’s plan. Heh, whoops. Dumbass.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/17/us/politics/17joe.html)
Gotta love the mythical everyday joe making 250k a year, who can’t afford to pay 3% more on the extra back to the society that helps the business thrive. My dad is a physician, who owns two offices, works well over 40 hours/week and he doesn’t make half that. Puh-leez.
For some reason this reminds me of a post on White Privilege mentioned by
You missed the Keating connection. Even without which, it’s standard GOP weirdness to bring out the case of a person who is, in fact, rich, and claim they’re just an average Joe.
Heck, Bush was elected in part because he was “just like the working man” despite never having been less than a multimillionaire.
What, you mean the working man doesn’t go to Yale on the strength of the donations from his family?
Wait, you two know each other? My world continues shrinking.
Not so bizarre. We went to undergrad at cmu at the same time in the same field. I was one of his groomsmen. =)
Keating connection..
.. appears to be unsubstantiated.
Who knew there would be two entirely different Richard Wurzelbachers….
In any case, the rest stands.. dude was less than honest and this will turn out to be–although not a black eye–an embarrassment rather than a useful tool for McCain.. and he can ill afford any more embarrassments…
Venting:
OK, I was thinking about posting this myself, but “Joe Plumber” is the walking embodiment of the right-wing fantasy existence that fuels much of conservative politics:
Joe the plumber presented himself as a 1) Law Abiding, 2) Successful, 3) Hardworking Plumber and Small Businessman who first entered the stage by restating that he did not want to have his money taken from him and given to others. He turned out to be not so much #1.. and less of #2… as well as fudging #3 a little. But that narrative “I worked hard for my money and now I have the success that all libertarian kids think they will have in 3-5 years and I don’t want Uncle Sam giving it away to any poor people or minorities.”
Also, the look here is critical. Sam/Joe is a handsome fellow near his prime, and he is by no means metrosexual or delicate. The guy is tall and in rather good shape, but does not look like he lives in a gym. This is again how right-wingers see their ideal selves. Let me demonstrate:
Vic Mackie, Periodically Racist Cop Who Dispenses His Own Brand Of Justice
Also, the faux-humility is plays well too. The registered Republican managed to be at the right place at the right time to get his question to Obama on camera, and I doubt the McCain campaign brought him to prominence as they did without checking him out and getting some consent, so this fame is intentional – including the “Aw, Shucks” responses to the press.
There might be another couple “Joe Plumbers” out there waiting to be fielded if this one gets any kind of a response from voters. So far, not so much – but let the meme slosh around our media zeitgeist for awhile and it may.
Re: Venting:
I’m not sure I’d go so far as to say handsome. I mean sure I’d do him, but I’m not noted for having the most stringent standards on looks.
But really the relevant part is that joe (samuel) the plumber would keep more of his money under obama’s proposal than mccain’s. Not that either one would sail through congress. And he still doesn’t trust that, but keeps coming back to the tax point.
We humans generally have more trouble figuring out why we make the decisions we do, than we do predicting what decision we’d make. I think mr wurzelbacher will vote mccain but not for the reasons he says.
As the right so often says while complaining about the media: it’s not the facts that matter, it’s the narrative!
yes, narratives composed of lies can be awfully compelling. We call that fiction. They make excellent bases for novels. Not so good for policy decisions.
Not to mention that Joe, even with $250k+/yr in income would have substantial expenses that would put his business well into an Obama tax break. He said he would need to buy trucks — that would lower his taxable income substantially, even in the hypothetical he creates.
McCain says Obama’s tax plan is welfare, if that’s true, then McCain’s tax plan is robbing the poor to give to the already rich. But I guess that worked for Bush.