You know, about that whole Joe the Plumber “abolish the media” stuff, it occurred to me that the best is still yet to come. The best is when the NRO and other right-wingers who should know better actually DEFEND his asinine remarks over the next few days.
See also, Sarah Palin and the Bush Doctrine.
*** Update ***
Bill
It’s already begun! Hooray for the superpatriots of the blogosphere! As Paul at Power Line puts it:
Is there any chance Pajamas can send Joe on to Beirut, Damascus and Tehran after he completes his assignment in Israel? I think he could teach the media reporting from those locales how to do it right as well.
This is gold, pure gold.
El Cid
Defend? Hell, they’ll trumpet it as a role model for how journalism ought to be. If only Chuck Norris were the anchorman.
Comrade Stuck
Joe and Sarah Serendipity is all they have right now and in a few months, the Obama Jedi Mind Trick will wear off and it’ll be like old times. Joey & Sarah will take the stage and dazzle America with a new version of Muskrat Love. Flags will wave, bombs will fall, and all the wingnut boys will conquer puberty with Starbursts and a sticky towel. And the wingnut girls will scream and be blinded by the reflection from Joe’s chrome dome.
can’t believe I just wrote that. pretty awful.
rerun
I was just talking with a friend about instaputz was going to frame this. Something like, "while i don’t agree completely, I think the general point is valid…" or some other "he was wrong, but really right" BS.
Brick Oven Bill
I don’ t know how Joe will do as a reporter. But the qualifications of most of the newsreaders these days are nice boobs and the ability to shift legs while facing a camera in a skirt.
I support Joe because he was just playing with his kids in the front yard, someone decided to use him for political gain, and he won the debate. You could tell by the body language and the bad answer. That could have been any of us.
And then, in exchange for a good question that he asked some people who approached him, as he stood on his property, ZAP. The State starts digging up dirt on his finances and private life and gives it to the newspapers.
Joe has decided to take advantage of the publicity and cash in, and is now a fair target. He probably has an agent that will take a percentage of the ad revenue and speakers fees. He will probably make millions. But he is no more of an opportunist than the incoming President, in my opinion. I say good luck.
The Grand Panjandrum
Shorter JTP: We’re all Israel people now.
Mazacote Yorquest
Keep rolling, Bill Buckley. Keep rolling.
jrg
Does the Red State Strike Force defend asinine remarks, or are they strictly an expeditionary force?
ed
Keep rolling, Bill Buckley. Keep rolling.
Buckley was a racist fraud who had much more in common with Joe the Plumber than, say, James Madison.
John Cole
This is completely OT, but I just watched the Pac Man Jones interview on ESPN, and for me the question isn’t about his NFL career, it is to the point that something needs to be done to save this man’s life. I would not be surprised if he is dead in a couple of years. Such a terrible waste.
I have often had a lot of harsh things to say about the Yankees and Buddy Ryan, but what they did for Strawberry and Chris Carter, respectively, really stands out compared to what goes on these days.
demimondian
@ed: So is BOB
Joshua Norton
What happened to his big Country Western album deal that all his "fans" were clambering for?
You can’t spell Joke without j-o-e.
Balconespolitics
@Brick Oven Bill:
Won the debate? You’re freaking kidding, right? Obama very patiently explained to the hypothetical successful Joe who would have been able to afford a plumbing business rather than a pisspot brush that (a) Obama’s tax plan still contained elements which would be favorable to the make-believe Joe in the long run, and (b) that the make-believe pre-being able to afford to buy his theoretical boss’s business Joe would have been able to save up his monopoly money or whatever Sam really saved to pretend buy his pretend bosses pretend business even pretend sooner.
If Joe won any debate that morning, it was with the funhouse mirrors he surrounded himself with, in order to shut out any intrusions from reality. As far as debating with Obama, "Joe" might as well have been covering his ears shouting "starbursts" over and over again.
Delia
This proposition requires some careful consideration. I have not been to any of these cities, but if anyone has, please let us know: in which of these locales is a dumb cluck such as JTP likely to wander down a dim winding alley, never to be heard from again?
This is the place we need to send him. NOW!
Cain
Yes, sending him to the other war zones would be just awesome. I’d love to hear what chrome dome has to say over there in say Syria.
Later, we’ll read his obituary:
"JTP was laid to rest in a solemn but muted ceremony. HIs mangled corpse still showing pieces of shrapnel of a rocket that was crammed up his ass and subsequently had exploded. It was suprise and wonder that Israelis and Arabs put aside their ancient animosity and singularly declared war on Joe the Plumber perhaps showing the world that peace can be achieved by stressing our common goals."
cain
Zuzu's Petals
@Brick Oven Bill:
Yeah, he was just playing with his kids (actually kid) in the front yard and then went and stood in line with a few dozen other people, approached Obama, and asked him a question based on at least two lies. He got a detailed, accurate answer. Body language? There was only one guy standing there sweating and fidgeting, and it wasn’t Obama.
Video
Then "Joe" gave interview after interview and put his own story out there for the world to see. On his own. Before anyone looked up his tax status or anything else.
Yeah, he was so victimized in this whole deal.
r€nato
John, welcome to the Arizona Cardinals bandwagon.
Just watch yourself while jumping on, because pretty much the entire state of Arizona is jumping on it at the same time.
Anybody know of any good sports bars in the DC area which attracts Arizonans away-from-home for ASU games and such? I am a little concerned about being vastly outnumbered by Philly fans while I’m out east for the inauguration next weekend…
Balconespolitics
@r€nato:
Just think … if only McCain had won, you’d have had all the company you could have desired!
D-Chance.
A quick linky for the next (as of yet unstarted) pet thread:
Mickey Rourke loves his dogs. Congrats to him on the big comeback and Golden Globes win. Maybe an Oscar in his future?
Brick Oven Bill
Joe got Barack to speak the words ‘spread the wealth around’ into a voice recorder, something no other reporter in the United States was able to do. I do not think that you can argue that this was a smart thing for Barack to say.
The shoulders were turned slightly inward as those words were voiced. In my opinion, this was the posture of a person who was on the defensive. Barack usually struts around. I don’t think Barack had been challenged like that in his academic or political life to that point and it showed. At least to me.
I say good luck and have fun Joe. You seem to be entertaining everybody.
Notorious P.A.T.
Will anyone here stake their reputation on the statement "the Republican party, in 2012, will NOT run Joe the Plumber for a political office"?
The Grand Panjandrum
@Notorious P.A.T.:
I’m personally pulling for 2010. I don’t think I could wait four whole years for him to bring the awesome. Jesus! Can you imagine Eric Cantor and JTP, shoulder to shoulder at a press conference. Oh, the possibilities!
Notorious P.A.T.
Wow, you speak to 20,000 people individually during a 2-year campaign and not every single conversation goes exactly as your handlers would hope. Who woulda thoughted it? That Joe must be a heck of a griller.
And it is a shame Obama said those words. If he hadn’t, he might have won the election.
jrg
Zuzu, you’re wasting your time.
Anyone who supported McCain/Palin and writes "the qualifications of most of the newsreaders these days are nice boobs and the ability to shift legs while facing a camera in a skirt." is either a spoof, or not playing with a full deck. There is no point in trying to reason with it.
mey
B.O.B., I’m sure you saw all sorts of things in your careful analysis of Obama’s every move.
Stalker.
Comrade Jake
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at JTP.
Clearly this guy is a joke, and anyone with a brain can see that. Half of me hopes the right wingnuts continue to embrace him and make laughingstocks of themselves. The other half is concerned that this joke will resonate with the same idiots who made a big deal out of "spread the wealth around", and that he’ll gain some kind of traction politically.
DougJ
I still can’t get enough of this
By that reasoning, they can’t sleep either.
Comrade Jake
@Notorious P.A.T.:
Or at least, you know, won Ohio. Sheesh!
Zuzu's Petals
Yeah, for awhile I thought "spoof," but if so it’s a pretty unskilled one.
Joshua Norton
Too bad they never figured out that a majority of the country thinks that’s a really good idea.
Comrade Jake
@Brick Oven Bill:
It seems clear to me that you don’t think at all, Bill.
Zuzu's Petals
@Notorious P.A.T.:
Yeah, I’m still trying to figure out what kind of "challenge" his questions represented that hadn’t been presented in oh, just about every primary and general election debate, not to mention dozens of interviews, press ops, townhalls, and meet-and-greets. Maybe it’s the overwhelming sweating Sluggo quotient?
vishnu schizt
@r€nato:
Personally, I hope the Eagles beat them like rented mules.
As far as Joe the fraud goes, standing in front of a bunch of rocket shrapnel in some shitty t-shirt wondering well the hell he’s looking at, probably represents the heights of journalism for the likes of doughy shitload and the rest of them. The fact he couldn’t put a coherent thought together is immaterial. Starbursts, living next to Russia, gross misunderstanding of basic information, and rank stupidity is what counts.
I’d love to see them send him throughout the middle east. Maybe he can go look for all the weapons Saddam hid in Syria. I’m sure he will file a report about some "potential site" when really he’s standing in front of a public restroom. Then he can come home and buy a Dodge Ram with one of them toolboxes for his fishin’ pole.
Balconespolitics
Wonder if JTP uses steroids?
Just saying … an awful lot of muscleheads are shaved, because of the premature balding heavy steroid use produces.
Aww … but that’s being unfair of me, isn’t it … speculating about someone who is working so hard to keep out of the public eye.
moe99
Doesn’t it just make you so durn proud to be associated with Pajamas Media?
Zuzu's Petals
No kidding.
BTW, did you see those shoulders "turn slightly inward as those words were voiced"? Me either. They looked exactly like they did for most of the video.
But I guess someone REALLY REALLY interested in Obama would notice the little details.
Brick Oven Bill
I have just read Joe’s first work and note two things:
1) He does not appear to have a ghost writer; and
2) He talks about ‘delicious pizza’.
Ding ding ding ding ding ding. Have fun Joe. Get an endorsement deal from a brewer. Go make some money.
I find Joe the Plumber to be better than Geraldo. And I bet you guys will read too.
Barack had not been challenged during his professional development. He soon will be challenged by forces more powerful than Joe the Plumber. I hope he handles this change well, because I live here too.
Notorious P.A.T.
Yeah! His life is private, just like Sarah Palin’s family.
Andre
You know what?
We should put together a collection and see if we can’t send Bill Ayers over to do some "counter-reporting".
He could go visit a Hamas bomb-making factory and…uh, never mind, I’m starting to see the flaws in this plan.
Martin
Oh! Can you get Joe over to guest blog? Are there perks?
Mnemosyne
My favorite moment of the entire election season was when McCain built a campaign appearance around him and Joe didn’t bother to show up. Priceless.
Zam
Does Joe know the Israelis are Jewish? Does who know skinheads hate Jews too?
Rev. Bob
One problem with the Arizona Cardinals.
Arizona isn’t like Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and New York.
It isn’t a city.
Zuzu's Petals
@Mnemosyne:
Well heck, we’re ALL Joe the Plumber !
Rev. Bob
@Rev. Bob:
And of course Phila(mumble mumble, spit)delphia.
/me contemplates a nice juicy ravenburger.
joeyess
Yeah, I noticed that Obama lost the election because of that. What a pity.
Wait, never mind.
Did you ever stop to think that what is needed after 30 years of Ronnie Reagan Rumpus Room Economics is a little bit of confiscatory taxation?
I’m thinking of taxation directed at a particular demographic……… like your boss, Richard Mellon Scaife.
Brick Oven Bill
I don’t know Mr. Scaife joeyess, but if you have access, send him here. One hell of an opportunity. And thank you for the cheap plug.
Zuzu's Petals
Of course the marginal tax rate during most of the Reagan years was 50%, so a return to a 39% rate actually looks pretty unconfiscatory. Nonconfiscatory. A-confiscatory.
Polish the Guillotines
Man, I just haven’t been able to stomach the crazy since the holidays. Having a couple of weeks devoid of politics makes a guy borderline sane.
Nevertheless, is it just me or should Fox develop a show for Joe the Plumber and Jeff Gannon? Something tells me they’d make outstanding partners. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
El Cid
@Bill: I swear that when I posted, your comment…
…had not appeared yet, and so this:
really was just a reaction. Damn, these people are either scary or hilarious or some unholy combination of both.
Rick Taylor
Shorter Joe the Plumber:
Just shut up!
harlana pepper
Bring on CPAC, beer and popcorn
Napoleon
I posted this in an earlier thread but perhaps I should have put it here.
They played the part of Joe the Plumber’s interview where he says the media ought to be abolished on my morning news. When they came back from it the talking head says "maybe they should abolish him" and then "what, is about 9 minutes of his 15 up at this point?"
Rick Taylor
Is it my imagination, or is the right wing getting dumber and dumber? I never expected them to defend Palin the way they did. And I don’t remember anything quite as inane as Pajamas media sends Joe the Plumber to report on Iran four years ago. It’s a good thing you got out when you did, John.
mapaghimagsik
It was eventually discovered that Tokyo Rose was a fictitious, character and the person who was alleged to have played her was engaged in innocuous activities.
But maybe we will find out that JTP is some sort of elaborate trick to undermine the right wing.
passerby
Does this guy even own a button shirt? What does it say when PM is not even trying to package him for their dog and pony show?
Could it be that they’re hoping for train wreck because train wreck equals media attention these days?
Look at what Ziegler did in interviewing Palin. He trots out videos for her to watch and records every nano-second of her reaction, then plays it for the MSM while basking in all the attention.
It’s the whole "gotcha media" M.O. except under the radar. Do JtP and Palin realize that they are media monkeys?
Libby Spencer
Joe was every bit as awesome as I expected him to be. The standard wingnut talking points about the evil librul media sound so much more authentic when they’re delivered from the "war zone." Palin – Plumber 2012 bitchez. What could go wrong?
burnspbesq
@Brick Oven Bill:
Do you realize, sir, that there is an entire chapter in the DSM devoted to your kind of delusional behavior?
burnspbesq
Defending the indefensible is a core competency for Republicans.
Nothing unusual happening here.
maxbaer (not the original)
Joe can probably give Robert Fisk some schoolin’.
r€nato
Thank FSM.
vishnu schizt
@r€nato:
Shout out to a fellow ASU grad…..
I have no love for the Cards, they have been pissing me off since they hit the valley. But this shows what the revenue stream from a shiny new giant toaster will do.
Now I live in Little Beriut and am forced the suffer the Seahawks.
Ash Can
@Brick Oven Bill:
Wait. What?
"Here"? Where the hell’s "here"?
Faux News
Why stop at Tehran? Joe The Plumber/Reporter/ Fraud should march on to Pyongyang next!
The B.O.B. Troll is not very good. You know this whole "Google" thingy gives lots of interesting information about Samuel Wurzelbacher in terms of plumber licensure, owning his own business, salary, unpaid taxes, liens, voter registration etc.
Overall B.O.B you are at best, about a 3/10. You need to stop portraying him as a martyr or innocent bystander. Just keep up the cult of personality thing and you will improve your troll skills greatly. Good luck!
Doug H. (Comrade Fausto no more)
George Voinovich announced today that he’s not running for re-election in 2010. You know what this means…
JOE FOR SENATE. RUN JOE RUN! Do it for your state, we can’t let Minnesota and California get ahead of us in election insanity!
Trollhattan
The genesis of the whole JTP thing surely begain when McCain repeatedly flung him into the debate. Up to that point nobody knew of or gave a rat’s patoot about some forgettable twenty-second interaction on the campaign trail. Nobody, that is, other than one of McCain’s campaign geniuses. "Hey, getta loada dis here video."
And to that person I’d like to personally give a Brunswick Surprise to the kisser. Without that little starburst of inspriation we wouldn’t be suffering the presence of this two-bit Vic Mackey imitator today. Somebody please make it stop.
Grrrr
Derelict Dog
Joe the Plumber is to reporting as the Amish are to high-performance automobiles.
Discuss.
Chuck Butcher
The Palinization of the media really should be an expected developement. One need only look at St Ronnie and GWB to understand such a thing. (though Ronnie could talk)
I can say, with real background, that you could troll quite a few job sites and find right wing construction workers that are no less qualified than JTP. It is worth noting that it is a toss up whether electricians or plumbers are the best paid on a site, and by large margins. One of the consequences of building houses with sticks since forever and plumbing being a little over a century old.
I note that my house is an 1878 Victorian that I rebuilt and added to, it was not originally equipped with plumbing other than a kitchen well pump.
"Fair and Balanced" Dave
Ummm, neither are Minnesota, Carolina, or Tennessee. What’s your point?
"Fair and Balanced" Dave
The difference being that a year from now, people will still remember who the Amish are.
Boris
And then there’s this:
http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/01/12/ohio-sen-voinovich-to-retire-could-joe-the-plumber-run-for-senate/