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You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2012 / Up Next on the Grift

Up Next on the Grift

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Joe the Plumber wants in on the con, and has filed to run in 2012:

This race is going to be as big of a joke as Joe the Plumber himself. The new 9th District was drawn as a deliberate Democratic vote sink—Republicans linked up Cleveland’s West Side all the way to distant Toledo precisely to isolate as many Democratic voters as possible in a single congressional seat. It’s a clever gerrymander, which means any Republican who would try to run here just isn’t very clever at all. And that, of course, describes Joe the Plumber perfectly.

Can you blame him? Palin has proven that being a know-nothing loudmouth pays well, if you seek out the right marks.

Reader Interactions

95Comments

  3. 3.

    Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937

    He’s probably just grifting for some Koch cash and money from disgruntled ex-Palin supporters.

  4. 4.

    Punchy

    Serious question:

    Can money made on the campaign trail, after the election, be used by Joey for personal use? I know O’Donnell got rapped for using money for rent and shit, but that was during the election run-up. What about after…is that money all his to keep?

    If so…..I can see this scam a million miles away.

  5. 5.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Joe The notPlumber did provide one of the greatest moments of comedy of the whole ’08 campaign

    “Joe’s with us today… Joe, where are ya?… I thought he was here… Mr Puddles…?”

  6. 6.

    Culture of Truth

    Well, not so dumb, if he can actualy become the nominee, and lose, ride that fame for a while.

  9. 9.

    J. Michael Neal

    I suspect that this particular buffet has been largely picked clean. Mr. Plumber is late to this party and I suspect that he’s not going to make as much money as he thinks he will.

  10. 10.

    peach flavored shampoo

    A commenter on TPM says that b/c of teh gerrymandering, he doesn’t even live in Marcy’s district anymore. He’s in a Republican’s district. Is it possible he’s too freakin dumb to know this before he announces, if true? Does he still run against a R?

  11. 11.

    J. Michael Neal

    @toujoursdan: Republicans don’t wear the outrageously over-the-top outfits that the classic African despot donned when he got the job.

    Edit: Sorry. I forgot his proper title. He’s Mr. the Plumber, like the German von.

  12. 12.

    Yutsano

    @peach flavored shampoo: If Ohio law allows him to run against Kaptur regardless of where his residence is then it doesn’t matter. But I hope that you have to live in the district in order to run, because that will just add to the comedy. Kay?

  14. 14.

    Bubblegum Tate

    I hope somebody does a real sociological study of the Great Grifting Explosion and the mainstreaming of said grifting. Ever since Palin demonstrated how the political grifting game is played, imitators have been popping up like crazy; it’s now become acceptable among the right wing to pretty brazenly use a pseudo-candidacy as an excuse to ask people to give you money (hi, Christine O’Donnell!). Hell, Palin asked people to give her money to help her decide whether or not to run. Teabaggers are grifting teabaggers all over the place. It is, I must say, fascinating.

  15. 15.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    And what does Joe have going for him? At least some people were seeing starbursts when Palin ran.

  20. 20.

    D.N. Nation

    Remember when the Pajamas Media bozos were touting this putz as a foreign correspondent?

    LOL, Pajamas Media.

  21. 21.

    gene108

    Palin has proven that being a know-nothing loudmouth pays well, if you seek out the right marks.

    Palin has proven that being a GMILF, who Republican men are sexually attracted to because she hunts and fishes and goes to Church, can pay big dividends, even if you say crazy stuff or maybe because you say crazy stuff.

    I don’t think, if Joe the Plumber made the cover of Running Magazine, you’d have Republican men drooling over themselves to get a peek, the way they were when Palin was featured in that magazine.

    The GMILF allure helps drive Palin’s high approvals among her supporters.

    Just being a loud mouth doesn’t give a person the staying power Palin’s had. Coulter and Beck have faded from their previously loft perches as right-wing thought leaders, more so than Palin, because Republican men don’t want to bang Coulter or Beck as much as they want to bang Palin.

  22. 22.

    Culture of Truth

    For some being paid not to run for office makes eminent sense.

    To paraphrase Frank Burns, they can be of better service to humanity by not going into politics.

  23. 23.

    Narcissus

    I don’t think, if Joe the Plumber made the cover of Running Magazine, you’d have Republican men drooling over themselves to get a peek, the way they were when Palin was featured in that magazine.

    Hell yeah they would.

  24. 24.

    Mustang Bobby

    The only reason he’s running in the 9th is because if he ran in the district he’ll be living in after the gerrymander — the 5th — he’d have to primary Bob Latta, and he wouldn’t stand a chance. Latta is deadly dull — he’s his father without the charm — but he’d beat the snot out of JTP.

    Marcy will kick his ass.

  25. 25.

    fasteddie9318

    @Narcissus: Yeah, they’d just try to hide the magazine behind a Playboy or something. You know, to show that they’re real men like Larry Craig or Marcus Bachmann.

  27. 27.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    It’s a good thing for Joe the Wannabee Plumber that the Republican presidential clown car has an unlimited capacity. For anything.

    It can always use another back seat driver and Joe is about as serious a candidate as the rest of the clowns.

  29. 29.

    4jkb4ia

    Instant reaction
    /facepalm

    Reads link
    It gets better. He may be running against Kucinich. Remember that FDL as a community wanted to raise money for Kucinich and Nate said that they could have spent their money on people who are actually taking risks to take liberal votes. Then Kucinich voted for the ACA and he was a traitor. If wingnuts are anything like that in the funhouse mirror, Joe The Plumber may be raking in money.

  30. 30.

    Speedy

    @Bubblegum Tate: Yeah , but it’s GOT to be pissing off the T.V Talebangelists. There’s only so many rubes to go around , and I’m betting all these amateurs are cutting into their take.

  31. 31.

    amk

    @cleek: That pox poll was hilarious for its sheer incompetence.

    The last option is

    Other (post a comment)

    and then right below that, this

    Comments are disabled for this poll.

  32. 32.

    4jkb4ia

    By which I mean that he can get money just by running against The Evil Kucinich rather than by any fame he has on his own. I’m not sure that was clear.

  33. 33.

    Speedy

    Joe knows he doesn’t have a shot at winning. He plans on getting some more T.V time , clutching a few pearls , and wearing out a couple of fainting couches while he screams about what a victim he is. Then he’ll cash in by scoring a few more half-assed infomercials , and get a few B-list gigs on the Rubes’RUs speaking circuit.

  35. 35.

    Culture of Truth

    while he screams about what a victim he is

    No doubt. But will Cain tell him “Blame yourself!” ?

  38. 38.

    Keith

    I look forward to JTP’s forthcoming reality show, whether it be “Plumbing Wars” or “Joe the Plumber’s Toilets”

  40. 40.

    KG

    @Punchy: not an election law expert, but my understanding is that most campaigns end up in the red; especially if the candidate lost. All that said, I think that you can keep any left over money post-election. But again, not an election law expert.

    On the other hand… you would expect to see this more often then in non-competitive seats (on both sides of the ledger), so maybe not.

  41. 41.

    amk

    btw, isn’t dennis, I-stand-with-assad, kucinich, primarying the sitting ‘uber progressive’ marcy kaptur ? It will be fun to watch two dkos dahlings slug it out.

  42. 42.

    Linda Featheringill

    @cleek:

    Fox poll:

    Did you vote and then look at the results? I was totally surprised! It seems that two-thirds of the respondents agree with the occupiers.

    Wow. Bet that wasn’t what Fox was expecting.

  43. 43.

    Litlebritdifrnt2

    OT and apologies if this has already been pointed out but just watched the video of James O’Keefe over at Gawker and there is no way he was innocently in the crowd. He was dressed like a banker, complete with briefcase. He was obviously hoping to be harassed or better assaulted. You can bet your bottom dollar that he had someone filming him (not the guy who was filming him here) and if the desired result had been achieved it would have been all over Briebart’s site by now. What a miserable little shit he is.

  45. 45.

    S. cerevisiae

    @BGinCHI: By over a two to one margin. Even some Faux viewers know they’re getting screwed, they just blame the wrong people.

  51. 51.

    Quaker in a Basement

    I betcha a diagnosed lunatic could file to run, admit that he’s running as a joke, and promise to implement Sharia law and enforce gay marriage for children…and he’d still outpoll JtP.

  54. 54.

    Turgidson

    @Linda Featheringill:

    They forgot to put the “yes” option through the “fair and balanced” Luntzification ringer before posting the poll.

    It should have read: “Yes, as a card-carrying Marxist who hates America and loves Mao, I believe in OWS’s goal of overthrowing capitalism and naming President Obama the Kenyan dictator for life.”

  60. 60.

    Amir Khalid

    The chance of the world greeting Representative Samuel “oe the Plumber” Wurzelbacher is surely about the same as the chance was of it greeting Senator Alvin Greene. (Remember him?)

  61. 61.

    Chuck Butcher

    I must’ve done something wrong because my run involved me spending a lot of my money as well as others and coming out economically … behind.

    Maybe the lack of a GOP label?

  64. 64.

    harlana

    oh but he would vote for non-Christian Mitt over Christian Obama who is actually the devil, woops

    (I mean, since we’re discussing lunatics here)

  66. 66.

    Turgidson

    in other news, Benen’s daily round-up noted that David Frum thinks the Republicans are batshit insane on the economy, yet felt compelled just today to create an exhaustive list of warmed-over bullshit and strawmen to rationalize why he still likes the Republicans better than the Demonrat, I mean Dimocrat, Party (including an apparently-not-joking claim that Republicans do better on the environment, citing Teddy freakin Roosevelt, who a) left the party; and b) has been dead most of this past century last I checked, as proof).

    What a tool.

  68. 68.

    JPL

    OT ABC NEWS had a segment on OWS and 99 percent(ers}. The top one percent on average earns 1.1 million a year and the bottom 90 percent earn 31,000 a household. The top one percent saw their income grow .45% during the recession while the bottom 99 percent lost .45% during the recession. It was quite an eye opening segment for those that didn’t know the numbers already.
    Personally I was excited because it was an informative segment that we don’t often see on MSM, then the next segment was George Bush…………………….

  69. 69.

    amk

    @cathyx: Good. That’s the right target. Protest against the real wall street enablers, the congress critters and the media scums.

  70. 70.

    dlnelson

    @Litlebritdifrnt2: He was clearly looking for an incident. Unfortunately, I believe, via twitter his picture has been forwarded. I think I saw it on gawker. This guy is not a picture perfect wall streeter, rather a bored and tiresome teapartier. He is no one. No one paid a bit of attention to him. Not even he could believe it. He should be mocked.

  71. 71.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @JPL:

    By any chance, do you have a couple of superfluous (unnecessary, misleading) decimal points in there? Because .45% either direction probably isn’t enough to make or break anyone.

    Forty-five percent, on the other hand . . . .

  72. 72.

    BGinCHI

    @Omnes Omnibus: I wasn’t feeling very charitable towards Joe the Fucking Idiot plumber, who isn’t a plumber and who is trying to get paid by working against the best interests of working people.

    Fuck him.

    In other news, I need a restaurant (and a cool bar) rec for Milwaukee. Gonna be there next weekend.

    Help me out, cheesehead(s).

  73. 73.

    SenyorDave

    @Litlebritdifrnt2: I’m sure O’keefe has as much chance of getting a job on Wall Street as he had of scoring with that reporter he tried to lure to his boat with sex toys. If O’Keefe wasn’t beaten up at least once a week in high school there was something wrong with that school.

  77. 77.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @BGinCHI: I have always liked this place in the Third Ward. Alterra on Lincoln Memorial Dr. is a nice coffee house with good sammiches and such – located right by the Marina on the lake shore.

  78. 78.

    quannlace

    Did you know that, under the right circumstances, you can make more money with a flop than a hit.

    Call Mel Brooks! There’s another boffo musical in the works. And I see Bryan Cranston, of ‘Breaking Bad’ fame as Joe. And maybe Mel himself as McCain.

  82. 82.

    Commenting at Ballon Juice since 1937

    My wife is running for a county legislator seat in a republican upstate NY county. There’s a crap load of paperwork if you spend more than a thousand dollars. I don’t care how much you make off the candidacy, the paper work is not worth the hassle. So far we plan to keep it under a thousand and its a podunk enough county that this is possible.

  83. 83.

    BGinCHI

    @Omnes Omnibus: Thanks OO. Menu looks tasty.

    I’ve been to Alterra. I do like it and will pick up some beans at least.

    Also, looking forward to New Glarus on tap.

  84. 84.

    CarolDuhart

    @Litlebritdifrnt2: And stupid. If you are one of teh 1%, you get picked up at the curb and are accompanied by an assistant who’s job it is to carry the briefcase. Or home firing up your computer logging in to the corporation’s computer. No scruffy protestor is going to get within 3 blocks of you.

    But Breitbart doesn’t know that, and he thinks the protestors are not going to know that either. Besides, there are already a lot of 3-piece suit people at the protest. Having a suit doesn’t mean you aren’t laid off and looking for work like the rest of the crowd.

  85. 85.

    karen marie

    @cleek: Had to disable Ghostery to play but it was worth it. The Fox page has sixteen trackers. That’s a record. Most of the pages I visit have, at most, seven.

    @Speedy: It’s the book deal he’s most excited about.

  87. 87.

    grandpajohn

    Well grifting is not something recently discovered, neither is stupidity

    QUOTATION: There are more fools than knaves in the world, else the knaves would not have enough to live upon.
    QATTRIBUTION:Samuel Butler (16121680), British poet.

  88. 88.

    karen marie

    @dlnelson: I think ignoring him is far more hurtful to his pride than being beaten up. He makes money if he gets beat up. No one is going to want to pay him for being ignored.

  91. 91.

    tkogrumpy

    @S. cerevisiae: I don’t have cable but I have voted in this survey umpty nine thousand times so I would not trust these numbers, although you have to wonder how long they will keep it up since it gets worse by the hour.

  92. 92.

    Palli

    The unscrupulous over the top gerrymandering in Ohio is being challenged. Statewide petition drives can recall laws-even redistricting-and place them on the ballot as Issues. If you live in Ohio get to a petition and sign…one signature at a time is dismantling the Kasich regime!

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