So Joe's Going To Run!

Joe the Plumber, also known as Sam Wurzelbacher, has filed a statement of candicacy with the FEC.  I'm not sure I'm happy about it but not for the reason you may be thinking.

I'm afraid if he wins he might change like so many others in Congress.  The institution does something to members.  It makes them forget they were elected to run the country as we want it run, not the way they think it should be run. For their own, personal ends.

Joe has had a checkered career since first we met.  In some ventures he was sorely out of his league, but he was enough of a 'personality' that he was afforded opportunities others of us would love to have had.

To run for Congress, however, is not out of his league.  He's not slick. I have no idea what his formal education may have been but I wager it does not include a law degree from Harvard.  I bet too he'd probably tell you what his grades were.  That, however, is strictly conjecture on my part.

What he does have is savvy.  Had hot shots like myself only listened to him when he asked Obama if he bought a company that made $250,000 or better a year would his taxes go up.  Right then and there was the answer we've been grappling with ever since.  Now it's being called class warfare - pitting Americans against Americans.  What did Obama say?

"I think when you spread the wealth around it's, it's good for everybody."

Perhaps this is why Herman Cain is so popular.  He has spelled out a plan, while maybe not perfect, where everyone has some skin in the game.  In other words, everyone would have to pony up.  The rich wouldn't have to carry the poor.

Where Obama runs into problems is he has yet to provide  an equitable plan for taxing the rich.  How much is enough?  How much is too much?  Fault will be found with any number put forward.  But then I don't think he cares.  Just tax them.  Mightily.

So what would happen to Joe?   He's about as much the everyman that there is.  He didn't like the politics behind the campaigning when McCain embraced him and made no bones about it. Now he's going to give it a try on his own.

If he's able to handle the flack that will be aimed at him, perhaps he can win.  He'd be interesting. He saw right through the tax the rich rhetoric during the 2008 campaign.  He knew that a company making $250,000 isn't going to be rich after expenses this day and age.  Heck, by no measure is $250,000 rich this day and age.  He didn't buy the company.  He didn't create any jobs.  It's one small business that didn't become part of the backbone of the American economy.

He understands because he's been there.  I'd almost rather have him on the outside looking in with a platform to let us know what he's seeing.  Sometimes it's the better place to be. 

Joe The Duly Elected Official

I was happy to see our old friend Joe the Plumber is back in the news. I've been wondering what he's been up to. What a career he's made for himself since he first approached candidate Obama with a question to which we all should have listened to the answer more closely!

He talked about getting into politics but has really stayed pretty much on the sidelines as an "adviser". He's written a book, he served a brief stint as a war correspondent in Gaza and does pretty well on the rubber chicken circuit.

Now, however, he is a duly elected official. He has won a seat on a Republican Party committee in Ohio's Lucas County. It's a start.

He's a bit rough around the edges, but I'm beginning to appreciate the idea that he is a straight shooter. Politically correct he is not. He takes both parties to task for their stupidities with equal relish. You know, I wish all our politicians had his candor, if not his demeanor.

He appeals to certain folks much as Sarah Palin. The more you listen the more you understand why. He talks like the everyman that he is, that most of us are. Hence his popularity.

The day I would vote for Joe is not on my radar, yet I can seem him inching ever upward, at least at the local level. He hits the nail on the head when he exhorts a gathering of Tea Partiers not to "let a bunch of Liberal pansies" take away their rights. A little polish would help if he wants to be taken seriously. They say the same about Sarah. You betcha they do.

At the core of the matter, however, his solutions are simple and to the point. On illegal immigration, he says, "Put up a fence and start shooting." To the point. Problem solved. No profiling or bruised sensibilities to worry about. The job gets done.

You know what? Lots of people would never admit they agree, but at times I bet they do.

Comic Relief

I never thought I'd be so happy to see Joe the Plumber pop up in the news again! Actually we need some comic relief before the lid blows off the country.

It seems he's going to add
"comedian" to his already lengthy resume. I thought he always was one; he certainly couldn't be taken seriously as a political consultant or war correspondent! Never-the-less he's signed on to appear in the 16th annual "Funniest Celebrity in Washington" competition. Funny, I thought he was from Ohio. He does get around!

As I said, though, we need a release before things get totally out of hand. I'm inclined to lay blame for the unrest directly at the feet of the politicians and the media. Not the people. After all, the politicians are the ones doing the fear mongering by calling us evil and unpatriotic and Nazi-like. Not the people asking the questions. The politicians who are being asked!

The media isn't helping matters any by hyping the discord rather than digging for the true wording in the legislation and by not reminding us there is as of now no legislation ready for the President's signature. Only that which has come from the House. We've yet to see a Senate version what's more the conciliation of both!

One of my readers mentioned a comment her son made, in effect saying someone was likely to get shot before this is over at the rate it's going. I should hope he is wrong! However, when media commentators fuel the fire it doesn't help. Take what Ed Schultz said on his syndicated radio show last Tuesday.

It's almost as if every one of these town hall meetings is turning into "The Jerry Springer Show". And there are many Americans right now who are starting to fear for the safety of the president of the United States. All over health reform. Folks, these people are psycho, that's what they are.

Sometimes I think they want Obama to get shot. I do! I really think that there are conservative broadcasters in this country who would love to see Obama taken out. They "fear" socialism, they fear Marxism. They fear that the United States of America won't be the United States of America anymore.

There is nothing funny in that kind of rhetoric! Planting the seed should be considered criminal!

Joe The Social Arbiter

I'm tired of politics. I've found little to comment on without complaining. I've been browsing and finding nothing. The fact that Sarah Palin got to her daughter and the young lady is now espousing abstinence for teens is good if unlikely. Heck!

Wait! What's this? Joe/Sam is back in the news. This guy is like a bad penny and I love him for it! When I feel I just must post something, he never lets me down!

I loved the headline on Yahoo News: Joe the Plumber calls gays 'queer'.

This folk hero of conservatives explains to us what exactly 'queer' means since we obviously don't "understand the dictionary". I love this man! "Queer means strange and unusual. It's not a like a slur, like you would call a white person a honky or something like that."

Hmmm. I don't know what dictionary he reads but this is the definition given by the one on my computer:

1 strange; odd : she had a queer feeling that they were being watched.
• [ predic. ] dated slightly ill.
2 informal usually offensive (esp. of a man) homosexual.
noun informal usually offensive
a homosexual man.

Well, he was partially correct.

Continuing in an interview with Christianity Today he was lamenting that neither party is sufficiently Christian. "They use God as a punch line. They use God to invoke sympathy or invoke righteousness, but they don't stay the course."

As the conversation continued, he admitted that someday he might consider running for office. "Not right now. God hasn't said, 'Joe, I want you to run'."

Is there a punch line in there? Or is he just staying the course?

Joe The Author

It hasn't even been a month since I last posted about Joe, but here he is in the news once again! Now he's an author! Man. Here I sit posting wit and wisdom day in and day out and he's the one who gets picked up by the media! Sometimes life is just not fair.

So he wrote a book. Or rather co-wrote it. The title, in case you want to run out and get it is "Joe the Plumber: Fighting for the American Dream." He arrived at a Washington D.C. Borders decked out in in a long sleeved undershirt and baggy jeans. A real everyman, for sure. He was given the requisite lectern and microphone and awaited his masses. What was learned? He has a propensity to call women "sweetie". He is no fan of Obama but didn't like McCain either. He considers the politicians he's met "liars and thieves". I wonder if the Republicans are going to keep using him as a strategist! He will not go back to plumbing; not that he ever was one. He plans to work in construction once his commitment to Pajama TV is over.

I somehow doubt that. He'll fade into the masses being hired because of the stimulus and having tasted fame I can't imagine his being satisfied with the anonimity of a construction worker.

Speaking of masses, about his: The book signing was scheduled to last three hours. It lasted 55 minutes. There was no report of how many minutes passed just waiting for an audience. Of six. Total books sold? Five.

Ah, well. I may not get paid. I've never even tried to write a book but I'm willing to wager I've more readers than he does! Maybe life isn't so unfair after all.

Joe The Political Consultant

If anyone has more incarnations than Sarah Palin, it's Joe the Plumber. You know, the guy just last month was In Israel playing war correspondent? The one who surmised after that experience that journalists shouldn't cover a war because they "make a big deal" over what's happening on the ground. The one who said, "I think media should be abolished from, uh, you know, reporting." Talk about biting the hand that feeds you!

Now, according to Yahoo News he's going to do political strategizing for the GOP! He is to be the featured speaker at a meeting of conservative staffers who meet regularly to chart GOP strategy.

Says Kimberly Wallner, aide to S.C. Senator Jim DeMint, "In case you weren't planning to attend CWG (Conservative Working Group) tomorrow morning, you might want to reconsider because Joe the Plumber will be joining us!"

Wow. I think I sequed from Republican to Independent just in time. I've been told I'm liberal leaning. Not really as much as it may sound; but, at that, I'd rather be liberal leaning than a laughing stock!

I wait with baited breath to see what next month will bring! Or who knows, maybe he'll have some good advice. Something like, "I think Congress should be be abolished from, uh, you know, passing legislation. Because, you know, they make a "big deal" over things that aren't really needed.

Nah. It will never happen.

Joe The War Correspondent

Wow! The fewer qualifications you have the better job you can get! Heck, I ought to be Michelle Obama's Press Secretary! I was browsing around and found this AP headline: Joe the Plumber to become war correspondent. Yep. He's being sent to Israel to cover the Gaza war. Let's see. Samuel J. Wurzelbacher. He could be Jewish. Which would give pause to the credibility of his reporting. But then if he's German, that would too! Never mind the fact that he's not even licensed as a plumber what's more a journalist!

He told WNWO-TV in Toledo he'll be spending ten days covering the fighting. From safely behind the lines I'm sure. Even the likes of NBC's Richard Engel are being kept on the Israeli side of the border. That's probably okay for his purposes though. He just wants to let "Israel's average Joes' share their story." I won't look for objective journalism here!

The big question, however, is who would hire him? It wouldn't be MSNBC. They are far too liberal these days and already have a full roster of "personalities". FOX. It must be FOX. The icon of conservative reporting. Nope. As lopsided as their viewpoint is, they for the most part have reporters with at least a modicom of journalistic experience. None of the major networks nor CNN would send him. That duty is reserved for their anchors. Then who?

Searching, searching. Here we are. PJTV.com. A conservative web site.

What does PJTV stand for? Pajamas TV. Seriously.

Oh well. Yawn.