Joe the Plumber (no longer a plumber; first name actually Samuel) popped into our town yesterday evening to sell his new book and to remind people that he’s still a plain and simple guy. Mission accomplished, on at least one of his missions.
About 11 people wandered into the rows of seats set up hopefully in the basement of a downtown Border’s bookstore to hear Joe speak. Joe addressed them from behind a lectern and with a microphone, but that seemed unnecessarily formal. If you’ve already forgotten “Joe” Wurzelbacher, 35, of Toledo, Ohio, it just goes to show you how ephemeral the life of a plain-speaking, Republican Everyman is these days. Joe was the square-jawed guy briefly drafted by John McCain’s campaign to be its Voice of Regular Folks. Now, only a few months later, he’s kind of like a vestigial tail, a leftover artifact from a forgotten time. He’s Clara Peller, Willie Horton or Gennifer Flowers — names that are the questions in a “Jeopardy!” category called “Presidential Campaign Distractions.” To his credit, Wurzelbacher is hip to the audacity of hype: “I get e-mails all the time from people asking me when my 15 minutes is going to expire,” he grinned after his talk. “Sometimes they just write, ’15 . . . 14:59 . . . 14:58 . . .’ ” It’s fair to say Joe’s appearance at Borders at 18th and L streets wasn’t eagerly anticipated. People just kind of shuffled over when Joe strode in with Thomas N. Tabback, the co-author of “Joe the Plumber: Fighting for the American Dream.” Annie Hickman, a young woman whom Wurzelbacher called “sweetie” during a brief Q&A, was browsing when the PA announced that Joe was in the house. “I’m missing pottery class for this,” she said.
Wurzelbacher was scheduled to speak and sign books for three hours, but the Joe Show was over in 55 minutes. Total copies of “Joe the Plumber” sold: five.
Oh well, there’s always plumbing that needs attention somewhere.
hmmm if I’d known about it I might have walked over just for the amusement factor. Ah well.
I wonder how real plumbers feel about this guy?
Well, I guess his 15 minutes of fame expired.
What if Joe the Plumber married the Octomom? Think you would hear much about that?
Har!
I don’t get the hate for this guy. He asked a very relevant question and got Obama to reveal his true agenda of “spreading the wealth around”
I don’t hold him up as some great person or what have you, but the fact is he got Obama to tell the truth and we’re starting to see it come to fruition now.
Ya know, the Republicans have quite a portfolio of weirdos seeking to lead the party. There just doesn’t seem to be a stand out yet that resonates with the American people.
Lets look :
– McCain? Nope. too tired, old, erratic
– Palin? Goofy, obnoxious, stupid, dinosaurs?
– Jindal? A Mr Rogers + Sanjaya love child ?
– Limbaugh? Sweaty, drug addict, loud? Hmmm
Nothing seems to stick. I think you guys are fucked till like 2030. Really. No wonder Rush wants Obama to fail in fixing America.
#4, Hopper,
What if Joe the Plumber married the Octomom? Think you would hear much about that?
I think Child Welfare would be confiscating Joe’s snake?
(ba dum)
Joe would need that $250,000 a year to just buy diapers for his new family.
(ba dum)
He would have to raise them Sunni.
(oh NO !!! Joe’s a full of Shiite kind of guy)
Why the animosity towards this guy? Why the glee in his book not doing well?
Your Borders has a basement? Wow.
The hate for “Joe” the “Plumber”? No hate, just the simple realization that his made up question about his made up situation made him into a made up celebrity. Made up celebrities get mocked as the distractions they are.
Sargasso, I wonder how real Joes feel about him?
What a joke. Maybe he’ll go away now
It will be interesting to see old republican figureheads and personalities fall over the next few years. I wonder if and how the party will recover.
The hate directed tward this Guy is that he’s a Republican STOOGE. He’s part of the neo-con ‘elect a dumbass just like you’ strategy that started with Dubya and will hopefully die with Dubya.
The joke will be on the Republican party unless they can shed this despicable neo-con fraud and start treating the American people with a bit of respect.
Go away Joe.
If “Joe the Plumber’s” record of tax-dodging deadbeat status were attached to “Leroy the Janitor” the Republicans would be using him as a punching bag instead of humoring him with books and interviews.
I’m sure Joe’s book is full of incite, wisdom and philosophy. I’ll buy it to laugh at when it shows up in the bargain bin next month.
What a fucking retard.
Some complete and utter MORON said,
I don’t get the hate for this guy. He asked a very relevant question and got Obama to reveal his true agenda of “spreading the wealth around”
Try getting out of your Mom’s basement you stupid piece of shit douche bag.
I guess he never bought that plumbing company he was “working” for?
14:59….tick tock
#5, Colon,
I don’t get the hate for this guy. He asked a very relevant question and got Obama to reveal his true agenda of “spreading the wealth around”
The “hate” is because, for whatever reason, we are supposed to see this loser as a regular guy. He isn’t. He is a loser who lied to make himself look better.
The Republican media took his answer, and him, and decided he was right when in fact he was quite wrong.
He became a symbol of what is wrong in American politics.
He makes real tradesmen look bad.
He made real conservatives look aimless, hopeless, gullible, and stupid.
AND HE SCREWED MY SISTER SO I’M A GUNNA SCREW HIM with a load of #000 up that butt of his.
#9, Cow-Paddy,
Even now, the O’Mamabots haven’t figured out that the new budget has taxes that slam every person in the U.S. Down to those making $1/year in income…
Still trolling.
The one tax Obama would be wise to impose would be the idiot tax. You and your poopcycle stand would be bankrupt pretty quick.
#6 Dallas:
… and the Dems have You, McCullough, Michael, and that asshole Troublemaker!!!
# 20 Mr. Fusion said, “The one tax Obama would be wise to impose…”
Screeeeeeeech. Truth hurts, huh?
This guy can read and write?
Oops… I think I missed naming a few other A-hoes!!!
He had a valid question.
He was not trying to get up to Obomba and ask it.
Obomba said that he wanted to spread the wealth and now he is doing it.
Whats the problem?
I don’t hate him, or Sarah Palin. I do think they are ridiculous human beings.
The elevation of these people to national figures suggests a huge lack of intellect on the right.
Knucklehead Conservatism – you can’t escape it, but you sure as hell can laugh at it. And I do.
I am surprised that no one has mentioned the infamous Cindy Sheehan picture from last year showing her in the exact same light: Ready to sign books with no one there.
Who’s Cindy Sheehan? Oh right, her son plays for the Buffalo Sabres.
Joe the Plumber
Not a Plumber
Lied to Obama
Will get a tax cut with Obama
Not very good at paying his taxes any way, Ohio had to put a lien on his butt to get their money.
Not trying to buy the business it was never for sale and had very little chance of ever making it’s owner over 250K of taxable income, in fact it will be helped by Obama’s tax plan.
Republicans need a better Hero this one is a relic of a failed campaign and his deceptions and inadequacies only helped it fail.
He’s not even funny any more just a running joke that been going on to long.
#21, Silkysoft,
and the Dems have You, McCullough, Michael, and that asshole Troublemaker!!!
I’ll take them over anything you might offer.
#29, Loo,
I am surprised that no one has mentioned the infamous Cindy Sheehan picture from last year showing her in the exact same light: Ready to sign books with no one there.
That was because the pictures were taken before the event started. Even so, she still managed to get 100 people that came out to a tent set up in a field miles from civilization. In case your math is fuzzy, that is about nine times better than what Joe the Plumber got in a major city bookstore.
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