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Sliming Joe the Plumber (FR mention for *weak* comparison)
Weekly Standard ^ | 10/17/2008 | Brian Faughnan

Posted on 10/17/2008 3:26:20 PM PDT by markomalley

An ordinary citizen speaks up about how federal policies affect his family and his pocketbook, and bloggers dive into his personal life. His finances, his address, his background and family connections are all splashed all over the Internet as bloggers line up to debate whether the instant celebrity is all he appears to be. Many feel he's concealing enough about his background to make his opinion worthless.

Next the media steps in to defend the ordinary guy. Time Magazine's Karen Tumulty says he's being swift-boated. The New York Times says he's being slimed. One partisan blogger says the other side ought to stop 'snooping around.' Another accuses adversaries of launching 'a baseless smear campaign.' Commenters at Democratic Underground label those at Free Republic 'scum' for investigating his personal life.

That's right: Democratic Underground, Paul Krugman, DailyKos, Crooks and Liars, ThinkProgress, Time Magazine, and lots of others on the Left were defenders of privacy when Graeme Frost delivered the weekly Democratic radio address regarding SChip. To the Left, it didn't matter that Frost, with his parents' approval (prodding?), had specifically chosen to make himself a spokesman of the Democratic party; his personal life was still sacrosanct. Those who investigated his background were beneath contempt.

'Joe the Plumber,' on the other hand, simply asked a question and state a position when Barack Obama knocked on his door. And that was enough for the defenders of privacy on the Left to scour his background and destroy his livelihood.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Politics/Elections; US: Ohio
KEYWORDS: blogosphere; joetheplumber; msm; obama
The dhimmis and their allies in the media can't even make a decent comparison. Here is one of the FR threads in question: The "Not So Poor" 12 Year Old Who Rebutted Bush on SCHIP Veto.

In the case of Graeme Frost, a claim was made that they couldn't afford health insurance. On the other hand, in the case of Joe the Plumber, there was no claim made.

But, of course, there is no reason to expect the MSM or the left wing blogs to attend to facts, much less details.

1 posted on 10/17/2008 3:26:21 PM PDT by markomalley
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To: Jim Robinson; kristinn

FR in the news ping...


2 posted on 10/17/2008 3:27:01 PM PDT by markomalley (Extra ecclesiam nulla salus)
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To: markomalley

I heard that Joe beat up an old lady yesterday. And stepped on a kitten.


3 posted on 10/17/2008 3:27:02 PM PDT by DemonDeac
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To: markomalley
Wha'???
4 posted on 10/17/2008 3:30:16 PM PDT by Ciexyz
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To: markomalley

5 posted on 10/17/2008 3:31:19 PM PDT by xcamel (Conservatives start smart, and get rich, liberals start rich, and get stupid.)
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To: markomalley

The amazing part to me is that Joe didn’t even seek out Obama, O sought him out. And now Joe’s the bad guy because Obama showed his true colors when he answered Joe’s question.


6 posted on 10/17/2008 3:32:15 PM PDT by Dawn531
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To: markomalley
I'm puzzled concerning the sins that "Joe the Plumber" has committed. It is said that his name isn't really Joe. Joe is his middle name, you see and, that one would choose to be addressed by his middle name (Joseph, in this case) is simply unheard of and unacceptable. Further, there is a complaint that Joe owes $1200.00 in back taxes. BFD!!

I suspect that Joe's real sin here is that he objects to having his hard earned cash redistributed by the scum of the earth. We might very well all be guilty of this sin.

7 posted on 10/17/2008 3:36:45 PM PDT by davisfh ( Islam is a very serious mental illness)
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To: davisfh
"I suspect that Joe's real sin here is that he objects to having his hard earned cash redistributed by the scum of the earth. "

Joe's real sin is he should have asked what you said if that was what was bothering him.

8 posted on 10/17/2008 3:44:49 PM PDT by ex-snook ("But above all things, truth beareth away the victory.")
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To: markomalley
Many feel he's concealing enough about his background to make his opinion worthless

It's not Joe's 'opinion' that Obama said, on tape, that "spreading the wealth" helps everyone. That explicitly Marxist phrase was volunteered by Obama. Smearing Joe unto death won't change what Obama said.

9 posted on 10/17/2008 3:49:41 PM PDT by Paine in the Neck (Nepolean fries the idea powder)
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To: Paine in the Neck

Maybe not, but you could say that Joe ‘delivered the hit’ that forced the fumble. Maybe Obama shouldn’t have fumbles, but sometimes the ‘hit’ comes when you’re not looking for it.


10 posted on 10/17/2008 3:53:58 PM PDT by Tallguy ("The sh- t's chess, it ain't checkers!" -- Alonzo (Denzel Washington) in "Training Day")
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To: davisfh

>>>Joe is his middle name, you see and, that one would choose to be addressed by his middle name (Joseph, in this case) is simply unheard of and unacceptable.<<<

Lately, Democrats seem very sensitive about people’s middle names being used.

I can’t figure out why.


11 posted on 10/17/2008 3:54:11 PM PDT by Above My Pay Grade
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To: markomalley

Make signs and bumper stickers.....

IT’S THE MARXISM STUPID!


12 posted on 10/17/2008 3:56:09 PM PDT by tuckrdout (~ 'Those who hammer their guns into plows, will plow for those who don't.' ~)
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To: Dawn531

And those true colors should scare us all.


13 posted on 10/17/2008 3:57:02 PM PDT by tuckrdout (~ 'Those who hammer their guns into plows, will plow for those who don't.' ~)
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To: Tallguy

Don’t get me wrong, kudos to Joe for asking the right question but the uproar that they’re trying to drown out by smearing Joe is not the question it is the answer.


14 posted on 10/17/2008 4:10:06 PM PDT by Paine in the Neck (Nepolean fries the idea powder)
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To: DemonDeac

He actually raped the old lady and then stuffed the kitten in a bottle. Clearly the MSM is biased in Republicans’ favor, otherwise they would never have reported such heinous crimes in the lesser manner you describe.

/sarc


15 posted on 10/17/2008 4:13:17 PM PDT by Terpfen (To all you knee-jerkers: remember Rick Santorum.)
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To: markomalley

Always on the job, the liberal news media has discovered the real enemy: Joe the Plumber. I’d like to know who’s feeding them the Joe stories.

In all seriousness, what they’re doing to this guy for asking a question is despicable. They should be boycotted for screwing an American citizen.


16 posted on 10/17/2008 4:19:51 PM PDT by popdonnelly (Who would you trust to fix your toilet: Joe the Plumber or Hussein the Plumber?)
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To: tuckrdout

I just walked into the kitchen, my husband was listening to Hannity on the radio. He is only taking calls from Obama supporters...evidently they all think Obama was right in his thinking. Unfortunately, we’ve become a country of out stretched hands.


17 posted on 10/17/2008 4:20:17 PM PDT by Dawn531
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To: davisfh
I'm puzzled concerning the sins that "Joe the Plumber" has committed. It is said that his name isn't really Joe. Joe is his middle name, you see and, that one would choose to be addressed by his middle name (Joseph, in this case) is simply unheard of and unacceptable.

This is the part that gets me pissed off the most. Rush played a clip were a number of reporters and political operatives said Joe wasn't even his real name. Clearly this was a talking point handed out by the Obama team. The reasons it gets me is I have went by a shortened version of my middle name since before I was even in kindergarten. No calls me by my first name and hardly anyone actually knows my first name. It wasn't like Joe was signing loan papers or something here. Who cares what name he wants to be called.

Also Barack Obama in his lifetime has went by the names Barack Hussein Obama, Barry Soetoro, Barry Obama and back to Barack Hussein Obama. Did the media ever say Barack Obama wasn't really Barack Obama's real name?

18 posted on 10/17/2008 4:29:07 PM PDT by pepperhead (Kennedy's float, Mary Jo's don't!)
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To: markomalley
Joe the Plumber must be vetted by the media. After all, you can't have just anyone asking meaningful questions of The One. They are just proving he is unqualified to ask questions so Obama's answer doesn't count.

In the case of the young Graeme Frost, he was making a political address for the Democrats. He wasn't the one being criticized, it was his parents who were gaming the system to have their healthcare covered by the taxpayer.

19 posted on 10/17/2008 4:37:38 PM PDT by eggman (Obama is now The Zero. He used to be The One but he added The Negative One=Joe Biden.)
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To: popdonnelly
If Obamma and crew move into the Whitehouse the Bill of Rights is going to become a token document.

How dare any one question Der Führer. Wer sind Du auf die Frage unserer geliebten Führer?

20 posted on 10/17/2008 4:42:56 PM PDT by oyez (Justa' another high minded lowlife.)
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To: davisfh
Further, there is a complaint that Joe owes $1200.00 in back taxes. BFD!!

It's a media bias "tell."

People who are behind on their mortgages are unfortunate victims of the evil Bush economy, while people behind on their taxes are shiftless deadbeats. Or even, as Joe Biden reminds us, unpatriotic.

21 posted on 10/17/2008 4:53:55 PM PDT by denydenydeny ("[Obama acts] as if the very idea of permanent truth is passe, a form of bad taste"-Shelby Steele)
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To: markomalley

22 posted on 10/18/2008 5:21:33 AM PDT by Grampa Dave ( I do not want to know the type of person, who does not like Sarah !)
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To: Paine in the Neck
Many feel he's concealing enough about his background to make his opinion worthless

And all of them that feel that way support and will vote for Obama.

23 posted on 10/18/2008 5:27:14 AM PDT by sport
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To: Paine in the Neck

That is what thy did with the Swiftboat Vets. They never refuted a single charge that was made.


24 posted on 10/18/2008 5:29:45 AM PDT by sport
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