[savedbygrace]

I disagree slightly. IMO, McCain left himself stuck on third WRT Joe the Plumber. He failed to make the point that 0 is an adherent of wealth distribution which is solialism/Marxism.

He almost got there, but stopped just short of it.

About 40% of the American people pay no income taxes directly. Many of those have payroll taxes, but in April, they file their 1040s and then get back all of the income taxes payroll took out.

So, they are already getting a check from Treasury. If the check were larger in 2009 or 2010, they will be happy, and never think about the wealth transfer, only that Treasury gave them a larger check. Then, 0 will be their hero.

McCain needs to explain, in clear terms, why that is A Bad Thing. Most of that 40% don’t know why it is A Bad Thing.

[Huck]

Joe the Plumber is an international story with legs of its own. It's THE topic the day after the debate. I think people will get the basic idea. I understand your criticism, but you could argue the same about a lot of things. McCain said at one point "I'm a federalist." How many Americans do you think have any clue what that means? But there's no time to take people to school in a debate.

As far as the people who don't pay taxes, I think they're too stupid to even figure out they aren't paying. They see it withdrawn from their check. They "hope" to get a refund every year. You think they crunch the numbers? I don't. Anyway, we are still an aspirational society. Joe the Plumber represents all Americans ask for. The freedom to work hard and keep the rewards. He's going to resonate big time.

[Heart of Georgia]

“He failed to make the point that 0 is an adherent of wealth distribution which is solialism/Marxism.

He almost got there, but stopped just short of it.”

But look at it from another point. It wasn’t really necessary for Mac to call him out on socialism and/or marxism. He needed soundbites for ads and got plenty.