Posted on 10/16/2008 5:47:29 AM PDT by Tolik
The title of this piece His invisible friend Joe the Plumber comes from a line with which MSNBCs Keith Olbermann started his late-night post-debate broadcast on Wednesday night.
The problem with the hosts description is that Joe the Plumber is anything but invisible. To the taxman. Now, to the candidates. I dont know if Joe the Plumber will win the election for John McCain. But he should.
Because in the end this election is all about freedom. And Senator Government is not.
Joe the Plumber, as everyone by the end of this weekend is liable to know, is one Joe Wurzelbacher, an Ohio plumber who wants to buy a business but knows its going to hurt him, tax-wise, if Barack Obama becomes president.
To his concerns, Obama told Joe: Its not that I want to punish your success, I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that theyve got a chance at success, too. I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody.
What does that sound like to you. Could it be . . . Marx? Could it be . . . socialism?
In an Internet interview this week, after his now-infamous run-in with Barack Obama, Plumber Joe worried about just that: You start giving people stuff, and then they start expecting it and that scares me. A lot of people expect it now. They get upset when their checks late, they get upset when they dont get as many benefits as they used to, or when different government agencies are cut or spending is cut here and there for whatever reason people get upset at that. And thats because theyre used to getting it and they want more. I mean, everyones always gonna want more. People work the system left and right to get more out of welfare, to get more out of state assistance, federal assistance. And if governments there for them, theyre gonna keep on trying to manipulate it to get more out of it. You got people that come along and say, Hey, I wanna help you people, I mean, theyre all ears! Theyre like, Hey, you can help me more, I dont have to work as hard, I dont have to do as much, and youre gonna give me this? Man, thats great, youre a good guy.
He continued, So yeah, it goes down the socialist His health-care plan scares me. You know, I dont like people going without health care, but its not my job to pay for everyone elses health care. Its hard enough paying for my own. I like the idea of deregulation as far as nationally, you know, you only get insurance companies that can work in this state if you deregulate that then you have more people competing and then the prices would go lower. It seems pretty simple to me. It probably isnt that simple but you flood the market with more products, usually they go down cheaper.
Whereas John McCain talked Wednesday night about things like choice and not the murdering type Obama did Barack Obama rightly worries Americans like Plumber Joe.
In this election, the burdens of our taxpayers have been an afterthought in the face of an unprecedented government takeover of the mortgage industry. But excessive government comes at an excessive cost not just in economic theory, but to very real people. (Thats real in the sense of non-imaginary, Keith.) I dont know how the Joe the Plumber strategy polls, but, for the sake of all the Joes out there, lets listen to the Plumbers concerns about what a President Obama would mean to all of our pocketbooks.
Kathryn Jean Lopez is the editor of National Review Online.
Are you going to let him?
Let's see here...
He already has a kid, counted in the population, so Joe is looking at $67,600 for his "fair share" to begin with. Something like half the population isn't going to pay up their share ever, so Joe and his descendants get stuck with it, so now Joe effectively owes $135,200 if he's not going to "pass it on". Being the price of a home mortgage, he'll likely be unable to pay it off at once, so he goes for the 30 year plan, adding roughly double that in interest, so he'll have to earn $405,600 to realistically pay his "fair share" (and what he'll get stuck with). Never mind that he already likely has a mortgage on par with that, so now Joe is stuck with upwards of having to earn $1,000,000 (car payments included) just to pay his debts.
“Obamas plans are a sitting duck,”
Just call them for what they are, Socialism while playing a little Merle Haggard in the background and talking to Joe the Plumber.
“Working Man Blues” by Merle Haggard
“Hey hey, the working man, the working man like me
I ain’t never been on welfare, that’s one place I won’t be
Cause I’ll be working long as my two hands are fit to use
I drink a little beer in a tavern
Sing a little bit of these working man blues
Yeah drink a little beer in a tavern,
Cry a little bit of these working man blues”
A nice tribute to Joe and the other working men not voting for the socialist.
Ouch, that’s good
Not registered to vote - its bad. Especially that there is so much to like in Joe’s economics - I take his over Obama’s any time.
If we had more Joes in political office, we have a much more efficient government and economy.
A Ivy League degree does not mean that someone has the ability to run our government.
Thank you for sharing. Its right on money. Politics in the big world are not that much different from a school yard. I try to do the same as you did (when I am up to the task) - use analogies simple enough for my kids. I am amazed how many similarities are out there between adolescent vision of an “unfair” world and modern “give me stuff” liberalism.
Joe Wurzelbacher was asked to attend a McCain/Palin rally this weekend, but declined (was already busy).
I would think that something has been done to meet up with him either by phone or in person. I can see Joe getting along well with Governor Palin and the First Dude.
I recall a program put out by 60 minutes or 20/20 or some such show like that. The focus was a young woman on welfare. She became upset that her PAY CHECK hadn’t arrived in her mailbox the day she expected it. Pay Check. Expected.
Yep, Joe Wurzelbaher got it right.
Joe *is* a registered voter. Said so in his interview.
Wow, that’s awesome!
oohhh...maybe you could do a full graphic of him wearing tights and carrying a toy bow and arrow set. :o)
Not registered? Then I guess Joe Wurzelbacher is a liar because he said he *was* registered to vote (in his media interview).
What a EXCELLENT analogy!!!
Cheers to your 14 year old daughter!!!!!!!
Polly
Go Joe! Smart man. Thank God for citizens like him, who confront the opposition. He should get alot of air time off of this and last nights debate. This could be really good for Mccain.
Turns out that Ben Smith has been corrected, and Joe the Plumber is registered to vote. Why the confusion? Because his name is spelled wrong on the voter rolls.
This is the sort of "irregularity" that has people calling for the voter rolls to be purged aggressively, so given the growing furor over ACORN, it remains to be seen if he stays on the voter rolls.
So Joe knows more about economics than all of the talking heads in DC. Of course we knew that.
Except that Politico, as usual, is wrong. He is registered to vote, but the f***ed up Ohio voting registration system has his last name misspelled, and "Joe" is is (legal) middle name, which is why the dumpster divers at Politico missed it.
As far as not declaring support, personally I think it's better that he doesn't. It is a secret ballot, after all, and I'd rather he speak for the "independents" than as "just another McCain supporter".
It is a secret ballot, after all, and I'd rather he speak for the "independents" than as "just another McCain supporter".I did post an update above that Joe is registered to vote. He is, however, a registered Republican, so I don't know if he can pass for an independent at this point.
Tell you what, albie.
Your enthusiasm and commitment are admirable.
You should take the next several days off before the election and canvass your town going door to door, working on an effort to bring out the vote, 24/7.
What? You can’t do that? You have a life?
Let Joe have his life. He probably needs every penny he earns right now, because new construction will not be sending any work his way for the next two or three years, at the very least.
All his business will rely on is maintenance calls. And I am certain that even that amount of work will taper down in an Obama administration. Husbands will be fixing their own plumbing problems because they’ll be laid off.
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