Well, my girlfriend Dee Dee’s back. Just in time to talk about Joe six-pack. Or in this case, Joe, the plumber.
Joe the Plumber. Joe’s real name is Sam and he doesn’t have a plumbing license. And he is one of two people in the business. Isn’t it too much of a coincidence that Senator Obama speaks to Joe on Sunday and Joe is used by Senator McCain three days later at the Hofstra University debate as his last chance to score major points if he is to change his performance in the polls? Joe must be a plant of the Republican variety. He told the media that the McCain campaign asked him a few days before Thursday’s debate (his exchange with Obama was only 3 days beforehand) to appear with McCain at a rally in Toledo this coming Sunday!
McCain used Joe’s conversation with Obama to attack Obama on the most important issue of this campaign-the economy and the related issue of taxes on the middle class. How did the McCain campaign know what was said in the conversation? Were they on the scene, shadowing Obama everywhere he went? Did they videotape the conversation? Or did the McCain campaign arrange in advance for Joe to ask Obama this question, coaching him so that they could refer to it during this last debate? Answer-All evidence points to all of the above. Hey, the video is on McCain’s website.
Fact: Joe said to Obama that he was about to take over the plumbing business that he works for. Turns out the media reports that he’s not planning to do that anytime soon. In fact, he can’t take over the business until he gets a plumbing license. Nor is he a licensed apprentice or journeyman. There’s also an income tax lien on his house for $1200. Any money he makes needs to take care of that lien before banks will give him a business loan to buy a $278,000 business, especially in this economy!
Fact: McCain referred to Joe as my good friend during the debate.
Fact: Joe claimed that he hadn’t decided who he was going to vote for. The media is now reporting that he is a registered Republican, self-described conservative who has said that he is a McCain supporter.
Fact: Joe is Samuel J. Wurzelbacher. He said to Obama that he was going to have to spend $278,000 to buy the plumbing business. And he asked if he would be taxed. He later acknowledged that the business’ income would never be $250,000. Pardon me? Sounds like he got the facts that he needed to include in his question to Obama jumbled. Seems more like the coaching he got didn’t take.
Don’t think this is far-fetched! Ronald Reagan during his Presidential campaigns is known to have used this same strategy.
If I were voting in the US elections I’d take a dim view of some of the stuff McCain’s campaign has come out with; but I’d take an even worse view of their inability to get the subterfuge right!
Even if a country sees nastiness as strength; and thinks that it needs a strong leader, it’s very tough to see this kind of foolishness as strength.
I think Obama has kept far better control on his campaign – the kind of control befitting a true leader.