You will find no better illustration of the hazards of simply asking a question Barack Obama doesn’t want to answer than the frenzy on the part of Obama’s campaign and his allies in the media and the Left blogs to attack Joe the Plumber. The amazing thing is, this isn’t a guy who was set up by one of the campaigns to tell a sob story that had to be checked. Obama was going door to door, he met this guy who was playing football in his yard *. Joe said he’d like to be more successful and buy his own business, and asked Obama why that meant he should have to pay higher taxes, and Obama gave his now-infamous answer that “I think that when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.” John McCain responded by retelling that story in the debate to illustrate Obama’s instincts for redistribution, and both candidates ended up using Joe as an example of how their various plans would affect small businesspeople.
But fearful of the damage caused by Obama’s answer, the Obama camp and its surrogates have gone on the attack against this ordinary citizen from Toldeo:
*Obama campaign flacks attacking McCain for failing to “vet” a guy who only became an issue because Obama showed up in his yard.
*Ben Smith dug up his voter registration. (More here).
The media dug up tax liens on him
*Not only did reporters go after his licensing as a plumber, but now government officials are after his business.
*Lefty blogs publishing his home address and writing up attacks on him and digging into his family tree.
*Here’s a NY Times article digging up more dirt on Joe than they’ve bothered to cobble together on Obama, and another here.
*Andrew Sullivan finds a new obsession with the plumber, reducing this man to a “hood ornament[]” (here, here, and here).
*Here is a roundup of the media frenzy. Remember, read all these and ask yourself when the last time was you saw a report on, say, Barack Obama’s relationship with the Chicago political machine.
UPDATE (also noted in comments): McCain defends ordinary Joe:
The response from Senator Obama and his campaign yesterday was to attack Joe. People are digging through his personal life and he has TV crews camped out in front of his house. He didn’t ask for Senator Obama to come to his house. He wasn’t recruited or prompted by our campaign. He just asked a question. And Americans ought to be able to ask Senator Obama tough questions without being smeared and targeted with political attacks.
Moe Lane
Steve Maley
Dan McLaughlin
Neil Stevens
Daniel Horowitz
we are all Joe
hunter (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 12:41PM EST (link)we stand up together now, or we cower in fear alone.
hunter
I think
Terilyn Donaldson (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 12:41PM EST (link)the fact that Joe makes 40K a year and is still against BO is telling. He IS the person that BO expects to have voting for him. He is the guy who will ‘benefit’ from BO’s wealth redistribution. It’s great for John McCain that Joe is a member of the middle-class.
SURVIVING IN WYOMING…
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They are desperate because is working!
rafaelkafka Friday, October 17th at 12:46PM EST (link)The polls frauds since 1976 show that every presidential election liberals go ahead before election day but now the truth is coming back and we are back in game, 2 points ahead in Florida and we will win, this nation will never be socialist, never!
reminds me of
janetney Friday, October 17th at 12:49PM EST (link)the clinton machine…never cross a clinton! now, it’s never cross ‘the one’!
janet ney
www.californiaforthompson.com
Joe the Plumber has been dumped
frankgug Friday, October 17th at 12:50PM EST (link)Man, I am so depressed. Joe the plumber I guess was not vetted and it turns out he is not even licensed, owes the state over 1100 dollars, makes only 40K a year and admitted to CBS News that Obama’s taz plan will HELP him.. WTF?? I guess McCain has a problem vetting these people. depressing.
Forget what Joe makes
woodsman (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 12:51PM EST (link)What is important is a private citizen is being attacked in public by the liberal machine and the MSM.
This is absolutely wrong and should never happen here in the US. The fact that he is being hounded and treated like this because of an innocent question should be very telling as to how the MSM and Obama administration would be during his 4 year reign.
The only benefit from this smear campaign is that it might awaken the masses to what levels the Obama machine and MSM will do once their power is absolute.
hey troll Joe the Plumber is NOT a McCain plant but you are!
JadedByPolitics (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 12:56PM EST (link)back off idiot…this man was stopped by the Obama campaign and asked a question he answered it you don’t like tough….you should be banned for stupidity!
Unified Patriots – How-To:
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This makes me want to punch people in the face.
Canthros (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 12:57PM EST (link)What’s the point of digging up his voter registration? He’s a Republican? Well, blimey, I guess he’s just some sort of activist political operative planted in an Ohio neighborhood to embarrass The One in a plot of Rovian dimensions. Surely, there are no real Republicans working as plumbers, and this is just an example of yet another dirty political trick and …
>_<
I am especially stunned that the fact that he goes by his middle name is claimed as some sort of major revelation. Crass idiots.
God save us from the gentle ministrations of these creeps.
This too shall pass.
That should be you are an Obama Plant....could someone remove the trash!
JadedByPolitics (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 12:57PM EST (link)nt
Unified Patriots – How-To:
Activists Taking Action
Joe the Fibber flushed
insig Friday, October 17th at 12:58PM EST (link)If the McCain campaign is hanging its hopes on an individual who cannot represent himself honestly, then it’s time to pick up the towel from the middle of the ring and head home.
McCain Defends Joe the Plumber
PaRep (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 12:59PM EST (link)http://www.drudgereport.com/flash1mm.htm
Clean up in aisle 10.
Canthros (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 12:59PM EST (link)Geez, I nearly stepped in it.
This too shall pass.
Speaking of vetting, Sparky...
CSUFBomb (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 1:02PM EST (link)…perhaps Barry should focus less on Joe the Plumber and more on his campaign treasurer, good old Martin Nesbitt and his tax liens.
–
“We want great men who, when fortune frowns, will not be discouraged.” – Colonel Henry Knox
Hey Obama! Come to my house!!
izoneguy (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 1:03PM EST (link)n/t
The point cannot be made often enough: Modern liberalism, as embodied in the Obama presidency, is the defender of the status quo. And the status quo is a road to economic ruin. Political forces cannot redistribute the wealth that the economic system does not produce.
frankgug, it pains me that McCain's upward trend is depressing you.
Uma Richie (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 1:04PM EST (link)Sorry, we can’t help you here. I think one regular poster is in her fourth year of med school, so she can’t prescribe any mood elevators for you yet. No therapists on board to my knowledge. You poor thing! Maybe you should try the yellow pages.
Don't answer your cell phone either...
CSUFBomb (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 1:04PM EST (link)Secret Service visits Lufkin woman after ‘death threat’ allegation from an Obama campaign volunteer
–
“We want great men who, when fortune frowns, will not be discouraged.” – Colonel Henry Knox
Another example of leftist intimidation
RoxannaDanna (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 1:06PM EST (link)All this negative Obama driven media attention on this poor guy will backfire on them.
I think most people are sympathetic to a guy who just asked a question when Obama showed up on his front lawn. Joe didn’t go to some Obama rally or go out seeking him. Obama showed up at his front door.
Joe is the personification of all of us. He has no more skeletons in his closet than most of us have. I’m saddened and disgusted by all this negative attention on him.
And it’s just another example of how they (MSN and the leftists) are trying to intimidate us all into silence.
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As an idiot you would only see it as "Joe" BUT intelligent voters...
JadedByPolitics (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 1:08PM EST (link)recognize that lesson of “Joe” or “Jane” and that socialism and redistribution of wealth does not work for our Republic and while you will be whining and crying in a little over two weeks WE will be thanking “Joe” and “Jane” for understanding that a vote for Obama is a vote against themselves and their country.
Unified Patriots – How-To:
Activists Taking Action
Nice PaRep thanks for the link!
JadedByPolitics (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 1:11PM EST (link)nt
Unified Patriots – How-To:
Activists Taking Action
not hanging hopes, making points
ender79 Friday, October 17th at 1:11PM EST (link)The Obama campaign is hanging its hopes on an individual who cannot represent himself honestly, except he’s their candidate.
insig, why not talk about Obama's response to Joe?
Vegas_Rick (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 1:14PM EST (link)Instead of attacking Joe? Does the fact that he’s not a licensed plumber change the fact that Obama wants to “spread the wealth”?
Are you one of the ones who wants the wealth spread their way? Afraid to work for it, want it handed to you?
Why not address that issue, hmmmmm?
Moron!
“God is great, beer is good and people are crazy.”- Billy Currington
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” Calvin Coolidge.
McCain's comments need to be in a ad
CroakerNorge (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 1:16PM EST (link)With those negative floating headlines and comments. Even if it was just on youtube, iIt might just go viral on youtube.
Maybe another campaign ad could be made about the SCOTUS ruling legitimizing corruption in Ohio. Who has standing in Ohio to bring a suit? A Democrat governor? A Democrat Attorney General who used to a Republican? (Actually she could. She pledged not to run for another term. Perfect choice. I’m holding my breath.)
Something along the lines of
“Corruption is fine with the Supreme Court as long as the ruling party in the state agrees to it. Apparently ordinary citizens have no say in the wholesale theft of elections.”
Canthros -- you may be on to something.
Uma Richie (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 1:17PM EST (link)By using his own middle name, Joe the plumber reminds voters of Sen. Obama’s middle name. What a racist! (sarcasm)
Will Obama Call Off His Dogs?
jimmuy8 (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 1:17PM EST (link)Maybe McCain should call on Obama to stand up for Joe–if he really is for the middle-class it’s the least he could do.
Yeah, I won’t hold my breath.
Stand up for Joe, stand up for the middle-class, stand up for America.
Fight!
No Problem Jaded
PaRep (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 1:18PM EST (link).
This is a cause I want to donate to
RoxannaDanna (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 1:18PM EST (link)I wish someone in the McCain camp knew about these attacks on Joe.
It would be great to make the public aware of what Obama’s media machine is doing to him. Not only would the guy get enough money to pay his tax bill but he’d probably get enough donations to buy his plumbing company!
And he’d deserve it!!!
I’ve never seen such an ugly, unrestrained, frightening campaign in my life. They want to intimidate the right into silence. I can’t say that enough. It makes me soooo angry!!!
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Joe the plumber
janmar Friday, October 17th at 1:23PM EST (link)Let them keep doing this stuff, it’s possible that the public is finally seeing whats going on here. At least the public who aren’t smittem with the one!
McCain stood up for Joe in his recent speech
skuld1 Friday, October 17th at 1:25PM EST (link)Check Drudge for details.
Beautiful use of irony, ender79 : )
Uma Richie (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 1:25PM EST (link)Now if only they’d pick up their towel and go home.
They came for the Plumbers...
furious (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 1:30PM EST (link)saw this on another site
…and I said nothing.
Then they came for the Carpenters…
…and I said nothing.
Then they came for the Electricians…
…and I said nothing.
Then they came for the Roofers…
…and I said nothing.
Then they came for the Glaziers…
…and I said nothing.
Then they came for the Sheetrock tapers…
…and I had nowhere to hide.
–furious
“I find your lack of faith disturbing.” — Darth Vader
Aren't All Plumbers, When You Get Right Down To It......
Strelnikov (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 1:38PM EST (link)…covert operatives for Nixon?
Obviously Joe alias Joseph alias Sam alias Samuel Joseph is fair game for a left-wing attack!
To paraphrase Phil Hartmann: “Is Joe an average Joe? Is he really?”
As of November 4, 2008, the Code Words will be: “Klaatu – Borada – Nikto!”
who joe is
James_Reynolds (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 1:39PM EST (link)doesn’t matter if he makes 40K, owes taxes, republican, or a plant(which we know he isn’t, maybe Obama’s team is saying that because they planted the guys yelling terrorist). What matters is the response Obama gave, and he can not take that back. No matter who Joe is, now the people can get a chance to show who Obama is.
What I would like to see is an add showing his radcial left association with the link too the new party membership and him saying we need to spread the wealth around and end it video clips of Reid and Pelosi saying Barak has our support.
Sums it all up he has socialist views that will be backed by the controlling party.
I am loving it
David Hinz (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 1:42PM EST (link)perfect…
The Minority Report — The HinzSight Report — TMRB.tv — MFOB “Miss Tagart, do you know the hallmark of the second-rater? It’s resentment of another man’s achievement.”
Registers 55 min ago...
Texas Tom Friday, October 17th at 1:45PM EST (link)I am amazed that it took you 5 min to type your stupid comment. I thought ThatOne had your assigned talking points, comments and taunts ready to cut and paste, spew or crap in 14 point Courier, installed on you cell to download on any board at any time. You have disappointed the lord ThatOne and you shall have to be reinitialized or deleted.
REINITIALIZED OR DELETED …
YOU MUST BE REFORMATTED AND RELOADED FOR OPTIMAL RESPONSE…
The lord ThatOne commands you…commands you… arrrrrgh.
I feel more like I do now, than when I got here…Anon. NAF Diego Garcia, BIOT, 1982. Defending Reagan’s America.
The lord ThatOne commands me...
Texas Tom Friday, October 17th at 1:49PM EST (link)“If the McCain campaign is hanging its hopes on an individual who cannot represent himself honestly, then it’s time to pick up the towel from the middle of the ring and head home.”
I don’t get the point. How does McCain hang his hopes on ThatOne?
I feel more like I do now, than when I got here…Anon. NAF Diego Garcia, BIOT, 1982. Defending Reagan’s America.
Only a liberal lacking brain cells
Vegas_Rick (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 2:01PM EST (link)Can take a situation where the One walked onto this mans property and was confronted about his socialist policies, and turn it into a set-up by the McCain campaign.
If the McCain campaign was that good, he’d be up double digits.
You lefty trolls continually amaze me. Do you not factor reality into any of your thinking?
“God is great, beer is good and people are crazy.”- Billy Currington
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” Calvin Coolidge.
Love it!!!
Terilyn Donaldson (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 2:03PM EST (link)n/t
SURVIVING IN WYOMING…
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Oh wouldn't that make my day!
Vegas_Rick (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 2:05PM EST (link)Just 5 minutes to unload on that socialist piece of ….! Just 5 minutes!
“God is great, beer is good and people are crazy.”- Billy Currington
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” Calvin Coolidge.
Just diversionary tactics
HsvConservative Friday, October 17th at 2:05PM EST (link)by the Obama campaign, ThatOne stepped in it big time and the O campaign is trying to divert attention from the comments. It is sad but with the way some in society are wired, their attention span (or lack thereof) will cause them to forget about this in a mere 18 days.
It needs to be hammered home by ads and by Saracuda.
The left is scum, just like their Obamessiah
Bill S (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 2:05PM EST (link)Perhaps even this little event will show the general public what life will be like under the Obamareich. It literally makes me sick to my stomach to think about a country ruled by these pieces of {excrement}.
“It’s such a fine line between stupid, and clever.” – David St. Hubbins
Neo-fasicst Obama
Swamp_Yankee (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 2:07PM EST (link)Fear of Liberal Fascism Is Growing. Even Hillary supporters fear the neo-fascist Obama. Supress speech. Do as I say, not as I do. AND NEVER ASK ANY QUESTIONS
You give them too much credit...
Bill S (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 2:08PM EST (link)…by implying that they are thinking. They are programmed by The One to respond this way. If you took an MRI of the heads of “frankgug” and “insig”, you’d find a few little neurons that look like little Obama faces, and a lot of air.
“It’s such a fine line between stupid, and clever.” – David St. Hubbins
I'm a therapist...but it won't help...
DrShady Friday, October 17th at 2:08PM EST (link)in the immortal words of Dr. House, “You can’t fix stupid”…
“Life IS pain, Highness…anyone who says different is selling something…”
moderators? We've had our fun with this smegma...
E Pluribus Unum (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 2:09PM EST (link)Kill the Terrorists
Protect the Borders
Punch the Hippies h/t IMAO
The audacity of hope
hunter (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 2:14PM EST (link)The audacity of Joe’s hope is that he can do better in his future. He is dreaming of a future where his hard work and smarts let’s him do well.
And when he does make his dream come true, he wants to make sure he lives in a country where he gets to enjoy his success.
That is obviously very dangerous stuff to the Obamanation.
If one little question requires the destruction of a person by you lefties, do you really think the rest of us Joe’s are going to tolerate you?
hunter
LOL! (nt)
Uma Richie (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 2:16PM EST (link)nt
I have a dream
seanparnell Friday, October 17th at 2:16PM EST (link)In that dream, Barrack Obama doesn’t stop at “Joe the Plumber’s” house to chat.
He stops at Richard Vedder’s.
http://mises.org/journals/aen/aen1911.asp
The audacity of hope
hunter (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 2:19PM EST (link)The audacity of Joe’s hope is that he can do better in his future. He is dreaming of a future where his hard work and smarts let’s him do well.
And when he does make his dream come true, he wants to make sure he lives in a country where he gets to enjoy his success.
That is obviously very dangerous stuff to the Obamanation.
If one little question requires the destruction of a person by you lefties, do you really think the rest of us Joe’s are going to tolerate you?
hunter
who thrust this guy into the national spotlight?
BlizzardOfOz Friday, October 17th at 2:29PM EST (link)It was McCain, trying to score political points by claiming that his taxes would be raised (which was of course not true– what plumber has an income of $250K?)
It isn’t “the Obama campaign” obsessing over this guy, it’s the national media. It’s just what they do. The lefty blog I frequent is mostly critical of making this guy’s personal life national news, as you are. However, it absolutely IS relevant to know that Obama’s plan would give him a tax cut, not a raise as McCain falsely claimed.
Steaming pile of...
Putter (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 2:32PM EST (link)rodent fecal matter…
Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies…
Unload verbally of course....we wouldn't want the lefties to get confused on that...n/t
Attack Mode (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 2:40PM EST (link)n/t
“Land of the Free and Home of da Whopper” Peter Griffin…Family Guy
conform and celebrate diversity….or else!!!
Steel-Belted Radial Right Winger
“I’ll create 5 million jobs from out of unicorn farts and pixie dust” Justatron paraphrasing Obamessiah…yes I love it that much.
Surely you jest..
Putter (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 2:45PM EST (link)Joe did NOT claim he made 250K a year. He said he wanted to buy the business and expand it to the point where he would be in that bracket. What leftists never understand is that conservatives are not motivated by money so much as principle. The GOP has far more nickel and dime contributors than the Dems. Many conservatives would cheerfully eat Alpo for a while to end abortion. We don’t like socialism – period. We take pride in self reliance, even if it to to our economic detriment. Can you crawl back under your bridge now?
Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies…
Actually, idiot
Jack_Savage (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 2:49PM EST (link)The McCain camp is hanging its hopes on about 55 million people who are just exactly like Joe the Plumber, and you and your condescending ilk are helping seal Obama’s fate far more than your shriveled little brains realize.
Remember – “smear” rhymes with “fear”. Bathe in them both.
Riiiiiiight!
Vegas_Rick (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 2:53PM EST (link)“However, it absolutely IS relevant to know that Obama’s plan would give him a tax cut, not a raise as McCain falsely claimed.”
Obviously you believe the flipflop here: I will raise taxes on those earning more than $250,000 per year. Well…uh…except for Joe, or anyone else who gets in my face about it. You folks will get a tax break! Yeah! That’s the ticket!!! I meant the OTHER people making over $250k!!!
Got some beach front property here in Vegas for ya.
Lefty morons! You gotta love the entertainment value.
“God is great, beer is good and people are crazy.”- Billy Currington
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” Calvin Coolidge.
Don't Watch Boxing, Do Ya?
jimmuy8 (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 2:56PM EST (link)You’re so cute, heard a little saying one day and saved it up until you could come over here and mangle it.
You were so close to being awesome–but, stupid got in the way. Again.
See, the towel comes from the boxer’s corner. The boxer (McCain) would never “pick up the towel.” The correct phrase is “throw in the towel.” And, uh, the ones in your analogy throwing in the towel would be, well, us. And ain’t no way in hell we are.
Oh, well. You heard something about towels and rings and thought you knew something about sports.
Kinda like you think you know something about politics.
You don't know much
Jack_Savage (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 2:56PM EST (link)I pay plumbers to work on my houses quite a bit, and I would be shocked if any of them that *own their businesses *- exactly what Joe was talking about – DIDN’T make $250 K +.
The Rocky moment has occurred
tankertodd (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 3:01PM EST (link)I could be recollecting the Rocky movies wrong, but there’s that moment when Rocky is getting the snot beat out of him but then suddenly the music and tenor of the moment changes. It’s palpable. The turning point comes, and you KNOW that Rocky will certainly win. We’ve possibly reached that with Joe the Plumber and the people who know that best is the Lefties.
Hence the attacks commence.
———————————
The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race – Chief Justice Roberts
yes you are right, that makes me angry too...
kyle8 (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 3:02PM EST (link)Because In Texas there is a tremendous push to almost force or trick EVERY child into going to college. It is part of an indoctrination in the public schools.
The truth is that not everyone should go to college and people with good trade skills can make MUCH more money than the average college graduate.
Auto Mechanics, Air Conditioning repairmen, and Plumbers are all people who can make big dollars, if they apprentice for several years and become good at what they do.
“Nothing works like freedom, Nothing succeeds like liberty”
Kyle
chicago thuggery style
Scope (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 3:04PM EST (link)Obama will tell the lie, and you Obama plants will swear to it.
Could Be Obama's JOctober Moment
rcov092 (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 3:15PM EST (link)Would not that be so great!
“Not One Red Dime for the NRSC or NRCC till they stop trying to elect liberals”
Join the RedState Strike Force
Joe the Plumber Has Much In Common With Obama
rcov092 (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 3:30PM EST (link)Plumbers are the quintessential Community Organizers. This Joe knows what runs downhill…Obama’s economic plan.
“Not One Red Dime for the NRSC or NRCC till they stop trying to elect liberals”
Join the RedState Strike Force
Dont ever let school get in the way of your education
Alberta (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 3:47PM EST (link)My favourite example of why college is stupid (although im paying like 10gs a year to go, I think its a little cheaper in Canada) is Bill Gates.
The quote comes from Twain
Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.
Abraham Lincoln
my apologies to RS members
woodsman (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 4:00PM EST (link)It seems I have attracted vermin into the house. Time to start setting bait!
McCain fights back
woodsman (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 4:12PM EST (link)What a great setup!
ugly familiar patterns
paint_it_red (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 6:33PM EST (link)Liberals going door to door and then seeking to destroy those that disagree with them.
Or, politics of personal destruction. He did it to Hilary, he’s gone after Palin, and now Joe the plumber.
Obama will let nothing stand in his way in his quest for political power.
“It is not good to cultivate a respect so much for the law as for the right. The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think is right.” Henry David Thoreau
“The means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.” Martin Luther King Jr.
“If you want peace, work for Justice.” Pope John Paul II
Somehow, I heard a bit of the Tom Likus show
Flagstaff (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 9:46PM EST (link)tonight. Tom was insisting the Joe is Charles Keating’s son-in-law or some such, and therefore he must have been a plant. I wasn’t able to hear if he even TRIED to answer your point.
Anybody else hear the details?
I see Doberman piled on, too.
“The press is so powerful in its image-making role that it can make a criminal look like he’s the victim and make the victim look like he’s the criminal. If you aren’t careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”– Malcolm X, Audubon Ballroom, December 13, 1964
median plumber income: $37,514
BlizzardOfOz Friday, October 17th at 11:05PM EST (link)It’s the average plumber that desperately needs a tax break, not the Joes of the world (assuming they actually exist), who would be making more than twice as much as the average lawyer with 20 years’ experience.
Average Joe
Pomme (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 11:09PM EST (link)works for a company employing how many other Joes? Add up their collective salaries, add in other expenses, and how much does that one small business make?
Obama wants to tax those companies who will in turn have to fire Joe.
“Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views” William F Buckley Jr.
Comprehension is not your friend, is it?
mbecker908 (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 11:14PM EST (link)Joe wasn’t concerned about “plumbers salaries”, he was concerned about “business owners income”.
You wouldn’t understand the difference any more than BO, who has never held a real job.
Did you watch the whole clip?
moman Friday, October 17th at 11:17PM EST (link)If you watch the full YouTube clip, you will see that Obama answers Joe the Plumber’s question with great care and respect. He acknowledges that, in the end, he and Joe may have a difference of opinion. Joe the Plumber could not have asked for more from a Presidential candidate.
Nevertheless, Joe the Plumber characterized Obama’s response as a “tap-dance” better than those of Sammy Davis, Jr. We could debate the racial overtones of that statement, but what is beyond debate is that Joe the Plumber’s question was not a sincere one. He never had an open mind to Obama’s response, or an open mind about Obama himself. Moreover, he misrepresented his own situation. He’s nowhere near the level of income he claimed.
McCain told Joe the Plumber, “Congratulations, you’re rich.” Guess what? He’s not. The tax policies McCain claimed would help Joe will not help him. Obama’s will.
As a symbol of working Americans who will be hurt by an Obama administration, Joe the Plumber is an embarrassing failure for the McCain campaign. As a symbol of lower-middle class Americans duped into supporting trickle-down economics by their pipe dreams of future wealth, Joe the Plumber is perfect.
The average Joe will be out on his ass...
izoneguy (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 11:21PM EST (link)..after Obama gets elected. Business owners across the country are already cutting back and downsizing. Something that the Federal Government seems to have a hard time doing.
The point cannot be made often enough: Modern liberalism, as embodied in the Obama presidency, is the defender of the status quo. And the status quo is a road to economic ruin. Political forces cannot redistribute the wealth that the economic system does not produce.
Realize
Pomme (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 11:23PM EST (link)Obama himself earned most of his money during the Bush years.
So did I. (I am not rich by any sense of the term, yet my taxes go up under Obama’s plan.)
Joe’s crime seems to have been his “pipe dream.” Nice of you to police his fantasies.
You keep your fantasy of Obama’s plan, sparky.
“Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views” William F Buckley Jr.
You are an embarrassment for defending Obama...
izoneguy (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 11:35PM EST (link)Obama is a pathological liar, has a Narcissistic Personality Disorder and has never run a business. This is why I am not voting for him. His days as a communist organizer will come in handy when he starts dealing with China & Russia. What the Obamagoons have done to Joe is just a foreshadowing of things to come. Plus Obama says on thing and does another. He will start taxing everything that moves and give it to Kenya & Odinga. Or he might just make Kenya the 58th state. Obama knows we have 57 states.
The point cannot be made often enough: Modern liberalism, as embodied in the Obama presidency, is the defender of the status quo. And the status quo is a road to economic ruin. Political forces cannot redistribute the wealth that the economic system does not produce.
Racial Overtones
MikeO Friday, October 17th at 11:35PM EST (link)Why don’t you go debate the racial overtones of the tap-dance comment with yourself. The one positive thing to come out of this divisive election season is that the race card has lost most of its effectiveness.
There is one and only one issue here:
If your phony Teleprompter Jesus is so danged smart, then how did Joe, the “embarrassing failure” (your words), trick the president of the Harvard Law Review into slipping his mask?
That One either got bested by a plumber you consider beneath you, or That One did this to himself. Either way, what does carrying water for this zero make you?
I disagree with your analysis
civil truth (Diary) Friday, October 17th at 11:36PM EST (link)…however, I would commend you that unlike many of your fellow citizens on the left, you have stated your position respectfully and kept to the issues rather than attack the messenger.
That said, Obama’s tax plan is insupportable by revenues, not to mention the disastrous effects that its taxation on businesses will have on business activity. Remember the story of the goose who laid golden eggs?
Big business is not our enemy until it evokes the power of government to give it protected status against competitors.
I’d rather have “trickle down” that shut off the water flow.
The greatest evil…is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the offices of a thoroughly nasty business concern. -C.S. Lewis
http://www.gmsplace.com/
Respectfully?
MikeO Saturday, October 18th at 12:01AM EST (link)Hints at throwing the race card
Calls the question “not sincere”
Red Herring argumentation falsely accusing Joe the Plumber of misrepresenting his income situation
Asserts that Joe the Plumber would want help from the government
“pipe dreams of future wealth”
There is a lot more to respectfulness than simply tone. Sophistry is disrespectful on its face.
You're talking about revenue...
BlizzardOfOz Saturday, October 18th at 12:01AM EST (link)The $250K refers to income. So let’s say Joe the Plumbing Business Owner is pulling $1 mil in revenue with $750K in employee salaries, expenses and deductions. Then he’s making $250K, and would not see his taxes raised. Any more than that he would see taxed at a higher marginal rate. I mean, am I the only one who thinks someone making that much money is VERY well off and would (or should) not mind too much paying for a tax break for us middle-classers who are getting squeezed? Come on…
This is the Most Moronic comment of the Day..Congrats
speciallist (Diary) Saturday, October 18th at 12:06AM EST (link)“I mean, am I the only one who thinks someone making that much money is VERY well off and would (or should) not mind too much paying for a tax break for us middle-classers who are getting squeezed? Come on…”
I would agree but....
izoneguy (Diary) Saturday, October 18th at 12:11AM EST (link)Obama has not said what the plan is…his bad.
He mentions $250,000….
What is everyone supposed to think?
Run to the accountant and have them
get the calculator out????
My friend…I have many clients who make
(NET) well over $250,000….
for a business with gross revenue of even One-Two million
or more that is possible. When an owner of several McDonalds restaurants here’s Obama wanting more his immediate reaction would be – I am going to have to let someone go…not I will raise my prices…which they would probably hve to do anyway.
What ever the amount of a tax rebate that the “middle class” will get will be eaten up by higher prices and more time wasted because their will be less help at every business counter in Obamaland.
The point cannot be made often enough: Modern liberalism, as embodied in the Obama presidency, is the defender of the status quo. And the status quo is a road to economic ruin. Political forces cannot redistribute the wealth that the economic system does not produce.
I mind very much!
Pomme (Diary) Saturday, October 18th at 12:13AM EST (link)Have you no conscience!!??!!
The money they want to redistribute is not theirs to give!!!!
If you want so much to have so much, do what most do. Show some self pride and work for it!
“Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views” William F Buckley Jr.
I don't recall Obama ever being asked to clarify that.
Tim_Schieferecke (Diary) Saturday, October 18th at 12:14AM EST (link)So for you, the cut off level to become a mega corporation is 250 K revenue. Now stick with me, when a person starts a company and it starts to really take off, he has to create jobs to help him/her expand. When he starts getting close to 250K revenue, what is the impetus to hire anyone else that will send him into a higher tax bracket? What the whole lib tax structure does is ensure mediocrity. Did you know that the first system of government that was used by the Pilgrims was socialism? Hmmm? Do you know why they gave it up? Hmmm? It was and is called starvation. No one gave a damn about productivity because everything produced was placed in a collective. Why go out and bust your ass when you get nothing extra for doing so. When they gave that trainwreck up, and allowed for free market capitalism, the Pilgrims success took off. Socialism was, is and will always be an untenable, unnatural condition for man. Open your mind up for the truth. Socialism is a lie. Class envy is its weapon.
Tim Schieferecke
Who, precisely, is squeezing the middle class anyway?
29Victor (Diary) Saturday, October 18th at 12:28AM EST (link)3 points
BlizzardOfOz Saturday, October 18th at 12:37AM EST (link)First- Let’s say someone is pulling $500K. I don’t know anyone like that personally, but are they really going to be so budgeted to the hilt that they would rather scale back their business than cut their personal expenses? What I mean is, say next year their net income is $450K instead. Wouldn’t they just, say, only buy ONE solid gold statue of themselves, or postpone the purchase of their 3rd vacation home?
Second- Say someone made an extra $50K to bring their pre-tax income to $250K, and of that $50K they kept $25K. Next year, are they going to say “Well, if I make an extra $50K this year, I’ll only get to keep $20K of it… screw it, I’m not going to expand any more.” I seriously doubt someone industrious enough to build a successful small business is going to suddenly become lazy like that.
Third- To Pomme. I’m not sure what to say. I didn’t really want to pay $1 trillion to bail out derivatives traders who have damaged our economy for a long time to come. I do work hard, and I have more than enough for myself. All I’m saying is, “Taxes are evil because I’m rich and greedy and I only care about myself” is not a principle that most of us can rally around. (And I’m not saying that applies to you- I don’t know where you’re coming from.)
You are the Ultimate Class Warrior...i'm done with you
speciallist (Diary) Saturday, October 18th at 12:44AM EST (link)victocrat…Good luck with that Obama thing…
Yep, he's an Obama tool.
Tim_Schieferecke (Diary) Saturday, October 18th at 12:50AM EST (link)I’ve held better conversations with a brick wall.
Tim Schieferecke
thanks for your back-up...your right Brick wall
speciallist (Diary) Saturday, October 18th at 12:54AM EST (link)n/p
I don't think they follow the directions
Tim_Schieferecke (Diary) Saturday, October 18th at 12:58AM EST (link)when they’re mixing the Obama Kool-Aid powder in their water. I don’t think they’re diluting or (Obama term, cutting it) correctly. Maybe they’re also mixing it with some of that other powder he used to use. Who knows?
Tim Schieferecke
wait...
BlizzardOfOz Saturday, October 18th at 12:59AM EST (link)Your entire contribution was “most moronic comment of the day”, but I’m the brick wall? Okay…
No. ZERO points
MikeO Saturday, October 18th at 1:02AM EST (link)Q: Why do you obsess over what other people make?
A: It’s because you want to get your hands on it.
What right to you have...
29Victor (Diary) Saturday, October 18th at 1:16AM EST (link)…to tell other people what to do with what is theirs? Or to tell them when they have “enough” or “too much?”
It’s not your money. You have no right to it whatsoever.
What if I think that you have too much free time? You have time to comment on blogs and wait for a response and then comment again. That’s entirely too much free time.
That time could be better used serving someone else…someone whom I pick.
Also…
I assume you live in America, so (unless you live under a bridge) you have a better standard of living than what, 60% of the world? I bet they’d think that you have waaaaay more money than you need and would love it if someone came and took a bunch of your stuff and gave it to them. Do you really need that Wii? Or that computer?
BTW, how much do you give to those in poor countries without being compelled? How much time and money do you freely give to those less fortunate than you?
I know that Biden gives next to nothing. I know that most liberals give far, far less than most conservatives. Is that fair?
55555555555555555555
Tim_Schieferecke (Diary) Saturday, October 18th at 1:20AM EST (link)I like that free time analogy. Great.
Tim Schieferecke
Why is that moronic?
I actually always thought you guys were arrogant pinheads. Saturday, October 18th at 1:22AM EST (link)Look- I get that the concept of paying taxes seems somehow hideously unfair.
Get over it.
We live in a country that has a government. This government provides services. Now you may not like all of the services, and you may justifiably feel that these services are rendered inefficiently, but you live here and you are responsible for part of the debt. We all are. It makes sense if we are going to make any headway on paying down this huge debt and stop borrowing money at a terrifyingly accelerating rate then we are all going to have to pony up our share.
What has become undeniably clear is that our current economic policies are not working. It makes sense that those have more money can contribute more. Now stop hyperventilating and acting as though the slightly higher taxes on higher incomes are somehow unfairly confiscatory. The wealthy (and yes, making over 250,000 is well off) may spend a little bit less as a result of higher taxes, but the middle classes who pay less taxes will make up for that by having more and spending more-therefore helping the economy.
You have to think a little farther out than that
I actually always thought you guys were arrogant pinheads. Saturday, October 18th at 1:38AM EST (link)The owner of the burger joint pays some higher taxes…but the people who BUY the burgers have more money..and go buy more burgers…so the owner of the burger place has to hire 2 more people, not lay someone off.
And no, the owner will not pay so many more taxes on the increased income that he sees NO more profit. The tsx increases are more than offset by increased income
Nope
MikeO Saturday, October 18th at 1:58AM EST (link)The only people hyperventilating around here are you and BlizzardOfOz.
If you quit worrying so much about how other people are doing and how you’re going rob Peter to subsidize Paul, then maybe you can make something of yourself someday.
If you choose, instead, simply to carp about the unfairness of the world, then you are beneath contempt.
If you are so sure that your Marxist idea is a winner, then have your candidate campaign openly on a platform of wealth redistribution, and we’ll see how that goes. As I said elsewhere, tell your Teleprompter Jesus that I double-dog dare him to take this show on the road.
If I were one of your clients, I'd be selling my businesses, paying the pre Obama capital gains taxes, and hiding my money.
Tim_Schieferecke (Diary) Saturday, October 18th at 1:59AM EST (link)These guys just don’t get it do they izoneguy? I’d wager that a lot of that scenario has and is happening with the threat of a “likely”* Obama victory. If I had those kinds of investments, I’m not sure I’d want to stay in business when B.O. and his merry thieves in the most liberal Congress ever seize power. This stuff seems so simple to comprehend to me. Liberals always hold good business decisions to be a static factor that doesn’t change with a change in economic policy. Instead, they go straight to class warfare and the punishment of the “fat cats” that worked their tails off to get to where they are and are just making a good decision to get the hell out till the tide turns. And no, I don’t include those that broke securities and exchange laws as members of the group that worked their tails off.
Tim Schieferecke
"It makes sense that those have more money can contribute more."....I am very disappointed...sigh
speciallist (Diary) Saturday, October 18th at 2:07AM EST (link)n/p
Don't forget
Husker (Diary) Saturday, October 18th at 3:41AM EST (link)He made Bubba look like David Duke.