Joe (Sam) the Plumber and eliminating members of Congress

Joe or Sam, the plumber thinks it wouldn't be a bad idea if some member of Congress were shot.

Thanks to Think Progress; read the full article here.

Joe the plumber to advise Young Republicans?

[Image from the Christian Science Monitor]

Yup! Sam (Joe) Wurzelbacher, the unlicensed plumbing magnate made famous by McCain/Palin, is going to provide advice to Young Republicans at the 2009 Conservative Political Action Conference.

This merely indicates the depths to which the Republican Party has sunk.

Both Bush and Cheney "starred" at last year's conference. They seemed to have disappeared below the radar this year.

So, enter Sam (Joe). Oh, and also John Ziegler who is busy trying to rehabilitate Palin, blaming the media of course, for her blundering, asinine idiocy.

Rush Limbaugh "will be there as the biggest draw."

In fact, every nogoodnik Republican moron on the far right wing of the wingnut Party will be there: Michelle Bachmann, the mental midget from Minnesota; as well as the lovely, truthful, warm Ann Coulter.

Talk about the bottom of the barrel!


The above from Katharine Zeleski here.

Joe the economical plumber

This is the stuff of fiction. Bad fiction.

Leaders of the Repugnican Party, bereft of even one, single, simple, sensible idea to help pull our economy out of the Bush dumpster (tax cuts for the rich don't count), have resorted to their usual ploy of manipulating the media to get across their irrational and generally harmful talking points.

What the hell am I talking about?

Joe the plumber. That guy who just happened to accost Obama at a campaign stop; the guy who, with the help of Repugnican nogoodniks has managed to make a career out of being a bumbling nobody; the guy who isn't really what he says he is or what he pretends to be.

According to Faiz Shakir at Think Progress, "House GOP congressional aides decided to invite [Sam aka Joe] Wurzelbacher to a meeting on the stimulus in hopes that it will attract some media attention." Evidently Sam aka Joe told Punxsutawney Phil he didn't much like Obama's stimulus package. Punxsutawney Phil asked him why. Sam aka Joe said plumbers didn't need no Viagra.

Things must be pretty bad for the Repugnicans when even our kiss-ass media aren't taking them seriously.

Steve Benen said, "This is what it's come to for Republican staffers in Congress. In the midst of an economic crisis, after balking at a stimulus package, the GOP is turning to an unlicensed plumber/campaign prop to discuss legislative strategy on economic policy."

He's right, except that I don't think even Republicans are stupid enough to believe that Joe/Sam knows a damn thing about anything, especially economic policy. They are simply hauling his unlicensed ass in front of the cameras to get people to NOTICE them. Few people these days care what Republicans think about anything, and rightfully so, as the pain so many millions of us are suffering is due to the Republicans.

I haven't heard what Wurzelbacher had to say, but I'll bet he doesn't know an economic package from a UPS package.

Rick Sanchez - changing my mind

In the past, I've been fairly critical of Rick Sanchez, remembering his antic and goofy enthusiasm as a newscaster in South Florida.

This video may well change my mind. Anyone who thinks Sam (or Joe) the Plumber is nutcase is OK in my book.

The next time Rick goes after Sam, though, I wish he wouldn't pull his punches. Heh, heh.

(h/t to Firedoglake)

Enough already, with Sam (or Joe) the plumber!

Yeah, his name isn't Joe, it's Sam, as in Samuel. And he's a Republican shill who got conned by the McCain team and now his ass is in a wringer and he's crying about the "bad" media who dare look into his personal affairs and turn his life upside down.

Screw you, Sam! You asked for it!

And McCain, dumb ass that he is, keeps talking about Joe the plumber who isn't Joe the plumber but Sam the non-plumber. In fact, when campaigning (again) in Ohio today, he said this about Sam, the non-plumber:

"The real winner this week was one of Ohio's own -- Joe the Plumber. He's the only person who could get a real answer out of Senator Obama ... Congratulations, Joe, you did what nobody else has been able to do. That's an impressive achievement."

Yuk, yuk, yuk. Hell, McCain's so dumb he doesn't even need Palin to pull down his campaign. He's doing it all by himself!

I think Colin Powell said something like that today when he endorsed Obama for president!

Back to Joe, or Sam. Enough already. Joe is not Joe, he's Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher. He is not a licensed plumber or a plumber's apprentice, either. And there is no way in hell he could have ever bought a plumbing business. He makes about $40K a year. Twice divorced, he and his son live with his dad.

Wurzelbacher is also a registered Republican.

He is not a member of the Plumber's union. Gary Hamilton, director of the plumbing division of the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry, said "He [Sam] doesn't speak for me as a plumber." And as regards the 350,000 member of the union, Hamilton, said Sam "sure doesn't represent them."

The union, in fact, has endorsed Obama.


Now, Sam the Republican shill, pretended to Obama that he wanted to buy the business where he works. Hah! The business wouldn't come close to $250,000 taxable earnings. To do that, according to the Wall Street Journal, a plumbing company like the one Sam works for would have to have $5 million in sales annually. Not likely!


Was Sam really a shill? You decide. Not only did he set up an unlikely scenario for Senator Obama, he lied about his name and his "plumberliness" and he pretended he could buy a business and net $250,000 annually. Then, he said he didn't like Social Security and would refuse it when he hit retirement age. He also said that Obama's health plan was "socialist."

It's very likely that Sam wouldn't know "socialism" from a "soccer mom." And do you really think Sam is gonna turn down a gift from Uncle Sam every month when he hits retirement time?


So, enough already with Sam or Joe or Schmo the plumber!


And why the hell are we talking about any of this when there are real issues with which Mr. McCain ought to be dealing.

Hey, Mr. McCain, here news for you: even if Sam the non-plumber bought the business, Obama would give him a tax break.

Joe, the plumber, Vickie Iseman and McCain campaign weirdness

Further evidence that the McCain campaign is running amok comes from the Republican plant, Joe the plumber, who rose up out of nowhere at an Obama rally just as Obama was walking down the rope, to ask Obama a pointed question, the answer to which was irrelevant. Obama was set up by this non-licensed plumber who's never made $250K in a year in his life.

McCain can't give Joe up, though, in spite of the fact that none of this has a damn thing to do with anything except to showcase McCain's lies about Obama's tax plan. In fact, McCain called Joe today and they discussed "stuff." Isn't that wonderful? And then McCain suggested people e-mail Joe to show their support for him. The problem is that the Internet-challenged McCain didn't offer a way to e-mail him as he didn't give out Joe's e-mail address.

Weird.


It's get weirder. Vickie Iseman, the lobbyist, who earlier this year was thought to be having an affair with McCain, told the National Journal magazine just the other day, "I did not have a sexual relationship with Senator McCain."

What the hell's going on here? Vickie Iseman's been old-news for many months. So far as I know, nobody at this point is asking whether she had an affair with her pet goat, much less McCain. So why would she make such a statement, "out-of-the-blue," so to speak?

One reporter suggested that something may be in the wind and Iseman is trying to head it off before it starts. Hmmm...


Both McCain and Iseman have denied there was anything inappropriate in their relationship.

She could be telling truth. Here's what we know: Iseman works for a lobbying firm which represented Paxson Communications for which McCain did some favors back in 1999. Those favors involved writing letters to the FCC to suggest the FCC give rapid consideration of Bud Paxon's request to buy a license for a TV station in Pittsburgh.

Paxson, at the time, was personally giving big bucks to McCain for his 2000 presidential bid, and Paxson employees gave McCain over $20K. Paxon also gifted McCain with the use of his company's jet on at least four different occasions in 1999 for campaign travel.

We also know that both McCain and Iseman have lied. McCain said, "At no time have I ever done anything that would betray the public trust." He must have forgotten Mr. Keating or he has a really warped view as to what it means to "betray" the public trust.

Iseman lied when she said "I have never even been alone with Senator McCain." According to news reports she was alone with McCain on a Paxson jet flight from Florida to Washington.


Back to square one: Why, in god's name, would Ms. Iseman bring all of this to the fore now? What possible motivation could she have? Unless...unless...as suggested above, someone is about to make public allegations about herself and Senator McCain.

Or maybe she just wants 15 more minutes of fame.

Weird.