...but I think he'd stand a much better chance if he didn't change the entire message of his campaign...

Looks like you are going to get your wish.
Here comes Rev. Wright on robo-steroids!

This country is in serious trouble...

Soo...let me get this straight:


First, John McCain was the "experienced" one, running on that. Then he switched to "maverick". After Palin, his campaign represents "real" change. And know they're running based off of some liar that badly misrepresents Ohioans? Really? Did I miss anything?

That many people know who Joe the Plumber is?? What a weird country this is.

Geez, I already own my business AND already knew that Obama's tax plan would benefit me. When do I get my fifteen minutes?

That many people know who Joe the Plumber is?? What a weird country this is.

What a weird campaign McCain is running, you mean. I'll bet if you checked some non-battleground states, the percentages would be a helluva lot lower.

All signs point to ----> senility.

Seriously.

"but I think he'd stand a much better chance if he didn't change the entire message of his campaign on a week to week basis"

This week is "Socialist Week". I think next week is "Communist" Week or maybe "Communist Cannibal" week is they are real desperate.

A misstep by the usually focused McCain Campaign ??? I am personally shocked! Just Shocked!

As a Republican who is voting for Obama, I think the "I'm 'Joe the Plumber'" gambit is the most ridiculous self-parody I have ever seen in a political campaign. I mean, if you're going to go down, why not go down with something of substance?

Honestly, how many people are going to send in videos to this thing? Asking people to think of themselves as "Joe the Plumber" is just a weird way of getting your (populist?) message across. Most people don't role play like that, apart from playing D&D as a kid.

I have nothing against plumbers, and have hired a few in my life, but my job and my situation are nothing like theirs, and they would say the same about me. (Imagine a campaign called "I'm 'Joe the White-collar Worker.'")

And isn't calling anyone "Joe the Plumber" a little bit condescending? As if a person's identity is wrapped up in his job, and wants to be treated like a child? "I'm Laura the Lawyer." "I'm Stu the Salesman." "I'm Betty the Beautician." "I'm Fred the Funeral Director."

When McCain started staring at the camera and talking to Joe the Plumber during the third debate, again and again, it was kind of creepy. "You're rich, Joe!" Okayyy...

Good God, I almost wish for Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee.

I hope one day the Republican party can be viable again, and have a renewed integrity and ideological sophistication. But this is truly embarrassing.

Joe the plumber ...is not paying huge dividends, according to the poll.

Or his taxes apparently.

This whole "Joe" schtick makes me sick. It is such a typical McCain scam. Joe not only challenged Obama by confronting him regarding his tax plan, he also is a registered (with errors) Republican, Hates our Social Security, Hates our progressive tax system, Loves him some Iraqi war, Loves Him some closed borders...etc.

In other words, about as far from an undecided voter as one can get, but yes an average middle income person who would enjoy a tax cut under Obama's plan (Joe's pie-in-the-sky dreams of "some day" earning >$250K aside).

John is throwing the dice.

We know he loves the game of craps and has been hailed as a founding father of Indian Gaming.

The problem is, he's gambling with his election, hoping he rolls more sevens than snake-eyes.

Just one more time. I think if we try this approach we'll hit the jackpot. My luck has got to turn someday. I'll put all my money down on the 'Joe the Plumber" meme for the next few weeks.
My money says Sarah's my ticket to the Whitehouse.

When you see John as a gambler, many of his bizarre antics become easier to grasp, but not necessarily comprehend.

John thinks if he plays us all with loaded dice that we'd never notice.

He's loaded alright, with houses beyond counting, cars beyond numbers, and more!

At this point, I think Joe the Plumber is essentially a play for Ohio votes, and not much else.

What I find most despicable is that McCain did not even prepare Joe(Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher/burger)the Plumber for the onslaught he would create from identifying him on the 'debate.' I wonder if Obama knew this was coming? He didn't seem to know in advance, and it was McC who repeated the name over 20 times. It is possible that John's irresponsible reference to Joe on global TV created more hardship on him than he was already suffering. His tax lien, unlicensed status and exposing his employer, Newell Plumbing(I think that is the name of his employer) to this unwanted notoriety. What about his son? The lack of sensitivity to the consequences of McCain/Palin's poor judgment is what I find more of an issue than whether Joe the P. will be helped or hurt by Obama's tax program. Put yourself in this circumstance: you ask a question at a town hall meeting or along a rope line and your identity is broadcast worldwide without your consent or knowledge. Your entire life becomes public and you and your family are exposed to something for which you are unprepared. Celebrities expect this sort of attention, but I don't.

Where is compassion and human understanding? I don't agree with Joe the Plumber on most everything he says, but I feel for him as a fellow human being. He does not deserve to be the whipping boy for John McCain, who daily shows himself to be a coward of monumental proportions. I think the message for Obama's surrogates could well be: A vote for McCain/Palin is a vote for cowardice. Watch your back, bacause they won't.
peace,
st john

The problem is, based on those numbers, in both cases they get more people saying they will vote for McCain based on "Joe" than those who say they will vote against.

So while it's not moving mountains, it's a net benefit. They don't care that most people don't give a hoot about "Joe".

It's obvious at this point that the McCain campaign isn't going for mass appeal, they're going for whatever solidifies the base. "Joe" does that.

The Hail Mary play of picking Palin turned out to be a bomb, so McCain is trying another Hail Mary with Joe the Plumber. He might as well change his theme again (from Ayers to Joe) since a week has gone by since he's last changed it. Since Joe's taken more press conferences than Palin, I quite expect that next week McCain will drop Palin from the ticket and make Joe his VP.

Why not? Joe's probably more qualified that Palin. After all, doesn't he run a business? And if he lives in Toledo, he can probably see Canada from his house.

"If McCain manages to pull out a victory in two weeks, it will be despite an incoherent campaign strategy, not because of it."

If McCain wins, our country will cease to exist for all practical purposes. The Supreme Court will become the right wing ditto stamp pad far into the future. The Constitution will be a fading memory. President Palin will usher in the new order -- more robed masters -- until Armageddon can be initiated.

Gloom and doom? -- absolutely -- this election is that important.

o
o

But the real kicker is that even if "Joe" were making 250K, he'd only pay $740 more under Obama than under McPain's plan. Oh Woe is Joe!

John is throwing the dice.

Funny, looks more like feces to me. McCain and Palin have been flinging shit like zoohouse monkeys for a month now praying that something will stick.

I went to a Palin rally last weekend (hey, I was curious) and they were already selling Joe the Plumber buttons, t-shirts, and bobble-headed dolls. Quick turnaround to make those, don't you think?

The problem is, based on those numbers, in both cases they get more people saying they will vote for McCain based on "Joe" than those who say they will vote against.

Will, don't you believe it. NOBODY changed their opinion because of Joe. Nobody. This just shows the number of McCain supporters who were willing to lie to pollsters in order to make McCain look better, compared with Obama supporters who were willing to lie to make McCain look worse. That's all. We should just be proud that there were fewer Obama supporters willing to lie about such a stupid thing.

The reality is that Joe doesn't affect anything. Nor should he. He was nothing more than a McCain supporter who tried to nail Obama with a hypothetical question that he pretended was real. He already admitted that last week. And even if Joe's situation was real and he was a real undecided voter, who cares? He's no more special than any other undecided voter. That's the dumbest thing about the "We're All Joe" campaign. Because we ARE all Joe. There's nothing special about him or his story. That's why nobody cares about him. Even conservatives are only interested in him because liberals were attacking him. Even THEY don't care about Joe.

Soccer Moms and Joe Sixpacks were annoying political devices politicos liked to use when talking down to "regular" Americans. Joe the Plumber doesn't even hit that level of stupidity. Nobody cares about Joe.

McCain is starting to remind me of a blind guy, who has lot his walker, trying to find his way through a funhouse of mirrors. He's out of place, out of date, out of touch, and quite possibly, out of his mind.

2% in Ohio seems like a big deal to me.

doctor biobrain, one disagreement. imo, liberals weren't "attacking" joe the plumber so much as pointing out he was not what he was claiming to be, and not the working class hero the gop tried to make him out to be. if I claim to be king of france is it "attacking" me to prove i'm not?

I do agree however, that the question of whether or not Joe's story makes people more likely to vote for McCain or Obama is an asinine question, as they apparently just asked the question to anyone, and not undecideds. If they wound up asking McCain supporters the question, the McCain campaign has nothing to lose & more to gain if those question claim that they're now more likely to vote for McCain. But without knowing how they leaned pre-Joe the plumber, there's no way to accurately to gauge what kind of motivating factor the story is. In other words,it's an unscientific b.s. question.

McCain isn't just changing direction, he's contradicting his earlier message. For weeks the McCain campaign has been saying that Obama will raise your taxes even if you make much less than 250k (like 42k). Now they are accusing Obama of giving too much to people who make less than 250k. Count me confused.

Just keep throwing stuff at the wall and see what sticks...

doctor biobrain, one disagreement. imo, liberals weren't "attacking" joe the plumber

Sorry Slappy, I should have put the word "attacking" in quotes. I was just repeating what the wingnuts are using as their justification for defending Joe (and yes, they do support Joe). They also insist that this would never have happened to Joe if he supported Obama. I guess Joe has the right kind of countertops.

This is just like the rest of McCain's campaign -- theatricality over substance.

"Where is compassion and human understanding? I don't agree with Joe the Plumber on most everything he says, but I feel for him as a fellow human being. He does not deserve to be the whipping boy for John McCain, who daily shows himself to be a coward of monumental proportions. I think the message for Obama's surrogates could well be: A vote for McCain/Palin is a vote for cowardice. Watch your back, bacause they won't.
peace,
st john"
I quote myself and ask, again, why everyone keeps the focus on Joe and not on the perpetrator of his overexposure to criticism and "celebrity"? From what I have read, Joe did not ask to be "outed"; McCain must have heard about his question to Obama and thought he could get some mileage out of using his story, without know what his story was.

Spreading the Wealth? It is called commerce. You provided goods and services that I want/need; I spread some wealth to you in exchange for your goods and services. I pay taxes(well, not always) in exchange for you or someone else building and maintaining infrastructure, providing police services and firefighting services. That is spreading wealth around. Got a problem with that? Joe, would you rather not be paid for services to the "public" than have taxes collected on your behalf? Sounds like 'socialism' to me!

good luck owning your own business.

peace,
st john

Oh, yeah they don't? I had a McCain advocate stand at my desk today and quote...quote Joe the Plumber at me.

Joe, and all the other McCain jabs at Obama are still and very important to the desperate 30% who are running out of ways to justify their need to vote the Republican party ticket.

That's why some media poll works are still trying to convince them they aren't becoming an electoral minority, and the conservative pundits continue to furiously stir the Angry American Pot.

These conservative caterers still have families to feed after all.

Joe, I just cain't quitcha. John

Truly one of the most pressing problems in America today is the unfair tax burden eventually possibly faced by hypothetically wealthy future versions of ourselves. But global warming, that's just a theory.