It's about attaching a real-life person to a policy point the campaign wants to emphasize.

Jared:Subway::Joe the Plumber:McCain.

In a country where 'Marketing' is a university major, what else did you expect.

So why is it, exactly, that McCain sees the need for a "Joe the Plumber" tour?

To sway the wives of Palin's supporters.

Given that the strategy is to lie about whether the middle class will be better off under Obama's tax plan versus McCain's, it's more convincing if you have a symbol for your lie, and even name a bus tour for that symbol.

And what is incredible within this delusional con jog, total fraud, is when McEvil and his bitch, Mrs 666, stand there and lie to the automatons that come to their lynchings and emit the evil puss out of their mouths that tell the automatons that 'they want to take money from the rich and give it to the poor' and the automatons cheer .... fucking cheer .. never mind the actual fact that obama's tax plan would PUT MORE MONEY IN THEIR FUCKING POCKETS .. nope, that doesn't matter .. they cheer THAT THEY WILL BE WORSE OFF WITH McEvil and his bitch than they would be under Obama's tax plan .. THIS IS FUCKING LOONEY TUNES .. HOW STUPID CAN THESE AUTOMATONS BE ?

Of course you have, Steve. How about the drive to convince Americans that Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11 (which many still believe)? Bin Laden had specifically denounced Saddam as a secular enemy of Islam who needed to be overthrown. But Americans buy into inanity all the time - not all of them will poo-pooh the Joe the Plumber tour. Wonder what the sound track will be like - maybe it'll be flush with swell sound fx.

McCain has chosen a man to be his mascot who doesn't actually prove McCain's point.

McCain has a point? I thought he was just pointing at Obama and screaming "socialist" at the top of his lungs. Right now, McCain is just trying to confuse the issue among voters who think with their guy and not with their brains. So if he hammers the "Joe the Plumber" thing enough times, a few of them might think he means them and go vote for him. He's insulting their intelligence, but hey - it's not like that's anything new for this team in this campaign cycle.

I've never seen anything like this level of inanity.

I feel pretty comfortable saying "Wait until you see what they do next week." Because, really - every few weeks they seem to do something more inane than the last time we thought they couldn't go any lower. Next week is their last chance to grab some narrative before the big day - I'm sure they'll find something really, really damn stupid to do before next Friday.

I think you meant "going to the septic tank" a little too often.

I figured this out watching Colbert last night. They just want an excuse to say a lot of Joe the Plumber / Wendy the Waitress / X the Ys to remind everyone Barack Obama has a suspiciously funny name.

stormskies, On occasions like these, we are encouraged to try decaf.

I don't understand. Does McCain think that "Joe the Plumber" is resonating with the electorate? If so, he must be privy to some polling data that I have not seen.

Is his bubble that impenetrable, or is this just more flailing?

If this is the best McCain can do, this thing is over.

mcclatchy says 'joe the plumber' is working in florida for mccain:

Not only does the economic crisis -- a benefit to Obama -- no longer lead the news casts, McCain has finally seized on a pocketbook issue by using the plumber to talk taxes, welfare and socialism, said Mason-Dixon pollster Brad Coker.

''Joe the Plumber created the situation where Obama made a public relations mistake about spreading the wealth around,'' Coker said. ``So there's a Joe the Plumber Effect to the degree that McCain finally found some sort of economic message that people can relate to -- taxes.''

This would be defining desperation down. Or grasping at straws. Take your pick.

Going on tour with someone stupid enough to believe that getting a bigger tax break under Obama is a good reason to vote for McCain doesn't strike me as a good idea. But since McCain's base seems to consist of an army of Joe the Plumbers, it resonates with them somehow.

Looking at the web ad on the McCain website and watching a slew of people say "I'm Joe the Plumber." "I'm Joe the Plumber."

?

The only way all this makes sense is that John must have an echo/tape loop in his brain that whispers "I'm Joe the Plumber." over and over again.

Country First has been supplanted by "I'm Joe The Plumber.'

When you really think about it...what could be dumber!

It's so insane that I actually can't actually fathom what "I'm Joe the Plumber." conveys.

Watch the web ad.

Not only does the economic crisis -- a benefit to Obama -- no longer lead the news casts

I guess you're not watching the same news casts I am.

The strategy reeks of desperation. It must be rather like Hitler's bunker in the McCain headquarters. Palin was already acting as a drag on the ticket, and now the story about her clothes seems really to have gained some traction with the public.

Is the RNC going to buy Joe The Plumber a new $150,000 wardrobe? He is deserving, since a rally is being wrapped around him.

I envision a McCain strategy session is populated by all the pasty, pudgy white nerds from high school that constantly had clues biting them in the ass to no discernable effect.

Next week he'll be doing the "Larry the Cable Guy" tour just to make sure he's covered all the utilities.

The Democrats should counter with "Bob the Builder" ads

Your charming persistence in thinking that there are "facts" and "reality" and "truth" is so cute and endearing.

Do you suppose that Gobbles was asked, 'why are you using the Jews to prove your point when they really don't prove your point?'

It's about what sells, what can work. And for 40 years the cry of "we're real men; Dems are sissys who want to raise your taxes and sell you to the Communists" is pretty much the only line the Repubs have had. And maybe, just maybe, this time it is not working.

As someone who worked over twenty years in a plumbing supply house plumbers do not engender sympathy from anyone.

McGovern, Dukakis and Dole say "Thank you John- because of your efforts, at last we will escape from the stigma of having run the most inept Presidential campaigns in modern times."

Gobbles? Isn't that the fuzzy, purple creature from Sesame Street that's always searching for pork rinds? No? Coulda swore........

The last President who wound up his campaign using plumbers won the campaign, but soon after lost the White House.

Is the RNC going to buy Joe The Plumber a new $150,000 wardrobe? He is deserving, since a rally is being wrapped around him.

Riff of the day, my friend, riff of the day. LOL!

"Joe the Plumber" reminds me of "Joementum", when the Lieberbot was running for President instead of Turncoat-in-Chief. Seems like it's gonna be just as effective, too.

~ Trendar

Joe the Plumber makes $44,000 a year. Sarah Palin spent three years of Joe's salary in three months on clothes.

From Japanese car trouble shooting guide: Increase in engine speed does not result in increase in vehicle speed - McCain's clutch is slipping.

Gobbles? Isn't that the fuzzy, ...

Goebbels

Sorry - was just practicing my anti-elite persona there....

McNasty is not very smart. Neither is Palin. Their supporters also tend to be dumber than a stump. You can convince stupid people of just about anything.

I'm hoping Joe the Plumber is indicted soon for tax evasion, but that would probably just make him more of a hero in the eyes of these knuckledraggers.

Politics is perception. The truth didn't matter in 2000 or 2004 and it barely matters now. Rebublicans have spent years breaking up unions and giving tax breaks to the wealthy, yet they are still largely percieved by some as the party of the middle class working "man".
Joe the plumber is a symbol, the facts don't matter. We Democrats have had the facts on our side for years. But this is politics not reality.

This whole "first name the occupation" style of rhetoric has got to be the most patronizing and demeaning thing I've ever heard from a campaign. I can't believe that McCain thinks this is working for him. Maybe it is, but if so, people are a lot stupider than I ever could have imagined.

But what about McCain's base? Tim the Investment Banker? Stan the Investor? Steve the Loan Officer? Harvey the CEO? When will these true Americans get their say?

Olbermann showed the entire exchange between Obama and "Joe the Plumber." Any rational person (not that I'm saying there are any in GOP circles) would have concluded that Obama gave a complete and coherent response and that "Joe" had nothing left to come back with after basically being told that under McCain's plan, people won't have money to be calling plumbers to fix their leaky pipes. They'll be driving to their local home improvement store to do the job themselves.

People who buy into "Joe the Plumber" would be voting for McCain anyway. "Joe" is just a perceived lifeline to grasp at when confronting reality (which we all know has a liberal bias).

If he tours with Palin, they could call it "Dumb and Plumber." Zzzzzzzzing!

The point is that if Joe the Plumber suddenly started making 10 or 100 times more money he'd be punished by the tax system. If Obama wins he'll basically have no logical reason for ambition, hard work, or ingenuity and will be forced to cower in a corner listening to Limbaugh. I'm surprised you don't get this. The actual calculation is something like this.

[actual earnings] x [actual tax savings under Obama] - [irrational daydream factor] x [hypothetical earnings] x [hypothetical big government wealth tax]

The whole thing gets multiplied by a factor which is function of Obama's skin color, the number of muslims Obama has ever shook hands with, and the number of hypothetical people Ayers might have killed if he flew a plane into a building in 1971. It's simple.

Joe the Plumber is a mythic figure created in his own mind of a successful self starter making it to the top so much so that he gets republican tax breaks.

But the truth is that Mr. Wulzerbacher made up a story to defend why he supports the mythical republican Presidintial candidate. He said that planned to buy a business that makes $250 to $285k per year. That would imply anualk cash flow of around $1,000,000.

He made up a story to argue a politica point and got caught and now for some crazy reason McCain and the people around him see this fiction as their message to the American people.

It is ablsoulty crazy, irratic, stupid, but for some reason he is doing it.

It beggs the question?
Who is Joe the plumber?

lol, there's no mystery here. Really. Its all symbolism and 'creating realities'.

So the last week of his campaign will be focused around a guy who isn't really named Joe, isn't really a plummer, doesn't always pay the taxes that he already owes, and who would get a bigger tax cut under Obama's plan?

Brilliant!

I actually started to feel a little bit sorry for McCain when he flubbed his lines in Pa. the other day, but then he and Palin say something else and I go back to hoping for an Obama landslide.
I want a strong mandate for a progressive agenda.

Olbermann showed the exchange in full last night. Obama did fine. Rather than call him Joe the plumber, his real sobriquet should be Joe the liar. He wasn't going to buy that business. He couldn't afford to. He misrepresented himself several times.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#27329837

Beyond that, I think this is a perfect example of American stupidity and masochism. It's beyond absurd.

Obama is planning to cut taxes on people making more than 250K so he can pay for tax cuts for people making less than that. Those making less than 250K who follow McCain in this nonsense are arguing against something that will BENEFIT THEM.

They are shooting themselves in the foot and going against their own interests in order to protect the class interests of those who wouldn't let them in the front door.

Obama doesn't want to increase deficits. He actually wants to pay for those tax cuts. So he's proposing to raise taxes all of 3% on wealthy Americans who received tax cuts under Bush. The same Bush tax cuts that McCain was against up until recently.

So, some Americans say this is socialism. Socialism? A progressive tax rate is socialistic? Huh? Haven't we had this same system, basically, since 1913?

Some Americans are truly too stupid for school.

The vast majority of Americans hate the estate tax, even though they are well aware that it doesn't apply to them. McCain is tapping into the same sentiment. Although the real Joe is a fraud, the abstract one is not - somewhere out there poor Joe can't buy or expand his business because of that nasty extra 3% tax on his income above $250,000, and his dream goes up in flames, and the American people react with outrage. It's phony as hell, but they can't see the facts for their rage.

Same story as the guy who leaves his little farm with two goats and an asparagus field to his family, but oh no, they have to sell it to pay the estate tax. Phony again, but their emotions prevent them from seeing that.

So down with the tax break for the middle class, and back to some more breaks for the rich, a reduction in capital gains taxes, elimination of the estate tax, and ordinary people are happy again.

That's the way it is. Maybe we are genetically wired to enjoy being trampled on.

Cripes, asdf, Thank God I read the last paragrahph, I was actually taking you seriously for a moment.

Thats our talking point and we're sticking to it . We don't read no stinkin' polls.

I've never seen anything like this level of inanity

You misspelled "insanity."

This is terribly odd for a variety of reasons, but the problem that stands out for me is that McCain has chosen a man to be his mascot who doesn't actually prove McCain's point.

Look, you presumably well-educated mostly middle-class high-information elitist voters, this isn't meant for your consumption. You were never voting for McCain to begin with. Again I say, you mock this at your political peril. Of course the guy is a dolt and if his narrative had been true (according to his imperfect understanding of running a business, etc.), he would actually benefit from Obama's proposed income tax changes.

Central and northern Florida is where the Obama campaign wins or loses the state. Even the south, thanks to all the silly right-wing third generation anti-Castro Cubans, remains a big if.

The vast majority of Americans hate the estate tax, even though they are well aware that it doesn't apply to them.

That's quite un-American of them. The estate tax was Jefferson's idea.

Thomas Jefferson’s strong statements regarding the dangers of a hereditary American aristocracy. The idea of noble birth rite and hereditary power were firmly entrenched in 17th and 18th century European thought and to advocate against them would have been controversial if not outright dangerous. Jefferson however, experiences no reticence in condemning the institution and introduced laws aimed at destroying it. Stating in an 1813 letter to John Adams, “These laws, drawn by myself, laid the axe to the root of Pseudoaristocracy.”

...if a corrupted aristocracy helped bring down the Roman Republic, it was not something Jefferson wanted in his new republic. After signing the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson returned to Virginia where he had been elected to the state legislature. In one of his first acts there he introduced a bill to end the laws of primogeniture and entails. Primogeniture – Latin for first born – required that all of a man’s wealth be passed to his eldest son upon his death. Entails stipulated that this requirement applied to the land in perpetuity. Over time this practice ensured the slow accumulation of great wealth by a few the families who had lived in the state the longest. These families formed what was a called a ‘Patrician Order” by Jefferson. And where the King picked his advisors to administer the colony. This system established the conditions favorable for the formation of a permanent aristocracy in Virginia.

Jefferson was successful in getting his bill passed. And, while today it is a little noted event, to Jefferson it was an important act in his political life. In his autobiography he wrote:

"To annul this privilege, and instead of an aristocracy of wealth, of more harm and danger, than benefit, to society, to make an opening for the aristocracy of virtue and talent, which nature has wisely provided for the direction of the interests of society, & scattered with equal hand through all it's conditions, was deemed essential to a well ordered republic."

Cicero would have been proud.

http://americanhistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/thomas_jefferson_and_aristocracy

Some even argue it is unconstitutional to do away with the estate tax.

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=239887

Joe the Plumber, meet Roger the Shrubber. He even has a coherent economic message!

"There is a pestilence upon this land; nothing is sacred. Even those who design and arrange shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history."

Ah, jeez, reading these comments has been the best, funniest, smartest moment of the online day.

Thank you all.

Can you come over to play tomorrow?

"This is terribly odd for a variety of reasons, but the problem that stands out for me is that McCain has chosen a man to be his mascot who doesn't actually prove McCain's point."

James the Venture Capitalist just didn't poll as well.

I suppose they'll be giving away commemorative plungers at these events.

"This is terribly odd for a variety of reasons, but the problem that stands out for me is that McCain has chosen a man to be his mascot who doesn't actually prove McCain's point."

And therein lies the point. Joe represents the dumb jinogistic macho-on-the-outside-pu$$y-on-the-inside demographic that will vote for McCain even though, by all rational standards and in-depth examinations of the campaign's agendas, they'd be better off with Obama at the helm. Not all of them have the courage to say what they think, whether it's "Obama's a Muslim" or "Obama's a socialist" or "Obama's a terrorist" or the simple inelegant "Obama's a ni***er." They know Obama's the better candidate, yet they can't bring themselves to vote for him.

Joe the Plumber is their mascot, and the McCain campaign knows this. He's out there so the McCain campaign can say "it's all right to feel that way about Obama, so does Joe! Tell 'em, Joe!" And all's right in their pathetic xenophobic world.

The fact that the Plumbers and Pipe-fitters union endorsed Obama IN FRICKING JANUARY is of course, completely irrelevant.

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/01/10/plumbers-and-pipe-fitters-union-endorses-obama/

Is it elitist to point out that these fools don't know HOW TO SPELL THE WORD "PLUMBER"?? It's not an SAT vocabulary word, for God's sake.

Joe the Plumber, meet Roger the Shrubber. He even has a coherent economic message!

"There is a pestilence upon this land; nothing is sacred. Even those who design and arrange shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history."

Posted by: Jennifer

Thread over -- Jennifer wins!

**standing ovation**

Just listening to a program on the coming retail crunch (they referred to it as the coming retail Katrina) and thinking about some of the other things I've read that these things are sent out as waves throughout the global economy that then will reverberate back on the U.S. and we were to expect the reverberation sometime next year due to the mortgage crisis. This means that the shockwaves from the economic meltdown are going to continue and be severe and prolonged.

I look at this as strategy because people are getting and will continue to get laid off and suffer for the coming years, it's inevitable and it might be very bad.

Republicans are trying to lay the groundwork to scapegoat and blame on Obama for the hard times on their way.

Stupid McCain is both an idealogue and a simpleton covered in vanity who probably doesn't see the strategy behing his tactics. I guess a side benefit to him is that this stupid ploy might help him win but if it doesn't then they've started putting the second floor on their house of National Socialism for the 21st century.

Maybe it's about salesmanship. They sold pet rocks. Then they sold Reagan. Now they sell proven lies and bullsh*t. Salesmanship almost matches enormous wealth as a force in our human world. It's hard to measure, but surely we see the effects of this abstraction daily in our lives. The rich get richer while the poor...

I suppose they'll be giving away commemorative plungers at these events.

The "Rudy Giuliani Autographed Model", nach.

McCain is so lame--he's actually stealing Obama's line now--insisting he wants to spread opportunity, not the wealth....

Newsflash: Obama already said this the other day--he explained that spreading the wealth IS indeed what he calls giving OPPORTUNITY.

Steve, it's a fool that looks for logic in the chambers of the human heart.

Perception is reality.

Love how the actual media misspells "plummer" and not some wingnut with a homemade sign.

Oh wait, it's florida.

It's the "Not-Quite-Joe, the Tax Evading Stooge" tour.

And by the way---don't these fools ever learn? I seem to remember Nixon having a problem with "plumbers...."

This isn't inane.

This is batshit crazy, Flat World stuff.

Joe proves an Obama talking point on the Obama tax cuts.

But Steve Schmidt is so locked in the punch on this one as every other Narrative is failing at this point, that he's sticking to it. There isn't any different between this and people who would claim the Earth is Flat.

All that NASA info? Clearly lies... we'll just march along with the Flat World.

It truly is a fitting finish to the McCain Campaign. They've been flat worlders since early 2007.

John

Actually, showcasing "Joe the Plumber" (despite neither being having the first name of Joe nor a plumbing license) seems like a rather good idea compared to alternatives. Whom would they rather showcase, Joe or alternatives like:

Sarah the Clotheshorse?
Michelle the Loony?
Karl the Unindicted Co-Conspirator?
Dick the Future Hague Defendant?

As I told my wife a few weeks ago, it's either this or they spend the last two weeks of the campaign talking about yarn...

noplot the semi-productive worker

Kinda strange bedfellows - One on the fringe of a profession where $&%# runs downhill - The other used to transferring wealth from the poor downhill to the very rich uphill.

Hmmm - Robin Hood was considered a Marxist - Bush/McCain are considered Capitalists. Depends on how one views spreading the wealth.

The other funny thing is that I heard Palin refer to Obama as "Barack the wealth spreader"

umm, that sounds like someone people would want to vote for Sarah.

Hey. I want to be the ringer to shake McCain's hand and ask why he wants to tax my Cadillac health insurance.

Except I haven't signed a loyalty oath or given the Republicans any money, so I'd never score an invitation to his tightly scripted rallies.

Even if I managed to get in, I would be instantly beaten down by an angry mob. And then Michelle Malkin would come stalk my house. On second thought, forget it.

Joe's entire function is to vent anger against the idea of a progessive tax structure -- which McCain happens to be four. It's beyond untrue; it's a decision that anger-generation is more important than policy.

It's like the Jackson Victory tour, only with less victory and no black people.

Joe was planted at that Obama event to ask his question (which came straight out of the talking points) precisely so McCain could use him as a prop. Substance doesn't matter to the McCain campaign - that's why they chose Palin and why they finance robocalls and mailings based on already debunked smears. They don't care whether the Joes of the world get a tax cut or not - Joe's nothing but the wrapper on the shit-sandwich they're trying to sell the country.

Of course this doesn't make any kind of logical sense, but at this point they're past that. This is exactly like throwing a sort of half-assed duck decoy into the pond, hiding behind the cattails and hoping the dumbass ducks take the bait.

They are shooting themselves in the foot and going against their own interests in order to protect the class interests of those who wouldn't let them in the front door.

And why? Because they would rather have nothing than let one of "them" get the same benefits they do.

The surface appearance of "them" sometimes varies, but you can call it the Eternal Welfare Queen if you like. As long as they're assured that the Welfare Queen won't benefit, they don't care if they don't benefit either. It's pretty sick.

Inane? Yes, of course.

But will it work? That remains to be seen.

If one looks at the successful ad campaigns of past elections, it's not as though they were all grounded in truth and reality.

Wouldn't it be the crowning achievement of the Modern Republican Part to win this election by having the Straight Talker descend to a level of stupidity and dishonesty unequaled even by Bush.

It's not like the truth of the situation is difficult to discern or discover. To me, this represents the last chance this country has to tell the world whether or not there is any hope left. If after all that has gone on, Americans are still willing to vote for McCain in such numbers that he either wins or is close enough to have the courts give it to him, then the message will be clear.

First, it doesn't really matter whether Joe illustrates McShame's point (if anyone can actually decipher it past the BUMPER STICKER)...he's in FLORIDUH!!!! Sorry for thinking folks that may reside there...I've met few during the winters I reside there...

Want to make sense of the Joe the Plumber tour? Just dig up the old "we make our own reality now" quote.

These people have no conception of the value or even the actuality of "truth." Spin is all they know or all they think they need to know. Rovian mind-meld has been complete.

What all you liberal scum-sucking socialist communist terrorist anti-real-Americans don't understand is that if it will cost me 3 cents to earn another dollar, I won't DO IT!!!

I'll stop dead at $250,000 and won't work a lick more, because 97 cents is just CHUMP CHANGE, and I'm NO CHUMP. (Even tho I did play one on TV.)

I suppose they'll be giving away commemorative plungers at these events.

Best line ever!

BTW, as for the "redistribution" spin: Note that having or reducing cap gains, dividends, corporate income rates lower than for regular income is also a form of relative redistribution. It's regressive to boot most of the time. The media and BHO supporters should say that more often.

A "Joe the Plumber" rally? How will Joe get there? His driver's licence is all suspended cause of unpaid fines. He hasn't got his plumber's cert. He hasn't got a contracting licence, and he hasn't got a driver's license.
Somehow, I don't see Joe rising to the top of the lucrative plumbing contracting biz. Now if you want an unlicensed, rip-off contractor, however, Joe's your man.

I'm down with the rest of the criticisms of Mr. Wurzelbacher, but can we all drop the "he isn't really named Joe" line? Please? It's just stupid.

It's not that uncommon for people to go by their middle name (my father, for example, to avoid confusion because he had the same first name as his father), and it makes no sense to say that the name they call themselves, and that everyone around them calls them, is somehow "not their real name," as though there's some sort of dishonesty going on.

Love how the actual media misspells "plummer" and not some wingnut with a homemade sign.

Perhaps they think he's related to Christopher the Plummer and Amanda the Plummer.

McCain is playing the plunger while Washington burns.

I hope Joe the Plumber is getting some royalties for this...maybe he pay off his back taxes.

Actually, you're dead wrong about what the whole Joe the plumber thing is about. It isn't about attaching a reali live person to a set problems and/or policies. It's about hitting a nerve amonst a certain subset of the American electorate that's up for grabs. That's why the Repubicans don't give a flying fuck to Philadelphia whether "most" people are turned off by this stunt. They only care about the handful of older, undecided whites who aren't well informed and who harbor lots of latent and not so latent racist preferences and perceptions.