Wurzelbacher is a callous, mean person. The underpinning of his remarks on war and reporters is that large scale death and destruction is not such a big deal.

What - a GOP wingnut ideologue, living in a fantasy world? Norfolk & Way!

He's the right's version of Cindy Sheehan. Liberals liked her pretty well while she was out there camping by Bush's ranch and talking against the war, but then she started making pronouncements about things like Israel--things about which she was clearly ignorant and it showed--and her clown-like antics wore our her welcome with everyone but, perhaps, PUMAs.

Then again, I think Sheehan was a more compelling figure than Joe, if for no other reason that Cindy did lose her son in Iraq, while Joe isn't really a plumber (he only plays one on TV).

I think that's libelous.

I mean, in what world has Joe demonstrated that he's skilled with "relating things as a father and skilled tradesman trying to make a living." The only example we have of this was his apparent failure to understand the basics of Obama's tax plan and his own failure to even pay all his own taxes.

If that's what he does "best," I think Joe's got some serious problems.

Oh man, Joe the Plumber and Sara Palin took the same English class, Crap 101. Joe, it's "ya know".

So many words, so little time to cram them all in. Stupid & mean, it's the beginning of another great conservative journalistic career. What an asshat.

He's the right's version of Cindy Sheehan.

I was thinking maybe Roseanne Barr,

Smells somewhat like he's chickening out of front line reporting. A few weeks ago he said his God would protect him, but now he can see the smoke and shelling, so it's uh, reporters should not be allowed on the front lines.

The network should take advantage of his contract and move him from place to place. Joe the Plumber could cover the next big fashion show, then skip over to Georgia and Russia, interview Palin, then on to Sports.

Also, Cindy Sheehan is very intelligent and speaks and writes clearly. It mystifies me that anyone actually takes Wurzelbacher seriously. He has been thoroughly discredited on many fronts, including his professional plumber credentials and his denial that Obama's tax policies would benefit him. You might as well select me to interview as an expert on politics in California: I live in CA, read political blogs, and I owe the IRS back taxes. And, I can read, write and speak American English quite well.

Blessings to all,
st john

I would just ignore him. Giving him pixels only encourages him.

Lev, consider the reaction if Huffingtonpost had sent Cindy Sheehan to report from Israel. The op-ed harrumphing would have been non-stop; "Sending the inexperienced Sheehan to Israel shows that Liberals aren't serious about the news," etc., etc. Right-wing blogs would have been apoplectic. Although JTP is an ignorant buffoon the conservatives believe that he pisses off liberals so it's all good with them.

Seriously, just stop reporting on this guy. The only reason we're still talking about him is because YOU are still talking about him.

Keep Him On The Air
Sure, he wore out his welcome months ago for most Americans, but it's quite informative for everyone to actually hear this guy, uncensored, and see how today's Republican Party still loves him. Ditto for Sarah Trailer-Trash Palin.

I think we'll end up getting more Democrats out of it.

Wouldn't he and Palin make a great 2012 GOP ticket? One can see Russia, and the other can't see dead bodies. Perfect.

Maybe for some relief the media should move attention over the the mysterious "Joe the Pediatrician" that I heard delivered Tripp (NTBCW Trigg - ?) the Bristol baby that no one can find any evidence of, or reports seeing or pics of, except dad Levi Johnston's drug-charge-indicted mother says she's seen him. All parties involved seem incommunicado or unreachable. BTW I can't find JTP in Google other than my own writings and something unrelated. (I'd be easier on them, except that my cute "first in the World" call to Palin's office to offer congrats was answered by a secretary who hadn't even heard of Tripp's birth.)

I usually tend to think of conservatives in general as ignorant and, above all, humourless. Johannes blows that impression out of the water with his, "gee, what could go wrong with that?" Good one, JD. He's absolutely correct - from the depths of abysmal stupidity, Mr. Wurzelbacher is advocating a military dictatorship. For everybody.

I'm pretty sure he's even too stupid to be a plumber, which is probably why he's not licensed. I fondly hope the Republicans continue to misinterpret how much damage this clown is doing to them by advocating as a conservative. Joe the Plumber in 2012!!!

Thanks, Pyjamas, for increasing the scope of Mr. Wurzelbacher's exposure.

He and Palin sure seems to be stealing face time from Michele Bachmann.

Apocryphally ascribed to Lincoln:

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool,
than open your mouth and remove all doubt.

Oh, he's out of range of the internets and can't hear me through the tubes. Never mind.

"I think the military should decide what information to give the media and then the media can release it to the public."

How is this different than what occurred in Iraq before and after the invasion?

Does the media put any investigative resources into confirming or denying military press releases? What about those al Qaeda in Iraq claims the government makes?

My next-door neighbor is a Joe-the-Plumber type. He's essentially a good guy except when he decides to venture a political opinion. His face reddens, the spittle flies, and the rage surfaces like molten lava. America's white working class is full of people like this who hate "liberalism" because the world changed suddenly and incomprehensibly. Republicans validated this rage with race cards and culture-war politics. Now, these working-class blowhards have inherited that party because their adult supervision inadvertently exiled themselves. Something like Lord of the Flies, only more grotesque.

Joe would make the government the dispenser of information -- gee, what could go wrong with that?

It has been my experience that right wingers don't consider the military to be part of the government. That's the only way they can overcome the cognitive dissonance of being anti-government but pro-military.

"I think the military should decide what information to give the media and then the media can release it to the public. I don't believe they need to be in the front lines with soldiers, I don't believe they need to, uh, you know, be bothering the military for information or for access to certain areas."

So Joe, would that be like in Imperial Japan, where the people were told about the great Victory of the Imperial Navy at Midway?

Drip... drip... drip...

Honest to God. To think that the lasting outcome of the Republican bid for the presidency is Joe the Plumber and Sarah (ya'betcha) Palin. Idolotry of the absolute stupid. A guy who didn't pay his taxes and isn't even a licensed plumber, and a right-wing Christian whose 17-year-old daughter failed to keep her "abstinance" vow, is a high-school dropout, and whose future mother-in-law (if that ever happens) is a drug dealer. If these people represent the "future" of the Republican party, I don't think we have anything to worry about. Perhaps they're breeding themselves out of existence. We can only hope!

Perhaps they're breeding themselves out of existence. -- impeachcheneythenbush, @ 15:18

I wouldn't count on that. Remember the story of grandpa who planted and tenderly cultivated a turnip, which then proceeded to grow truly huge? It took the combined efforts of grandpa, grandma, and the entire family -- all the way down to the kitten -- to pull the d...d thing out.

Mr Sam Joe the Turnip Brook is like that; he'll be very hard to dislodge...

OK, now I get it....

1) Sam "Joe" the "Plumber" is reporting news on the Israeli war.
2) Only the government should report news on the Israeli war.
3) Therefore....

Holy smokes, Batman! It's a coup!

Wurzelbacher seems to be living in a "fantasy world."

Rather, Joe's describing his ideal world. A very frightening place indeed.

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool,
than open your mouth and remove all doubt.

Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain

"I don't believe they need to, uh, you know, be bothering the military for information or for access to certain areas."

joe is simply explaining why it is perfectly swell for the israelis to ban press from covering their rampage in gaza.

he says it this way because he is a self-important ass who wants you talking about HIS idea, not refusal of the israeli military to tell him jack, but he's got to justify the complete absence of first-hand factual information in his little reports.

btw, has he done any "reporting" or does he just do these little press conferences?

Careful with that shovel, Joe...

samjoe the nottaplumber is a national joke, BUT he's a national joke with debt. Maybe he's never going to buy that plumber business, but everything he's doing now is to get himself out of the red & into the black. If you offered to pay him a thousand bucks to eat a 3 day old dead squirrel he'd do it. He'll probably do anything short of gay acts for cash. As stupid as he is, I can't blame him for taking any offer that comes his way, no mater how unqualified he is. And if he can do something that can generally considered "brave" like flying into a war zone, maybe that'll give him some bragging rights against the people who continue to point at him & laugh. If only he didn't have to open his gob, he might have a point.

But open his gob he does, and each time he does, the heart & soul of what passes these days for conservatism is exposed for all to see. And point at. And laugh & laugh & laugh.

So at this point, samjoe is probably 9 months away from hosting some s****y reality show, like "You Want Me To Take What & Shove It WHERE? with Sam Baker" (after he drops both JTP & "Wurzelbacher"). He'll continue to be a joke, but learn, to a degree, to laugh at himself too. As long as the checks clear & star f*ckers look at him & figure "eh, close enough."

The main question to me is WTF was Pajamas Media as a group thinking? Even if chaos in public discourse is their goal (as it seems to be) don't you want to be represented by someone smart? At some point, I'm sure samjoe the nottaplumber will be thrown under the bus; Pajamas Media, in a blatant attempt to save face, will claim they KNEW samjoe was a dullard, a thunderdolt, a mullethead 'sans' mullet. But they hold the media in such contempt, this was their subversive way to comment on the insipid nature of news outlets, to take some as borderline special-needs as samjoe and hold him up to say "this is what we think of you, you're as worthless as this guy is." Here's hoping someone removes the sharp objects & pills & firing pins from the weapons out of samjoe's house when he hears THAT on the news since Pajamas Media won't have the balls to tell him to his face. One more indignity for poor old samjoe the nottaplumber. Oh, well, at least the check cleared, right samjoe (assuming a pajajams media check does, indeed, clear)?

Everytime samjoe says something, the conservative moment looks dumber & dumber to everyone except people who are already profoundly stupid. I hope he NEVER goes away.