The Perfect Symbol
'Joe the Plumber' is the perfect symbol for the McCain campaign. Steve Benen at the Washington Monthly sums up why:
In the time since the debate, Joe (real name Samuel J.) has been a media star, and has held more press conferences than Sarah Palin (though of course that's easy.) He seems like quite a guy, and not in a good way. He speaks about his question to Obama on the rope line in a way that makes it clear he wasn't honestly trying to get an answer to a sincere concern about his real taxes, he was just trying to hit Obama with a zinger to put him on the spot. Joe (Samuel) doesn't make anywhere near $250,000 a year, and even the business he was hypothetically going to buy would "make $250,000 to 280,000", which after you take out expenses means his take-home profit would still fall below that threshold.
Today, 'Joe' made some confusing noises about how maybe, someday, he'd build the business up to where his profit would be larger, in which case he then might have to pay more taxes, but seriously, does a hypothetical concern about what level of taxes a guy might have to possibly pay in the future IF he was able to successfully build the business he doesn't even own yet rate 21 mentions in a presidental debate? Does it rate even one? Did it have anything to do with Obama's plan, really? Was McCain interested in making an honest point, or just mislead?
'Joe the Plumber''s big problem is that he just doesn't believe in taxes, and doesn't think that, if in some future life, he were to make more money, he should have to pay more in taxes. OK, that's one point of view, but it is pretty much a problem he'll have with any even moderately progressive tax system, including the current one, not just Obama's plan. In reality, Joe the Plumber will be paying less under the Obama tax plan. He just doesn't want to acknowledge that.
In the words of Bugs Bunny, "What a maroon!"
I imagine there may be a few building inspectors in the Toledo area who may be busy in the next few days. They should be looking into just what "plumbing" this guy has been doing, because it certainly seems like it hasn't been licensed and probably wasn't inspected, either. Since 'Joe' doesn't believe in paying taxes, maybe he doesn't believe in government regulations and inspectors insuring that dumb *sses don't contaminate the public water supply by doing bad plumbing.
I have to hand it to Senator McCain. It must have been really hard to do a worse job of picking someone to associate with than he did with Sarah Palin, but with 'Joe the Plumber' he did it.
Update: Joe the not-actually-a-Plumber has admitted that he would get a tax cut under Obama's plan. Will John McCain now admit the same?
* The United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry finds McCain's "Joe the Plumber" talk ridiculous.Yes, that's right. The guy McCain mentioned 21 times during the debate, the example of everything wrong with Obama's tax policy, is actually just a Republican guy who doesn't like taxes at all. He doesn't like it so much that he actually has a lien against him for unpaid taxes.
* Speaking of which, "Joe the Plumber" isn't a licensed plumber, isn't a political independent, doesn't make more than $250,000, and his name isn't even "Joe."
In the time since the debate, Joe (real name Samuel J.) has been a media star, and has held more press conferences than Sarah Palin (though of course that's easy.) He seems like quite a guy, and not in a good way. He speaks about his question to Obama on the rope line in a way that makes it clear he wasn't honestly trying to get an answer to a sincere concern about his real taxes, he was just trying to hit Obama with a zinger to put him on the spot. Joe (Samuel) doesn't make anywhere near $250,000 a year, and even the business he was hypothetically going to buy would "make $250,000 to 280,000", which after you take out expenses means his take-home profit would still fall below that threshold.
Today, 'Joe' made some confusing noises about how maybe, someday, he'd build the business up to where his profit would be larger, in which case he then might have to pay more taxes, but seriously, does a hypothetical concern about what level of taxes a guy might have to possibly pay in the future IF he was able to successfully build the business he doesn't even own yet rate 21 mentions in a presidental debate? Does it rate even one? Did it have anything to do with Obama's plan, really? Was McCain interested in making an honest point, or just mislead?
'Joe the Plumber''s big problem is that he just doesn't believe in taxes, and doesn't think that, if in some future life, he were to make more money, he should have to pay more in taxes. OK, that's one point of view, but it is pretty much a problem he'll have with any even moderately progressive tax system, including the current one, not just Obama's plan. In reality, Joe the Plumber will be paying less under the Obama tax plan. He just doesn't want to acknowledge that.
In the words of Bugs Bunny, "What a maroon!"
I imagine there may be a few building inspectors in the Toledo area who may be busy in the next few days. They should be looking into just what "plumbing" this guy has been doing, because it certainly seems like it hasn't been licensed and probably wasn't inspected, either. Since 'Joe' doesn't believe in paying taxes, maybe he doesn't believe in government regulations and inspectors insuring that dumb *sses don't contaminate the public water supply by doing bad plumbing.
I have to hand it to Senator McCain. It must have been really hard to do a worse job of picking someone to associate with than he did with Sarah Palin, but with 'Joe the Plumber' he did it.
Update: Joe the not-actually-a-Plumber has admitted that he would get a tax cut under Obama's plan. Will John McCain now admit the same?
posted by Paul at 5:41 PM |
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