Fox News Propelled "Joe the Plumber" Into the Limelight
Reported by Melanie
"Joe the Plumber" popped up out of nowhere yesterday (October 14, 2008) as a guest on Fox's "premiere business news" show, Your World w/Neil Cavuto during an hour of Obama bashing. 24 hours later (had you heard of him before tonight?) he's the centerpiece of a presidential debate? Can there be any doubt now as to how much Fox influences the discourse in this country?
UPDATED 10/16
Below - in a nutshell - is what "Joe the Plumber" said yesterday (see link above) on Your World. I'm uploading video now and will post it ASAP.
Don Marron, a Wall Street investment guy came next. He and Cavuto talked about the bailout and then Joe Wurtzelbacher brought up the rear over a chyron that read: "Voter Confronts Obama Over His Tax Plan." Wurtzelbacher is an Ohio plumber who asked Obama a question about taxes and didn't like the answer. "His answer actually scared me even more... It's kind of a socialist viewpoint." I don't want to share my money "with other people. That's not the American dream."
Here's the video:
UPDATE 10-16/10:31 a.m. ET - Given this, I'm beginning to wonder if "Joe the Plumber" was a setup, created by the McCain campaign, Fox and who knows who else.
Btw, if you are a plumber then you know it isn't money that rolls down hill.-java
Joe The Plumber Admits He Wasn't Undecided After All
by Jed L
Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 07:15:10 AM PDT
We don't know much about Joe The Plumber, but we do know this: he made up his mind who he was voting for before last night's debate.
Speaking with Katie Couric, "Joe" said that he "wasn't swayed" by the debate last night, yet pretty much knew who he was going to vote for. So if (a) he wasn't swayed by the debate and (b) knows who he is going to vote for, then (c) he had already made up his mind before the debate.
Here's video:
Unfortunately, the national media has had a field day with Joe, almost universally reporting that he is an uncommitted voter, even though he doesn't make the same claim. He certainly is a nice little story for them, but it's a story they might want to ask some questions about, especially now that they've invited a relative unknown to appear on the morning shows.
For starters, according to Ben Smith, he's not registered to vote. It's hard to believe that this could be the case; it seems likely that there is some sort of clerical error. For example, his name could be mispelled as Worzelbacher instead of Wurzelbacher in the Lucas County file. (Update: Ben Smith notes that appears to be exactly what happened. 'Joe' appears to be a registered Republican under the name of Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher. Also, earlier today at a press conference, Wurzelbacher said he originally registered with the Natural Law Party.)
It also seems odd that he just happens to be buying a business that would earn exactly the amount of money that would qualify it to be a McCain campaign talking point -- $250,000. Even more intriguing, McCain-land said they had never spoken with Joe before, but also made the following statement to Ben Smith:
McCain aides say there was no heads-up for Joe the Plumber, who's headed out to the morning shows tomorrow.
"Joe didn't know" that he'd be at the center of the debate," said Matt McDonald.
"We tried to call him during the debate, but his phone was busy," he said. "We're not going to put him through media training."
So the McCain campaign says they never contacted Joe the Plumber...but they also had his phone number. Now it's very possible someone in the media gave them his phone number, but if you can find any listing for Joe Wurzelbacher in Holland, Ohio, you're more industrious than I am.
The last thing that struck me as odd was that when talking with Katie Couric, Joe was totally on message for McCain (except the part where he said that he had already made up his mind on who he was voting for).
Bottom-line: it's not entirely clear what the real story of Joe The Plumber is. But it is entirely clear that he's not just some undecided voter. He supports McCain, and the McCain campaign sure seems to support him.
This wouldn't be a story worth mentioning if the media wasn't so excited to put him on all the morning shows, but since they are, they have a responsibility to get the story right. So far, there's little indication that they will.
Joe the Plumber: Not a Licensed Plumber
Plumber Joe Wurzelbacher watches the presidential candidate debate in his home in Ohio on Oct. 15, 2008. (Lori King/Toledo Blade)
By Robert Barnes
Joe the Plumber is not exactly a plumber and he's "not even close" to making the kind of money that would result in higher taxes from Democrat Barack Obama's proposals.
Such is the whirlwind of information that has come out about Joe Wurzelbacher of Holland, Ohio, since Republican John McCain made him famous in last night's debate. McCain mentioned him more than 20 times to use him as a symbol of hard-working Americans who would be hurt by Obama's tax policies. Obama and Wurzelbacher met earlier in the week in Toledo, where Wurzelbacher said Obama's plans to raise taxes on those making $250,000 a year or more would penalize him in his plans to buy the plumbing business for which he works.
Wurzelbacher since then has been on Fox News, interviewed by CBS's Katie Couric and appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America."
Not all the attention has been welcomed. Wurzelbacher, 34, told the Associated Press that he was not a licensed plumber. Because he works for a small company that does residential work, he said, he doesn't need to be licensed.
Wurzelbacher said he is of modest means, but worried Obama's tax plans would eventually hurt him. "You see my house. I don't have a lot of bells and whistles in here, really. My truck's a couple of years old and I'm going to have it for the next 10 years probably. So I don't see [Obama] helping me out,'' he told reporters this morning.
He also sounded concerned about the attention he is receiving. "I'm completely flabbergasted with this whole thing and just hope I'm not making too much of a fool of myself and hope I can get my message out there," he said.
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