Joe The Plumber Questions Obama’s Loyalty To The US?
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Bad Decisions, Barack, McCain, VideoI knew this guy wasn’t a good surrogate for the McCain campaign from nearly the first moment he started opening his mouth and voicing his real opinions, but I didn’t realize just how uninformed he was until I saw the following clip.
Just watch Fox News’ Neil Cavuto try to change the subject…
Listen, you can not like Obama’s policies all you want, but that his platform is anti-democracy is out and out crazy. Joe Wurzelbacher clearly has no idea how our democracy works, otherwise he wouldn’t say something so completely out of bounds.
But hey, he’s folksy…so I guess that makes it okay.
This entry was posted on Monday, November 3rd, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Bad Decisions, Barack, McCain, Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
November 3rd, 2008 at 4:22 am
After picking Palin you would think the McCain campaign would have learned not to pluck people out of obscurity.
November 3rd, 2008 at 6:49 am
Hey, no fair, your violating his first amendment rights! And, and, and you’re criticising just a guy–he’s not a political spokeman or part of the campaign, that’s out of bounds and mean! No fair!
Oh yeah, and Obama is a socialist who wasn’t born in the US
November 3rd, 2008 at 7:19 am
Folksy or dumb, take your pick ;-)
November 3rd, 2008 at 7:25 am
I’ve always wondered how the money works with these things. Do the surrogates work for free? Clinton doesn’t need the money, but who pays for the hotel rooms, etc.
But this guy, he can’t work for free. Did he quit his job? How much do they pay him? What is he going to do on Nov 5?
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:08 am
Talk about a soundbite. That was a 10 second clip and I don’t think he said anything wrong. Joe has one opinion of democracy that probably does not involve heavy regulation of healthcare, a MORE progressive tax plan, and taxing small business…so why can’t he say that he does not feel Obama shares his vision of what a democracy is? Meanwhile, Matt Damon can speak a lot more strongly against Palin, who I think we all agree has as much actual experience as Obama (not as much experience campaigning), but no one cries about it? If Joe were in The Bourne Supremecy would you all be complaining? Again, I feel these are elitist-leaning comments. Joe is stupid. Barack is smart.
November 3rd, 2008 at 9:21 am
It’s utterly shocking that a plumber from Holland, OH is not equipped to speak cogently on foreign policy issues (*I’m gonna go ahead and agree with you on that death of Israel thing*). It’s pretty funny that saying that the Harvard-educated law professor is smarter than the Toledi plumber is elitist in any way. Where I’m from we call that obvious.
November 3rd, 2008 at 9:49 am
Yup, it was the “death to Israel” thing that really got me. Shepard Smith’s reaction at Fox News was a shocking high point for me. Will Shepard be behind Joe in the unemployment line come 11/5? :-)
Blackout, you raise an interesting issue for me, I hope SPH can fill me in. Here’s my problem, I just don’t understand the “elitism” argument.
Here’s the thing. It works great as a one-word insult. But whenever I or someone else tries to turn it into a cogent description, it doesn’t make much sense. Surely anyone with common sense understands the notion that education, study, and deep serious thought MAY lead one to better understanding and additional insight. Yet so many folks seem eager to think that joe-bag-of-donuts has just as useful an opinion on foreign policy as someone who has devoted substantial time and effort to gathering information and considering a variety of views.
Now I’m not willing to suggest that regular folks lack any insight whatsoever. Far from it. Regular folks can often be relied upon to provide refreshing bottom-line common sense. But we should all be willing to acknowledge when its the case that someone who has entered into the public debate is poorly informed. Shephard Smith did this is during the “death to Israel” interlude. And good on him.
My common sense bottom line as just another foreign policy layman is this: it’s not “elitist” to notice when someone’s opinion is based on incorrect information or upon very little information. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But they aren’t entitled to their own facts.
And whenever you are entitled to your opinion, someone else is every bit as entitled to question your basis for that opinion.
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:05 am
I disagree; as a pathological liar that doesn’t seem to understand when he’s in way over his head, it seems to me Samuel makes a GREAT McKeating surrogate.
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:09 am
I just don’t understand why a guy who asked Obama a question is now being put out there by the McCain campaign.
Clearly he doesn’t know his political stuff - and why would he?
I don’t get it, did all the McCain surrogates turn “rogue”?
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:26 am
Obama wants to shape the USA into a socialist utopia. So, while that’s not specifically anti-democracy, it isn’t what America was created to be. And eventually, democracy will have to be phased out. If the democratic process were allowed to remain, there would be a constant risk that social and financial equality would be upturned in favor of personal liberties and an environment that includes the risk of social and financial failure.
So, while Obama isn’t anti-democracy, the world he envisions and would seek to move the country toward won’t have much use for the democratic process.
What’s more accurate is that Obama is anti-liberty and anti-capitalist. He would definitely act against those two concepts, leaving democracy intact since of the three concepts, will be the hardest (and last) one to go.
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:59 am
Who does this country beong to? Why do people use that term un-American so loosely? Just because somebody does not agree with you does not agree with you does not make them un-American. I feel that I am saying the obvious here but please republicans, this is our country too. John McCain is not the first and surely won’t be the last American to fight and bleed for this country. Enough with this McCarthyism.
November 3rd, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Don’t forget that McCain has vowed to put Joe the Plumber in his administration somewhere. McCain’s poor judgment (political and otherwise) is mind-numbing - right down to his willingness to allow SNL to blatantly, and mercilessly mock him during his recent appearance. There are so many lessons McCain was unwilling (unable) to learn - like running the same “incumbant” campaign as Hillary tried and failed, constantly appealing to his base and ignoring the middle, and standing beside unqaulified “identity” figures like J the P and Palin. It isn’t just the economy, stupid.
November 3rd, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Kranky, most of the elitism talk smack of inferiority and self-esteem issues. I don’t think it’s always unwarranted; there’s plenty of derision of the South and Midwest with little attempt to differentiate between states as radically different as, say, Alabama and Ohio. That said, it’s simply not applicable as part of this discussion, and it’s much overstated. My biggest problem with is that it’s the tentpole of the b.s. populism practiced by elitists on the Right. Classic misdirection. *Look at those elitists on the Left*, cry the elitists on the Right. Unions and blacks receive similar treatment from the Dems. There’s no monopoly on b.s. populism.
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:41 pm
The whole Joe the Plummer thing, frankly, amazes me. Think how ridiculous it is going to be when we look back, years down the road, and reflect on the fact that McCain put his presidential hopes in the hands of an idiot like Palin, and when that backfired, hired an even stupider, tax cheat, unlicensed plummer, who lied about his ability to buy a business and would benefit more from Obama’s policies.
Thank God McCain is going to be crushed. His lack of judgement disqualifies him from the presidency. He’s obviously suffering from some cognitive deficits that affect his ability to think rationally. What’s amazing is how many of his supporters don’t recognize it and go to such great lengths to try to explain his issues away.
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:41 pm
[...] the Plumber Questions Obama’s Loyalty to the U.S. URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw2Wczp9yOc&eurl=http://donklephant.com/2008/11/03/joe-the-plumbe... Dear everyone: He’s a fucking random plumber! Please make him go away [...]
November 4th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
I’m amazed by the incredible amount of public interest in both Joe the Plumber and Sarah Palin. Good or bad, they’ve become somewhat of a pop icon. With Palin, people are dressing like her to be and/or mock her all at the same time.
For instance, I found this video on dressing like Palin:
http://www.mindbites.com/lesson/668-how-to-dress-like-sarah-palin