Is Joe Wurzelbacher related to Charles Keating — and does it matter?
Scroll for update…Eisenstadt is a hoaxer…
That’s been the left-wing blogger obsession all day. It started with a post from GOP blogger Martin Eisenstadt, who says that Joe Wurzelbacher the Plumber is a “close relative” of Robert Wurzelbacher, who is the son-in-law of Charles Keating. Robert Wurzelbacher served time for his role in the Keating 5 S&L scandal, gave a lot of money to Republicans, and is retired in Cincinnati. There is still no clear indication how exactly they are related and what “close” means.
I asked a reporter on scene in Ohio to check on the claim. He told me that Wurzelbacher was asked this morning at an impromptu press conference outside his house whether he’s related to Keating, and the reporter said Wurzelbacher answered that he didn’t know anything about that. I’ve asked the reporter to follow up and ask specifically if Wurzelbacher is related to Robert Wurzelbacher. Still waiting to hear back.
FYI, there is no mention of the issue in this NYTimes piece published at 1:30pm Eastern. Several left-wing blogs have also erroneously misidentifed a totally separate and unrelated “Joe Wurzelbacher” in Cincinnati as Joe the Plumber — and quietly backtracked after wetting their pants over that find.
The Keating connection claim has sent the left into conspiratorial frenzy. Joe is a plant! Joe is a liar! Joe is a [profanity] member of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy programmed by John McCain!
Insane.
Obama dropped in on Wurzelbacher’s neighborhood, not vice versa. And there are plenty of “close relatives” in families who have nothing to do with each other, do not speak to each other, and stay away from each other’s politics and business.
But Team Obama will grasp at any straw to bring this guy down. I’ll have more on Joe The Plumber Derangement Syndrome in my syndicated column tomorrow.
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Update: Well, this explains the Keating/Wurzelbacher hoax. The person who spread the rumor is a hoaxer.
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Trackbacks
- P.J.D.S.? What will the left think up next? « Trust, But Verify
- Take Our Country Back
- Now Connections Matter? | The American Pundit
- Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Open Thread
- If you can’t argue the facts - attack the messenger | Conservative247
- JammieWearingFool
- Sister Toldjah
- Going after Joe the Plumber & America | The Anchoress
- Joe the Plumber | BitsBlog
- Hot Air » Blog Archive » What we can learn from the Joe the Plumber episode
- Indiepundit
- Health Care BS - VOTER SURVEYS, LEFTY SMUGNESS & JOE
- Joe The Plumber Scares Them « Mcnorman’s Weblog
- McCain’s New Joe the Plumber Ad Calls Obama’s “Tax Cuts” for Non-Taxpayers Welfare | Right Voices
- Webloggin » Life Under Obama - Public Persecution of Joe The Plumber as Seen in Real Time
- GayPatriot » Joe the Plumber Learns What It’s Like to be a Gay Republican
- Joe the Plumber Derangement Syndrome « NObama - Not Now, Not Ever
- Joe the Guy that asked a question and started a debate | Fightin Bob
- Martin Eisenstadt’s Blog » Blog Archive » Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher related to Charles “the Crook” Keating. Oops.
- links for 2008-10-17 | FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog
- It’s Official; JTPDS Has Arrived « Beltway Snark
- William K. Wolfrum Chronicles » Blog Archive » Why is it so hard to Google the name “Martin Eisenstadt” before going on a Plumber Joe freakfest?
- miamipress.net | miamipress.net
- Jules Crittenden » An Army of Joes
- Killing the messenger: Out for Joe’s blood « WitSnapper | The Blog
- Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher related to Charles “the Crook” Keating. Oops. « Watching Obama
- This Week’s Links | Business Pundit
- Martin Eisenstadt’s Blog » Blog Archive » Updates on the Joe the Plumber story
- I am Joe the Plumber « lumpenscholar
- Is Joe Wurzelbacher related to Charles Keating — and does it matter? « Top Daily Digest Reading
- All Spin Zone » Joe the Almost Average To Play War Correspondent
- Direct Help from Business Developers » This Week’s Links
- PITIFUL & AWFUL: LIBERAL MEDIA BOILS “JOE THE PLUMBER,” BUT IS DEAF/DUMB/BLIND ABOUT OBAMA – suzyrice.com/BIRD
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And Obama’s spending 3:1 and not showing much for it.
Like Karl Rose says…he hasn’t closed the sale. Not sure if he will either.
Looking forward to it. The treatment Joe is receiving from the media and Obama’s thugs is despicable.
It’s not Joe or his question that’s causing all these problems for Obama. It’s Obama’s own answer that’s making him look bad. Why can’t The One ever take responsibility for anything?
I’m sorry folks but mattymatt10 is in the snake pit. mattymatt10 you are in serious need of a mental health professional.
But you repeat yourself.
That’s the liberal way…blame everything on others, take no responsibility.
It’s become rather ingrained in his followers as well.
The MSM will be calling “Joe” a rightwing plant by 7AM.
Obviously, we’re reading two different things here. I can’t find where nyk is stating that the relationships are “EXACTLY EQUIVALENT”. They’re talking about whether standards on one side should apply to the other, not specific degrees of “relationship.” The quote you picked doesn’t back up your conclusion.
I’ve laid out my thoughts very plainly on this, so I’m done with it. I’m not one of these people that gets his rocks off arguing with people I’ll never meet and could care less about.
Try working on your reading comprehension skills, Flenser. And then maybe you could work on responding to entire posts/thoughts, instead of picking and choosing a sentence here or there.
I know you do. That’s the problem.
You think it is a “valid point” to to try to draw a comparison between the (theory) that Wurzelbacher, a private citizen, is a distant relative of Chrales Keating, and would-be POTUS Barack Obama’s lifelong relationships with unabashed racists and terrorists.
I have quoted your idiotic words at some length.
But perhaps that’s the problem.
No we’re not
The point mattymatt10
WHO CARE WHERE THE QUESTION CAME FROM
By all means, elaborate on the “standards” under which the personal relationships of a would-be President are held to the same “standard” as who private citizens happen to be distantly related to.
Or go moby someplace else.
INTO THE SNAKE PITE mattymatt10
The Snake Pit is a 1948 film which tells the story of a woman who finds herself in an insane asylum and cannot remember how she got there
Seriously, what sort of person says “You can’t object to wanna-be President Obama’s friendship with Wright and Ayers while ignoring that some plumber is second cousin-in-law to Charles Keating”?
Other than pre-programmed bots, of course.
mattymatt10 finds herself in an insane asylum and cannot remember how she got there.
MAJOR DEPROGRAMING IS NECESSARY.
mattymatt10
GOOSE STEP ANYONE!!!!!!
McCain has his moment, lets hope he takes it all the way to the White House.
Misscheryl said:
Off subject but Gallup shows Obama 49% and MCain 47% which is within the margin of error!
Yup, now watch as they turn on each other… oh I love it so much. They have the loyalty of cockroaches… feel free to qoute me.
Oooohhh….matt; sorry you got such a pummeling. I was busy feeding family, etc.
Back to the topic at hand, I do get your point, in that those with glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, and that McCain should be above it all as the person of honor he’s known to be. What’s offensive (mildly, I admit) to me and a few others is that you are suggesting that this event, in whatever form it turns out to be, could somehow cast a pall over a campaign that has been, to almost all conservatives, totally skewed by every media outlet besides Fox, using others who are unashamedly biased and flamingly in the tank for Obama.
So I refer you to my earliest post on this thread that victory would taste sweeter still if McCain/Palin wins by using a tactic from the Dems’ playbook.
I’m done; thanks for listening.
Those waskly Republicans fooled da BO in visiting Joe’s hood just so they could ambush him with the ONLY person in AmeriKKKa who will be hurt by BO’s plan. It was all planned by Bush’s brain.
New ad approach for Obama; highly effective and honest.
I’m waiting for matty to demonstrate that this is occuring. On the Republican side.
The only instance of it I can see so far on the part of the left. They have yawned with indifference regarding The One’s lifelong friendship with terrorists and racists. It’s peculiar to see them turing purple with rage because (allegedly) some private citizen is distantly related to a white-collar criminal.
But that’s what makes them totalitarian thugs.
Oh gee, I’ll take a look at that ad… lmao… around the 3rd of Nevuary.
Allegedly being the operative word. By now we should be used to the Snake Oil, Smoke And Mirrors (SOSAM) the Left uses in a pathetic and transparent atempt to deflect honest inquiry.
AGAIN. Why does this matter?
Obama still said what he said. It’s not like Joe was forcing Obama to confess he was a socialist. Pretense really doesn’t matter. You think there aren’t any plumbers out there in Joe’s position? Gimme a break.
It’s a nonsense game of distraction.
I am Joe the Plumber.
OT: Have you seen this page? http://www.neverfindout.org/
Great ads! Donate if you can.
FWIW, I believe that song “Share the Land” was by The Guess Who.
I just saw on another blog that someone has dug up something charging that Joe is a wife beater. They are “vetting” him like he is running for President.
lol, too funny, nothing at all matters but Odopeys answer….. what a bunch of fools…..
what if it was Ayers that asked him? lmao
And they are vetting Obama like he’s running for Plumber.
But that’s what happens then the vetters are all Fascists.
I think Obama should denounce all the trouble these people are causing Joe the Plumber. Course, he won’t do that.
It’s a shame that someone, Joe, who just asked a simple question and “dared” to criticize or state an opinion on what is most definitely a flawed tax plan, is being villified by the lefties. I don’t care if he’s an unlicensed plumber or owes taxes if he works on both to better himself to help out his family and future.
I feel a special kinship with Joe ’cause my father was steamfitter/plumber for over 30 years. I don’t think he (my father) was licensed because he worked for a private business (a university) and the training/educational requirements were different back then. Now, the unions and the State have a stranglehold on how one becomes a plumber and the normal direction that follows for any union-based profession.
Even though I’m a teacher, got my education/training in my master’s program and then my licenses, it felt like a goat rope. There are many educated people out there that could do a better job teaching than the trained professionals. It’s a matter of common sense, integrity, and dedication that many union poobahs of different fields neither want or accept.
I was raised by Joe The Plumber. People like him are the backbone of America and if the elite media and the Dems/Repubs try to castigate and dismiss them it will be to their peril.
Hey, Ihatemycountry, what are you doing to hate your country today? So, if we’re all “frauds” (cough cough) then what are you? Pure as the driven snow? Do you have any integrity or do you show how brave you are with your little tirades on MM? Here are a couple of factoids for you:
I’m a military spouse.
My husband has been in the military for 16 years.
I’m a certified and licensed Social Studies teacher in three states and have a master’s degree in that field.
I will be voting for McCain even though I disagree with him on many issues (what do you disagree with Obummer about- what color Che vest you’ll wear for the day?).
I will become an independent after this election.
What have you, or any liberal, done for this country? Do you give to charity? Or do you think that everyone should live according to your socialist principles?
The only fraudster on here is you, lgm, and the rest of the liberal, Obummer fight club who want to put us in our place for not supporting The One. How patriotic. The only thing that guides you and your vote is your “cut” of the Obummer homeslice.
MM posters disagree on many things such as what conservativism is, where it’s headed, and what it means to all of us. You’re not interested in that and neither are your fellow liberals. I’m not interested in liberalism because I sucked on the koolaid and got tired of getting lectured about being nice to all the victim classes in this country.
The only poser in this forum is you. What do you even stand for? Do you even know? Or do you make it up as you go along?
Obama Chocolates.
New Obama Logo
When you look at this situation what is the reason the Left now hates Joe the Plumber?
Answer: He asked Barack Obama a simple, direct question. Obama gave him a direct answer.
Result: For causing Obama to tell the truth, the Left feels Joe should be pilloried. He would be a hero if he helped Obama lie?
The twisted logic is too bizarre to fathom. Unhinged is an appropriate term.
should change his name to Ileftmycountry. Chiao! Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. If Barrack Marx gets elected you may not be able to leave.
Said by yet one more suburb-fleeing, urban oasis-embracing, all-knowing liberal automaton. Nah, nah, you’re not a hypocrite, are ya?
We criticize Obummer. We criticize McCain. What do you not get? Do you even disagree with Obummer on anything? Do you believe that “spreading the wealth” is fair?
Of course, you’d actually have to have some integrity to even admit Obummer, like McCain, is far from perfect, has questionable associations, and is not a post-racial, post partisan politician.
Or you could simply heed this advice:
WE DONT LIKE OBUMMER. GET OVER IT ALREADY!!!
Good evening everyone,
I just found this video link on a PUMA blog. It is very entertaining and has great background on Obama.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu3CdSZRKu0
I went out hours ago, or I would’ve responded before…but yes, this is exactly what I meant.
Debates with you inevitably disintegrate into lengthy rants that have nothing to do with the subject at hand so I’ll keep this short: Yes (in politics, as in real life, almost no one agrees with anyone on EVERYthing). But that has NOTHING to do with what we’re talking about. I’m not sure what your point is. MY POINT, is that I notice hypocrisy here. The end.
It’s precisely because Barack foolishly told a working class guy that he wanted to take more of his earnings as taxes to “spread the wealth” that he’s in trouble.
Barack didn’t say that to a well-heeled entrepreneur that some libs (or even “moderate” squishes) would shrug about and conclude “he can afford it”.
No. He said it to a working stiff.
To the extent Obama’s thugs attempt to vilify this guy they show their contempt for ALL working stiffs who hold out hopes of becoming better off.
Working stiffs have had their eyes opened.
I sure hope McCain and Palin pound the issue into the ground!!!
What hypocrisy? You want us to pretend that some citizen being distantly related to Keating is the same as your Presidental nominee being pals with racists and terrorists. The only hypocrisy here is your own.
Too bad that nyk can’t quite describe what he thinks the “shady relationships” are on our side.
If Joe the Plumber was friends with racists and terrorists, that STILL would not be comparable – because he is not running for President! Your Mugabe clone is.
Not to go OT or anything, but last night I flew back to St. Louis from NYC and was fortunate to be upgraded from coach to first class. The last two people to board took the seats in front of me.
Guess who. It was Al Sharpton and Jess-uh Jack-suhn. I assume that they were flying in early for Obam-uh’s rally this weekend.
They conversed loudly throughout the first hour of the flight, but not understanding jive, I missed the substance of the conversation.
When things quieted down later, Jess-uh put on his reading glasses, pulled out a crossword puzzle and started working on it.
A few minutes later Jack-suhn leans over to Sharpton and says, “Say Al, what’s a four-letter word for nyk that ends in u-n-t?”
Sharpton looks back at his in disbelief and says “aunt”–except it sounds like “ahhnt.”
There’s three seconds of dead silence and Jack-suhn says to Sharton, “Say Al, could I borrow an eraser?”
When left wing bloggers attack JW for voicing a simple concern, it shows there’s an empathy gap in America.
Aren’t we all related to Kevin Bacon? Maybe that’s the connection.