Michelle Malkin » Operation Destroy Joe the Plumber

Operation Destroy Joe the Plumber

By Michelle Malkin • October 17, 2008 12:02 AM

Scroll for updates…McCain defends Joe the Plumber…

My syndicated column today reports on Team Obama and the Obamedia’s mission to tear down Joe the Plumber. Yes, we are in the midst of a new contagion: Joe The Plumber Derangement Syndrome. JTPDS.

Now, pay close attention to how the MSM rushes to uncover every last bit of gossip and dirt about Joe Wurzelbacher’s life. Some of it is relevant to the public policy questions he posed to Obama. Much of it is not. Danny Glover notes the behemoth double standards of the media mavens who call it journalism when they investigate, but consider it “stalking” when those of us on the Right perform the same tasks on Democrat poster families:

“The impulse to learn more about Wurzelbacher is perfectly normal. Readers and viewers are no doubt want to know more about the man now that he is all over the news. I know I do. And speaking as a journalist, let me add that reporters should be curious enough to do some basic background research.

But why is it that political reporters only get curious when a conservative Joe America storms onto the scene? Why aren’t they just as curious when liberals trot out, say, a 12-year-old boy to give a national radio address?

It has been almost a year to the day since journalists dropped the ball on telling America more about Graeme Frost, the boy who made the case for sinking billions of dollars more into the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. But when Michelle Malkin and other curious conservative bloggers did the legwork the press wouldn’t, they earned the scorn of their mainstream colleagues.

This time around, with Joe The Plumber as their target, the MSM is coming out with guns blazing. Maybe they should spend more time telling the bigger story about Wurzelbacher — that he managed to get Obama on the public record as favoring a socialistic redistribution of wealth.

As I note below, there’s also a feeding frenzy over Wurzelbacher’s tax lien. Patterico wonders where the media hounds are on the story of Obama’s treasurer’s tax liens. Bet you hadn’t heard about that. Bet you never will again.

Here’s the NYTimes’ latest on Joe vs. Team Obama. Count how many sentences are devoted to Obama’s wealth redistribution remarks and how long it takes before they mention them.

No, they don’t get it.

***
The Left declares war on Joe the Plumber
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2008

Six-term Sen. Joe Biden’s got some nerve going after citizen Joe the Plumber. But the entrenched politician from Delaware, who fancies himself the nation’s number one Ordinary Joe, had no choice. Obama-Biden simply can’t tolerate an outspoken citizen successfully painting the Democratic ticket as socialist overlords. And so a dirty, desperate war against Joe Wurzelbacher is on.

The Left’s political plumbers are attacking the messenger, rummaging through his personal life, and predictably wielding the race card once again. It’s standard operating procedure for the Obama thug machine.

Wurzelbacher, in case you’ve been in hibernation, is the small businessman from Ohio who questioned Obama this weekend about his tax plan during a Toledo campaign swing. The revealing exchange was caught on tape and broadcast widely across the Internet and TV airwaves. In response to Joe’s question about why he should be “taxed more and more for fulfilling the American dream,” Obama sermonized that Wurzelbacher needed to “spread the wealth around” because “it’s good for everybody.”

John McCain flung that chilling Marxist mantra back in Obama’s face during Wednesday night’s presidential debate and repeatedly cited Joe the Plumber’s plight. Obama squirmed. The dirt-diggers started Googling. And the next morning, six-term Sen. Biden launched the first salvo against the Ohio entrepreneur on NBC’s Today Show, challenging the veracity of his story: “I don’t have any ‘Joe the Plumbers’ in my neighborhood that make $250,000 a year.”

Under an Obama-Biden administration, they’ll make sure no Joe The Plumbers ever earn such a salary. “It’s good for everybody,” don’t you know?

Biden, as is so often the case, twisted the facts about Wurzelbacher. No surprise there. Slick Joe is the one who tells fables about visiting a diner in Delaware that hasn’t been open in years; spins yarns about getting “forced down” in a helicopter over Afghanistan because of perilous conditions that turned out to be weather-related, not al Qaeda-related; and continues to slander the family of the man involved in his wife and daughter’s fatal car accident (crash investigators cleared the now-deceased driver of drunk-driving, despite Biden’s insinuations). But I digress.

Wurzelbacher never claimed to be making $250,000 a year. He told Obama that he might be “getting ready to buy a company that makes about $250,000, $270,000″ a year. His simple point was that Obama’s punitive tax proposals would make it more difficult to realize his dream.

Obama’s followers couldn’t handle the incontrovertible truth. Left-wing blogs immediately went to work, blaring headlines like “Not A Real $250k Plumber!” Next, they falsely accused Wurzelbacher of not being registered to vote (he’s registered in Lucas County, Ohio, and voted as a Republican in this year’s primary).

Next, they called him a liar for identifying himself as undecided. Only registered Democrats and fake Republican tools used in mainstream media stories and YouTube debates are allowed to use that label, you see.

Next, award-winning liberal blogger Joshua Marshall cast Wurzelbacher as some kind of rabid freak for calling Social Security a “joke” – as if no working-class Americans could believe that the federal government’s entitlement programs were a rip-off unless they were bought and paid for by the McCain campaign.

Then, suddenly, the journalists who wouldn’t lift a finger to investigate Barack Obama’s longtime relationships with Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright sprang into action rifling through citizen Joe Wurzelbacher’s tax records. Politico.com reported breathlessly: “Samuel J. Wurzelbacher has a lien placed against him to the tune of $1,182.92. The lien is dated from January of ‘07.” Press outlets probed his divorce records. The local plumbers’ union, which has endorsed Obama, claimed he didn’t do their required apprenticeship work and didn’t have a license to work outside his local township.

Hang him!

After Wurzelbacher told Katie Couric that Obama’s rhetorical tap dance was “almost as good as Sammy Davis, Jr.,” the inevitable cries of “bigotry” followed. (There are now tens of thousands of hits on the Internet for “Joe the Plumber racist.”)

Welcome to Joe the Plumber Derangement Syndrome. If you can’t beat him, smear him. It’s the Obama way.

***

My friend Lorie Byrd was on the very same wavelength. Read her take here.

Update: McCain defends Joe the Plumber.

Posted in: Double standards, Graeme Frost, Joe The Plumber

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Comment pages: « 1 2 3 [4]

#301

On October 17th, 2008 at 6:59 pm, Jamson64 said:

On October 17th, 2008 at 4:56 pm, Old Scout said:
Sorry, but he should NEVER had said “Sammy Davis Jr.” That is racial cliche-ism, rather than racism, but makes him a target - it shows that he was making a comparison by race.

Old Fuq- now you can read minds.. FUG OFF
#302

On October 17th, 2008 at 7:25 pm, flenser said:

On October 17th, 2008 at 6:29 pm, mistressgoofball said:

Here is a case of DS for you. MM, will you blog about this one?
Oh, nevermind.

Given that the MSM have, of course, bothered to report on that, why does MM need to do so?

If I go over to Kos, will I find that the people there are writing stories on the Republican woman who was assulted in NYC for daring to carry a McCain/Plain placard?

Will I?
#303

On October 17th, 2008 at 7:25 pm, Marc said:

There are so may more Joe Biden lies than Michelle mentioned. First, there is the 1987 debate when he stole Neil Kinnock’s words and Kinnock’s biography. Biden said he was the first Biden ever to go to college. That was a lie. He said his Biden ancestors were coalminers who were underground in the mines for 16 hours and then came up and played 8 hours of football. Biden could not mention even one ancestor of his who was an actual coalminer. He could find one inlaw who was a management guy for a coal company. Then he said he just “thought of these things on the way to the debate”. Actually, he didn’t “just think of these things on the way to the debate”. Kinnock began his speech by saying “I just thought of these things on the way over”. Biden had “thought of these things” ever since he stole Kinnock’s speech. Over the years, the liberal media has said that Biden was unfairly punished for borrowing Kinnock’s words. In fact, Biden was caught lying about his own personal biography. Biden is also on CSpan tape in late 1987 bragging that he was in the top half of his law school class. Actually, he finished 75 out of 86, making himself one of the class dummies.
#304

On October 17th, 2008 at 7:27 pm, Bulldogger said:

I think Rob is suffering from the Biden effect!

On October 17th, 2008 at 6:39 pm, Rob said:

THE BRADLEY EFFECT, click heels together three times

THE BRADLEY EFFECT, click heels together three times

THE BRADLEY EFFECT, click heels together three times

THE BRADLEY EFFECT, click heels together three times…
#305

On October 17th, 2008 at 7:28 pm, flenser said:

“A spokeswoman for the Manhattan District Attorney confirms the authenticity of a story circulating on conservative blogs: That during a (rare, and small) McCain rally on Lexington Avenue and 51st Street in Manhattan last month, a hostile local grabbed a woman’s sign, broke it, and hit her in the face.”

Maybe the snotty trolls should wander back to their hive and post on this story before they lecture us on what we should talk about.
#306

On October 17th, 2008 at 7:43 pm, CantCureStupid said:

On October 17th, 2008 at 4:56 pm, Old Scout said:
Sorry, but he should NEVER had said “Sammy Davis Jr.” That is racial cliche-ism, rather than racism, but makes him a target - it shows that he was making a comparison by race.

It shows that he knows an extremely talented showman when he sees one.

Dipstick.
#307

On October 17th, 2008 at 7:50 pm, CantCureStupid said:

Hi Joe.

May I buy you a beer?

Regards,
CCS
#308

On October 17th, 2008 at 7:54 pm, CO2 Producer said:

I am Joe. Finally, I get to be somebody!1!!
#309

On October 17th, 2008 at 8:54 pm, cicerokid said:

I am Joe. Even sport the shaved head. Aspired to be a bus. owner and was forced into it 10 years ago when i got fired! You go Joe! Here’s to all the regular Joe’s out there tonight!
#310

On October 17th, 2008 at 9:04 pm, mistressjustice said:

Given that the MSM have, of course, bothered to report on that, why does MM need to do so?

If I go over to Kos, will I find that the people there are writing stories on the Republican woman who was assulted in NYC for daring to carry a McCain/Plain placard?

Will I?

Probably not. MM does blog about things like ACORN and “lipstick on a Pig” which are in the MSM. She refuses to condemn bigotry from her own side since Obama got the nomination. Whatever?

I have stated on prior threads that I think JTP seems like a good, decent guy who is unfortunately being turned into a gimmick and a cartoon. SNL will mock him tomorrow. I feel bad for the guy.

Goofball? Well you are a poopy head.

Goodnight folks.
#311

On October 17th, 2008 at 9:09 pm, BlameAmericaLast said:

Well, seeing how petty the Obama campaign is, you would think their opposition researchers would have something better to do. I guess they’re done trashing and tearing apart Palin, so whatever comes along that’s against Obama’s “plans” gets to be the next victim. Even if it’s some ordinary guy who’s not even running for office.

Nice.

Classy.

Tacky.

Typical.
#312

On October 17th, 2008 at 9:12 pm, Laree said:

So Obama/Biden, Think attacking an American Blue Color Voter, is a good idea? This is the tact they are taking ATTACKING VOTERS in the MSM, private American Citizens? They think this plays well among the Working Class Voters? Well it isn’t the way I would go but Good Luck with that Donkeys.
#313

On October 17th, 2008 at 9:23 pm, Laree said:

http://rattlergator.typepad.com/rattlergator/2008/10/the-attack-on-joe-the-plumber.html
#314

On October 17th, 2008 at 9:23 pm, Trollman said:

Laree said:

So Obama/Biden, Think attacking an American Blue Color Voter, is a good idea? This is the tact they are taking ATTACKING VOTERS in the MSM, private American Citizens? They think this plays well among the Working Class Voters? Well it isn’t the way I would go but Good Luck with that Donkeys.

Yeah, who does that Joe “the plumber” think he is? He isn’t Joe Sixpack, Joe the “6-term Senator” is the real Joe Sixpack.

What, you think it’s easy living in this huge house on this nice estate? You try to make ends meet on millions of dollars while donating much of that, like three thousand of it, to charity!!!

Why, Joe “the plumber” has probably never even been to Washington DC - while Joe the “6-term Senator” has been there for decades!
#315

On October 17th, 2008 at 10:12 pm, Rob said:

On October 17th, 2008 at 6:58 pm, Trollman said:
Rob, why don’t you take your garbage to the Daily Kos. I’m sure you’ll fit right in there.

TROLLman… ’nuff said
#316

On October 17th, 2008 at 10:18 pm, Rob said:

Sorry, but he should NEVER had said “Sammy Davis Jr.” That is racial cliche-ism,

Hey, Sammy was cool… He just fit in… he didn’t yell RAAAAAACIST… He just lived his life, made a shitola amount of money, got along with the people around him, didn’t expect welfare to take care of prison bound children, didn’t corn row his hair, didn’t play thugleishis, didn’t tell whitey to fuc off, and he gave Archie Bunker a kiss on the cheek… I still like Sammy.
#317

On October 17th, 2008 at 10:40 pm, mdt said:

Just changed my email signature address to USSA and also ordered labels to go with it…use this format

Mr. XYZ
123, main Street
ObamaLand
USSA
#318

On October 17th, 2008 at 10:50 pm, happyscrapper said:

On October 17th, 2008 at 6:39 pm, Rob said:
THE BRADLEY EFFECT, click heels together three times

THE BRADLEY EFFECT, click heels together three times

THE BRADLEY EFFECT, click heels together three times

THE BRADLEY EFFECT, click heels together three times…
Hell, it worked for Dorothy…

Rob…We could try that, but I think prayer will work much better.
#319

On October 17th, 2008 at 11:02 pm, flenser said:

mistressgoofball

MM does blog about things like ACORN and “lipstick on a Pig” which are in the MSM. She refuses to condemn bigotry from her own side since Obama got the nomination. Whatever?

I dunno. Have you seen anyone on your sides websites condem bigotry from their side?

What about you? Do you ever log in there at DU or Kos and chew people there out for their bigotry? Do you demand to know why they are not paying attention to the goonish, thuggish, criminal, bigoted actions coming from their own party?

You wouldn’t know justice if you fell in a pool of it.
#320

On October 17th, 2008 at 11:06 pm, flenser said:

The party of the people in action.

While [BO] was at a meeting at the Waldorf-Astoria at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Michelle Obama called room service and ordered lobster hors d’oeuvres, two whole steamed lobsters, Iranian caviar and champagne, a tipster told Page Six.

Just plain folks.
#321

On October 17th, 2008 at 11:28 pm, jangar said:

Iranian caviar

Giving America the bird
#322

On October 17th, 2008 at 11:37 pm, Send_Me said:

So, I ask, what are people going to do when the government starts knocking on your door saying, “hey, you need to put your kid in our care. Pre-school is now mandatory”? What are people going to do when the government starts going door to door, requesting that people turn in their firearms? Honestly, I see the average citizen saying, “oh ok, here you go.”
It’d behoove people to read a little history as to the genesis of dictatorships and tyrannical governments, specifically the cultural and ideological aspects. Then again, I think most folks don’t know what liberty means. Maybe people should read the Declaration of Independence. Maybe Natan Sharansky’s “Fear No Evil”. How about Kurt Vonnegut’s short story “Harrison Bergeron“? My only hope is that people look past the personalities for a moment (whether it be McCain, Obama, Palin, whomever) and look at the historical indicators and patterns of where we’re heading. I’ve got news for people here: only We the People, not McCain, not Palin, Alan Keyes, Bob Barr, Chuck Baldwin… can change this downward trend of our culture, hence our country. But sadly I have the feeling that it’s going to take quite a bit of pain and time for this to happen.
#323

On October 17th, 2008 at 11:44 pm, tyrfing said:

What are people going to do when the government starts going door to door, requesting that people turn in their firearms? Honestly, I see the average citizen saying, “oh ok, here you go.”

I think a lot of firearms will be reported ’stolen’ at that point. Sorry officers, nothing to see here.

But I have been wondering the same thing. Just how much government control will people accept before they won’t take it anymore? I have to agree with you, I think it will take a lot. I mean look at what the media is doing to some guy that JUST ASKED A QUESTION of Obama. He is being destroyed and not too many people seem to care.
#324

On October 17th, 2008 at 11:46 pm, jangar said:

What are people going to do when the government starts going door to door, requesting that people turn in their firearms?

Here in Arkansas we usually take them on a long ride down a logging road…

…never to be heard from again.

Good night.
#325

On October 18th, 2008 at 12:12 am, farmgal said:

I agree #321 We just got our pocket Constitutions from The Heritage Foundation and I think a lot of people would actually think the Founding Fathers were bigots.It’s pretty scary that we seem to be facing much of the same tyrany they were,it’s quite scary.I think a lot of people would give uop almost all of their freedom if the government would take care of them.If BHO gets in I think it’s time to move to the hills and not leave a forwarding address.
#326

On October 18th, 2008 at 12:42 am, mattm said:

Joe has the Obama camp running scared. They do not have it in the bag, if they did this would not be necessary.
#327

On October 18th, 2008 at 1:09 am, JonB said:

On October 17th, 2008 at 11:37 pm, Send_Me said:But sadly I have the feeling that it’s going to take quite a bit of pain and time for this to happen.

People will not change until it is their own families,their own flesh and blood, that are being slaughtered for the slightest deviation from the word of The One.

Americans in general are to focused on themselves to see what is going on right in front of their faces, and until they find themselves enslaved and forced into hard labor, and have to watch friends and family executed for whatever the daily reason is, they will not wake up.

There are millions of Americans out there who are going to get exactly what they deserve for their self centeredness.
#328

On October 18th, 2008 at 2:18 am, mistressjustice said:

What about you? Do you ever log in there at DU or Kos and chew people there out for their bigotry? Do you demand to know why they are not paying attention to the goonish, thuggish, criminal, bigoted actions coming from their own party?

I stand against bigotry from all sides on every blog that I’m on, including this one. Thank you for equating DU and Kos with MM.com. I’ve been making that point continuously. MM has no problem with bigotry from the rightwingers and Kos has no problem with bigotry from the leftwingers. Two extremist sides of the same coin.

nite, nite poopy head.
#329

On October 18th, 2008 at 7:43 am, flenser said:

I stand against bigotry from all sides on every blog that I’m on, including this one.

Please provide links to where you opposed Democratic bigotry on Democratic blogs.

I don’t believe it happens. Even if you wanted to, and I don’t believe you do, the left blogs don’t permit anyone calling them bigots in their comments sections.

I’ve been making that point continuously.

Liar.
#330

On October 18th, 2008 at 10:52 am, Sidana said:

I stand against bigotry from all sides on every blog that I’m on, including this one

Then go write your own blog Madame.

What you really tend to show is that you like to ruffle feathers and make it all about me, ME ME!!!!!

If, by the way, you have links where you taken on the Kos Kids.. for instance, that would go a long way to make us believe you. For myself, I think you are about the most elitist, bigoted and self-centered person here.
#331

On October 18th, 2008 at 11:46 am, mistressjustice said:

Liar.

No Flens, there is no lying going on here. I have often called out MM.com for being no better than far left sites when in comes to hate speech and bigotry. I’ve debated Navywife91 and Purplepeep on the issue. MM has no problem with rightwing hate speech. What you’re saying is that I’m lying about saying/typing that MM is no better than the lefty hate sites. I’m sure many here would differ.
You are confused.

Please provide links to where you opposed Democratic bigotry on Democratic blogs.

The only lefty sites I ever posted on are Media Matters and Huffpo. I never used the name MistressJusice before. If you think I’m going to search down links, just so that you can call me a liar about the poster ID issue, you must have me confused with somebody who desires to be suckered by you. Yeah, right. You’re not worth the time, and I’m nobody’s bit!$

MM has no problem with bigotry from the rightwingers and Kos has no problem with bigotry from the leftwingers. Two extremist sides of the same coin.

That’s the point that you haven’t been able to dispute. Instead you focus on me. If you have no problems with rightwing bigotry, or see no problems with MM, ignoring it, feel free to just say so. Lastly, I have spoken out on occasion against Obama, Clinton, and the media’s obsession over race on this very blog. MM isn’t quite as fair and balanced, particularly on the bigotry issue. That’s her right, and I have the right to call her out as being a hypocrite. Buhbye.

On October 18th, 2008 at 10:52 am, Sidana said:

See post to Flens above, and feel free to avoid my posts in the future.

For myself, I think you are about the most elitist, bigoted and self-centered person here.

Elitest, and self-centered are opinions of which I disagree, but whatever on this one. Calling me a bigot without an ounce of proof, or some quote is lazy and pathetic. Furthermore, saying that I’m the most bigoted person here when people like Rob, bitboy, tgusa, die-hippie, and others of the like are floating around shows your true colors. You lack integrity, have no sense of proportionality or perspective, and will simply type the first thing that comes to your mind. Basically, you’re weak.
#332

On October 20th, 2008 at 5:11 am, RetFireman said:

After Wurzelbacher told Katie Couric that Obama’s rhetorical tap dance was “almost as good as Sammy Davis, Jr.,” the inevitable cries of “bigotry” followed. (There are now tens of thousands of hits on the Internet for “Joe the Plumber racist.”)

So stating that Sammy Davis Jr. was a great dancer is now racist as well?

Damn..I am going to have to buy a program to keep up with all the new rules changes as to what is and isn’t considered racist.

Would it be considered not racist to say SDj was a sucky dancer?

I am SOOOO confused.