In defense of Joe
Bill Whittle responds to criticism of PJTV and Joe the Plumber.
More here.
***
Update: JD Johannes has an update on his initial reaction to JTP:
I hope this never gets lost in the translation: Joe is wonderful when he is relating the story of regular working people in a dire situation.
As a child-less bachelor who has spent the better part of the last few years in a war zone, the things that Joe picks up on would never occur to me. Which makes him better than I or others who ply the nuts and bolts combat reporting trade.
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Keyword: genuine. Unlike the phony baloney pro-jihadi msm “reporters”, Joe has perspective that is much closer to “We the People”. Good job JtP!
When Joe gets back from Gaza…he can investigate Jon Stewart. Interview Jon and ask him what or who gave Jon the idea that he was funny.
I’d rather listen to Joe than any professional reporter I’ve ever seen.
backwoods conservative said:
I’d rather listen to Joe than any professional reporter I’ve ever seen.
Word.
Nice try, Michelle (and Bill Whittle), but a rank amateur is a rank amateur. You — and many of the commenters here — were very critical of Sean Penn going out to “report,” and the primary difference is in political affiliation.
It’s a stunt. Got PJTV some attention.
MrScribbler, you ought to read some of Penn’s pieces, including his most recent in Salon, which is basically a ridiculously slanted slob job for great men like Hugo Chavez and Raul Castro.We scoff at his reporting because it’s so biased, not because of its amateur nature. But the fact is that Penn is nowhere near to being excoriated the way Joe the Plumber is for his “reporting,” which I would really just define as a sort of boots-on-the-ground travelogue rather than an attempt at investigative journalism.
Does Joe deserve a Pulitzer? Decidedly no. Is it a stunt for publicity? Maybe. But going to Middle East war zone and getting the perspective of someone who hasn’t spent the last fifteen years being jaded in the newsroom, from someone average, I don’t see how that’s necessarily a bad thing as long as you recognize it for what it is. I think people just really want Joe’s 15 minutes to be up, along with Sarah Palin, as you usually see their names cursed together.
MrScribbler said:
very critical of Sean Penn going out to
grovel
Fixed it for ya!.
I could give a crap what the betters/deciders and their wacky leftist blogger puppets say about Joe.
Joe’s right – MSM sucks and they have no business reporting if their sole purpose is to be mouthpieces for the enemy.
They are supposed to just report – the good and bad on both sides – not their stupid opinions or agenda.
Try an experiment folks.
Write to you local newspaper and ask the editor what our Constitution is for. I can almost guarantee you they will say it’s there to protect their rights and not to limit the powers of the federal government. The journalistic profession is overrun with mindless idiots.
If the MSM can field the likes of Geraldo and Keith Olbermann, then my mother could be a “legitimate” journalist.
I like Joe, he is after-all a real person trying to report on goings on in a war. Much better than a journalist if you want my opinion.
Like I said elswhere, Joe’s stock will drop if no one wants to read, if they do, then he is as legitimate as anyone else. (and subject to criticism like anyone else) Here’s to hoping it goes well for Joe!!
The profession of journalism is needed to report the who, what, when, where and how and sometimes why. They are supposed to be rubber stamps of information. They are not there to make the news. I now see them as frustrated little people, wanting to make an impact on the world, but can’t unless they create a sensation. The profession can now be viewed as a pathetic gaggle without the required integrity.
As someone who went to college and majored in broadcast communications I can tell you something: with years of the best training in the world concerning broadcast and journalism communications there are people who just can’t cut it. They are unprofessional, biased, and don’t have a clue how to report. No amount of training will make them professional. The MSM is loaded with them.
You have reporters running around that don’t know the difference between a fixed wing aircraft and a helicoptor. They don’t know the difference between a semi-auto pistol and a revolver.
I remember during Desert Storm I watching coverage on CNN. I was in England at the time and they were the only game in town. During one of the SCUD attacks on Israel I saw a reporter wearing a gas mask attempting to talk on the telephone. I guess he got frustrated at not being understood because suddenly he jerked the mask off the lower part of his face to talk directly into the phone. I remember thinking, “good thing it didn’t hit them with chemicals in it, he’d be dead.”
Of course the average Joe(American) want and like to hear what JTP has to say he’s like us, a true American. Of course the elitist, snobbish left wing will try and tarnish him, their once again jealous and afraid of Joe’s popularity, just as they are of Gov. Palin. Truth, honesty, decency and love of one’s country always scares the hell out of the left.
I think that a big part of the JTP kerfuffle is that that those on the left do not share the right’s belief that the average ummm… ‘Joe’ is perfectly capable of doing an okay job of just about anything, whether it be installing a pipe, defending his family, or reporting a news story. To a lefty, doing these things requires extensive training and credentials. This country wasn’t built by PhDs, Bill Gates dropped out of college, etc., etc. All hail the average ‘Joe’!
They think we’re stupid and they can’t stand it when one of us shows them we’re not.
“They”, of course, being the MSM.
The Ark was built by amateurs. The Titanic was built by professionals.
Word again…
Yeah! Let’s have the dummy do brain surgery next!
Spot on!!
I understand reporters to be well paid gossips. They see something and tell a bunch of other people what they saw.
Joe TP is new at this and I am sure he will learn. Just a little silly saying you are going to a war zone to report (as a reporter) and then say reporters should not be in a war zone.
Joe TP will find his footing and become better at saying what he is thinking, as well, as what he is seeing. A really good gossip tells the story so that it is very well understood, with the proper context and setup.
By challenging other reporters, without telling us, the reader, what that reporter has said, or done, doesn’t put the story in context.
Words have meaning and value, and in time Joe TP will learn how to be a good gossip (reporter). Rookie’s mistakes takes the eyes and attentions away from a goods story.
Did that last sentence bother you? Yep, I did it to make a point.
Here it is again, Rookie mistakes take the eye and attention away from a good story.
Give Joe TP sometime, and he will learn.
eagle
So now your comparing surgeons with journalist. Apparently you’ve never meet a reporter.
Pathetic profession. They’re are as close to a disease riddled whore as you’d want to get.
Coming from one in need of his head examined that was ironically amusing. He might be keen to try a lobotomy if you’re willing. Not saying it’ll make you conservative, no surgeon can *add* brain matter, it’d just make you less prone to spout off silly liberal tripe.
You’re going to do brain surgery?
Be nice Fineous Reese, Journalism is such a simple minded profession, even eagle could do it.
I trust Joe over a lot of so-called professionals, and my undergraduate degree is in journalism! Look at the chickiepies on t.v.. Most of them are Miss Kielbasa Festival 2002 or failed models/actresses. For every Meghan Kelly, who’s at least an attorney, there are scores of newsbabes whose main credential is that they are hot. Camille Paglia just called Katie Couric the dumbest journo who has ever interviewed her. The men are not necessarily any better educated either. They’re simply aggressive and ambitious. Everybody walks in with an agenda or picks it up in order to fit in and succeed.
Has JTP actually reported anything?
Joe The Plumber’s report has been first rate. He has done his homework and knows how to do a man on the street interview. Let’s look at a Christine Amanpout interview. It always begins and ends with Amanpour lecturing someone (usually an Israeli) about that person’s lack of morality. She was literally screaming at Shimon Peres. She had dug up some old and out of context remark and she started shouting at Peres: “Your words, your words”. And then there was Amanpour’s interview with Ehud Barak. She started lecturing Barak until Barak finally stopped and said: “Bull __ __ __ t”. And then there is Kyra Phillips at CNN who didn’t know how to turn off a microphone and talked onair from the ladies’ room replete with toilet flushing. Kyra, maybe you could have used a plumber to tell you when to flush and not to flush the toilet!
Calling Dr. Joe…ready in surgery… eaglehaslanded is under anesthesia…
MSM reporters do brain washing, not brain surgery. I can understand your confusion. They are big words and all.
Anyone on this blog could be a brain surgeon , a Harvard law school graduate and yes even a reporter. All that is needed is time, desire and focus. I’ve taught myself many skills over the years and have discovered that the only necessary personality trait is the ability to set goals. Don’t ever let any insecure leftist loser tell you otherwise. We are self sufficient conservatives with integrity.
We hold the high ground.
Why don’t you do Google him and report back to us?
Cindy Sheehan, thou hypocrite.
Life is simple if you don’t over analyze it. I liken this whole debate over JtP’s new job to the same drivel spouted by movie critics – another profession of mouths that I never pay attention to. I don’t need some yahoo overanalyzing a movie and telling me to either watch or pass on it. I watch whatever I want and either like it or dislike it for my own reasons. I am doing the same with JtP’s reporting. So far I’ve seen no reason to turn him off. I giggle like a little girl when he responds to reporters sticking microphones in his face by sticking a microphone in their faces and asking them questions that make them look for a hole to crawl in. Watching him make sure others entered the bomb shelter prior to him speaks volumes about his character that no one who has never been shot at will understand. Watching the average Israeli’s natural response to him gives me some satisfaction that his mission has a purpose, even if it is to only give voice (even an amateur voice) to the constant danger they face daily. Either turn him off or make more popcorn. Just don’t overanalyze it or you’ll miss a good show.
If you’re volunteering
I’m all for watching that video report.
eaglehaslanded holds journalists in the same category as brain surgeons?
They’re more like proctologists.
- Craig
I’d say the 1-2 million plus regular viewers might be giving Jon that idea.
Ignore Eagle… He’s so sadly predictable he’s recycling his lines. We’ve already seen his “brain surgery” schtick.
It’s a cry for attention.
I want the media to tell me what is going on in the world. And perhaps with history, perspective and some research.
Not interpret the story for me.
Dont know much about JD Johannes, but unfortunately his posting/whiniing about Joe sounds like he got his feelings hurt and has fallen into the trap that he takes his work a little too seriously and cant be replaced in the field.
If Joe said that he thinks reporters shouldnt be on the front lines….. then yeh…..
Reporters dont have a right to front line access. It would be cool to know that info, but then again, its not essential for the world to know. Get over it. It you want front line info, JOIN THE MILITARY or become a mercenary. Civilians are cannon fodder and expendable.
Ive mentioned it before: If we were in the military and even if General Patraeus has been taken hostage…. I shoot THROUGH the general to secure my objective. No ifs, ands or negotiations required.
One correction: that is unless my objective is to save/rescue the General himself… otherwise, we can always get a new general
Perspective on the real value of life – in the global scheme of things you/I arent really worth much. You may think we are, but…….. (talk to me in 50 years and lets discuss it again)
Jet Jaguar said (#33):
Report: so far he’s done one report. In front of several TV cameras, an Israeli soldier briefed him on old missile casings they had collected then asked Joe if he had any questions. Joe couldn’t think of any, so he launched into a tirade against war reporters in general.
Bottom line: Joe has opinions, but he’s no reporter, at least not yet.