This art icle blurs the boundaries between the surprising and completely absurd. When my friend informed me this morning that the infamous “Joe the Plumber” is being hired by the GOP to do some of their political strategizing, I was at first (rightly) incredulous. I attempted to reassure myself that this had to be some sort of bizarre joke, but my friend was unfortunately not kidding.
Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, who goes by the alias of “Joe the Plumber”, received his 15 minutes of fame when he told Barack Obama during a campaign appearance in Ohio that his tax plan would prevent him from buying a plumbing business. John McCain and Sarah Palin took this opportunity and ran with it, using Wurzelbacher to represent the so-called average American. I thought we heard the last from “Joe the Plumber” when the Republicans lost the election, but I was sadly mistaken.
Wurzelbacher traded in his plumbing tools to become a novice war correspondent. Fresh off from an assignment in Gaza, he had spent some time in the war-torn section of the Middle-East to cover Israel’s side of the current military offensive. His rookie correspondent status was reinforced when he stood in front of a file of spent rockets and said: “I have thousands of questions, but I can’t think of the right one”.
Wurzelbacher, who underwent intense scrutiny during the 2008 Presidential campaign, was hired by the conservative PajamasTV news source to because he’s an “expert of media bias”. Right, just like I’m an expert on nuclear physics!
His newest foray into the GOP involves talking political strategy with the big boys. “Joe the Plumber” was the featured guest at the Conservative Working Group, which also included top GOP congressional aides. The group is an organization of conservative Capitol Hill staff who meet regularly to talk weekly GOP strategy.
Wurzelbacher focused his talk on the proposed stimulus package. According to members of the group, he’s not a fan of what’s going on with the current economic rescue package. But who cares what he’s saying—he’s Joe the Plumber! In an email to the group, an aid to South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint wrote: “in case you weren’t planning to attend CWG tomorrow morning, you might want to consider because Joe the Plumber will be joining us!” I’m going to take this email as a sign that Wurzelbacher
So, he’s only being used to get staff to attend the 9am meeting? I can only hope that’s the case.
Now, I’m going to ask the questions that you’re probably all wondering—how is Wurzelbacher qualified to do ANY of this? What has the Republican Party come to? In fact, he doesn’t even have a license or registration to be a plumber! What will they think of next?
