"Joe The Plumber" Lashes Out At Media

Joe Wurzelbacher Says He Is Now Upset About The Attention He's Received

(AP)  "Joe the Plumber" is lashing out at the media for analyzing his personal life since he suddenly became a focal point of the presidential race last week.

Joe Wurzelbacher, a plumber from Holland, Ohio, told Mike Huckabee on his Fox News talk show Saturday that he is upset by the attention and has been unable to work with reporters crowded on his front lawn.

"The media's worried about whether I've paid my taxes, they're worried about any number of silly things that have nothing to do with America," Wurzelbacher told the former Republican presidential hopeful on his show, "Huckabee."

Wurzelbacher said he felt terrible after reading some of the criticism of himself posted online.

"I felt about that small," he said. "I mean I really did."

Republican presidential candidate John McCain has been portraying Wurzelbacher as emblematic of people with concerns about Barack Obama's tax plans.

Wurzelbacher became famous after he met Obama and said the Democrat's tax proposal could keep him from buying the two-man plumbing company where he works. However, reports of Wurzelbacher's annual earnings suggest he would receive a tax cut rather than an increase under Obama's plan.

"You know, I am a plumber," Wurzelbacher said. "Just a plumber."

Wurzelbacher said he agreed to appear on the show after he received phone calls from friends serving in the military who voiced their support.

"You know, when you can't ask a question of your leaders anymore, that gets scary," he said.

On Sunday, McCain traveled to Wurzelbacker's home state of Ohio, while the plumber was in New York making the media rounds with his family.

[crispp1]

The point is that "Joe the Plumber" is a symbol of the middle class, his personal life/job/salary, etc. have nothing to do with it. He is from the middle class and just asked a question. The Democrats are ripping him apart for not being a licensed plumber, not making a $250K salary, etc. because his question back-fired on them and it just opened one of the holes in the Obama tax plan. This just shows how Obama really feels about the middle class.


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Posted by ABMan827 at 12:25 PM : Oct 20, 2008


Still again, McCain used him as a center piece during the debate. This was my point. Joe asked Obama the question, and he got a response. Not saying that who ever published is back tax issue, income, work status, etc. was correct. But, you know that would not have happened if McCain and the media did not throw him into the spotlight. With that said why does he keep stepping into the spotlight, appearing on all of these news shows? He did have a right to ask the question, and Obama answered it. McCain needs to stop using Joe, why doesn''t he talk about his wife making 4.5 million and paying 25% into taxes. Those of us that have 25% of our weekly wages going to federal and state taxes per week are also the middle class also not just the small business owners and protential owners. As a single parent I would like to see less tax taken per week from my pay.

[ixoye_02]

Lying seems to be a republican pastime....from Joe (Sam) the plumber to McCain the candidate.

[abman827]

11. The Republicans think a Hockey mom with an unwed daughter and a Downs syndrome child and a husband who is a card carrying member of a Secessionist party is perfect for helping to lead us in these times--even though the woman is an airhead


You are right. The Danger is from within. The country is already being destroyed as we knew it--it happened in 2000 and continues unabated to this very day. We have met the enemy and he and his party are REPUBLICANS.


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Posted by harbinger09 at 09:19 AM : Oct 20, 2008

And what does her pregnant daughter and her down-syndrome child have to do with it. You actually stooped that low. Any point that you could of made was just discredited by this statement. What a moral person you are judging ones children to prove your point. If this is what we have to look forward too in an Obama administration we are going past a great financial depression, it will get even worse with a great moral depression.

[abman827]

So, why isn''''t Joe upset with all the attention that McCain drew to him. If he is upset with anyone, he should be mad at McCain and Palin for pointing the attention in his direction.


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Posted by crispp1 at 12:11 PM : Oct 20, 2008

The point is that "Joe the Plumber" is a symbol of the middle class, his personal life/job/salary, etc. have nothing to do with it. He is from the middle class and just asked a question. The Democrats are ripping him apart for not being a licensed plumber, not making a $250K salary, etc. because his question back-fired on them and it just opened one of the holes in the Obama tax plan. This just shows how Obama really feels about the middle class.

[erasmus81]

THIS MAN IS A LIAR AND SHOULD GET ALL THE BAD ATTENTION HE GETS...HE GAVE OUT BAD INFORMATION AND THEN HE DOES NOT EVEN PAY HIS TAXES...WHAT THE HECK IS JOHN MCCAIN GOING AROUND FIGHTING FOR THIS MAN AND HE WILL NOT PAY HIS TAXES...WHAT DOES THAT SAY ABOUT JOHN MCCAIN...

Posted by Jack4Rep at 09:54 AM : Oct 20, 2008

It says he''s an idiot, but you already knew that, didn''t you?

[crispp1]

What I don''t understand is that Joe is upset over all the attention that he is getting. And he appears to also suggesting that it was Obama that drew this attention to him. But, correct me if I am wrong the media did a piece on this, of course the right wing Fox news more so then others, then McCain made him famous during the debate. He used Joe''s plight of owning his own company as an example of today''s small business owner. Of course Joe does not own a small business and stated that he does not make anything close to 250,000 per year. So, why isn''t Joe upset with all the attention that McCain drew to him. If he is upset with anyone, he should be mad at McCain and Palin for pointing the attention in his direction.

[jack4rep]

THIS MAN IS A LIAR AND SHOULD GET ALL THE BAD ATTENTION HE GETS...HE GAVE OUT BAD INFORMATION AND THEN HE DOES NOT EVEN PAY HIS TAXES...WHAT THE HECK IS JOHN MCCAIN GOING AROUND FIGHTING FOR THIS MAN AND HE WILL NOT PAY HIS TAXES...WHAT DOES THAT SAY ABOUT JOHN MCCAIN...

[harbinger09]

.that threat is Barack Obama. He will be the catalyst to the fall of America and the ending of the American way of life.

Posted by slayrre007 at 09:06 AM : Oct 20, 2008


You have just undergone 8 years where:

1. illegal torture and wiretapping was condoned. 2. Habeus corpus was suspended.
3. America had secret prisons
4. America had to remove US signatures from the Geneva Convention
5. America could not be represented in the World Courts
6. The President commandeered the National Guard of each state
7. The deficit went to over 11 TRILLION DOLLARS
8. America is in a war based on lies and thinks we can be the heros and win a wrong war
9. Bush presided over the worst economic slide since the Depression
10. The government has had to bail out and partially Nationalize our investment and ordinary banks
11. The Republicans think a Hockey mom with an unwed daughter and a Downs syndrome child and a husband who is a card carrying member of a Secessionist party is perfect for helping to lead us in these times--even though the woman is an airhead


You are right. The Danger is from within. The country is already being destroyed as we knew it--it happened in 2000 and continues unabated to this very day. We have met the enemy and he and his party are REPUBLICANS.

[harbinger09]

Once Barack Obama, as Commander-In-Chief, is given our countries top military secrets... he will find a way to give the information to his "brothers" in the middle east. This country has lost its identity as Americans in their efforts to prove, even at the risk of threatening the security of this country, that a black man can become elected President. How soon Americans everywhere forget how unprepared we were for 9/11. Intellectually we could not accept the real danger of such an attack. Now we are unprepared to accept the realistic threat that the next attack to destroy America will come from within....that threat is Barack Obama. He will be the catalyst to the fall of America and the ending of the American way of life.

Posted by slayrre007 at 09:06 AM : Oct 20, 2008


[SIGH] Is that YOU, Ms. Quinnell? Did the girls ever fix that scary ''Do'' of yours? Still passing out pamphlets about Obama? lol. He''s an AAAAAAAAAAA_RAB, huh? LMAOAY.

[harbinger09]

If JTP does not know the difference between 15 minuets of fame and anonymity is not the question. To me, JTP represented millions when he asked Nobama a good question but did not get a good answer. Nobama''''s a proven empty suit.

Posted by thgdriver1 at 05:32 PM : Oct 19, 2008


Oh, Joe got an answer. It was just not an answer that the GOP wanted to hear. FAce it, Joe is a fraud and a joke--like Sarah Palin. The question was never the problem--it was the fact that Joe was dishonest in so many ways when he pretended to be a plumber.


1. He lied about what he was--a plumber that has not gone through an apprenticeship/journeyman or is not licensed is not a plumber.

2. HE took a job away from a Union. legitimate plumber

3. HE was dishonest and did not pay his hospital bills or back taxes

4. HE is eager to ask political questions but is not registered to vote

5. He put his employer at risk by becoming so notorious

6. As a person that regularly appears on right wing radio shows he misrepresented himself and was a shill

7. He lied about getting ready to "buy the plumbing business" he can''t pay his bills, let alone buy anything--he NEEDS the tax cuts of Obama--but ideology and ignorance, first.

Joe is a fraud--no one wants to hear what a fraud has to say. Always, GOPers...always--consider the source.

[slayrre007]

Once Barack Obama, as Commander-In-Chief, is given our countries top military secrets... he will find a way to give the information to his "brothers" in the middle east. This country has lost its identity as Americans in their efforts to prove, even at the risk of threatening the security of this country, that a black man can become elected President. How soon Americans everywhere forget how unprepared we were for 9/11. Intellectually we could not accept the real danger of such an attack. Now we are unprepared to accept the realistic threat that the next attack to destroy America will come from within....that threat is Barack Obama. He will be the catalyst to the fall of America and the ending of the American way of life.

[harbinger09]

Joe says he didn''''t even know about the back taxes, a whopping $1200 I might add, but that he is now working on paying them off. This just goes to show how ravenous the media has become in attacking McCain. It''''s so sad that the media is trying to make some regular guy pay for simply asking Obama a question. He obviously blasphemed their messiah. I wouldn''''t be suprised if the media pushed for a law to make asking Obama an unfavorable question punishable by death.

Posted by bracemic at 05:54 PM : Oct 19, 2008


Joe has some ''splaining to do.

1. He owes back taxes and did not know? That could happen.

2. He owes a hospital bill and never paid that either? HE needs to explain that. (Personal responsibility issues, there)

3. He is a scrub working for a legal Plumbing business but taking a job away from a real, certified plumber, apprentice or journeyman? (Personal responsibility and integrity issues, there)

4. Joe needs to explain to the State and plumber''s union what he has been doing impersonating a plumber all of these years and when/if he ever plans on completing the required prereqs to getting legitimate (like the apprenticeship program)

The fact is, Joe is, in almost every way possible a fraud, with no room to talk on any of the issues. Again--McCAin stepping forward and pulling a loser into the limelight (like he did with Palin) and upon close scrutiny, they can''t pass the smell test--because both of his "picks" are covered in dung.

[harbinger09]

Average IQ for white Americans: 100

Average IQ for black Americans: 85

So, who are you voting for in November?

Posted by colinisaniga at 08:52 PM : Oct 19, 2008


The only Americans who are thinking of electing an average American or worse is the GOP--every other group does not want an "Average Joe" and take their choices from the creme de la creme in the intellectual elite. (Palin and McCain are both sort of losers--with Palin not even being able to string a coherent sentence together and McCAin running around like a chicken with its head cut off--over the economic crisis) We don''t need another ZERO--which is why the "Average" white or black cannot cut it.

Republicans should stop trying to put "average" people in charge of this country. LMAO

[harbinger09]

Average IQ for white Americans: 100

Average IQ for black Americans: 85

So, who are you voting for in November?

Posted by colinisaniga at 08:52 PM : Oct 19, 2008


Legitimate link for this stat? Please do not post any rabid right wing or neo nazi sites. Thanks.

[usclimey]

McCain''s rooming Joe to take over from Palin when she does the honorable thing and drops out. He''s just about as qualified as she is.

[usclimey]

McCain''s in Toledo today. You''d think his hero, Joe, would be with him in Joe''s home town. No, Joe is in New York recording interviews for the morning shows. And WHO doesn''t like the publicity?

Fox has fallen further than even I thought if Huck''s doing a show there now.

[pakaal]

"The media''s worried about whether I''ve paid my taxes, they''re worried about any number of silly things that have nothing to do with America"

Funny, I''m American, and I pay taxes. I never knew that paying taxes in America didn''t have to do with America. Hey Joe, maybe the real problem here is that you lied about a whole bunch of stuff, and misrepresented yourself as something you''re not, and then you got caught at it.

Wurzelbacher deserves every moment of humiliation he gets for lying to America about himself, it''s his own fault. Don''t do the crime if you can''t do the time!

[lmsandmann]

Hey... I''ve got no money, and I pay my taxes. I''ve even paid them on the credit card before.... I know, stupid.... super dumb... but I pay my taxes (and yes I pay the stupid credit card bill).

Forget checking addresses, if you don''t pay your taxes, you shouldn''t be able to vote, let alone become the poster child for a campaign.

[enriquecaliente]

Here is a guy that walks up and states that he plans on buying a business. Yet he has no pot to pi$$ in and owes back taxes.

[noamnestymc]

Joe says he didn''''t even know about the back taxes, a whopping $1200 I might add, but that he is now working on paying them off. This just goes to show how ravenous the media has become in attacking McCain. It''''s so sad that the media is trying to make some regular guy pay for simply asking Obama a question. He obviously blasphemed their messiah. I wouldn''''t be suprised if the media pushed for a law to make asking Obama an unfavorable question punishable by death.
Posted by bracemic at 05:54 PM : Oct 19, 2008
***** Obama is not a messiah, he is just a much better candidate than amnesty mccain! If mccain would finally come out and support working people instead of illegal immigrants, maybe then mccain wouldn''t have these problems. Joe the Plumber deserves any punishment that comes his way, because there is no way an unlicenced plumber makes over 250,000 bucks per year, so Joe would get a tax break under Obama, and yet would pay more in taxes under amnesty mccain! Mccain only cares about making rich people richer. Obama wants to give the small business and middle class tax cuts... amnesty mccain wants to give walmart and other big huge companies tax breaks, which will make it hard for small businesses to compete with walmart!