Joe The Plumber: Obama Tap Dances Like "Sammy Davis Jr."

In a phone interview with CBS' Katie Couric, Joe Wurzelbacher said Barack Obama "tap dance[d] ... almost as good as Sammy Davis Jr." in their conversation. He also said he didn't actually make enough to fall into the group whose taxes would be raised under Obama -- but argued that it was a "slippery slope." Watch:

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Comments

[Gezandor]

04:27 PM on 10/28/2008

The next "Joe the ...." slogan my well be: Meet "Joe the Vice President"

[nozrak]

01:59 AM on 10/23/2008

For those of you who are students and don't understand what "spread the wealth around" means, let me simplify it for you. This is a story about students, John M. and Barry O. It goes something like this.
"John M., I know that you worked hard for your grades and congratulations, you got an "A" in one of the classes that you worked the hardest in. There are a few people in the same class that didn't work quite as hard as you and some might call them slackers. Barry O. is one of those slackers and he received a grade of "D" in the same class. Now to equalize things for all the students, we are going to give the slackers some of your hard work. Barry O. will now get a "C" and John M. will receive a "B". This is the fair thing to do after all. It is good for the class and it is good for the college as a whole!
As usual the ones who would support this are those who think that they are owed something that they didn't work for . The ones who don't support this are the ones who work hard and play by the rules.
Does this redistribution of hard work does really make you want to strive for those good grades?

[naviline]

04:43 PM on 10/24/2008

Interesting that you use grades as your metaphor, as McCain graduated near the very bottom of his class, and has spent most of his life benefiting from handouts based on his social stature and family ties.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/make_believe_maverick_the_real_john_mccain

[DeejTu]

12:32 PM on 10/28/2008

You are comparing apples and oranges. Academic grades have nothing to do with money,,,they are 2 different issues. When Obama said "spread the wealth around" he was referring to taxes and the current unfairness of the system. If the rich get tax cuts, it is not a given that those benefits or any other for that matter will trickle down to the rest of us. So the rich get richer and the rest of the country has to pay for everything the government thinks up. Obama was speaking to the unfairness of the tax system and it has nothing to do with being owed something they didn't work for.

[HappinessHacker]

10:38 AM on 10/18/2008

The G.O.P. is paying street shills to try to mold opinion in Atlanta, their slick similar story lines have the ring of Moonies from days gone by. Joe the Plumber looks and sounds just like them.

McCain leaned on him so heavily because he knew he was talking about one of his own guys. Press scruntiny revealed the truth, thanks guys!

HappinessHacker.com - Atlanta

[trish74]

07:04 AM on 10/18/2008

A reporter from Washington Week said that he did some work for her relatives in Ohio and she implied that his performance was not up to par. He may have some ways to go before he hits the $250,000.00 mark.

[katiesmom]

12:53 PM on 10/17/2008

It's disgusting the way OBAMA"s campaign and the media has ripped this guy up one side and down the other. Do you people realize the negative affect this is having on O's campaign? The undecided people are already saying it makes O look bad in their eyes. I guess you can keep ripping him up if you wanna turn more people to McCain.....

[Lorenzoh]

06:00 PM on 10/17/2008

It would be useful ,and give your opinion some credibility, if you would give a couple of examples of how the Obama campaign "has ripped this guy up one side and down the other". The more the media is uncovering about him the more specious his remarks are becoming. If the "undecided" voters want to use this as an excuse to vote for McCain/Palin they are more pathetic than I had already thought them. They need to be making their choice on the larger items that really matter.

[catandfiddle]

01:57 AM on 10/18/2008

What's disgusting is Joe's racist remark. "Almost as good as Sammy Davis Jr..." Really, another sad reminder of how racism is still so embedded in our society, that "Joe" didn't give making this comment a second thought.

Please cite your sources (a link?) as to where you obtained that it was "Obama's campaign ripping into this guy"?

By the way, the 250K tax on small business that Obama is proposing is on business PROFIT, after salaries, business expenses, etc. This would be on the PROFIT, not salary (s) paid out by the small business.

[foxbat]

10:40 PM on 10/16/2008

As more begins to emerge about Joe, it appears that McCain has yet another unvetted person to promote in the spotlight. It's starting to become standard operating procedure. Maverick is looking more and more like gamble. Maverick pays off; gambling typically doesn't. In looking at McCain's last month, it looks more like the latter than the former.

[dlinguist]

01:56 AM on 10/17/2008

Agree with you.

Almost feel bad for Joe though (I'll let others tackle the racism angle)

Joe sees candidate walking down what I presume is his street. Joe decides to trip up the candidate by asking a question, in the process padding his own background or situation in order to support his question. That should be the end of the story.

But then the opposing candidate's staff jumps on the bandwagon, forgets (as you said) to vet him, political building gets raised on this faulty foundation and the whole thing comes crashing down.

Well Joe, cash in on your 15 minutes of fame, while you can. I'm sure there are plenty of philanthropic neocons glad to make your life story shine.

[trish74]

07:02 AM on 10/18/2008

I'm sure by the end of this charade he should be making more than $250,000.00 for his new found star status. If only other Joes were so lucky.

[Sammy00400]

09:03 PM on 10/16/2008

Slippery slope? That is something that belongs in more of a political discussion instead of a human interest story about who Joe is.

[Martee]

08:37 PM on 10/16/2008

Aside from the questionably racist Sammy line (come on -- I'm being generous here) -- how can you call the direct, thoughful, respectful response he got from Obama "tap dancing"?!?!?!?! I'm not sure what it is -- but I always hear these conservatives say "it's all rhetoric" -- when it's actually direct, straight forward, insightful, thoughtful, respectful, great answer! Is it that they're just too dense to get it? Or they just really want one answer -- but they get another??? What is THAT?!?!?! Why even ask the question?!?!? Unless it's a game of "gotcha"! They try to think up these questions that they think will be embarassing -- and then when he honestly addresses it in a thoughtful respectful manner -- it confuses and upsets them -- and they just have to pretend like it didn't make any sense?!??!? Well, luckily, people can hear for themselves.

[PSRinNJ2]

10:03 PM on 10/16/2008

Jeez, anyone who dares criticize Obama MUST be a racist, huh?

[Martee]

11:11 PM on 10/16/2008

You must not have read my comment. I gave him a pass on any racist inferences that might have been drawn on the Sammy Davis tap dancing comment (chalking it up to perhaps just a poor choice of words under unusual pressure). My real concern was that Obama gave such a clear, thoughtful and straight forward answer -- and he still just heard "tap dancing." Makes me wonder if he didn't want to hear an answer -- or didn't understand what Obama was saying -- or just what the problem was. Not that he had to agree with Obama (as Obama said himself) but he didn't seem to understand -- just saying it's all "tap dancing" -- a reworking of the "cloud of rhetoric" response.

[KenBenobi]

03:33 AM on 10/17/2008

no but generalizing Obama criticism critiques that broadly is laying cover for racists. some people really DO mean it. problem is they never say, "I'm a racist".

[NoSillyName]

07:19 PM on 10/16/2008

Gee, why didn't Joe refer to Fred Astaire of Gene Kelly?

[NoSillyName]

07:16 PM on 10/16/2008

Oh joy, the republicans have found their new star.

[racetoinfinity]

03:53 AM on 10/17/2008

no - they've planted another fake.

[Mysticalsister]

06:50 PM on 10/16/2008

Poor Joe -- he can't even legally snake my toilet since he isn't a licensed plumber. So what is he? Apparently he's a repugnican shill. what a shocker.

mccain finds another low.

[Tobiasism]

05:47 PM on 10/16/2008

But is Joe related to Charles Keating's son in law?

The right wing seems to think so.

http://www.eisenstadtgroup.com/2008/10/15/joe-the-plumber-wurzelbacher-related-to-charles-keating-oops/

[foxbat]

10:35 PM on 10/16/2008

There is a Wurzelbacher that's related to Keating, but it's not Joe. Apparently Wurzelbacher is a pretty common name in Ohio.

[MojoHand]

05:30 PM on 10/16/2008

Looks like Joe is making a real run at the top spot in KO's World's Worst tonight.

[andban]

05:27 PM on 10/16/2008

I'm a white male and I'm calling this guy out as a racist
http://www.nationinstitute.org/p/schanberg09182008pt1.

[Futurefear]

04:59 PM on 10/16/2008

. . . Joe Wurzelbacher said Barack Obama "tap dance[d] ... almost as good as Sammy Davis Jr."
Ladies and Gentlemen --- THAT'S A RACIST COMMENT!!!!