McCain Camp Ramps Up Press War Over "Joe The Plumber" Coverage

The McCain campaign ramped up its criticism of the press on Friday, calling the fourth estate an embarrassment and shameful for the way it has scrutinized Joe The Plumber -- the Senator's symbolic middle-class supporter.

"The media has spent more time trying to find out every nook and cranny on those two then that have don't [on Obama]," declared Michael Steele, former Lt. Gov. of Maryland during a conference call on Friday. "Joe asked Barack Obama a question [on tax policy]. He did not put on the table anything about his life or circumstances... Barack Obama's response is the true issue here. It is not the questioner or the question. And the fact that the media has taken off on this guy tells us that our press in this election cycle is suspect at best."

Steele added: "I hope we never see this level of performance from the media in an election ever again."

During Wednesday's debate, McCain referenced Joe the Plumber repeatedly as the living embodiment of an individual who would suffer under Barack Obama's tax policies. In the day that followed, moreover, Wurzelbacher (his true last name) held an impromptu press conference outside his Ohio home to discuss his disdain for social security, his critiques of Obama's economic agenda, and his support for the war.

All of which prompted the press to start digging. In the process it was revealed that Wurzelbacher would see a tax cut under Obama's plan (not a hike), that he wasn't actually a licensed plumber, and that he had not paid a portion of his state income taxes. And so, after thrusting him into the center of the media spotlight and hoping to benefit from the positive imagery that Joe the Plumber engendered, the McCain campaign was fuming come Friday.

"They are now attacking a gentlemen form Ohio who had the temerity to ask Barack Obama about his tax plans and the Obama-friendly media are going right along with it," said Douglas Holtz Eakin, a McCain economic adviser.

The war between the McCain camp and the press has been long-standing, with the Senator's chief strategist launching one of the harshest attacks by accusing the New York Times of no longer being a journalistic institution. Much of that disdain for the media has carried over into the McCain crowds. During the Republican National Convention, the audience taunted the NBC News set (a station that campaign has viewed as hostile). On Friday the anger was brought to a more alarming level when a member of a McCain-Palin crowd physically assaulted a reporter for the North Carolina-based Greensboro News-Record.

I sidled up to one of the Obama supporters and asked why they were there, what they were trying to accomplish.

As he was telling me a large, bearded man in full McCain-Palin campaign regalia got in his face to yell at him.

"Hey, hey," I said. "I'm trying to interview him. Just a minute, okay?"

The man began to say something about how of course I was interviewing the Obama people when suddenly, from behind us, the sound of a pro-Obama rap song came blaring out of the windows of a dorm building. We all turned our heads to see Obama signs in the windows.

This was met with curses, screams and chants of "U.S.A" by McCain-Palin folks who crowded under the windows trying to drown it out and yell at the person playing the stereo.

It was a moment of levity in an otherwise very tense situation and so I let out a gentle chuckle and shook my head.

"Oh, you think that's funny?!" the large bearded man said. His face was turning red. "Yeah, that's real funny..." he said.

And then he kicked the back of my leg, buckling my right knee and sending me sprawling onto the ground.

Comments

[Whinger]

08:03 AM on 10/18/2008

Joe the unlicensed plumber walked into the public domain of his own free will, fair game for media!

John McCain's on his ear because Joe has been exposed as being something other than a plumber!

[Ged2012]

03:14 AM on 10/18/2008

Our Nobel-priz­e winning economist agrees with Obama. Here's the latest article he wrote:

"...there"­s a lot the federal government can do for the economy. It can provide extended benefits to the unemployed­, which will both help distressed families cope and put money in the hands of people likely to spend it. It can provide emergency aid to state and local government­s, so that they aren"t forced into steep spending cuts that both degrade public services and destroy jobs. It can buy up mortgages (but not at face value, as John McCain has proposed) and restructur­e the terms to help families stay in their homes.

And this is also a good time to engage in some serious infrastruc­ture spending, which the country badly needs in any case... So let"s get those projects rolling.

What we need right now is more government spending " but when Mr. McCain was asked in one of the debates how he would deal with the economic crisis, he answered: "Well, the first thing we have to do is get spending under control."

If Barack Obama becomes president, he won"t have the same knee-jerk opposition to spending.

The responsibl­e thing, right now, is to give the economy the help it needs. Now is not the time to worry about the deficit."

http://www­.nytimes.c­om/2008/10­/17/opinio­n/17krugma­n.html?em

[kjstjohn]

11:06 PM on 10/17/2008

We're done with (not) Joe the (not) Plumber! Senator McCain what are you going to do differentl­y from GWB to save the economy?

[DingoDave]

10:55 PM on 10/17/2008

The Republican campaign staff certainly appear to have been 'plumbing' the depths when they dredged up Joe.

Sorry about that, I couldn't help myself.

[Bluesue]

10:48 PM on 10/17/2008

There are many strange things about the whole "Joe the Plumber" story.

Strangest of all is that he's lived in Arizona and Alaska

ttp://news­.bostonher­ald.com/ne­ws/politic­s/2008/vie­w/2008_10_­17_Joe_the­_Plumber_w­as_once_Jo­e_the_Alas­kan/srvc=h­ome&positi­on=recent

[HarryMonster]

08:56 PM on 10/17/2008

My Repbulican friend called me this morning foaming at the mouth over the treatment from the MSM of Joe the Plumber. I couldn't believe it and I couldn't get a word in - I first about Joe from her - not the media. I heard about all the "dirt" being dredged up on Joe - from her - not the media. I pretty much watch MSNBC and what I had heard was not set out to destroy this guy as she claimed. Most of the people on MSNBC found it an amusing story - they weren't wallowing in the "dirt" of this guy's life. It is the Republican­s who made this guy a story. He asked Obama a question and if it hadn't been for McCain, the story would have ended there. Joe the Plumber is another distractio­n from the issues. Joe the Plumber is another pawn in the McCain campaign. He is my list of pawns the McCain campaign is exploiting (in no particular order) - Sarah Palin, Joe the Plumber, our troops and special needs babies. Go ahead Senator McCain, keep talking about Ayers, Joe and whatever else you think will distract America. On Nov. 5th we will find you sit in a rocking chair with a blanket spread over your lap babbling and drooling. Good luck reclaiming your honor.

[Wigelah]

07:04 PM on 10/17/2008

It's interestin­g how Obama is the one that "Joe" bumped into and had a conversati­on with. John McCain brought "Joe" into the debate. That sort of makes people wonder how it is that McCain knew anything about "Joe" in the first place. Kind of makes you go "hmmmmmm".

Now I'm not generally one of those conspiracy theory kind of folks but when I saw the clip the first time the first thing that I said was that "Joe" was a set up. McCain bringing him up in the debate just confirmed it. He didn't vett his plant any better than he vetted his running mate.

So, of course, in the continuing tradition, "Joe", "Sam", whatever he wants to be called right now, being outed as a fraud must now be Obama's fault as well, because the alternativ­e would be the Republican campaign being honest, which we all know will not happen.

[Donnat]

06:31 PM on 10/17/2008

Now Joe the Plumber is John's running mate? The guy isn't even a licensed plumber. He's the Kato Kaylin of your campaign, John, what is wrong with you? I've heard of grasping at straws, but this almost makes me pity you.

[water57]

08:23 PM on 10/17/2008

Hey wait just minute, Joe has more experience than Palin. Most important, he has visualized he had plumber lincese and paid his taxes.

[bannorhill]

08:54 AM on 10/19/2008

And Palin has accomplish­ed more than Obama.

[rukiddingmerightnow]

06:24 PM on 10/17/2008

I can't beleive this is the best they could come up with. They would have been better off with a muppet or something - something cute and cuddly. Maybe dancing bears. This is so lame.

On the up side - they will lose.

[TheLastPenguin]

06:17 PM on 10/17/2008

-- His first name isn't really Joe. It's Samuel.
-- Sam's not really a plumber - at least, not a licensed one.
-- Sam's concerned about increased taxes - but hasn't paid his own income taxes.
-- Sam expressed concern about paying more taxes looked a bit tarnished with the revelation that he owes Ohio about $1,200 in personal income taxes, according to the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas records.
-- Sam has an active lien on his property filed in January 2007, records from the Ohio Department of Taxation show.
-- Sam is registered as a Republican­, and voted in the state's GOP primary in March, county elections records show. But he was previously registered­, dating back to 2007, in the Natural Law Party.
-- Sam has lived in McCain's home state of Arizona - in both Mesa and Tucson.
-- Sam lived in GOP vice presidenti­al candidate Sarah Palin's home state of Alaska - in North Pole, from September 1992 to July 1993.

As comic Bill Maher pointed out, in his 15 minutes of fame, Sam has already done more interviews than Palin.

[propitiousmoment]

07:15 PM on 10/17/2008

If he is as much as $1200 behind in a single lien he must have some pretty decent income, given that state taxes are considerab­ly lower than federal taxes.

[RobDoub]

05:58 PM on 10/17/2008

Joe misprepres­ented himself.
Now, McCain is misprepres­enting Joe's position as well.

Joe complained about having to pay higher taxes.
When he was called on the fact that he is in a lower bracket and would certainly pay lower taxes, he now says he doesn't believe Obama would really reduce his taxes.

Is there any integrity left on the McCain campaign side?

[nomobull]

03:53 AM on 10/18/2008

nope

[libratine]

05:20 PM on 10/17/2008

distractio­ns distractio­ns distractio­ns

[KarateKid]

05:17 PM on 10/17/2008

"Where have you gone, Joe Dimaggio, a lonely nation turns its eyes to you...." -Paul Sion

Likewise, what happened to you, John McCain? Where did the true maverick disappear to?
You should have abandoned the party that swiftboate­d you, become a Democrat, and ran for President in 2004. If you had, you might have become President. After all Kerry lost by a narrow margin, Ohio, in the election and you could have rallied the Democrats, Independen­ts and Republican­s to your cause.

Instead, you jumped into bed with the very people who trashed you, pushed your nose into the backsides of neocon cretins, sold out your values, picked a pinhead for VP, and ran a campaign that is unbecoming of you. Now look, this campaign is what you're going to be remembered by, and all the good things you have done in your life has become irrelevant­.

Too bad, but this is the path you chose, and a relative newcomer took your lunch and ate it, then handed you the leftovers. So, sad. Where have you gone, the real John McCain, a lonely nation has looked elsewhere?

[Twopennygal]

05:09 PM on 10/17/2008

McCain's just embarrasse­d that the man he thought would make his point for him has turned out to be a bit of a fraud and a kook like him.

[rosiebond007]

06:09 PM on 10/17/2008

TOO RIGHT !!

[sdslaw]

05:05 PM on 10/17/2008

This idea isn't working McGimmick. Get your ACME catalog out and come up with a new one.