'Joe the Plumber' Strikes Back At The Media

NEW YORK — "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 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 was to travel to Ohio, where he might appear with Wurzelbacher.

Comments

[DianeGhil]

This man is such a loser. He accousted Obama with a down right lie. Barack tried to explain to this loser what his plan would be, but the dumb idiot was just trying to get attention not trying to speak to a candidate. Now he wants to run for congress. Get your license and what is more now all of the jobs he worked on must be inspected again because he does not have a license. Why, might you ask, does he not have a license since he is already 33.
What a joke.

[citizenmike]

You know the last time the Republicans were this hot for plumbers was just before the break-in at The Watergate. G. Gordon The Plumber and Joe The Plumber, two relationships that blew up in their faces.

[aubrey8]

Get a grip Joe, you're starting to sound like a pathetic whining little Bush boy.

[plooger]

Oh, poor, poor, Joe.

Let's not kid ourselves, though. This guy was eating-up the attention, and was trying to make a case for McCain. He's a good study in "be careful what you wish for."

[provgrays]

The man was too dumb to know that he would benefit from Obama's plan and then he willingly became a shill for John McCain's sound bite du jour.

Andy Warhol was right and that is not a good thing.

[swwaleftie]

Is this not the epitome the straw man rhetorical strategy?

[myangeldog1]

Alot of things are scary about this campaign like McCain blabbing your name on National T.V. You have nobody to thank for this but him.

Welcome to politics Joe.

[flyteeskee]

Has Joe, not-the-licensed-plumber, forgotten that Sen. Obama didn't bring him up. Sen McCain did! Joe not-the-licensed-plumber can ask Sen. Obama anything he wants. He just needs to make sure that Sen. McCain's camp doesn't get wind of it or else it will somehow become 'newsworthy'. McCain/Palin are reaching for everything and anything they can to get the U.S. public off track. We have got to stay focused on Obama/Biden and forget about Joe, not-the-licensed-plumber and the other misguided distractions McCain/Palin will throw out there in the next 2 weeks.

Lastly, don't forget Joe, not-the-licensed-plumber, you will get a tax break from President Obama because by the time you are ready to make over $250k, President Obama's two terms will be over.

[Paganus]

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

What a crock! First of all, in framing the question, he apparently LIED about his financial situation on multiple fronts. Secondly, if you aren't ready to hear the answer to your "question" don't ask it!

So what Joe is really saying is "Gosh darnit . You know, it's really scary when you can't get away with trying to skewer a public figure by asking tendentious and misleading questions."

Talk about a sense of entitlement!

[cows1951]

If he doesn't want to be in the spotlight, maybe he should just stop talking.
Maybe he should ask his friends, McCain and Palin, to stop using his name at their rallies.
Who is he kidding? He is loving this.

[gladys46]

"The media's worried about whether or not I've paid my taxes .. about any number of 'silly things' ... that have nothing to do with America ... " IRS is also worried about whether or not ALL americans are paying taxes ... and they sure don't think that's in a number of "silly things" SAMUEL!!!

Pay your taxes Mighty Samuel !!!

[buzzy]

what really is funny is that McCain himself used Joe Plumber as the butt of a joke, when he told the quests at a diner in NY that he (mcCain had just signed a contract with Joe to do jobs on his seven houses.

[bodo]

Speaking of butts, a campaign that has tanked and is about to be flushed should be careful with toilet jokes. I can see the cartoons coming showing McCain, Joe and his plunger.

[eddieinc97]

McCain is right. Joe "the plummer" is emblamatic. Emblamatic of the stupidity many low income whites posses when they vote against their better interests for the sake of association with a party that continues to screw them.

[BeatUpCarpenter]

Unlicensed Plumber = SCAB

[uheardme]

This to me is the most important issue. Joe is part of the problem. Hard working, licensed, unionized Americans can't get decent wages for skilled work because of tax-cheating scabs like this Joe.

[TMann99821]

If we could just get rid of tax cheating Charles Rangel we could clean up Congress a bit.

So now he's a SCAB huh? Unions are part of the problem.

[TMann99821]

Unions started out as a good thing. They have turned in to crime syndicated operations that spend your union dues on whatever they want. People should not rely on a union for fair wages and a job. The Toyota Camry plant is in my state and it is Non-Union. The average salary at this plant is $65K and the waiting list for applications is very long.

[Nonamnesiac]

"Joe the Plumber" tried to push McCain nationally by lying and now he's whining because people checked him out and found him to be nothing but a dishonest Republican propagandist.

He said he's "Joe the Plumber" and he his name is not Joe and he's not a licensed plumber.

He said that McCain's tax plan was better for him because he was going to buy his plumbing business and that would put him over $250,000 per year in earnings. He's not even close to buying his plumbing business and he makes somewhere between $40,000 per year and $100,000 per year, so he'd do better personally under Obama's tax plan than under McCain's.

He chose to become a McCain prop and chose to do it by lying. Of course he hates taxes. Evidently he doesn't pay all of them. He lived by the lying big mouth and was got swallowed up by the truth.

He tried to change the results of the election by lying.

[TMann99821]

Obama's "Tax Plan" is a farce. It is nothing more than a glorified welfare program.

[millertime]

Since when is a tax cut on middle class families considered "welfare"? When you cut the taxes of the ultra wealthy, its considered "trickle down" economics....funny how you cut the taxes of the majority, and it gets a bad name. The real truth behind "trickle down" economics is that they are flat out telling you that you are getting pissed on by the rich. Call it a hunch, but I would bet that TMann99821 just may be one of the people making over $250K per year, and will actually have to pay his fair share...sorry about that. And if, by some chance you aren't....then enjoy your tax cut and 8 years of Obama