Joe The Plumber Fights With Israeli Reporter

Joe the Plumber has been reporting from Israel in his new position as Pajamas Media war correspondent.

The campaign trail celebrity went to war to correct what he saw as a glaring oversight in the journalism field: "They're supposed to bring the news to you unbiased. They're supposed to actually report it and then let you make your opinion ... What I can provide are actual real questions and get real answers. I'm not talking manufactured answers, I'm not talking soundbites...And uh, not giving it any kind of slants."

Talking to reporters in Israel, Joe went even further, suggesting that journalists shouldn't be allowed anywhere near war zones: "I don't think journalists should be anywhere allowed war (sic). I mean, you guys report where our troops are at. You report what's happening day to day. You make a big deal out of it. I think it's asinine. You know, I liked back in World War I and World War II when you'd go to the theater and you'd see your troops on, you know, the screen and everyone would be real excited and happy for them. Now everyone's got an opinion and wants to downer-and down soldiers. You know, American soldiers or Israeli soldiers."

It's not clear how this philosophy jibes with this exchange, transcribed by Firedoglake, where Joe tries to force an Israeli reporter to judge whether or not the country is "bad."

JOE: The story here is people are being killed and the media's slanting it and trying to make it Hamas is, uh, as far as, that Israel's being bad. Do you believe Israel is bad?

REPORTER: Do I believe it?

JOE: Yeah, do you?!

REPORTER: I'm Israeli, so...

JOE: So answer the question!

REPORTER: No, I don't think Israel is bad.

JOE: Do you think Israel has every right to protect itself?

REPORTER: Yeah.

[pause]

JOE: You do?!

REPORTER: Yeah.

JOE: Have you said that on air?

REPORTER: I'm just a reporter.

Video (requires registration) here.

Comments

[brt929]

04:39 PM on 01/16/2009

Thanks Senator McCain! Ever since your campaign- we are unable to get rid of Joe the Plumber or Sarah Palin. I have never seen two people more in love with the spot light.

What does it take to make these two go back where ever they came from......

[JustAThought56]

04:05 PM on 01/16/2009

The Ugly American.

[cherry33]

03:07 PM on 01/16/2009

Doesn't he have the same agent as Eddie Money?

Wish Joe would sing "Take me home tonight".

[JamesBordonaro]

02:01 PM on 01/16/2009

To quote Gov. Palin from the Veep debate..."Say it ain't so, Joe!"

[DonCosenza]

01:25 PM on 01/16/2009

What a maroon. Good job, 'Pajamas Media'.

Can the Israelis make an exception to their media blockade for Joe? Send him in!

[itchcity]

12:46 PM on 01/16/2009

I don't think that he knows what words mean

[Budokan]

11:33 AM on 01/16/2009

Just one more example of how conservatives hate Americans and hate America, along with its values and civil liberties.

[kyeshinka]

10:49 AM on 01/16/2009

Typical Ugly American. He probably didn't have a passport until a month ago and suddenly he knows everything about everyone.

[CGouch]

10:18 AM on 01/16/2009

Let him stay there! Maybe he will learn something about life!

[CGouch]

10:16 AM on 01/16/2009

Hope he stays there!!!

[24hourrifle]

09:20 AM on 01/16/2009

this dude is so completely transparent.its plain to see that any "knowledge" he has in regard to the media comes from what sean hannity and limbaugh have told him.media = liberal.liberal = bad.
if he actually had a clue about war correspondense,he would know that journalists go to extreme lengths to never report any damaging info. about troop locations.in fact,the only reporter in recent memory who screwed that up was geraldo rivera,and that was a huge deal.
this plumber is a perfect example of the end result of someone who gets all their news from fox news and especially AM hate radio.

[hatethehype]

08:47 AM on 01/16/2009

Three times I've attempted to comment on this and three times I've been denied.
My comment possessed no profanity, made sense and was pretty funny.
I know this is not closed to comments as several have been posted since my last attempt.
I've read the rules of posting here and have not violated any of their terms.
Who is the character(s) responsible for determining what should be allowed versus what should not be allowed?
I'm very disappointed.

[piper1233]

10:17 AM on 01/16/2009

I feel your pain

[kyeshinka]

10:51 AM on 01/16/2009

All of mine are also deleted for no reason. Try to respond to someone, like I'm doing. Maybe that'll help. Good luck.

[ericmiami]

06:52 AM on 01/16/2009

John the Candidate allowed this to happen.

[Brightlight]

05:00 AM on 01/16/2009

No wonder he was on food stamps. Everything he touches, well, you know the rest.

[xzalate]

12:11 AM on 01/16/2009

This is "Frankenstein_ish", a creation that became out of hand... Mccain look what u did LOL...