Samuel Wurzelbacher, commonly known as "Joe the Plumber," went after Joe Biden on Thursday, calling the vice president's comments on Mitt Romney's private equity record "asinine" and "elitist."
"It was insulting," Wurzelbacher said during an interview with Fox News. "For Joe Biden to sit there and say who can be president, who's qualified and who isn't, is just asinine, especially with the track record they left behind them. If I was this administration, or Joe Biden himself, I wouldn't want anybody looking at my record."
On Tuesday, the vice president went after Mitt Romney's record at private equity firm Bain Capital, arguing that the former Massachusetts governor's business past does not qualify him to be president.
"That doesn't mean that private equity guys are bad guys -- they're not," Biden said during a campaign stop at New Hampshire's Keene State College. "But that no more qualifies you to be president than being a plumber. And, by the way, there're an awful lot of smart plumbers. All kidding aside, it's not the same job requirement."
Wurzelbacher, a Republican, is running against Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D) for the congressional seat in Ohio's ninth district. He said that blue-collar workers like him are qualified to run for office, and predicted that he and other candidates from similar backgrounds would triumph in 2012.
"The middle class workers or blue collar workers, we can do it, and, this election cycle we’re going to do it," he said. "People are going to see it happen, and it’s going to be great, so they’re going to be eating those words."
He also offered a jab at the vice president's tendency to go off-message.
"If it wasn't for him, we would never get the truth from this administration," Wurzelbacher said.
Wurzelbacher came to political prominence during the 2008 campaign, when he asked Obama about his small business tax plan during a campaign event.
“I think that when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody,” Obama said.
John McCain's campaign immediately started to use Obama's response to suggest that the then-senator had a socialist agenda. The McCain team also adapted Wurzelbacher as a mascot of sorts, referencing him in debates and bringing him along on campaign stops.
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