This Joe the Plumber guy needs to be outed for the fraud he really is

[WallStreetNobody]

He's already been found to not even be registered to vote (very patriotic of him) as well as potentially having close family ties to Charles Keating and a big Republican donor in his family. Also looks like he is not just Joe the Plumber but instead owns multiple companies in Ohio. And on the other hand tells Couric that he makes much less than $250k so would actually be paying less in taxes under Obama but he is still "scared" because what if Obama tries to raise taxes on his lower income some day. He just gets caught in his own lies, an obvious symbol of a weak mind.

The media as usual is going to be behind the curve on this. The Joe moron has already done interviews with right-wing groups and essentially spewed verbatim the typical Limbaugh/Hannity talking points. He is a fraud, pure and simple. The media is going to play him up as the darling regular Joe who got thrust into the national spotlight but that is anything but the case, he put himself there on purpose. It was clear from his Couric interview as well as his right-wing interviews that he is in the tank for McCain and an unbelievable racist (comparing Obama to Sammy Davis Jr.).

[KathieG]

1. I for one will be keeping my eye on Plumbergate.

[MindMatter]

22. Jiu Jitsu. Obama can turn this around. This will be a win for Obama.

The main principle behind Jiu Jitsu is to use your opponent's energy against him. When the opponent makes a thrust at you, redirect his energy to put him at a disadvantage. You don't try to stop the blow. You effectively let your opponent punch himself in the face.

Everybody knows about "Joe the Plumber", so Obama and Biden can use this mostly fictional character to educate the public about what Obama's plans really are. It will be easy to expose the "Joe the plumber" story as a fraud, or at least the product of a whole lot of ignorance, both on Joe's part and McCain's part.

This story illustrates both how fair Obama's plans are, and also how poorly McCain understands some very basic accounting principles, such as the difference between revenue and profit.

[elkston]

2. LOL. This guy is the October Surprise. n/t

[JI7]

3. even without being outed, he has hurt McCain

people just didn't like it when he was brought up. it sounded fake and pandering like .

[woolldog]

4. Joe the Plumber = Joe the Fraud

[A-Schwarzenegger]

5. Slow down. Have either the not-registered-to-vote or close family ties to Keating been confirmed?

[A-Schwarzenegger]

7. Looking forward to seeing this.

[justiceischeap]

9. Did a search on the Ohio Voter Reg site

And he does not come up.

http://www.sos.state.oh.us/SOS/voterquery.aspx?page=361

Last Name: Wurzelbacher
Street Name: Shrewsbury
County: Lucas
Zip: 43528

[dgibby]

24. he is registered as a republican under the name:

Samuel Joseph Worzelbacher, correct spelling is Wurzelbacher

DU has many threads re: findings about Joe. Good reading.

[Dems4me]

6. Bump n/t

[The Magistrate]

8. Actual Name, Sir, Seems To Be Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=4247159&mesg_id=4247159

[OneGrassRoot]

10. I'm just waking up to this. Can anyone point me to links proving....

or strongly showing truth to this stuff (I'm gonna need them...lol).

:)

[The Magistrate]

11. He Owns Nothing, Ma'am

Here is a link to an interview he gave a lunatic right site yesterday morning....

http://familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.1465/pub_detail.asp

[OneGrassRoot]

13. Thank you, Kind Sir! :) n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. Just how important is this, really?

You really think the media need to spend time investigating a guy that McCain tried to use?

Why?

So the guy thought his taxes would go up; he's probably wrong. He's a low-information McCain voter. So the fuck what? He's not standing for election.

[endthewar]

15. Because it would be another tough blow to the McCain campaign

You know they're planning on riding this Joe the plumber story for a few days now.

[MindMatter]

23. Exactly. It is an opportunity to toy with McCain a little

and reinforce what people already believe about McCain, which is that he might mean well but he just doesn't know very much about how average Americans live and what we do. He doesn't understand the most basic things about economics and accounting.

We aren't going to win "Joe the Plumber". (The rumor is he's not registered anyway.) But Joe gives us a great opportunity to educate the public about Obama's economic plans. "Joe the Plumber" is better than talking in the abstract, because there are millions of people who run small businesses. I'd bet that, unlike J the P and McCain, about 99% of those small business owners understand the difference between revenue and profit, and about 99% of them understand it isn't bloody likely a guy like this "Joe" character can buy a plumbing business and show more than $250,000 of PROFIT in the first few years. If he does, he's an idiot.

Small business people generally understand the basics of tax planning like accelerated depreciation.

[endthewar]

14. "owns multiple companies"?

Link please. Thanks. :hi:

[WallStreetNobody]

17. Here is the link with some of the info

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/16/02217/845

That lists some companies in his name as well as a bit about the Keating connection.

I don't know how much of this, if any, has been verified yet. I suspect the official digging will start in the morning. However it was a right-wing blog that was supposedly the first to break the news about the Keating connection and the blogger wrote that Steve Schmidt was getting pissed everytime McCain mentioned Joe's name because they just checked his background and found the Keating connection. The right wing blog is here:

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

[The Magistrate]

18. The Person In Those Links, Sir, Is Someone Else

This one resides at a different address, and owns nothing, probably not even his home.

[markevil]

16. Plumbers only know two things....

Shit runs downhill and payday is friday.


P.S. I'm biased (I'm an electrician)

[jhain]

19. Three things:

3. Don't bite your fingernails

Married to a plumber here- he was the sudden celebrity of the debate party we attended last night.

[markevil]

20. HAHAHA

[psychobueller]

21. Aren't tax returns public domain?

Someone should look him up.

[Hamlette]

27. no, tax returns ARE NOT public. n/t

[dgibby]

28. according to multiple posts on DU and the Toledo Blade,

he has a lien against his house for approx. $1,200 for back taxes.
He is not a licensed plumber, does not own his own business, is an Air Force vet who was stationed in ....wait for it...Alaska! There is a Douglas Wurzelbacher living in Wasilla, Alaska--who may or may not be related. As for the Keating connection, he may or may not be related to Robert M. Wurzelbacher,Jr, a SIL of Keating.

[ecstatic]

25. Yes, but not by Obama. nt

[Hamlette]

26. He IS registered to vote. Voted in the GOP primary. Voting records had a spelling error.

stop spreading that false rumor, it damages our case of other important stuff about Joe.

(He's not a plumber and made $40K in 2006 and doesn't pay his taxes.

[SharonAnn]

30. Spelling wrong? Then his voter registration should be purged.

That's what the GOP wants. Registration record doesn't match legal name? Then purge the registration!

[Hamlette]

32. I'm not a republican so I don't agree but if we are to play by their rules, yes, he should be purged

but I probably should be too as I have a common but oddly spelled first name.

[TexasObserver]

29. We need the Plumbers Union to run a TV ad endorsing Obama.

And using a bunch of real plumbers, all named JOE, shouting "I'm Joe the Plumber, and I approve this message!!"

[Overseas]

31. "Needs to be outed" = what else do you think is going on today?

Yours and twenty five other threads are all about outing the guy as a foolish RNC shill.

The job has been in progress since the debate last night.

We will see how much of that is allowed to appear on broadcast news shows by the tightly held Republican media conglomerates.

[rvablue]

33. All three networks already did this tonight on Nightly News. n/t