Let me get this straight:

October 16th, 2008

If a private citizen has the nerve to ask a candidate for President a policy question (like “Joe the Plumber” did), viagra generic click he’s suddenly fair game for a full-out investigation into his life including whether or not he’s registered to vote, viagra or the status of his plumbing license or his standing with the IRS? (Oddly enough, online the press might have done Joe a favor by finding out that he owes some back taxes since the notice from the government was sent to an old address.)

I suppose the only person who can ask a politician a question anymore is someone with no skeletons in their closet.

Don’t get me wrong. If the press found out Joe the Plumber had been put up to asking Obama a question by the McCain campaign, that would be news.

But digging through his private life and publishing everything they can find that might be embarrassing in an effort to discredit the worthiness of his question is disturbing behavior and a recipe for the suppression of political speech.

(Also, I find it funny that the same people who are doing everything they can to destroy Joe’s privacy believe there’s an invisible right to privacy in the Constitution and don’t like it when the Bush administration listens into people’s conversations with terrorists. I bet the left-leaning blogs did more harm to Joe’s privacy in one night than anything the Bush administration did over the last 8 years.)

Entry Filed under: Politics

10 Comments Add your own

  • 1. Billiam  |  October 16th, 2008 at 2:56 pm

    Elliot, you’re missing the point. He challenged ‘The One’. You DON’T do that. There are plenty of news stories out there that highlight that. If you insult or challenge ‘The One’, there WILL be retribution. The Obamabots are in full scorched earth mode.

  • 2. The Chad  |  October 16th, 2008 at 3:31 pm

    totally…

    http://thechadhasspoken.blogspot.com/2008/10/joe-plumber.html

  • 3. John Foust  |  October 16th, 2008 at 3:31 pm

    Perhaps another question to ask would be, why would McCain make an issue of it if he hadn’t verified the facts? When someone steps into the limelight, questioning a candidate when the cameras are running, and claims something like “I’m going to buy a business that makes $250K”, what’s wrong with reporters verifying the claim? Gross, net or take-home? Wasn’t there some basic misapplication of fact in this situation? This guy wasn’t saying he was planning to be making $250K a year take-home. Why did McCain phrase it as if he was?

  • 4. John  |  October 16th, 2008 at 4:41 pm

    Elliot, you wanted to simply let that cartoonic (new word!) simplification lay there? That’s business as usual in politics.

    McCain wanted to blunt the truth with oversimplification, and now he’s been stubbed by reality. Again.

    The possibility that “Joe” is a relative of Charles Keating is probably just Karmic irony. I now suspect he was a DEMOCRAT plant.

  • 5. jimspice  |  October 16th, 2008 at 4:44 pm

    I’d suggest there are some allusions to privacy in the Bill of Rights:

    3rd Amendment: No quartering of soldiers
    4th Amendment: Limits on search and seizure
    5th Amendment: Due process and self incrimination
    9th Amendment: All unspecified rights are delegated to the people

    spice

  • 6. James  |  October 16th, 2008 at 5:29 pm

    Joe the plumber is going to be made an example of. You challenge the liberal messiah and their totalitarian ideology, you will be destroyed. Tony Soprano could destroy this guy with the ruthlessness of the liberals and MSM. The message will be “You’re been warned” when their through making sure Joe’s life is miserable until the day he dies.

  • 7. Aaron  |  October 16th, 2008 at 5:33 pm

    Why does “Joe the plumber” remind me of Richard Nixon?

  • 8. John Foust  |  October 16th, 2008 at 7:27 pm

    No, you’re thinking of Liddy, McCain’s old friend.

  • 9. phel  |  October 16th, 2008 at 8:51 pm

    “I suppose the only person who can ask a politician a question anymore is someone with no skeletons in their closet.”

    Or a liberal. Man, life must be so easy for the liberals.

  • 10. John Foust  |  October 18th, 2008 at 10:57 am

    Life must be so difficult for Republicans. On one hand, you admire the free market, merit, accomplishment. Then you’re expected to take the off-the-cuff remarks of an assistant, unlicensed plumber who has dreams of buying out the boss, and spin them into gold anecdotes worthy of becoming a repeated major focus of a presidential debate. On one hand, you know enough about business that when you hear someone say “My business makes $250K a year” that they’re probably full of it. Gross does not equal net which probably has little to do with take-home for the subordinate or even the boss, who’s probably giving up a bit of his salary for capital reinvestment to grow the business. Joe’s probably making $45K a year, tops, you know deep in your heart, so he’s got $205K a year to go. And you know enough about business that you know when a company is grossing $250K a year, it can be difficult to value that business. Is it a going concern? Is it built on the license or reputation of the boss or the raft of subordinates he’s had to hire over the years? Is the boss ready to give it up? Can Joe work out a buy-out plan? Is Joe capable of getting his plumbing license and making the payments for the business, or is this just the dream he has after three beers after work? You’re supposed to gloss over these facts. And then the media finds even more about the guy – how unfair is that? It makes the job even more difficult. Fasten the blinders tight! Defend Joe’s dream, but ignore the facts and reasoning lurking deep in your heart and mind, and make it seem like his dream has anything to do with Obama’s proposed tax plan. This is about defending the Republican candidate, which must be done at all costs.

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