Joe the *Plumber
Posted: Thursday, October 30, 2008
by Gregory Franklyn
GLFranklyn
I was finally able to have a look at the entire, un-truncated conversation between Barack Obama and the now legendary Joe the *Plumber that was mentioned 21 times during the final Presidential debate of this election. That would be the very Joe the *Plumber that John McCain and Sarah Palin are still hawking at each and every campaign speech they have made since the incident took place despite the fact that he has been exposed as a fake.
In his conversation with Barack, Joe said he was a plumber, NOT TRUE!
Joe said he had been a plumber for 15 years, NOT TRUE!
Joe said he made $250,000.00 per year, NOT TRUE!
Joe said he wanted to buy his boss plumbing business, NOT TRUE!
Joe said he was an undecided voter, NOT TRUE!
It turns out that Joe the *Plumber is what is called a Schill for the Republican Party. A Schill is a person that is planted in an audience to ask a specific question that has been previously agreed upon to elicit a specific response from a candidate or other speaker. Its a person planted purposely to ask a fake question in order to make a point. In this case it was a fake person, planted to ask a fake question, to make a fake point.
We now know that our Joe the *Plumber is quite the activist Republican. He calls in to right wing talk shows on a regular basis and is a minor media darling for the Republicans. He knows all the talking points and presents them with a simple no frills Joe Six-Pack demeanor that the McCain Campaign now loves to use to make themselves seem like your neighbor. Basically its the same thing Sarah Palin is doing for the McCain Campaign. Joe the *Plumber is your honest, real American, hard working, beer-drinking, superbowl tailgate party, little league, soccer mom, bowling league neighbor. Unless you live in Brentwood or Manhattan, you have one!
It turns out that this big Socialist Manifesto McCain claims Obama is now proposing, was one sentence, out of a conversation that lasted some 5 minutes or so, that went something like this: A few people are going to end up paying a little bit more in taxes to sort of spread the wealth around a little and give tax breaks to the people who need it most. He was referring to people who make more than a quarter million a year and would CUT taxes for 95% of Americans. By the time it came out of John McCains mouth it became something like this: HE wants THE GOVERNMENT to decide who gets YOUR piece of the pie!
Joe the *Plumber had to be created by the Republican National Committee to make the point that Barack Obamas tax plan is going to raise YOUR taxes. There just arent that many Joe Six-Packs in the world that make over a Quarter Million a year. The number of people who will see an increase in their taxes under Obamas Tax Plan is small enough that the RNC had to make up a fake taxpayer who would be hit by it because they couldnt find a real one.
Here, also, is where I come back to my point that Joe the *Plumber is indicative of what the McCain Campaign has devolved to. They have descended into making things up to throw at Barack Obama because they cant remember why they want the White House. McCain has no plans to discuss other than 4 to 8 more years of Trickle Down Economics and Maverick Cowboy foreign policy initiatives modeled after the Bush Regime.
The McCain economic plan is a re-hash of Reaganomics Trickle Down Theory. Heres what it boils down to: Give tax breaks to the wealthy so they dont have to pay much in taxes. They will then spend more money on businesses that make more money to hire more people who pay larger amounts of taxes to eclipse the taxes that the wealthy are NOT paying. This theory SOUNDS kind of logical doesnt it?
However, it has never worked in the real world! Lets not forget our history, shall we? The Reagan years werent all that great when it came to jobs, now was it? If you were wealthy, the Reagan years were wonderful. Wealthy Republicans to this day refer to him with only the most reverent of terms. Youd think he was the second coming, for crying out loud! To them, maybe it was, but to the rest of the country? Not so much.
I was on unemployment during the Reagan years for the first time since Id graduated from High School. Up until that point Id never had much difficulty finding suitable work. I had a LOT of trouble finding one of those jobs that the Trickle Down Theory was supposed to create. I wasnt alone either! The economy was so bad that the government had to extend unemployment benefits over and over for workers who were looking, but could not find work. There were, literally, MILLIONS of us. I lived on unemployment for just shy of 2 FRIGGINGYEARS and I was actually LOOKING!
Trickle Down Economics has now had a long enough run for me to make a judgment about it. It has now had 8 years under Reagans Trickle Down Economics, another 4 under Bush Seniors Deja Voo-Doo Economics and another 8 under the junior Bushs version that Ive now taken to calling Three-peat Economics. Thats a running total of 20 years interrupted only by 8 years of comparative prosperity under Bill Clinton. Heres my question: Hows this Trickle Down thing going so far?
20 years under 3 different versions of Trickle Down Economics and we are looking at the worst economic disaster since the great depression and its just getting started. Weve been in it for less than a month now and no less than 20 heads of state are about to gather in one place to determine whether or not this is the worst economic disaster in history INCLUDING the great depression. Im going to walk out on a limb here and make the call:
John McCains version of Trickle Down Economics is probably not such a great idea!
Since the McCain Campaign cant win the election by talking about the economy theyve turned their attention to scaring the hell out of you by insisting that Barack Obama a Socialist and a Terrorist at every single campaign stop and continuing to present their fake Joe the *Plumber and Bill Ayers as the indisputable PROOF.
Wait a minute! Didnt John McCain just say in the last debate that he really doesnt care about Bill Ayers and called him A washed up domestic terrorist? He spends an awful lot of time on the campaign trail talking about this guy he really doesnt care about! I watched an entire McCain Campaign speech this afternoon on CSPAN and he rarely deviated from his rants against Obama. Im serious, practically the whole speech from beginning to end was nothing but frightening apocalypses of an Obama Presidency. When it was over I was asking myself, I got the message that this guy is AGAINST Barack Obama, but what is this guy FOR?
The McCain Campaign is attempting to create a Truth by telling a lie over and over and hoping it takes on a life of its own so people just accept it as truth. Its kind of like the lie that Republicans are fiscally responsible and Democrats are Tax and Spend liberals. Most Americans have heard that lie told by enough people, enough times that they just accept it as fact. Check the economic numbers at the end of each of the Republican administrations over the last quarter century and it becomes clear that the opposite is actually true.
So now, while watching Rachel Maddow this evening I heard the newest, sleaziest, and hopefully the worst, Robo-Call being run by the McCain campaign. Yes, the very same RoboCalls that McCain claimed he was so opposed to. It features the voice of Rudy Gulianni carefully fitting the words Barrack Obama, Child Molesters and Drug Dealers in the same sentence. I dont know about you, but I know exactly what thats about and Im disgusted. I hope against hope that you are too!
As I said back in July, Its clear that John McCains message isnt resonating with the voting public very well. He is currently struggling to find some method that will work to DEFEAT Obama. Barrack Obama, in stark contrast, is concentrating on WINNING this election rather than DEFEATING John McCain. Its a subtle distinction, but its one that makes ALL the difference for me! The reason is because I believe a candidate should win an election because his or her IDEAS are better! John McCain cant win THAT election, so his only hope is to make you afraid of Barack Obama!
Much Love,
Gregory
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