Joe the Plumber?

Grampaw McSame shamelessly invoked the name of Joe the Plumber from working class Toledo Ohio in last night's debate no fewer than 21 times, using him as some kind of example as to how Obama's economic policies will be the worst thing for the country since the Great Depression, how they will drive poor Joe into poverty, take his kids away, repossess his big screen tv, wreck his car and kill his dog. And that's just for starters.

Got that? Twenty-one times. If we'd had any clue that Joe the Plumber would figure that prominently, we could have included him in our Debate Drinking Game instead of "my friends", which got short shrift last night.

So who the fuck is this Joe the Plumber guy anyway? His full name is Joseph Wurzelbacher, and beyond that bit of knowledge, the trail grows cold quickly.

In fact, it appears that no one seems to know for sure. He doesn't have a business license in Ohio -- he doesn't even have a license to be a plumber in Ohio -- he doesn't have a listing in the Toledo area yellow pages or white pages, and he's not even registered to vote!

None of that is stopping the CPM from eating this shit up like the slavering ravenous curs that they are.

So, aside from the inconvenient fact that his citing $250,000 a year profit(?) from the business he's about to buy fits so very neatly into Obama's cutoff point for raising taxes, is he genuine?

Short answer: No fuckin' way.

Consider this odd "coincidence". Joe Wurzelbach is a close relative of Robert Wurzelbach of Milford Ohio. Okay, I can hear you yawning, but here's the clincher: Robert Wurzelbach of Milford Ohio is the son-in-law of ... Charles Keating!

And you remember Charles Keating, don't you? Grampaw was one of the infamous Keating Five (which in fact would have been the Keating Four without his eager participation).

Joe the Plumber and Charles the Crook.

So it seems sort of, I don't know, obvious that Joe was a McCain stooge when he confronted Obama at that ropeline, and he remains one now. Despite the desperate fawning being lavished on him by the CPM at nearly every turn.

Okay Joe the Plumber, you've had your fifteen minutes of fame. Now go on and buy that plumbing business that you've always dreamed of. Oh, what's that you say? You don't actually have the estimated one million dollars that a business that has that kind of profit would cost? Maybe your buddy Charles Keating can help you out. He must have a lot of cash to throw around, now that he's not using it to bribe US Senators.

And, as Steve Young asks, "if he's really a plumber, where's the ass crack?"

See also here, here and here for more exposure of Joe the Plumber, and Steve, here's your answer.