Is "Joe the Plumber" really related to Charles Keating? Talk about a backfire!!

It's unraveling ... (6.00 / 2)

So let me get this straight, a Republican unlicensed plumber, that he really doesn't make $250,000, but hopes to someday (that's nice), is related to Charles Keating and daddy contributes big bucks to Republican candidates thinks that Obama's tax plan will hurt him from buying a plumbing business?

Listening to Charlie Baker talk about fiscal responsibility is like getting lectured on abstinence from Paris Hilton - Tim Murray

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by: johnk @ Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 11:39:30 AM CDT

From the ABC post -- "Joe" is a Bush tax cuts guy. (0.00 / 0)

Diane asked, "if those people should not be taxed additionally, even though they're in the top 5% of America, what about people who make $1 million? Or $5 million?"

"Well, I mean, quite honestly, why should they be penalized for being successful?" Wurzelbacher asked. "I mean, that's what you're telling me. That's what it sounds like you're saying. That's wrong. Because you're successful, you have to pay more than everybody else? ..."

That's not a crazy point of view.  It just happens to be one that, at present, the majority of Americans don't happen to share.

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by: David @ Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 11:42:47 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Well, it's worked so well thus far ... (0.00 / 0)

Listening to Charlie Baker talk about fiscal responsibility is like getting lectured on abstinence from Paris Hilton - Tim Murray

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by: johnk @ Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 11:51:43 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

*sigh* (6.00 / 1)

A higher tax rate for a millionaire doesn't mean the guy's still not a millionaire. There's still PLENTY of incentive for making ungodly amounts of money. It's called...having ungodly amounts of money. Higher tax rate, or not.

$250,000/year...god I WISH I had that problem.

Left in Lowell: cuz why read the Lowell Sun if you don't have to? ;)

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by: Lynne @ Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 12:23:50 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

It just keeps getting better (0.00 / 0)

Maybe Joe can get his plumbing license and help lay that Alaskan pipeline that McCain/Palin keep talking about. You know, the one that's still on the drafting paper...

Maybe McCain's team to learn to vet people. Turns out Joe is a registered republican.

Bladerunner

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by: Bladerunner @ Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 11:44:30 AM CDT

So what? (0.00 / 0)

I'm a registered Democrat, because the state in which I live requires that registration to vote in the primary, and I wanted to vote for Hillary. Eight years ago, I was a registered Republican for a similar reason.

Am I a Democrat?  No.  Am I a Republican?  No.

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by: CentralMassDad @ Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 15:04:04 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

thanks for the perspective (0.00 / 0)

90% of the time you stand in for the GOP here. Joe functioning as a McCain shill should be no surprise.

For me the issue is: is he personally attacking other BMGers. I don't think he is, here. He's just using the word "fag" in a way that is insulting to a whole group of people under the rubric of "discussing it." -- Bob Neer  

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by: huh @ Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 08:07:33 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

And if I bothered to post on that other board that looks like this one (6.00 / 1)

I would be Captain Commie.  The fate of the moderate.

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by: CentralMassDad @ Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 08:15:58 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

It gets better: (5.67 / 6)

Joe the Republican Plumber may have a dog sledding brother in Wasilla, Alaska.

http://www.progressohio.org/pa...

Joe the Plumber? Nope. Joe the Tax Dodger. Joe the Relative of Charles Keating. Hilarious.

http://theobfuscationreport.bl...

snip:
Joe the Plumber appears to be Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher.

According to Lucas County, Ohio court records, there is a Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher who has a state income tax lien of $1,182.98. According to the court record he lives on a street that is part of the Lincoln Green subdivision.

And Joe the Plumber's Father appears to be Robert Wurzelbacher right wing fanatic and contributor who is the son in law of..... you're not going to believe this. Charles Keating.

This just gets better and better.

Oh there's also a Joe the Twice Divorced Wife Beater.

And The Joe I Haven't Had a Plumbing License Since 2002.

I wonder which of these will turn out to be the guy doing all the talk shows?

I'm sure we'll know by the end of the day.


"None of us has gotten where we are solely by pulling ourselves up from our own bootstraps. We got here because somebody bent down and helped us." ~Thurgood Marshall

"Facts are stupid things."-Ronald Reagan

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by: Kathy @ Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 11:48:04 AM CDT

A lien of $1182? (0.00 / 0)

Apparently, this guy hates taxes so much he refuses to pay them.
Sort of like these folks
Good luck with that, Joe.

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by: Farnkoff @ Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 15:34:11 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Stupid pills (6.00 / 2)

when did the McCain camp start eating them like after dinner mints?

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by: stomv @ Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 11:54:42 AM CDT

i wanna be (6.00 / 1)

Joe's new friend. This is all hilarious.  

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My thoughts are mine and mine alone. They should not be considered representative of any other organization, group or person - save me.

~Ryan.

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by: Ryepower12 @ Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 12:14:43 PM CDT

Psst John, that guy is related to Keating... (6.00 / 1)

Listening to Charlie Baker talk about fiscal responsibility is like getting lectured on abstinence from Paris Hilton - Tim Murray

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by: johnk @ Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 12:26:05 PM CDT

^^^^^^^ Dick Cheney after he swallowed the polyjuice potion^^^^^^ (5.00 / 2)

 

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by: CentralMassDad @ Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 16:18:01 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

the media (0.00 / 0)

still hasn't caught on about the family connection.

Joe's now talking about how he doesn't want his son subjected to all this publicity, so after joining the talk show circuit, he's quieting down now. My guess? They realize this Keating connection is not even skin deep.  

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My thoughts are mine and mine alone. They should not be considered representative of any other organization, group or person - save me.

~Ryan.

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by: Ryepower12 @ Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 13:07:05 PM CDT

I'm not convinced, (5.33 / 3)

I would love, love, love this all to be true, but so far I haven't seen any of these links actually show a relationship beyond the common last name.

* One site mentions "close relative" but doesn't clarify.  
* One site calls him Robert's "son-in-law" which doesn't explain the same last name.
* Another site says he's Robert's son, but that would make the elder Wurzelbacher only 18 when he was born (obviously not unheard of, but statistically less likely).
* One site refers to them both being from the Cincinnati area, but Joe is from Toledo, three hours north.

I'll reserve judgment until we know more.

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by: Wookie @ Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 13:14:51 PM CDT

One site points that there are only 125 people with that last name in the whole country. (0.00 / 0)

The odds of them NOT being related are slim, but you're right-I'd like to know the nature of the relationships. If Joe the Plumber is the son or nephew of McKeating 5 dude, then that will make the McCain camp look very foolish. Like they needed any help.

"None of us has gotten where we are solely by pulling ourselves up from our own bootstraps. We got here because somebody bent down and helped us." ~Thurgood Marshall

"Facts are stupid things."-Ronald Reagan

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by: Kathy @ Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 13:21:57 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

logical criticism won't matter much (5.00 / 1)

this is the tried-and-true republican tactic of 'creating their own reality'.

newt gingrich was the modern day architect of this ploy.
make up some bs story with supposedly real people to illustrate some political point. suggest that the example is but the tip of a mighty iceberg.

then when it's revealed that the whole story is a fabrication, then fall back on some line about the rigged example 'representing the truth'.

so yeah, joe the plumber is a sham. but any of the hardworking americans who share any characteristics of the 'joe the plumber', well, they are real. and the pain that an obama presidency will cause them is real. so joe is a good as real. voila!

it's like magic.
next trick; pull alternative energy development out from behind your ear.

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by: fairdeal @ Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 14:09:16 PM CDT

what about Reagan (0.00 / 0)

and the Cadillac-driving Welfare Queen?
 

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by: Z @ Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 15:04:58 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

you mean that wasn't true? (0.00 / 0)

gosh, but it seems so easy to imagine her.
brand new caddie, gold tooth, bunch of kids, isaac hayes records, living better than me.

next thing, you'll be telling me that some of the people kicked out of their homes after republicans drove the abolishment of rent control weren't harvard professors driving brand new bmw's.

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by: fairdeal @ Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 16:21:02 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

If the Republicans had their way, Joe The Plumber couldn't vote (6.00 / 1)

According to the Toledo Blade -

Linda Howe, executive director of the Lucas County Board of Elections, said a Samuel Joseph Worzelbacher, whose address and age match Joe the Plumber's, registered in Lucas County on Sept. 10, 1992. He voted in his first primary on March 4 of this year, registering as a Republican.

Ms. Howe said that the name may be misspelled in the database.

Meanwhile Republicans in Ohio are pushing to have lists of new registrants matched against DMV and Social Security records so they can challenge those whose names or numbers do not match or force them to vote on provisional ballots.  Those whose names are misspelled like Mr. Wurzel/Worzelbacher's could be denied their vote.

Apparently John McCain vetted Joe The Plumber as carefully as Sarah Palin.  

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by: Cam Kerry @ Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 15:00:31 PM CDT

Vetting, not a strength (6.00 / 2)

Andrew Sullivan points out that, by mid-morning today, Mr. Joe the Plumber had given more press conferences than the GOP nominee for VP of the United States has to date.

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by: CentralMassDad @ Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 15:01:28 PM CDT

Don't we already have a graduated federal income tax? (5.00 / 1)

Joe the Plumber makes it sound like Obama invented the idea.

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by: Farnkoff @ Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 15:52:14 PM CDT

some of this is finally getting into MSM (0.00 / 0)

AP: Is 'Joe the Plumber' a plumber? That's debatable

Washington Post: Joe the Plumber: Not a Licensed Plumber

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by: Jasiu @ Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 18:29:48 PM CDT

latest: Joe should've had a plumber's license, and Ohio Sec. State is appealing for Joe's vote (0.00 / 0)

Forget the 24 hour news cycle, the youtube/google capabilities are the real game changer of this campaign cycle.  It must make McCain's head spin considering he's not even an internet user.

A story from the cleveland.com website.  Apparently he's now in trouble for not having a plumber's license, and the Ohio Sec. State is appealing for Joe to be able to vote against the Republican Party.  

He's a plumber without a plumbing license, as reported by the Associated Press. He says he doesn't need one for residential work, but Lucas County says that's wrong.

...

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner noted the irony today: The Ohio Republican Party wants careful scrutiny of every new voter registration, but the tools it wants her to use -- Social Security numbers and drivers' licenses -- could knock out legitimate voters due to typos, human error or software issues. Those voters then would have to get provisional ballots, which don't account for much unless the election is tight, and which require additional ID procedures.

Brunner has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. But if the GOP prevails, "Joe the Plumber and Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted - who are both technically 'mismatches' in this database - would have to use provisional ballots on Election Day," Brunner said in a news release.

And I like this last quote:

"I don't have a lot of pull. It's not like I'm Matt Damon," Wurzelbacher said.

"I just hope I'm not making too much of a fool of myself," he added.

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by: mak @ Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 21:22:48 PM CDT