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Joe The Plumber Slams Sen. John McCain: “He Screwed Up My Life”

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» 47 comments

Poor John McCain – not even his imaginary friend Joe the Plumber likes him anymore. Joe, who you’ll remember is neither named Joe (real name Samuel Wurzelbacher) nor is a plumber, may have thought he could slip some harsh words against the 2008 Republican presidential ticket by the mainstream media, commenting to Pennsylvania Public Radio’s Scott Detrow, but the fifteen minutes of fame the McCain campaign gave him seem to be lasting longer than the excitement over a Levi Johnston Playgirl shoot.

Wurzelbacher is making waves in – where else? – the Tea Party circuit this year by endorsing candidates in the upcoming midterm elections. The Ohio native was visiting Pennsylvania to speak at a “Mobilize for Liberty” event organized by Republican gubernatorial candidate Sam Rohrer, one of five endorsements Wurzelbacher has given out of more than 200 solicitations. The article makes no mention of whether Wurzelbacher is being financially compensated for his endorsements, though if the five endorsements per 200+ requests ratio is true, it would speak to the contrary. While the fact that he is being solicited for endorsements and is apparently quite picky about them is a shock in and of itself, his words for the people that gave him the leverage to endorse at all come as an even greater surprise from this reluctant hero:

“I don’t owe [McCain] s—. He really screwed my life up, is how I look at it.”

Wurzelbacher said, “McCain was trying to use me. I happened to be the face of middle Americans. It was a ploy.”

So why’s he still milking the Joe the Plumber image, appearing at conservative events across the country? Wurzelbacher says it’s his duty to take advantage of the platform he’s been given. He wants to talk up the issues he cares about, and encourage the grassroots tea party movement.

Doing his “duty” instead of refusing to fade into obscurity like he claims to want to: it’s the George Washington card, the one he most likely learned to play from his benefactor Sarah Palin. But he’s turned against her, too! According to Detrow, “he said he doesn’t support Sarah Palin anymore. Why? Because she’s backing John McCain’s re-election effort. ‘John McCain is no public servant,’ he told the room, calling the 2008 Republican nominee a career politician.” Contrast this to his opinion of Barack Obama, who he defended from birther criticism (birthers, he said, “belittle and set back” the tea partiers), and almost complimented him at least for his honesty: “I think his ideology is un-American, but he’s one of the more honest politicians. At least he told us what he wanted to do.” For what it’s worth, “one of the more honest politicians” is certainly not something Wurzelbacher appeared to be comfortable saying about McCain or Palin.

The “face of Middle Americans” has gotten pretty dour since we last saw it, but welcome back to the spotlight anyway, Joe/Sam! Below, another example of Wurzelbacher “doing his duty” by joining Arkansas Senate candidate Col. Conrad Reynolds on a state tour:


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  • The Real Royal King

    When a Screw Up like JTP says someone screwed up his life, that had to be monumental

  • The Real Royal King

    Well, I am sure JTP will have a long and bright future at FOX.

  • parakeeta

    Joe (not his real name) the Plumber (not his real trade) epitomizes what it is to be a Republican: a total fraud liar lazy SOB who cannot tell you his real name nor can he tell the truth. You go, Joe!

  • http://www.karlspensen.blogspot.com Karl Spensen

    More lefty HATE from the LIBS and SOCIOFASCISTS!!1 Why do you hate blue collar working people so much??!1

  • The Real Royal King

    Have you ever actually seen JTP engage in manual or skilled labor? I haven’t. He’s always touring the country making stupid comments.

  • Jim R

    Wow, Joe, rich Republicans manipulating average folks to act against their own self-interest? No! Who’d have thunk it!?

    Now you can concentrate on how that imaginary tax hike on that imaginary plumbing business means those average folks you’re trying to manipulate into supporting the party of Enron, Haliburton, & Exxon, should help you rail against Social Security, Medicare, and equal justice for workers.

    I’ve done more manual labor by accident than you’ll ever do on purpose, quit pretending to know what average workers think and quit giving us a bad name by displaying your stupidity as a Republican tool, and go get a real job.

  • TfT

    Boy, you guys on the left really dislike the common man. Name calling, lies, slander. Attack the messenger, not the message. Don’t you ever get tired of the hate you spew?

  • mcf1757

    Stop with the faux indignation Tft! Joe the “plumber” is a public figure and deserves all he gets!

  • ImNotBlue

    The Real Royal King says:
    February 15, 2010 at 4:49 pm

    Wait, really? You have a requirement that you have to SEE him doing this stuff? Wow! Do you fly around the country watching people, or do have them send you pictures, or do you just assume you’re king of all and they should know to do this on their own? Yeesh.

    TfT says:
    February 15, 2010 at 5:52 pm

    No.. they don’t. Racism, name calling, arrogance, egotism, hate for anyone who disagrees… just par for the course.
    _______________________________________

    HEY FRANCES,

    I’m confused… help me out, buddy. What in the crap is the “media” component for this? Or is this one of those, “political stories that doesn’t necessarily mean Mediaite is biased, even though they always seem to have the same political stance”? Yup… just another day at the poorly named, “Mediaite.” Just more bias as usual.

  • ice queen

    JTP should talk, he used McCain just as he claims McCain used him. If it hadn’t been for McCain there would be no JTP and this guy wouldn’t have all these speaking engagements or his brief career as a journalist.

  • parakeeta

    “Joe the Plumber, indeed.” That little swish is more like “Josephine the Plumber.”

  • JamesA1102

    Sam the not a plumber screwed up his own life the moment he walked up to Obama and decided to lie. The ego on this man is incredible, he is not the ‘face of middle america’ and should take responsibilty for his own actions instead of blaming McCain.

  • TfT

    The only people caught lynig in this instance was the good old MSM who attacked, slandered and revealed private information about Joe. His simple question to teh One revealed who and what he is, which is proven true today (the he being Obama).

    As I said earlier, you libs love to trash the common man.

  • parakeeta

    ^ Please. Look what the rqadical right did to the Dixie Chicks and to Mrs. Sheehan. And please stop whining, m’kay?

  • stoogedude

    Tft, give me a break! Joe the Plumber had his 15 minutes of fame. He asked Obama a question, a legit one at that, and he should have left it at that. But, since then he has been going around throwing around the socialist word and calling Obama’s ideology “un-American”. We don’t hate the common man, but we find it incredibly annoying when someone as common as this man thinks he speaks for middle America and goes around spewing his ignorance. If he would have gone back to his life afterwards, we wouldn’t even be talking about him. But he just keeps popping up, and frankly, we’re done with JTP-mania (as if we had it in the first place)

  • writer

    Nobody cares. I don’t care if JTP is Einstein or a moron. But what is scary is that he expressed an opinion during the campaign that the left didn’t like, so a private citizen had to be analyzed with a microscope and torn to shreds. Be afraid of the far left. Be very afraid. (And parakeeta, honey, perhaps some anger management classes or therapy is in order.)

  • Ted

    Let me clear it up for you; JTP, moron, not Einstein. Btw – JTP gave up private citizen status a long time ago and when he says the things he does he opens himself up to ridicule which he richly deserves. Remember – moron, not Einstein.

  • writer

    Remember, I don’t care. But during the campaign he was a private citizen. After he was put on camera saying something the left disagreed with, he had to be attacked. That’s the scary part. Joe’s a moron? Couldn’t care less. Gets attacked for speaking his mind? That’s scary.

  • stoogedude

    Remember, this Joe the Plumber is a guy who said he wouldn’t let gay people near his children.

  • parakeeta

    writer says:

    “Nobody cares. I don’t care if JTP is Einstein or a moron. But what is scary is that he expressed an opinion during the campaign that the left didn’t like, so a private citizen had to be analyzed with a microscope and torn to shreds.”

    REALLY?! And the Dixie Chicks had a little few words to say about Bush and look what the hateful right did to them!

    Mrs. Sheehan had something to say and look what the kooks on the right did to her!

    Please, spare me your fauxrage, m’kay?

  • Ted

    Writer – Ask Cindy Sheehan about what its like for a private citizen to be attacked by the neo-con whack-jobs. Thats scary.

  • writer

    Sounds like he’s a jerk, then. But even jerks have free speech. And if he’s making money for speeches now and someone wants to criticize him, have at it. But if a cameraman comes up out of the blue and asks a private citizen to make a comment, that citizen shouldn’t have his entire life gone over with a fine toothed comb simply because he said something the left disagreed with.

  • parakeeta

    ^ Please address the Dixie Chicks and Mrs. Sheehan. Thank you. Or is it OKIYAR?

  • writer

    And Ted, it was wrong to attack Cindy Sheehan, too. Two wrongs don’t make a right, do they? And since you think Cindy shouldn’t have been attacked, I guess you’ve seen the light and also agree that JTP shouldn’t have been attacked back during the campaign when he was just a private citizen.

  • stoogedude

    I agree with writer in that people should have stayed out of his private life. I disagree with him immensely, but this guy doesn’t deserve to have members of the media going through old medical records or whatever they went through. So what if he’s not a plumber? There’s plenty to criticize him for based on what he says.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Chris-Jones/1384303476 Chris Jones

    I wrote a piece about this earlier today. Joe reminds me of Tommy Gunn from Rocky V:

    http://www.thehotjoints.com/2010/02/15/joe-the-plumber-becomes-tommy-the-machine-gunn/

  • Ted

    Cindy Sheehan lost a son in a neo-con war and the right (and ironically many chickhawks) attacked her patriotism. JTP is neither a J nor a P, he is a first class fraud. Just a small difference.

  • writer

    By the way, parakeeta chiquita, I like the Dixie Chicks. They get free speech, too. Everybody should get it. Get it?

  • writer

    Yes, Ted. He’s a moron, he’s a fraud, he’s a reincarnation of Jack the Ripper. But when he was a private citizen, he should be allowed free speech. Just like Cindy. Just like the Dixie Chicks. Everybody.

  • stoogedude

    Technically, though, no one is denying him his right to free speech. He’s still in public and giving speeches and no one is arresting him for it. He can say what he wants, but he doesn’t have to give public statements and interviews, opening himself up to ridicule.

  • TinaFromTampa

    TfT says:
    February 15, 2010 at 5:52 pm
    Boy, you guys on the left really dislike the common man. Name calling, lies, slander. Attack the messenger, not the message. Don’t you ever get tired of the hate you spew?

    YEAH… I agree Tina!
    Why is it the left went after Levi Johnston, a common man, in such a vicious manner?
    Disgusting!
    Oh wait.
    That was your side who attacked the hard-working Alaskan.
    Your arguments are pretty flimsy.

  • parakeeta

    Levi. Sigh. What a man!

  • Ted

    No, not jack the ripper, just a fraud.

  • writer

    Stooge, JTP is fair game now. But during the campaign he was unknown…a private citizen.

  • stoogedude

    I agree with you. The time that he asked Obama the question to before the time he decided to travel the lecture circuit, the media should have stayed out of his life and his business. But I still don’t think he was denied the right to free speech…the right to privacy? Yeah, I’d say that was violated. I’m glad that he asked Obama the question. This was something that I think needed to be asked, so I don’t begrudge him for that.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill-Adkins/1585417987 Bill Adkins

    Now, now – be nice to Joe. I understand, Joe – Republicans played hell with my life,too. Yep – that half a trillion a year we pay in interest on the national debt truly sucks. I certainly regret the almost $7 trillion added to the national debt from 2001-2009, don’t you? Eight years of Republican Idiocracy and what do you get – Eight years older and deeper in debt. The Grover Norquist/neo-anarchy model is really taking hold, too. State governments are selling their assets, including their capitol buildings, Utah is getting ready to cut the 12th grade entirely out of their schools, cops, teachers and firefighters are being laid off, state treasuries gone bust. Can’t wait to see what happens next.

  • writer

    And Obama isn’t adding to the debt at all. That 71% of the public that doesn’t like the way the democratic majority congress is operating must not have gotten the word. And while we’re over a year into Obama’s administration, everything is still Bush’s fault. Extrapolating that, wouldn’t 9/11 have been Clinton’s fault, since Bush had only been in office for nine months?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill-Adkins/1585417987 Bill Adkins

    Didn’t we cover this this morning? Your selective reasoning is showing.

  • writer

    Heck, Bill, I’m still waiting for you to denounce your leftist buddies’ name calling.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill-Adkins/1585417987 Bill Adkins

    We’re all adults here, writer – but there are a few children. You deal with baby parakeeta, I’ll deal with baby Blue. .

  • writer

    Sure, what’s she look like? (Wait, that’s being sexist.) Must be getting tired. Later, Billy.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill-Adkins/1585417987 Bill Adkins

    No, no – ‘sok, I get it. No PC police here. I won’t even play a sexism/racism card– I leave that to Blue.

  • parakeeta

    Writer wrote:

    “And while we’re over a year into Obama’s administration, everything is still Bush’s fault. Extrapolating that, wouldn’t 9/11 have been Clinton’s fault, since Bush had only been in office for nine months?”

    Ah, Somalia. Pappy Bush sent in troops in December 1991, sixty days before Clinton came into office. So I guess Somalia is Pappy’s prob, right? First WTC bombing — happened thirty days before Clinton came into office, so I guess that’s Pappy’s gig, too. Yawn.

    Look, stop “dodging” (LOL! That’s a right wing thing — see Rhonnie Rheagan, see Joan Wayne, see Pills Limbaugh, see George WTC Bush) and take ownership of the probs, m’kay? Thank you.

  • JamesA1102

    “The only people caught lynig in this instance was the good old MSM who attacked, slandered and revealed private information about Joe. ”

    No Joe, whose real name is Sam walked up to Obama and said he was a licensed plumber, which he is not, and that he was trying to buy the plumbing business where he worked, which he wasn’t. Then lied about how much that business was worth. The MSM only reported those facts and Sam was caught lying.

  • writer

    Okay, I get it. Problems left over only count if a Democrat is holding office, and a Republican held office previously. It doesn’t work the other way around.

  • ImNotBlue

    Bill Adkins says:
    February 16, 2010 at 12:14 am

    You think about me too much. I’m starting to think you’ve got a crush.

  • murphy0071

    Joe has always been a fraud. He has never been a journey man plumber and couldn’t make 250K that he said he wanted to make and couldn’t in the current economic climate. He is and always will be a low intelligence sad sack who hardly has a sucking reflex. But, that doesn’t mean his politics don’t suck. Palin should leave Todd and marry Joe. They are both losers, which would make them extremely compatible.

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