(Jake Turcotte)
As Obama, McCain battle - Joe the Plumber plans next move
By Jimmy Orr | 11.03.08
Plumbing, schlumbing….
Joe the Plumber’s got big plans. And it’s got nothing to do with his trusty plunger. In fact, he just may throw his plunger out the window.
The plumber, made famous after questioning Barack Obama’s tax plans, seems intent on extending his 15 minutes of fame well past Tuesday’s election.
While Barack Obama and John McCain criss-cross in last ditch pleas for votes, Wurzelbacher (his real last name) is focused on his own future.
Places to go…
It seems he’s got a book deal and he launches a new web site tomorrow. As for the talk about becoming a country western singer? Well that’ll have to wait a bit.
Wurzelbacher told FOX News this morning that he’s working with a writer for his upcoming book and already has the title selected: Joe the Plumber — Fighting for the American Dream.
And this isn’t a fluff book, Wurzelbacher explained. The book about American values will be top drawer.
“Everyone came at me to write a book. They had dollar signs in their eyes. ‘101 Things Joe the Plumber Knows’ or [something] stupid like that. Excuse me, I am sorry,” he said. “You know I will get behind something solid, but I won’t get behind fluff. I won’t cash in, and when people do read the book they will figure out that I didn’t cash in. At least I hope they figure that out.”
New web site
As for the web site, he’s launching SecureOurDream.com tomorrow. It’s a charity site. He hasn’t figured out the fundraising part of it yet (perhaps he could ask Barack Obama for tips), but he knows he wants to help people.
He told of a phone call he received from a 72-year old man (not McCain) named Robert who lost his retirement income in the economic meltdown.
“He calls me up and says, ‘What do I do now, Joe?’”, Wurzelbacher explained. “I don’t have that answer and I thought I better get that answer.”
“It’s people serving people in this country. It’s not the government trying to help you, they always screw it up,” he added.
New Garth Brooks
As for his country music career?
Wurzelbacher dismissed the thought. “People pay me to shut up, they don’t pay me to sing,” he said.
People pay him to shut up?
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3. alarmguy | 11.03.08
enough already with joe the damn plumber.
he is not special and isn’t even bright if you have ever listened to him speak on anything.
the republicans are stupid for trying to use the guy and his name so much.
sure he got barack off his game for a second but for the love of mankind, please let this guy fade away.
if we could all ask barack questions he would certainly expose more than just his “spread the wealth” agenda.
we all know that will not happen before the election nor will it happen afterwards.
i am tired of all the garbage barack is saying over and over again. i wish he would just elaborate on his views enough to let us see his true agenda. that will never happen because the democratic party knows it would spell their defeat.
i would certainly vote for barack’s opponenet whomever it was and so should you.
4. CD | 11.03.08
Joe who?
Is anybody interested in health care, the national debt, your job, or is it all about the fluff and slease?
Wake up America - you’re being led by the media.
5. Karee | 11.03.08
Are you serious with this article? I mean really, who cares? I guess **** finally have over 250K so he really will be against Obama’s tax plan then…
6. jacksmith | 11.03.08
I see you all have not lost your fight :
GOOD! Because we have a lot to do. You! (the American people) are going to have to take back control of your elected government at every level, and set your government back on the right path of service to you, and the greater good of the World.
Barack Obama and the democrats are your best hope of doing that now. Tell your family, friends, and everyone you know to support them as best they can. Because the Bush McCain vote fraud, vote cheating, vote buying, vote manipulation machine is already hard at work to cheat you again. And we all know what a disaster that has been the past 8 years of Bush McCain.
Barack Obama and the democrats will need all the power you can give them at every level of government (Federal, State, County, and local City elected governments). Obama and the democrats will have an enormous mess to fix for the American people, and the rest of the World. A mess caused by the corrupt Bush McCain administration.
7. Jonathan Gleich | 11.03.08
I’m sorry to have to use a rude word, but there is no other way I can express my feelings for Mr. Wurzelbacher. I worked for a plumber for 15 years, and spent every day of those years, breathing in raw sewage, and having rats run over my feet in cold dank basements. I worked hard to become a licensed plumber. Joe, is a unlicensed plumber, which is truly one notch above a handyman.
In plumbing terms,
Joe is full of gas, and that gas makes alot of noise coming out.
It has a foul smell, and can be explosive if exposed to a spark or open flame.
To better paraphrase “I know joe the plumber, I have worked with him and you Mr. Wurzelbacher are no joe the plumber”
Jonathan Gleich
9. McCain 2000 | 11.03.08
Very funny writing.
I’m surprised the man is against fluff. After all, his fame started by fluffing the GOP (albeit, to no avail).
10. Brandon | 11.03.08
I’ve heard nothing from Joe the Plumber that makes me want to read a paragraph he might of written, much less a book. Speaking of paying him to shut up, can we?
11. Best for Us All | 11.03.08
I’d gladly chip in $5.00 to make him go away. Too many idiots pay attention to this lying fraud.
12. Anna | 11.03.08
This is the most stupidest thing I have heard of. You are an airhead just like Palin.
13. allan from Seattle | 11.03.08
Joe the plumber having a charity site? What a fake. He’s an opportunist and there’s no way people will trust him with giving money to him online. He can’t even keep track of what he’s doing to do…a record deal? Congress? Website owner? Gimme a break.
16. Mark | 11.03.08
Enough with him already. How can McCain parade this lying tax cheat around as if he were a model citizen?
17. Ken Wright | 11.03.08
Joe iis inspiring. What he says reflects not only mine, but I think a majority of americans feelings and thougts. You go Joe and I’ll be signing up at your web site. I am confused, how can so many write deprecating things showing ignorance, but yet able to afford a computer? America is about building ourselves up, not tearing down your neighbor.
18. zebo4 | 11.03.08
The website is full of errors. I wouldn’t call Joe the Plumber a “website owner” just yet. It seems like we’ll be hearing about Joe the Plumber long from now since it says on his website there will be a newsletter given out for 1 year after purchasing his book. Who would want to subscribe to his newsletter for a fee? Once the forum opens up on his site you’ll most likely see more people bashing him rather than praising his efforts. I can almost assure you that the things that are written on the site weren’t even written by Joe.
20. maul | 11.03.08
Joe the plumber is an idiot.
Whining about taxes on his 250K.
How about the 95% of people in American who ACTUALLY NEED THE HELP?
22. Emily the Stay-at-Home-Mom | 11.03.08
Funny that the only other book Joe’s publishing company has put out is entitled “Things Forgotten”!
23. janell | 11.04.08
What happened to his ex wife or wives?
It seems all this stuff is out there, but no one has cared about them?
24. Sarah | 11.04.08
The reason Joe’s been so popular is because he truly does represent a huge cross section of America that doesn’t get highlighted enough. America IS the greatest country on Earth, and we’ve done more good for this world than many Americans know or will ever realize. Joe was right; Stop apologizing for America!
25. unbelievable | 11.04.08
Are you all buying into this? “Joe the Plumber” is just a guy that stumped a presidential candidate with some very basic but pointed and (due to the press) unavoidable questions. Each side is trying to manipulate this to their best advantage. McCain folks wants the man to be a best selling author and humanitarian while Obama supporters are making him out to be less intelligent than Forest Gump on a bad day.
In reality he’s an American who had some concerns and voiced them in public. How sad is it that suddenly HE is the one we all focus on? Shouldn’t we be more concerned with the candidates and their responses?
26. carlos | 11.04.08
i just dont know how a tax evader become a hero in mccain’s campaign. joe the plumber? he doenst evenhave a license! he’s like a quack doctor!
27. Robert Douglas | 11.04.08
I have read the comments on this site and I can not believe that there are so many people that are so selfish and stupid that they would talk this way about an average working American that found himself shoved into the spot light by the Democratic biased news media.
We should all stand up to the government and take our country back. We should all ask the type of questions that Mr. Wurzelbacher has ask.
Look at how he has been attacked just because he had the nerve to ask Obama a question that he could not answer. This is censorship in it’s truest form, if you do not agree with the government you are attacked and discredited if you talk about the Democrats (People Read your history books)this is the beginning of socialism
This country was founded on freedom of speech the ability to speak out about the government with out fear of reprisal.
Ask yourself was Joe the plummer given this right?
Why is it that Mr Wurzelbacher is the one that is being attacked for asking a question that we should all be asking?
Why are the people not asking more questions of a candidate the has so many questions that need to be ask?
To Mr. Wurzelbacher I for one working American support you and will sign up on your website. (if I have spelled your name wrong please forgive me.)
28. jonnybullet | 11.04.08
Joe the plumber, a boorish simpleton that saw a opportunity and took it, unfortunately he dose not have the depth of intellect to last very long with out the help of the users that handled him and will use him up. I wonder who’s zoomin who?
29. MichieMich | 11.04.08
Wow, Robert…. who shoved him into the spotlight? Are you sure it wasn’t John McCain mentioning him 21 times in the last debate? And making him the center of his stump speech.
John McCain, American Hero, called Joe the Plumber his “role model” ***?! I was embarrassed for Sen. McCain.
30. nlc123 | 11.04.08
In the time it takes to write, produce, print, and distribute a book, Joe’s 15 minutes will be over.
31. Idaho | 11.04.08
I am so glad that when this election is over JTP will also go into obscurity. no one is really going to buy his book and the man has no idea how to run a charitable organization. He is now unemployed of course because 1. he was never licensed and 2. He blew off his job to fly around the country giving interviews.
One of the best things about the day after elections? NO MORE JOE!!!!!
32. Marco T, Lara | 11.04.08
A Book?, are you kidding? Sorry Joe. You miss represented yourself when you asked the question to Obama about the business. How can you be ready to buy the plumbing business if you can even pay your State taxes? You do not have a license to work as a plumber, and now you are trying to be a Writer? To talk about what? you were used by the media, by the McCain political machine, and all the members of this political circus. Everybody has the right to persued and achieved the American dream, but there is always a lot of dignified avenues to accomplish the goal. I would buy your book if I can verified the proceed goes to a meaningful charity to help a worthy cause. But Joe do yourself a favor, “like a good soldier, just fade away”.
33. k3omo | 11.04.08
Advise to Joe the plumber - In your book, is there mention of a way to stick a pipe in your /////???? Cos you are full of gas.
36. heathrs9 | 11.04.08
It is at least somewhat sad that quite a spectacle is being made of man who simply cares about the government and the ‘average working joe’. The division that this type of campaign creates further alienates us. Americans can hardly be type-casted and it is a most unfortunate event that Joe hangs his wrench of success on calling the government a bunch of “elitists” and its citizens “average joes & janes”.
37. Ronald | 11.04.08
Joe is being persecuted for simply asking a question. All he wanted to know was what tax structure he would expect if he owned his own business (if it did well or not) under a Obama administration.
What all the LEFT is so angry at Joe is the “answer” that Sen. Obama gave.
This is crazy!
How do you justify getting angry at someone for asking a question?
Could Sen. Obama not given any other answer other than “share the wealth?
Could he not just walked away without saying a word?
There is an old saying “It is better for one to keep mouth shut and be thought a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt.”
Also
“No man really becomes a fool until he stops asking questions.’ - Charles P. Steinmetz
38. Bryna Weiss | 11.04.08
Excuse me! Was it not the McCain camp that made the big fuss over Joe the Plumber and plunged him into ‘fame’? This idiot is held up as an example! Some example, not really a plumber, doesn’t pay his taxes and doesn’t bother to register to vote so he can’t vote. Now that’s a Republican’s idea of the average American! God help us, if that’s true.
39. Michael | 11.04.08
If anyone still has any desire to listen to what Mr. Wurzelbacher has to say, take a look at this excerpt from Fox News in which the host, Shepherd Smith, feels compelled at the end to clarify that there is no justification for Mr. Wurzelbacher’s position that a vote for Mr. Obama is tantamount to the death of Israel.
40. king andy | 11.04.08
Let’s just all take a deep breath - now exhale slowly, and repeat 3 times. Feel better?
42. BABU | 11.04.08
If people still believe in him then the public is ignorant. He had no license, he owed back taxes and didn’t have $250,000 and pretended. I don’t trust one word he says. McCain who is supposed to be intelligent person and my vote was for him. When he start trumpeting about Joe the Plumber and the media proved everything was false. Sen McCain lost my vote as he was ignorant about the Joe the plumber.
44. Rayme | 11.05.08
Joe, we need more people like you in America. I think you are right on with what you say and you never beat around the bush. It is pothetic when people don’t seem to know true comments when they hear them. You are real!!! and a true American I for one will be looking forward to your blog and I will tell others about you site. I have been following your honest statements every since you addressed some issues with Obama You were and are so right about what you have said in regards to all of that and I like the way you stand up for what is right! Keep the good work up!!
45. Jo-lean | 11.05.08
Why do you people that have nothing good to say about “Joe the Plummer” come to this site?? Just to make hateful comments? Is your life that boring?
Find yourselves a hobby!!
46. Joe the College Grad | 11.05.08
Please shut up Samuel Joe Wurzelbacher, after hearing you talk its fair to say you’re the child left behind. How could you oomplain about a tax plan that doesnt affect you? I know many people making over 250k a year and they have no problem supporting Obama’s tax plan. (whealth needs to be spread to you) By the way in the state of Maryland you need a license to be a plumber. So concetrate on that, instead of getting on Fox news sounding like an idiot every time you open your mouth. If I were you I would open a hat shop because that “dome” on you neck is too large for T.V.
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Jimmy Orr has worked in politics for the majority of his professional career working for two U.S. Senators, two Governors and one President. Most recently, Orr served as White House Spokesman and Internet Director for President George W. Bush and Special Advisor to Governor Schwarzenegger for Internet Communications.
David Cook is Washington bureau chief of The Christian Science Monitor and host of the Monitor's newsmaker breakfasts. He was the Monitor's editor from 1994 to 2001. Cook is a graduate of Principia College, served in the U.S. Army, was a Bagehot Fellow at Columbia University, and is a member of the Gridiron Club, Washington's oldest journalistic organization.
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