Comments on: Joe The Plumber Is Really Pissed

By: shadmarsh

shadmarsh — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:42:45 +0000

Joe apparently dislikes taxes so much that he refuses to pay them:

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By: Gratuitous

Gratuitous — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 23:40:44 +0000

I’m so sick of this. Of being freshly outraged every freakin’ day.

But folks, it looks like we’ve got a landslide a-happenin’. 350 or so will give me the full-body orgasm I so richly deserve.

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By: uptown ruler

uptown ruler — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 23:09:37 +0000

wow, plant-city

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By: nacktman

nacktman — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 20:40:19 +0000

Joe may or may not be registered to vote but one thing is fact: he is not licensed to be a plumber.

And another tidbit – he is related to Charles Keating.

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By: H. G. Lite

H. G. Lite — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 20:08:29 +0000

Joe the Plumber is actually a relative of one of the inlaws of Charles Keating. This was all a scam, and now they’ve been outted on Crookandliars.com. The whole lot of them are huge republican supporters, just doing what they do best, LIE!

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By: Arratik

Arratik — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 19:25:19 +0000

ATW – I just saw that a couple of minutes ago and came by to correct myself, but you beat me to it.

Since he’s a registered Republican he doesn’t have to worry about being purged from the voter rolls because he didn’t fill out his form correctly.

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By: At the workdesk

At the workdesk — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 19:17:55 +0000

I think that Joe the Plumber is registered to vote.

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By: greenasheville

greenasheville — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 18:51:06 +0000

bobaloo said:
The Project Runway finale was great! What did I miss?

ga says:
the debate finale version of Project Runway

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By: bobaloo

bobaloo — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 17:51:54 +0000

The Project Runway finale was great! What did I miss?

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By: Arratik

Arratik — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 17:21:40 +0000

It turns out that Joe “The Plumber” Wurzelbacher isn’t even registered to vote!

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By: greenjobs

greenjobs — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:58:16 +0000

Here’s another link to the five minute interchange between Joe the Plumber and Obama.
http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/16/what-about-joe-the-solar-guy

Obama answered his question very well, and made (at least) two excellent points:
1- How are you going to get to the point where you can start a small business that takes in $250K if you can’t get by when you’re on the way up?
That’s the damn thing about being poor in an unforgiving economy like ours– one mistake and you’re set back for a while

2- How are you going to get customers if they can’t afford a plumber?
A strong middle class (and getting people who are poor into the middle class) helps all of us.

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By: greenasheville

greenasheville — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:56:02 +0000

So what happens when you get Joe Six Pack and Joe the Plumber in the same room with that lady from Nantucket?

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By: Low Key

Low Key — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:43:30 +0000

I suspect Joe was a plant. Even so, Obama answered his questions very well. Here’s the video of the conversation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFC9jv9jfoA

Keep in mind the entire exchange was unscripted.

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By: Arratik

Arratik — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:21:51 +0000

Martin Eisenstadt:

If Steve Schmidt had any hair left, I hear he would have been pulling it out tonight. He reportedly screamed at Johnâ€™s debate prep team tonight (out of earshot of reporters, of course). â€œYou idiots – heâ€™s related to Charles Keatingâ€¦ of the Keating Five scandal!â€ They thought they had a real live Joe Six-Pack whoâ€™s spurned Barack Obamaâ€™s tax plan. But what they forgot to do was check on Joe Wurzelbacherâ€™s background.

Turns out that Joe Wurzelbacher from the Toledo event is a close relative of Robert Wurzelbacher of Milford, Ohio. Whoâ€™s Robert Wurzelbacher? Only Charles Keatingâ€™s son-in-law and the former senior vice president of American Continental, the parent company of the infamous Lincoln Savings and Loan. The now retired elder Wurzelbacher is also a major contributor to Republican causes giving well over $10,000 in the last few years.

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By: Gratuitous

Gratuitous — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 12:04:07 +0000

Bill Press is saying that “Joe” is a plant.

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By: rip

rip — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:04:34 +0000

Treating McCain like the doddering old fool he really is works well for Obama. It seems to infuriate the old man that Obama won’t try to “mix it up” with him. I think Gramps came prepared for a bar room brawl but had to fall back on Joe Plumber for his defense.

I’ll agree this was McCain’s best outing yet. But that’s still not saying much.

The split screen tells the story – McCain is an alien. He’s spooky.

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By: Arratik

Arratik — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 10:16:49 +0000

I’ll bet that initial drafts of McCain’s talking points referenced Samuel Kozlowski, a butcher from Genoa City, WI, and his lovely fiancee Alice.

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By: writ of summons

writ of summons — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 08:08:31 +0000

“You (Obama) were going to put [Joe] in a higher tax bracket which was going to increase his taxes, which was going to cause him not to be able to employ people, which Joe was trying to realize the American dream,” McCain said.

This is ridiculous. First, the prospective employee’s wages would be tax deductable as a business expense so this would lower Joe’s taxes. Joe would only be worried when his new employee helped his business to higher profits which would then be taxed slightly more. Second, the tax increase only kicks in after the $250,000 of income, taking the marginal rate up 4 percentage points from 35% to 39%.

The Republicans have this idea that any increase in the top marginal tax rate will blow up the economy. This is based on the reverse principle that every decrease in the top marginal rate does to the economy what spinach does to Popeye. Unfortunately, experience does not support this mentality. Clinton’s 1993 tax increase did not kill the economy, instead we had sustained and strong growth. Bush’s 2001 tax cut did little to help the economy.

I think there is validity to the idea that top marginal tax rates can be made too high. In 1964, President Johnson enacted the tax cut introduced by President Kennedy and this brought down the top marginal rate from 91% to 70%. The Reagan 1981 tax lowered it aain from 70% to 50%. Both of these tax cuts preceeded periods of strong economic growth. The top rate was lowered all the way to 28% prior to 1991-1992 recession. But somehow the recession still happened. Bush 41 raised it to 31% and then Clinton brought on economic apocolypse by raising it back to 39.6% which is lower than it was for most of the Reagan administration.

The basic principle is that if the government overtaxes your next dollar of income, you might not try as hard to make that dollar. When that happens on a national level, you won’t have as vigourous economy as you should have. I believe that argument holds up at the 91%, 70%, or even 50% top rate levels. But there are no facts in evidence that support that argument when the top rate is in the late thirties. Going from 39.6% to 35% did nothing for growth and a lot to harm our fiscal position. Obama just wants to go back to Clinton’s top rate which was lower than Reagan’s top rate.

Joe, if you are reading this, you will be able to grow your business under an Obama administration. Listen dude, if your making a quarter mil in profits, I don’t think it is the end of the world for you to chip in a little more to the national coffer.

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