The Plumber Joke

Here's the "Joe the Plumber" story in a nutshell: Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, 34, of suburban Toledo, Ohio, stopped Barack Obama to complain about Obama's plan to raise taxes on people earning over $250,000. He said he was upset because he planned to buy his boss's plumbing business, which earns over $250,000, and he doesn't want to pay higher taxes.

But it turns out:

• Joe technically isn't a plumber, because he doesn't have a license. Since he works for a licensed plumber, he needs a journeyman’s plumbing license or an apprenticeship license
• The business doesn't earn over $250,000. It doesn't even gross $100,000. Who knows how much is left after expenses.
• Joe doesn't actually plan to buy his boss's business, he's only talked about it with his boss "from time to time." And since Joe doesn't have a plumber's license, he couldn't actually buy the business even if he wanted to (see above).
• If by some miracle Joe did get a license and buy the business, and it earned (not grossed) over $250,000, Joe would only have to pay increased taxes (under Obama's plan) on the amount over $250,000. If that amount was $30,000, his total tax increase would be $900.

The whole story is a bad joke. Joe obviously has worthy dreams, but his dreams have been poisoned by rightwing ideologues who brainwashed him with the Big Lie that Obama will steal all his hard-earned wealth to give to the undeserving poor. It's a perfect metaphor for the brainwashing of a large segment of American workers by Rush Limbaugh and FOX News, which has only allowed the rich to rob them blind.

And Joe is about to pay a stiff price for being brainwashed. Because Joe believed the ideologues, he made himself a national story. And because the publicity exposed the fact that he's not a licensed plumber, he's now under investigation by local authorities.

Update 1: Joe is also a poster child for Republican voter fraud! His county board of elections mistyped his name and he's registered as Worzelbacher, not Wurzelbacher. Under Republican rules, Joe isn't eligible to vote, and could be prosecuted!

Update 2: On Friday, Joe finally admitted "I would be receiving [Obama's] tax cuts." So the McCain campaign threw Joe under the bus and embraced "Russ the Plumber." Guys, it's time to hang up the old wrench.