As you've probably ascertained by now, the real star of last night's debate wasn't Barack Obama, or John McCain, or Bob Schieffer. And it certainly wasn't the financial crisis, or Mess 'o' Potamia, or Bill Ayers, or ACORN. Instead, it was some guy named Joe Wurzelbacher--a.k.a. "Joe the Plumber"--who confronted Obama Sunday in Holland, Ohio about his tax plan. At McCain's prodding, the candidates would up mentioning Wurzelbacher 26 times at Hofstra. For comparison, the economy came up 16 times. The war in Iraq? Six. Thanks to the MSM's raging "real person" fetish, Wurzelbacher's fifteen minutes of fame have extended well into today. Intrepid journalistic investigators have discovered, for example, that Wurzelbacher, 34, voted in the Republican primary, doesn't have a plumbing license, still owes $1,200 in unpaid income taxes and is actually named Samuel. Financial crisis! What financial crisis? McCain, meanwhile, was happy to let Wurzelbacher dominate what would've otherwise been a bad news cycle for him. “The real winner last night was Joe the Plumber,” he said this morning in Downingtown, Penn. “Joe’s the man.” This morning, Wurzelbacher coolly fielded questions from the frantic press swarm stationed outside his home. Cable reporters spent the afternoon milling around in his yard. To paraphrase Russell Hammond of Stillwater, "You, Joe, are what it's all about. You're real. Your room is real. Your friends are real. Real, man, real. You know? Real."
[Below, a conversation previously on www.glennbeck.com]
GLENN:
By the way, Joe the plumber. Joe, he's from Toledo, Ohio, I believe, isn't he? Joe, if I may recommend, change the name of your business to Joe the plumber, immediately. It should be on trucks and everything. I'll give you a loan in your business. You can't get a loan? I'll give you a loan. I want a nice kickback because you're going to do the best you're going to have the best business ever. "Hi, I'm Joe the plumber. You know, candidates are all up in my face." I think that's fantastic.
STU:
Wasn't there like a crappy Kevin Costner movie that just came out where he was like the swing maybe it was called swing vote and he was the one guy I didn't see it but I saw the previews.
GLENN:
No, I saw it. Ooh.
STU:
You saw it? He was the one guy? Joe the plumber.
GLENN:
The Kevin Costner guy was a dope, a scumbag and I think the Joe the plumber, have you heard this the guy speak? He's very, very intelligent.
STU:
Yeah, just what I've seen him in a couple of interviews.
GLENN:
He should have a reality show because he hasn't said who he's going to vote for.
STU:
Oh, you know that's coming.
GLENN:
Joe the plumber, I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't have his own show, his own news show. Hi, I'm Joe the plumber and I'm just like you; let me tell you what's going on. And you know what? People would watch it. And then you know what? Probably should.
STU:
What a bizarre experience it must be for this guy, though. He's just at a little campaign event, asks an honest question, has a little bit of a conversation with Barack Obama like thousands and thousands of people have all across the country. The next, three days later the debate is focused around his business.
GLENN:
It's amazing.
STU:
How does that happen?
GLENN:
I don't know. You know what, if you are in Toledo and you've ever worked with Joe the plumber, if he's ever come and unclogged your toilet, "He was scraping crap out of my pipes just like last week." I wanted to have Joe the plumber on this morning but Diane Sawyer has locked him up, won't allow him to speak to anyone else until tomorrow morning. So hopefully we'll have Joe the plumber on. I can't I mean, I just, I heard somebody this morning. They were on television and they said, you know, this is what it's all about. This is what politics really is all about, is these politicians, when they bring this these anecdotes of the people they've met, that's when people are really intrigued. I'm like, I don't care. I mean, Joe the plumber thing, because it was organic, because it was Joe asking the question and it was on tape, now I'm interested, you know? Now I'm interested. I've never been has anybody ever really been interested in, "Oh, Sally Muckenfutch's two children, one without eyes, one without hands. And it's Sally Muckenfutch and her handless, eyeless children have had such a hard time in this Bush economy." I mean, have you ever really been interested in those stories? I'm not. I think they share those stories because they don't have anything else the only time that they are ever out in real life is, you know, when they're on a rope line. That's the only time they are in real life. They don't say, "You know what, pull the bus over; I need to get some diapers in Wal Mart." That's why they share those anecdotes because they don't have any real life experience. I was writing an editorial that, is it going to be posted today? Do we even know when that thing comes out?
STU:
It's coming out today, posted now at CNN.com.
GLENN:
Oh, is it really? I was writing this banging out this editorial yesterday and it was you know, it's on the economy and, you know, should there be term limits and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And, you know, what can we do to fix this problem. And I'm thinking to myself, term limits. You know, I'm for term limits but I'm also against term limits just because, you know, who's going to be running it except the people who are in the government through a job that are going to be, "Oh, yes, hi, newbie, come on in." I think the whole thing should be a draft. I think we should just draft people. "Oh, crap. I've got to show up next week to the White House. I'm the President next week. I hate that. I was just President two years ago!" I think that's what we should do. I think we should start drafting people, not drafting them like, "You, you're going to be good." I mean just like drafting. You get a letter in the mail. Oh it's like jury duty. Wouldn't that be great? Because these people wouldn't get anything done.
STU:
That should be the goal of the government, to do nothing.
GLENN:
To do nothing, zero.
STU:
Because everything they do, they screw it up.
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