Joe the Plumber becoming major player in GOP. Major keynote speaker with Malkin and Glenn Reynolds

[madfloridian]

I guess I have just not been able to appreciate what they see in him. I heard him mentioned in Alexandra Pelosi's film about the Right feeling Wronged. They truly seem to love him. Unless they are all pretending to love him to appeal to their base.

There is a new group of conservatives called Conservatives Students Activists and Policy Makers.

A big movement is growing and going to Washington. Barack Obama needs to know about that. George McGovern is on the agenda and so is Joe the Plumber, so Obama is apt to have some pretty saucy folks around to quibble with a little.

In a matter of days the Washington DC hotels will play host to an organization called Conservatives Students Activists and Policy Makers. There will be keynote speakers the public longs to hear such as Michelle Malkin, Glenn Reynolds and Joe the Plumber who will be doing remarks on a simultaneous Internet broadcast. The event will take place on February 26, 2009 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel.

The Conservative 2.0 Conference is having a joint conference with CPAC. This special organization, Conservatives Students Activists and Policy Makers, has an agenda for the conference that includes a number of subjects Republicans are concerned about. Here are some of them:

1. How Liberals are Destroying the American Election
2. Protecting the Secret Ballot
3. Building the Conservative Hispanic Coalition
4. Targets of the Fairness Doctrine

Speakers the public "longs" to hear? Really.

I have a question. What in the world is George McGovern doing allowing himself to be honored by them? Is it that much of an honor really? He just does not seem to fit with that bunch.

There will also be something called “Sarah Palin Unplugged on the Media Interview” and a number of presentations and award luncheons and dinners. The Charlton Heston Courage Under Fire Award is to be given to the Honorable George McGovern. George McGovern was a bomber pilot in World War II and the son of a Baptist preacher. That gives him credits for a salute at the conference likely.

Odd. Joe the Plumber and George McGovern at the same very ocnservative event.

McGovern is deserving of honor and respect...just surprising it is coming from them. I keep remembering his words to the Senate in September 1970.

On September 1, 1970, Senator George McGovern spoke on the floor of the U.S. Senate when he introduced the McGovern-Hatfield Amendment. I can only imagine the rush the congressional leaders would have made to condemn his words.

"Every senator in this chamber is partly responsible for sending 50,000 young Americans to an early grave. This chamber reeks of blood. Every Senator here is partly responsible for that human wreckage at Walter Reed and Bethesda Naval and all across our land - young men without legs, or arms, or genitals, or faces or hopes."

"There are not very many of these blasted and broken boys who think this war is a glorious adventure. Do not talk to them about bugging out, or national honor or courage. It does not take any courage at all for a congressman, or a senator, or a president to wrap himself in the flag and say we are staying in Vietnam, because it is not our blood that is being shed. But we are responsible for those young men and their lives and their hopes."

"And if we do not end this damnable war those young men will some day curse us for our pitiful willingness to let the Executive carry the burden that the Constitution places on us."

We need to hear words like that again...loud and clear.

That George McGovern is far too good to share the stage with Joe the Plumber. Look at a couple of Joe the Plumber's quote in comparison.

The New York Daily News has subsequently explored the possibility of Joe pursuing public office at any point in the near future. But according to Joe, "I don't know if the American public deserve me, but my son definitely deserves my time now."

..."And no reason to be subtle, he said, as long as folks inform themselves. "I don't believe there's two sides to every story. It's black and white," Wurzelbacher explained. "There's right and wrong."

Huffington Post

I am still scratching my head at those quotes. The public doesn't deserve him..amen. And I guess there are two sides to stories..right and wrong.

And he's a major draw for the conservative Republicans. Go figure.

[dkf]

1. Wasn't he pretty much a fraud?

Weird.

[madfloridian]

2. Yes, doesn't seem to matter to them.

:shrug:

[L. Coyote]

76. Joe the "Illegal" Plumber epitomizes the Republicans. Seem perfect to me, and

remember, it was McCain who started the big "Joe the Plumber" LIE at the debate.

His staff wisely advised him it was best not to call him "Joe the Illegal Plumber" :rofl:

[sutz12]

3. Well, aren't they all? He seems to fit right in.

:shrug:

[EFerrari]

14. They didn't care that he lied about everything. He looked like a skinhead. That was enough!

[dkf]

22. That must be it! lol.

[The Wizard]

56. If it looks like a skinhead

acts like a skinhead and talks like a skinhead, it's a skinhead, or more accurately, the Republican base. And I'd bet the unemployed plumber guy masturbates with visions of Malkin dancing in his head. Some people are saying Joe (Sam)The Plumber, makes regular visits to the website shavenasians.com.

[Catshrink]

30. Like Miss Sarah?

[burythehatchet]

38. for them to acknowledge that would mean possibly questioning some more assumptions

and then the fabric of the space-time continuum would rip.

[byeya]

51. I come from an IBEW family and am familiar with the

union that represents plumbers and there's an 8000 to 10,000 hour apprenticeship program to become fully accredited in building trades. Joe couldn't be arsed to do this so Joe is no plumber. He should not be called something he's not earned.

[Bleacher Creature]

71. No.

He WAS a fraud. No "pretty much" to it. His name's not even Joe.

[BlooInBloo]

4. Um, that's more a statement of how small the gop has become than how big he is.

[opihimoimoi]

5. Thats the GOP's Best??? OMG....how base can they get???

[madfloridian]

6. Seems that way.

:hi:

[opihimoimoi]

11. Evolution works ....The Flawed Species will succumb to Murphy sooner or later

The GOP cannot evolve fast enough....caught in a vicious vice they are

[MrSlayer]

7. I'm amazed by this.

The once mighty and feared Republican party is reduced to this? "Joe" the "Plumber" does major keynote speeches and sits in on policy making committees. It's mind boggling. Some guy off the street has probably the third biggest name recognition among Republicans.

[madfloridian]

8. Well...I call it

the dumbing down of the electorate.

[MrSlayer]

18. And you would be right.

They have gone completely insane. There can be no other explanation.

[CTyankee]

57. Isn't it pathetic? THIS is all they've got?

The only thing this guy plumbs is the depths...

[backscatter712]

9. Joe the Plumber is the GOP's useful idiot.

Right now, he's being the frontman who's selling the GOP's economic ideology. Of course, he's no economist, and he's not even a plumber. He's just being used because he's folksy, thus he serves as a veneer to conceal the GOP's elistism. That makes him useful for selling their horse-and-sparrow economics (feed all the oats to the horse, some of those oats come out the horse's rear end and feed the sparrows - they call this supply-side or trickle-down economics.)

[Ganja Ninja]

25. Joe the useful idiot.

I like that.:thumbsup:

[mwb970]

50. I don't find JTP to be "folksy".

I find him to be an "idiot".

[Baikonour]

10. Malkin, Joe The Plumber and Limbaugh are our opposition at this point?

We got this.

[MrModerate]

12. Hard for me to believe McGovern would show up for such a thing . . .

As for the rest of it, are they fucking kidding? A more intellectually impoverished guest list can hardly be imagined. I'm sure "serious" 'Licans (if there are any left) are tearing their hair (if they have any left) to think that their name is associated with this gaggle of goofuses, goniffs, goobers, and gits.

[Binka]

24. I Love You!

Perfect response. :loveya:

[ima_sinnic]

48. don't forget grifters in that list

that's Sarah Palin: a larger-than-life, full-blooded grifter. Joe NOT-a-Plumber is also no slouch in the grifter division of the "party."

[Wetzelbill]

13. He was a last desperation shot at winning an election

McCain made him famous because he needed some useful "everyman" dolt to help him pull off a miracle. It failed miserably.

So somehow Republicans have decided to take that winning strategy and run with it. Good luck. If they want Joe who is Sam and not really a Plumber to be the face of their party fine. But this isn't the old days when they could just continually create a message and an image out of whole cloth. Not with the internet. We have things called blogs and youtube that routinely crush fake images all the time because it enables us to see things with our own eyes. Only the GOP thinks Joe The Plumber has some kind of merit. He's a massively ignorant huckster who will do anything to be in the spotlight. That won't win any votes or create good policy.

[Seen the light]

15. At this rate, and I'm actually being serious on this....

He could be their nominee in 2012. That's what the Republican Party has become.

Obama/Biden vs. Plumber/Palin

[DFW]

46. And now for the scary part

That contest will STILL not get Obama/Biden 60% of the vote.

[LynnTheDem]

16. Not-Joe Not-a-Plumber; 2nd best gift for the Dem Party.

The rushlican party truly do get dumber by the day.

Amazing, really.

[Old and In the Way]

17. Let me fix their agenda-

1. How Liberals are Destroying the American Election (by getting more people to vote for their candidates)
2. Protecting the Secret Ballot (so we can protect our haves and have mores)
3. Building the Conservative Hispanic Coalition (so we can ID them and ship them back to Mexico)
4. Targets of the Fairness Doctrine (no, it's not the media consolidators)

[Bluebear]

19. Plumber/Magdalang 2012!

It's the best they can do.

[Raine]

20. What's with the GOOPers fascination

for all things STUPID :silly: why so intrigued by it. :shrug:

[silverojo]

21. Like attracts like - n/t

[nxylas]

72. Anti-intellectualism has long been a successful campaign strategy for them

Of course the people who actually benefit from GOP policies all have expensive Ivy League educations, but there aren't enough of them to build a viable electoral base, so they need a blue collar figurehead to persuade blue collar folks to vote for them. Then they can point to the Democrats as the party of the intellectual elite, because they are capable of creating nuanced arguments ("there you go again"). Not sure who was the first Republican to figure this out in the USA, but among conservatives worldwide, it dates back at least as far as Benjamin Disraeli, who created the Primrose League in order to win over the newly enfranchised working classes to vote for Britain's Conservative Party. Which, of course, despised them, but needed their votes.

Edited to add Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primrose_League

[KharmaTrain]

23. These People Believe In Cartoons...

Their "icons" are one dimensional...symbols rather than substance. They're stalking horses where the values are then attached.

Hell, Joe isn't even Joe...but he plays this "common man" that the GOOP thinks "represents America"...or more specific, he's the cartoon character of the middle aged white man's angst. He's the poster child for all the anger and hatred.

Remember, this is a party totally void of any ideas and must rely on the images. Sure it looks silly as all hell...and it is, but to these losers, it's all they've got.

[Saphire]

26. LOLOL.....Oh, wait...this is for real?

[madfloridian]

27. Yep, sadly it's for real.

:hi:

[jmg257]

28. If anyone needs even more evidence the GOP are idiots, their embrace of a(nother) moron should do it

Other then "stupidity", I just don't get this love affair.

[madfloridian]

29. Their embrace of Joe the Plumber has been a real puzzle.

But after seeing the Pelosi documentary on HBO, nothing should surprise us. Her Road Trip was revealing as well.

[Stevenmarc]

31. If they set the bar any lower they'll have to look up to look down

[madfloridian]

32. Courtesy of Pajamas Media...

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-onthemedia11-2009feb11,0,2088107.column

"Wurzelbacher comes to us courtesy of the people at Pajamas Media, the El Segundo- based website that is the brainchild of novelist and screenwriter Roger Simon.

Pajamas features dozens of conservative bloggers and drew an audience of 120,000 to 280,000 a month in the run-up to the November election, according to the tracking firm comscore.com.

Looking for a long-term model for the future, Simon and company have turned to Internet video reports at pjtv.com, with Joe the Plumber brought in last month as a headliner.

Wurzelbacher's first video missives came from Israel and focused on civilians living under threat from Hamas rockets. The locals seemed to love the big, bald reality star."

Is that the same Roger Simon who posts on Politico?

And didn't PJ Media get shut down recently? This LA Times article is from Feb. 11.

[J-Lo Biafra]

33. I really wish Samuel the Unlicensed plumber would fall back into obscurity. It's tired.

[spanone]

34. palin/plumber....great for 2012

[BurtWorm]

35. I wonder when he'll get his Meet John Doe moment

when they pull the plug on him and call him nothing but a liar.

Probably only if he starts to think independently of them.

[4lbs]

36. The GOP is quickly becoming the modern day "Flat Earth Society" in politics.

It's members are increasingly little more than backward-thinking, head-in-the-sand, religious nuts.

They keep spewing the same talking points they always have, even though they've been proven wrong time and time again. They know nothing else.

[Blue_Roses]

37. this guy totally reeks...

what a joke...:eyes:

[WI_DEM]

39. Good tie him to the party of Limpballs, Palin and Joe the Plumber.

[MattBaggins]

40. Major figure?

Sharing a stage with Malkin does not make one a major figure.

[madfloridian]

41. In the minds of many it does indeed.

You would be surprised how many love and adore those two.

Sad but true.

Many Republicans wish it were not true, but Malkin, Palin and Joe the Plumber are often the face of the party...along with Rush.

[Divine Discontent]

42. "I'M NOT SURE THE AMERICAN PUBLIC DESERVE ME"

Excuse me while I laugh uncontrollably for hours on end, someone please check on me in a day or two, and make sure the sheer shock and awe of that comment haven't taken me to my Maker!


Yes, Joe the Plumber for US Senate! Yes, then a run at the White House to stand up for the wronged Republican nation!


Ya know, the more you read about their meetings, parties, and symposiums the more delusional and mentally ill they sound - nearly everything they bitch about is innuendo and made up farcical bullshit!

:rofl:

Obama "A Witness To History" Inaugural items and Presidential portrait items under the Obama/Biden category here - www.cafepress.com/warisprofitable

[ecstatic]

43. I'm amused by their fascination with Sarah... but the Joe the fake plumber

(whose real name is Sam) thing honestly just makes my head hurt. :crazy:

[NBachers]

44. Still making their own reality . . .

And by the time we catch up with it, they'll have moved on and made another, smaller one -

And so it goes, getting smaller, more delusional, insignificant, and separated from the dominant rational truth of existence -

Reducing, imploding, collapsing

INSANE

fade to black . . .

[izquierdista]

45. He'll be their VP pick

I believe they will go with a common theme ticket in 2012. Both candidates will have the same middle name, for VP, Joe THE Plumber, and for President, Chance THE Gardner.

[shellgame26]

47. That's good

Let the GOP continue to be marginalized with characters like Joe the fake plumber.

4 more years!

[shadowknows69]

49. Palin/Plumber in 2012 Baby!!!!

Please please please you GOP bozos? Please?

[tomreedtoon]

52. He's the Hannah Montana of Republican politics.

He's famous for being famous, not for any particular virtue or talent he has. And like Montana, or the actress that plays her, he will end up disgraced, drunk, drugged-up or caught in a sex scandal, and that will be the end of him.

(Sorry, you Miley Cyrus fans, but that is the history of most teen idols. Wake up and smell Hannah Montana stinking of Bud Light.)

[The_Commonist]

53. Welcome to Idiocracy!

I don't understand why they set that movie in the future...

[Botany]

54. Joe the Plumber as a keynote speaker

[NorthCarolina]

55. I sincerely hope that Palin, Limbaugh, and Werzelbacher ARE the Future Leaders of the GOP

Not simply to limit the GOP's popularity to the 23-26% of America's brain dead populace, but also for the entertainment value to The Daily Show, Colbert Report, and SNL.

[Jackpine Radical]

58. What's there for a Republican not to like about Joe the Plumbbob?

He's stupid, he's bigoted, he lacks understanding of just about everything, and he's kinda ugly. The perfect package, if you ask me.

[Kalyke]

59. Is he going to officially change his name to Joe T. Plumber

since no one remembers his real name?

Silliness.

[Giant Robot]

60. OK to any conservatives reading this

Yes there have to be a couple of you out there, you know, "spying on the enemy." Please pay attention. I am going to say this again.

Stop this madness. Just stop it. Stop associating with the likes of Malkin, Limbaugh, the Plumber et al. Stop it. they are not helping to lead this country. They are selling books, and ad time and columns, and whatever the Plumber is doing these days. They are not helping to strengthen this county. They are only making the electorate disenfranchised and bitter. That, and they are instigating violence. In your heart you know its true. They are not helping your political positions and they certainly are not helping to foster a sense of bipartisanship. And again to be honest, the leader of the Democratic party is an Ivy league attorney with a history of helping his community. The Republican's is Joe the Plumber?

Let me be honest. Your free ride of doing what you want is over now. The Democrats are in charge and now you have to work with their ideas. It's just how democracy works. And honestly, after having all branches of government for 6 years, the congress for 12, and let's not even talk about the Supreme Court, it really does not look like your ideas have been vindicated. Again in your hearts you have to know this is true too.

Work with us. Give us your input. But stop thinking that you can dictate whatever you want anymore. It should not have been in the first place, but since it was, that power is gone now.

We all want the same thing, a good job, a good place to raise our families, a strong country. Join us and let's focus on that.

[lenegal]

62. The RW zealots are not going to work with the Dems

The insane far far far far right wing of the Republican party is trying to kick out the Republican moderates, they are not going to work with Obama. Limbaugh is the defacto leader of their party....

[WCGreen]

61. It's a good thing we liberals are on about version 15.0 compared to

the conservative 2.0...

Obama et al worked out all the bugs, they are still operating in basic...

[Blue Fire]

63. Liberals are destroying the American Election??

I can't freakin' wait to here their ridiculous gibberish on this talking point!
Or maybe they're just pissed off because their senile old fart and his Barbie Doll side kick didn't have enough support to commit successful election fraud.

[BrklynLiberal]

64. Did you ever see the movie "King of Hearts"?

An ornithologist mistaken for an explosives expert is sent alone into a small French town during WWI to investigate a garbled report from the resistance about a bomb which the departing Germans have set to blow up a weapons cache. He arrives to find a very eccentric group of townspeople, inmates of the local insane asylum, as it turns out, who have stepped into the characters of the fleeing villagers.

Joe the "Plumber" is the ornithologist and the repukes are the inmates of the insane asylum.

[BlueMTexpat]

70. I am not sure that analogy is quite on point in this situation.

In "King of Hearts," the inmates from the insane asylum were actually much saner than those who were making war. JTP and his apparent admirers more resemble the senseless warriors, but with substantially lower IQs. They have no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

******
I'm with the OP. MacGovern does not fit with this group. If he really is to attend, he's either gone bonkers himself or has advanced Alzheimer's. I hope that someone from his family or someone who genuinely cares about him will put an end to the nonsense of his participation. If it's true that he is to participate.

[BrklynLiberal]

74. Excellent point.

[BlueMTexpat]

79. Loved that movie, btw.

It's well worth another look. :hi:

[BrklynLiberal]

88. It is a classic...one that I beleive does not get enough recognition for what it was.

[librechik]

65. The Three Stooges--coming soon to a ballot near you!

R.I.P G.O.P.

[Stevethetruck]

66. PEOPLE,PEOPLE!!! JOE the PLUMBER is a CIA REPUG plant!!!

THAT is why he gets so much press, THAT is why the PUGS want him to speak. He's tall, handsome, very well spoken.

HE SAID ON TV THAT HE WAS GATHERING INFORMATION IN LEBANON WHEN HE WAS IN THE SERVICE!!!

GATHERING INFORMATION IN LEBANON!!! Stop calling his plant a plumber, although it DOES fit in the WATERGATE sense of "Plumber'.

He has been put there by the PUGS and the MEDIA to sell their product. Stop giving this "JOE THE PLUMBER" lie credence. You keep going on about why the PUGS have put this "Plumber" in a high position. Get over it, HE's NOT REAL. He's the PUG Easter Bunny, bringing the goodies to the only people in AMERICA still stupid enough to believe.

Virginia, THERE IS NO SANTA, No EASTER BUNNY, No JOE THE PLUMBER!!

[Iggo]

67. Excellent.

[progressivebydesign]

68. I come to DU because I need a regular dose of WTF?????

You know, when our President was elected in November, I was feeling warm and fuzzy because I knew that a good number of Republicans had to have voted for him in order to win. In fact so many did, that we TOTALLY kicked ASS on the Republican ticket AND their Leadership.

But.. as each day bring another story of the stunning assholeness, and complete ignorance of the MANDATE we have, I am actually starting to hate Republicans even more! I didn't think that was possible. But, I fucking hate them. I think that Rush Limbaugh is now considered the Party Leader, and it is "OPERATION FAIL" that we're seeing. They will block everything they can, get as much passed on the State level to fuck the new Administration up, and have the audacity to elevate a SCUZZBALL RACIST like JtP to celebrity. The republican voters, for the most part, do NOT want to see things get worse. They WANT help, they want SOMETHING done to help them, and NOT more tax cuts for the wealthy. But the Republican Leadership doesn't give a fuck about their constituents. They care about their donors.. and they will do anything they can to try and make this a one-term Presidency.

[guitar man]

69. LOL

Joe "the plumber" hasn't got off his lazy ass and so much as picked up a pipe wrench since he first appeared on TV. What a phony ass. :eyes:

[starroute]

73. Just look at their agenda -- it explains a lot

1. How Liberals are Destroying the American Election
2. Protecting the Secret Ballot
3. Building the Conservative Hispanic Coalition
4. Targets of the Fairness Doctrine


#1 is probably about ACORN-bashing and "voter fraud" and all that good stuff.

#2 is definitely about card-check and defeating the Employee Free Choice Act -- the top priority of the Chamber of Commerce and their gang.

#3 is harder to interpret. The Pubbies keep hoping on one hand that they can attract Hispanics on general social conservative issues, but they keep bashing them on the other with their anti-immigration stance. So I couldn't say at this point what they conceive the "conservative Hispanic coalition" as being or how they intend to grow it. (Maybe it's part of Michael Steele's hip-hop agenda. See http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/19/steele-gop-needs-hip-hop-makeover/)

#4 is notably not a discussion of the Fairness Doctrine itself but rather the "targets" of the Fairness Doctrine -- which can only mean Rush and his pals.

So none of this is actually a discussion of issues that might reasonably interest conservatives -- nor does it raise the question of whether it might be necessary to redefine conservatism at a time when it's rapidly losing its appeal. Instead, it's about attempting to take back control of the public discourse and win elections by fair means or foul.

"Subjects Republicans are concerned about"? Well, I suppose, if by "Republicans" you mean "right-wing dirty tricksters and hate-mongers."

[road2000]

75. Everyone is forgetting something, here.

He's the one who's going to infuse the Republic Party with hip-hop.

[2Design]

77. he lied and was not anything he presented himself as - they have an

image and now he is acting the part but is not the real person just a character in a play, right?

[Mr. Sparkle]

78. Maybe he is giving a speech on the future of plumbing !!

[LaPera]

80. We just love it....We sparkle.....

Florida, I mean.....

[Tab]

81. The GOP is becoming a parody of itself

That said, don't ever underestimate what the American people "deserve". We often deserve what we settle for.

[tanyev]

82. The GOP bench has gotten quite thin--Joe's about the best thing they've got left.

[meeloo]

83. What does that tell us about the state of our democracy??

[marshall]

84. The GOP's answer to Cindy Sheehan?

They better watch out. Cindy proved that a major player for the party today can turn into a loose cannon tomorrow.

[98Beatsies]

85. This 15 minutes of fame thing....

is really starting to hurt our democracy

[Salloot299]

86. This story has all the hallmarks of....

a democracy in decline. When characters like that find a prominent place inside one of the two dominating parties in the country there is something wrong with the system

[Joe Chi Minh]

87. How sad is that? The Republican party is so out of touch with the people,

even after the attempted "Joe The Plumber" fraud was exposed as a sham, a total fabrication, because he had wide public exposure as a kind of folkloric personification of Republican bungling and deceit, they've latched onto him to remind people they exist! Sad, sad, sad... Who next? Palin?