Fixd.

And Joe still didn’t get it. “Tap dancing like Sammy Davis, Jr.” indeed.

Second, his little sojourn into Israel has garnered plenty of criticism of his journalistic credentials and abilities — which has, in turn, put increased scrutiny on the “real” reporters and the jobs they are doing.

Jay tea, here’s a little assignment for you. Watch this 3 min video by Nic Robertson at CNN.com and tell me how Joe the Plumber’s 17 minutes on PJTV presents a critique of it and the kind of work it represents:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2008/12/31/robertson.gaza.mideast.latest.cnn?iref=videosearch

I’ve watched both and I’m curious if you’re actually able to articulate how it is that Joe the Plumber’s reporting represents a critique of “real” reporters.

Hehe. I think of him as the Palin of journalism myself (steady stream of pure illogicality flowing from his mouth, e.g., “Journalists shouldn’t cover war like I’m doing”) but the joke would be lost on someone as mentally limited as Jay.

Your modern Republican party. Charming as ever. (Gee, I wonder who else would piss off liberals?)

I’m not that impressed with Joe The Plumber. He reminds me of quite a few people I’ve known — a bit louder than they need to be, a bit too proud of their less-than-fully-thought-out opinions, too quick to use simplistic labels for political disagreements.

Jay tea, add to the list “extraordinarily lacking in self awareness” and you’ve just described yourself.

But you seem to be emotionally invested in defending him here.

“But in a couple areas, he really impressed me.
First off, he ‘pisses off the right people.’”

Welcome to your permanent minority status.

Seriously. If that’s what it takes to impress you, your party will never recover.

Joe the Plumber pisses us off because he is the Sanjaya of American politics. He was a flash in the pan who became the butt of late night talk show hosts, and some how managed to turn that into a political career.

Joe is a reporter not a soldiers. Six tours is too many, sounds like it’s time for you to come home. We could pack up and bring everyone within a year or so but I’m not sure that would leave us better off in the long run. If we don’t help the Afghanistanis no one else is going to. We owe those people a great deal from when they fought the Soviets in the eighties. Let’s not forget that.

Yes reporters and news organizations can provide valuable information about conflicts and other related newsworthy events. Yes reporters should be allowed to report. In recent years though they have had some difficulties in not becoming part of the story. Things have gotten too violent.

Isn’t amazing how JT can work two of his favorite myths into just about any discussion?

Over the course of the campaign Obama has been asked many impromptu and hard questions and has done fine without a telepromptr. What happened to “Joe” after Obama answered his question was not at all due to Obama being “uncomfortable”.

Still looking for that tape of McCain spending 6 minutes to provide a thoughtful answer to someone’s question, BTW. (Not suprising it’s hard to find, I suppose, given Republicans can watch a 6 minute answer and only follow 3 words of it (”spread the wealth”) and even get the meaning of those wrong.)

Oliver BEGGED Not-Joe to stick around to continue to expose what passes for thinking on the right. Sounds like O-Dub is the complete opposite of pissed off.

Your reading comprehension may vary, but is asking a guy to stick around an example of being pissed off at him?

his little sojourn into Israel has garnered plenty of criticism of his journalistic credentials and abilities — which has, in turn, put increased scrutiny on the “real” reporters and the jobs they are doing.

You mean like when millions of American marched in the streets because they new W was lying about the WMD, but the media fell for the lie? AFAIK the left blogosphere has been pissed off at the media for being in the tank for W for the last 8 years, so are you now saying that Not-Joe now agrees with Kos?

Daily Kos, Media Matters and Josh Marshall have been doing a much better job of criticizing current journalistic failures than Not-Joe has done with his first and only exposure of his “intellect.” If I was going to say something on TV, I wouldn’t stumble on my words, I would know what I was about to say, and when I said it, IT WOULD MAKE SENSE.

That’s how the system works.

J.

Another thing to be pissed off about is seeing Joe get the opportunity to do something that, quite frankly, he doesn’t deserve to do. There are plenty of people sitting in my Arabic classes who put actual thought, effort, and hard work into learning about the Middle East… But who gets sent there? Joe the Fucking Plumber. It’s kind of tough not to be pissed off.

Oh, and Bruce? “Joe” met up with Obama on October 12, and the debate was three days later. In the internet age, three days is an eon. The video was all over the internet in those two days before the debate.

Personally, I’m not that impressed with Joe The Plumber. He reminds me of quite a few people I’ve known — a bit louder than they need to be, a bit too proud of their less-than-fully-thought-out opinions, too quick to use simplistic labels for political disagreements.

But in a couple areas, he really impressed me.

First off, he “pisses off the right people.” Witness Oliver’s fixation on the guy. It’s kind of like how Oliver thought that the arrest of Sarah Palin’s daughter’s fiance’s mother was worthy of an article — but I don’t recall him discussing Barack Obama’s destitute half-brother or illegal alien aunt.

Second, his little sojourn into Israel has garnered plenty of criticism of his journalistic credentials and abilities — which has, in turn, put increased scrutiny on the “real” reporters and the jobs they are doing.

For that, I find myself saying “Yo, Joe!”

J.

“Joe” was the moniker given by the McCain campaign–it wasn’t a name Wurzelbacher preferred.

Second, Wurzelbacher lied when he claimed he was about to buy a plumbing business. He could no more afford to buy a business than Jay ID Tea can be counted on for the truth. In fact, Wurzelbacher was not a plumber and couldn’t (legally) provide plumbing services.

Nor did Obama stumble in his answers to Wurzelbacher. Obama took the time to explain his plan–in detail– to Wurzelbacher–something many pols wouldn’t do.

He got thrust into the spotlight because Obama made an unscheduled stop in Wurzelbacher’s neighborhood and took unscreened questions — and Obama didn’t answer as glibly as he normally does when he has pre-screened questions, softball questions, or a teleprompter at hand. That meant that Wurzelbacher had to be punished for putting Obama in an uncomfortable position. Every single detail of his life had to be scrutinized so he could be discredited and his impertinence buried.

Remember, a state official went digging into his public records to see if she could find anything embarrassing on him — she was suspended, and should have been fired. And I hear he has filed a lawsuit against the state for invasion of privacy — which should be a slam dunk.

So he’s looking to pull a Joseph Wilson/Valerie Plame and convert his sudden, unexpected prominence into a bit of fame and cashing in. Big whoop. As poor a job as he does, I doubt he can cause as much damage as the so-called “professionals” have been doing.

J.

How would he feel about a sixth tour, having seen a dozen buddies die during the first five, with a stop-loss that keeps him in country with no assurance that he will ever leave? While his or her kids grow up and his wife or her husband deal with another year of loneliness thousands of miles away?

If Joe wants the real experience, he can enlist. There are a LOT of people putting more on the line than not-Joe the Not-Plumber, and if they are doing so for a lie, then the media owe us that information. It shouldn’t be subject to filtering by people whose reputations ride on hiding the truth.

Do you think a soldier is MORE or LESS likely to commit an atrocity if he knows that there are reporters watching? Do you think we are MORE likely or LESS likely to get into a failed war for bogus reasons if the reasons for entering it are examined completely by skeptical people?