Althouse: R.I.P. Joe the Plumber.

August 29, 2023

R.I.P. Joe the Plumber.

24 comments:

I Use Computers to Write Words said...: Too young. Rest in peace.; 8/29/23, 3:10 AM
George Leroy Tirebiter said...: 2:42am post……wow Ann! Up late or super early?; 8/29/23, 3:14 AM
Quaestor said...: Joe embarrassed Obama, so the Deep State destroyed him.; 8/29/23, 4:16 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Up late or super early?"

Up early.; 8/29/23, 4:24 AM
boatbuilder said...: Rest in peace.

Flashback. What a bullshitter Obama is.; 8/29/23, 6:53 AM
Rusty said...: Truth to power.; 8/29/23, 7:36 AM
Linda said...: slightly off topic -
Whether you agree or disagree with Obama - can you imagine our current President answering this type of a question - or really any unscripted question?; 8/29/23, 8:35 AM
Yancey Ward said...: Someone pointed out somewhere last night, maybe it was our Discord, that within 48 hours we knew more about Joe the Plumber than anyone knew about Obama's past. Still the case.; 8/29/23, 9:14 AM
Michael K said...: Blogger Yancey Ward said...

Someone pointed out somewhere last night, maybe it was our Discord, that within 48 hours we knew more about Joe the Plumber than anyone knew about Obama's past. Still the case.

Yup. Obama is still a man of mystery. Or, possibly, an empty suit. Joe the Plumber was a guy practicing a trade and achieving a middle class life. That is now under attack by Democrats who want a two class society. Rich and poor. The poor will be grateful for the little they get.; 8/29/23, 11:38 AM
Mike Petrik said...: Linda is right. Trump would have engaged, albeit inarticulately, while Biden would have screamed get off my lawn!; 8/29/23, 12:15 PM
Brian said...: maybe it was our Discord

We have a discord? Is this an Althouse discord or something else?; 8/29/23, 1:45 PM
Narr said...: I had forgotten about Joe "HE'S REALLY NOT A PLUMBER! HAHAHA!" and how he was probably a Republican plant sent specifically to harass and threaten Obama.

More innocent times.; 8/29/23, 2:14 PM
Mark said...: The Discord is the Althouse version of JournoList where the righties here all get their talking points agreed upon before posting.; 8/29/23, 4:34 PM
Michael K said...: Blogger Mark said...
The Discord is the Althouse version of JournoList where the righties here all getheir talking points agreed upon before posting.

Poor Lefty Mark. His is not a member of the cool kids club. It actually began when Althouse stopped comments and has continued, first because it is more interesting than these, and also because might close them again. Plus it gives us a conversation when her comments are in moderation all day.; 8/29/23, 5:25 PM
Yancey Ward said...: It is where we make fun of morons like you, Mark.; 8/29/23, 5:28 PM
Narr said...: "We have a discord?"

Various kind people--not all visible here now--have offered to host Discord discussions for interested Althousers, most recently IIRC Yancey Ward. I wrote the email down and have been tempted to register, but there are only so many hours in the day . . .

But if Mark has been monitoring that place too it just goes to show that the upright citizen never rests.; 8/29/23, 6:59 PM
Old and slow said...: That's not how it works Mark. I disagree with most people here much of the time.; 8/29/23, 9:00 PM
Michael K said...: I see that Althouse is deleting comments which is why we go to Discord.; 8/29/23, 10:03 PM
Dr Weevil said...: Narr (2:14pm):
When the news hit that Joe the Plumber had died, I ran across a bunch of people on Twitter repeating the stupid slurs from 15 years ago. Some were saying "He's not really a plumber, hah hah!", as if a guy who's successfully unclogged and repaired dozens of sinks and toilets for strangers and gotten paid for it can't call himself a plumber unless he's a licensed master plumber with his own independent business. Others were repeating "His name isn't even Joe, hah hah!" as if no one's allowed to go by his middle name. Do they apply this to "Ross" Perot, "Steve" Forbes, "Woodrow" Wilson, or "Grover" Cleveland, all of whom used their middle names? Of course not.

Those insults were stupid enough the first time around, but when the guy just died of pancreatic cancer at 49, leaving a widow and 4 kids, anyone who repeats them is not only an obvious moron but a vicious and contemptible swine. (I'm putting this as politely - I mean non-obscenely - as I can.) And many of these people seem to be using their real names on Twitter! I hope at least a few of them lost some friends, or got crossed off their relatives' Thanksgiving invitation lists.; 8/29/23, 11:24 PM
Brian said...: It is where we make fun of morons like you, Mark.

I want in..; 8/30/23, 9:55 AM
John Althouse Cohen said...: There is no reason to shame people for pointing out the fact that he wasn't a licensed plumber. That's significant because it's an example of turning an "ordinary American" into an instant celebrity in the middle of a political campaign can backfire. The fact that he recently died is irrelevant to that point. When someone dies, people talk about the most memorable aspects of that person's public life, and that often includes bad stuff along with good stuff — deal with it.; 8/30/23, 9:56 AM
Narr said...: Dr. Weevil, I suppose that whole episode could be seen as a portent--the empty cackle of partisan fact-checkers (TM) has only grown louder, and the narrative established then is firm fact in the minds of many now. (Like Scooter Libby outing the spookette, and not that I'm a fan of his boss by any means.)

49 is way young, and PC is the worst.; 8/30/23, 11:14 AM
Narr said...: JAC says at 955AM "There is no reason to shame people for pointing out . . . . deal with it."

That prompted me to review the whole 6:00 conversation, and I saw a respectful exchange between a candidate and a voter. The voter made a few specific claims in response to questions from the candidate: that he made X amount of money, that he was a plumber for the last 15 years, that he wanted to buy the company.

As for turning someone into an instant celebrity, I'd like to know who was making Joe a star, other than the MSM with their meticulous investigation of a guy trying to make a living?; 8/30/23, 2:14 PM
Laughing Fox said...: Grateful to Joe--he gave us a good chance to see what Obama was all about. Taxes have to be higher "when you add up all the revenue that has to be raised" to do lots more regulation and lots more funding special groups. When you need to "spread the wealth around," rather than let people keep and grow what they earned.; 8/30/23, 3:40 PM