Joe the Plumber trashes McCain in new book
Hey, Joe the Plumber is back. And just like Bruce Willis -- with a vengeance.
You remember Joe the Plumber, aka: Joe Wurzelbacher, the unlicensed plumber who John McCain used as a prop in the waning days of his campaign.
New book
Well, he's got a book out (who doesn't?). And in the fine tradition of Scott McClellan, he's biting the hand that fed him. Or perhaps snarking down the whole arm. We don't know. The book's not quite out yet. He's just promoting it.
So he went on Glenn Beck's radio program yesterday to discuss "Fighting for the American Dream". What can we expect? The vaunted "inside look" at the campaign. Why? Because, according to Joe, he's smarter than most.
"I like to think I'm a little more educated than some out there in politics just because it is interesting to me," he said.
Hard to argue with that one. There are very few other people interested in politics so it should be enlightening.
Campaign life
How'd he like the campaign?
"I honestly felt more dirty after I was on the campaign trail and saw some things that took place," Wurzelbacher said.
Like what?
He really doesn't say. He was doing the "promote-a-book" thing where you tease someone with enticing parts of an expose' to get you to buy the book (which is out later this month).
The problem is, he didn't really have anything enticing to say.
Dead air
So Beck pushed him on it: "Tell me something about John McCain that I don't know."
Radio silence. Followed by a lot of "uhhhh, ummmm, uhhhhh, well, uhhhhhhh....."
Bailout
Finally, he came up with the bailout. Yeah, that's the ticket. The bailout.
"When I was on the bus with him, I asked him a lot of questions about the bailout because most Americans didn't want it to happen - yet he voted for it," he said. "At the same time he's talking about making someone famous if they even think about putting pork in the bill. We all know how much pork was in the $700 billion bailout package. Why did he vote for it?"
"I asked him pretty direct questions, and some of the answers you guys are going to receive ... they appalled me," he said apparently alluding to the promise that his book will be a tell-all. "I was angry. I wanted to get off the bus after I talked to him."
Why didn't he?
"Because the thought of Barack Obama scared me even more," he said.
Hmmmm.... OK, Joe. We'll see if your strategy of throwing Senator McCain under the bus works out - even if he didn't discard you when he could have.
Stand by your man
ABC's Jake Tapper hit the nail on the head this morning when he reminded us that McCain stood by Wurzelbacher even when the faux plumber astoundingly began dispensing foreign policy advice.
Let us recall that McCain stood by Wurzelbacher even after he agreed that a vote for Barack Obama is a vote for the "death of Israel," prompting Fox News' Shep Smith to say of Wurzelbacher, "it just gets frightening sometimes."
(Thanks to Tapper as well for inspiring our own Jake (Turcotte) to draw up the Caesar cartoon above).
Here's the radio interview:
