Who is this “Batman?”
(Props to Ezra Klein.)
Late Joe the Plumber coverage: According to Ben Smith at The Politico, it appears Joe the Plumber is not registered to vote in Ohio. He’s apparently going to be on all morning shows ever created, including “Wake Up Finland.” Maybe someone will ask him about this whole “actually bothering to vote” thing. Seeing as he’s so, so concerned about his taxes.
(UPDATE–8:40 AM Oct. 16– I wanted to go back to Politico this morning to double-check about Joe the Plumber’s voter registration, and sure enough Politico has a link to the Toledo Blade, which reports that a Samuel Joseph Worzelbacher is registered to vote in Ohio as a Republican. Not clear why the difference in spelling.)
Joe the Plumber told Katie Couric he doesn’t actually make $250,000 a year yet, but is concerned about a “slippery slope.” Then Joe the Plumber compared Obama to Sammie Davis, Jr., (as in he was dancing,) which made Katie LOL. I wonder if Joe the Plumber knows Sammie was um, Jewish?
As if McCain needs more problems in Florida…
Even MORE debate coverage Although this time it’s from the WSJ 2000 election archives. Good old John Fund ‘splains about sighing.
Mr. Gore sighed with deep impatience throughout the debate in an attempt either to distract George W. Bush in his answers to debate questions or influence the audience. Yesterday Mr. Gore blamed his behavior on the TV cameras. “Under the debate rules, we were told there was going to be no coverage of our reactions when the other guy was talking.”
This is preposterous. Mr. Gore’s sighs were highly theatrical in nature, and he accompanied them with a series of squints, grimaces and eye-rolling that couldn’t have been accidental.
I’m sure Fund will be in similar high dudgeon tomorrow.
What if he manufactured Dildoes and pocket pussies?
“I wanna talk for a moment to Joe the dildo and pocket pussy manufacturer.” John McCain
I guess we’re all worried. Maybe buying a pocket would ease the tension — and ‘jump-start’ the economy!
Joe isn’t registered to vote and doesn’t make $250,000 but thinks Obama tap-dances like Sammy Davis Jr. Precious!
What if he manufactured Dildoes and pocket pussies?
“I wanna talk for a moment to Joe the dildo and pocket pussy manufacturer.” John McCain
I guess we’re all worried. Maybe buying a pocket pussy would ease the tension — and ‘jump-start’ the economy!
So Who Won?
Time magazine grades McCain’s debate performance slightly higher than Obama’s.
The CBS poll says 55% of uncommitted voters prefer Obama to 22% for McCain.
CNN’s poll has uncomitted voters preferring Obama, 58% to 31%.
“More than half of FOX’s undecided focus group broke for the Democrat.” (Newsweek)
Every analysis I’ve seen so far (on TV and on national media websites) says McCain can’t win without getting Obama-leaning voters to switch and failed to do that in tonight’s debate. The bottom line seems to be that Obama played it safe, which had the side effect of keeping him on the defensive for much of the night.
@2 My goodness the McCain campaign is one giant exploding cigar. Wile E. Coyote is the only comparison that even seems appropriate. But it’s fitting that the worst president ever is followed by the worst Republican campaign ever.
Did you see Katie Kouric Kut off Joe the Plumber in her “interview” right after Joe PRAISED McCain…and just as he was about to criticize O-blah-blah??
Then she blabs for a minute winding up the segment…rather than let Joe speak.
Says it all about the MSM.
I’m still dumbounded with the argument that taxing people with small arguments will make it so they can’t afford to hire employees and therefore cut jobs.
Taxes are on profits. Employee salaries are a business expenses. Business expenses aren’t taxed, only profits are. So if Joe the plumber can’t hire more employees, its’ because he doesn’t have the customers to support them, not because his profits in excess of $250,000 are being taxed. If he’d rather keep more of the profits in excess of $250,000 by doing the work himself instead of hiring employees, than that’s his decision, not dictated by tax policy.
It is pretty clear that “Joe the Plumber” was a setup of some sort, since the McCain camp had him available for network interviews which were set up before the debate even occured.
But I doubt it resonated with many voters. Few voters ever expect to clear $250,000 per year. Even Union plumbers don’t make that kind of money. The fact that the McCain camp sees him as a representation of an “average working man” says more about the McCain camp and it’s distorted understanding of economics in America than it does about Obama’s tax policies.
McCain’s failure to motivate the Republican base is that they can see through his charade — and what they see is a man who is only PLAYING at being stupid and prejudiced.
Palin was supposed to re-energize this ‘base’ by putting forward a candidate who truly was uninformed and brittle in her prejudices. But even she failed the right wing litmus test of inanity by handling herself in a fairly credible manner while debating Joe Biden.
Anybody else see the likelihood of an upcoming movie opportuniy for Michael Chiklis?
I don’t know why people are so shocked at the idea of a progressive tax since we’ve had one in this country for years. You make more, you pay more. Period.