Joe the Plumber: "You know, when you can't ask a question of your leaders anymore, that gets scary"

How rich, poster #1, liberals are the poster children for exploiting victims. Max Cleeland, Cindy Sheehan, children. Use them up and then throw them out. Grow up.

"It's not about the media. It's about McCain demagoguing Joe the Plumber's story to distract from his lack of an economic plan. If Joe's angry, he should be angry with McCain for exploiting him."

What else does David Axelrod's script say?

I don't even bother to watch this nonsense. I made up my mind to vote Democrat months ago, so nothing would sway me (OK, I made up my mind to vote Democrat just out of the womb!).

First off, there IS no attack.

Unless if I, and I AM an average voter, no media personality, no pundit, no politician, can say ANYTHING in front of a camera, and nobody has any right to check if what I say is true.

Secondly, HE was giving interviews by the time McCain finished saying his name a few dozen times during the debate, which is when the whole rigmarole started, NOT when he 'asked the question'.

Finally, guess the talking points finally made it to Joe, himself. Because, amusingly, just a couple of days ago, when doing the interview circuit with his local press, he was actually saying he LIKED the publicity.

Or, and I quote...

'Any publicity is good for the little guy.'

So, let me see.. nothing happens to him when he actually asks the question. Obama answers it and moves on, with no real buzz, or attention. McCain mentions him more than 20 times during the debate, and Palin and McCain both (including after apologizing for bringing Joe to public attention during his Letterman appearance) make him a linchpin of their stump speeches..

Joe, himself, makes the interview circuit, including the Conservative talk radio appearances, FOX, and his local papers, talking about how much he likes the publicity he's getting..

But somehow, this is Obama's fault.

The answer Obama gave is either right, or it is wrong. That's the only responsibility Obama has for the answer he gave.

That McCain gave JOE attention based on the answer Joe got from Obama for the question he asked is McCain's fault.

The answer wasn't apparently interesting enough for the media to pick up on, nor is it particularly interesting the electorate, apparently, since even McCain is concentrating more on that there's 'media attention on Joe' than Obama's answer. Heck, McCain is paying more attention to Joe than the answer.

And it is hard for Joe to be talking about how scary, bad, or how much at fault the media is for giving him attention while seeking out and giving interviews.

You can't seek out media attention and then complain when some of the attention isn't favorable. You have no 'right' to only get good press. You either behave like a private citizen who wants to remain private, say 'no comment' and tell the media to get out of your face or..

You talk about how you like the press, give interviews, and take your chances that some of the press isn't going to be glowing.

So, your political philosophy still pitching that whole 'personal responsibility' thing, or not? Don't seem to hear much about it lately.

I believe that Joe is responsible for wanting answers from Obama. We all are, but we now know the consequences, don't we.

I believe the media are responsible for the treatment Joe is getting at their hands. The consequences of that is the eroding trust in the media.

I believe that Obama is responsible for the rather socialist answer that he gave. The consequences of that answer in regard to his own followers will be (apparently)...nothing.

McCain is responsible for holding up an example of a citizen who asked a question, got a straight answer and is being "vetted" by the media.

We are all responsible for paying attention to the answer Obama gave. The consequences of ignoring it may be quite severe.

Was Joe responsible for the information HE gave as part of his question? Its accuracy?

Was he responsible for his pursuit of publicity?

It was, once again NOT the question (a most confusing conclusion, since you were the first to admit they aren't paying a bit of attention to the question he asked), but McCain using him as a prop, AND Joe pursuing interviews with the press, that is responsible for his situation.

Obama gave NO consequences for asking that question. The only thing HE did was to answer it.

The press IGNORED Joe until McCAIN brought him up.. and some 21 times. During the time between then and now, Joe, himself, also did the interview circuit. He said DURING those interviews that he LIKED the publicity. It was good for his business. 'Any publicity is good for the little guy.'

It had not one thing to do with his question, or who he asked it of, and everything to do with YOUR candidate, without asking, using a private citizen, and his private life, and the information he gave in the question, as a campaign stunt.

And yeah, that IS the kind of guy you should hide from.

If it was supposed to be rhetorical, he could've just said, 'If you were a guy who'. Not /I/ have.. and I am going to, and I...

And that would've been fine.

You are saying that all you have to be is not a paid politician or journalist and then nobody can investigate your claims or call you out when you, or the claims you made, are wrong?

And once again, two days ago, he didn't mind this press. You don't get the right to 'only good press'. You take the good with the bad. Most of the press was pretty glowing about the 'ordinary Joe' for a while. He didn't complain about THAT.

the whole joe hullabaloo is retarded rhetoric from the right. you want the press to focus on a few words from obama's answer to almighty joe. but you want to ignore that the reason joe asked the question was because mccain lied about joe having to pay more taxes (and mccain lied about everyone having to pay more taxes under obama's plan). but when it was shown that joe would actually get more money back from obama's plan than mccain's that line was suddenly dropped. so you want to talk about the question and obama's answer... let's talk about it. joe gets more taxes even under his "hypothetical" gotcha question. i bet he thought he was going to come across as looking all smart for showing up senator obama. oops... that backfired. now blame the media, oh and obama too. hell, let's go ahead and blame al gore and bill clinton while we're at it. and throw in carter, too. everything is always their fault.

what a farce. what a joke the right has become. you were all spinning your wheels with the "obama = higher taxes" shtick but now you all just look stupid and desperate, because you've gone and flip-flopped on your original lie.

I dunno.

Exactly.

Odd, you missed the rest. McCAIN didn't make the issues important. He made 'Joe the Plumber' important.

Why didn't they address the question? They did, WITH his details.

By, ironically, using Sam's actual data, they revealed that he wouldn't lose money, he'd gain under Obama's tax plan.

Probably why McCain didn't really GO into the details of the question. It kinda backfired on him.

Best to whine about 'The Pwess is beings so mean to our 'average Joe'.'

Oh, please. Don't be claiming you don't engage in mockery. And the one I'm mocking is McCain and Fox, even Joe, who after LOVING the press (any publicity is good for the little guy), only comes late to the pity party, complaining about it after realizing that might extend his 15 minutes to a half an hour by doing so.

Adults know that actions have consequences. And recognize the realities of the society we live in.

We live in a world with cellphone cameras. With a 24 hour news cycle. With reality tv, google, and the Patriot Act. Expectations of privacy are pretty darn low when the government is listening in on the phone calls home by our troops.

You grab a mike, trying to ask a 'gotcha' question of a candidate (Joe's OWN words about what he did, in one of his many interviews), with cameras rolling, and expect that you will not experience publicity, that is beyond naive.

Is it right, is it good, is it holy? That's up for debate. Is it forseeable? Absolutely.