Oh McCain, oh my dear dear McCain, when will you ever learn that researching someone before using them, will work in your benefit.
HOLLAND, Ohio — Joe the Plumber’s story sprang a few leaks Thursday.
Turns out that the man who was held up by John McCain as the typical, hard-working American taxpayer isn’t really a licensed plumber. And court documents show he owes nearly $1,200 in back taxes.
“Joe,” whose name is Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, was cited repeatedly in Wednesday night’s final presidential debate by McCain for questioning Barack Obama’s tax policy.
Wurzelbacher instantly became a media celebrity, fielding calls during the debate and facing reporters outside his home near Toledo on Thursday morning for an impromptu nationally televised news conference.The burly, bald man acknowledged he doesn’t have a plumber’s license, but said he didn’t need one because he works for someone else at a company that does residential work.
But Wurzelbacher still would need to be a licensed apprentice or journeyman to work in Toledo, and he’s not, said David Golis, manager and residential building official for the Toledo Division of Building Inspection.
State and local records show Wurzelbacher has no license, although his employer does. Golis said there are no records of inspectors citing Wurzelbacher for unlicensed work in Toledo.
And then there was the matter of his taxes.
Wurzelbacher owes the state of Ohio $1,182.98 in personal income tax, according to Lucas County Court of Common Pleas records.
In January 2007, Ohio’s Department of Taxation filed a claim on his property until he pays the debt, according to the records. The lien remains active.
At the debate, McCain cited Wurzelbacher as an example of someone who wants to buy a plumbing business but would be hurt by Obama’s tax plans.
Wurzelbacher, a self-described conservative, had spoken to Obama at a rally Sunday near his home and asked him whether his tax plan would keep him from buying the business that currently employs him, which earns more than $250,000 a year.
“Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn’t it?” Wurzelbacher asked.
Obama said that under his proposal taxes on any revenue from $250,000 on down would stay the same, but that amounts above that level would be subject to a 39 percent tax, instead of the current 36 percent rate.
It’s been ten years since 21-year-old Matthew Shepard lost his life after being violently beaten and left for dead along a remote Wyoming road.
His offense? Being himself – a conscientious college student who happened to be gay.
The murder shocked and saddened the nation, but a decade later, federal law still fails to recognize hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
In honor of Matthew’s life, tell John McCain and Barack Obama it’s time to end the long era of hate. Tell Obama to continue to support hate crimes legislation and ask McCain to reverse his position. Please go to:
Last year, both the House and Senate approved the bill, but it was stopped short by President Bush. Still, Matthew’s mother Judy has let neither grief nor frustration stop her family’s courageous fight for equal protection under the law for all LGBT Americans.
As the anniversary of her son’s death passes once again, show your support by making your voice heard alongside hers.
Then, please pass this message along to friends and family, a reminder that no one deserves to be victimized for being who they are.
It’s already been ten years. There’s no more time to waste.
HRC’s own Cathy Nelson was recently featured on CNN Heroes after being nominated by long-time HRC supporter Cyndi Lauper. Watch Cathy and Cyndi talk about the fight to pass a comprehensive hate crimes law. Go to: http://www. hrc. org/fighthatecrimes/video. html
Who loves a liar? Television viewers, that’s who! Why should we want the truth when we can hear what we want to hear? McCain’s numbers were up when he was lying to us. Now that the lies have been debunked, his numbers are down. Maybe it’s because we’re mad at him for lying or maybe it’s because he wasn’t good enough at the game to make us believe the lies were the truth – after all, they are much more entertaining, aren’t they?
I’ve been appalled by Fox News in the past, but now it’s really getting ridiculous. I am amazed at how some people believe the blatant lies Fox News allows on air. A split decision in Pennsylvania? Ok, maybe Fox doesn’t lie…maybe they just see invisible leprechauns raising their hands. Who knows.
Gotta love the old lady in the background who ripped her husband’s hand down after the first question.
Unfortunately, visuals like this chart have ceased to surprise me.
As Scott McClellan has claimed, the Bush Administration has been feeding Fox its talking points. Considering Bush’s self-increase in executive power and his love of trying to control everything from habeus corpus (or lack thereof) to the 3-page bailout proposal vote, I’d tend to believe Mr. McClellan. Thankfully, people stop listening to the lunatic as his time in office winds down.
But people listen to Fox News. Who, after Scott’s claim, published an article stating the White House considered McClellan a disgruntled former employee. Wow! What a great way to prove that you are not in the pocket of George W. Spread the failed deflection to the drones who continue to believe the lies.
Then, of course, there is the debate ass-covering. Just in case Palin screws the pooch tonight, the excuse is ready to go! Gwen Ifill wrote a book called “The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama”. Fox News has latched onto this in the past 48 hours as though this were new information.
Greta Van Sustern said this:
“I confirmed for us here on GretaWire: the McCain campaign did NOT know about Gwen Ifill’s book (I think I told them when I made my efforts — emails about midnight — to find out!) I am stunned … the campaign (actually both) should have been told before the campaign agreed to have her moderate. It simply is not fair — in law, this would create a mistrial [emphasis in original].”
It’s interesting that I, as a lay person with a small amount of resources can find this information, but Ms. Sustern and the McCain campaign (whose resources outnumber even Ms. Ifill’s, I’m sure) did not even google Ifill’s name before midnight yesterday to do their own research or confirm the accuracy of their verbal diarrhea. Stunning.
Good ol’ Fox News. We can always count on them to shield us from unnecessary truths.
We all remember this gem:
And the tendency for Fox to latch onto rumors instead of researching facts for themselves leans toward the edge of ridiculousness
Then our good friend Bill O’Reilly, who enjoys the sound of his own voice more than anyone I’ve seen, has his own host of lying videos online. Here’s the shortest one I could find:
Even a 6 year old can imitate such a moron
Thankfully, not all Republicans are sheep or drinking the money kool-aid that the Bush administration has been virtually bribing them with over the past 8 years. These angry people (mostly Ron Paul supporters – gotta love them!) tell Sean Hannity exactly what they think:
It’s too bad Rupert Murdoch takes the easy way out. After all, it’s much less work to just make shit up or read off talking points from statements given to you by the one man you’ve promised to blow as long as he promotes you and keeps your rich ass on top. It’s really nothing more than the National Inquirer for television. And they might even be better. At least the Inquirer doesn’t pretend they aren’t full of shit. Fair and Balanced my ass.
Jesus…I LOVE CNN! (oh and thanks for the heads up on this Annie!)
Campbell Brown (CNN News Anchor):
“Tonight I call on the McCain campaign to stop treating Sarah Palin like she is a delicate flower that will wilt at any moment,” said Brown. “This woman is from Alaska for crying out loud. She is strong. She is tough. She is competent. And you claim she is ready to be one heart beat away form the presidency. If that is the case, then end this chauvinistic treatment of her now. Allow her to show her stuff. “
Allow her to face down those pesky reporters… Let her have a real news conference with real questions. By treating Sarah Palin different from the other candidates in this race, you are not showing her the respect she deserves. Free Sarah Palin. Free her from the chauvinistic chain you are binding her with. Sexism in this campaign must come to an end. Sarah Palin has just as much a right to be a real candidate in this race as the men do. So let her act like one. “
Lately, I’ve been having a bit of a writer’s block. Not because I can’t think of the words, but I don’t like any of the topics. I’m here for politics. And what is the main focus of politics right now? The economy. Sometimes, I just get so goddamned bored hearing the same thing over and over and OVER again!
So, let’s try a mish-mash of themeless writing, shall we? A virtual collage of sorts.
I live in Florida, near the Villages actually. You know what that is? It is the largest retirement village in the country and “America’s Friendliest Hometown” or so they say. It is also arguably the most conservative town in Florida, most likely because of all of the wealthy retirees. But The Villages is probably most famous for its STD breakout two years ago. I think syphilis was the big one. This may account for some of the poor judgment by residents of the Villages.
Last weekend, Sarah Palin was here. She didn’t take questions, she didn’t give policy information or fight for any particular subject. But man, there were a lot of people there! Obama was in Florida too. He went to Coral Gables and Jacksonville. Today, he’ll be in Dunedin.
Bob Barr was also here. There’s a 2×3 picture of him talking to someone in the local Panera Bread. No article accompanied the photo.
Sarah Palin on the other hand. Well, well, she must have done something extraordinary to have been on the front page of the newspaper 3 days before she arrived and 2 days afterward! 60,000 or so people attended her “speech”. I can only assume syphilis in the tertiary phase accounted for so many Villages residents being lulled by her painful accent. None of the media is reporting on what she said, just how big the audience was. So we can assume she talked about things we need to know, like “Troopergate”, which the jury is still out on. Maybe about rape kits. Not that I’m saying she did it of course, she just happened to be Governor when Wasilla’s residents were charged for their own rape kits. (On a side note, how are you supposed to prove rape without a rape kit? You can’t. So what if you can’t pay for that rape kit? Hmmm…). Someone should really ask her opinion on rape. Since we know, with her position on choice:
Shouldn’t someone just ask her what she thinks about it? My guess is the woman’s “fault” would be implied somewhere in her answer. But, of course, that’s my speculation.
Lacking substance in her speeches isn’t entirely her fault, though. It’s not like the McCain campaign is giving her a chance to actually get out in areas where the vote may be swayed or where everyone is not necessarily on her side. According to the McCain camps’ actions, she could never handle leaving after a speech at the GM plant and having people chant her opponents name, like McCain did
But she’s meeting with foreign leaders this week. The press was denied from any coverage at first, then they allowed cameras in without producers, then with producers but no newspapers or written press, then when the media started to threaten a boycott they were finally all allowed in. But NO QUESTIONS! Her freedom to speak to the media has seriously been lacking.
Campbell Brown has an opinion on Palin handling herself outside of the protective bubble and FINALLY someone in the news says what we’re all thinking:
Organization not being my strongsuit, let’s head back to Florida for a minute, keeping with our themeless mish-mash. Apparently, the RNC and John McCain are trying to confuse residents of Florida by sending them registration cards with fake ID numbers on them. Letters are being sent to democrats telling them they are registered as republicans and asking them to donate to the McCain campaign. This dirty trick has been reported by NPR. Between this and the GOP trying to deny people voter’s rights if their houses have been foreclosed on, I’m pretty sure I understand the debauchery of the 2000 election more and more every day.
We’re basically hearing, “you have to do this or things will get worse, it’s your only option!”. You think we’d get sick of hearing that after 8 years, but man, we just eat it right up. And we’ve gotten less literate, which is why the proposal for 3 times the amount of money we’ve spent so far on the Iraq War is only 3 pages long. You know it’s good when Section 8 of the proposal says: “Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.”
Well, that seems fair. Put us on the hook for the government’s errors. Errors that we didn’t question until we started this “mental recession”. After all, we are really just a bunch of whiners anyway, right Phil Gramm? Well, it would seem that we haven’t been this bad off financially since the Great Depression – now, there’s something I never wanted to hear in my lifetime.
My question is, why are we trusting the same people who got us into this mess to get us out? We are just supposed to blindly follow these “leaders” because no one has the balls to stand up to them? No thank you! If I wanted equity in financial institutions, I’d buy their stock. But that’s what we get when our taxes go toward this terrible plan. Everyone’s getting out of the market and this is Ben, Hank and George’s way to force us back into investing with our tax dollars.
Bush is going to leave a legacy alright, and if you’d like to vote for him, go here. Sometimes I just get so tired of being talked to like I’m an idiot, especially by a guy who can’t even say nuclear. Why should we trust him after all he’s done? Why should we trust them with our money after where they’ve brought us? We shouldn’t. We don’t know what they’ll actually do when given free reign. Hell, they’ll just pay people off because the rich just get richer. Except for the people who get laid off, right? Like Carly Fiorina? Oh wait, she got a severance package in the area of $40 million, while 20,000 people were being laid off from HP.
Who are we? We are those 20,000 people left in the dust with nothing but the memories of being had by people we knew we couldn’t trust. And we thought we’d at least have our self-esteem…
Tut tut McCain, when will you ever learn DONT PISS OFF THE MEDIA!
“Whatever The New York Times once was, it is today not by any standard a journalistic organization. It is a pro-Obama advocacy organization that every day attacks the McCain campaign, attacks Senator McCain, attacks Governor Palin, and excuses Senator Obama. This is an organization that is completely, totally, 150 percent in the tank for the Democratic candidate, which is their prerogative to be, but let’s not be dishonest and call it something other than what it is. It is an organization that has made a decision to cast aside its journalistic integrity and tradition to advocate for the defeat of one candidate — in this case, John McCain.”
