McCain Camp Ramps Up Press War Over "Joe The Plumber" Coverage

[ErinBerin84]

lol....this camp is the biggest bunch of cry babies I've ever heard of. Wahhhhh, our gimmick didn't work! They were the fools who decided to use this person as their PR stunt of the week.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/17/mccain-camp-ramps-up-pres_n_135580.html


McCain Camp Ramps Up Press War Over "Joe The Plumber" Coverage


The McCain campaign ramped up its criticism of the press on Friday, calling the fourth estate an embarrassment and shameful for the way it has scrutinized Joe The Plumber -- the Senator's symbolic middle-class supporter.

"The media has spent more time trying to find out every nook and cranny on those two then that have don't ," declared Michael Steele, Lt. Gov. of Maryland during a conference call on Friday. "Joe asked Barack Obama a question . He did not put on the table anything about his life or circumstances... Barack Obama's response is the true issue here. It is not the questioner or the question. And the fact that the media has taken off on this guy tells us that our press in this election cycle is suspect at best."

Steele added: "I hope we never see this level of performance from the media in an election ever again."

During Wednesday's debate, McCain referenced Joe the Plumber repeatedly as the living embodiment of an individual who would suffer under Barack Obama's tax policies. In the day that followed, moreover, Wurzelbacher (his true last name) held an impromptu press conference outside his Ohio home to discuss his disdain for social security, his critiques of Obama's economic agenda, and his support for the war.

All of which prompted the press to start digging. In the process it was revealed that Wurzelbacher would see a tax cut under Obama's plan (not a hike), that he wasn't actually a licensed plumber, and that he had not paid a portion of his state income taxes. And so, after thrusting him into the center of the media spotlight and hoping to benefit from the positive imagery that Joe the Plumber engendered, the McCain campaign was fuming come Friday.

"They are now attacking a gentlemen form Ohio who had the temerity to ask Barack Obama about his tax plans and the Obama-friendly media are going right along with it," said Douglas Holtz Eakin, a McCain economic adviser.

[LynnTheDem]

1. As soon as Mccain and Palin' learn the JTP has now AGREED WITH OBAMA

that Obama's plan would CUT JTP's taxes, we will hear crickets chirping from the Palin' Maccain camp about JTP.

Republicans; stupid MFers shoot themselves in the foot every damn time.


:rofl:

[NJmaverick]

2. How dare the media report on the truth or investigate a story

they are ONLY suppose to repeat Republican talking points ad naseum. What did all those republicans spend all that money aquiring all those media outlets????

[AllentownJake]

3. You mention a guy 20 times during a debate

than have the nerve to get angry when people want to know who he is?

[Supersedeas]

26. Facts are irrelevant to these Neanderthals - winning for Big Oil/Business is only thing that matters

[AllentownJake]

4. You mention a guy 20 times during a debate

than have the nerve to get angry when people want to know who he is?

[Eric J in MN]

5. If a candidate for president repeatedly refers to a specific person...

...to try to get votes, then the public has a right to know whether the way the candidate is portraying that person is accurate.

It MATTERS that Joe the Plumber makes about $40,000 a year, and even if he buys the two-man business where he works, would still make less than $250,000.

It undermines McCain's argument against raising taxes on people who make over $250,000.

[FSogol]

6. Shouldn't that be FORMER Lt. Gov Michael Steele?

The GOP are the biggest bunch of crybabies ever.

[ITsec]

7. How DARE there be a First Amendment and Freedom of the Press...

Anybody that goes against their narrow convoluted views obviously "hates America".

:sarcasm:

[VenusRising]

8. Can someone explain this sentence to me?

"The media has spent more time trying to find out every nook and cranny on those two then that have don't ,"


I seriously can't figure out what he is saying. :wtf:

[Roland99]

10. My brain just exploded.

[ErinBerin84]

11. I wondered about that too...

I would think it was a screw up by Huff Post, but then again, I shouldn't overestimate the McCain camp's ability to be coherent.

[VenusRising]

14. At least I'm not going to have to open a vein,

For a second I thought that a Republican was talking over my head.

Silly me. :rofl:

[hisownpetard]

19. Keep in mind that this comes from the man who also said:

"I have never done a lot of things in my life that I think I am familiar with."

[VenusRising]

23. How do people that can't speak coherent english get elected?

:banghead:

[Alter Ego]

9. Want some cheese with that whine, McCainiacs?

Your Joe the Plumber was a shitty plant, a liar, a registered Republican, and kind of an idiot.

[ErinBerin84]

12. heh, I love this line

"our press in this election cycle is suspect at best."


Suspect at best...they sound exactly like paranoid freepers. I can't even tell if they're pretending anymore.

[zbdent]

18. "This ain't whut I paid gud muny fur!"

[City Lights]

13. I have never seen such a bunch of whiney losers in my life!

Good grief, McCain people, you are the ones who called Sammy Joe asking permission to make him an issue in the debate.

Even a fool would have learned by now that the Obamarang strikes with ferocity. Choose your mud more carefully next time, idiots. :rofl:

[Cha]

15. If we think they're whinyass piss and moaners now..wait

until Obama Biden become President and Vice President.

[Overseas]

16. McHate camp upset that Fake Plumber gets press coverage?

Weren't they the ones who pushed him onto right wing talk shows long before McHate himself made the Faux Plumber the central focus of the last debate?

[billyoc]

17. "...symbolic middle-class supporter. "

and symbolic taxpayer, and symbolic plumber, and symbolic small businessman...

:rofl:

[yardwork]

20. I've never see a more poorly run presidential campaign.

I thought that Dukakis's campaign was weak. Bob Dole's campaign was a joke. John Kerry didn't make effective use of the internet. Tricky Dick's Checkers speech was embarrassing.

But for sheer incompetence, McCain wins the blue ribbon.

[Schulzz]

21. "McCain The Stuntman" This campaign is a joke. nt

[Hokie]

22. When they blame the media you know they are losing

Keep it up. They are really scared of you now John.

[ErinBerin84]

24. my god, McCain is such a fucking stubborn person!

He's STILL trying to use Joe the plumber, and now he's blaming any backlash on OBAMA! He whines about the press coverage of Joe and how there are camera crews parked in his driveway, while he CONTINUES to make Joe a subject of the election! What a pathetic man.


http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1008/Defending_Joe.html


In his prepared remarks for a rally in Florida, McCain blames Obama and the media for the sudden surge of interest in Joe Wurzelbacher.

To defend the media: This seems a little unfair. McCain was the one who made the debate about Joe (and, on Letterman, jokingly apologized to him.) On debate night, McCain's aides were cheerfully talking about how Joe would be dominating the morning shows the next day (though they weren't doing his booking).

From McCain's remarks:

The response from Senator Obama and his campaign yesterday was to attack Joe. People are digging through his personal life and he has TV crews camped out in front of his house. He didn't ask for Senator Obama to come to his house. He wasn't recruited or prompted by our campaign. He just asked a question. And Americans ought to be able to ask Senator Obama tough questions without being smeared and targeted with political attacks.

The question Joe asked about our economy is important, because Senator Obama's plan would raise taxes on small businesses that employ 16 million Americans. Senator Obama's plan will kill those jobs at just the time when we need to be creating more jobs. My plan will create jobs, and that's what America needs.

Senator Obama says that he wanted to spread your wealth around. When politicians talk about taking your money and spreading it around, you'd better hold onto your wallet. Senator Obama claims that wants to give a tax break to the middle class, but not only did he vote for higher taxes on the middle class in the Senate, his plan gives away your tax dollars to those who don't pay taxes. That's not a tax cut, that's welfare. America didn't become the greatest nation on earth by redistributing wealth; we became the greatest nation by creating new wealth.

[progressivebydesign]

25. McCain surrogates are morans. It was McCAIN that thrust that loser into the limelight..

NOT Obama. She should look to McCain using that guy in such a disgraceful fashion, instead of blaming the media or Obama. If McCain had kept his mouth shut and his handlers not decided to create an "everyman" out of a REAL person, then this wouldn't have happened. But.. when you use someone 22 times in a debate, as a weapon against your opponent, OF COURSE the media is going to find out if what you're saying is true! You can't just hold up some guy as an example like that and expect people to just sit by and accept it as fact.

It's McCain's sloppy campaign that is the problem. If they wanted to use someone as a weapon, well.. they should have taken more than 3 minutes to check him out. STUPIDEST political move next to choosing Palin. They have the political instincts of a sloth, in that campaign.