Is Joe The Plumber Symptomatic of the Right Wing’s Downward Spiral?

As many here know I am a progressive / liberal / tree huggin'/ dirt worshipin' / crunchy ...person.

I disagree with the 'right wing' on a lot of issues but that does not mean I am opposed to them all together, in fact I welcome everyone's right tot heir opinion and I believe that we make the world a better place by all working together.

That said, I wonder, is the current trend of shuttling Joe Wurzelbacher, aka the Plumber about to make news appearances symptomatic of the right wings downward spiral?

I am serious when I ask this question and I ask it not to goad right-wing members into retaliation but because it concerns me to see the incredible amount of what can only be called ignorance that this man spews. While I understand he is only ONE person you have to admit if his comments did not bring in the viewers the networks wouldn't use him and he would be gone.

My reason for starting this thread was comments he made yesterday where he talks about it being 'good' that he is not in congress because he would 'slap' some of the members "no joke". Then he continued to talk about how people who talked 'bad' about our troops should be shot and how they would have been shot in the past and 'no one would have said anything because it is the right thing to do'. link

Now maybe it is my pacifist nature but these comments seem WAY out of line and glaringly ignorant and hateful. The fact that this man has been made a mouth piece for the right wing concerns me that this 'half' of the US political system, yes a flawed system but back on topic, seems to indicate a growing push to indoctrinate the under educated - underprivileged into a party based on petty grievances, anger, hate and a combative nature.

Having been raised by a fairly right-wing family I know this is neither the entirety of the party nor its history. But sadly it appears to be its future.

Any thoughts on this? I would really like to know what the 'right wingers' here on ats think of this idea and this situation (or possible lack there of).



[edit on 27-2-2009 by Animal]

Originally posted by Animal
As many here know I am a progressive / liberal / tree huggin'/ dirt worshipin' / crunchy ...person.

Well, ditto. And a Feminist, too.

That said, I wonder, is the current trend of shuttling Joe Wurzelbacher, aka the Plumber about to make news appearances symptomatic of the right wings downward spiral?

An interesting question, and even more so since he was revealed to be a bit of a fraud. His 15 seconds of fame should have been over long ago... but he's still being carted around as some sort of hero. Perhaps you could lump him in the "Anne Coulter/Rush Limbaugh" crowd, but that's a scary thought given the following that they have.

My reason for starting this thread was comments he made yesterday where he talks about it being 'good' that he is not in congress because he would 'slap' some of the members "no joke". Then he continued to talk about how people who talked 'bad' about our troops should be shot and how they would have been shot in the past and 'no one would have said anything because it is the right thing to do'.

And he's darn ignorant of history, too.

It may be a reflection of the times that we get the "antihero" (similar to the popularization of the gangster in the 1920's.) I suspect that many conservatives don't like this sort of talk or behavior, and they certainly wouldn't like it directed at them.

The fact that this man has been made a mouth piece for the right wing concerns me that this 'half' of the US political system, yes a flawed system but back on topic, seems to indicate a growing push to indoctrinate the under educated - underprivileged into a party based on petty grievances, anger, hate and a combative nature.

Agreed -- and it's ironic coming on top of a "let's all work together" atmosphere that the Republican party was trying to promote during the elections. There were promises of "reaching across the aisles" and "working for the good of everyone" and so forth. But this violent negativity seems to imply "it's my way or the highway."

And I find that heavily ironic, given that the current "conservative" position is actually very similar to the position the "liberals" took back in the 1950's and 1960's.

I think we should send Joe and Anne and Rush off to be celebrity victims on "Lost" and let them get their fame there... and round up a better class of pundits to help shape our political views.

The "my way is the only way" view smacks of the very kind of tribalism that we all despise -- that leads to genocide and worse.

Joe the Plumber just happened to be the right person at the right time during the election.

It turned out that he's fairly intelligent, confident, and not risk-averse.

When he responded positively to the publicity and even sought it out, the media and public were fascinated enough to get him some gigs.

Whether he intended to be such or not, he's a lightening rod and he knows how to play that role with hyperbole and colorful metaphors.

He doesn't have to be politically correct and he doesn't have to be right.

He just has to strike a nerve with enough people to stay in the limelight.

[edit on 2009/2/27 by GradyPhilpott]

He is grabbing as much spot light time that he can. Who can blame him. The political digging the Democrats did during the election got him fired, so he is unemployed now. Why not get paid for talking about knocking those heads who got him fired?

the only people you should blame for Joe's fame is the democrats because they are the one that attacked him for asking a simple question. looking into his personal records *illegal*, calling him a fake republican infiltrator *obama went past his house*

point the finger at yourselves

I disagree with the statement that he is a mouthpiece for the right wing. To me, he is just an American with the same right of free speech that we all enjoy.

There are very very few strictly right or strictly left people in America. Most people span both sides to some degree. Unfortunately, people are quick to apply labels when they hear a voice that disagrees with their own opinions.

My view is that JTP is symptomatic of a templated pseudo-conservative ideology.

In other words, Republicans lack a coherent ideology altogether.

While I like the everyday, regular-Joe-citizen feel that people like JTP, Palin and Jindal bring, their combined ideological and political IQ barely exceeds that of my toaster.

Too bad, really.

Incidentally, you are aware of the existence of conservative / tree huggin'/ dirt worshipin' / crunchy types, right?








[edit on 1-3-2009 by loam]

Theres a reason why polititicans are Lawyers. Joe is a plumber, hes too honest

Originally posted by branty
Theres a reason why polititicans are Lawyers. Joe is a plumber, hes too honest

funny. actually he is NOT a plumber. what does that say about his honesty?

Excuse him for riding the gravy train longer then you like. As I recall it was the Democrats who kept him in the media longer by looking into his personal affairs, without any cause I might add and crucified him for having unpaid back taxes.

As I recall you guys have been in the media alot lately for that very reason.

I have a quesiton.

How would you feel about a certain party if they dug around in your life for the soul reason of asking a question that made the future President look selfish?

Is he the voice of the Republicans?

I would have to say no. I watch and read alot of news, I think I saw him during a news break about him going to Gaza or somewhere like that. Other then that I have not seen him.

Worry about your own party figure head. He has done alot of things lately that should have you worried.

People forget that he got where he is by asking a Presidential candidate a legit question, to which he got a detailed answer, practically a dissertation.

I can't blame him for milking it, he apparently wasn't very successful at being a plumber, nothing wrong with a career change to faux-working class pundit

He does expose the ideological insularity of the current conservative subculture, which is becoming more cultish (and smaller) by the day since Obama won the election...

I'd rather see conservatives rally around someone thoughtful & intelligent like Ron Paul, but it's up to them.

Joe is just a "play toy" to the media, in particular the rightwing media. There was obviously and still is an attempt to make the Republican party out to be the average small town conservative party after 8years of catering mostly to the wealthy and making themselves out to be high class imperialist war hawks. Joe is just a little show to them, as is Palin as is the woman who called Obama an "arab"... is if that mattered, as if someones race was significant in getting voted in.

Do I think Joe the "plumber" is anything beyond what he shows himself to be? Well no. He obviously isnt a plumber, he obviously makes not even close to $100,000 let alone $200,000. His name aint joe, but beyond that he is just a conservative that got pushed into the spotlight and is been paraded around. Nothing more. Folks are trying to prolong more of that 15 minutes of fame of his but that can turn bad real quickly. It'd be better if they left him till 2012 again to parade him round.... ya know, keep him in the closet all rapped up until 2012.