Joe the Plumber has fallen in the cross-hairs of the professional, balanced, learned, and objective media because he made Obama look bad. I even heard Chris Matthews assert that Joe "is not a plumber" because he lacks a license (which is not required under Ohio law because the company Joe works for is indeed licensed). Imagine how insulting this is: a blow-dried television personality who gets paid obscene amounts of money to air his insipid opinions day after day accuses a working man of being a fraud and not performing his job. It's not only insulting, it's actionable, and Matthews has committed slander by impugning Joe's professionalism. If Joe wants an attorney to sue this partisan clown or any of the other pompous media trolls who have expressed such lies, I might cross the aisle to do some plaintiff's work for a change. I myself am not licensed in Ohio, but I could still gladly perform any research and writing pro bono for whatever firm wound up representing him.
It was Obama who made himself look bad by accidentally stating the truth of his intentions -- which in politics is designated as a "gaffe" -- so it makes little sense to attack Joe for asking an innocent question. But sense has nothing to do with this, and the larger point is that the media and the political class view the American people with utter disdain. Joe the Plumber is a real man who has to live real life, and he does not have the luxury of sitting on his posterior in a government office or a television studio collecting money by inflicting harm. What Joe the Plumber is experiencing is what Sarah Palin is experiencing -- the vituperation of a small clique of oligarchs who view their role as our masters, not as our servants.
It was Obama who made himself look bad by accidentally stating the truth of his intentions -- which in politics is designated as a "gaffe" -- so it makes little sense to attack Joe for asking an innocent question. But sense has nothing to do with this, and the larger point is that the media and the political class view the American people with utter disdain. Joe the Plumber is a real man who has to live real life, and he does not have the luxury of sitting on his posterior in a government office or a television studio collecting money by inflicting harm. What Joe the Plumber is experiencing is what Sarah Palin is experiencing -- the vituperation of a small clique of oligarchs who view their role as our masters, not as our servants.
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