« Previous | Main | Next »

'Joe the Plumber' Stumps for Palin

Share

October 29, 2008 8:52 PM

ABC News' Imtiyaz Delawala reports: For the first time on the campaign trail, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was joined today by Joe Wurzelbacher, now widely known as “Joe the Plumber,” who has become a staple of Palin’s speeches in the final weeks of the election, as the McCain-Palin ticket tries to paint Sen. Barack Obama’s tax policies as a radical attempt to “spread the wealth.”

At a rally at Bowling Green University in Toledo this afternoon, Palin introduced Joe Wurzelbacher -- a Toledo resident made famous during the final presidential debate after John McCain raised his encounter with Obama over his tax policies.

“You know, there’s someone here who really gets it when it comes to this issue. He's a fellow Alaskan, and he's a fellow military man who has served our country proudly,” Palin said, referring to Wurzelbacher’s brief residence outside Fairbanks in the 1990’s. “I'd like you to meet him. Please welcome Joe the Plumber!”’

Wurzelbacher came on stage, wearing jeans and a checkered white shirt, as the crowd roared with applause and cheers, and began chanting “Joe! Joe! Joe!” Wurzelbacher did not speak to the audience, instead standing on stage as Palin continued her standard remarks.

“So Joe, I really got to hand it to you. Somehow Joe was able to get our opponent to finally state his intentions in plain language,” Palin said. “Because of an encounter with Senator Obama, what Joe the Plumber and the rest of us finally found out is that Obama says that he wants to spread the wealth.”

“See, Joe wanted more than just a handshake and a campaign button. Imagine that, he wanted some answers,” Palin said to cheers. “So Joe merely asked our opponent a simple, straightforward question, and he spoke for a lot of Americans. And the Obama campaign did not appreciate that. And since then, they’ve been investigating and attacking our friend Joe the Plumber.”

“I think you can handle it though, Joe,” Palin added, turning to Wurzelbacher. “You look pretty self-sufficient.”

Palin continued on with her standard remarks, wrapping up her section on Wurzelbacher by saying, “I guess if you want to work hard, and you know what hard work feels like, and if you want to get ahead, and if you believe that America is the land of possibilities, and you don't want your dreams dashed by the Obama tax increase plan, and if you don't like the way our opponents have treated a guy who just simply asked a question, then you are Joe the Plumber too, and we're all in this together.”

Wurzelbacher spent yesterday campaigning throughout southwest Ohio for the McCain-Palin ticket, joined by former Ohio congressman and White House budget director Rob Portman.

October 29, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (164)

User Comments

Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

Update America:

What does spreading the wealth really mean? Not only tax credits as most of you think but it will also include Condemnation, the taking of property under Eminent Domain sometimes with appropriate compensation.

The majority opinion in the Supreme Court case involving New London, Conn., limited the homeowners' rights by saying local governments could take private property for economic-development-related projects because the motive was to bring more jobs and tax revenue to a city. Moreover, the federal government may use land that is considered for the good of the general public.

How does it work? Charlie, no property owner, is included in a federal land project that supports giving owned land (property) to those persons the federal government considers qualified to own land. Joe the land owner has 24,000 square feet of land on which Joe the land owner only uses 12,000 square feet for housing. The federal government in its share the wealth program condemns half of Joe the land owner’s owned land and gives him a tax credit as just compensation for the land. The local government sub-divides the property into two lots. The half that was condemned is now titled to the new owner, Charlie no property owner, who is now Joe the land owner.

Condemnation can apply to Joe the land owner with large acreage. The federal government in its share the wealth program condemns 10 acres of Joe the land owner and gives a tax credit as just compensation. The local government zones the property as residential and sub-divides the land into housing lots. Charlie, no property owner, is selected to receive a lot to build a house.

Wake up America your rights are melting away by the way of socialism.

No Obama share the wealth programs for those in the know.

Posted by: Update America | Oct 29, 2008 9:00:31 PM

Joe and that reporter woman learned first hand you do not question Obama. His attack dogs will illegally go through your private life in an attempt to discredit you and smear you.

That is never good for anyone and certainlly not good for America.

Posted by: watching | Oct 29, 2008 9:09:34 PM

Proof positive that Joe was no accident.
God put him in Obama's path and Obama hiccuped. For the Obamaites, that means Obama went off script.

Posted by: OB Ron | Oct 29, 2008 9:10:41 PM

McCain's camp is becoming one big conspiracy theory. Got news for ya, Palin's popular because she increased "Socialism" in Alaska. She raised the windfall profit tax on oil production in the state. That's right, citizens in Alaska get a check for doing nothing but letting oil companies take the oil from the ground.

Posted by: thorfinn | Oct 29, 2008 9:13:44 PM

McCain's camp is becoming one big conspiracy theory. Got news for ya, Palin's popular because she increased "Socialism" in Alaska. She raised the windfall profit tax on oil production in the state. That's right, citizens in Alaska get a check for doing nothing but letting oil companies take the oil from the ground.

Posted by: thorfinn | Oct 29, 2008 9:13:46 PM

That's weird, sorry for the double post. Not that repeating the message isn't ok by me.

Posted by: thorfinn | Oct 29, 2008 9:14:34 PM

That's weird, sorry for the double post. Not that repeating the message isn't ok by me.

Posted by: thorfinn | Oct 29, 2008 9:15:40 PM

McCain's camp is becoming one big conspiracy theory. Got news for ya, Palin's popular because she increased "Socialism" in Alaska. She raised the windfall profit tax on oil production in the state. That's right, citizens in Alaska get a check for doing nothing but letting oil companies take the oil from the ground.

Posted by: thorfinn | Oct 29, 2008 9:15:47 PM

When all you have to run on is nothing, you accuse your opponent of something, while you still have an audience.

What this atavistic whack job of a politician with the brain of an Alaskan Jellyfish seems to presume is that the people who come to her rallies cannot think for themselves, hence will believe anything.

True, those who flock to her rallies, those who fall easily for Republican disinformation, are of kin mind and identity and cannot fathom the simple fact that our world has since moved on.

Posted by: Charity begins at home | Oct 29, 2008 9:19:33 PM

Joe the ex-plumber
Joe the book deal
Joe the pundit
Joe the C&W singer
Joe the social security hater
Joe the who (after Nov 4th)

Posted by: doug | Oct 29, 2008 9:20:23 PM

They're like The Three Stooges, with Joe the Plumber's Helper as Curly.

WHAT A SAD JOKE THE McSTOOGE CAMPAIGN HAS BECOME.

Posted by: Ed from MA | Oct 29, 2008 9:26:03 PM

I guess the idea is to make her look smart by comparison.

DUMB AND DUMBER.

Posted by: Ed from MA | Oct 29, 2008 9:27:04 PM

This is just too funny.. SNL doesn't need writers, they just need to follow around the McCain campaign..

Joe the dumbest stumping for Dumb and Dumber! America has sunk to an all time low.

Posted by: Concerned American | Oct 29, 2008 9:32:00 PM

-- What does spreading the wealth really mean? --

Depends on who you ask.. If you ask McCain, it means taking from the middle class and giving it to the wealthy.

John wants me to pay higher taxes so his rich buddies can pay less. No thanks.. we tried that experiment with Bush (and others). Didn't work then, wont work now. Doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results is a sign of mental illness, which John has been displaying a lot of lately.

Posted by: Concerned American | Oct 29, 2008 9:35:55 PM

mccain-dumb palin--dumber---plumber --dumberer-----this is getting difficult----the pt barnum freak show----

Posted by: rodney | Oct 29, 2008 9:36:56 PM

Update America:

No Socialism in ALASKA. Governor Sarah Palin does not take money for citizen taxpayers and give the money to welfare recipients. She is taking money from profiteering BIG OIL and giving everyone in Alaska extra income.

You Betcha Palin Is A Tough Governor: This is Governor Palin Way Of Spending Oil Tax Money.

During the oil crisis of 2007, Palin fought to raise taxes on oil companies. As fuel prices skyrocketed in the lower 49 states, Palin complained that her state wasn't getting its share of the windfall.

Palin successfully pushed for a law that raised taxes on oil profits. The increase amounted to an estimated $1.6-billion annually more for the state: double the amount it received the year before. Then she gave the money to the people.

It’s true: we've already checked her claim that she sent "a large share of that revenue directly back to the people of Alaska."

On Aug. 7, 2008, the Alaska Legislature approved a measure she promoted. The administration of Alaska's governor Sarah Palin now gives $1,200 to every single Alaskan. This comes to about $741-million for state residents. In addition, each resident will receive an annual dividend of $2,000 from an oil-wealth savings account. That comes to about $741-million for state residents
For a family of 7 (Gov. Palin has 7 members in her family) that means an additional $22,400.00 in income sent from the state of Alaska. WOW, who needs a job! Back to the trailer, Billy Bob!

Sarah Palin is more ready for the Washington, D.C. crowd than Obama. Obama has proven he cannot even take care of a simple housing project. How can YOU expect Obama to run the country?

Obama gave the people in Illinois broken down housing and dangerous living conditions. Where did the $500,000,000 go for dilapidated unsafe housing for the needy citizens in Obama’s 13th district?

http://rezkowatch.blogspot.com/2008/03/follow-money-more-on-rezkos-slum.html

What pockets were filled with tax payers’ money from Washington, D.C.?
\
We know where Governor Sarah Palin’s BIG OIL tax money is. The tax money is in the pockets of the residents of Alaska.

BOOOOOOOO To Obama. BOOOOOOOOOOO To Obama

Posted by: Update America | Oct 29, 2008 9:39:54 PM

Is McCain really this stupid? To trot this guy out on tour? Don't he know he's losing?

Posted by: Tom | Oct 29, 2008 9:42:02 PM

the LA Times cover-up of Sen. Obama's toast to Rashid Khalidi isn't about Barack Obama. We know what happened there. Multiple eyewitnesses at the event has already built us a transcript of what Obama said when he praised Khalidi. He said the establishment of Israel was a tragedy. He said Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians. The story here is that the mainstream media is covering up for Barack Obama. If they can deliberately ignore this story, what other stories are they ignoring on purpose? No wonder we know so little about Sen. Obama. It's not an accident; it's by design.

Posted by: Obamacrat for McCain | Oct 29, 2008 9:42:22 PM

-- You Betcha Palin Is A Tough Governor --

You betcha.. she abuses power and violates ethics laws if she has to! Not only that, but of the 50 states, Alaska ranks No. 1 in taxes per resident and No. 1 in spending per resident. Its tax burden per resident is 2 1/2 times the national average; its spending, more than double. The trick is that Alaska's government spends money on its own citizens and taxes the rest of us to pay for it. Alaska also ranks No. 1, year after year, in money it sucks in from Washington. According to the Tax Foundation, Alaska ranked 18th in federal taxes paid per resident ($5,434) but first in federal spending received per resident ($13,950). Its ratio of federal spending received to federal taxes paid ranks third among the 50 states, and in the absolute amount it receives from Washington over and above the amount it sends to Washington, Alaska ranks No. 1.

Alaska doesn't want her, America doesn't want her.. maybe we can ship her off to Iraq.. but they probably wouldn't want her either.

Posted by: Concerned American | Oct 29, 2008 9:44:41 PM

Good for Joe! Such a nice guy and because he asked Obama a question which he didn't answer very well, (Obama never can answer questions)Obama goes and bad mouths him. Obama is the biggest creep alive. This country will be MISERABLE if he wins, trust me.

Posted by: Anna | Oct 29, 2008 9:47:38 PM

Post a comment