Joe the Plumber: Team Obama's Destroy Joe Mission

Joe Wurzelbacher:
Media Won't Demand Obama Records
Plenty of Media Investigative Fire Power to Probe Joe the Plumber



“Before men can act,an issue must be polarized. Men will act when they are convinced their cause is 100 percent on the side of the angels, and that the opposition are 100 percent on the side of the devil. [The community organizer] knows that when the time comes for negotiations it is really only a 10 percent difference.”
--Saul Alinsky, Chicago's Godfather of Community Organizing

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Media Investigates Plumber, Not the Candidate

If anyone was thinking of asking Barack Obama an uncomfortable question, here's some advice from Big Media:

Better keep it to yourself, if you know what's good for you.

Joe Wurzelbacher, a man who was thinking of buying a plumbing business asked Obama about his tax plans and what they mean for the Average Joe--whether a plumber or not.

The question focused unwanted attention on the fantastic tax claims of Obama. But then, Obama's "we're gonna spread the wealth around" answer shone a light on the socialistic plans of a possible Obama administration.

The Mainstream Media then made an abject lesson of Joe the Plumber.

"Too bad Joe the Plumber has received more scrutiny in 24 hours than Bill Ayers has in the past 24 months."
--Video: Obama Mocks Joe The Plumber, Crowd Laughs


From Michelle Malkin's "Operation Destroy Joe the Plumber":

Obama’s followers couldn’t handle the incontrovertible truth. Left-wing blogs immediately went to work, blaring headlines like “Not A Real $250k Plumber!” Next, they falsely accused Wurzelbacher of not being registered to vote (he’s registered in Lucas County, Ohio, and voted as a Republican in this year’s primary).

Next, they called him a liar for identifying himself as undecided. Only registered Democrats and fake Republican tools used in mainstream media stories and YouTube debates are allowed to use that label, you see.

Next, award-winning liberal blogger Joshua Marshall cast Wurzelbacher as some kind of rabid freak for calling Social Security a “joke” – as if no working-class Americans could believe that the federal government’s entitlement programs were a rip-off unless they were bought and paid for by the McCain campaign.

Then, suddenly, the journalists who wouldn’t lift a finger to investigate Barack Obama’s longtime relationships with Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright sprang into action rifling through citizen Joe Wurzelbacher’s tax records. Politico.com reported breathlessly: “Samuel J. Wurzelbacher has a lien placed against him to the tune of $1,182.92. The lien is dated from January of ‘07.” Press outlets probed his divorce records. The local plumbers’ union, which has endorsed Obama, claimed he didn’t do their required apprenticeship work and didn’t have a license to work outside his local township.

Hang him!

After Wurzelbacher told Katie Couric that Obama’s rhetorical tap dance was “almost as good as Sammy Davis, Jr.,” the inevitable cries of “bigotry” followed. (There are now tens of thousands of hits on the Internet for “Joe the Plumber racist.”)

Welcome to Joe the Plumber Derangement Syndrome. If you can’t beat him, smear him. It’s the Obama way.

AllahPundit reports Good news: Toledo moves to shut down Joe the Plumber.

"Look on the bright side. The media’s finally starting to vet acquaintances of Barack Obama."


Dan Riehl hits the Joe the Plumber nail on the head with sledgehammer: The O-Body Count Grows.

The O-body count is growing and the Left and Obama haven't really even achieved any power of the executive kind so far. Everyone who has gotten in the way of Obama's path to power has been horribly run down. It's also obvious that they would happily destroy them if they could.

If you needed one single reason to vigorously oppose Obama and energetically support McCain, this might be it.

Eighteen days before the election and someone who asked Obama a question is pursued by a MSM lust to uncover information.

Eighteen days before the election and Barack Obama has still not released any medical records--or college or university records. Obama's membership in the Socialist New Party still hasn't been revealed to MSM readers/viewers.

No reporters are asking why Obama's medical records remain hidden from public view.

Probably too busy going through Joe's divorce records.

Eighteen days and myriad fund-raising questions about the Obama campaign go unreported; but Joe the Plumber's tax lien of $1100 is big news.

The MSM lesson, whether you are Joe the Plumber or Sarah Palin:

Don't question Obama or we'll make trouble for you.

You got that, punk?


by Mondo Frazier
image: bbc

John Edwards Scandal: Wikipedia Editor Defends Policies

William Beutler, an editor at Wikipedia, gives a cool, calm defense of Wikipedia editorial policies and how they affect the "John Edwards" entry in John Edwards Among the Wikipedians.

Yesterday's John Edwards Love Child Scandal: Debate at Wikipedia Rages mentioned the sometimes-heated debate at the on-line reference source over whether to include any mention of the "Love Child Scandal" or "Rielle Hunter" on Edwards' Wikipedia page. The debate can be followed at Talk: John Edwards

Beutler sets up what's happened to this point.

More than 26,000 words (!)* have been expended on the discussion page associated with the John Edwards encyclopedia entry since the National Enquirer posted a story claiming he was seen leaving a hotel room rented for Rielle Hunter (last week), the woman with whom they have alleged he fathered a child out of wedlock (last year). So far, there is no mention of this story in the article — let alone the existence of Ms. Hunter — and because it has been temporarily locked (see above), it doesn’t appear that anyone will. Not just yet, anyway.

I’ve now read about half the debate, which is the whole extent of it before new people start showing up and re-arguing old points. Based on my own knowledge of how Wikipedia works and what I’ve seen in the press, I’ve come to the conclusion that, even though it sure looks like Edwards’ goose is cooked, Wikipedia’s editors are currently doing the responsible thing by keeping it out of the article.

Getting to the defense of what some--including DBKP--have characterized as foot-dragging, Beutler explains:
"There are two reasons to proceed with caution, in addition to the truth remaining at large. One is Wikipedia’s strict guidelines for biographies of living persons and the other is that Wikipedia is a reference site, not a news site."

Patrick Ruffini, among others, is unimpressed. In a comment on the Beutler post, he noted: "If Edwards were a Republican, the National Enquirer scandal would be the first line of his Wikipedia entry, and anyone attempting to take it down would be immediately edited out."

By far, the most valid point made here is that Wikipedia is not a news site. It has no deadline to meet when including updates to already-published information. As Beutler pointed out, there's no deadlines to meet.

If this same strict standard is applied to all Wikipedia entries, then “What’s the rush?” is a good defense to charges of editorial bias and selective foot-dragging.

It will be something for Wiki-watchers to look for in the future.

All-in-all, a good defense of one side in a heated on-line debate.

DBKP will continue to follow the debate.

by Mondoreb