Joe the Plumber is back. As readers may recall, JTP made his prime time debut last night during the final presidential debate between U.S. Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama. There was no doubt who the winner of that debate was -- yep. It was one Joe Wurzelbacher, who McCain invoked as an everyday guy just trying to get ahead -- a guy who would be crushed by an Obama Administration and its inevitable overflow of taxes.
My able deputy, Dan Boscov-Ellen, kept us updated -- and enthralled -- throughout the day. Seems Joe is no ordinary plumber. Heck, he doesn't even have a plumbing license. Worried about his taxes? Heck, he doesn't pay 'em. Oh, and what about being related to Charles Keating (of the Keating Five scandal that ensnared McCain)? Won't say who he'll vote for? He's a Republican.
Joe was an overnight -- if slightly sinking -- sensation. As my good friend Toby Harnden, U.S editor for the Telegraph reported:
"By the middle of Friday morning, Mr Wurzelbacher was in the top 10 searches on Google and had already been given an honoured place in the stump speech of Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, Mr McCain's running mate. But the country's most sought-after media "get" was nowhere to be found. His mobile phone was turned off and he was said to be en route to New York for what a local news editor described darkly as a 'paid interview.'"
Apparently, some alarm bells had gone off inside the McCain campaign about the wisdom of using Joe as a human prop -- was he a PR pressure tank? But that hasn't stopped the campaign from turning the faucets full-on.
That's right. The McCain campaign has launched a new ad starring -- Joe the Plumber, which attacks Obama on -- taxes! While Obama is spending record amounts on TV ads, this new buy may drain McCain's relatively small budget, but you can watch "Joe the Plumber" here:
Update, Thursday, 7:51 a.m. -- According to Associated Press, Joe the Plumber is "...Joe Wurzelbacher, an Ohio man looking to buy a plumbing business who came to symbolize the notion of 'spreading the wealth' in Wednesday night's third and final presidential debate."
Check out part of the Obama-Joe tax talk here:
Forget U.S. Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain. J the P (JTP) was the star of tonight's presidential debate. Both candidates debated him. Both men addressed him directly through the camera. Who is this new media star? Is he fielding dozens upon dozens of press calls? Is he the new Chauncey Gardener? I had to know. Here is what I found out:
From NBC's Mark Murray
McCain makes the first aggressive move of the evening, bringing up a conversation Obama had with an Ohio plumber. McCain and the right have seized onto this part of the conversation: "I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody."
But here's the entire context of the exchange, per NBC/NJ's Athena Jones:
From two days ago, Obama canvassing in Holland, Ohio:
Then a big, bald man with a goatee asks if he believes in the American dream. He tells Obama he’s getting ready to buy a company that makes more than $250,000 a year. “Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn’t it?”
Obama tells him he’d get a 50% tax credit – a cut in taxes for health care. “if your revenue is above 250 – then from 250 down, your taxes are going to stay the same. It is true that from 250 up – from 250 – 300 or so, so for that additional amount, you’d go fro 36 to 39%, which is what it was under Bill Clinton. And the reason why we’re doing that is because 95% of small businesses make less than 250. So what I want to do is give them a tax cut. I want to give all these folks who are bus drivers, teachers, auto workers who make less, I want to give them a tax cut. And so what we’re doing is, we are saying that folks who make more than 250 that that marginal amount above 250 – they’re gonna be taxed at a 39 instead of a 36% rate.”
The man says he’s a hard working plumber for 15 years – why should he be taxed more?
Obama says, “over the last 15 years, when you weren’t making 250, you would have been given a tax cut from me, so you’d actually have more money, which means you would have saved more, which means you would have gotten to the point where you could build your small business quicker than under the current tax code. So there are two ways of looking at it – I mean one way of looking at it is, now that you’ve become more successful through hard work – you don’t want to be taxed as much.”
The man says, “Exactly.”
Obama contined, “But another way of looking at it is, 95% of folks who are making less than 250, they may be working hard too, but they’re being taxed at a higher rate than they would be under mine. So what I’m doing is, put yourself back 10 years ago when you were only making whatever. 60 or 70. Under my tax plan you would be keeping more of your paycheck, you’d be paying lower taxes, which means you would have saved down to the point where you (inaudible). Now look, nobody likes high taxes. Of course not. But what’s happened is is that we end up – we’ve cut taxes a lot for folks like me who make a lot more than 250. We haven’t given a break to folks who make less, and as a consequence, the average wage and income for ordinary folks, the vast majority of Americans, has actually gone down over the last 8 years. So all I want to do is – I’ve got a tax cut. The only thing that changes is I’m gonna cut taxes a little bit more for the folks who are most in need and for the 5% of the folks who are doing very well - even though they’ve been working hard and I appreciate that – I just want to make sure they’re paying a little bit more in order to pay for those other tax cuts. Now, I respect the disagreement. I just want you to be clear – it’s not that I want to punish your success – I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you – that they’ve got a chance at success too.”
The man says it seems like Obama would be for a flat tax.
Obama says, “you know, I would be open to it except here’s the problem with a flat tax is that if you actually put a flat tax together, in order for it to work and replace all the rvenue that we’ve got, you’d probably end up having to make it like about a 40% sales tax. I mean that’s the value added, making it up. Now some people say 23 or 25, but in truth when you add up all the revenue that would need to be raised, you’d have to slap on a whole bunch of sales taxes on. And I do believe for folks like me who have worked hard, but frankly also been lucky, I don’t mind paying just a little bit more than the waitress that I just met over there who’s things are slow and she can barely make the rent. Because my attitude is that if the economy’s good for folks from the bottom up, it’s gonna be good for everybody. If you’ve got a plumbing business, you’re gonna be better off if you’re gonna be better off if you’ve got a whole bunch of customers who can afford to hire you, and right now everybody’s so pinched that business is bad for everybody **** and I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody. **** But listen, I respect what you do and I respect your question, and even if I don’t get your vote, I’m still gonna be working hard on your behalf because small businesses are what creates jobs in this country and I want to encourage it.”
The crowd cheered and Obama added, “for small business people, I’m gonna eliminate the capital gains tax, so what it means is if your business succeeds and let’s say you take it from a $250,000 business to a $500,000 business, that capital gains that you get – we’re not gonna tax you on it because I want you to grow (inaudible). So you’re actually gonna get some, you may end up – I’d have to look your particular business, but you might end up paying lower taxes under my plan and my approach than under JSM’s (inaud). I couldn’t guarantee that, ‘cause I’d have to take a look at ---
The man says, “Oh yeah, I understand that.”
As Obama walks away he says, “I gotta get out of here. I’ve gotta go prepare for this debate, but that was pretty good practice right there!”
Cero y van dos - se esperaba que los candidatos a la presidencia hablaran sobre el tema de inmigración durante el primer debate, enfocado a relaciones exteriores, pero no sucedió. Entonces se esperaba que seguramente hablarían sobre sus propuestas con respecto a inmigración en el segundo debate, sobre políticas nacionales...tampoco sucedió. Con el empeoramiento de la crisis económica, el tema de inmigración ha sido relegado al olvido durante los debates. Sin embargo, sigue al centro del esfuerzo publicitario de ambos candidatos para ganarse el voto de Hispanohablantes.
La batalla sobre el tema de inmigración continúa. Después del último anuncio del Senador John McCainsobre inmigración, el Senador Barack Obama responde. El reportero Chris Cillizza puntualiza que el Senador Obama esta invirtiéndo lo triple que John McCain en anuncios de televisión.
Por mucho tiempo, NDN ha destacado la importancia del tema de inmigración como un factor que motiva a Hispanos a votar, sin importar si son nacidos en EEUU o en el extranjero, y esto se demuestra en el hecho que los candidatos estan teniendo esta batalla sobre inmigración en español. Con el porcentaje tan importante de votantes Latinos en estados clave en la contienda de esta elección, los candidatos estan luchando para ganarse a este grupo demográfico por medio del tema de inmigración. En este anuncio, Obama reconoce el daño que ha sufrido el partido Republicano en la comunidad Hispana a raíz del tono negativo que tomó ese partido durante el debate sobre inmigración, y relaciona a McCain con su partido y con los ataques anti-inmigrante del partido Republicano.
Turns out so-called "Hockey Moms" do more than debate in vice presidential debates. They watch them, too.
According to Nielsen:
Hockey moms” — famously invoked by Gov. Sarah Palin in her V.P. campaign speeches — may also have a passion for politics.
According to a Nielsen analysis released Tuesday, “hockey moms” — defined as women ages 25 to 54 who live in homes with children and who watched at least six minutes of the most recent Stanley Cup Finals on NBC – were more likely than average moms to watch the first two debates of the 2008 election.
Last Thursday, Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin’s V.P. debate drew 23.8% of all mothers (ages 25 to 54), while 33% of those women defined as “hockey moms” tuned in. Overall, “hockey moms” were 38.7% more likely than average moms to have watched the V.P. debate.
In comparison, the first debate between Senators McCain and Obama, on Sept. 26, drew 16.5% of all mothers (25 to 54). Among those classified as “hockey moms,” however, 21.3% tuned in to the debate, making “hockey moms” 29.1% more likely than average moms to have watched the McCain and Obama’s debate.
Following the debate, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's campaign was in the production studio late last night and this morning, the team is ready with its first post-debate ad, "Zero."
While last night's debate was billed as a foreign policy forum, all eyes are focused on America's ailing economy and the meltdown of its financial markets. The new Obama ad brings the larger debate back to the economy by criticizing U.S. Sen. John McCain for his failure to mention the "middle class" once during the 90-minute debate. It's a clever ad, aimed at showing that McCain just doesn't get it when it comes to the financial struggles of everyday people.
Incidentally, in the CNN poll Simon mentioned earlier, 58 percent of the respondents thought Obama would handle the economy better, versus 37 percent for McCain. In a CBS post-debate poll, we see similar numbers on the economy: 66 percent surveyed thought Obama would make the right decisions about the economy; 44 thought McCain would do so.
Just as Republicans have traditionally won out on national security issues in polling contests, Democrats have fared better than Republicans when it comes to economic issues. However, in the last few weeks, McCain seemed to have been making some serious inroads into Obama's edge on the economic front.
But then last Monday happened. Wall Street started to go belly up and there was McCain, at a rally, saying our economy is fundamentally strong. The last 10 days have been a complete financial meltown for the nation and a near political meltdown for McCain. He seems to have recovered a bit last night, but only time will tell.
All eyes are focused on U.S. Sen. John McCain's proposal of yesterday to postpone the first presidential debate.
But today we have news on possible postponement of the first vice presidential debate, which would feature Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin versus U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joe Biden. According to CNN's politicalticker:
McCain supporter Sen. Lindsey Graham tells CNN the McCain campaign is proposing to the Presidential Debate Commission and the Obama camp that if there's no bailout deal by Friday, the first presidential debate should take the place of the VP debate, currently scheduled for next Thursday, October 2 in St. Louis.
In this scenario, the vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin would be rescheduled for a date yet to be determined, and take place in Oxford, Mississippi, currently slated to be the site of the first presidential faceoff this Friday.
Palin recently granted some of her first sit-downs with the media. In an interview to be aired tonight, CBS' Katie Couric talked with Palin about her foreign policy experience. Check out the interview below:
Update: Friday, 9:25 a.m.: Writing in today's Los Angeles Times, James Rainey has a stinging analysis of Palin's interview with Couric, including his take on the clip above. In his article, "Palin talks to Couric -- and if she's lucky, few are listening," Rainey writes:
A global financial crisis and a not-quite-suspended presidential campaign dominated newspaper front pages and television reports over the last couple of days.
Bad news for America. But good news for Sarah Palin.
The economic crisis and John McCain's surprising response have drawn attention away from the Republican vice presidential nominee just as she has started to answer more pointed questions from the media.
Her third nationally televised interview, with CBS anchor Katie Couric, found Palin rambling, marginally responsive and even more adrift than during her network debut with ABC’s Charles Gibson.
In a 40-minute session with Couric that aired Wednesday and Thursday nights, the Alaska governor defended her puzzling claim that geographic proximity makes her some sort of expert on Russia; went nearly blank when queried about McCain's achievements as a big-business regulator; agreed America "may find itself" on the road to another Great Depression; and, promoting a troop surge in Afghanistan, casually suggested that it "will lead us to victory there, as it has proven to have done in Iraq."
The last statement couldn't help but conjure an image from 2003 -- President Bush beaming in that green flight suit before the infamous "Mission Accomplished" banner.
Palin's unblinking certitude gave way at other times in the interview to a striking imprecision, as when she struggled to respond to Couric's suggestion that the $700-billion bailout might be better funneled through middle-class families instead of Wall Street firms.
"That's why I say I, like every American I'm speaking with, we're ill about this position that we have been put in . . ." Palin began, before meandering off in fruitless pursuit of coherence.
But I'll let the governor speak for herself:
" . . . where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the healthcare reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Um, helping, oh -- it's got to be all about job creation too. Shoring up our economy, and putting it back on the right track. So healthcare reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions, and tax relief for Americans, and trade, we've got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, um, scary thing, but 1 in 5 jobs being created in the trade sector today. We've got to look at that as more opportunity. All of those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that."
That mind-bender prompted Couric to muse, almost charitably, on "The Early Show" that Palin is "not always responsive when asked questions, and sometimes does slip back to her talking points."
It didn't go much better for Palin when she tried to clarify the mystery of what her state's proximity to Russia has taught her about that nation. Anyone south of the Arctic Circle would have seen this question coming and had a ready answer. But seemingly not the governor.
"We have trade missions back and forth," Palin told Couric. "We, we do, it's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America, where, where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to, to our state."
Certainly, Russia's prime minister, Vladimir Putin, has demonstrated his willingness to invade its small neighbors. But have I missed news of recent provocations by Russian bombers over Kiwalik or Aleknagik? And if Palin has been intensely interested in her neighbor across the Bering Strait, that also has escaped the reporters who follow her most closely.
In fact, a veteran reporter from her home state, Hal Bernton, reported in the Seattle Times this month how Russian politicians had sought more contact with Palin, but in vain. The governor cut funding and her office's participation, it seems, in the Northern Forum, which promotes relations between regional governments in the Northern Hemisphere.
A Palin spokeswoman e-mailed that she would provide more detail about Palin's trade activities with the Russkies. No word by deadline.
But wait. Certainly the issue dominating the news would provide the governor with a respite from these maddening demands for, you know, facts.
With McCain now depicting himself as the doctor ready to deliver tough medicine to Wall Street, Couric asked Palin to explain what measures he had pushed in the past.
Palin raised McCain's support of revamped oversight for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two mortgage giants that are on life support. Fine.
But when the network anchor pressed for other examples, given that the Republican has been in Congress for nearly three decades, Palin came up blank.
"I'll try to find some" -- Palin smiled at Couric -- "and bring them to you."
Palin at least kept her answers shorter during a Q&A with reporters Thursday morning, her first such session since McCain unleashed her on the national scene four weeks ago.
Although she didn't really answer two of the four questions, many Americans won't hold that against her. They see someone who understands what it's like in a small town.
Common sense has its value, and commentaries like this one, suggesting Palin's shortcomings, will only confirm to her fans that she is not a pet of the media elite. But it seems only sensible to wonder whether charm and pluck will be enough the next time Putin rears his head.
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