Who really is Joe the Plumber?

So who the heck is this "Joe the Plumber" guy and why did we hear this name so many times during the last and final presidential debates?

Joe the Plumber's name was mentioned almost 2 dozen times by McCain, and as McCain sees it, Joe the Plumber is just what he needed to continue bashing Obama with distorted facts.   

If you listened to McCain during this last debate, he made numerous references to how Obama would increase taxes for small businesses and Joe the Plumber is proof.  It was a blanket statement - Obama will increase small business taxes - no ifs and buts about it.

Obama Proposed Tax Plan:  No tax increase to 98% of small businesses.

Before we go any future, let's be really clear about this.  Ninety-eight percent of small businesses make less then $250K per year.  Obama's proposed tax plan will NOT increase taxes for those companies that make less than $250K - PERIOD.

McCain's secret weapon

Well, as it turns out, Joe the Plumber is actually Mr. Wurzelback, 34, who has emerged as McCain's secret weapon.  He has become the new pin-up boy for every tax-loathing, card-holding Republican in the land.   

With camera's rolling and Obama shaking hands amount the rally attendees near Toledo, Ohio, Joe speaks up and says boldly, "I'm getting ready to buy a (plumbing) business that makes $250 ahhh, roughly $270 - $280K per year, and your tax plan is going to tax me more -  isn't it?"  Obama calmly responds to clarify his plan, but is interrupted again when he says, "I'm being taxed more and more for trying to fulfill the American dream."   Yet another tasty sound bite if taken out of context.

Before days end, Joe the Plumber is all over the conservative talk shows and is interviewed by  Fox News.  Each of these conservative shows portrays Joe the Plumber as the symbol for America's small business, challenging Obama for raising taxes for all small businesses.  What they all left out was Obama clearly stating how he would not raise taxes for 98% of all small businesses and they are those companies that make up to $250K / year.   There's that $250K number that Joe the Plumber first pipes up, and then increased to $270-280K range.  The timing is perfect.  Too perfect if you ask me.  Days before the final debate.  How amusingly coincidental.  Hmmmm !!! 

The day after the debate, Joe the Plumber is everywhere calling Obama a socialist.  How fitting.  The unregulated banking policies of this administration, backed by McCain all the while, have all failed and the tax payers are told that they have to be bailed out with tax payer funds to the tune of $700 billion.  McCain asked for and got more deregulation, which resulted in all of these bank failures, while Obama has asked for stronger regulations.   Who was right and who paid for these bankers greedy failures.     

Obama, seeking to rebut what has become a familiar allegation by the McCain camp in all the debates, said that both he and McCain wanted to cut taxes: “the difference is, who for”.   To camera, Obama repeated the now-familiar: “If you make less than $250 000 a year, you will pay less tax”.   Joe the Plumber would benefit, he said.  So would others, and in any case, 98 per cent of small businesses in the US made less than $250 000..

So, back to the question.  Who really is Joe the Plumber?

Joe said on camera that he has been a plumber for 15 years.  Joe later stated that he works under Al Newell's license, but according to Ohio building regulations, he must maintain his own license to do plumbing work.  Since he is not a registered to operate as a plumber in Ohio, it means that he is not a plumber - period.

As for his plan to buy the business, in interviews later, there is no plan to buy the business - just a desire to at some point.  How?  Who knows.  He certainly doesn't make enough.  

All of this smells fishy is you ask me, and more than that, his facts appear to be very questionable.  

Obama describing his tax plan to Joe the Plumber (unedited)

Additional facts about Joe the Plumber

Mr. Wurzelbacher said he was hired by Mr. Newell six years ago and that the possibility of him eventually buying the company was discussed during his job interview.

Mr. Wurzelbacher said he is working on taking the Ohio plumbing contractors’ license test.

Mr. Wurzelbacher’s notoriety has raised the ire of Tom Joseph, business manager for Local 50 of the United Association of Plumbers, Steamfitters, and Service Mechanics, who claimed that Mr. Wurzelbacher didn’t undergo any apprenticeship training.

"When you have guys going out there with no training whatsoever, it’s a little disreputable to start with," Mr. Joseph said. 

"This individual has got no schooling, no licenses, he’s never been to a training program, union or non-union, in the United States of America," Mr. Joseph said.

Questions were raised Thursday morning whether Mr. Wurzelbacher is a registered voter.

Linda Howe, executive director of the Lucas County Board of Elections, said a Samuel Joseph Worzelbacher, whose address and age match Joe the Plumber’s, registered in Lucas County on Sept. 10, 1992. He voted in his first primary on March 4 of this year, registering as a Republican.

Mr. Wurzelbacher said he objects to Mr. Obama’s plans to raise income taxes on incomes above $250,000. He said he makes no where near that much money but he would not say how much he makes or if he ever expects to make $250,000. Court records from a divorce show Mr. Wurzelbacher made $40,000 in 2006.