Joe The Plumber Part 2

I first saw the "Joe the Plumber" exchange between Obama and Joe yesterday afternoon. I meant to blog about it as I thought Obama did a fantastic job discussing in detail the differences between his plan and McCain's. I also wanted to ask whether you could imagine McCain being able to speak so knowledgeably, in so much detail, off the cuff, dare I say so eloquently, about ANY issue, in the way that Obama did during this exchange.

I also have to say that when I initially watched the video, I thought that there was a slight disconnect between what Obama was saying and average Joe's follow up questions. But I gave him the benefit of the doubt and figured that his slightly misplaced follow up questions were probably due to nervousness at speaking directly and in depth to the next President of the United States.

So imagine my surprise when this Joe the Plumber character briefly, and more than once, took center stage at the debate last night. Specifically, I wondered how a)McCain had found time in his busy schedule to even notice let alone watch the video of the exchange, since it came out the day of the debate, and b) why would McCain, on such short notice, make this guy such a vital piece of his final debate talking points?

Hmmm. And wasn't it just a bit too convenient that this guy just happened to be buying a business that is right smack exactly at the $250,000 Obama tax cut borderline? And it would just be downright conspiracy theorist to wonder aloud how a major news crew just happened to be on hand to film the exchange.

Then I read this morning that this Joe the Plumber character was not an "undecided" voter at all. No, he's actually a registered republican. Hmmm. What was he doing at an Obama rally? As my favorite Oxy-moron, Rush Limbaugh would say, this guy was "a plant".

I'll let my good friends at the Daily Kos take it from here:

Even more intriguing, McCain-land said they had never spoken with Joe before, but also made the following statement to Ben Smith:

McCain aides say there was no heads-up for Joe the Plumber, who's headed out to the morning shows tomorrow.

"Joe didn't know" that he'd be at the center of the debate," said Matt McDonald.

"We tried to call him during the debate, but his phone was busy," he said. "We're not going to put him through media training."

So the McCain campaign says they never contacted Joe the Plumber...but they also had his phone number. Now it's very possible someone in the media gave them his phone number, but if you can find any listing for Joe Wurzelbacher in Holland, Ohio, you're more industrious than I am.

The last thing that struck me as odd was that when talking with Katie Couric, Joe was totally on message for McCain (except the part where he said that he had already made up his mind on who he was voting for).

Bottom-line: it's not entirely clear what the real story of Joe The Plumber is. But it is entirely clear that he's not just some undecided voter. He supports McCain, and the McCain campaign sure seems to support him.

This wouldn't be a story worth mentioning if the media wasn't so excited to put him on all the morning shows, but since they are, they have a responsibility to get the story right. So far, there's little indication that they will.