'Joe the Plumber' is a no-show at a McCain Ohio rally

Although it might seem like Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher is everywhere these days, he wasn't at John MCain's rally this morning in the small town of Defiance, Ohio.

Except that nobody told the Republican presidential nominee that.

And so, in the midst of his speech, McCain called out to Wurzelbacher, as he often does on the campaign trail.

“Joe’s with us today," McCain told an audience of about 6,000 people. "Joe where are you? Where is Joe? Is Joe with us today?” he asked.

When Joe failed to appear, an awkward silence settled over the crowd.

Then McCain, politician that he is, made lemonade out of lemons. "All right," he told the crowd. "Well, you’re all Joe the Plumbers, so all of you stand up!" 

-- Kate Linthicum

Probably Joe was off reading the latest Ticket item, which you can now register for automatic alerts to your cellphone by going here.

Comments

[NinaK]

McCain like Joe the Plumber, they have something very much in common---they both failed to pay property taxes to their respective states. Two peas in a pod, and oh, yes, there is Sarah as well, so uses taxpayers money to fund her children's travels, food, and hotel rooms. She is being investigated on these issues now. Also, on her charging "per diem" for living in her own house!!! Abuse of power in every way possible!!

[Ron Turner]

Joe was probably just meeting with Sarah Palin, discussing his chances of being her vice presidental choice in 2012. At the rate we're going, the more incompentent ,the better,it seems.

[Tom]

Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher is the only thing resembling poverty in America that McCain has come close to, and is now being used as a tool to overshadow McCain's millionaire status. McCain does not understand what Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher experiences while making his day-in-day-out run for groceries. McCain does not know how it feels to pay child custody with an income of $40,000. This is ten times Cindy's salary for 2007 and how many times McCains?

The choice of Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher makes me be concerned of who McCain would choose for his administration. As quality as Cindy's attire, so as our expectations of the administration.

[PinkCat]

When is this Joe the Pllumber crap going to stop? The election process is not to be taken so lightly. Palin whines about others not taking the process serioiusly..(who she means is a mystery)...but this Joe the Plumber stuff is rediculous. It is not serious politicking.
The McCains have no idea what it is to be middle class...especailly when you own 5 or 6 or how many homes???

If the American people vote for McCain and Palin, they deserve what they get...just like the last 8 years.

[C]

Andrea,
No one is hating. The fact is the person in question "Joe the Plumber" was a no show at the very moment the candidate asked for him. The fact he showed up later is moot. He
wasn't there when McCain called for him and that is the point. No one is hating. Just spelling out the facts. Also - why would your candidate put "Joe" out there as a representative of the common folk. Do most people operate a business illegally? Your party definitely needs new analogies. I know, how about Felix the Cat. Sounds just as plausible. Cheers!

[Mike]

Hmmm...

We're torturing prisoners and holding them for 5 years without Arraignment, Trial or Conviction and you crazy McCain supporters are alleging it's going to get WORSE in some way?

Lies, Spies and Torture. If the US Gov't can snatch Aafia Sidduqi and her kids, they can snatch you and yours!

[Bert]

Is it just me...or does John McCain remind anyone else of the grade school bully that pushed everyone around, always had an excuse (usually a lie) and thought the answer to every situation was fighting?

[computer guy]

Maybe Palin should run instead of old man McCain, Joe could be her running mate. Their IQ would at least be more equal.

[Nkirv]

Joe the Plumber evidently doesn't have his plumber's license because he is not especially bright. Being not especially bright, he is a bit confused, worrying about WHAT IF he makes $250,000, rather than recognizing that the tax breaks he'll get from Obama could help him SAVE so that he might actually get to the point where he can have the income to buy his business (which he doesn't have the license or the brains to run). Joe, why don't you take your Obama tax break to pay for those classes to get your license?

I dunno. First McCain picks Palin, and then Joe the non-Plumber, both of them unreliable.

I’m a sole proprietor of a home business. I know that sole proprietors can deduct ALL business expenses on their 1040 form, and that reduces their taxable income. Wages for employees are also tax deductible. So, if you’re making $250,000 AFTER deducting all those expenses, then you have a pretty darned high income! And you’re probably deducting dinner out with your friends, too. (Not that I do that, but plenty of people do!).

[Tristan]

I agree with Clyde! right on! just what we want everyone to be like "joe the plumber" boy that sure will make America a better place...NOT!

[Dee P]

Okay so McCain had a crowd of about 6000 today but Sen Obama had a crowd of about 35000 at 11pm in Florida last night for his rally.....seems like the McCain camp is running out of steam.

[Tristan]

I agree with Clyde! right on! just what we want everyone to be like "joe the plumber" boy that sure will make America a better place...NOT!

[gould]

Andrea- {Commented 1:18pm.} I'm amazed that you claim to know facts by watching FOX NEWS. You have got to be kidding?? You must be young. Only the ignorant would make a statement like that and put a name to it. learn the real facts before you put your foot in your mouth....

[TJWebb]

McCain has led a campaign that has been in an almost constant state of chaos. Under his leadership, the campaign has had fund raising problems, countless personnel issues, and an incompetent public relations policy. In short, McCain has demonstrated that he cannot raise adequate revenue, manage human resources or market himself successfully.

Under his leadership, the Obama campaign has attracted millions of small donor contributors, employed a unified and cohesive campaign staff, engaged a record-breaking number of committed volunteers whose donated time tops hundreds of thousands of hours, and has shown itself to be media savvy. In short, Obama has demonstrated that he can create revenue, manage human resources, prioritize his spending and handle public relations.

Win or lose, McCain has done a horrible job as commander in chief of his campaign while Obama has excelled as the executive in charge of his.

The better choice of the two is obvious.

[Dan]

Then he said:
"You know, I saw Joe on television this morning, he did a great job. And wherever you are Joe, let’s give him a round of applause for what he has done for America.’’

- He’s not here, how embarrassing – but I DID see him on TV. Honest I did. -

McCain and his crack team couldn't even coordinate getting Joe the Plumber onstage - the guy lives an hour away and this was going to be a big deal for them both.

How disorganized can you be?

McCain's crack campaign team not only didn't get Joe there, but they didn't tell the next president that Joe was not there.

Later Joe said he was unhappy that he didn't know he was supposed to be at the event. Huh?

Also, McCain did not coordinate effectively with the major media people, whose camera and audio people were all there, and they ran out of the bus when they heard McCain's voice - too late to get set up.

So pretty much the only footage to show of this crucial event, the start of the southern Ohio tour, is his search for Joe.

Doesn’t he communicate with his trusted staff? Don’t they know what their job is?

McCain may not be that bright or effective, but that might not matter if he could prove to us that he can hire competent staff.

Doesn’t McCain have any idea how important it is to vet your staff, and your mascots?

Even George Bush wouldn’t have dragged some guy around to represent his campaign.

Please tell me what is more pathetic than this hopeless display of incompetence.

[JAMES]

Sorry for all you haters out there but you deserve each other. John McCain is an honorable man unlike obama who has been friends with more terrorist and criminals than anyone who has run for president in the last 60 years. obama could not even pass a background check for a federal job and now you haters want to make him president. God have mercy on us all for what you are doing to our countryl

[Paul Gerard]

What does Joe the plumber have to do with who I should vote for President of the United States? Seriously. Like there isn't a real licensed plumber who supports Obama? Do plumbers have the inside track on political acumen? Is he supposed to be representative of someone else? Who? Middle class people who support McCain? The majority of those people support Obama.

Oh well. In one of Obama's few timing mistakes, he called the "silly season" in politics a little bit early. I say it started with the Joe and John routine.

[Jeff]

Has anyone bothered telling Joe that, considering the extent to which his fears are skewed towards paying taxes, he’s campaigning for the wrong candidate? Buy the dream company or not, Slow Joe would get a better tax cut under Obama’s plan (when Joe asked the question about his fake plans that ‘caught Obama off guard’, he didn’t understand that the fake net value would be far under the mark where he, under Obama’s plan, would theoretically have had to pay a few hundred dollars, - that’s right Joe, only the portion that goes above the ‘Obama limit’ gets the higher tax rate – in other words, Joe needed to make a fake story about a much more expensive company, one that no one like him will ever be able to buy, an one whose owners would never be hurt by the most ‘liberal’ of taxes).
Or maybe a more simple path to the Joe problem would be to ask: has anyone bothered telling Slow Joe that the tax plan he’s supporting is already in place and has been for a number of years. It obviously hasn’t helped Joe buy that company, and from what I understand about his current situation, it hasn’t helped him at all. In other words, it’s not a question of convincing people that it’s a scam and won’t work, but rather that it DIDN’T work. One thing that it did do was aid the process by which we got burned into paying 700 billion to the same people to whom Bush/McCain did give/want to keep giving the bulk of the tax-break benefits. I’ve forgotten the estimates from years ago warning us of the cost of Bush’s plan, warnings that are real now. But I’ve seen reports by independent tax institutions for the McCain version: just a hair under 1.5 trillion. Isn’t 700 billion enough to give to these people?
But getting back to Joe, maybe he’s not so slow. Not long ago, I told myself that there’s no stretch of the imagination that could see Joe doing better under McCain’s plan than under Obama’s. I’ve suddenly realized that there are 2 ways, the first not really a stretch, the second a slight one, that Joe could join the McCain tax club: he could make campaign speeches for money or even run for office ; or, he could sue McCain for making a fool out of him by not telling him that Obama would be better for the real Slow Joe as well as the imaginary company-owning Joe.

[SN]

It looks like Joe the plumber was set up initially by the McCain campaign. A plumber making $45,000 who isn't even a licensed plumber could never own a plumbing business (especially with tax evasion charges) and his salary would only be benefitted by an Obama tax plan. So the only explanation that he would support McCain would be if they promised him some money to go out and campaign for them. I hear he also worked in Alaska-how convenient. He's probably a Palin relative. He's getting his 15 minutes of fame and probably some interviews which will help pad his pocket. I hear he's also getting a publicist. This was all a setup for his own personal gain.

[Robert Breen]

Politics aside... listening to John McCain...

Has anyone noticed that he's a total freaking dick?

[rod stephens]

It is a sheme that Mr.McCain is trying to throw the sink at Oboma. I know that he wishes that he could bring Obamas education into question. Oboma seems to speak from the heart. That is something I dont feel from McCain.

[M R A]

Oh Helen, you swiped my "The sky is falling" line, but all is forgiven because I never owned it anyway. LOL
I really think we should all go and hide our heads in the sand because Obama will win. I mean what good, patriotic "poor" man or woman on welfare shouldn't hide in the sand?
Here is one of the real pissers for me. I am getting real sick of all poor people being characterized as lazy and on welfare. My grandparents were poor, but you can bet your life that if you had called my grandfather lazy to his face you wouldn't have a face left to say that with much longer.
I just loaded a truckload of scrap iron and aluminum to sell at a scrap yard this morning. All of last year that load would have easily netted me well over $150, maybe $200 or more.. Today i received a whopping $30 for a hard days work and some slob wants to say I'm lazy? I would love to take their faces off too. Thanks Georgie boy. Thanks for nothing. McCain..same old crap too.

[M R Amell]

Doesn't it strike anyone as dangerous for a candidate to incite rioting?
I don't know so much as rioting as I do civil unrest or even war. (Don't think it can't happen..it has before) John McCain keeps his chant of FIGHT, FIGHT FIGHT going knowing full well that many in his rallies are calling for hangings and killings. It might be nothing, but I have read just to many dangerous rantings here and many other places. These seem like the rantings of a madman.
I don;t know about you, but this is just to dangerous for our nation and not what we need at this point in our time of troubles. Rhetoric or not..it's still worrisome.

[John]

"If you watched FoxNews you would have had an accurate report of it"

hahahahahah that's the funniest thing I've read all day. Yes! let's depend on Fox News for accurate reporting, LMAO.

[John]

After insulting those people and calling them Joe the (crooked) Plumber, he tells them to stand up and "say, I thank you"... what a joke this guy is