Mudflats is Bloggers’ Choice #1 Political Blog for 2008!

 

We won!

Mudflats is the #1 Political Blog for 2008

on the Bloggers’ Choice Awards!

Thanks so much to all of you who voted, and to all who contribute here, and make Mudflats what it is!

I wonder how Sarah Palin would feel about my recycling the photo above I took at her Welcome Home rally?  She wouldn’t mind, right?  We needed some confetti, and it is for a good cause!

Advertisement

Say it Ain’t So, Joe (the Plumber).

Barack Obama and Sam the Businessman

Last night at the debate, we were introduced to the new American Everyman – “Joe the Plumber”.  The Joe Sixpack meme wasn’t quite working out for the Republicans.  Somehow the image of a guy in a white t-shirt coming home after work, and sitting in the chair with a bag of Doritos, downinging multiple alcoholic beverages while watching the tube, actually didn’t resonate with most Americans.  Go figure.  Even people whom others would describe as “Joe Sixpack” didn’t want to identify themselves as “Joe Sixpack.”  Just not that flattering.

So, lo….a shiny new ‘Joe’ emerged from the Republican playbook.  He’s industrious, hard-working, and middle class, with an entrepreneurial spirit.  Joe the Plumber (aka Joe Wurzelbacher of Ohio)!  Any profession would have done, but the most important thing was that Joe was just like us.  Kind of like Sarah Palin with no hair.  Joe’s an independent voter, just trying to better himself, and move up in the world, not sure who he’s going to vote for, and worried about the pocketbook.  The future is uncertain for Joe.  He needs answers.  He went to Barack Obama.  And that’s when it all hit the fan.  

McCain tells us at the debate, while practically giddy with ‘gotcha’, that poor Joe found out that he will have his taxes raised in an Obama administration, which will prevent him from buying the business he works for, and thus in one fell swoop, Obama dashed his American dream on the rocks.  McCain on the other hand, will save the plumber who makes more than $250,000 a year, by cutting his taxes.

Joe the Plumber was mentioned by both candidates  no less than 20 times during the debate.  This was the theme.  If you got Joe’s vote….you got the nation.

So, just who is the REAL Joe the Plumber?

• His name is not Joe….it’s Samuel.
• He is not a plumber…at least he doesn’t have a license
• He does NOT like paying taxes.  In fact he dislikes it so much…he doesn’t.
• He is not undecided, as evidenced by multiple interviews in which he happily regurgitates McCain talking points like a Republican papa bird feeding the gaping yaws of its conservative young.
• He makes less than $250,000 a year and would therefore benefit from an Obama tax plan.  Although he said that when he asked Obama about taxes, he tapdanced around the issue “almost as good as Sammy Davis Jr.”  *cringe*

What do the unions have to say about the faux plumber?

• Tim Burga of the AFL-CIO says, “You can quote me as saying, ‘Joe is not a plumber he’s a businessman.  If we don’t elect Barack Obama, the plumbing business and working families dreams will go down the drain.'”  And yes, the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters has already endorsed Barack Obama. 

And what about the other Joe?  You know, “Joe the next VP”.

“John [McCain] continues to cling to the notion of this guy Joe the Plumber,” Mr. Biden said on NBC’s Today show. “I don’t have any Joe the plumbers in my neighbourhood that make $250,000 a year. The Joe the plumbers in my neighbourhood, the Joe the cops in my neighbourhood, the Joe the grocery store owners in my neighborhood, they make, like 98 per cent of the small businesses, less than $250,000 a year.”

And the final coup de grace, as if we needed one, is that Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher’s name is misspelled on his voter registration.  So, I’m assuming that this horrible case of potential voter fraud means that the Republicans will see to it that he’ll be challenged at the polls on election day, right?  Riiiight.

UPDATE – CHAPTER TWO. BIZARRE COINCIDENCES

• Joe’s father Robert Wurzelbacher has the same name as the son-in-law of Charles Keating.
• Joe apparently used to live in North Pole, Alaska, just outside of Fairbanks.  His son, seen standing next to him as he talked taxes with Barack Obama was born in North Pole.  Joe made it down the stairs just in time to see his son delivered on the wood floor of their home…  as reported in The Anchorage Daily News.  I think I’ve had enough of Alaska in the news….can we stop now??

Blink. Blink. Blink Blink. Blink. Blink Blink Blink. Blink…

The Mudflats poll had “compulsive blinking” as the number 3 most annoying McCain-ism of the debate, after the “hideous death grin” and Joe the plumber.

True, the blinking was incessant throughout, but this one particular moment was the blinking highlight of the debate. McCain has been asking over the course of two debates now, for the dollar amount of the fine that Barack Obama would impose on small business owners for not providing health care. He finally got his answer. “Zero.” This apparently unanticipated answer caused a screeching sound in McCain’s brain that almost got picked up by the microphones, causing him to shift from “smug” to “deer in the headlights” in 1.8 seconds flat.

The outcome, for those of you keeping track at home was a whopping 54 blinks in 28 seconds. That’s almost two full blinks per second, nevermind the untold mental whiplash for McCain. Just for fun, try watching the video above and blink along.

Palin Returns to a Democratic Legislature in Alaska?! You Can Help Make it Happen!

This message just in from Representative Les Gara. He’s taking a break from slaying dragons (Meg Stapleton) and fighting off hordes of invading barbarians (McCain lawyer Ed O’Callaghan and minions) to remind us about another front in the battle for Alaskan politics.

There are several close house races in Alaska this year that need some additional help. Whether it’s a long-held progressive seat that may be in trouble from the re-energized Palin base that will turn out in this election, or a bold newcomer that actually stands a chance of toppling a conservative seat…they need us. Two of them are names you’ll recognize as heros of the Legislative Council that voted to release the Troopergate report – Bettye Davis, and David Guttenberg!

Let’s send Sarah Palin back to Juneau to meet a shiny new Progressive Legislature!

if you are an Alaskan who wants to see your state head in a new direction, or if you are a friend from the Lower 48 who has become fond of our great state, and want to help, read on.

******************From Les Gara*****************************************

With your help we can win the close races we have this year, and win a Democratic majority in the Legistlature for the first time in two decades!

Please help today online at the HDCC website – HERE

This year is our best chance in two decades to win control of the 40-member state House. Democratic numbers have been increasing steadily in recent years: from 10 in 2000, to 12 in 2002 to 17 in 2006. We have an even stronger slate of candidates this year.

Anything you give will go straight to Democratic candidates and advertising, so please consider a donation…

Unless it’s OK that Republicans have used their power to block health insurance reform; block educational opportunity for Alaskans who need it (we’re one of only 10 states with no pre-K program); and block Alaskans from sharing in their state’s opportunity.

We need four seats to take the majority in the Alaska House of Representatives, and likely two seats to form a majority coalition.

Your help in the past has narrowed a Republican 28 – 12 majority to one where the margin is now 24-16. With your help we can keep moving forward, on health care reform, a real renewable energy policy in Alaska, better schools and early education, and a stronger university. We can stop the influence of special interests, and businesses who see the Legislature as theirs, not ours.

I appreciate all your help in the past, and hope you can help in any way you can afford.

Thanks very much!

And even though no money has changed hands, the Mudflats legal team tells me to include this, from Les’ original email: Paid for by the House Democratic Campaign Committee, 1241 W. 27th Ave. #562, Anchorage, AK 99503-2318)

******************************************************

Keep in mind Lower 48 Mudflatters, that Alaska is a CHEAP media market! Even a small donation goes a LONG way!