‘Joe The Plumber’ Comes Clean: ‘I Would Be Receiving Obama’s Tax Cuts’

[marmar]

from ThinkProgress:



‘Joe The Plumber’ Comes Clean: ‘I Would Be Receiving Obama’s Tax Cuts’»

As ThinkProgress and many others noted yesterday, the premise of Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher’s complaints about Barack Obama’s tax plan was ill-informed. Contrary to Wurzelbacher’s claims, “neither his personal taxes nor those of the business where he works are likely to rise if Mr. Obama’s tax plan were to go into effect.”

As CBS News reported, even “Joe The Plumber” acknowledges this fact now:

So today, Joe, who said he makes much less than $250,000, reluctantly admitted Obama would lower his taxes.

“I would, if you believe him, I would be receiving his tax cuts,” Wurzelbacher said.

Watch it: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/10/17/joe-the-plumber-obama-cut/


Bloomberg reports that “one other problem in making Wurzelbacher a symbol of the overtaxed” is that — even if he did earn an adjusted gross income of $280,000 — “he would pay just $773 more in taxes under Obama’s plan than McCain’s.” That amount would hardly deal a crippling blow to his potential small business.

Last night, Sarah Palin said she didn’t want to talk about Wurzelbacher. “I begged our speechwriters, ‘Don’t make me say Joe the Plumber, please, in any speeches,” she said. After failing to properly vet Wurzelbacher’s situation, the McCain campaign is apparently now throwing him overboard and moving on.

The campaign is holding a conference call today with Russ Deker, an individual the McCain camp is calling “a Missouri ‘Joe the Plumber.’”


http://thinkprogress.org/2008/10/17/joe-the-plumber-obama-cut/

[DS1]

1. Nice qualifier, assface!

:eyes:

[JohnMcCant2008]

2. McKKKain's campaign has been PLAGUED with vetting issues, eh?

[tavalon]

4. Plagued by a lack of vetting

You would think letting the net vet his VP pick would have cured that but apparently not.

[gratuitous]

5. Seems to be a recurring problem for Straight-Talkin' Johnny Maverick, dunnit?

Took the netroots less than 24 hours to completely dismantle this one. Want to try flinging some more shit, GOP? We've got your number, and we're not stopping you buttwipes. Not until every last one of you is behind bars, spending your days making little ones out of big ones.

[spanone]

3. 'if you believe him' oh really joe? so now you're calling obama a liar?

[bluestateguy]

6. Democrats have had to live down Clinton reneging on the middle class tax cut in 1992 for years

Yes, I'm aware that Bush Sr. covered up the true size of the deficit, but by backing away from the middle class tax cut before he was even inaugurated, Democrats lost credibility on taxes. What this means is that when Democrats promise to cut taxes, many people simply don't believe them.

[negativenihil]

7. oh snap! n/t

[AlCzervik]

8. "If you believe him". Is Joe's 15 minutes up yet?

[Joanne98]

9. He doesn't want to be.. Palinized!

[fla nocount]

10. They're tanking badly. McCain the whipping boy. n/t

[spooky3]

11. what bothers me is

that McCain and his Rovian friends know very well that many more Americans heard McCain make his allegations about Joe the Plumber than heard or read all the debunking afterwards. They know lies are very frequently believed. So for someone who has no scruples concerning lying, the incentives are there to keep doing it.

[machI]

12. Kick