On 10-22-08, JEFF BINKLEY said to ALL:




JB>http://www.ldsmag.com/ideas/081017light.html


JB>Would the Last Honest Reporter Please Turn On the Lights?
JB>By Orson Scott Card


JB>Editor's note: Orson Scott Card is a Democrat and a newspaper columnist,
JB>and in this opinion piece he takes on both while lamenting the current
JB>state of journalism.


I saw this yesterday and almost grabbed it to post up in Fido.


Here's something I `did' grab:


The Lesson of Joe the Plumber

October 17, 2008


BEGIN TRANSCRIPT


RUSH: I went back, because I remembered something.


This past summer, Gallup put out a poll, McCain needs to
hammer this.  It was June 27th, headline:  "Americans
oppose income redistribution to fix economy," by 84-
13%. Hello, Joe the Plumber.  "When given a choice about
how government should address the numerous economic
difficulties facing today's consumer, Americans
overwhelmingly, 84-13, prefer that government focus on
improving overall economic conditions and the job
situation in the country as opposed to taking steps to
distribute wealth more evenly among Americans.


Eighty-four to 13.  This is back in June.  Now,
granted, gas prices were very high in June.  The economy and
the Wall Street mess had not yet come to the fore.  It was
effervescing out there.  We hadn't gotten to the point
where we're panicking and talking about bailouts.  And
in another portion of the same -- this is Gallup, now
-- "Half of Americans think government is doing too much,
not too little."  This is the Joe the Plumber lesson.


The Joe the Plumber lesson is not who he is and not
what he said.  The lesson is what Obama said.  But now the
Drive-Bys have to go out and destroy Joe the Plumber.
As I asked yesterday, how many Joe the Plumbers, Joe
Six-Packs and Josephine the Plumbers are there?  They
are doing everything they can, the Obama campaign
staff, the Drive-By Media, to destroy Joe the Plumber, and
he's having some hard economic times right now like a lot
of people are.  They're even saying he's got this fantasy
of owning a business.  He's got a fantasy, as though
that's not possible, who is this guy, thinking he's
going to own a plumbing business. The plumber's union
yesterday dumping all over Joe the Plumber about the
fact he doesn't have a license or what have you.  The
fact is he is a plumber and he can work.  They're
doing everything they can to destroy this guy.  What is this
fantasy business?  He has a fantasy.  Fantasies are
unrealistic, are they not?  That's why they're called
fantasies.  Dreams are what he has, that's right, he
has a dream and they're calling his dream a fantasy.  I
hope people are noticing what this Obama campaign is
willing to do in order to win.  It's a page right out of the
Clinton book.  You destroy anybody, including average
Americans you claim to have formulated your economic
plans to help.


Remember all the women in the Clinton administration,
trailer park trash, the whole bimbo eruptions unit to
destroy them.  Obama's got the same thing here.


Twenty-four hours, the Drive-By Media can unearth
everything there is about Joe the Plumber.  In two
years we can't even get them interested in finding out who
the real Obama is.  In all these years, they have no
interest with all this controversy about Bill Ayers,
they have no desire to talk to him.  They're not
camping outside Bill Ayers' door and demanding he conduct a
press conference and answer inquisitive, threatening,
intimidating questions.  So the die is cast, ladies
and gentlemen.


BREAK TRANSCRIPT


RUSH: Let's go to a montage we have here of Drive-By
Media trashing Joe the Plumber.


BRIAN WILLIAMS: (dramatic music) What do we know about
this plumber named Joe?


JOHN BERMAN:  It doesn't actually appear he's a
licensed plumber, and, it does appear there are some issues
about past taxes.  There are records of a tax lean filed
against Joe!


WYATT ANDREWS:  The man whose personal story steered a
presidential debate over taxes, owes some $1,200 in
back taxes.


DAVID "RODHAM" GERGEN:  When we found out he was Sam
the Non-plumber, it changed a little bit. (snicker) Why
the McCain team didn't vet the guy...


ROLAND MARTIN:  Joe, you know, the fake plumber...


ANDERSON COOPER:  Joe is not actually a licensed
plumber.  He admits he's not making anywhere close to
a quarter million.  His name is actually not Joe; at
least that's not his first name.  His name is Sam: Samuel
Joseph Wurzelbacher.


CHRISTOPHER HAYES:  There's this tremendous gap
between the mythical creature of Joe the Plumber and the
actual real-life guy, and we see this time and time again.
Sarah Palin is a perfect example.


RUSH:  These people just can't stand it because Joe
the Plumber caused Obama to screw up. Joe the Plumber
caused Obama to actually give it up on what his campaign is
really all about.  You want to talk about past taxes
and leans, Charlie Rangel? Does that name come to mind?


Does it ring a bell? The chairman of the House Ways and
Means Committee had to pay back taxes; was trying to cheat
the government out of some money on some property he owns
down in the Dominican Republic.  There's also a guy
named Martin Nesbitt, the treasurer of Obama's
campaign, who has tax leans.  His name isn't Joe?  Samuel Joseph
Wurzelbacher; his name not Joe?  Who is this guy?  We
have to find out who is this guy?  This mythical
creature?  He's a far more real human being than any
of the elitists in New York and Washington.  Here is Joy
Behar from The View this morning.

BEHAR:  Joe the Plumber doesn't have a business yet.
He's fantasizing about a business he's going to have.


HASSELBECK:  Fantasizing?

BEHAR: Well, he's thinking about it.

HASSELBECK:  This is a man trying to --

BEHAR: Fantasizing is --

HASSELBECK:  -- realize his hard work.

BEHAR: Excuse me, fantasizing is --

HASSELBECK:  This is his reality.

BEHAR:  Wait a second.  Fantasizing is a very
legitimate
term to describe somebody who's predicting the future
for themselves.

HASSELBECK:  Does fantasizing...? When you fantasize
--

BEHAR:  Creative visualization, okay?

HASSELBECK:  Fantasizing is a dangerous thing to say
because it assumes that it is not attainable.

RUSH:  They're just doing everything they can to
destroy the poor guy.




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*Durango b301 #PE*