Mimi Gallandt -> Ed Hulett wrote:
 MG> Ed Hulett -> Bob Klahn wrote:
 EH>> Bob Klahn -> Ed Hulett wrote:
 BK>>> ..

 BK>>>>>  No one is attacking Joe the plumber, they are
attacking McCain
 BK>>>>>  for using Joe the plumber.

 EH>>>> So, digging into Joe's life and reporting his tax lien and
 EH>>>> lack of a plumber's license is attacking McCain? Do tell.

 BK>>>  McCain is the one who puffed him up. He asked one question, got
 BK>>>  his answer, whether he agreed with it or not, and seemed to be
 BK>>>  quite content with the exchange. It's McCain who has drug it out
 BK>>>  into the public arena.

 EH>> Actually, he didn't get an answer. Obama made reference to Joe's money
 EH>> going to someone else who is not as fortunate. It isn't the job of
 EH>> government to redistribute what they consider Joe's excess money to
 EH>> someone else.

 EH>> McCain didn't dig into Joe's life and make public private information.

 MG> Funny you should mention that:

 MG> Government computers used to find information on Joe the Plumber
 MG> Investigators trying to determine whether access was illegal
 MG> Friday,  October 24, 2008 8:57 PM
 MG> By Randy Ludlow

 MG> The Columbus Dispatch
 MG> "State and local officials are investigating if state and
 MG> law-enforcement computer systems were illegally accessed when they were
 MG> tapped for personal information about "Joe the Plumber."

 MG> Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher became part of the national political lexicon
 MG> Oct. 15 when Republican presidential candidate John McCain mentioned him
 MG> frequently during his final debate with Democrat Barack Obama.

 MG> The 34-year-old from the Toledo suburb of Holland is held out by McCain
 MG> as an example of an American who would be harmed by Obama's tax proposals.

 MG> Public records requested by The Dispatch disclose that information on
 MG> Wurzelbacher's driver's license or his sport-utility vehicle was pulled
 MG> from the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles database three times shortly
 MG> after the debate.

 MG> Information on Wurzelbacher was accessed by accounts assigned to the
 MG> office of Ohio Attorney General Nancy H. Rogers, the Cuyahoga County
 MG> Child Support Enforcement Agency and the Toledo Police Department.

 MG> It has not been determined who checked on Wurzelbacher, or why. Direct
 MG> access to driver's license and vehicle registration information from BMV
 MG> computers is restricted to legitimate law enforcement and government
 MG> business.

 MG> Paul Lindsay, Ohio spokesman for the McCain campaign, attempted to
 MG> portray the inquiries as politically motivated. "It's outrageous to see
 MG> how quickly Barack Obama's allies would abuse government power in an
 MG> attempt to smear a private citizen who dared to ask a legitimate
 MG> question," he said.

 MG> http://tinyurl.com/6l3xd2

Imagine that, the Obama campaign might have used government computers in
their haste to find dirt on Joe the plumber. Say it ain't so.

Ed

-- 
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to fill the world with fools." --Herbert Spencer
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