Joe the Plumber Shot Down by McCain's "Friendly Fire"

Impersonations and spoofs of presidential wannabe Sen. John McCain usually include him saying "my friends". McCain tries (often very successfully) to appear to be a regular work-class guy and not the out-of-touch Washington insider who (for example) doesn't know how many houses he and his wife own.

McCain scorns people (including those in his own party) who spoke out against his choice in running mate, Sarah Palin, as a woman with no experience or insight. When the Press asked if it were true the Republican Party had considered forcing Palin off the ticket, McCain refused to answer directly. He dismissively responded that she wasn't liked because she didn't attend "Washington Cocktail parties". There's the "friends" line again. It's not that she's incompetent, Palin just isn't "friends" with the right people. Right?

Reminding us painfully that what may be the most important vote in our lifetimes is frighteningly similar to a popularity contest. Hey, Palin does great in those. Remember her beauty queen pageant days? Okay, don't look at the footage of the question answering portion. She can't be as stupid as she sounds. Can she? Just look at her legs and think of America.

Who does McCain mean when he says "my friends"? Other than Palin, it seems like John's most recent best friend is "Joe the Plumber". Who is that? Joe the Plumber is a guy who went on camera to complain to Obama that the tax increase for small businesses who earn more than $250,000 would hurt him when and if he bought his boss's business.

When McCain saw this bit of footage, he got so excited that he held it up at every possible opportunity. The new rally cry: "I don't care about ____ , I'm looking out for Joe the Plumber." So concerned was McCain about Joe the Plumber that Joe was mentioned in the last presidential debate 27 times.

The effect of McCain's care and concern for Joe is touching. It touched Joe deeply -just not in a good way. The off the cuff (look ma I'm on TV) remark Joe made is costing him big time. Fact checkers discovered McCain never met or spoke to "Joe" before pushing him into the limelight. Not only is Joe not a soon-to-be small business owner, he's not even a licensed plumber. Joe told the Press he didn't need a license. Oooops wrong answer. He has been working illegally. Joe may lose his job. Joe's boss (who probably isn't making over $250,000 if he has to cut corners by hiring untrained workers) may be fined. All because Joe the not-really-a-Plumberand John the facts?-who-cares-about-facts? McCain don't know when to stop talking about something they don't really know ANYTHING about.

In his appearance last Thursday on the David Letterman Show, McCain said "Sorry, Joe" in reference to the trouble he'd caused. McCain had a lot of apologizing to do that night: McCain had cancelled a previous appearance on Letterman and then lied about his whereabouts and went, not back to Washington as he claimed, but to do an interview with Katy Corrick instead. McCain refused to answer Letterman's questions about why he had lied, just insisting he was sorry he had.

I think millions of Americans are more interested in truth than apologies. Can we afford McCain's brand of "friendship"?

Sorry, John. No.