Moments in the debate

I feel compelled to comment on a couple of items in last night's debate.

McCain made a big deal of "Joe the Plumber" who asked Obama a question the other day. Joe claimed to be thinking of buying a plumbing business and was worried about Obama's tax increase on earnings over $250,000. McCain said that Obama's tax increase would greatly increase Joe's taxes and prevent him from hiring people.

Well, I got a chance to watch the video of the question and answer. Joe mentioned that the business was worth $250,000 - $280,000. Well, first of all, it's not clear if that's the net income to him (which would be taxable) or the gross income of the business. But let's assume it's net. Obama spent a long time, explaining his tax plan. The upshot is that the additional tax would be 3% of the amount over $250,000. That comes to 3% of $30,000 or $900 max. Hardly a "great increase"  that would prevent him from employing people.

But it gets more intriguing when you follow up on Joe a little bit. First there's the interview where he said, "I asked the question but I still got a tap dance... Almost as good as Sammy Davis, Jr."  I don't know about you, but that statement sure tells me a lot about where Mr. Wurzelbacher is coming from.  

Further rumors in blogs this morning indicate that Joe is not even registered to vote. Even more intriguing are hints that he may be related to Robert Wurzelbacher, who is one of the figures in the Keating Five scandal. Is it possible that this whole thing was a setup? 

Clearly there will be more coming out about "Joe the Plumber". I watch with interest.

As for the second item, there was McCain making "air quotes" around the words "health of the mother" in regard to abortion laws. My heart skipped a beat when he did that, and I'm sure many other women felt the same way. What a heartless thing to say. I think it's time for another donation to Planned Parenthood in John McCain's name, to follow up the donation I made a few weeks ago in Sarah Palin's name. 

Update on Joe: Well, it turns out that he is registered to vote - as a Republican. The reason he wasn't found initially was that his name is misspelled on the voter rolls (Worzelbacher rather than Wurzelbacher). Now the interesting thing about this is that the Republicans are supporting a big effort in Ohio to purge from the voter rolls any newly registered voters whose names and other information does not exactly match information in other databases, such as the motor vehicles and social security databases. Under those rules, Joe would lose his right to vote because his name is slightly misspelled. Apparently 200,000 voter registrations are at risk in Ohio if this stupid procedure is followed.

In other news, it's not clear why he's so concerned about a potential tax increase because he doesn't always bother to pay his taxes anyway. He has an open unpaid income tax tax lien case against him in Lucas County, Ohio. 

Comments

[Geri Sullivan]

It's the part where it turns out Joe is not a licensed plumber that leaves me shaking my head.

[Geri Sullivan]

Sorry; the link looked right in the preview.