i feel bad for joe the plumber. i do. i really really do...

[from daily kos...]

McCain's still hasn't gotten the hang of this "vetting" thing

by kos

Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 08:09:35 AM PDT

Politico:

John McCain hung his final presidential debate performance on an Ohio plumber who campaign aides never vetted.

A day after making Joseph Wurzelbacher famous, referencing him in the debate almost two dozen times as someone who would pay higher taxes under Barack Obama, McCain learned the fine print Thursday on the plumber’s not-so-tidy personal story: He owes back taxes. He is not a licensed plumber. And it turns out that Wurzelbacher makes less than $250,000 a year, which means he would receive a tax cut if Obama were elected president.

Yeah, kind of a big "whoops", huh?

McCain likes to say that he isn’t George W. Bush – and in this case of bungled public relations, it is clear he is not. The famously-disciplined Bush campaign operation would likely have found the perfect anonymous citizen to illustrate a policy proposal, rather than spontaneously wrap itself around an unknown entity with so many asterisks.

Ouch.

While the arc of Wurzelbacher’s breakneck trip through the news cycle – from private citizen to insta-celebrity to political target – offers a curious insight into the political media culture, it also appears to offer a glimpse into the McCain campaign’s on-the-fly decisionmaking style.

A McCain source said Thursday that the campaign read about Wurzelbacher on the Drudge Report, while another campaign aide confirmed that he was not vetted.

Ahh, that explains it all -- mix Drudge's carelessness with the facts with McCain's refusal to think before he acts and you have quite the explosive mix. It didn't take much shaking to have it explode in McCain's face.

Joe The Plumber: Obama's Plan Will Cut My Taxes

by Jed L

Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 09:34:58 AM PDT

Here's how pathetic McCain's "Joe The Plumber" gambit is: despite the fact that Joe is a raving right-wing loon who thinks McCain is too far to the left, even he admits that Barack Obama's tax cut plan will lower his taxes. Watch as he (reluctantly) rebuts McCain's lies in this mock mini-debate:

~lee.