By Jennifer D. Kluge, Publisher
October 20, 2008
For those of you who may not be aware, Joe is a plumber in Toledo, Ohio. His desire is to buy the plumbing company that he works for and he is concerned about how the outcome of the presidential election would affect taxes for small business. His life turned upside down when Senator Barack Obama went door-to-door in his neighborhood. Joe asked a tough question and got an answer. Of course, the cameras were there and the McCain camp jumped on the opportunity to turn Joe the Plumber into a campaign tool for small business.
However, we can’t let it be just that in modern politics-¦we have to stir the mud and prove Joe wrong and discredit him, now Joe is a debate.
“Poor Joe,” my new nickname for him, was referenced in the last presidential debate over 20 times between the two candidates. Now Poor Joe’s background has been investigated, his intentions are attacked and he is being discredited by the average American. The plumbers are rising up against Poor Joe.
Look, Poor Joe, needs a break. He is you, me, the person next to you. My friends (as Senator John McCain would say), it is what it is. Don’t make Joe into something he is not. Joe is your average guy, trying to pay his bills and live the American dream just like you and I.
Don’t check his background. Don’t deflect his words. Don’t have 100 cameras on Poor Joe’s front lawn. Don’t take Joe’s simple American right of asking a question and speaking his mind and turn it into a campaign tool. Joe has a right under the Constitution of the United States of America to speak his mind. It is what it is-¦my friends.
