Bring me the head of Joe the Plumber

As Barack Obama made the rounds in his neighborhood, Joe the Plumber elicited Obama’s frankly redistributionist statement that he seeks to “spread the wealth around” in his tax plan. Clearly this cannot stand.

The question itself revealed a kind of offense against royalty that in French goes under the rubric of lèse majesté. Moreover, Obama’s comment betrays a frame of mind that is unpopular among independent middle-class voters whose vote may still be up for grabs. Joe the Plumber embarrassed The Man Who Would Be King.

Last week Michelle Malkin noted how the media followed the cue of Obama and Biden in tearing down Joe the Plumber. Today John Kass and Ruben Navarette also observe the savaging of Joe the Plumber. Kass deserves extra credit for identifying his own paper as part of the lynch mob.

Spotlighting the role of the media, Rush Limbaugh rounds up a delicious set of quotes blowing the lid off Joe the Plumber’s act. Among the counts in the indictment against Joe: His first name is Samuel, he is not licensed as a plumber, he owes nearly $1,200 in property taxes and he doesn’t (yet) make more than $250,000 per year.

Carrie Budoff Brown and Amie Parnes (with the assistance of Ben Smith and Jonathan Martin) of The Politico fault the McCain campaign for not having “vetted” Joe the Plumber — before quoting Obama’s answer to him? (The Politico team asserts: “[I]t turns out that Wurzelbacher makes less than $250,000 a year, which means he would receive a tax cut if Obama were elected president.” Is anybody vetting the Politico?)

Hans Christian Andersen seems to have missed the heart of the story in “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” Andersen reported that as the emperor strutted before the multitude in his nakedness, the boy cried out: “But he has nothing on!” Andersen somehow omitted to note that the boy was a naughty thumbsucker.

UPDATE: A reader writes to add to the indictment against Joe the Plumber:

in the year 2000 he had an Arizona drivers license that was suspended due to failure to pay a fine. Also, he’s apparently committed a major felony, almost surely a death penalty case, he appeared on two Fox News shows. This information comes to you courtesy of my old hometown’s mullet-wrap The Toledo Blade.

Stephen Macklin provides an appropriate llustration inspired by a post at Ace of Spades. And Mark Steyn has a field day with the media’s sorry performance.

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