220 Comments

1. Eric R.:

Roger,

Probably, no — definitely — the best PR move you have ever done with PJM.

Well played!

Jan 7, 2009 - 4:54 pm 2. Eric R.:

Oh,

And what better way for Israel to thumb its nose at the MSM than to allow Joe into Gaza, giving him an exception to the reporting ban.

And I bet you are working on that now, aren’t you?

Jan 7, 2009 - 4:58 pm 3. Pajamas Media » Joe the Plumber: Mr. Smith Goes to Jerusalem for Pajamas TV:

[...] Read more here. [...]

Jan 7, 2009 - 4:59 pm 4. Lola:

Yeah . . . the media will be forced to cover what’s never been covered . . . simply because Joe the Plumber is signing off his report somewhere near Gaza. I love this!

Jan 7, 2009 - 5:15 pm 5. Cybergeezer:

YEA! Joe and Pajamas Media. I’ll volunteer to help Joe in any way I can. How can I help?

Jan 7, 2009 - 5:16 pm 6. Banjo:

Who do you think is more reliable, Joe or Amanapour? Just asking.

Jan 7, 2009 - 5:17 pm 7. Sami:

I admit to some class prejudice because I was always surprised every time I heard Joe interviewed on TV. He spoke with a quiet dignity, humility, and common sense. In fact, he seems to have far more “native” and “emotional intelligence” and was better spoken than many in Congress I could name…Barney Frank and Harry Reid come to mind.

Clearly, he is no expert about international affairs, but he also lacks the agenda driven biases of most of the MSM. His common man point of view will be a refreshing change from the cookie cutter media stars.

Jan 7, 2009 - 5:20 pm 8. ILikeIke:

Hmmm, when I want my pipes cleaned, I don’t call CNN. And when I want to find out what’s going on in Gaza, I don’t call Joe the Plumber.

This is why Al Franken ran for Senate. The jokes write themselves.

Jan 7, 2009 - 5:31 pm 9. Ken Johnson:

Congratulation and thanks.

I’ll be looking forward to his reports.

Jan 7, 2009 - 5:45 pm 10. Anna:

Sami - I think your last comment is spot on. While Joe lacks credentials as a journalist, the sad fact is that most journalists who work for the msm appear to have lost any sense of journalistic integrity. So, I say, what good are all of their credentials if they behave like sheep? More power to Joe and I wish him a safe journey. I will interested to see how his foray into this new field unfolds.

Jan 7, 2009 - 5:52 pm 11. Fernanado Narcos:

You’re f*cking kidding,right?

WTF is wrong with you people.I knew wingers were idiots,but c’mon,Joe the f’cking Plumber?

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
hahahahahahahaahaahahahaahahahahaha……….

Jan 7, 2009 - 5:52 pm 12. judi:

GO JOE! I think this is great.

Jan 7, 2009 - 6:02 pm 13. ingi:

Joe is the man, is he really reporting from Gaza? Only hope he will not be hurt.
Joe go man!

Jan 7, 2009 - 6:23 pm 14. bill-tb:

You go Joe. I think this is just great. Let an average Joe report the news.

Jan 7, 2009 - 6:35 pm 15. Truth Fairy:

Terrific “get.” He’ll either make it or he won’t. Regardless, a fresh idea from an enterprising site.

Jan 7, 2009 - 6:42 pm 16. Steve Rosenbach:

This is great news! “Journalists” of late have been filing stories based on some pre-determined templates rather than based on common sense, context, and, well, reporting.

Listening to press conferences of C-SPAN radio, I often find myself shouting at the reporters for the mechanicaly repetitive and frankly dumb questions they ask, and even more so at the obvious questions they *don’t* ask.

I’ve seen JTP speak a few times on TV, and I agree with Sami on his positive characteristics. I will be surprised if he doen’t distinguish himself as a level-headed and fair reporter on Gaza.

Jan 7, 2009 - 6:45 pm 17. thegre8_1:

Joe the Plumber is smarter than most of the mainstream media. I look forward to his reports and hope he is let into Gaza while Nick Robertson on CNN throws hissyfits that he is dodging missiles in Israel. Now he knows what the Israeli people are going through. Hey Fernando your Tourette’s acting up again?

Jan 7, 2009 - 6:50 pm 18. Docjohn52:

This is absolutely the best move ever. I’d MUCH rather hear Joe’s reporting than AP’a, or CNN, MSNBC, NYT, LAT WaPO, well the usual suspects.
It’s really tim to shine some light on the cockroaches over there, HAMAS and their handlers from Tehran.
Great move!

Jan 7, 2009 - 6:51 pm 19. Matt J:

Lame publicity stunt. I’ll stick with the people that are liveblogging the battle from Israel.

Jan 7, 2009 - 6:51 pm 20. Robert Mayer:

Great PR move, and in media, that’s all that matters. But an MA in IR shouldn’t be totally scoffed at. While being a plumber isn’t the easiest thing in the world, neither is getting your MA in IR, so lahdeedah isn’t the first thing I think about Nora O’Donnell. It’s not elitist — she actually had to LEARN ABOUT and become VERY VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE about these places. Perhaps that’s why he can’t believe it… because honestly, no matter what questions he asks, he has no idea what he’s talking about.

But in any case, great PR move, I would have done the same in your position.

Jan 7, 2009 - 6:52 pm 21. Insufficiently Sensitive:

Go Joe! After the twit I heard on NPR today, who clearly thought that ’stopping the violence’ should only apply to Israel, Joe will be a breath of fresh air.

Let him ask just a few questions of the available interviewees, and see what comes forth. Though it’s predictable that the ones who pontificate for BBC and NPR and the rest of the MSM will do major contortions to avoid the Pajama guy, whose questions will NOT be predictable and won’t fit the party line.

The world’s best swordsman needn’t fear the world’s second best. It’s some guy never before seen in town that will take him down.

Jan 7, 2009 - 6:53 pm 22. PC14:

Well Joe did ask Obama a tougher question than anyone in the MSM ever asked.

Mockery at its finest.

Jan 7, 2009 - 6:54 pm 23. Rick:

real citizen journalism - great idea and it’s a can’t lose situation - after all he’s just some guy on the internet. If he does well, great - if not - it really doesn’t matter. It’s not like he’s going to be the only news source in the middle east. I have a feeling he’s going to come out of this pretty well.

The only ones with anything to lose are the pros.

Jan 7, 2009 - 6:54 pm 24. Joe The War Correspondent? - The Lede Blog - NYTimes.com:

[...] objections some professional journalists have already expressed to the plot of what he calls “Mr. Smith Goes to Jerusalem.” Nora O’Donnell of MSNBC — herself a MA in international relations, lahdeedah - [...]

Jan 7, 2009 - 6:58 pm 25. Narniaman:

“Hmmm, when I want my pipes cleaned, I don’t call CNN. And when I want to find out what’s going on in Gaza, I don’t call Joe the Plumber.”

And when I want to find out what’s going on in Gaza, I sure don’t call CNN.

The only reason to ever listen to CNN is to learn what the latest political correct narrative that the agenda driven media is marketing.

Jan 7, 2009 - 7:02 pm 26. Marie Claude:

“There are different kinds of truths for different kinds of people. There are truths appropriate for children; truths that are appropriate for students; truths that are appropriate for educated adults; and truths that are appropriate for highly educated adults, and the notion that there should be one set of truths available to everyone is a modern democratic fallacy. It doesn’t work.” Kristol

who Joe the plumber will talk for ?

a bet, for the highly educated adults that need “persuasion”

Jan 7, 2009 - 7:16 pm 27. Pat J:

Disgusting. He’s not even a licensed plumber. His first name isn’t even Joe. He’s a fraud. As much as I detest Oliver North, at least he has more credibility as a war correspondent than this clown.

Jan 7, 2009 - 7:18 pm 28. Yehudit:

However, PJ people ….. Joe might not say what you think he will. He might decide Hamas are victims and Israelis are genocidal thugs. He probably wont, but he is his own man and he is going to say what he thinks, and it will be interesting.

So Pat J … for the last time: You don’t need a license to be a competent plumber. As Gregory Bateson said, the map is not the territory. And no one ever said his first name is Joe, Joe is the name he goes by, like millions of other people who go by their middle names.

if these stupid cliches are all you got, you ain’t got much. So …. no substantial criticism of Joe in this thread, or most of them.

Jan 7, 2009 - 7:27 pm 29. Jeffersonian:

Hey, Mencken didn’t go to college either. If JtP asks tough questions like he did of Obama, he’ll do just fine in the Mideast.

Jan 7, 2009 - 7:31 pm 30. Skookumchuk:

Wonderful, Roger. A masterstroke. Congratulations.

Jan 7, 2009 - 7:34 pm 31. Mwalimu Daudi:

JDS - Joe Derangement Syndrome. I love it!

Jan 7, 2009 - 7:37 pm 32. Judith:

Credit where it’s due to PJTV. If Joe the Plumber brings the uninformed to your site to then hear the authoritative Caroline Glick all the better & a very smart move on PJTV’s part. Caroline Glick not only is superbly insightful on the ongoing Gaza conflict, she also is one of the few foreign policy experts/jpurnalists who puts the conflict in its global perspective. This is not a fight about territory…its a fight about competing ideologies…a fight against global Jihad. Too few “journalists” will even broach the core subject of Islamic imperialism. Defeat Hama & the terrorists all over the world are weakened…let Hamas survive & the Muslim terrorists in Pakistan, East Timor, UK, you name it, are emboldened. Glick is not afraid to step outside of the Israeli or US governments’ narrative & Condi Rice delusions to tell it straight. PJTV does the world a service by featuring her.

Jan 7, 2009 - 7:38 pm 33. DougW:

Somehow this all reminds me of when Cousin Ben wrote all those phony letters to his brother’s newspaper, which greatly improved the paper’s circulation; just another great example of journalistic integrity, eh!

Or, perhaps it was yesterday when a front page article mixed the “reporter’s” view, his analysis, with the facts he twisted! Maybe that’s what makes a great, college trained, journalist these days, eh?

Yep, that’s the ticket, more real journalism especially more praise of The One, The Messiah!

Jan 7, 2009 - 7:43 pm 34. Rob:

Pretty masterful PR stunt, Roger.

Jan 7, 2009 - 7:53 pm 35. Michael B:

Glad to hear it, great move on both news based and PR grounds.

Someone might remind the self-regarding Nora O. and others like her in the news/ideology business that they said very little indeed - if anything - about CNN’s Eason Jordan, Rathergate and the “The News We Kept to Ourselves” issues that continue to permeate “news” accounts among MSM styled outlets.

Jan 7, 2009 - 8:00 pm 36. History - Cross Eyed:

Michael Yon - Michael Totten hands down the best journalism coming from the middle east

- not journalists.

Dan Rather, Jason Blair, Janet Cooke (pulitzer prize) Chrissy Matthews total frauds

- journalists

BTW - hat tip to Sami who recognizes that intelligence is not class related and that many non-collegiate non-elites have very good knowledge and sense.

Jan 7, 2009 - 8:11 pm 37. Matt C:

Did anyone get this worked up when Sean Penn did his journalistic stints? I think Joe is far more likely to ask the tough question than Penn, who had his head up Hugo Chavez’s a**.

Jan 7, 2009 - 8:22 pm 38. Reader in CA:

Wow, I love this! real, uncensored journalism–what a refreshing change! Thank you PJM, this is genius! Because Joe has proven that HE CAN ASK REAL QUESTIONS, unlike the degreed idiots out there. PJM: You are serving us well, congratulations and I wish Joe well. Looking forward to it!

Jan 7, 2009 - 8:25 pm 39. albie:

Matt C, I was literally typing the same thing just now, then saw your comment. And it’s not just Sean Penn. If Joe the Plumber isn’t qualified to travel to Israel and report on what he sees, what’s the excuse of the B and C list “celebrities” who make up the entire reprotage on the Huffington Post?

Jan 7, 2009 - 8:31 pm 40. Savannah:

Way to go Pajamas Media !

Just the right move to help REPLACE the MSM, who sold out to the Saudis (and others…!)

Things are looking up in the world of online Journalism!

Jan 7, 2009 - 8:32 pm 41. PC14:

I wonder how guys like Pete Hamill and Jimmy Breslin (solid libs)feel about this. Both those guys are just street kids from Brooklyn and Queens—no college education (Hamill is a high school dropout), no formal training in journalism, yet their achievements in journalism are significant.

Over the years, both Hamill and Breslin’s go-to guys for color and quotes have been blue collar dudes just like Joe.

Jan 7, 2009 - 8:33 pm 42. Donna V.:

Did anyone get this worked up when Sean Penn did his journalistic stints?

Exactly, Matt C. What political creds do movie stars have? Joe is more educated then most of them.

Roger, this is just brilliant. And you have no idea how glad people like me in “flyover country” are that someone is finally leading the attack on both the Hollywood Left and the MSM. It is very frustrating for an ordinary person to realize the monopoly the left has in those areas and feel powerless to do anything about it except post on blogs and write letters to the editor which may or not be published. For a long time, I’ve hoped that someone on one of the coasts with enough savvy and connections could do something to challenge the MSM - but then I despaired of the MSM ever reporting it.

Well, you’re doing it! Too early to know how it will play out, but kudos and thanks!

Jan 7, 2009 - 8:38 pm 43. Minerva:

Nora O’Donnell’s International M.A. is from Georgetown. She obtained it years after Dr. Jean Kirkpatrick left. Had Jean still been around, she would have intellectually bitch-slapped Nora.

Jan 7, 2009 - 8:52 pm 44. mk:

“Michael Yon - Michael Totten hands down the best journalism coming from the middle east

- not journalists.

Dan Rather, Jason Blair, Janet Cooke (pulitzer prize) Chrissy Matthews total frauds

- journalists”

Pre-fricking-cisely. Journalists have produced the fauxtography from Lebanon, the tilted reports from Gaza (no mention of Hamas’ human shields and continuing bombardment of Israeli cities), and childish reporting of Russia.

We need no tilt, no annoying use of quotation marks in newpaper titles, no moralizing in stories.

Totten and Yon are the best journalists out there. Period.

Jan 7, 2009 - 8:53 pm 45. Pat J:

I think Joe would be better off staying at home working on his country album.

Jan 7, 2009 - 8:56 pm 46. Chaz:

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

Seriously. This is at the very least a brilliant PR move. But if Joe turns out to be a good journalist, this could really work out well for not only PJTV, but also Joe himself. Just think of the cred he’ll get.

Jan 7, 2009 - 8:59 pm 47. Jorge:

And I think Jane Fonda would have been better off staying home acting instead of sitting on bombs in Vietnam. But it wasn’t up to me, Pat J, and it isn’t up to you either. BTW, did Jane or Sean have acting degrees? No? Yet both are extremely accomplished actors. I bet Joe’s a good plumber too, sans license.

Jan 7, 2009 - 9:10 pm 48. Judith:

The MSM relies on Palestinian stringers to do its reports. So when Israel sacrifices its soldiers in guerilla-style ground fighting in Gaza City, instead of carpet-bombing & saving its soldiers, & the IDF responds to terrorists who hide behind children, the Palestinian “journalists” providing info to CNN or BBC inflate the number of casualties & of course all the deaths are civilians & not terrorists. This is masked for credible, unbiased reporting. No context is ever supplied, including the mere omission that Israel has been bombarded w/ over 6000 indiscriminate shrapnel/ball- bearing-filled kassam bombs while 1million Israelis are held hostage in their bombshelters. In addition, the Gaza civilians are sympathetic to Hamas ideology & reared on jihad martyrdom for Allah. A nihilistic, hate-filled indoctrination refledted in the stringers’ reports. I am sure that Joe the Plumber will report w/ greater context than the majority of these pseudo-sophisticated, self-righteous reporter who can only talk about proportionality & moral equivalence based on a numbers game of inflicted casualties. Joe the Plumber won’t be emboldening the terrorists like the leftist MSM.

Jan 7, 2009 - 9:20 pm 49. Mike:

As a staunch conservative that donates and participates within the party… what the hell are you idiots doing? Joe’s five minutes of fame (one of them credible) were long over and helped SINK our nominee. The fact that ‘jammies media would want this idiots name to appear… anywhere is just symbolic of the problems within our party; namely that your an idiot.

Jan 7, 2009 - 9:35 pm 50. Nemo:

Sure, hope he takes one for the IDF - better yet, he could be taken hostage.
ARe you maroons!!!!

Jan 7, 2009 - 9:56 pm 51. fred:

Some heads are literally exploding over there at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. I’m keeping an open mind to Joe’s work. If I’m a betting man, I would not bet against him.

Jan 7, 2009 - 9:59 pm 52. poul:

if he asks question in israel as he did to obama, he will be alright.
seeing him driving lefties up the wall is just a bonus…

Jan 7, 2009 - 10:11 pm 53. Zach:

I seem to recall a certain ABC Presidential interview conducted by none other than Leonardo di Caprio. Is there anyone out there who can honestly argue that Caroline Schlossberg and Al Franken are qualified to be US Senators but Joe the Plumber is unqualified to read stuff in front of a camera and ask questions to people? It seems like “experience” is only something necessary when it concerns conservatives.

Jan 7, 2009 - 10:43 pm 54. Ben Franklin:

Why is there such a thing as a journalism school? How minutely can you break down who, what, where, when and why? I suspect a lot of the animosity you see coming from the press is because they KNOW that the average guy off the street can do their jobs as well or better than they can. Now if we could just find a journalist who could do what a plumber does we would have a rare find indeed.

Jan 7, 2009 - 10:45 pm 55. Phatboy:

Mike, you’re delusional if you think McCain lost because of JTP.

Jan 7, 2009 - 10:48 pm 56. DDave:

“As a staunch conservative that donates and participates within the party…”

Yeah right and I walked on the moon. I love the libs that always have to get their faux R cred before expressing their derangement syndrome.

I hope Joe does well just so I can see a few lib heads spin off and explode.

Jan 7, 2009 - 11:12 pm 57. Ezeu:

Wurzelbacher is no Hemingway.

Jan 7, 2009 - 11:16 pm 58. vivo:

Very interesting move!

I hope that it’ll be as funny as i expect, or not.

Reminds me of McCain choosing Palin . . .

Jan 7, 2009 - 11:34 pm 59. Hyphenated American:

In reality, Joe’s task would be simply to report the truth from the conflict zone. I trust him to do so much more than liberal journalists.

BTW, talking about Joe not being a true plumber because, even though he works as a plumber, he does not have a license - I don’t think any modern day “journalists” have a license. This means that they are not journalists, right?

Jan 7, 2009 - 11:36 pm 60. comatus:

I’m shocked by the incompetence of those who were entrusted to look into Joe’s background. Well, first, they got caught. But they also never got to his school records. This man is, after all, a graduate of an American high school, once thought of as a respectable intellectual achievement. He may have edited the school paper–don’t know, do ya? Nothing’s impossible: he may have paid attention in civics class. That could mean real trouble for professional journalism.

This whole thing could have been prevented if the Party had taken its task seriously, instead of trying to destroy a man by half-way measures. And to think, those were fully-qualified government employees, too. Bet they’ll never make that mistake again.

I’d bet latkas to lirahs that anybody shooting at Joe over there won’t have their credentials pass issued by Hamas, IYKWIM.

Jan 8, 2009 - 12:11 am 61. Harsh Reality:

A lot of talk about ‘experience’ here and ‘credentials’ there. Not too much talk of ‘background knowledge’, which is really where the debate should be at.

Joe might be a great fellow with a sound mind and character. He isn’t, however, schooled or versed in the labyrinthine history of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. That really ought to be a basic prerequisite for anyone - citizen or professional journalist - before taking on the task of presenting such a complicated subject to an audience on the other side of the globe.

This was a catchy PR stunt, but not a a highlight of internet media professional standards. Thumbs down.

Jan 8, 2009 - 12:23 am 62. John McLachlan:

Re: Harsh Reality: The history of a conflict and the attitude that historical costs justify and in some cases require whatever future sacrifices are required to win, seems to me an important contributing factor in the difficulty of producing an acceptable peace in the middle east. JTP does not need any in-depth knowledge about the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, if reporting is confined to describing currently occuring events, he merely needs to be able to observe them and ask for descriptions from knowledgable parties. If parties from both sides of the conflict each give a description of what is happening, then the historical context can be discussed to give an incomplete and contradictory narative of why it is happening. The question of how to bring the conflict to a halt, however, may be possible if the objectives of the warring parties were explicitly discussed and evaluated. Peace is only achievable if both parties want peace. It only takes one party to choose war and a war there shall be. JTP is probably able to observe and report upon events and his common sense will undoubtedly provide sensible questions which may allow a better understanding of the Arab-Israeli conflict than the pollitically driven MSM.

Jan 8, 2009 - 1:14 am 63. Jorge:

When a single tv news journalist (network or cable) demonstrates any real schooling or knowledge of “the labyrinthine history of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict,” you can try making that point again, Harsh Reality. Until then, however, it’s ridiculous. And those who perhaps have some knowledge but choose to lie by omission or outright (ie. Amanpour) do not count. Thumbs down to your analysis. And BTW, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict may be a complicated subject, but no more so, and arguably far less so, than many others. By your standards, who would be qualified to report on the current economic crisis for instance? I dare say no one.

Jan 8, 2009 - 1:16 am 64. kmark:

First of all, don’t flatter Joe the Plumber by comparing him to Ernest Hemingway. When Joe writes a book on par with The Old Man and the Sea, I’ll eat my hat; so far, his only book is junk. I might also add that Hemingway comparisons are a bad idea [esp on a conservative website], considering that Hemingway was an alcoholic, anti-Semitic Communist - during the Spanish Civil War he was a “journalist” for Soviet-backed newspapers. He may have been a great writer. But he was a terrible journalist.

Second, the last thing America needs is for someone from “Middle America” with no college degree, no knowledge of the history of the Arab Israeli conflict, and no Middle Eastern language to go over there and try to play reporter. Nora O’Donnell is a crazy leftist b***h, I agree. But that just means you should send someone who is an intelligent, experienced analyst, not some goofball like Joe.

Last point, you say that he will meet up with, and presumably be supervised by, Danny Seaman from the Israeli Govt Press Office. This conflict has two sides, Roger. If Joe is to be an impartial source [which I don't think you intend him to be], he should be on his own, without interference from Israel’s government.

Jan 8, 2009 - 1:36 am 65. Harsh Reality:

John, I don’t think that it benefits readers back at home to send someone into a situation rooted in historical conflict with the express intention of simply observing and relating events. Yes, anyone could theoretically do that - but could they do it well?

First of all, does Joe have any writing ability? Can he convey things artfully AND objectively? You say that it is enough for him to listen as each side gives their versions of historical context - but can Joe then question their versions effectively (spare me any references to his ambush of Obama, please) when he doesn’t know the background? No, of course he can’t.

PJM isn’t a tabloid. It doesn’t just blurt out what happened on a particular day without any back-story or educated speculation (which is all Joe could be credibly asked to do). It specialises in analysis. It gives real insight into events, not a bland recounting of them, which is all that Joe could possibly contribute.

Jorge, you can’t claim that because Group A reports the news in less than perfect fashion that Group B (who can’t even claim remedial linguistic, journalistic or historical knowledge) MUST be able to do a better job. That’s a strawman argument which I’ve noticed a number of supporters of Joe have deployed in the vain attempt to misrepresent him as a viable correspondent.

He isn’t. He’s a plumber. You need specialised skills to do that job effectively just as you need specialised skills to cover a decades-long religious/territorial war effectively. You’re wrong and so is PJM, on this score. Sorry.

Jan 8, 2009 - 1:56 am 66. Gary Rosen:

It’s gimmicky, but I’m down with it. These j-school frauds have made a bigger farce out of the media than JTP could ever be.

Jan 8, 2009 - 1:57 am 67. Harsh Reality:

Gary, if you do a really bad job of your job as an accountant, does it really follow that your gardener will be able to walk in, pull off his gloves and dive right in, sure to outdo you simply because YOUR performance was so abysmal?

Answer: he won’t outdo you, no matter how much you hype his selection. Your job requires a specific background knowledge in order to do it well. It’s common sense. Something that a bewildering number of people seem to have lost touch with.

It’s also a silly generalization to state that all coverage of the conflict has been poor or biased. Read the Jerusalem Post sometime.

Jan 8, 2009 - 2:07 am 68. Paul Sorene:

Saw this and thought you’d like it:

http://www.anorak.co.uk/politicians/199565.html

The new brown shirts…

Jan 8, 2009 - 2:37 am 69. Gary Rosen:

Harsh Reality, you could use some harsh reality. What “specific background knowledge” do today’s “journalists” have? They are all about selling a narrative, not reporting facts.

A long time ago, reporters didn’t go to journalism school. They learned on the job. It actually doesn’t take a lot of “background” to see something and then say what happened. These modern-day j-school grads are trying to portray themselves as some kind of high priesthood, but people are seeing through that now. How much “background” did Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs need to show up Dan Rather, an icon of the MSM?

Jan 8, 2009 - 3:00 am 70. Harsh Reality:

Gary, are you afflicted with some kind of ailment which forces you to use strawman arguments?

Yet again: the issue isn’t what your selectively-chosen journalists don’t possess in the way of credentials, but Joe’s lack of knowledge. Are you always so distracting and dishonest in arguments?

1) Not all journalists/writers/reporters sell narratives. Only those you choose to dislike do that. The rest work hard and try to present stories accurately and objectively. I include the contributors to PJM in that classification. Your generalizations are less than worthless as an arguing point.

2) Journalists who “once upon a time learned on the job” did so by starting on the graveyard crime beat. Or writing copy for the classifieds. They didn’t get sent off to cover a major, decades-old war.

3) Charles Johnson had the background of being a computer/graphics/web expert when he debunked Rather’s forgery. Do you think someone who didn’t know what Times New Roman font was could have done the same?

4) Your diatribes against that section of the media you hate - the “high priesthood” - is meaningless, as we’re discussing JOE’S lack of knowledge/ability, not THEIRS.

5) Can you please tell me why I need to explain these things to you?

Seriously, if all you can do - and this includes everyone - is hurl distractions, strawmen and idiotic remarks, don’t reply to me. My time is more precious than yours and I don’t want to use it up in educating simpletons.

Jan 8, 2009 - 3:15 am 71. Harsh Reality:

I assume all those people who are in favor of Joe becoming a foreign correspondent overnight are likewise in favor of affirmative action.

I mean, to hell with qualifications, right? Knowledge, study, preparation and ability be damned!

The guy managed to corner Obama and ask him one question while the cameras were rolling (which led to Obama waffling on for a few minutes), AND he’s a staunch republican… so he’s therefore qualified to report on an incredibly complex conflict which began long before he was born.

This is crap. We nail leftist idiots like Antony Lowenstein for their uneducated, ignorant diatribes against Israel, but then send a plumber to go ‘do the job right’.

This is stupid. Can no one else see that?

Jan 8, 2009 - 3:24 am 72. JF:

You are right, this is stupid.

Leave the man alone. Let’s wait and see what he finds. Maybe we will like it and maybe we won’t.

Isn’t a reporter supposed to ask questions of others and tell us what they see. What kind of background knowledge do you need to do that? “Hello, how do you feel about what is happening?” “Hi, do you have any ideas how to stop this?”

Really people.

Jan 8, 2009 - 4:00 am 73. Another View:

It’s great for Joe and Pajamas wallet. And I applaud the business decision.

Joe is learning how the world works.

But the people who think Joe really cornered or stumped Obama are nuts. The president-elect had made clear his tax plan at that time. Joe simply reflected a group people who were just anti Obama. Joe has had nothing substantial to say about his positions.

Jan 8, 2009 - 4:09 am 74. John B:

Now if we can just get Joe to run for President….

Jan 8, 2009 - 4:31 am 75. Greg:

“Joe might be a great fellow with a sound mind and character. He isn’t, however, schooled or versed in the labyrinthine history of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.”

That may be true but neither are the so-called ‘journalists’ who are there now. Oh they are schooled and versed - in the currentlt approved narrative - but don’t know or don’t care squat about the history - even recent history.

Joe would be a real ‘reporter’ from back when reporters wern’t stamped out in the Columbia Factory of “Journalism”.

Jan 8, 2009 - 6:20 am 76. hermie:

Joe asked a question. A simple, direct question to the ‘One’. The ‘One’s’ answer was exactly what he thought and what he was trying to hide from the voters. The anger against Joe was not that he ‘tricked’ the Messiah, or he ‘blindsided’ him. It was that an ordinary person asked a question of a politician who was only trying to get a nice photo-op with the ‘common folk’. It was that a ‘peon’ revealed more about the politician’s views than a gaggle of ‘professional journalists’.

The MSM nowadays is made up of left-leaning remnants of the Carter/Clinton years, or former journalism students who were indoctrinated into the belief that they were to make the news, not just report it. Guys like Woodward became rich celebrities, lauded by other celebrities, primarily because they became the story. What 20 year old wouldn’t want a Paris Hilton or Scarlett Johannson oohing and ahhing him…a real life ‘journalist’.

Jan 8, 2009 - 6:22 am 77. Hart Williams:

Hemingway didn’t have a journalism degree.
Wurtzelbacher doesn’t have a journalism degree.

Therefore, Wurtzelbacher = Hemingway?

Gee, Hemingway always said that his time at the Kansas City Star was the best education he ever got in writing.

So, therefore, as a “mystery novelist” Joe the P could write mysteries just as good as yours right out of the gate. Right?

Nice publicity stunt. Not such great logick, tho.

Jan 8, 2009 - 6:22 am 78. Cybergeezer:

This could be very embarrassing for Obama; Joe might ask him some more tough questions. And Joe might embarrass the main stream media. Go get ‘em, Joe.

Jan 8, 2009 - 6:36 am 79. Cybergeezer:

Joe is not his real name? And The isn’t his middle name? And he’s not really a plumber? What do we really know about this guy?

Jan 8, 2009 - 6:41 am 80. Alex:

I think that this issue of “Joe the Plummer reporting from Gaza” is an interesting one. The way people talk about this in partisan terms is ridiculous. This is nothing more than a business gimmick. We’ve all seen any number of flash-in-the-pan celebrities hawking some product or another. This happens to be a loosely affiliated minor political celebrity acting as draw for a conservative media outlet. I bet he came cheap and who knows it might have worked. After all, I am here, and that is saying something. Though I would identify myself as an independent, I am no fan of the recent incarnation of the Republican Party and have largely supported Democratic candidates, though not all Democratic proposals. Yes, Joe’s story is old; yes, he’s largely an unscrupulous tradesman; yes, he’s a hack that leaves me unimpressed in general; yes, I would rather see him disappear into obscurity. That said, I see no problem with some media outlet footing the bill to have him act as their reporter. I see no problem with any expansion of the free press so long as he remains a reporter and not a mouthpiece for an agenda. But, even if he is a mouthpiece for an agenda, if he is honest about it I won’t mind either, I will just look the other way. Do I think that “PajamasMedia” could and should spend their money on a more skilled writer or more informed or knowledgeable reporter, yes. This would add to their reputation, but perhaps all they are concerned with are hits on their webpage, in which case perhaps they’ve chosen wisely. Do I care if they choose to waste their money and put their reputation as a credible news source at risk, no. That is for their investors and board of directors to decide, not to mention their dedicated readers.

Jan 8, 2009 - 6:50 am 81. hermie:

Thanks to several Ohio government workers and dumpster-diving ‘journalists’, we know far more about JTP than the guy being sworn in as POTUS.

and he is still by far a better man than the people who tried to punish him.

Jan 8, 2009 - 6:52 am 82. Boyd:

Harsh said; “This is stupid. Can no one else see that?”

No, and the “unlicensed plumber” jab is the best illustration of why this is so. While Contracting Licenses are claimed to protect the public their real purpose is to reduce competition to scam profits by restricting business to the chosen few willing and able to buy their way in. It is fortunate for all of us that there is no law yet that restricts competition in the information arena. At least not till The Fairness Doctrine is pushed through.

Jan 8, 2009 - 6:56 am 83. ahem:

Mike: “your an idiot.”?

I wouldn’t be casting too many stones if I were you.

———-

Anent Joe’s experience or lack thereof: all a reporter needs is energy, the ability to elicit information, and a desire to find out the truth. Most people can do several things well. Not everyone’s a brain surgeon.

And Harsh Reality? You’re a little too harsh. Scram.

Jan 8, 2009 - 7:01 am 84. An Unsealed Room » NO, I’m NOT Worried That Joe the Plumber Will Take My Job…:

[...] why do journalists need to get their knickers in a twist about PJTV sending Joe Wurzelbacher here to get an everyman’s perspective on what’s going on in [...]

Jan 8, 2009 - 7:26 am 85. JTP Now JTR [Dan Collins]:

[...] Roger Simon at something called Pajamas Media: By now many of you have heard that Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher is leaving for Israel tomorrow to be a war correspondent for Pajamas TV.

Jan 8, 2009 - 7:26 am 86. SandraCobb.com » Blog Archive » Joe the Plumber - right place, right time:

[...] the full story at Pajama Media. Share and [...]

Jan 8, 2009 - 7:35 am 87. Rob Crawford:

“Disgusting. He’s not even a licensed plumber. His first name isn’t even Joe. He’s a fraud.”

Have you ever read anything by some guy named Samuel Clemens? He wrote under a pseudonym, never had a license to do anything, even when he was a highly-trained pilot making over $150,000 a year!

Yet he’s considered one of our greatest literary treasures, with a keen eye for humanity, and HIS reports of his travels in the Middle East are still read today.

Jan 8, 2009 - 7:57 am 88. Cybergeezer:

Joe’s going to get the news “piped” in to Pajamas Media, and not filtered by the MSM. This is going to be good!

Jan 8, 2009 - 7:57 am 89. Rob Crawford:

“Second, the last thing America needs is for someone from “Middle America” with no college degree, no knowledge of the history of the Arab Israeli conflict, and no Middle Eastern language to go over there and try to play reporter.”

Why?

How do you know he has “no knowledge of the Arab/Israeli conflict”?

What, exactly, does a college degree add to someone’s ABILITIES? Remember the Wizard of Oz? “I can’t give you a brain, but I can give you a diploma”.

Jan 8, 2009 - 8:00 am 90. Cybergeezer:

Is this a great country or what? Some uneducated plumbers helper confronts a shady politician and is elevated to an international news corespondent. No wonder the Arabs want to wipe us out.

Jan 8, 2009 - 8:02 am 91. Peter G:

It’s a great PR move - I’m hearing about it in the MSM now, which means there’s a whole new audience first hearing about Pajamas Media.

It’s also a risk. I agree that Yon and Totten are among the best Middle East journalists out there, and neither one has a background in journalism. But, they are cited because they have already proven themselves; they are known because they are great journalists. Joe the Plumber is famous for becoming a campaign issue simply by asking a question. Whether he succeeds in this venture is a great unknown. If he fails, it will make Pajamas Media look a bit silly. If he succeeds, he will increase the respect and readership of the site. More importantly, he will end up forcing the MSM to cover the story from a new angle. I like the upside.

Front page of the Washington Post this morning has a headline about the Red Cross claiming Israel is blocking aid to Gaza victims. A “fresh” perspective can’t happen soon enough.

Jan 8, 2009 - 8:04 am 92. Jimmie:

The stuff of Capra?

Not hardly. Indeed, if he hadn’t achieved some measure of fame, he wouldn’t be going, now would he? Indeed, the entire reason he’s going is because of his celebrity. Simon’s blowing smoke with his “ordinary citizen journalist” schtick.

If PJM really wanted to get “the news” about what’s happening in Israel right now, they’d send a good, but not necessarily famous, journalist of a hungry mid-level blogger looking to make his journalistic bones. They wouldn’t send the conservative equivalent of a Survivor cast member.

Jan 8, 2009 - 8:06 am 93. Phoenix48:

Judging by the traffic here Rodger Joe is going to have to throw his shoe at Nora from the audience of her next McLaughlin appearance to top this. Kuddo’s to PJ!

Anything that gets so many overpaid MSM ‘credential’d’ talking heads into open displays of whining is worth while outside the box editorial ’strat-eegery’.

Love the site, love the moxie. Make ‘09 a special year Roger.

Jan 8, 2009 - 8:19 am 94. Mike_K:

Seriously, if all you can do - and this includes everyone - is hurl distractions, strawmen and idiotic remarks, don’t reply to me. My time is more precious than yours and I don’t want to use it up in educating simpletons.

What are you doing posting on a blog, Harshy ? Taking a break from writing the docs on liar loans ?

The best part of this is the impotent rage of the lefties. The guy has shown very good poise when I’ve seen him a couple of times on TV. Maybe somebody should appoint him to the Senate from New York. They don’t seem to have any candidates with his TV presence. That’s all it takes, isn’t it ?

Jan 8, 2009 - 8:29 am 95. Sarah:

Regardless of whether or not PJM is using this as a publicity stunt or not is irrelevant.
Quite obviously you have to take everything you hear on the news every day with not just a grain of salt but a whole freaking bucket of it! Anyone that wants to gripe about Joe’s lack of qualifications is full of BS. You can become a minister by signing up over the interenet for heaven’s sake and I think that position tens to lend itself to more credibility than journalism. Have Joe print himself out a diploma and dare anyone to search through his record again to find out if he “earned” it - by the way, the lady that ILLEGALLY serached his records resigned…in fear for her family’s safety of course - God forbid she be fired for breaking the law!

Jan 8, 2009 - 8:30 am 96. Tennwriter:

The exalted standard of requiring in-depth knowledge of an arena of conflict before you can post a byline and interview folks is interesting. Perhaps PJM wants to expand beyond analysis to hard reporting. Maybe PJM is taking the Blogfather’s words to heart about how hard reporting is the killer app for the MSM. Sure, Joe is not a Philosopher King, but in the modern media, who is? Its not unjust to compare Joe to the heavily credentialed liars of the MSM, and point out that he’s better simply because he’s honest. Joe may not be a five star chef, but if most of the five star chef’s out there go dumpster diving to find maggot laden meat, then its fairly simple to be better than them.

To complete the thought of Joe’s critics for them, they don’t want to compare Joe to the current Media (even though that’s fair), but they want to compare him to some hypothetical highly educated, and yet honest man who is not named. Does Mr. Hypothetical have Joe’s advantages (well-spoken on camera, minor celebrity status, common sense….)? These are not minor things. I’m sure you could net a dozen professors who know more of the Mid-east than Joe, but how many of them are really better than Joe when all the qualifications are compared?

Jan 8, 2009 - 8:36 am 97. Joe the Plumber Plunges into Gaza « NotionsCapital:

[...] campaign is now a non-war non-correspondent covering the Israeli incursion into Gaza for some blog. He is uniquely qualified to do this, as he was briefly famous for being [...]

Jan 8, 2009 - 8:47 am 98. Ann:

I’m a pro-Israel lefty (I’m starting to feel that this makes me unique) and I am absolutely fed up with the MSM’s treatment of the Israel/Hamas conflict. I literally had to turn NPR off last week when I heard Steve Inskeep (sp?) repeatedly interrupt the Israeli ambassador to the U.S. with angry questions, while on the other hand he fell over backward to be sympathetic when interviewing a Palestinian psychiatrist about treating traumatized Palestinians. The Palestinian doc didn’t even seem all that concerned with his patients-he was just fuming about not being able to get gas for his car and not being able to go shopping. I don’t think Joe has to reach a very high standard to do better than that.

Jan 8, 2009 - 8:56 am 99. Michael:

All this sound and fury as usual doesn’t mean a thing. We will all know in a week or two if he has a natural ability to cut to the truth.

It is interesting to see the class snobbery by the left. Since he is “only” a plumber he is not good enough to do something that “must” require a degree from an overrated college.

He will do well or he won’t but I personally wish him well.

Jan 8, 2009 - 8:58 am 100. Laura:

This guy has more guts than all the idiots who will soon “occupy” the White House. America, and indeed the world, needs a “Meet John Doe” more than ever. Good luck to you Joe, may G-d bless you.

Jan 8, 2009 - 9:00 am 101. Steve P.:

This is so inane and stupid that I can’t stop laughing hysterically.

Jan 8, 2009 - 9:03 am 102. Robert Hurley:

You can always count on Roger L. Simon for a good laugh

Jan 8, 2009 - 9:10 am 103. Sissy Willis:

I caught Bret Bauer, the new Brit Hume at Fox News, reporting this wonderful coup of yours last night. Let those preening MSM “reporters” eat their hearts out. I’m smiling from ear to ear. You — and Joe the Plumber — are da man!

Jan 8, 2009 - 9:20 am 104. albie:

Harsh Reality, et al, perhaps if Joe the Plumber was the only reporter covering the story, you would have some kind of point to make. But the truth is PJM prints all kinds of analysis of the war from many different sources. Joe the Plumber is just one of them. What is the problem? People can read or watch Joe’s coverage if they wish, along with a plethora of others, and they will only be more informed from having a variety of different perspectives. All this screaming and whining is ridiculous and only makes one wonder what the screamers are so terrified of. As for the affirmative action comparison, it is you Harsh Reality drawing strawmen. There has been no enforced mandate to hire Joe the Plumber. He became popular in the marketplace of free ideas. Some people like him, some don’t. That’s the way a free society works. As for the complicated history of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, it really isn’t very complicated at all. No more than any other historical dispute and probably a lot less than many. Why you think Joe the Plumber is incapable of informing himself on Middle Eastern history is beyond me.

Jan 8, 2009 - 9:26 am 105. Bear Creek Ledger » By passing the media agenda - Joe the Plumber heads to Jerusalem:

[...] Joe the Plumber: Mr. Smith Goes to Jerusalem for Pajamas TV Everyone from CNN to gawker.com has something to say about Joe heading for the Middle East. He will appear on Fox and Friends tomorrow morning before his departure. [...]

Jan 8, 2009 - 9:40 am 106. BC:

As a PR stunt for PM, kudos to the person who thought of it. As far as it having any potential for providing genuine insight into that chronic mess over there, it is, as Jeremy Clarkson might say, complete and absolute rubbish.

Jan 8, 2009 - 9:58 am 107. Charlie (Colorado):

Harsh, I think you’re a little confused. I agree with you that Joe W’s analysis of the geopolitical situation would be of questionable value; the problem is that you’re confusing analysis with reporting. But look at what Roger is saying Joe’s charter will be: to report on the Israeli “Joes” and the effect this is having on them. What that requires is having someone with sufficient sympathy to identify with them and convey that well enough to allow a competent producer and cameraman to put it across on TV.

This is, unfortunately, not a niche that is being well served by the existing media outlets; the current situation is being covered pretty heavily by Palestinian stringers, with coverage that’s heavily slanted to Gazan concerns. This isn’t an unfair or unworthy thing to cover in itself, but it does mean there’s a market niche that is going unserved.

It’ll be more than good enough, and very useful, if all Joe does is go to Israeli shops and bars and talks with the residents about their situation. You don’t need an MA in foreign affairs to do that.

Jan 8, 2009 - 10:10 am 108. Dee:

Congrats on a fun decision!

Regarding all the angst caused by a lack of a college degree by Joe, self-education is the best education. Anyone with degrees in the social sciences, has proven the wonderful ability of reiterating whatever the prof wants. You don’t necessarily learn analytical methods but you acquire a great vocabulary.

Education is a life long venture. It only begins after your formal education is finished. For all I know, Joe’s house is filled to the rafters with books he has read, magazines he reads and owns a well used library card. Maybe he is a diligent purchaser of The Teaching Company products. I don’t know.

But this I do know, in this country, anyone,ANYONE, can aspire to become any thing they want. And a college degree may help, but is not the all end of achievement.

I wish Joe good luck. He is articulate (unlike a certain President-in-waiting), personal and comes across as sincere.

And all you naysayers, just remember, he too is a product of the MSM.

Jan 8, 2009 - 10:18 am 109. Cybergeezr:

Please don’t take me wrong; I was being facetious.
I think Joe can bring in a view to the news that an “educated”(indoctrinated) journalist is not capable of. Unlike the empty suit assuming the White House, Joe fills in his t-shirt very well.
A good laugh is healthy; Who cares where it comes from; It’s the laugh that counts. If you read all these articles and comments, you’ll see laughter is in short supply.

Jan 8, 2009 - 10:44 am 110. Still Bill:

To refer to Nora O’Donnell as a journalist or a reporter is an obscenity. Nora O’Donnell and the rest of the pontificating light weights she hangs around with in the MSM are nothing more than Democrat party shills and Barack Obama lap dogs. I hope I’m wrong Nora, because we’re stuck with him for four years, but the candidate you and the rest of your leftist hack friends carried water for during the presidential campaign has had a “deer in the headlights” expression on his face ever since election day.

Jan 8, 2009 - 10:48 am 111. George:

It’s a PR stunt, but I don’t see a big issue here. Joe Wurzelbacher seems to be qualified to ask questions and talk in front of a TV camera. He would be talking head that doesn’t have to worry about how his hair looks. I don’t see much on-camera evidence that the MSM reporters have in depth understanding of what they report on either.

I think Joe Wurzelbacher would be better suited to reporting on life Ohio. For example, he could help provide coverage of how Chrysler’s financial problems effect small businesses in Toledo. He could help gather regular guy perspectives on the recession.

Jan 8, 2009 - 10:55 am 112. Lightnin' Hopkins:

Talk about toucing a nerve. The reaction this has elicited is hilarious. The only way you could upset the trolls more is if you had the Cuda behind the camera and, I don’t know, say, Linda Tripp running the sound.

Jan 8, 2009 - 10:57 am 113. Harsh Reality:

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=9eSJuWgZGYo

“You don’t want my opinion on foreign policy… I know just enough to be dangerous.”

Wiser words have never been spoken by a man who misrepresented himself to a presidential candidate in his first on-air appearance, doesn’t pay his taxes, writes a flub memoir, then talks about starting a charity and cutting a country music album - neither of which he bothers to do.

C’mon Joe, Sam, or whatever the hell your name actually is, show us how badly you can fall on your worthless ass!

Jan 8, 2009 - 11:28 am 114. hermie:

The trolls go ballistic about JTP, and rip his lack of ‘qualifications’, and include some downright nasty insults about the man.

Yet, the same organizations who have all these ‘qualifed journalists’, have been caught peddling unfounded rumors about a McCain affair with a lobbyist (NYT); outright lies about Palin’s son (Atlantic Monthly and MSNBC); complete fabrications of stories in the war zone (TNR); spiking stories to gain favor of brutal dictators (CNN); using forged documents to attempt to effect the outcome of an election (CBS); revealing government intelligence programs which were found to be legal and yet still supported by the ‘One’ (NYT); and of course, complete lack of curiosity about the background of a Presidential candidate’s history (MSM).

Jan 8, 2009 - 11:28 am 115. Harsh Reality:

Hermie, are you thick?

Media misbehaviour doesn’t somehow elevate Joe Wankerbacher’s ability to function as a war correspondent. It’s a distraction from the basic, undeniable fact that Sammy-Joe is a loud-mouthed dolt who lied to the man who will next be President when he got his chance to speak straight with him.

He’s no improvement on the status quo. The status quo can, at least, SPELL.

Oh, and do remember, Obama’s presidency means death for Israel. Sammy-Joe said so.

Jan 8, 2009 - 11:42 am 116. Grover:

#11 Fernanado: Could you even speak or write a sentence without using the F word? PJM you should block such language. It does no good to censure it with asterisks; we all know what word was intended.
#19 Robert: While I can agree with you about the media with the most truth, the MSM does not report on the blogs. But they have no other option than to follow JTP’s lead. I love to think about a MSM ‘black eye’. They need it! GO GET ‘EM, JOE AND GOD BLESS.

Jan 8, 2009 - 11:57 am 117. Ozone9999:

Good foor Joe! I know this just frosts the MSNBCites’ backside. The people at MSNBC, CNN and their ilk have hate agendas that they want to cloud America with. Joe, with no agenda, just wants the unclouded truth to be available to the people of America.

Jan 8, 2009 - 12:14 pm 118. jungus:

Joe the Plumber is every bit able to do a good job reporting. It might be nice to have someone seeing this from an “inexperienced” perspective. (I think harsh must be a journo himself and is being rubbed raw from just the thought of JTP) However, I think few people in the U.S. have not heard about this conflict for most of their lives an don’t know something about it. Still, basic questions about fundamental issues here may need to be asked again.
But what gets all the other trolls and haters going about Joe is the fact that he asked one (out of many) question to a liberal that no journalist bothered to. (Well, maybe some did, but it did not get the exposure that JTP did.) That is why I like this move by PJM. It will more likely get some questions asked (and answered) that I want to hear. Isn’t that what people ask for in their news? And the fact that Joe in a question to Barak spoke truth to power.
I am sorry for you trolls that say “Joe is not really his name”. Maybe you should show us your real names. How about Joe not having a specific license? Wasn’t he still able to work legally? And your dumpster diver journos couldn’t dig up anyone to say that Joe did a bad job. As for media misbehavior and the status quo, anyone can use spell CHECK, and a loss in value of one will always elevate the value of the other. Joe will be judged by his own reporting, not any of your wishful thinking.
So for one that stands with all the lovers of freedoms (the freedom to choose your job, ask questions even if they are relevant, and the freedom think for oneself) I applaud Pajamas Media for this move.

Jan 8, 2009 - 12:18 pm 119. Carla:

The loud mouth dolt seems to be you, Harsh Reality. Why on earth do you care so much if Joe the Plumber goes to Israel and does some reporting for PJM? My goodness, you are practically foaming at the mouth with condescension. Get a grip. Take a Prozac or something. All that rage isn’t good for you.

Jan 8, 2009 - 12:20 pm 120. go joe go joe go joe:

Finally some real reporting, I bet you won’t find candy a*****s obermeyer over there

Jan 8, 2009 - 12:23 pm 121. Ster:

He has as much training as Kos! And I bet the left wingers never thought of that.

Jan 8, 2009 - 12:34 pm 122. Carl Gordon:

It’s really difficult, given the plethora of real and suspect facts that just keep getting flung in from various pro and con sources, to get an tangible and dispassionate grasp on who/what/why this is all happening. For every reasoned plea for civility based on one or the other country’s right to exist, there’s at least dozens of rabid rants and disengaged diatribes flung with equal fervor, clouding the already muddled issues. It’s a lot like having bees run loose in your head.

As part of my hopefully not-pointless attempts at community integration, and in the hopes of both sides returning to the austere table of reason and justice, I’m further continuing with my exploitation of the different faiths available 24 hour in my village in the hopes of gaining erudition and perhaps chasing the spooks of bedlam away. Because I care!

Today I attended seasonal bung service at the Zion Christian Church (ZCC). From what I’ve gleaned from the disinformation of their web site so far, the ZCC pastor has the largest member of all the churches in my village. I believe the ZCC has grey and roan foal origins, related to Gum Legs, which I bet the entire family fortune on in the 5th at Santa Anita, only to end in disappointment whence he slipped on the errant stool left from the previous $10,000 claimer. It’s easy to know who ZCC members are in the community because they all wear a miniature commode tool over a small piece of green felt, cut in the shape of their favorite cookie. Both of the General Duty Bottoms (short for assistants) in my surgical Johnson clinic are ZCC members. Non-ZCC members are sworn to a vow of silence, uncovered and forced to engage in the ZCC and their odd rituals, I was warned. Today as the clinic driver was transporting me home, I mentioned ZCC and he laughed. He said that the ZCC do indeed have some odd rituals, among them drinking lots of instant coffee, sticking a metal pipe in their “output” to induce free flow, listening to “Bob and Ray Show” reruns, and jumping while simultaneously venting and singing. Well, at the service I attended I observed none of these odd rituals except the coffee and the jumping/venting/singing thing. I was especially happy about being left out of the metal pipe to the “output” ritual!

Jan 8, 2009 - 12:40 pm 123. Robert Hurley:

I definitely think it is a great idea. He talks your language and will bring the insight of a average joe plumber - no experience or knowlege of the area or the dynamics in the Middle East- When has that stopped anyone here from rendering his or her opinion. Sending joe to report on the conflict is like sending a diplomat to fix you plumbing. Great theater

Jan 8, 2009 - 1:42 pm 124. ThinkingPerson:

Why are Pat and SteveP and Vivo and Robert Hurley threatened by a common man going over to report what’s going on in his view? Hmmm….. Guess they’re not used to having their news without having first gone through the liberal wingnut filter. Laughable how peeved they are that “a plumber” would have the audacity to go over, have a look and tell the folks back home what’s going on. Should we instead send our ole pal Katie Couric? I’m guessing all of her mascara wouldn’t make it through customs. Hahahahahaha! GO JOE!

Jan 8, 2009 - 2:01 pm 125. JG Eytel:

The left wing loonies are going apoplectic again. “Joe the Plumber” elicited a clear response from the “One” in Toledo, Ohio when the Messiah responded he wanted to “Share the wealth”. That was ACE reporting. The driveby media obsfucates the truth and serves up a plethora of “airy fairy” news. The reportage rantings of so called elite journalists
just fuels Right Wing’s fire. Keep up the good work.

Jan 8, 2009 - 2:02 pm 126. Chaz:

The dude isn’t an “everyman.” He’s just a freaking idiot. Congrats, you guys make the right look great everyday.

Jan 8, 2009 - 2:07 pm 127. Kevin:

Joe the Plumber a reporter? Get out of here! Next you will be telling us that a community organizer, first-term Senator with no executive level experience and a plethora of dubious personal connections will be elected POTUS!! What was that? Really? Oh.

Jan 8, 2009 - 2:33 pm 128. jungus:

What I don’t get is how people get it into their head that Joe is crazy, frightening, or an idiot. They guy usually spot on with comments and concerns.
It makes you guys look ideologically sterile.

Jan 8, 2009 - 2:47 pm 129. Diane:

Ah, but what happens if Joe says something spectacularly stupid or inaccurate? Or if he reports stuff that’s not consistent with PJM’s political outlook (say he trashes the IDF)? That’s the real test, Simon. Will you muzzle him or will you see your MSM nose-thumbing gambit out to the end, whatever that may be?

Jan 8, 2009 - 3:01 pm 130. fred:

My guess is that Joe Wurtzelbacher probably has better narrative instincts that most of the Lefty loons out there. He does not strike me as the kind of guy who will rely on “stringers” to bring in the bacon for Hamas. He asked Barack Obama a tough question, and then took massive heat for doing so. In fact, all the tough Obama operatives in the Ohio state government went into panic mode afterwards, trying to get the dirt to fling at him.

Joe clearly makes certain people uncomfortable, which is fine with me. They deserve a red hot poker shoved up their asses.

Jan 8, 2009 - 3:02 pm 131. Cybergeezer:

If I was Joe, I’d take out a big life insurance policy; Every one knows how the rabid left hates the guy for exposing “The One” and I would not put it past them to have him exterminated. With the publicity he’s received, he’s as well known and recognized around the world as “The One”. And I’m sure the U.S. main stream media is busy emailing and faxing Joe’s picture to every Arabic news outlet they can find.

Jan 8, 2009 - 3:02 pm 132. Cybergeezer:

If Joe hasn’t left yet, how about scheduling a huge bon voyage party for him January 20th in New York?

Jan 8, 2009 - 3:07 pm 133. jungus:

Diane I have to admit that is one of the things everyone will be looking for. Are we (mostly those of us to the Right of DU) correct in thinking that anyone can do a reporter’s job?
And can this man that asked a question of Obama that we wanted asked continue in this manner?
I really think he can, but thinking isn’t doing, and Joe will do or fail. I feel that the MSM is already failing me, so I see nothing for us to lose.

Jan 8, 2009 - 3:22 pm 134. MichaelC:

But for the very personal hatred for Mr. Wurzelbacher being constantly expressed by Harsh Reality, whose screen name I first thought rather stupid but now confess to its appropriate descriptive power concerning his character, I would not have bothered to enter this thread. HR, you are becoming progressively more agitated at the acceptance by so many of Joe the person that I am wondering if he’s the guy that’s been slipping it to your wife on the sly. I mean, what the hell is wrong with you anyway that not only must you cast aspersions on Joe but have also felt it necessary to fling your poo at anyone who might feel positive about Joe’s new undertaking?

I know you won’t admit to this but your collection of petty posts in this thread show all of us here a lot more about you than they do about Joe.

Jan 8, 2009 - 3:28 pm 135. Norma:

GOOD FOR HIM! This is the USA - he’s free to go where he likes.

The only thing is once in Israel, he may find (’specially at this particular time) he may not be able to go in the places he’d like…..nor ask the questions he’d like to receive. The MSM will “mold” the whole story. But this too, should be a learning experience for “Joe”

Jan 8, 2009 - 3:43 pm 136. ThinkingPerson:

#126 Chaz…You’re the type that really believes Alex Trebek knows all the Jeopardy answers. Welcome to the real world Chaz. Real people report news as they see it. Journalism is dead. At this point, Joe the Plumber has as much credibility and credentials as Keith Olbermaniac.

Jan 8, 2009 - 4:13 pm 137. ThinkingPerson:

Addendum to #136….I’d like to add “and probably more.” to the end of my comment!

Jan 8, 2009 - 4:24 pm 138. paul_unalaska:

Like many of us, I watched the Hurricane Katrina aftermath on t.v.

There was a clip where Anderson Cooper was in Biloxi (We only had CNN on t.v. in McGrath, Alaska at that time. Not my chioce!) and he was yucking it up, laughing, etc., The guy didn’t realize he was on-air. A split second later he was given the word he was ‘On’, he then composed himself, put back that look of anguish on his face (similar to the bearded guy who asks for your ‘cost of a cup of coffee’ to help these children) and head bent down in sorrow. What a *ingleberry!

Whether Wurzelbacher makes it or breaks it, he’s a much welcomed and needed reprieve from that Cooper dimwit. Good luck Mr, Wurzelbacher..

Jan 8, 2009 - 4:47 pm 139. stuart Williamson:

Joe and PJTV do not consider what he’s doing to be “journalism” - it is simply “reporting” - remember, what newspapermen used to do before they started going to college and getting MA’s, and figuring that put them in the same class as physicists and lawyers?

As for a “journalist” working hard to achieve an MA in International Relations: what’s so tough about just feeding back to the professors what they’ve pounded into you? Nowadays that’s all it takes to get an A - just like in Journalism, or environmentalism, or in women’s studies.

This whole elitism of meaningless academic “degrees” is what has brought us to a culture where biased political commentary is accepted as the norm.

Jan 8, 2009 - 4:51 pm 140. GaryB:

Did anyone ever watch the complete Fox footage of Joe asking his question and Obama answering? The guy (Joe, not Obama) had pretty much no clue regarding the real issues (tax and otherwise) that affect small businesses. As a real small business owner, I was absolutely stunned (and more than a little disappointed) that John McCain would make this limelight seeking poser his poster boy for American small business. The guy is a misinformed soundbite in search of a microphone. Well, I guess it’s better to have him in Israel than D.C.; got enough of those in D.C.

Jan 8, 2009 - 5:02 pm 141. tanstaafl:

I like Joe very much, and, listening to him following his unplanned meeting with Barack Obama in the street outside his house, he made infinite sense.

The inquiries into his background and attempts to destroy him, on behalf of the entrenched media and those who targeted him in Ohio, are…here comes the word…chilling.

It’s funny (and pathetic) when lockstep and, effectively, brain dead “journalists” try to argue that Joe Wurzelbacher doesn’t have the right stuff.

Jan 8, 2009 - 5:03 pm 142. Sissy Willis:

Roger L. Simon is a genius

Jan 8, 2009 - 5:20 pm 143. MMK:

Hey everyone, I can REALLY tick off Harsh Reality. Watch!

Sarah Palin…Sarah Palin…Sarah Palin

Jan 8, 2009 - 5:20 pm 144. paul_unalaska:

To be a t.v. personality requires only a 2 year degree (*ell, Letterman was a ‘Weatherman’ before making it big).

The late Peter Jennings was one of the best news anchors of the 20th/ 21st Century. Extremely sharp and top of his field as a ME, SE Asia correspondent. All this from a Canadian H.S. dropout.

I suspect that’s why Brokaw didn’t like Jennings much. He actually used his gray matter..

Jan 8, 2009 - 5:33 pm 145. Fred:

Hey Roger, thanks for censoring my comments… good to see you are no different from most conservatives when it comes to consenting opinions. But you’ll DEFINITELY be featured on my next show, so don’t miss out. http://blogtalkradio.com/igotmyreasons 8 PM EST. I’d ask you to call in but you clearly don’t have the balls.

Jan 8, 2009 - 5:34 pm 146. tanstaafl:

I’d support a Petraeus/Palin ticket in a heartbeat.

(and be deliriously happy that there were still individuals willing to be part of public life who “got it”)

I would support a Palin/Wurzelbacher ticket. These are separate and, individually, articulate individuals who understand and support the founding principles of America.

Jan 8, 2009 - 5:39 pm 147. John B:

@123 Hurley said Joe has; ” no experience or knowlege of the area or the dynamics in the Middle East- ”

I think every commenter here got a pretty good handle on the “dynamics in the Middle East” before the afternoon was finished on 9-11-01. We all already know the high esteem the Arab world has for the American Great Satan, we have all seen the photos of the joyous celebration held on Arab Street when the news of the destruction of the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon hit the TV in Gaza.

Nothing will change my low opinion, or probably the rest of main street America, about the middle east, at least JTP probably won’t be sugar coating the news in quite the same manner as the apologists on CNN and MSNBC.

‘Bout time.

Jan 8, 2009 - 6:10 pm 148. paul_unalaska:

JohnB, hat-tip…

Jan 8, 2009 - 6:12 pm 149. ~Paules:

Yon and Totten have done exemplary journalistic service in the region. They represent journalism in the tradition of Ernie Pyle. The two of them waded into the morass with boots on the ground and eyes wide open. When we were losing, they said so without apology. When the tables turned, they were on the ground to report how and why the U.S. had suddenly snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.

Contrast the efforts by Yon and Totten with the MSM. The world media hunkered down in the Green Zone and relied on stringers to bring in the story. They then spun the “news” according to a preconceived narrative. The stories were phony and the analysis was contrived. Yon and Totten went digging for the truth. The MSM were content to provide a “story.”

I am annoyed with Roger Simon for hiring Joe Wurzelbacher. I would have made a formal application for citizen journalist had I known the position was open. I’ll just have to content myself (and I do!) for a brilliant move. Brilliant! And I will be so bold as to offer some advice based on experience.

Joe, are you listening? You must take the time to immerse yourself in the culture. Perspective based on a thousand conversations with the local people (both Pali and Israeli) will prove far more valuable than the instant gratification you might get from covering a sudden explosion. Roger, you need a Joe the Plumber Fund. Yon and Totten were kept in the field with private donations. You need to do the same.

Time. Joe, please take the requisite time to do the job well. I am deeply envious of your opportunity. Don’t worry too much if your editor has to spruce up your prose for publication. If you can provide honest insights, the rest will fall into place. Don’t do a drive-by. Take the Yon and Totten approach. Immerse yourself. The investment will pay dividends.

Do I sound a wee bit arrogant? Well, maybe. But then I can honestly claim to have carried a gun on the Golan Heights. And I once made love to an Israeli girl in a bomb shelter. I think that much qualifies me to give advice. More than anything the MSM has to offer. And Joe, see that you do the same. Immerse yourself. Live, talk, eat, and sweat with the locals. I’ll buy you a beer when you get back.

Roger, you owe me a bourbon. Maker’s Mark will do. Bill Whittle owes me two bottles. But I am magnanimous. We’ll share them someday when we can get together.

Jan 8, 2009 - 6:19 pm 150. Hyphenated American:

Talking about qualifications - Joe is a military veteran. Do you know any MSM reporters, reporting about the Gaza conflict who served in the military? No? Well, Joe is more qualified, period.

To the guy who said that “The guy (Joe, not Obama) had pretty much no clue regarding the real issues (tax and otherwise) that affect small businesses.” -explain who knew more about small business, Joe or Obama…

Jan 8, 2009 - 6:23 pm 151. fred:

Joe is a breath of fresh air, in a country where a clown with no real intellect like Al Franken going to the U.S. Senate. Now, that’s truly an embarrassment.

Paules, you may yet get your chance to cover a war in Israel. Hizb’allah is now opening up a new front. I hope the IDF and IAF can handle a two front war.

Time to kick the minions of Allah right in the seat of the pants.

Jan 8, 2009 - 7:05 pm 152. Scot:

go Joe
As for CNN, I am still waiting for someone who will report the facts, without spin
As for most main stream media, I stopped watching some years back

Jan 8, 2009 - 7:23 pm 153. Dee:

MMK-stop making me laugh. I have a broken rib and laughing makes it hurt.

Jan 8, 2009 - 7:30 pm 154. ~Paules:

@fred

I would gladly accept the opportunity to cover the Golan provided I can back the camera with something that spits .45 at short range. That’s just my particular prejudice. Idiot conservative that I am.

Jan 8, 2009 - 7:44 pm 155. hanoi paris hilton:

Over at Harry’s Place, a fairly well-read British blog that tilts center-right, but with quite its share of rabid anti-Zionist commenters, there’s been a major thread today on PJTV’s upcoming engagement of the unlicensed plumber as an unlicensed war correspondent.

If the link I’m attaching here below doesn’t come up, just Google your way there.

Jan 8, 2009 - 8:27 pm 156. Judith:

If Joe’s celebrity helps Israel get a fair shake of the coverage, w/ reporters going to visit the bombshelters or experiencing a Red Alert w/ 15 seconds to take cover, than it’s a giant plus. Today, a ball-bearing Katusha rocket from Lebanon hit a nursing home in Naharyah filled w/ holocaust survivors who had no warning or time to take cover( aside from traumatic shock, they miraculously survived.) That’s an interesting human interest story from many angles…one of millions that go unreported in the MSM bc/ their reporters are busy getting thier news feed from Hamas pr. or stringers as the fancy CNN correspondent stands confined to hill to watch a fire-bomb from afar.

Actually, some of the best reporters just shut-up & let their interviewee talk (unlike Geraldo, where the story is always about him.) So, if all Joe does is go on location in Sederot or Ashkelon or Beer-Sheva & points his camera at the Israelis living in bunkers or playing Russian roulette w/ the raining terror bombs, than his coverage will be heads above all the other highfalutin “journalists” of MSM

Jan 8, 2009 - 8:40 pm 157. Harsh Reality:

MMK, I’m sorry to rain on your parade, but I like Sarah Palin. Was she qualified to be VP? No. But from what I can tell, she seems like a decent, honest person who was badly mistreated by the liberal media.

As you for Neanderthals who are so blinded with partisan rage that you can openly propose a man who has lied at least twice on camera - once to the face of a presidential candidate - a man with no qualifications AT ALL, for the office of President HIMSELF… you are too stupid to communicate with.

So here’s my response, in your language:

Gruntgruntdroolgrumblegrumblesquealgruntgrowlsnortscreech!

Jan 8, 2009 - 8:59 pm 158. Scotty:

Wow you people must be morons, really I hope this setting you guys back budget wise.

Jan 8, 2009 - 9:07 pm 159. Harsh Reality:

Here’s more of Sammy-Joe doing that smart-talk of his. Somebody make him a purr-fesser or prez-dent or sumfin!

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=_KhV7DJMM4A&feature=related

You people idolize THIS guy? Are your standards truly THIS low? He grumbles a few conservative buzzwords, repeatedly misuses the word ’socialist’ (because he clearly doesn’t know what it means) and acts like a typical opportunistic piece of white trash.

THIS MAN, you idolize. Is it any wonder that liberals mock you? Look in the damned mirror sometime.

What PJM SHOULD have done, was give an open invitation to their readers to submit applications to cover the conflict as a citizen journalist. Would journalism credentials be required? No, but as I said many, many posts ago, knowledge of the conflict would have been needed for effective questioning.

The next Totten or Yon might have been discovered. A real talent which will now remain undiscovered. This was a mistake: what we have instead is a cheap stunt, a PR grab which will result in nothing insightful. But hey, now Sammy-Joe can brag that he’s not only a liar and tax-evader but a failed plumber, failed author, failed country singer, failed would-be congressman AND a failed war correspondent. Woo-hoo!

Go to hell, Joe. You represent all of the bad qualities of modern pseudo-conservatism (dumb people who think they are conservatives but don’t know what the word actually means) and none of the good.

You don’t speak for me, so when you see a camera, shut your mouth and walk in the opposite direction.

Jan 8, 2009 - 9:14 pm 160. NotRepubandProudofit:

Joe the Plummer is a perfect mascot for the current republican party: a media-created figure who was unambitious enough to forgo his plumbing license; didn’t pay taxes; and made $40,000 per year. Yet, now, he is the “everyman” who was held up as an economics expert by John McCain and Sarah Palin and now, a foreign correspondent, as well. LMAO!

Here’s to anti-intellectualism and elevating the “everyman (or woman)!”

Jan 8, 2009 - 9:14 pm 161. Lightnin' Hopkins:

Aside from “quiet time”, how are you enjoying the first grade, Harsh? Everything okay?

Jan 8, 2009 - 9:15 pm 162. Harsh Reality:

If all you can hurl at me in response is lame ad-hominem attacks, I will accept them for what they are - default gestures of abject surrender.

Jan 8, 2009 - 9:28 pm 163. vivo:

124. ThinkingPerson:

“Why are . . . and Vivo and . . . threatened by a common man going over to report what’s going on in his view?”

You’re not thinking, well . . . reading. I said:

“Very interesting move!

I hope that it’ll be as funny as i expect, or not.”

Your “thinking” is clouded by so much bias. Or change your name.

Jan 8, 2009 - 10:31 pm 164. Stephen Kaus:

If you buy what Joe is selling, then you are confirming that you have moved beyond reasoned discourse to the realm of the know-nothings.

Jan 8, 2009 - 11:34 pm 165. Gary Rosen:

Lots of good responses to HR, especially albie (#104) and Charlie Colorado (#107)

“My time is more precious than yours”

Right, that’s why you spend so much of it on your bloviating posts. Without knowing what you do, there’s a lot better chance I can do your job than you can do my job.

Jan 8, 2009 - 11:44 pm 166. Fen:

“Gary, if you do a really bad job of your job as an accountant, does it really follow that your gardener will be able to walk in, pull off his gloves and dive right in, sure to outdo you simply because YOUR performance was so abysmal? Answer: he won’t outdo you, no matter how much you hype his selection.”

Wrong. If your accountant is a corrupt weasel, a squirel could walk in and do a better job on your books.

Jan 9, 2009 - 2:11 am 167. erik:

You people are off your rockers. The problem in America is rewarding idiots that do nothing, with everything. The problem in America is everyone loves the Corporate Media without question. The problem with America is you are so dumbed down, I can’t imagine it getting any worse.

Orwell was right…and I think he was dead on with 1984.

Jan 9, 2009 - 2:39 am 168. islamicdumper:

Isn’t it common that the detracters always attack with either filthy language or something that has nothing to do with the point. If you are against America then get off this website, you pack of anti American losers. Joe has done nothing more than ask good questions.You don’t like the questions because they emphasize what you want hidden.

Jan 9, 2009 - 5:43 am 169. Michelle Malkin » Who’s afraid of Joe the Journalist?:

[...] More details on JTP and PJTV here. [...]

Jan 9, 2009 - 6:38 am 170. Mike:

I think it’s a great idea to get someone who has enough snap to at least ask a direct and intelligent question. I’ve been impressed with Joe in all of the interviews I’ve seen of him. College degrees don’t necessarily impart intelligence or even commonsense. Joe seems to have both in abundance.

I’d also be very surprised if all the news we see on mainstream media about the conflict in Gaza is reported by “international experts.” Most of it seems to be filtered for the reporters by higher-ups, who have an obvious agenda, or from Hamas-fied sources.

What does it take to become an “expert” journalist in international matters anyways? Mainly just putting time in reporting on international matters I’d imagine. Nobody is an “expert” right out of college. Reporting on an anti-Israel demonstration in France is probably no different than covering one in San Francisco. Same fools acting violent and chanting the same tired “death to this and that.” Just in a different language.

You don’t need a license to be a reporter, and you certainly don’t have to be very bright either. Just turn on your local news to catch the latest vacuous airhead asking completely retarded questions about a criminal trial or city budget meeting.

Or better yet, watch the mainstream “expert” media to see the Hamas back-patting that’s subbing for real “news” now. Objectivity seems to have gone out the window long before Israel decided to finally, after thousands of rockets hitting their cities, return fire. Where are the human shield stories? The Hamas vows to destroy Israel charter stories? Where were the thousands of rocket stories before this latest defensive move by the IDF?

I don’t even have MSNBC, CBS, or CNN programmed on my TV remote anymore - they all sucked so badly during the presidential election process it made me sick to watch.

So, I have to say “Good Luck and Godspeed” to Joe!

Oh and watch your back around those hopefully soon-to-be upstaged “international experts.”

Jan 9, 2009 - 7:26 am 171. stevent12x:

I hope everyone above me saw Joe’s interview on Fox News in which he talked about the preparation needed for this little publicity stunt which including watching the media to learn how to “pronounciate” the names correctly…

Joe the Plumber is the new William Hung (remember that guy, from American Idol?): He made a fool of himself in front of the nation, but then - lo and behold! - found out that in this great country you can make quite a career out of making of fool of yourself.

Jan 9, 2009 - 7:36 am 172. jnratliff:

This is the most funny thing I have ever heard. LOL.
This has to be something thought up by a republidiot?
There is nothing more stupid then a republican, never has been and never will be anything on this planet that can equal the ignorance of a republican.
You see to be a good republican you must first discard reason and accountability, intelligence, honor and honesty. Then adapt the ability to ignore any situation that does not directly affect. And finally adopt the greed first all else second mantra. Then and only then can you be a goooooood republican!

Jan 9, 2009 - 7:54 am 173. tanstaafl:

Reading the comments (quickly, maybe someone mentioned this…), I recalled the brouhaha around the start of the Iraq war when it was revealed that CNN had intentionally suppressed information about Saddam Hussein’s atrocities.

Apparently, the news organization didn’t want to incur Saddam’s wrath and get kicked out of the country.

These days, Anderson Cooper’s personal lack of objectivity comes through loud and clear, even though he may think it is successfully repressed when he is in front of the camera.

In fact, all in the entrenched media are transparent as hell.

Jan 9, 2009 - 8:12 am 174. ThinkingPerson:

Re Vivo…I shan’t change my name as per your request. Sorry. It’s very fitting for moi. Not sure what the hell Vivo refers to but it’s not nearly as colorful as mine wouldn’t you agree? Now on to your assertion that I was wrong in my assuming that you and your left wingnut compadres being threatened by dear Joe going over to report on the Israel/Hamas confrontation…I stand by my statement. You can chuckle your nervousness away all you want but it’s clear from your post and others that you aren’t in favor of an everyman reporting without your liberal spoonfed press sweetening it all up for you first. I know that to be fact because that’s the only way you all swallowed a heaping portion of Obama the “community organizer” without even bothering to wonder why your MSM didn’t even scratch the surface about him. Again…you are threatened by the thought of hearing what might be really going on with MSDNC telling you first. Welcome to your reality Vivo!

Jan 9, 2009 - 8:23 am 175. JB:

Joe and Palin drive the libs and their buddies in the MSM completely banana’s and foaming out the mouth insane. I am loving every minute of this! GO JOE! Get the truth out about the baby raping terrorist’s and the lies being spread by the MSM about Israel. Their name is Hamas and they need to be completely destroyed or killed. It wouldn’t hurt if the MSM stopped working with Hamas and helping to spread their propaganda either…

Jan 9, 2009 - 8:30 am 176. Pat J:

I’m not threatened by this “common man.” Hell I’m more common than he is some ways. I don’t get to ask presidential candiates questions, I don’t get my name mentioned during a presidential debate. I haven’t written my memoirs, I didn’t start my own watchdog group and I don’t have my own agent. Chances are I probably make less money than good ole’ Joe.

Like Joe, I owe taxes and I’m not a licensed plumber. And that’s about all we have in “common” as regular middle class guys.

I see this as what it is. A crude joke. A PR stunt for Pajamas TV. And above all another low blow to a once noble profession and an insult to all credible journalists whether they be liberal, conservative, or objective.

Jan 9, 2009 - 8:43 am 177. tanstaafl:

You see to be a good republican you must first discard reason and accountability, intelligence, honor and honesty. Then adapt the ability to ignore any situation that does not directly affect…

I’m neither a Republican nor a Democrat, but this part of your description (at least) rather matches today’s typical Democrat voter.

(oh wait, the typical Democrat voter has no reason, intelligence, honor et al. and etc. to discard in the first place…never mind )

Jan 9, 2009 - 8:49 am 178. Lightnin' Hopkins:

“If all you can hurl at me in response is lame ad-hominem attacks, I will accept them for what they are - default gestures of abject surrender.”

Sorry, my French is a little rusty.

Speaking of ad-hominem attacks, what do you think calling people stupid Neanderthals amounts to? Lighten up, take a vacation, rent “Shock Corridor” or something - whatever helps. You’re making me wistful for Jay’s posts and I would’ve thought that impossible before reading this thread.

Jan 9, 2009 - 8:54 am 179. tanstaafl:

The whole common man v. the un-or non- common man juxtaposition is just another one of those thingies y’all got pounded into your heads during your (so called) eddukashuns.

black/white, rich/poor, young/old, female/male…whew, typer’s cramp coming on…you guys have been conditioned to think of the planet in pairs of opposites.

Naturally, then, some natively highly intelligent guy like Joe Wurzelbacher wouldn’t be “qualified” to report to y’all from the field in the middle east.

You prefer getting your “gnus” from the canned, the biased and the brain dead.

You’ve been trained well for the coming New World Order.

Jan 9, 2009 - 8:56 am 180. stu philler:

good! keep that loser there and make this country a tiny bit better.

Jan 9, 2009 - 8:56 am 181. Horace Wells:

Joe the Plumber and Sarah Palin are the darlings of today’s retardo-cons cause they represent them so well: ignorant, shallow, common, kneejerk and utterly lacking in self knowledge. The same low class yahoos that admire Palin admire Joe, cause they actually think that being stupid, shallow and smug are virtues. Like wow, Sarah runs a state that is back door funded by business royalties and earmarks and she and Joe the Plumber then babble about wealth redistribution as if they just discovered the Rosetta Stone and only Obama would do that.
What would you call McCain’s tax credits for health insurance thenor Bush’s Rx Drug Plan? HMMMM Concepts of irony and hypocrisy are lost on the stupid.

Jan 9, 2009 - 9:01 am 182. Horace Wells:

Yeah, and a 3rd rate Hollywood hack like Roger Simon, of Moses Wine fame, must really be proud that the morons on the right admire him now that he has licked the boots of every left of the bell curve yahoo they admire.

Jan 9, 2009 - 9:05 am 183. Joe The Journalist to Report on Gaza - graZnar!:

[...] According to a blog post by Roger Simon, chief executive and founder of Pajamas Media, on the company’s web site, Joe the Reporter will focus on covering “the West Bank, Bethlehem (to investigate conditions for Christians there), southern Israel where the missiles are falling and, of course, as close as he can get to the Gaza border.” [...]

Jan 9, 2009 - 9:07 am 184. Dee:

Roger-
Did you realize how much rancor would arise from assigning JTP as a reporter? Wow! These folks need some anger management training.

Jan 9, 2009 - 9:53 am 185. ThinkingPerson:

Re Horace Wells….You can keep lambasting Sarah Palin for all you’re worth but we’re adding to our “Democrats Who Are Ignorant Beasts” list…Let’s see…Caroline Kennedy (boy, talk about your “qualifications” there eh?), Blago (what a Democrat gem!!), Sanjay Guptah (nothing like a media-doctor for Surgeon General!!), Joe Biden (I could write reams on that goofball) and on and on. So, what sort of “low-class yahoos” (sorry, borrowed YOUR term) would look up to these yabo’s as the best the U.S. has to offer? Hmmm….guess Horace would! Go ahead and be smug friend…we Republicans are laughing now at Obama’s apparent lack of being able to “organize” his own Democratic party. Just refer to Diane Feinstein in your Yahoo browser. Heheheh…. And to think, we get FOUR years to point out the liberal shortcomings!

Jan 9, 2009 - 9:56 am 186. canditaylor:

Godspeed Joe. Stay safe.

Jan 9, 2009 - 10:07 am 187. Mike:

“You see to be a good republican you must first discard reason and accountability, intelligence, honor and honesty. Then adapt the ability to ignore any situation that does not directly affect…”

“Joe the Plumber and Sarah Palin are the darlings of today’s retardo-cons cause they represent them so well: ignorant, shallow, common, kneejerk and utterly lacking in self knowledge.”

This is so funnny.

To be a good non-retardo Democrat all it takes is a false voter registration and the ability to phrase “Obama gonna pay my mortgage . . .”

Jan 9, 2009 - 10:25 am 188. urbanleftbehind:

As long as he looks and the camera and says “Joe Wurzelbach (i/o Joe the Plummer) reporting from Gaza”, he deserves a fair shake.

Jan 9, 2009 - 11:08 am 189. Jason:

If Joe the Plumber goes to Southern Israel I hope a rocket lands right on his head.

Jan 9, 2009 - 11:22 am 190. Lightnin' Hopkins:

Jason came out and said what all the preceding angry trolls were afraid to say, in one concise sentence. Congratulations on your triumphant d*****baggery, Jason. Stay classy!

Jan 9, 2009 - 11:45 am 191. JGoodson:

I am greatly looking forward to Joe’s accurate reporting. How refreshing to hear the truth for a change. Kyra P. was so bad that Fox dumped her and she had to get a job at cnn. GO JOE!!!!

Jan 9, 2009 - 11:58 am 192. Mike:

Jason,
Everyone knows that Hamas rockets are harmless. I guess you didn’t get the memo.

Jan 9, 2009 - 12:10 pm 193. Mike G:

OK…now it’s time for Howard Stern to send Hank the angry drunken dwarf!

Jan 9, 2009 - 1:59 pm 194. vivo:

174. ThinkingPerson:

“but it’s clear from your post and others that you aren’t in favor of an everyman reporting”

Wrong again. I welcome different opinions. You just hate the idea that people can be open minded.

Jan 9, 2009 - 2:41 pm 195. David N:

Why would I want to listen to anything this guy has to say?

Of course I’m only an unemployed carpenter.

Jan 9, 2009 - 3:14 pm 196. Michael:

Again so many seem to be unable to have a dispassionate reasonable discussion. I suppose we can’t expect much else considering the state of the country and it’s education system. Very sad.

Jan 9, 2009 - 3:35 pm 197. paul_unalaska:

So when are we going to see Janeen Garofalo (sp?) or Randy Rhodes to trump this ‘publicity stunt?’ What, oh yeah? Really? Rhodes is in the drunk tank again and Janeen’s making another unfunny comedy? O.k. - thanks for the tip.

Jan 9, 2009 - 3:38 pm 198. ThinkingPerson:

#194 Vivo…I hate the idea that people can be open minded? Perish the thought! You’re the one lambasting Joe before his plane even touched down. Why not give him a chance? Apparently your idea of “open-minded” and mind are completely different. You follow leadership blindly. I question. That’s all Vivo. Liberals tend to be followers for some odd reason. Why they never read past the byline has always puzzled me. They follow Al Gore blindly when his own scientists featured in his documess were deserting him. They followed Obama when he had no track record, no documentation of any sort and no platform except “change”. They love confrontation for confrontations sake. Who cares what the fight is about…hand them a sign and they’ll carry it on the streetcorner. I guess that’s where all of the whining about Joe going to Gaza is coming from. Here’s your sign Vivo. Just carry it somewhere else if you would.

Jan 9, 2009 - 3:57 pm 199. Peg C.:

David Shuster lost his cool with John Ziegler over the Palin interview, hollering that she is unqualified. J the P will definitely send Shuster over the cliff. PDS, JDS - it’s all the same!

I’ll watch Joe and I refuse to watch MSNBC or CNN. Ha!

Jan 9, 2009 - 5:50 pm 200. tpierce2:

I think you made a great move. Joe, from what I’ve seen of him on T.V., is a very thoughtful, decent, thinking man with intelligence. He will bring a needed fresh point of view.

Remember Chris Mathews gets a tingle with BHO. Main steam, not biased? Yea, right. Fair and balanced reporting from the main stream does not exist. The largest percentage of them are liberals that bring their agenda to the story when they report.

Go Joe and good luck. Stay safe. Remember folks, Joe asked one of the most important questions asked during the campaign. That question was not asked by MSM.

Jan 9, 2009 - 5:52 pm 201. Jean:

#28 Yehudit - thanks for pointing out that the ijits can’t seem to ever attack a conservative with real facts, only snide remarks and twisted logic. Let’s see what “Joe” has to say..if he sides with the terrorists, then I’m sure Pat will be kissing his butt. However, I think he has more integrity than many of the people on this blog, and will see and report the real story.

Jan 9, 2009 - 5:56 pm 202. JakeZula:

I don’t object to the concept of a “regular Joe” covering the war. Just not this Joe. Calling this Joe average is an insult to average Americans,

Why not send a real average joe? One that hasn’t made absurd statements that have been repeated ad nauseum? Maybe even one that’s not necessarily named Joe? Maybe a regular Jake like me that doesn’t have a book deal and a thousand youtube videos.

Jan 9, 2009 - 6:15 pm 203. AnninCA:

Snotty is right. But then, the reaction to Joe the Plumber was over-the-top from day 1.

I hope he knocks out a homerun.

Jan 10, 2009 - 7:23 am 204. Skye:

It takes a Joe to slay the media Goliath. I love it! I’m sure we will get commonsense questions and reports from PJTV and good ole Joe.
It will be fascinating to watch Anderson Cooper emote and Amanpour shrilly react to Joe/PJTV under the direction of the Hamas stage handlers.

Capraesque, indeed!

Jan 10, 2009 - 8:03 am 205. tanstaafl:

David Shuster lost his cool with John Ziegler over the Palin interview.

David Shuster has cool ?

You coulda fooled me !

Jan 10, 2009 - 10:40 am 206. don:

Barack Obama is the true Frank Capra story, not Joe the Political Shill.

Jan 10, 2009 - 11:57 am 207. tanstaafl:

Good lord, we’re looking to the President of the US to be material for Frank Capra ?

(geez, Prez should be a boring job, using quiet intelligence, following the Constitution, you know the drill)

That’s it, don just confirmed we’ve elected a Total Image.

(and a Blank Slate, at that)

Jan 10, 2009 - 1:11 pm 208. JackT:

Obama obviously has something special, even the rightwing nutjobs will admit that. He then talks to a stranger in the crowd, this stranger instantly becomes joe the plumber (although he’s not really a plumber), and now this faux plumber is off making a whole new life for himself due to his fortunate encounter with greatness. I doubt if he’s even thankful.

Jan 10, 2009 - 4:35 pm 209. tanstaafl:

Joe’s supposed to be thankful that Barry & entourage were wandering down his street while he and his son were playing catch and…we all got to see a bit of unguarded candor from The One™ and hear “we’re going to spread the wealth around” ?

And, following that unplanned encounter, Joe comes into our consciousness as a very interesting & thoughtful guy ?

Joe obviously has something special, even the leftwing nutjobs will admit that

Jan 10, 2009 - 4:46 pm 210. poppa india:

JackT; Before I earned my Massachusetts Journeyman Electrician License, I was doing electrical work under the supervision of a licensed electrician. In everyday language usage, I was an electrician. The licensing part is a legal qualification to show the worker has knowledge of the electrical code, for safety and insurance reasons. Likewise, JTP was a plumber, in that he was performing plumbing work, while trying to earn his license. This tiresome insistence that Joe isn’t really a plumber because he isn’t yet licensed is nonsense. A person driving a car is a driver, whether or not they have a license.

Jan 10, 2009 - 9:19 pm 211. Kate:

I just wanted to say good for Mr. Wurzelbacher. He has been criticised for asking Obama a question about taxes that many hard-working Americans wanted to hear and deserved an honest answer about. It’s great that he is given the opportunity to get out there and ask the questions that many average Americans wanted to hear.

Jan 10, 2009 - 10:01 pm 212. Gary Rosen:

“Obama obviously has something special, even the rightwing nutjobs will admit that.”

BO is slicker than a tanker of light crude, I’ll give him that. He’s the shiniest empty suit in history. Of course I’m not giving him credit for his seamless, brilliantly orchestrated transition with Emanuel, Richardson, Panetta …

Jan 10, 2009 - 10:24 pm 213. vivo:

198. ThinkingPerson:

“You’re the one lambasting Joe before his plane even touched down.”

Third time wrong! Who’s lambasting? Your clouded mind CAN’T READ. Learn how to think and read. It’s getting tiring by now. Read my original statement and then apologize.

Jan 11, 2009 - 4:30 am 214. Maggie:

Bravo Joe!

Jan 11, 2009 - 9:08 am 215. Daily Koan » Joe and the PJ Circus…send in the clowns…:

[...] has been a bit of consternation over Pajamas Media selecting Joe the Plumber as its special corespondent for their Gaza Update Segment.

Jan 11, 2009 - 11:44 am 216. Craig:

Joe is a really “stand up” kinda guy. With a talent behind the camera.
I hope this is the start of seeing him often in the media as a respected journalist and a “down to earth American”.

Jan 11, 2009 - 9:55 pm 217. America’s Newest Fun Family, The Idiots! « his vorpal sword:

[...] And if you don’t believe that a culture of ignorance is being promoted, just read the krazee COMMENTS on Simon’s blog posting. Mine is there at [...]

Jan 12, 2009 - 12:04 am 218. GaryB:

Hyphenated American, I’m glad to help. Joe seemed to be under the misconception that when one enters a higher tax bracket, all their income gets taxed at the higher rate (in reality, it’s only the top portion). He also seemed to not know the difference between gross income and net profits. Obama patiently tried to explain these concepts to him (I believe the conversation actually lasted close to fifteen minutes), so I would say that, yes, Obama definitely has a better grip on the way Schedule C type small businesses are taxed than Joe the Plumber. Please note, I’m not slamming Joe. I’m slamming the McCain camp for picking a guy that’s never run a small business and appeared to be woefully uninformed as their symbol of small business America. It was a cynical and ultimately dumb campaign move.

Jan 12, 2009 - 11:08 am 219. JackT:

Idiot !

Jan 13, 2009 - 9:45 pm 220. Tertium Quid:

I don’t think Mike Royko or Ernie Pyle finished college. Since when does one need a degree in order to ask a good question or series of good questions?

(I have degrees in economics, history, and law, but they are not prerequisite to reporting observations or asking intelligent questions during a war.)

Jan 15, 2009 - 10:57 am

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