Hey, I am a redneck AND a member of the liberal elite.  Suck. On. That. Patterico. (Nobody loves an over educated hillbilly Okie).

BTW More simpletons is the conservative answer to everything.

Whenever I start to get really over-angry at the corporate media, I remember that it could be 10 times worse. Instead of credulous and compromised talking heads, we could be watching ultra-conservative morons.

I know this drives liberals crazy — they think we’re <strike>rednecks</strike> ignorant idiots. Maybe we are but I love this guy.

Fixed that for him.

Deep inside, they must wonder if an Ohio plumber could really be much worse than the so-called professionals we already have. There lies the fear that underlies those mocking Wurzelbacher in the media.  It is a bruise to their egos when they realize that almost anyone can do what they do.

Except that he can’t do what a journalist, professional or otherwise, can. We have the video evidence that JoeDuhPlumbah can’t do even rudimentary research on his story, that he’s barely capable of expressing himself (even with PJ Media supplied talking points), that he doesn’t think objective journalists have any place reporting in war zones at all. I’m the first to take the corporate MSM to task for its numerous failings, but those outlet have nothing to fear from this yahoo. I guarantee you that the clip of Joe will be forwarded and circulated around most American newsrooms today, accompanied by howls of laughter.

I have an edition of “Madeleine at the Circus” that has either the same font as or one very similar to that “Red Badge of Courage”, and the same style of cover, which made the above cover rather disturbing at first glance.

What MikeEss said.

The only difference between Joe the Plumber and a Fox News “reporter” is that the Fox News “reporter” knows they are pushing propaganda, while Joe the Plumber is the propaganda.

I observed last week on Pandagon that maybe he would learn something by going abroad and that his trip was at least not to lick whipped cream off naked tourists in Cancun.

Cancun would be an improvement, however. And he has learned nothing. He is like those American couples who come to European cities, secure in their bubbles and with blinders on, and wonder why Parisians are rude to them.

Meh.  I’m a bigger red neck than all y’all.  Shit, I’m sittin’ out on mah back porch watchin’ them big fat doves at the bird feederwishing I could quit laughing at Dubya’s farewell press conference long enough to get my pa’s pellet rifle.  My redneck cred gets additional points ‘cuz I’m from Mississippi and actually like living where I do.  I also love big, ugly off-road Jeeps and believe Chrysler is salvageable.  So there.

I still, however, think my pellet rifle would be better used on Joe the Dipshit.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a conservative quite so open about the destruction of press freedom.  That little kid from Florida would’ve done a better job and he’d have likely grilled everyone in sight.

The Patterico quote confirms what I’ve long maintained to my menagerie of stuffed birds: conservatives have no ideas, so they’ve resorted to just trying to get rises out of people. Fishing for outrage, as it were. One can either take the stupid bait or not.

Today’s right-wing: Taking Idiocracy as a guide and not a warning.

Here’s the thing: political blogging is built in no small part on the idea that many journalists do their job poorly, and therefore we need better reporters who do their job more competently.  This is deeply undercut by the idea that journalism is a job babbling simpletons can do so long as they’re conservatives.

So… a lot like presidencing, then?

And he has learned nothing.

Learning something was never the point. Asking questions was never the point. The point was to go over there, spew the pre-drafted talking points, then come back here and say his same nonsense over and over and whenever someone tells him it’s nonsense he can say “I’ve BEEN THERE!”

Hey, show some respect!  I bet you guys didn’t know this, but Joe’s a perfessor!

Yep, that’s right!  I hear that he’s soon to be the Roman Hruska Chair of Journalism and Brazed Fittings at Appalachian Wingnut Vocational University.

So There.

What MikeEss said.

The only difference between Joe the Plumber and a Fox News “reporter” is that the Fox News “reporter” knows they are pushing propaganda, while Joe the Plumber is the propaganda.

So, DanF, what you’re really saying is that the medium is the message, right ?

The Christian Science Monitor is speculating that Joe Plunger might just run for that senate seat being vacated by Voinovich.

Read the comments, too.  Precious. Not sure very many of them are genuine, though.

Rick, I don’t know why, but I keep on conflating you with some MRA who was on the very first thread I was involved in on here.  And then I am always so happy when I see your actual posts.

Total derail, but I keep on thinking that every time I see your name.

It is a bruise to their egos when they realize that almost anyone can do what they do.

No, Bob, anybody can do what you do. There’s a difference between being a journalist and spouting off whatever opinion pops into your head.

Small quibble: Crane was never a war correspondent. He was utterly without experience in battle, which makes Red Badge all the more remarkable as a triumph of the imagination.

The Christian Science Monitor is speculating that Joe Plunger might just run for that senate seat being vacated by Voinovich.

Oh for the love of Grod, please let this be true.  Please let Joe find enough backing to make a stab at the GOP Senate primary here in Ohio.  The comedy value would just be insane.  I can just imagine how the Republican machine would go nutzo with him running his quasi-populist know-nothing campaign.  It would be a sight to behold.

Bitter Scribe,

Mr. Crane was indeed a war correspondant in Cuba and Greece.  However, he wrote RBC before that time (1895).

As for Joe….

The virulent increase in anti-intellectualism in the Republican ‘base’ is truly appalling.  It is sinking them and may be their death shroud (may it please God).

I think I am not too different from most people in wanting my President and legislators to be smarter and better than I am.  The thought of Sara Palin being anywhere near the nuclear ‘football’ is truly frightening.

The Christian Science Monitor is speculating that Joe Plunger might just run for that senate seat being vacated by Voinovich.

Oh pelase oh please oh please! That would make the Katherine Harris candidacy look strong by comparison.

If he gets nominated Strickland is officially the luckiest man in politics. He gets to run against Blackwell, and then Wurzelbacher.  I’m calling a +30 point victory right now if that happens.

Magis—Thanks for the correction about Crane. As for anti-intellectualism, what else can they do when, as Colbert[?] said, “Facts have a liberal bias”?

Is this one of those infinite monkeys thing? If we send in enough rednecks, eventually the odds state that one of them will send back a well-written, well-researched, thought-provoking piece?

Like I said, they think this is a hilarious high-concept piece of trolling, rather than a deeply embarrassing display of what wingnut welfare groupthink gets you.

What the CHRIST?  How does Stephen Crane’s having been named a war correspondent after having published The Red Badge of Courage—one of the most anti-war novels ever written—relate even remotely to Not-Joe the Not-Plumber’s embarrassing publicity stunt?

This may be stupider than Jonah Goldberg’s denial that Mussolini was a fascist.

From Patterico’s blog comments:

He is the perfect Republican spokesman.

Comment by steve — 1/11/2009 @ 10:00 pm

Wow.

I completely agree with a commenter on a conservative blog.  That shouldn’t be taken as a compliment to the GOP, however.

Is this one of those infinite monkeys thing? If we send in enough rednecks, eventually the odds state that one of them will send back a well-written, well-researched, thought-provoking piece?

Would that work for making them physicists?  ‘Cos there’s some nuclear powered lighthouses that need more shielding…

(No, I’m not kidding about the nuclear powered lighthouses. I’m so glad I live in the Southern Hemisphere…)

Joe was interviewed by the anchor for BBC World News (radio: 10:00am UK time); never have I felt so much sympathy for a news anchor.  You could hear him trying to remain polite (not the chilly British civility we read about, but just ordinary humanity), and it was really really difficult.

Joe isn’t the first person who has trolled reality. Fred Phelps pioneered IRL trolling, I believe.

Englishrussia.com is pretty much the successor to pravda namely they make up stories as they see fit. It’s mostly for comedic value unless you can verify the story.

http://www.taswegian.com/MOSCOW/soviet.html has a much better listing of soviet calcuators for example then englishrussia.com has.

Where I come from (central NJ), they have some of the most liberal rednecks you’ll ever meet. Gay marriage, health care, right to choose, they’re all on the left. In fact, the only place they stop toeing the liberal line is at gun control-and even then, so long as they got to keep their hunting rifles they’d be pretty content.

Just saying.

Someone needs to clue Patterico in that you can’t be a redneck if you have one o’ them foreign names that ends with a vowel.  Sorry, dude, you’re a poseur.

Really, he’s comparing Stephen Crane to (not) Joe the (not) plumber? I just cannot be surprised by these people anymore. What next? Honestly, WTF?

“I know this drives liberals crazy”

That’s what it’s all about.  They like Joe because they think he drives us crazy instead of being a source of amusement.  Everything they so or say is designed to piss us off, but we seem to piss them off even more without really trying.

Stephen Crane was a brilliant writer and poet who hated war and human suffering. To compare Joe the Plumber to even an iota of Stephen Crane is to spit in the vilest way on a great man.

“I know this drives liberals crazy”
That’s what it’s all about.

Contemporary conservatism: the three-year-old who repeats every word you say immediately after you say it just to annoy you, and then runs away giggling when you get annoyed.

It is a bruise to their egos when they realize that almost anyone can do what they do.

Journalists are a dime a dozen, but useful idiots like Joe come along only once every few years. It’s only natural that guys like Scott, Patterico and Owens would see Wurzelbacher as a kindred spirit. They don’t do their research. He doesn’t do his research. They believe journalists should generate propaganda rather than uncovering facts. Joe thinks that way, too. They’re a bunch of amoral tools, and so is Joe.

It’s kismet! From now on, Wurzelbacher will be invited to all the same reactionary, fascist circle-jerks his idiot mentors attend. Hurray!

Gee, I can’t possibly imagine why journalists would be dismissive and defensive when conservatives give money to and heap praise on someone who says they shouldn’t be allowed to do their job.

“...keep in mind this three-year-old sometimes has the nuclear “football”…
MikeEss on 01/12 at 05:07 PM”

Not in one week, he won’t!

I thought Joe the Plumber’s transition from “someone” to “the boy” was telling:

[W]hen someone hits me, I’m going to unload on the boy.

BTW, note that the quote on Patterico’s blog was from guest poster DRJ not Patterico himself.  Patterico may (or may not) disagree.

The only crowd that really brings up the “Red Neck” issue is the Right Wing media.  They glorify the stereotype even as they backslap it.  Their whole agenda is about pushing “red necks” further into the ground.

There can’t be an upper class if there is no lower class.

But Joe should be happy that they gave him a chance to rise up with his betters.

Joe W. is solid proof how, to some conservatives, stupidity has become a virtue.

If the GOP aspires to hang its future on people like this mope, they’ll be in the minority of power for a long, long time.

I mean, look what a shot in the arm Joe gave Team McCain. The Republican ticket only lost what? Four or five traditionally red states to Obama in November, and only won Missouri by an eyelash?

Woe to he who underestimates the power of Joe.

poo burgers yum