The Vet Who Did Not Vet

As usual, Balancing Boyfriends has the best stuff! Thanks Tim! xoxo

As Tim says, this is an important civics lesson.

Let's Talk About Joe the Plumber

So we all watched John McCain carry on last night about his new role model Joe the Plumber.

But it seems that McCain and his esteemed campaign operatives forgot to do one little thing . . . to do a basic Google search on Joe.

What might some rudimentary 8th grade level research skills have shown? Glad you asked.

First, it seems that Joe the Plumber, real name Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, doesn't really need to worry about how he'd be affected by Barack Obama's tax plan. Joe doesn't pay taxes. According to Bloomberg News, Joe has a lien against him for almost $1200 for taxes owed to the State of Ohio. Really.

Next, we learn that Joe's not such a fan of Social Security. In fact, he calls it a "joke." That's not really so bad, I mean many of us in my generation don't really believe we'll see a penny of what we contribute to Social Security. But let's watch Joe tell us Social Security is a joke anyway.



Third, Joe may work as a plumber and may want to own a plumbing business, but according to the New York Times, "An official at Local 50 of the plumber’s union, based in Toledo, said Mr. Wurzelbacher does not hold a license. He also has never served an apprenticeship and does not belong to the union." It seems that Toledo and other cities require plumbers to be licensed. Oops. Jess Wundrun over at I Was Just Wondering gives a great explanation of how big of a deal this is. Go read it.

Of course, we all know the New York Times is a liberal rag, so I wonder what the conservatives say about Joe.

Anyone remember Charles Keating of the Keating 5? You do? Well, guess who's an in-law of Charles Keating? Yep. Joe. According to conservative blogger Martin Eisenstadt, Joe is a close relation of Robert Wurzelbacher. Robert Wurzelbacher, of course, is "Charles Keating's son-in-law and the former senior vice president of American Continental, the parent company of the infamous Lincoln Savings and Loan."

So that's John McCain's new BFF, Joe the Plumber. And I'm gonna guess that even though John McCain thinks Joe was the "real winner" last night, Joe is probably gonna be the big loser from last night.

Update 11:04pm: For more on Joe the Plumber, read AMERICAblog's latest.

Let's Talk About the Keating 5

As you probably know, John McCain was intimately involved in the Keating 5 scandal of 1989. This scandal, of course, was a large part of the Savings & Loan Crisis in the late 80s and early 90s that rocked our economy.

Do we really want to trust this man with our economy now?



For more information on the Keating 5 and McCain's involvement, visit Keating Economics: John McCain and the Making of a Financial Crisis.

Sarah Palin Should Bow Out?

Kathleen Parker, a columnist for the Chicago Tribune, wrote a column today saying that Sarah Palin should bow out of the campaign. Her reasons are numerous and I could not disagree more.

I started to leave a comment, but the more I wrote, the more I realized this was really a blog post.

Kathleen Parker: "She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first."

Let me just say I do not and have never thought Sarah Palin was a good choice for McCain's VP. I loathe Sarah Palin and everything she believes in. As a rape survivor, I am sick at the idea of having to pay for my own rape kit and that if she had her way, I would not be allowed the choice to terminate any resulting pregnancy (I was fortunate enough to not get pregnant). My head wants to explode when I think about what she would do to the progress in women's equality.

Sarah Palin's understanding of foreign policy and the economy, the biggest issues of this election and probably of the next 4 to 8 years or more, is embarrassing for her and the country. That the GOP could not find a better qualified running mate to "shake up" John McCain's campaign is laughable and insulting. It is inexcusable that the GOP has not been able to better educate and prepare their Vice Presidential candidate for even the most obvious questions.

That said, Sarah Palin CANNOT withdraw.

John McCain chose her and the GOP celebrated her. As we have seen time and time again, they obviously did both without any sort of vetting. Had Barack Obama not vetted his running mate (and let's be clear, John McCain had almost 6 months to find and vet his choice, but Barack Obama had less than half that time), we would see non-stop 24/7 ads about it from the GOP all the way to the election.

Kathleen Parker falsely believes that "no one would criticize a mother who wants to put her family first" and I could not disagree more. If Sarah Palin were to drop out citing her family as her reason, there would be very loud whispers for years to come that a woman couldn't really take on the task of being Vice President, much less being President. Future women candidates for President will be scrutinized with "are you SURE you can put the Country above your family?" It will be used as evidence to bolster the "women can't really do it all" argument that some people still believe.

18 million cracks in the glass ceiling will become barely visible.

Don't misunderstand me, I believe that motherhood is the most important (and least appreciated and underpaid) job in the world. And I believe that women CAN have it all. I believe that women SHOULD be CEOs, Nobel Prize winners, and Heads of State. But there are choices we all have to make in our lives and a balance we each have to strike for ourselves. When the choice you make is to become a heart beat away from being the President, unfortunately, you've lost the luxury of saying "I change my mind" 38 days before the election.

The impulsiveness of both John McCain and Sarah Palin says volumes about the type of judgement they both have, but they both made this bed and it's time they slept in it.

As I've said, I'm no fan of Sarah Palin and I pray every night that the McCain-Palin ticket loses this election, but Sarah Palin has to see this through. She owes that to the women and girls of America.