Not Joe the Plumber Again

Does anyone remember Joe the Plumber? Or, as I generally like to refer to him, not-Joe the not-plumber? Well, look who decided to embarrass himself again. Not-Joe the Not-Plumber completely perplexes me. Just in general. As in, everything he's ever done that's been publicized. Then again, I never have been able to completely understand any of these right-wing people. But Not-Joe the Not-Plumber in particular is very, very perplexing.

I'll get to the point already. So, you know how all the crazy Republicans decided to do the whole "teabagging" thing? ...That never made sense to me either, of course. So, first of all, Not-Joe decides that he is exactly the right person to tell us all what to do since we're clearly all dissatisfied by intrusive government (I sort of am, but it's about completely different things, such as wiretapping...). I'm going to start quoting from this article: he "said the best advice he can give to citizens who are frustrated with intrusive government is to stop voting along party lines and begin electing leaders who will abide by the nation's founding document.

"Learn the Constitution," he said. "Then when someone wants to be elected, hold their feet to the fire and make them follow it because that's what we need to get back to. It works so well when we follow it. Forget party politics. Learn the Constitution and vote the best American in, not the best Democrat or Republican.""

...He says as he prepares his ballot to vote for another Republican. I find it terribly ironic that the guy who's so in favor of the tea parties and other Republican nonsense is telling us that we need to "learn the Constitution". I, for one, already "learned the Constitution".

Don't worry, I'm not nearly at the best part yet. So another thing mentioned was that "I'm cynical by nature, but I am also very hopeful because I see people from the Left and the Right showing up to these tea parties," he said. "You have people, bikers, union members and guys in three-piece suits showing up to these things." ...Because bikers, union members, and guys in three-piece suits are CLEARLY not people. ...I suppose that wouldn't have amused me so much if I weren't so grammar-obsessed, but I found that really funny.

THIS is the really great part: "Asked if he has plans to run for public office, he replied, "I hope not. You know, I talked to God about that and he was like, 'No.'"" That's the epitome of stupidity. Is this guy mentally ill? Then again, I suppose a lot of people think that this "God" character exists, so this is only a small step from the unfortunate norm. Still, though. I thought only the really crazy religious wackos (not that they aren't all, but those that stand out) thought God actually talked to them. What did he do? Just call God up on the phone? Where do people get this nonsense?

This last bit's sort of amusing, too. "He continued, "I believe he's gotten me on this grassroots movement. If I can encourage leaders to step up, that's what I would like to do. That's a heavy role. That's something I don't know if I am prepared to do yet."

But Wurzelbacher said he will keep that door open if God ever calls him to be that leader.

"I just know whenever I fall off his path, things get really hard," he said. "So I just stick with what God tells me to do.""

I swear this guy must be delusional. Maybe he hears voices, actually. Which wouldn't be any of my concern, except that this guy somehow presumably has some sort of credibility with the crazy Republicans. Also, the very idea of not-Joe being elected is a mix of amusing and horrifying. I want to say it would never happen, but we've elected some pretty stupid people before. Bush is the example that comes to mind, of course. You know what the Republican ticket should be for the next election? Sarah Palin and Not-Joe. The question is who would be president and who would be vice-president. Candidates, I mean. I think Palin would have to be the presidential candidate. SNL could do some very funny stuff with the two of them. Of course, if they got elected it would be a nightmare.

I just re-read the post about it at Think Progress, and the bit about him actually considering being in public office last year surprised me. Mostly I was surprised because I don't think I ever heard about that. ...I don't want to link to anything that awful, but click on the link at the Think Progress post. It's really pathetic. Well, at least this is a sign that the Republican party still isn't doing too well. Not that it wasn't already obvious.

Edit: speaking of Republicans who are so crazy it's surprising even the Republican party takes them seriously... look at this about Michael Steele (also referred to as work-not-jobs for obvious reasons).