On Joe the Plumber, Joe Six-pack, Bill the terrorist and Colin the endorser

The final stretch of each election cycle tends to bring up the murkiest of political discussions. In the past we've experienced swift boats, decades-old drunk driving convictions, Willie Horton and now William — or shall we say "Willie" — Ayers.


This ad, run by an acquaintance to the George H.W. Bush campaign in 1988, proved disastrous to the Michael Dukakis candidacy. In reality, "Willie" Horton never went by the name Willie, instead going by his birth name, William.


A recent commentary by conservative news (oxymoron?) host John Gibson about Barack Obama's alleged, "shady" connections. Like Gibson's commentary here, many pundits are associating Obama with terrorism, based on his loose ties to '60s Weather Underground member William Ayers.

Like Horton, William Ayers is being used by Republicans to scare middle America voters away from a candidate. It certainly does not help Sen. Barack Obama's cause that his middle name is "Hussein," his last name rhymes with "Osama" and large portions of America still believe that he is Muslim (okay, for the record, Obama is a Christian. Was this not addressed with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's controversy?).

Obama was 8 years old when William Ayers conducted his despicable acts of terrorism. Decades later, Obama found himself serving on a board with this guy. Due to guilt by association, many are associating Obama with terrorism. Mind you, he has never actually committed any acts of terrorism, nor does he employ any terrorists in his campaign, nor would he in his potential cabinet.

This is merely a distraction by the ultra-right wing Republicans, who continue to fall further and further off the deep end of reality. Even former Secretary of State Colin Powell, an esteemed, lifelong Republican, admits that the act has gone too far.

On NBC's Meet the Press Sunday, he told Tom Brokaw that many top Republicans have spreading false rumors of Obama's purported Muslim beliefs to scare away potential voters. Furthermore, he addressed why being Muslim would even be an issue. It shouldn't, as he noted, seeing as many Muslim-Americans have fought and died for our country. Many, if not most, were born and raised U.S. citizens, but are of the Islamic faith.



It speaks volumes when a top member of the party endorses the opposing party's candidate.

So back to Obama's alleged nefarious associations. In addition to having Colin Powell in his corner, Obama's financial adviser is Warren Buffett, whom many have cited as the Walter Cronkite of the economy, and his running mate is Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, who heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Bill Ayers was nowhere to be found. Sounds like a pretty credible bunch to me.

So the GOP loses one of its most respected figures to the Obama campaign. What are they to do now? Well, they have already lined up their distraction. I, for one, expected a red state gentleman named Joe with a case of Bud Lite to speak at the campaign's next rally, per Gov. Sarah Palin's namedrop in the Vice Presidential debate. Instead, another Joe has unwittingly consumed the spotlight: Joe Wurzelbacher, better known as "Joe the Plumber."

Joe the Plumber has been the recipient of countless mentions by the McPalin campaign since Wednesday's third Presidential debate. McCain purports to defend Joe the Plumber by criticizing Obama for wanting to raise his taxes.

In reality, of course, Joe the Plumber's modest $40,000 salary will not see an increase under Obama's plan. His plan will roll tax cuts for those making over $250,000 back to what they were before the Bush administration, a whopping 3 perecent more. Mind you, the economy was experiencing the largest growth in our nation's history, jobs were at a 70-year high, and that extra 3 percent wasn't really hurting those who were already in power. McCain, however, ignores the facts and continues to lambast Obama for wanting to raise the taxes of small business owners (how many small business owners do you know who make a PERSONAL — not business — income of $250,000 or more?) and private citizens. What he doesn't realize is the question is wrong. We should be asking McCain why he refuses to help the middle class, why he refuses to even acknowledge the existence of a middle class in his speeches (he instead refers to the middle class as "middle income Americans").

However, with a (nick)name, a face and a pity story, the GOP seem to be on to something. Some GOP supporters have rallied around Joe the Plumber, but for what cause? If they really wanted to help Joe the Plumber, Obama's plan is a much more economically viable alternative for the blue-collar worker. Even if he buys the plumbing business, he will come out ahead under Obama's plan. Under McCain's plan, he will watch wealthier individuals and chain ownerships get our nation's wealth distributed amongst themselves.



One final note, McCain says he is opposed to raising taxes on anybody. How else does he plan to pay for his program? An ABC News report found that both Obama and McCain's plans will be costly. Obama's will be to the tune of 3.5 trillion dollars and McCain's at a whopping 5.1 trillion dollars. At least Obama has indicated that he wishes to go through the Federal Budget line-by-line, eliminating costly and useless programs, as well as ending the pricey war in Iraq. McCain simply seems to be emphasizing, as the report states, "Vote now, pay later."