# 'Joe the Plumber' has died **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 28, 2023, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-the-plumber-has-died/989234 "2023-08-28T17:03:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2023, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-the-plumber-has-died/989234/1 "2023-08-28T17:03:37Z")
> **[Joe The Plumber, who confronted Obama on 2008 campaign trail, dies at 49](https://www.yahoo.com/news/joe-plumber-confronted-obama-2008-154835193.html)** > > ‘He was an average, honorable man trying to do great things for the country he loved so deeply after being thrust into the public eye for asking a question,’ wife says In July, he announced that he had pancreatic cancer. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2023, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-the-plumber-has-died/989234/2 "2023-08-28T17:17:41Z")
As long as this is in P&E and not MPSIMs, I would like to question the “honorable man” part above. [About Trump in 2016](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-plumber/joe-the-plumber-praises-trump-cites-his-beautiful-women-idUSMTZSAPEC34J3246U): “He’s a winner. He’s made billions. He’s dated beautiful women. His wife is a model. That’s not to sniff at. And a lot of people believe he can bring that kind of success to the White House,” said Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher He ran with that dumbass moniker Joe The Plumber and yet never got a plumbing license. After supporting McCain in 2008 he turned on him for Trump in 2016. [Then some of his incredibly insensitive comments about gun control in Germany leading to the Holocaust](https://web.archive.org/web/20140302134343/http://cleveland.cbslocal.com/2012/06/20/joe-the-plumber-links-holocaust-with-gun-control/). Oy! what else can I say. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2023, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-the-plumber-has-died/989234/3 "2023-08-28T17:19:49Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > I would like to question the “honorable man” part above. I agree, but I’m not gonna begrudge his widow her view of him. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2023, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-the-plumber-has-died/989234/4 "2023-08-28T17:24:03Z")
Well, I’m pretty sure she doesn’t read here. but maybe a more objective Obit would be better. > **[RIP Joe The Plumber](https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/28/2190119/-RIP-Joe-The-Plumber?utm_campaign=recent)** > > His name isn’t Joe and he wasn’t a plumber, but he got 15 minutes of fame and fortune by attacking Obama, much to the media’s delight. www.yahoo.com/… “Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, who became known as “Joe the Plumber” after he famously confronted... ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2023, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-the-plumber-has-died/989234/5 "2023-08-28T17:48:50Z")
Meh. He was on the bad guys side of the political spectrum so I’m ill disposed towards him, but he’s not of the level of malevolence that I am actually taking pleasure in reading his obituary (unlike say Limbaugh, or Robertson). So I’m sorry for his wife’s loss, and hope he died without too much pain, and that’s about all the shits I can give. (I hope this didn’t come across as thread shitting, it just reflects my attitude towards him personally not the thread in general.) ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2023, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-the-plumber-has-died/989234/6 "2023-08-28T17:52:22Z")
I can support that. Especially as I haven’t thought about him at all in 7 years. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2023, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-the-plumber-has-died/989234/7 "2023-08-28T18:42:26Z")
I don’t have much to say about the guy except he was younger than I thought he was. Still, pancreatic cancer has a twelve percent survival rate, and the rate of its occurrences is rising, in younger people too. Scary. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2023, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-the-plumber-has-died/989234/8 "2023-08-28T19:11:47Z")
Does this mean Obama’s death panels are finally showing some results? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2023, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-the-plumber-has-died/989234/9 "2023-08-28T19:19:33Z")
I can’t find a link that relates the conversation with Obama. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2023, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-the-plumber-has-died/989234/10 "2023-08-28T19:19:39Z")
Basically, he got famous for lies about Obama’s tax plan, lies about his own qualifications, and showing up with a liar on stage (Sarah Palin). Then, he went on to justify shooting people trying to cross the border. After a mass shooting, wrote that the victim’s dead children “don’t trump my constitutional rights”. He complained that he had to join a union at a company that probably couldn’t have hired him at all if not for a government bailout. His complaints about tax rates were especially ironic, since he had a tax judgement against him for $1200 in unpaid taxes. He was a model Republican – full of lies, cruelty, and hypocrisy. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2023, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-the-plumber-has-died/989234/11 "2023-08-28T19:23:50Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I can’t find a link that relates the conversation with Obama. Here is the entirety of it. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/PUvwKVvp3-o/hqdefault.jpg "'Joe the Plumber' Becomes Focus of Debate") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUvwKVvp3-o) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2023, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-the-plumber-has-died/989234/12 "2023-08-28T19:38:35Z")
Thanks, Elmer\_J.Fudd. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2023, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-the-plumber-has-died/989234/13 "2023-08-28T19:44:21Z")
Ironic, though, to get the answer from a millionaire owner of a mansion and a yacht. ([Explanation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hare_Brush) for those who didn’t waste their childhood watching cartoons.) ---
**Author:** ![Boycott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boycott/32/6741_2.png) [@Boycott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boycott)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2023, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-the-plumber-has-died/989234/14 "2023-08-28T20:00:19Z")
I never understood why this was used as a stick to beat Obama with. If you watch the exchange he was very respectful but also pretty clear in explaining his tax plan. If you came away from that hearing the reasoning of why 250 and up would be taxed higher and disagreed still then that’s your right. But it wasn’t as if Obama mocked the question let alone dodged it. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2023, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-the-plumber-has-died/989234/15 "2023-08-28T20:22:51Z")
> [@Boycott](#): > > I never understood why this was used as a stick to beat Obama with. That’s because you have more than two grey cells to rub together. That hasn’t been the GOP’s target constituency for at least 20 years. The propaganda value of that exchange is for people who can’t process any level of detail. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2023, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-the-plumber-has-died/989234/16 "2023-08-28T20:24:34Z")
Agreed. Even the intellectually challenged can see that they spoke politely to each other. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2023, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-the-plumber-has-died/989234/17 "2023-08-28T21:00:53Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > they spoke politely to each other. “Joe spoke politely, and Obama sarcastically mocked him in reaponse with exaggerated ironic mock politeness.” Says the Right Wing Racist Reactionary. You have to see the world through their filters. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2023, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-the-plumber-has-died/989234/18 "2023-08-28T21:16:35Z")
See, Vlad quickly shoves them out the window, but Barry is more patient, and more subtle. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2023, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-the-plumber-has-died/989234/19 "2023-08-28T22:02:14Z")
My gosh do I miss Obama. I mean I like Joe and all, but I just can’t see him going into that level of detail on his policy off the cuff. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2023, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-the-plumber-has-died/989234/20 "2023-08-29T00:05:24Z")
In a way, JDP was just one of the innovators in the new RW fantasy grift world. He was nobody, at random he became newsworthy over 15 seconds of reality, which notoriety he quickly spun into a fake persona, a saleable story line, and lasting fame. And perhaps even some fortune. All opportunism, all grift, all fake. Good riddance, loser! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-the-plumber-has-died/989234.md?page=2)