New Blog: Joe the Plummer was Used, Used I Say!

Sam Wurzelbacher (a.k.a. Joe the Plumber) has come to the realization that he was used by John McCain during the 2008 presidential campaign. And in the vein of all attention-seeking fauxlebrities (I'm looking at you Kate Gosselin), he feels the need to "speak out."

There are two issues at play here. First, I can't imagine that he is vapid enough to just have come to the realization that he was merely a mascot for John McCain's campaign. But second, and perhaps more importantly, the general premise of his argument doesn't hold water. Had John McCain not "used" him, he wouldn't be a fauxlebrity and he would be just another guy trying to make it in tough economic times. So, to trash John McCain (and Sarah Palin) is disingenuous, at best.

Third, Joe the Plumber "speaking out" illuminates another issue we have with media and our cultural obsession with celebrity. Media reports on these seemingly inane stories for our mass consumption. Theoretically, the media is giving us what we want because if they reported it and no one watched or read or otherwise paid attention, they'd move on to something else, but we've never really been good at consuming what is good or right for us.