Joe the Plumber, Tax Maverick!

The McCandidate’s Man of the Hour last night was Joe the Plumber, who’s concerned about having to pay more taxes under Obama. Joe wants a tax break. Funny – he’s already given himself one:

`Joe the plumber,” the Toledo, Ohio, man whose complaints about Barack Obama‘s tax plan were highlighted by John McCain in the final presidential debate, owes the state of Ohio almost $1,200 in back income taxes.

According to records on file with the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas, the state filed a tax lien against Samuel J. Wurzelbacher for $1,182.98 on Jan. 26, 2007, that is still active.

~ Bloomberg.com

No sense of civic duty, that’s what we see here. Taxes? Sharing for the common good? Ptah. Who needs a society where people work together and look out for each other, when we could have a society of proud individuals, hoarding their Preciouses.

How are the Mighty Fallen

McCain needs a game-changer. Tonight’s debate isn’t it.

He avoids eye contact with Obama; he will not name him beyond a jerk of the head and a reference to “this one.” He glares. He writes notes, stabbing the tablet so that the water in the glass on the shelf under the writing surface shakes. He makes “jokes” and nobody laughs. He reverts to tripe in his talking points, which increasingly reflect the stylistic influence of Sarah Palin (“uh, and also”).

His fans yell “Kill him [Obama]” and his vice-president doesn’t miss a beat. His ads pander to racism (“How disrespectful“). And his big campaign strategy is to turn himself into Hillary Clinton: A democrat for change + experience who has nothing to do with bad ol’ Bush – because that’s a proven strategy for success. At least Hillary is a Democrat; McCain just wants to be one if that’s what it takes to win.

David said it well: How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! O Johnathan, thou was slain in thine high places.

McCain Feels Sorry for Biden

There’s a headline for you, courtesy FOX News.

A belated moment of compassion, you think, for Biden’s sorrow over the death of his first wife and their daughter? The Grand Old Man showing the spunky youngster that we can be noble in defeat and show compassion for a fellow American?

No.

“You know, I almost felt a little sorry last night for my old friend Joe Biden,” McCain said; “she did a magnificent job and she is the news for the big spending, smooth talking, me first, country second crowd in Washington and Wall Street that we have got a message.”

Did you notice that “almost”? There’s no compassion here, only crowing triumph.

Indeed, Palin did deliver a message: a message of relentless self-centeredness. She had memorized her talking points and she memorized them thoroughly and well; she delivered them spiritedly. But when the man next to her lost control briefly, she had an opportunity to be so much more than a great speaker: she had the opportunity to show a heart, to be her own shining city on a hill, — to express some gentleness, however briefly.

And she didn’t even blink. “Back to me….”

To expect gentleness from a woman candidate is not sexist. Both men and women should have some class. McCain and Palin both showed that, despite the pretty music they can make, when the lip-sync machine is off, they are tone-deaf.

My God, McCain’s Found Excalibur!

Seriously! Why else would he suspend his campaign to help out with the economic crisis without having any sort of PLAN to help out with the economic crisis?

At last, the King has returned; unfortunately, he’s unable to multi-task – economics AND foreign policy? Even for a president and a hero, that’s a bit too much. Fortunately, he will descend upon Washington and cut through all the maundering and red tape with his noble sword.

Too bad it was given him by a watery tart.