Washington Post Dismisses Joe the Plumber as 'Leftover Artifact' From 2008

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Washington Post staff writer Paul Farhi penned a nasty little critique of Samuel "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacher in Thursday's paper, deriding the conservative critic of Barack Obama as "a leftover artifact from a forgotten time." Grouping Wurzelbacher in with other "campaign distractions," Farhi panned, "He's Clara Peller, Willie Horton or Gennifer Flowers -- names that are the questions in a 'Jeopardy!' category called 'Presidential Campaign Distractions.'" (Of course, Wurzelbacher's "distraction" was to challenge the economic policy of Obama.)

The Washington Post writer gleefully recounted how only 11 people showed up to a Joe the Plumber book signing event in Washington D.C. Farhi added odd asides, such as noting Wurzelbacher's "shiny bullet head." Even the headline, which read "Joe the Author, Plumbing New Lows in Interest," adopted a condescending tone.

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To read the entire article [registration required], go here.

The Wurzelbacher piece wasn't the only such article in Thursday's Style section of the Post. Another piece looked at young conservatives in Washington D.C. who don't support the Obama administration. The headline screamed, "Right, and Left Out: Young Conservatives Can't Get With the Program." The picture that went along with the print edition was of a right-leaning happy hour event in D.C. and that caption ominously noted, "Like some other young conservatives, Margaret Taylor, center, with Nick Loris and Katie Engdahl, prefers not to identify the organization she works with."

Post staff writer Ian Shapira asserted in the piece, "Some at this happy hour won't name their employers in social settings with contemporaries because they fear it will create awkwardness." It apparently didn't occur to Mr. Shapira that some conservatives might just be cautious about talking to a liberal paper such as the Washington Post.

I was actually at this early February event. Like many others, I learned in advance that a Post writer and photographer would be present and had planned on being careful at the happy hour. It seems more likely that young conservatives were worried less about creating awkwardness and more about the biases of the famously liberal Washington paper.

To read the entire article [registration required], go here.

—Scott Whitlock is a news analyst for the Media Research Center.


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Shiny bullet head? If my

Shiny bullet head?

If my own head looked like a half-shaved nutsack, I'd find an another insult path, Farhi.

Joe is a natural

Joe should run for Congress in the next Ohio opportunity. In a district outside the corrupt inner cities, he would be a shoe-in. On the other hand, he asked the single best question of Obammy in the entire 2008 campaign season, so he's a natural journalist.

Joe would run

Joe would run in the greater Toledo Area which runs from Toledo East to Sandusky (talk about a gerrymandered district). Marcy Kaptur is the incumbent and is almost as left leaning as Dennis Kucinich of Cleveland.

"Vote for Joe for the North Coast of Ohio!"

Oh Boo Hoo

Oh Boo Hoo, the Post is upset. I could care less. They are upset that someone other than THE APPROVED JOURNALIST can actually write about anything. JOURNALISTS are upset that bloggers challenge the FACTS they REPORT. Don't look behind the curtain. Nothing to see here, move along. We the Professional Journalists will tell you everything you need to know and think. The Post is upset that someone wants to excercise his 1st Amendmant Rights who did not go to an APPROVED UNIVERSITY. Give me a break.

Amazing--the double standard

Miket53   http://mtaricani.blogspot.com/

The liberals want to insult ("Shiny Bullit Head") and put down a real American that had an opinion. Joe represents a majority of Americans and that will hurt them. Liberals always have this "you don't agree with us so your stupid" attitude. Such arrogance is amazing and I can't believe more people are not offended.

Elect Joe the Plumber!  We

Elect Joe the Plumber!  We need more republicans like him!

gb.... Bravo! We agree on

gb....

Bravo!

We agree on something for a change.

There ought to be republican

There ought to be republican tour of Joe the Plumber, Sarah Palin, Bobby Jindal and Michele Bachman where they can go out and energize the base.

Joe says it

Joe says it like it is. Obama thought he had a shill when he talked to him on the campaign trail. Instead asked direct questions of real importance, unlike the "in the pocket press".

I saw a segment this

I saw a segment this morning on msnbc with Shuster and Armstrong Williams about Joe the Plumber being invited to CPAC...it was horrendous...and Armstrong had great opportunity to slam it right back in Shuster's face and didn't.

Shuster asked how the repubs could even think of inviting some like him, with tax liens against him blah blah blah....

All Armstrong had to say was whoa there...wait a minute, that is pretty rich coming from your side of the aisle, you have named one of the top tax cheats in the US as head of the Treasurary/IRS...

...but he didn't...

So many opportunities...so many dense people at times in my opinion.

If people don't fight back, this will continue on in the msm and the will run the elections and pick the candidates again.

Agree, bt - but I guess since I don't have much sayso in

what my elected representatives say, we have to resort to posting here ;-)  How I wish more Republicans would find their voice like Mike Pence or Jim DeMint!  It is time to say ENOUGH! and until more do, the abuse will continue, sad to say. 

It is no dishonor to be in a minority in the cause of liberty and virtue. ~ Sam Adams

Farhi is very dense

I emailed Farhi to chide him about his snide column which I felt demeaned him more than Wurzelbacher.  Farhi emailed back asking me what was "snide" about it.  How does one explain "snide" to someone who fancies himself a journalist?

Who is the artifact here?

Joe the Plumber Ive heard of, Farhi I haven't so who is more of an artifact?

The left behind artifact, Scott, is journalism.

The left behind artifact, Scott, is journalism.

On that sunny suburban day that brought Joe to fame, the real story - the topic of the day; tax policy for working Americans, candidate Obama showed us that he was so good, that he could lie about the facts to Joe, and the national media wouldn't even notice.

Obama to Joe in that much watched video, that the working class had received no tax breaks under Bush. There's a whole list of tax breaks they got. Does anyone out there remember 2001 - and Bush inheriting an economy reeling from the era of greed and fraud - the dot.com bubble - and he and congress being in a rush to push stimulus through to attempt to keep us from going into a crisis? A lot of tax cuts were passed, along with tax credits, and numerous other reforms which helped out the lower and working class. Obama lying to Joe should have been the story that day. 

Agree - when the msm 'circled their wagons' and NONE

reported what was really said, that was just one more 'notch on the bedpost' signifying we, the American taxpayers, were in for a royal scr**ing!  And it continues to this day!  The ensuing abuse heaped on this private citizen should have scared the bejesus out of every American! 

It is no dishonor to be in a minority in the cause of liberty and virtue. ~ Sam Adams

Flush that Turd! A plumber will thank you.

I salute the 11 souls who braved that liberal cesspool inside the beltway to support Joe.
Sounds like Farhi was jealously slobbering and gagging and woofing on his own brand of shiny bullet head. Probably somewhere around DuPont Circle.
Is his surname pronounced "fairy"?

Wait, I missed the part in

Wait, I missed the part in the article where Farhi tells how many people showed up to buy HIS book.  So sad. 

"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me

"Flag-burners" and "critics

"Flag-burners" and "critics of the military" are tearing this country apart?  Right.  Real trenchant analysis there, "Joe."  If only people who burn flags and those who critique foreign policy (hint: such criticism is generally directed at the government, not the military itself), then we'd just be one happy, unified nation, I'm sure.

It reminds me of that King of the Hill episode where Hank writes his congressman and gets back a form letter reading "Congressman Powell believes your problem and flag-burning are among the most important issues facing America."  

Is Paul Farhi jealous of

Is Paul Farhi jealous of the attention Joe is getting?

Did Paul Farhi insult Cindy Sheehan when the Left sent her on missions, before dropping her like a bad habit?

old-fashioned stealing

Joe Wurzelbacher was the canary in the mine. He asked a simple question months ago, and now we know the answer. What's yours is NOT yours---it belong to the government, who will give it away to the squanderers, because they don't have anything. Obama's administration will look very closely like Aesop's Fables.

WaPo??

Isn't The WaPo a Leftover Artifact from the 70's?

Joe The Plumber

Joe The Plumber has become the symbol of the real Republican Party. Its amazing to hear the garbage spewed from the Democrats propangda machine aka the MSN. The so called party of the average working man is really the party of the big labor bosses and the mindless zombies that swallow their every word, hook, line, and sinker. Joes gets dissed for having a mind and being able to articulate intelligent comments. Talk about stereotyping, the MSN thinks of plumbers as fat guys with a cigar stub in the side of their mouth and their pants hanging low enough to expose their crack! These idiots think that only those who delicately touch their keyboards with their manicured fingers have any common sense or intelligence. I got news for you, you editorial room sissies! Your tradesman have to know ten times what you know to accomplish your daily task of trashing the opponents of your Commiecrat bosses. The first thing is HONESTY! Can you fruit cakes spell that word without using spell check? These guys have to be good with math, with reading and WRITING! They have to be planners and accountants, as every hour and part needs to add up! They have to prove their reliability! They don't get a pass if they screw up. That only applies to members of the MSN's chosen family, the liberals in America. Finally, WaPo idiots, heres a little tidbit for you! I and Fifty Million others like me, are left over artifacts from 2008 and we've merely retreated to formulate a new battle plan for 2010! The war with you has only begun!