While the vast majority of political reporters have dropped off the snotty comments about the McCain-Palin ticket and their campaign messaging, that’s not true of the football writers at the Washington Post. In the chatty wrap-up of the NFL scores appropriately called "The Slant," Post sports writer Desmond Bieler could be called for unnecessary roughness on Joe "the Plumber" Wurzelbacher. In Monday’s paper, he came up in summarizing the St. Louis Rams being thumped by the 49ers:
Remember when the Rams shook off their awful start and actually played pretty well for a few weeks? Well, they’re back to being about as relevant to the national conversation as Joe the Plumber. Over its past three weeks, St. Louis has been outscored in the first half by a total of 99-10. We haven’t seen lopsided figures like this since the numbers started rolling in on election night! Sorry, Joe.
I’m not sure anyone saw 90-10 numbers in the presidential race on election night, unless you count returns from D.C. (where it was 93 percent to 6.5 percent, actually.) This is not the first time that Bieler has worked Joe the Plumber slams into his football slant. From October 20, the awful NFL team to mock was the Bengals:
On the other side, not even Ohio's biggest celebrity, Joe the Plumber, could plumb the depths of Cincinnati's 0-6 wretchedness. Of course, that might be because it turns out that, if having a license means anything, ol' Joe isn't a real plumber. But that's all right -- the Bengals aren't a real NFL team.
—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center.
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
Joe the Plumber was mocked
Mon, 11/17/2008 - 08:19 ET by SeashellJoe the Plumber was mocked on Morning Joe today also for his upcoming book.
wonder what the plumbers
Tue, 11/18/2008 - 20:23 ET by TruthMongerwonder what the plumbers union thinks of all this...
Dominate education now
They're Still Goin' Strong
Mon, 11/17/2008 - 08:20 ET by capavJoe the plumber was being trashed on Joe the cusser today about a book he's working on. They discussed whether it will be a pop-up book or something juvenile like that.
Hey, when you have such
Mon, 11/17/2008 - 08:30 ET by TD in FLHey, when you have such piss-poor readership, you can be more "liberal" with what you print because you have less people to potentially upset. Picking on good ole Joe the Plumber again. So much for the little guy in America. Liberal elites are what run the Democratic party. They offer empty promises to working class people in exchange for keeping the Dems in power. They package it up all nice and pretty. After the votes have come in, time to take care of #1 first. The elites don't want any co-mingling with the "normies", so they have to keep them in their place through ridicule and ostracism. Too bad so many voters cannot see the forest for the trees.
And what's with this "landslide" election crap? I keep hearing this ficticious phenomenon come up when the MSM does a story on Obama, such as "The Nation Gets Behind Obama". What nation? Germany? They keep making ridiculous statements that infer everyone in the US is happier and excited about the President Elect. I'm pretty sure 46% of people, which is nearly half, are not excited, and are in fact a little scared.
To TD in FL
Mon, 11/17/2008 - 08:53 ET by littlemissmuffinThe "nation" behind Obama is either Iran, Syria, Palestine, Venezuela, Cuba, Russia, or any other terrorist-supporting nation.
I live in Florida, too. Glad to see you here!
"If we conservatives moved to those seven non-existent States, the government couldn’t find us and tax us to death!"
According to Erin Burrnett,
Mon, 11/17/2008 - 08:59 ET by SeashellAccording to Erin Burrnett, Russia is. She just reported that 80% of Russia would have voted for Obama. Isn't that nice.
Of course they would.
Mon, 11/17/2008 - 16:24 ET by Tim the EnchanterOf course they would. Marxist dictators are their cup of tea.
I think we have several FL
Mon, 11/17/2008 - 11:19 ET by TD in FLI think we have several FL residents in the bunch here. Now is certainly the time of year where I'm happy to be here; although it was 45 degrees this morning <brrrr!>.
Oh, and hey, if it is Russia that is behind Obama, does this mean we'll see cheaper Vodka? We'll have plenty available since the only thing Obama gets drunk on is power.
TD
Mon, 11/17/2008 - 19:03 ET by littlemissmuffinI love living in Florida, but the cold temps these last few days made me dig into the closet for warmer clothes. Brrrrr. We have relatives in GA and a daughter attending college in MA (shudder!!) They laugh at me when I tell them FL gets cold.
Love the "drunk on power" comment.
"If we conservatives moved to those seven non-existent States, the government couldn’t find us and tax us to death!"
Anyone remember that
Mon, 11/17/2008 - 08:39 ET by motherbeltAnyone remember that elderly lady who Al Gore talked about, the one who supposedly picked up cans along the highways to pay for her medicine? Remember how they mocked her when they discovered she really wasn't destitute?
Oh, nevermind.
I am really proud of Joe the
Mon, 11/17/2008 - 08:52 ET by SeashellI am really proud of Joe the Plumber. He had the guts to actually ask "The Holy One" a tough question and to take tough questions from the press, and withstand the press turning over every stone in his past. He is now writing a book about all this and I think that is great. He sees an opportunity to make some money and he's taking it (and he's not hurting anyone) and he's not depending on the govt.. That is the American way. Go for it Joe! (In his shoes, I'd do the same thing!)
I think Bieler is jealous...
Mon, 11/17/2008 - 10:13 ET by mikefisk...after all, not only does nobody care what he has to say, odds are your typical plumber also makes noticeably more money than him. Something tells me he's acting on hurt feelings.
Can't sports be the ONE place SAFE from politics?
Mon, 11/17/2008 - 11:13 ET by kufir77Sports used to be an escape from politics, but know Bill Simmons, Peter King, and Sunday and Monday Night football are all "tainted" by them. I don't care if its Democrat or Republican, can't they just keep sports "sacred"?
Typical moron sports
Mon, 11/17/2008 - 11:19 ET by HockeyKidTypical moron sports commentator. They're hilariously inarticulate (not to mention irrelevant). It seems Desmond Bieler hopes, one day, to be as well-spoken as John Madden. "Bam! That's some real football, there."
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
When you get right down to it
Mon, 11/17/2008 - 13:10 ET by badcleatsA sports writer that's trying to make himself look cute with his idea of a brillaint statement is, actually a dichotomy of reality. The biggest majority of fans watching the NFL are Joe the plumbers. So.....what's his point? He's in a make believe world called D. C., far removed from the real world of real people that watch the games.
Olbermann II
Mon, 11/17/2008 - 14:01 ET by rammingspeedNeither witty nor original, this is one more "journalist" jerk blithely stepping over the line and giggling at his own attempts at humor. Football fans are notoriously the type to support a Joe The Plumber guy, and Bieler is just another elitist who doesn't get it.
JtP is about as relevant as
Tue, 11/18/2008 - 16:19 ET by balboaJtP is about as relevant as the Rams are.
Don't get us started
Tue, 11/18/2008 - 16:42 ET by choselife3xOn YOUR lack of relevance, balboa.
In order to be pro-choice, one must first be born. Ah, the irony.
Ooo. Relevance fight!
Tue, 11/18/2008 - 16:53 ET by balboaOoo. Relevance fight!
great comeback
Tue, 11/18/2008 - 17:11 ET by choselife3xNow that I've picked myself up off the ground and wiped away the blood, let me say that I am tired of hearing Libs say crap they wouldn't dare say to Joe's face. If you want to insult Joe or any other conservative American go to Kos and do it. Unless you like having your a$$ handed to you.
In order to be pro-choice, one must first be born. Ah, the irony.
Please, choselife
Tue, 11/18/2008 - 17:16 ET by balboaMy response to you was appropriate given your post.
I'm not insulting Joe. I would not have a problem saying that to his face. I don't think he's very relevant in the grand scheme of things.
Both of my responses
Tue, 11/18/2008 - 17:33 ET by choselife3xWere appropriate given your posts. So you sneer at Joe and then say it wasn't a sneer. I turned your statement around so it applied to you and you reponded as if it was a fight. If it wasn't an insult why would you respond as if it were?
Why can't liberals think straight? I guess if they could they wouldn't be liberals.
In order to be pro-choice, one must first be born. Ah, the irony.
No, I responded as if you
Tue, 11/18/2008 - 18:36 ET by balboaNo, I responded as if you were being a doofus. Big difference.
My initial statement had no sneer. Just fact.
One thing I liked about
Tue, 11/18/2008 - 20:40 ET by RR GOPOne thing I liked about this election was hearing from 'real' people like Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder. I thought when Mr. Burgess was interviewed by Sean Hannity that was a great thing, though I don't agree with Mr. Burgess' taste in politicians.
At any rate, I find all these sports announcers and analysts (except for Madden) to be really annoying and they say the stupidest things that have no relevence to the game. I often tell them to shut the H up when I'm watching these football games.
One of the 24% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 89% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory.