Graeme Frost Antagonist Michelle Malkin Complains That The Media Is ‘Going Full Force’ After Joe The Plumber
Graeme Frost Antagonist Michelle Malkin Complains That The Media Is ‘Going Full Force’ After Joe The Plumber
Yesterday, after Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) had made Ohio plumber Sam Joe Wurzelbacher a central figure in the political debate, the media dug into who “Joe the Plumber” is. The media scrutiny revealed, amongst other things, that Wurzelbacher owes back taxes, isn’t actually licensed as a plumber and “makes less than $250,000 a year, which means he would receive a tax cut if Obama were elected president.”
The right wing is now claiming that reporters are on a “mission to tear down Joe the Plumber.” On Fox and Friends this morning, conservative columnist Michelle Malkin claimed that “the Obama water carriers in the media are going full force after this guy” in order to “attack the messenger” and “tear him down.” Watch it:
As Jesse Taylor notes at Pandagon, Malkin’s complaints about scrutiny of Wurzelbacher are more than “just the pot calling the kettle black.” Last year, when twelve-year old Graeme Frost delivered a Democratic radio address in favor of expanding SCHIP, Malkin and other right-wingers launched a baseless smear campaign targeting Frost and his family.
At the time, Malkin vociferously defended her actions — which included visiting the Frost’s commercial property and home — as doing “what journalists should be doing“:
Asking questions and subjecting political anecdotes to scrutiny are what journalists should be doing.
When a family and Democrat political leaders drag a child down to Washington at 6 in the morning to read a script written by Senate Democrat staffers on a crusade to overturn a presidential veto, someone might have questions about the family’s claims. The newspapers don’t want to do their jobs. The vacuum is being filled.
If you don’t want questions, don’t foist these children onto the public stage.
Fight your battles like adults and stop hiding behind youngsters dragging around red wagons filled with your talking points.
Malkin is not completely unaware of the hypocrisy of her complaints. She attempts to explain it away by claiming the media has “behemoth double standards” for calling it “journalism when they investigate, but consider it ’stalking’ when those of us on the Right perform the same tasks on Democrat poster families.”
The difference between what the media is doing now with Wurzelbacher and what Malkin and the right wing did to the Frosts is clear. While the media is reporting the facts as they find them, Malkin and her allies distorted the facts with innuendo and refused to believe the Frosts were “struggling” even after family friends told them so.
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I guess when you try and input your opinion towards a heated political battle with lies, and the media easily catches you, it should never be mentioned?? Poor Michelle needs to stick with palastinian scarves where she is an expert.
Joe is not going to buy the company that only made 100,000 last year, Joe only made 40,000, and he does not even have plumbing liscence. Joe is even against paying any taxes. He is a typical GOP dullard who gets all his info from Rush (hillbilly heroin) Limbaugh and Sean hannity.
October 17th, 2008 at 12:55 pmWow, the rabid right wingers are really frothing at the mouth.
Guido, while I feel the same we do need to know what these frothing hypocrites are up to.
October 17th, 2008 at 12:55 pmWhy wouldn’t the press go after Joe Not The Plumber? The entire charade is a huge fraud perpetrated on the American public in an effort to affect the national election. Are they supposed to just let that pass?
October 17th, 2008 at 12:55 pmJoe the shill. Joe the plant. Joe the scab. Joe the fraud.
October 17th, 2008 at 12:57 pmMalkin has no credibility whatsoever, not now, & never will. Perhaps if the Repubs would find honest people as their poster boys/girls, they wouldn’t have to feign outrage when that person is found to be a fraud, perhaps even a Repub plant.
October 17th, 2008 at 12:58 pmThey don`t like the TRUTH because they really don`t know what it is because of their SPIN MASTERS.To F&^%$#@ bad.
October 17th, 2008 at 12:58 pm…but, according to Malkin, it’s ok for Mrs. Sarah Traitor to drag her Downs baby around like a prop on the campaign trail.
nice family values, righties – no double-standard here, huh?
October 17th, 2008 at 12:59 pmIt’s only a difference in degree, and it’s a little hard to discern, but I think they ARE frothing more than usual these days.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:00 pmJohn and Joe: Plumb and “Plumber.” What an assclown this McCain campaign plant is turning out to be.
Undecided, yet voted in Republican primary and supports John McCain.
Claims to be a plumber, yet has no such license.
Claims to be buying his boss’s $250,000 business, which he isn’t.
Claims to make over $250,000, which he doesn’t (he makes $40,000).
Claims to pay his taxes, which he clearly doesn’t.
Is there any topic that cannot be poisoned by the screeching harpy’s visage that is Michelle Malkin?
By the way, Malkintent: when someone thrusts themselves into the media spotlight, whether on their own or at the behest of the McCain campaign, making $hitloads of loaded and unfounded claims about a candidate, of course the media (well, everyone except Faux News) will fact check that person’s claims. Perhaps the media in your fascist world would simply buy the party line and not ask questions?
October 17th, 2008 at 1:03 pmRight… isn’t Malkin the one who put the home addresses and phone numbers of Santa Cruz college students up on her website, so her lunatic supporters could, ya know, call them up and make threats?
Journalistic integrity, indeed.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:03 pmanother clear case of the mcBLAME campaign not vetting…
October 17th, 2008 at 1:04 pmYeah, I wondered if it was all in my head, but from the reports of what is coming across the teevee I can’t help but feel they’re in a bit of a panic.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:04 pmIt may turn out that ‘Joe’ is just another plumber just like and part and parcel of the famous ‘Nixon plumbers’.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:05 pmHey, Michelle, is it true you’re a member of the American Nazi Party? Fuss up.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:06 pmKeith H. Says:
I can’t help but feel they’re in a bit of a panic…
_______
Right, Keith. That’s like saying water is just a little bit wet, dude.
Me, personally? I’m buying Kimberly Clark* stock NOW!
*manufacturers of Depend® absorption products… heh…
October 17th, 2008 at 1:09 pmThis woman is such a joke with all of her feigned outrage–she has to be the most unhappiest woman in the GOP. Look, this ass clown plumber put himself out there and had his 15 minutes of fame–not content with that, he called a “press conference” yesterday morning where he waxed on about all that is wrong with america.
I can’t remember if CNN carried it or MSNBC–he’s as much of a joke as Malkin.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:09 pm“Joe” the “Plumber” blew up in the right wingers faces. They should man up, quit whining, and move on.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:12 pmIt’s not all in your head, Keith. The Reichwhiners are coming undone like? A hairdo in a hurricane.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:12 pmThe Republic of Stupidity Says:
Ha ! good one ..
October 17th, 2008 at 1:13 pmI wish the media would Vet Sarah in the same way.
All the information is out there.
As mayor she hired a lobbyst to get 27 mil. for a towm of 7000.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:14 pmShe left the town over 19 mil. in debt.
She took the money for the “bridge to know where”
The pipeline is not being built. Etc….
Who is Sarah Palin?
pete Says:
It’s not all in your head, Keith. The Reichwhiners are coming undone like? A hairdo in a hurricane.
Cool, it’s confirmed then.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:15 pmAnd I can tell you, it makes me feel better than I have in 8 years.
I keep wondering, couldn’t the McCain campaign have found a real plumber to shill for them? There have to be some plumbers out there who support the Republicans against their own best interests.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:20 pmAs we all know twelve year olds can handle themselves and deserve nonstop attacks to break down any disobedient (non-Republican)thoughts whereas plumbers helpers from toledo is so sensitive.
(feeling sarcastic today)
October 17th, 2008 at 1:21 pmComplete this sentence; Michelle Malkin needs to be ___________.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:24 pmMe too Keith.
I will thoroughly enjoy watching them turn on each other. And, assuming an Obama victory, I think the media will see a purge of the worst of the Reichwhiners. And those who are left will spend their efforts blaming each other for the end of their “permanent majority”.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:25 pmYes. Yes, they are. Don’t you know how this works yet?
October 17th, 2008 at 1:26 pmAs mayor she hired a lobbyst to get 27 mil. for a towm of 7000.
She left the town over 19 mil. in debt.
She took the money for the “bridge to know where”
The pipeline is not being built. Etc….
Who is Sarah Palin?
Well, we know she’ not a witch, because that african witch-doctor (Mutsy?) drove away all her evil spirits.
That’s gotta count for something…
October 17th, 2008 at 1:27 pmYeah, but there’s nothing like someone you KNOW is in your camp. (sorry to keep posting this, but it’s weird that no one besides C&L is talking about it)
October 17th, 2008 at 1:28 pmhttp://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/joe-plumber-more-joe-keating-family-
Michelle Mentalpatient
You perpetrate a fraud and are then surprised that it’s discovered ?
Because the GOP has been on the up-and-up for such a long time , they’re beyond reproach or should be ?
What the hell is wrong with this Oriental chipmunk ?
October 17th, 2008 at 1:29 pmMaybe shoeless but it would be almost impossible to find a small business owner who actually nets anything near $250k a year profit or can pay themselves that kind of salary.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:29 pmThat hateful beeyotch ought to have “IOKIYAR” tattooed on her forehead.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:32 pmDid you know that Dick Cheney and George W. Bush are “small businesses?
Are Bush and Cheney “Small Businesses?” Their Ad Counts Them As Such
October 17th, 2008 at 1:32 pmlurker Says:
——————————————————————————–
I wish the media would Vet Sarah in the same way.
All the information is out there.
As mayor she hired a lobbyst to get 27 mil. for a towm of 7000.
She left the town over 19 mil. in debt.
She took the money for the “bridge to know where”
The pipeline is not being built. Etc….
Who is Sarah Palin?
October 17th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
That “pipeline” that isn’t even being built yet (and there’s plenty of discussion that it might never be built) , came with a $500 million dollar price-tag ; how can anyone piss away that kind of taxpayer money based upon something that might come to fruition ? That’s INSANE ; does anyone know someone who would make a $500 mill investment on anything that isn’t a sure thing ????????????????
October 17th, 2008 at 1:33 pmIf you are a Republican Tool and spewing Republican Talking Points and McCain decides to use the Tool then you had better be ready to be questioned when you’re a liar….LIVs should keep their clap-traps shut when they don’t know what the fcuk they are talking about.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:36 pmMr. Evil @25
I think the word you are looking for is “ignored”.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:38 pmMCMetal Says:
What the hell is wrong with this Oriental chipmunk ?
October 17th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
______
Now, now – let’s leave ethnicity out of it. We don’t do any good by fighting Malkin’s bigotry with more bigotry.
Besides, there’s not really any such thing as an “Oriental Chipmunk.” In fact, there’s only one species of chipmunk endemic to Asia, and it primarily lives in Siberia (though it can sometimes be found in China and Japan as pets).
October 17th, 2008 at 1:40 pmMichelle Malkin attacks children and couldn’t care less about their needs. Reich-wingers think that every generation that comes after them should be worse off. Unfortunately, they seem to be getting their wish. It’s time to reverse this trend with an Obama children.
Thanks for the flashback to her despicable acts, TP.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:40 pmliberal traitor:
I believe that the link between “Joe” and Keating has been debunked. I don’t recall where I read it but, I believe that the gentleman Joe is related to is deceased while Keating’s son in law is alive. I’ll try to track down a link.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:41 pmFirst a thread about an Ohio rethuglican whining for the sec. of state to do her job then a thread about MM whining about “the Malkinesque stalking of Joe da P.” – today is rich with irony, I tell you!
October 17th, 2008 at 1:42 pmI meant, Obama administration. But I do hope that Obama’s children turn out just fine. :)
October 17th, 2008 at 1:43 pmJoe is even against paying any taxes.
Without taxes, nothing gets funded or paid for. Why can’t republicans ever figure that out?!
October 17th, 2008 at 1:43 pmThat’s the whole point.
Then they can point at the failures of EVERYTHING and say “See, we told you gov’t doesn’t work! That’s why you have to put us in charge, because we know it doesn’t work…or something like that”
October 17th, 2008 at 1:48 pmHere it is, liberal traitor. And the guy “Joe” is related to is still alive. “Joe” is still a fraud but, he’s not apparently related to Charles Keating.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/16/133831/42/1001/632600
October 17th, 2008 at 1:48 pmNo one above has mentioned that Joe the Plumber is not even a registered voter in Holland, Ohio! There are two men with the same last name but with very different given names. So McCain is not going to get his vote!
October 17th, 2008 at 1:49 pmpete Says:
——————————————————————————–
liberal traitor:
I believe that the link between “Joe” and Keating has been debunked. I don’t recall where I read it but, I believe that the gentleman Joe is related to is deceased while Keating’s son in law is alive. I’ll try to track down a link.
If it is debunked, please let me know. I hadn’t heard anything debunking it up until now…however it did seem a little too movie-esque.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:49 pmNo thanks. I can’t stand listening to Malkin and I really do not care what her opinion is on anything. Thanks for the offer though TP.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:50 pmpete:
Fair enough, thanks for pointing that out.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:50 pmhussein toasterhead Says:
——————————————————————————–
MCMetal Says:
What the hell is wrong with this Oriental chipmunk ?
October 17th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
______
Now, now – let’s leave ethnicity out of it. We don’t do any good by fighting Malkin’s bigotry with more bigotry.
Besides, there’s not really any such thing as an “Oriental Chipmunk.” In fact, there’s only one species of chipmunk endemic to Asia, and it primarily lives in Siberia (though it can sometimes be found in China and Japan as pets).
October 17th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Referring to someone as “Oriental” , is not bigoted.
Had I used the term that McDepends did in describing his VC captors , then that would be correct…………..
October 17th, 2008 at 1:50 pmI just took a gander at Malignency Malkins site just for the laughs. I got plenty of those to say the least. She has really come unglued over on her site. what a idiot!
October 17th, 2008 at 1:50 pmIf the GOP insists on talking about Joe the Plumber (who apparently should have been called Joe the Handyman) then the Dems should talk about why people making under $100,000 (let alone $250,000!) continue to think that they would get a tax increase if Obama becomes President.
Are those voters buying the lies?
Are they hard of hearing?
What’s the deal??
It’s almost as if they’re all wannabe rich repugs when most of them never will be even close to rich. I heard this Joe the Plumber guy say something like, “No, I don’t make that much but I hope to and when I do I want to keep it”.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:56 pmYou’re welcome, liberal traitor. When we are dealing with so many lies, it’s hard to keep facts straight and separate from the fiction.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:59 pmLushInterior Says:
You’re not normal…….kinda cracked if you ask me.
October 17th, 2008 at 2:14 pmInteresting, but ol’ Joe might not do too badly with this debacle as a carreer move of some kind. Looking at some right blogs (and MM’s comments), there are a lot of these “no welfare, no social-anything” republicans out there crying their eyes out for poor ol’ Joe who was just being a good citizen, and are posing an address (unverified) to which to send Joe money to help him out. So, some free donations to Joe. Apparently (unverified) he will not be allowed to work as an unlicenced plumber in a state requiring all plumbers to be licenced, and the republican posters are all awash with anguish over that little fact. Funny, but these are the same ones who think that a family with children starving to death (literaly), should just “pull themselves up by the bootstraps”, and get a better job.
All people towing the republican line are the lowest denominator (not common denominator), and it is certainly THEY who are bringing America down (see the last 8 years, for starters, if you want “proof”). The republican party should be dismantled and purged. Anyone wanting to create a new conservative movement based on the ORIGINAL conservative ideals (none of which actually exist any more in the republican party) then have at. But the republican party is forever tarnished by the criminality it has shown, by the treasonous hatred it has engendered for America and the constitution (I saw some of these repub posters commenting that if Obamas stances represent the American Dream, then they want to say goodbye to the American Dream — WTF???), and simply for the disregard for any concept of the rule of law, to inclde fair and real democratic elections. In fact, why don’t all the republicans move to Alaska, they can have the oil, they can have Palin as their Icy Moose Queen, and they can seceede from the Republic (that’d be America, for the not so bright). And leave the rest of the world to the grownups.
October 17th, 2008 at 2:15 pm“Arrested for back taxes”? That’s very rare unless there is a clear case of fraud and/or a huge amount of money.
“Lose his job”? Well, if he’s not licensed he just may. An unqualified plumber can do a heck of a lot of damage. Water leaks, gas leaks, electrical problems; all can destroy a building.
“Get divorced”? I think he already is.
October 17th, 2008 at 2:22 pmCageyCretin Says:
na, we need a minority opposition party. Even dems can get crazy if they have too much power.
The republicans served a purpose for 40 years as the minority opposition…….that is the only purpose they serve in our democracy.
October 17th, 2008 at 2:27 pmNice try LushInterior but you’ll never pass for a progressive. You just don’t get it. Besides, Joe the Unskilled Laborer is already a “single father”. Whatever that means.
October 17th, 2008 at 2:28 pmShe attempts to explain it away by claiming the media has “behemoth double standards” for calling it “journalism when they investigate, but consider it ’stalking’ when those of us on the Right perform the same tasks on Democrat poster families.”
Ummm , there’s a slight difference there , toots ; the MSM (is supposed) to just report the facts , and therefore that is simply the story.
You nut jobs on the Right make up more than half the story , thus it becomes more than just a story ; it’s a story with-in a story………
October 17th, 2008 at 2:33 pmpete Says:
Joe the shill. Joe the plant. Joe the scab. Joe the fraud.
I heard on Olberman last night that “Joe” is well known to a local right wing talk show host. I’m betting that host called “Joe”, when he knew Obama was going to be in his neighborhood, and suggested that “Joe” try to find Obama and ask him a potentially embarrassing question. I’m also betting the host had a video camera there to get it all on tape.
Since Joe completely lied to Obama when he posed his “question”, he is either a total liar or a plant.
October 17th, 2008 at 2:44 pmMichelle Malkin is an awful piece of work.
====
October 17th, 2008 at 2:46 pmLushInterior Says:
And now for a public service announcement:
We have a “concerned” troll on aisle 5, please ignore. We’re working on cleaning it up.
October 17th, 2008 at 2:47 pmpete Says:
I heard on Olberman last night that “Joe” is well known to a local right wing talk show host.
Joe is probably the only caller to that right wing talk show. As an old unionized industrial town, Toledo is heavily Democratic.
October 17th, 2008 at 2:54 pmFred Says:
CageyCretin Says:
na, we need a minority opposition party. Even dems can get crazy if they have too much power.
More than agreed. But I’ll go further to say that we need to end this whole 2-party system. The concept that we have been forced to accept since before anyone here was born is that there are only 2 parties of signifigance, and while that is how the climate is, it is not right. It is not very democratic, and to have a chance at being a successful politician one MUST belong to one of those two parties, and, to some degree, tow that party line instead of holding their own beliefs regardless of party ideology. With a couple of exceptions.
October 17th, 2008 at 2:57 pmMalkin is real lucky she was spat out here in this country, otherwise she’s probably be making a living with either her mouth or on her back,when the 7th Fleet visits Subic Bay!
October 17th, 2008 at 3:07 pmKlem Kiddilehopper, why do you hate our troops?
October 17th, 2008 at 3:36 pmMCMetal Says:
Referring to someone as “Oriental” , is not bigoted.
Had I used the term that McDepends did in describing his VC captors , then that would be correct…………..
October 17th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
_______
It’s not the preferred term, particularly when used in a pejorative sense. And it has a long history of connotation in colonialism and orientalism.
As for what McCain used, well, that’d just be silly since she’s Filipino. That’d be like calling an Italian a “Kraut.”
October 17th, 2008 at 3:37 pmAs soon as McCain decided to “Jessica Lynch” Joe the Plumber (by spinning his story into a fanciful tale that wasn’t true), Joe’s story became fair game for the media whether he was a plant or not. While I don’t think his tax lien is all that relevant, the particulars concerning the business he hoped to buy and whether or not that would mean a tax hike in an Obama presidency should have been (and were) checked out by the media.
Malkin is just being a poor sport. She’s mad because McCain’s spin that Obama’s tax plan would prevent people like Joe from realizing the American Dream was rapidly exposed as utter fiction. And the wingnuts don’t have too many tools left in their belts (if any).
October 17th, 2008 at 4:02 pmIts plain as can be that Malkin is a low class dim bulb as a public service I will translate from wingnutese.
WWWAAHHHHHHHHHH, stop vetting our propaganda. WWWWAAHHHHHHHH you are just supposed to take whatever the righwingnuts say as gospel you arent supposed to see if they are real, true or make sense. WWWWAAHHHHHHHH you know we cant hope to sell our bogus idiotic agenda without lies and distortions so just let us lie and distort WWWWAHHHHHHHHHHHHH
October 17th, 2008 at 4:15 pmLushIdiot Go pour yourself a nice hot steaming cup of STFU YOUR GOP plan to disenfranchise as many valid voters as possible went up in smoke when the Supreme Court slapped you guys down. You can stop snivelling and lose with some dignity
October 17th, 2008 at 4:19 pmHi LushInterior.
October 17th, 2008 at 4:20 pmWanna get serious now?
LushInterior Says:
Lush you are such an ignorant punk. It is so easy to just be stupid and ridiculous. You pull stupidity directly out of your ASS and pretend it is making a point. Its as easy as. If McCain becomes President life will be so good he will just starve all the lazy people to death so there is more for the rest of us invade Iran, Pakistan, India, Spain and take all the oil so gas will go down to 1 dollar a gallon and only a few million people will be killed we will pull out of the UN so no one can complain about the genocide we commit while we destroy terrorism with all the information we get by torturing those bad terrorists to death along with anyone who looks vaguely like them. You are ignorant LushIdiot. You are a fool. If you think you are in any way being clever or making a point then you are delusional too.
October 17th, 2008 at 4:31 pmSlightly OT but, for those who are interested, this site has lots of info on “voter fraud”.
http://truthaboutfraud.org/
October 17th, 2008 at 4:38 pmMr. Evil Says:
Complete this sentence; Michelle Malkin needs to be treated with respect and reverence.
October 17th, 2008 at 7:04 pmCan’t Michelle Malkin just go over to Joe the Plumber’s house and protect him from all the rest of the mean liberal media?
She could use her power to glare at them and turn them to stone.
October 18th, 2008 at 2:28 amDoes anyone remember that Malkin was a regular sub host for O’Reilly up until she smeared Graeme Frost? I have not seen her on there since.
October 19th, 2008 at 12:55 am