A Brief Encounter With One Samuel J. Wurzelbacher

[kpete]

But I did get to hear him have the following exchange with a pro-union person.

Pro-union guy: He's gonna cut a billion--well, almost a billion dollars--out of the education system in this state, and he's going to basically destroy the BadgerCare system!

Wurzelbacher: Well, he's doing that so he can give communities the control they need to address the deficit problem.

And that's when I had to insert myself into the conversation. I mean, you can say a lot about what the governor's plans are, but giving local communities more control of their fates ain't in the cards.

Me: Wait a minute. You said that he wants to give communities more control, but he's capping the property tax levels so they can't raise revenue to address any of the needs that they deem worth funding. How does that give local areas more control?

Wurzelbacher: Well, I don't know about that; I don't know all of the specifics.

Me: It's right in his budget plan. Not the "repair" bill, but the executive summary of the budget itself. I thought the Republicans were supposed to be for giving local areas more control of government--this is the opposite of that.

Wurzelbacher: Again, I don't know the specifics, but I do know he wants to address the budget problem.

THE REST:
http://www.first-draft.com/2011/03/a-brief-encounter-with-one-samuel-j-wurzelbacher.html

[gratuitous]

1. Shorter Not-Joe the Not-a-Plumber

"I don't know what I'm talking about, but 'local control' polls well with focus groups, so I'll say that."

[spanone]

2. joe the dumber

[CTyankee]

6. My union plumber friend goes ape when he hears this guy being called a "plumber."

I can't blame him for his righteous rant, either. He trains young plumbers coming up for the union and it makes him crazy for people to call themselves something they aren't, particularly those who haven't put in the time to get licensed. And he's right!

[Fuzz]

19. Just call me Fuzz the surgeon.

[cognoscere]

21. You mean that owning two pipe wrenches and a plunger doesn't

make me a plumber? Shit.

[butterfly77]

3. The only thing he knows is..

how much he is getting paid by the republIECONS..

[Proud Liberal Dem]

4. It's freakin' scary to me

how uninformed people like Mr. Wurzelbacher, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Neal Boortz, et. al are given such a HUGE a** platform by the corporate media whores running major news outlets from which to spew their nonsense (largely unchallenged) to the masses of people- a lot of whom mistakenly believe that because these guys (and some gals) have been given this platform to broadcast their every waking thought and *opinion* to a national audience that they must know what they are talking about when, in reality, all people are essentially being exposed to day in day out to a bunch of *lucky* grifters and con artists whom have found themselves helping run a humongous and seemingly unchallengeable propaganda machine. With so many people listening to them every day, including members of Congress and state legislatures everywhere, is it any wonder why political debate in this country has become so terribly f****d up? :banghead: :puke:

[HillbillyBob]

14. Its scary to me that people who should know bettter still watch

FuzzyNoise and then have the gall to spout it at me as if its gospel truth. and that is a whole different thing that bothers me that these fools talk about the ravings of sun mad old men from the bronze age writings and maunderings to be some kind of 'truth'.

[SpiralHawk]

5. He's a typical Republicon SuckerPuppet - swallowed the propaganda

now gets paid to spout it -- without a clue that he is crapping all over his -- and and his family's -- options in order to support eeeleeete Republicon Billionaires & and their Agenda of Greed.

[JoePhilly]

7. He needs to stop embarasing the name "Joe"

[Dappleganger]

8. Our dead hedgehog has more brain cells to rub together

than that one.

[FSogol]

9. The 1st question he should be asked every single time he appears, is "Who is paying you to be here

today?"

That's all I want to know from him. :shrug:

[mopinko]

11. you beat me to it. that's exactly what i was going to say

although i am pretty sure the answer is- the koch brothers.

[ClassWarrior]

10. "I don't know all of the specifics." Then why the hell are you coming to my state...

...and shitting all over it?!!

Fucking tool.

:puke:

NGU.

[bullwinkle428]

12. He'll find out about "the specifics" and get back to ya!

:rofl:

[bahrbearian]

13. He is only a $250,000 a year plumber, give him a break.

[Blue Owl]

15. We don't know all the specifics, but the GOP says it's real good

:spray:

[Canuckistanian]

16. Typical conservative response

Whenever they take away any kind of government assistance, they'll tell you they're "giving you more control"

[reformist2]

17. "I don't know the specifics. I'm here because I'm an opportunist and I hate commie-libs."

[mod mom]

18. Joe "I'm not paid to know the details" Not a Plumber

[sabrina 1]

20. So, he's not Joe, and he's not a plumber and like most rightwingers

he's not a veteran either.

I love the part where he got in his talking points about veterans. He's so programmed he probably believes that no Commie/Democrap ever served in the military. This was priceless:

The first time he said "Well I don't know about that," I had a hard time NOT saying "So what the hell are you doing here?" But I managed to keep a lid on that shit. We introduced ourselves and shook hands, then proceeded to have the following conversation.

Wurzelbacher: Really, my main thing is that I help out veterans. I try to get 25 or so veterans every year and take them on a trip to Alaska. I figure those are the people we owe a lot to.

Me: I'm a veteran.

Wurzelbacher: Really? What branch?

Me: I was in the Navy for six years. Submarine service.

Wurzelbacher: Wow. I couldn't do that. I've traveled around and met with lots of servicemen, and I've been on the big ships and the subs, but I couldn't do that. Thans you so much for your service.

Me: Well, you know. It was a job. I'm proud of what I did, but other people do a lot more.

Wurzelbacher: Yeah, veterans have done so much for the country; we don't give you guys enough credit, and I think you need to make your voices heard, because you've got the right to speak your mind.

Me: What about all the other kinds of service to the country? I mean, there are community volunteers, religious organizations that do good things, people that serve their neighborhoods and communities in ways that I couldn't begin to be able to do. Hell, I figure anybody can go in a tube underwater for a while. I couldn't face a room full of six-year-olds on a daily basis, that's for sure.

Wurzelbacher: You've got a point there.

Me: Yeah, I'm proud of what I did, but I don't think it privileges my point of view over anybody else's. We're all citizens, and we're all born with the right to speak our minds. That's one of the things I really love about the country.

Wurzelbacher: I see what you're saying. I have to get to the meeting now. It was nice to meet you, and thank you again.

The propaganda training he's had didn't include this. A commie who served in the military. He'll have to be reprogrammed if any of that conversation begins to penetrate the thick layer of years of programming. But I get the impression that Not-Joe-not-a-plumber doesn't compute actual facts very well.