Joe the Plumber, Four

     The last thing that impressed me about Joe the Plumber is his implicit appeal to first principles.  It isn't really fair to say that he is voting his wallet.  He did not say who he was going to vote for, and seemed to take offense at the question itself.  It was almost as if he still considered the vote to be something sacred, not to be paraded about for pollsters.  What has happened to Joe since, is another matter.  But for that moment, in that interview, he showed that he rejected the idea that he should vote for a fatter wallet, since even if he had been persuaded that Mr. Obama's policies would fatten his wallet (and he was not persuaded that they would), they would still amount to what he called "socialism".  That's what he rejected, as unworthy of American love of liberty.

     I think that Joe was right about that, but that's not my point here.  I'm struck first of all that anybody can still talk about first principles.  I'm convinced that if John McCain had breathed the words "liberty" and "constitution" and "tradition" once an hour, or bothered to recall some words -- almost any would do -- from Jefferson or Adams or Washington, he'd have the election in hand.  Does anyone still believe even in the more lenient interpretations of the Constitution favored by Daniel Webster and Abraham Lincoln?  All we hear is talk on who is going to "fix the economy," as if it were a leaky faucet in the bathroom; nothing about what all nations need to hear, namely what we are and what we believe and how we can breathe life again into our national virtues.  Sure, some economic policies are wise and some are stupid.  Raising taxes in a recessionary environment is stupid, and despite what Mr. Obama says, most of us are staring down a stiff tax hike in the near future -- when the Bush tax cuts expire, and with them various deductions; and then when sales of houses under $500,000 once more become subject to capital gains taxes; and when Mr. Obama and his party devise some way to pay for the trillion dollars in new entitlements they plan.  But there are things that are more important even than a sound economy.  Liberty, for instance -- and liberty has the added advantage of eventually, with modest regulation mainly to keep the market genuinely free, conducing to a sound economy.

     There are some people who cannot logically appeal to first principles.  Utilitarians can't; all they can do is whip out the happiness calculators, their political equivalent of a magic wand.  Materialists can't; they cannot even recognize the real existence of principles, except as prejudices.  Others cannot appeal to first principles, because it would be political suicide for them to do so.  Mr. Obama's principles (and I do believe he has them; he is not a pragmatist; if he had been, the communities he organized might now be communities, with intact families) are of the James Cone, Saul Alinsky, William Ayres, academic race-studies sort.  So I think he has to keep quiet about them.

     But whence do you derive any principles at all?  Aristotle would say that meditation upon human life is only possible if you have leisure.  That's why, according to him, men who worked all day at laying bricks missed out on one of the greatest joys of human life.  They had not the time for intellectual conversation, or for simple peace and solitude.  Yet in our own day I have found matters to be curiously inverted.  It may be that work with your hands -- in our day, I repeat -- gives you a half decent chance for thinking, and even for intellectual conversation.  That is because it is not subject to a barrage of noise.  I don't mean decibels.  I mean the chatter of televisions at the airport, the meaningless e-mails, the office memos, the committee meetings, the cell phone calls about nothing, the general being-plunged into the whirlpool of the ephemeral.  I see it in my profession, which really should be the last citadel for leisure.  We used to believe that a liberal education was just that, a liberal education, liberating the mind from the morass of the current, giving it the free air of a hilltop from which to survey the present and the past, and to make considered judgments about what most matters in human life.  We don't believe that anymore.  So, for example, one of the professors at my school (and Providence College is a paragon of good health compared to most) tells his students that they are idiots for reading anything written before 1950, since none of that matters anymore.  Another professor derides students for majoring in English, since there is no real knowledge you can gain from poetry.  Another professor states in her short bio on our webpage that she aims to produce "student activists" -- not, I guess, students who wonder how they are supposed to act, when they are still ignorant of the World and of Mankind.  Another professor tells students that human life is no more than food and sex.

     These professors are all on the hard left; and they, like the left, are illiberal to the core.  They can learn nothing, because their "principle," such as it is, is that there is nothing to learn about man, or nothing more to learn about man than about any mammal or any machine.  A couple of weeks ago my son and I stopped after a 15 mile bike ride at a local doughnut shop.  Outside the shop, at some tables and benches, were the archetypal Men at the City Gates.  Most of them were old.  It looked as if half of them were retired or out of work.  Apparently they meet there quite a lot, where they talk politics, among other things.  Their views were hearteningly unpredictable.  Their ringleader, for example, calls Obama a socialist, and yet blames Ronald Reagan and the deregulation of the banking industry for the current mortgage mess.  They talked history -- and not just recent history.  Some of them were faithful Catholics; the ringleader was a defiant agnostic.

     I'm not saying that they were an ideal portion of the electorate.  Me, I'm still looking to be persuaded that there ought to be an electorate; I love liberty, and the franchise is a tool for securing liberty.  But sometimes the tool turns in your hand.  I'm not saying that Joe the Plumber was liberal in the sense of being free to survey the inanities of the day's fads.  I'd have to talk with him for an hour to determine that.  But by comparison with his interviewer, he stood forth like James Madison with a pipe wrench.

Comments

[Francesca]

In case anyone is Joe the Plumbered out, here's a refreshing take on the subject from Steve Colbert:

"John McCain mentions Joe the Plumber so much, I am afraid he is addicted to crack [on screen: photo of a plumber's backside]. And now, the McCain-Palin campaign is spreading the love to all the middle class [on screen: McCain and Palin mentioning 'Ed the dairy man,' 'Rose the teacher,' 'Phil the bricklayer,' 'Molly the dental hygienist,' and 'Chuck the teacher']. I believe they went on to single out Bob the Builder, Dora the Explorer, and Thomas the Tank Engine. A key demographic. The only person McCain's not talking about is George the President"

[Judy K. Warner]

If you're tired of Joe the Plumber, simply click onto another website. I'm enjoying this series of Tony's. You've mocked, but you haven't answered. As for me, after one mention of him I'm Steve Colberted out.

[DGP]

At the risk of sounding like a drumbeat, I'll again argue that the inaccessibility of first principles may be correlated with television. Of course, all mass media pose a special hazard here, insofar as *media* they are interposed between the public and principles. But television is the worst of the lot: It combines highly emotive music with addictive, rapidly changing images, broadcast into almost every home on a continual basis. Up to now, it's been too expensive for anyone to attempt to employ it without expecting a lot of impact for their dollars. (Perhaps someday, youtube-style material will supercede it.)

[Stuart Koehl]

Even more remarkable is Francesca thinks Stephen Colbert is possessed of wit. But then, Francesca has always mistaken sneer for parody.

[Bob]

So, does anybody think this Berg lawsuit will go anywhere? I've been watching this for a while now. It sure seems like O Face is hiding something.

[Francesca]

>>So, does anybody think this Berg lawsuit will go anywhere?<<

No. Check scopes and factcheck.

[Bob]

Imagine you mean Snopes. Wouldn't check them to see if the sky is blue anymore--their bias is so obvious. And Factcheck? I assume you're referring to the supposed birth certificate Obama has posted on his website? Yeah, Factcheck said it was real. Great. They're funded by Annenberg, and Obama is/was on the board there. No thanks. How about a real one? Why doesn't he just show us? Surely he has something to hide? Why pay thousands of dollars to block a lawsuit rather than just bring out the goods? The only reasonable explanation is that he doesn't *have* the goods--or rather, that the goods aren't so, er, good.

You think Bush "stole" an election? You think we got tired of hearing that same old lie for eight years? Just wait till you have to hear us telling you, for the next four years, that Barry Soetero, the President of the Divided States, isn't even a citizen of said States.

Francesca, you're the most tiresome troll around, honestly. Go hang out under a bridge. Maybe Clinton-appointed judge, the "Honorable" Richard Barclay Surrick (surprise! surprise!) will come hang out with you there.

[Respectabiggle]

"It may be that work with your hands -- in our day, I repeat -- gives you a half decent chance for thinking, and even for intellectual conversation."


I do my best thinking when I'm mowing the grass. The noise and narrow visual focus (required to avoid amputating my foot) combine to form a sort of sensory deprivation chamber, and my mind is free to wander much more than it is at the office.

I understand that something similar was what made needlework so pleasurable for previous generations of ladies.

[Francesca]

>>Even more remarkable is Francesca thinks Stephen Colbert is possessed of wit. <<

Then you probably wouldn't appreciate his recent comment that Joe the Plumber and Wendy the Waitress understand that what they really need are "tax cuts for the wealthy and offshore drilling, not universal health care or last names." I love Colbert's use of humor to demonstrate how absurdly apt the metaphor of Joe the Plumber is for John the Clone of George the President.

McCain really should appoint Sam the Skinhead, oops, I mean "Joe" the "Plumber", to be his top economic advisor. They have so much in common. Neither one has hair or a clue how much he's worth (McCain can't remember how many houses he has, $40K-a-year Joe claims to be on the verge of buying a $250K+ business,) both hate taxes so much that Joe won't even pay his, preferring to let his less noble neighbors pay for his share of roads and schools, and both have their heads stuck down a toilet. How could Obama the Socialist compete with such a glorious economic ticket? By comparison, his advisors merely include Volcker the Marxist and Warren the Commie (I've also heard he's a Muslim who believes everything Jeremiah Wright says, and he might even be an Arab!).

BTW, McCain can't have Bob the Builder, as Bob's slogan -- "Yes, we can!" -- has already been taken. Nor can he have Thomas the Tank Engine -- too useful an engine. Dora the Explorer, I grant him. Perhaps she could help Palin discover Real America (now that even CO is in Fake America.)

[Francesca]

>>Just wait till you have to hear us telling you, for the next four years, that Barry Soetero, the President of the Divided States, isn't even a citizen of said States.<<

Oh, I already know he was born in Afghanistan to Osama bin Laden, Jeremiah Wright, AND Jane Fonda. I read it on WorldNutDaily.

ROFL.

[Rob G]

**Then you probably wouldn't appreciate his recent comment that Joe the Plumber and Wendy the Waitress understand that what they really need are "tax cuts for the wealthy and offshore drilling, not universal health care or last names." I love Colbert's use of humor to demonstrate how absurdly apt the metaphor of Joe the Plumber is for John the Clone of George the President.**

Please cue us as to when the humorous part is coming. This just sounds like the standard lefty boilerplate of Bill Maher & Co.

[Stuart Koehl]

>>>I do my best thinking when I'm mowing the grass. The noise and narrow visual focus (required to avoid amputating my foot) combine to form a sort of sensory deprivation chamber, and my mind is free to wander much more than it is at the office.<<<

When I really need to think, I also do something mindless and physical, whether it's putting up paneling in the basement or mixing concrete, or painting a door. The brain and body are disengaged, and somehow or other, the solution to the conundrum pops almost unbidden into the mind in the midst of the task. Which, unfortunately, leads to a lot of half-finished tasks.

I can't do the lawn mowing thing--not enough lawn.

[Stuart Koehl]

>>>Please cue us as to when the humorous part is coming. This just sounds like the standard lefty boilerplate of Bill Maher & Co.<<<

As I said, Francesca and her ilk usually mistake sneer and smirk for wit and humor.

[Stuart Koehl]

I have an old Jean Shepherd recording, on which he does his critique of "new comedians" (i.e., Mort Sahl) who replace story-telling with disjointed snide remarks. He invokes the comic who takes the stage, sits on a three-legged stool, grabs the mike, and then says--to rauckus laughter from the too him for words audience-- "Nixon" (haw haw!). "McCarthy" (Haw, haw, haw!). NATO (Hoo, hoo, hee, hee!). And finally, the punch line: "Ike" (Hoo, hoo, hooo! Hee, hee, heee! Haa, haa, haaa!).

Interesting that Shepherd foresaw so well the rise of people like Bill Maher and Steven Colbert, to say nothing of the even less talented Sandra Bernhard and the lesser lights, all of whom think that F--- Bush!, F-- McCain, and F--- Palin can compete with the political satire of Jonathan Swift, or even the racontorial skills of Mark Twain (to say nothing of Jean Shepherd).

[Judy K. Warner]

Jean Shepherd! I listened to him all my high school and college years. We could get WOR in Philadelphia. He ruined my Mondays, as he was on 9pm to 1am on Sunday nights. He was a midwestern guy who had moved to New York, who was not usually laugh-out-loud funny (though occasionally he was), just a great storyteller and interested in all kinds of things. What Garrison Keillor might aspire to be if he lost his contempt for ordinary people.

[Stuart Koehl]

I listened to him religiously on a really cheap transistor radio. When I was working at Scout Camp up in the Catskills, I had to string antenna wire all through the branches of a tree to get enough gain, that when the atmospherics were just right, I could pick out WOR through the static clearly enough to hear him. Later, I turned my kids onto his stories. We were among the few people who knew the entire plot to "A Christmas Story" before seeing the movie.

And indeed, if Garrison Keeler ever managed to get some real talent, he might just barely be worthy to touch Shepherd's microphone.

[Bob]

Stuart, how'd you like Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss? That was one of my favorite movies (made for the Disney Channel) growing up. Heck, I didn't even know anything about A Christmas Story before ol' Ollie, and personally I think OHHB is better than ACS, but most people have never even heard of it.

[Stuart Koehl]

I saw that. Did you see Phantom of the Open Hearth? That's the Fourth of July movie that includes the story of "Ludlow Kissel and the Dago Bomb That Struck Back". I think it also included the story of Wilbur Duckworth, the fanatical drum major of the high school marching band, who in his last parade decides to give Hammond Indiana a Fourth it won't forget by tossing his baton up through the overhead wires of the trolley line, so that they fell across the lines, blacking out the whole town in a shower of sparks and flame.

[Stuart Koehl]

Looks like Joe the Plumber Two has just maxed out. Someone should talk to the webmaster about this.

[Bob]

Oh, is that what happened to my comment? I thought I'd screwed it up.

Well, Stuart, I was going to say that I was thinking McCain might barely win the popular vote but that the electoral votes would go the way of O Face. I was hoping you'd say "Not so." And I hope you're right, too.

[Bob]

Oh, and I have not seen the Fourth of July movie you mentioned, but I must search for it now!

[Stuart Koehl]

I regret that they never made a film of "Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories and Other Disasters".

[Bob]

That's been on my Amazon Wish List for some time now. I really should get to it.

Hey, some guy with your last name was on NPR today, Stuart. I didn't hear the first name, and I can't imagine they'd let you on, and he *was* talking about "the economy" (your thing is defense, yes?) but he did sound both crotchety and informed, so I found myself wondering if it was you. . .

Er, I mean. . .I don't listen to NPR. . .

[Sandra Miesel]

There was a made-for-PBS movie about Ralphie taking Wanda to the prom as well as one about Ralphie almost marrying a Polish girl. The whole series was marvelous although James Broderick was irreplacable as the Old Man.

Shepherd was exaggerating life in The Region only a little bit for artistic effect.

[Wonders for Oyarsa]

There's no shame in listening to NPR. Granted it's lefty, but Mars Hill Audio only comes once every two months...

[Stuart Koehl]

>>>There's no shame in listening to NPR. Granted it's lefty, but Mars Hill Audio only comes once every two months...<<<

I listen to NPR with all the intensity and devotion of a National Security Agency transcriber eavesdropping on Osama bin Laden--and for the same reasons.

Most of the NPR television specials have not yet been released. However, a wide range of Jean Shepherd radio broadcasts, films and live shows can be accessed or purchased at www.flicklives.com, the clearinghouse for all things Shep.

[Clifford Simon]

Francesca demonstrates something: Steven Colbert and Jon Stewart actually have some clout with voters. I think many people realize what Tony's realized about anchorwomen who read 5th-grade English from a teleprompter and never break a nail - and that's why they turn to Colbert and Stewart for their news and views. It is an ironic fulfillment of the Daily Show's tagline, "Where More Americans Get Their News Than Any Other Nationality." That's why the Daily Show's ratings are good, and the parody-newsroom which broadcasts the actual news has grown from a laugh-once novelty to an established genre. (If it were just a funny novelty, wouldn't it have grown old by now?) The attitude seems to be, instead of trying to remedy the stupid oafishness of TV news, let's just live with it and relish in it.

[W.E.D. Godbold]

Re:Francesa and humor
Roger Ebert (whose movie reviews I almost always enjoy but whose politics I abominate) once said that you can't explain funny or sexy to someone. If you don't apprehend them, then they ain't to you. I think Stuart is right about the sneering substituting for real humor (particularly about Bernhard but perhaps for the others as well).

I do have a soft spot in my heart (or head) for Colbert, since we're about the same age and he's from SC. He did a much appreciated (by me) take on Georgia's completely false claim that they are "the peach state".

[jrm]

Colbert is squarely in the fine tradition of Mark Twain and Will Rodgers. Only a person whose ox is beig gored would mistake his parody for a sneer.

"Well, Stuart, I was going to say that I was thinking McCain might barely win the popular vote but that the electoral votes would go the way of O Face. I was hoping you'd say "Not so." And I hope you're right, too."

Well, no. Obama will win the popular vote and, as often happens, the Electoral vote will overemphasize the victory. If you actually believe McCain's victory is at hand, you can put your money where your mouth is and turn a hefty profit at Intrade. The question is whether McCain will win over 200 Electoral college votes. That looks increasingly doubtful.

After he is elected, you can expect him to be mercilessly parodied by Colbert.

[Michael]

John Stewart was funny for a period, until he decided that his show had to become a liberal mouthpiece, with himself overpoliticizing everything. I can no longer stomach The Daily Show, but like JRM and Gene, I have a soft spot for Colbert. I think this is partially due to my generation's humor being all sarcasm, all the time. I was raised on cartoons like Doug and Pinky and the Brain. My sense of humor was completely culturized with Colbert's style.

His Report is still one of the funniest things on television, and the sneer is merely parody of the "conservative" front put on by Limbaugh and O'Reilly, disrespectful to the core, and not really conservative so much as blindly nationalist. And if anyone believes Colbert to be anything other than a double-edged sword, cutting into liberal and conservative alike, just watch his show for two weeks--not one episode--and see his audience be faithful sheep of the media establishment he is criticizing. It amazes me when the studio bleets at anti-Republican snark, but when he actually points something out about the Dems, it either goes over their heads (being so ignorant themselves) or makes them indignant. Which makes it all the funnier for us watching at home.

Not to mention, though apparently pro-choice personally, his character is unabashedly a pro-life Catholic. (He himself is a pro-choice Catholic in the vein of Biden, Pelosi, et al., and though separated from the Church with his stance on abortion, is actually far more faithful to the church than the rest of their ilk.)

[Bob]

"After he is elected, you can expect him to be mercilessly parodied by Colbert."

Just like all those liberals parodied Clinton so much for eight years. Oh wait. . .

[Bill R]

"Just like all those liberals parodied Clinton so much for eight years."

Actually they did parody Clinton, but what they parodied was his Southern-ness, his accent, and penchants for food and women. Never his politics!

[labrialumn]

Unfortunately the judge reversed himself and was 'gotten to' by the Obamans. He ruled that American citizens have no right to ask that a candidate be legally a candidate(!)

Obama's paternal grandmother and aunt say that they were there when he was born in Kenya in 1961. He later became an Indonesian citizen as Barry Soetoro - we have the documentary proof of this. There is no available evidence that he ever became an American citizen after that (Indonesian law at the time forbade dual citizenships) or that his name was officially changed back to Barack Hussein Obama. This may be one of the reasons why he has sealed his university and law school transcripts - they may show him as an Indonesian citizen born in Kenya, named Barry Soetoro. . . Francesca as usual is just being a tropical specimen of the plumed variety.

Then Francesca stoops to lying. Joe is not a Skinhead. McCain is not a clone of George Bush. Mrs. McCain owns the houses, not Senator McCain. Joe the Plumber could indeed fund a purchase of the business and have a gross income before cost of business of 250,000 a year. And of course Obama would increase the taxes for everyone or any couple aggregated making 25,000 a year or more. Those are the facts. Joe won't pay his taxes? Proof of this accusation? I believe that his genealogy does have him being 7/16 Arab. So what? Other than that the racism of most black voters is misplaced?

There are a lot of Californians in the Denver-Boulder metroplex, aren't there. Native Coloradans complain about that all the time. Plus the hordes of illegal aliens from the south, who may soon get the vote if an antichrist is elected on November 4th.

Francesca is just a 'sock puppet.' I would encourage her to do better than that, as I believe that she can.

If you want classical music, listen to Classic 99 on the web, rather than Pacifica Radio's taxpayer-funded branch.

Colbert is funny. I enjoy his show, just not his apparent actual politics. I can laugh at myself. I didn't know he was a pro-abort latae sententiae excommunicated.

[Joe Long]

"Colbert is squarely in the fine tradition of Mark Twain and Will Rodgers. Only a person whose ox is beig gored would mistake his parody for a sneer."

I must defer from this opinion. Colbert is a product of OUR age, a shallow supercilious po-mo not fit to shine Will Rogers' cowboy boots. Rogers, who described himself as a "member of no organized party...a Democrat", was nonetheless a good friend of "Silent Cal" Coolidge and of humanity in general.

Sam Clemens, on the other hand, was quite capable of a properly-directed sneer...but Colber's will ALWAYS be directed to the Right; he needn't take Mark Twain's trouble to decide independently what to sneer at, for elite leftist culture designates his targets for him. Obama will certainly not be one of those targets, win or lose.

[W.E.D. Godbold]

You're just saying that 'cause you're a Georgian and you support the great "peach deception".

[Michael]

>>Obama will certainly not be one of those targets, win or lose.<<

Oh really?

And again. (This one skews both sides, while expressing our shared disdain for a prolonged presidential race.)

Or an attack on MSNBC's liberal bias.

To expect a "pundit" to be a storytelling comedian like Rogers, Twain or Shepherd is silly. Politics are natural comedy; Colbert points it out for the viewer.

[Ethan C.]

Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss! Oh, my, I'm so happy that other people have seen it. If it weren't for that movie, I'd never have learned that drinking pickle brine prevents you from catching the cold.

Does anyone know if it's available on DVD? I'm thinking of a Christmas present for my Dad...

[Ethan C.]

If anyone is in the mood to see what *real* political satire is like, may I humbly suggest "Yes, Minister," a British sitcom from the early '80's. Truly, the real conflict isn't between the parties, it's between the politicians and the bureaucrats. And no, there are no good guys.

[Rob G]

'the sneer is merely parody of the "conservative" front put on by Limbaugh and O'Reilly'

Although I don't agree with him much, I find most of Limbaugh's intentional comedy and parodies to be very funny. The ridiculousness and hyperbole is part of his schtick, and the fact that libs take it all so seriously makes it even funnier. I don't find O'Reilly (or Hannity) entertaining at all.

[Michael]

>>If anyone is in the mood to see what *real* political satire is like, may I humbly suggest "Yes, Minister,"<<

I like Yes, Minister as satire. But the subtle difference here is that I don't really consider Colbert satirical. He's parodistic, but not satirical. John Stewart, on the other hand, is purely a populist lefty with one-liners answering to stories, devoid of proper criticism of arguments from the right or left.

[Stuart Koehl]

>>>I like Yes, Minister as satire.<<<

"Yes, Prime Minister" did not live up to the spirit of the original. But by far the best British political satire of the 20th century was "House of Cards", made into three mini-series by BBC, starring Ian Richardson. Among those familiar with it, you only need to say "You might say so. I couldn't possibly comment" to get anything from a knowing grin to a deep belly-laugh, depending upon the circumstances in which you uttered it. The only problem I have is my older daughter saw it, fell in love with it, and thinks it's a blueprint for attaining absolute power. Be afraid. Be very afraid.