The XX Factor: What women really think.

Joe and the Feeding Frenzy

Rosa,
I'm glad we can agree on something! I, too, feel sorry for Joe. The way the media has responded to him today has been appalling. For a time, the lead story on NYTimes.com was "Joe the Plumber is under scrutiny, " even highlighting ominously that "his full name is Samuel J. Wurzelbacher." It's not exactly uncommon for people to go by their middle names. MSNBC.com's lead story right now digs into Wurzelbacher's background (even citing his DIVORCE RECORDS), saying that the plumber he works for might be fined because Joe doesn't have proper licensing. And, horrors, the business might take in only $100,000, not $250,000, and that's revenue, not profits. But who knows? Earlier media reports I've seen have been riddled with errors, saying that Joe already owns the business or runs the business, or that Wurzelbacher said he wouldn't be able to BUY the business if Obama's tax plan kicked in. I might have misheard Wurzelbacher in the original video, but I don't remember him saying that.

Forgive me for sounding like a knee-jerk reactionary, but how can people look at the scrutiny Wurzelbacher has received in the last 24 hours and not think there is some kind of bias at play? John McCain cites a regular old American in his debate-something that can annoy me when it's a sob story about how the government has failed someone—and people cheer for the guy, identify with the guy, and so he has to be taken down? Obama has a pretty comfortable lead in the polls right now. He can't possibly be afraid of Joe the Plumber. I don't get the media feeding frenzy.

I might feel bad for Joe, but I'm not worried about him. (And I think you might be disappointed if you expect him to blame the attention on McCain.) He's got a good perspective on it all. "I'll have my 15 minutes," he told MSNBC. After Nov. 4, "I won't be recognized again, and that'll be fine with me." I just wish the media had the same good common sense.

Why I Miss John Edwards

You're so right to point out that we shouldn't feel sorry for "Joe the Plumber's" tax burden—he's about to buy a company and makes more money than most Americans ever will. Tonight's battle for Joe made me think of Swing Vote, the recent movie where the fate of an election hinges on one man: Kevin Costner. It also made me miss, of all people, John Edwards. Sure, he was annoyingly folksy on the campaign trail, but he also regularly made use of an important word that I haven't heard Obama or McCain mention in any of the debates. It begins with P, but it isn't plumber—it's poverty. When Obama and McCain talk about "average Joes," they mean middle-class Joes. At least John Edwards, for all his many sins, realized our problems go deeper, or lower, than the plight of small-business owners.

Say It Ain't So, Joe

According to the Washington Post, McCain got it wrong tonight when he said that, under Obama's health-care plan, Joe the plumber would pay a fine if he didn't provide his employees health insurance, because the Obama plan has an exemption for small businesses. Given that McCain from practically the first sentence trucked in Joe, last name and all, as his carefully planted and lovingly tended Real Guy, isn't this the definition of campaign malpractice? How could his staff have possibly failed to get Joe right? McCain was often strong tonight, on guard and on the offensive. But when he registered open-mouthed surprise as Obama explained why he was wrong about Joe, McCain looked like a man playing Tina Fey playing Sarah Palin asking for a life line. Obama had his weak moments, too, in the reaction shots, like the big smile he cracked while McCain was making serious charges about Bill Ayers and ACORN. Watching them listen sometimes seems more enlightening than listening to them talk.

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