Article published November 04, 2008
Joe the Plumber slams media, says hell share wealth with "fellow Americans"
Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
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By SAEED MINHAS SPECIAL TO THE BLADE
Joe the Plumber has decided to go cyber to spread not only his views as a political watch-dog but also to raise money for his fellow countrymen after taking his minor cut.
He said Tuesday afternoon he plans to create two Web sites with the motto of keeping a check on the federal and state governments and to distribute Americans’ hard earned wealth amongst other Americans.
In an exclusive chat with this scribe on the election day, Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, or "Joe the Plumber," while standing in the driveway of his Springfield Township house, refuted the claim that he turned the presidential race on its head by asking Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama a simple question about his tax plans last month.
"I don’t know about turning the debate around, all I know is that a simple question has turned my life upside down and more people know about me than Obama," said the ordinary looking average American, wearing sports pajamas and T-shirt.
"I asked what every Joe in America wanted to ask him and for that I was made an example by the media for asking that simple question, because no one in the media was asking him this," Mr. Wurzelbacher said very open heartedly. "I am not the kind of guy who seeks fame, but every other thing has come on me except a good fortune."
Questioning the credibility of the media for acting as an agenda-setter instead of representing and reporting the facts as they are, he said: "After that one question, everybody knows everything about me, but not about Obama and I have to go through various things which I cannot even make public."
Mr. Wurzelbacher lambasted journalists and media who twisted his words saying, "Its not journalism, it’s like spreading personal views than reporting facts. The media is on an agenda as it sealed the elections for Obama almost after the presidential debates, being off-limits on many issues and involved in character assassination."
He also said the "media has been against [President] Bush throughout and before his first election in 2000, with the exception of 9/11, period."
Mr. Wurzelbacher claimed the media labeled Republicans pro-corporate, money makers, and war-mongerers, "but that’s not the case and some of this bothers me a lot."
But Joe the Plumber also rallied against capitalism: "Capitalism needs some moral compass as nobody should be allowed to build fortunes or get away with $30 million without paying any taxes.
"I don’t know what they would do with that kind of money, but I know what I will do with that amount. I will give more of the money to various charities for various noble causes because I am a modest and simple-living person and love to spend my fortunes on missionary things," said Mr. Wurzelbacher.
He added quickly: "But I won’t let the government decide that for me what to do about that kind of money. I will decide it for myself."
Mr. Wurzelbacher said he planned to launched the Web site www.secureourdream.com, which will soon become the nations largest political watchdog.
"We will keep a check on both the Republicans and the Democrats for not only living up to their promises, but also not let them dictate to people how to live and spend their hard earned fortunes," he said.
He added that he also planned to launch www.secureourdream.org, which will be a charity branch of the watchdog site to raise money "for all sorts of charities and causes for fellow Americans."
Praising his fellow countrymen for being very generous to various charities, he said he hoped that people would donate at this Web site. He said his Web site would be run in a very transparent way so that everyone will know how much money is raised and distributed.
When asked about how much money he would take from the site, he said: "Yes, I would make money to some degree from this charity Web site, but not a whole lot because majority of the portion collected through this website would go to help fellow Americans get a decent living."
Joe the Plumber said his plan to distribute of wealth is different than Mr. Obama’s because, "I am talking about redistribution without taking," and Mr. Obama "wants it to go through the government, so [my plan is] alot more different than his slogan of re-distribution of wealth."
Saeed Minhas is editor of the Pakistan Urdu newspaper Daily Aajkal. He is covering the United States’presidential election from Toledo under a program sponsord by the International Centre for Journalists (ICFJ) on Election 2008 program.
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