Give the guy a break!

Sometimes the media coverage amazes me.

Take Joe the Plumber. The guy questions Barack Obama's tax plans at a campaign stop in Ohio. Based on Obama's answer to his question, the interaction gets posted to the internet, and is picked up by the McCain campaign, who used it in the last debate between McCain and Obama.

So apparently editors around the country start asking who is this Joe the Plumber, and what is his story. What seems like a hundred reporters sift through every public record on this guy, and report the following scoops:

His name isn't really Joe.
He doesn't hold a plumbing license.
At one point he was in arrears on his taxes.
The business he works for probably doesn't generate over $250,000 in earnings for the owner.

Who gives a crap.

What made the exchange newsworthy wasn't the question, or the questioner. It was the candidate's response. Barack Obama said "I think things go better when you share the wealth." What he meant was "I think things go better when I share your wealth." Barack Obama's tax plan proposes to use the government as the intermediary to transfer money from people who have it to people who don't.

Take from the rich and give to the poor.

As I have said before, Barack Obama will be the Robin Hood President.

And focusing on Joe, or Sam, or whatever his name is, distracts us from focusing on the candidate's proposals, and the implications of those proposals.