Posted on 10/16/2008 6:39:02 PM PDT by beagleone
Joe Keller of Mableton turns a wrench for a living and says there’s no more American way to earn a paycheck. The former high school football player lives with his wife and three children, goes to a Baptist church on Sunday — and is suddenly enjoying a split-second of serendipitous fame.
Well, enjoying might be too strong a word.
PHOTO: Joe Keller (right) works on a water leak at the Decatur YMCA.
“I thought it was pretty funny myself,” Keller said of the oft-repeated “Joe the Plumber” during Wednesday night’s presidential debate. “Everybody’s been calling me.”
He employs a staff of nearly 10, and his guys say he ought to strip “Joe the Plumber” on the side of his work van. While he chuckled during the debate at hearing his name called so many times by both candidates, he’s serious about the issues this campaign season.
“My business makes more than $250,000 a year, but I’m not rich,” Keller said. “That doesn’t mean I should share my wealth.”
He was referring to a televised encounter Barack Obama had in Ohio with plumber Joe Wurzelbacher, who asked if he’d pay higher taxes if Obama was elected.
“My attitude is that if the economy’s good for folks from the bottom up, it’s going to be good for everybody,” Obama told him. “I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”
Both candidates referenced Joe the Plumber numerous times during the debate, which Keller watched.
“If (Obama) wins and puts into effect what he wants to do, there’s a very good possibility myself and my employees will be out of a job,” said Keller, who was working a job at the Decatur YMCA Thursday afternoon. “I can’t afford to pay more taxes. In the plumbing industry, right now with the economy the way it is, it’s been hit really hard. Realistically, a plumber’s about the most American profession you can be in. (Obama) comes across a plumber and actually has the nerve to tell him to share the wealth.”
Keller was planning to vote anyway, but his inadvertently shared spotlight has given him a new idea. He and his crew will all go to vote together on Election Day.
Master plumber Joe Gibson of Alpharetta is experiencing similar popularity today, although he did not watch the debate.
“I work a fair number of hours,” he said. “I come home, eat, visit with my family and it’s nap time. It all caught me off guard.”
He says energy, conservation of green space and immigration issues are on his mind this election season. Most important is the economy.
“Since the housing crunch, builders are going out and doing a lot of these little plumbing issues themselves,” he said. “It’s taken a lot of business away from me.”
So his days begin in the dark, when he greets the paper carrier in the driveway, coffee in hand. He follows politics, but his long hours don’t leave a lot of time for television.
“This is so funny,” he said of entry of “Joe the Plumber” into the nation’s political lexicon. “And hey, if you ever need a plumber…”
Obama made a major gaffe with this one
Loving it.
My Pop was a plumber.. Can I join?
Joe the Plumber - the man - is not as important as the country he represents.
But HUSSEIN is too disconnected and too elitist to realize it. HUSSEIN associates with the Warren Buffet types, not the low-life six-figure income earners.
I can see a “Joe the Plumber and Friends calender.
paste it - post it - spread it
My Pop was a plumber, my Pop’s Pop was a plumber..whoops that don’t sound right. Just a little comedy, sorry.
Texas has a Joe the Plumber too. It was reported here today that people were asking to buy his domain name which is JoeThePlumber.
There’s a commercial for Angie’s List that I despise about the woman’s plumber walking her dog Molly the papillon...it’s on every morning during Fox & Friends. Whiny woman’s voice, “Joe’s been my plumber for 15 years...” I wonder if they’ll still run it.
Took that working class victim mantra away from Zero. heehee
There are liberal plumbers but in general they are a very conservative lot.
Repair work is for the self motivated, disciplined, men that can push through adversity and not give up.
I have worked 56 hours straight without sleep, I have crawled on my back in six inches of water under a house in 20 degree weather to solder a pipe.
When the job has to be done and you are the plumber, there is no else to call, you have to push through fatigue and hours of being soaked in water up to your waist during cold nights, if that is what it takes to get the water back on by the time the people in the apartment complex have to wake up for work.
Interestingly enough, many plumbers also work on commission, these are all work conditions that makes for a largely conservative crowd.
Funny that you should mention "zero"...
. I guess if they couldn't find someone to give them the story they wanted, they had to go with the story they had. Accidental good journalism...
So noted.
We are just a couple of squirts off the water main.
Ansel the Plumber.
Hooray, Hip , hip hooray.
Plumbers Across America Unite!
Someone needs to buy www.joetheplumberformccain.com and keep this thing going.
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