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Joe the Plumber's' AZ driver license suspended Comments 6 | Recommend 4 Daniel Newhauser, For the Tribune A plumbing license is not the only license "Joe the Plumber" is having troubles with. The former Mesa resident has a suspended driver's license and outstanding court fines in Arizona, according to Mesa Municipal Court records. "Joe," whose real name is Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, was referred to more than 20 times by Republican Sen. John McCain in Wednesday night's presidential debate for questioning Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's tax policy. The man portrayed by McCain to be the typical, hardworking American revealed this week...

[posted by ArrMatey] By now I hope you read my earlier post below. Link is here. Across the blogosphere, we have news that Joe the Plumber, single father, American working guy, aspiring business owner, is about to be shut down and put out of work, to the great glee of Obama supporters. I am angry. I know I ought not blog angry. I’m going to count to a hundred, listen to some Men without Hats, and finish writing this in a few…. I’m back. It’s amazing what a few minutes listening to Pop Goes the World can do for you....

The media’s finally starting to vet acquaintances of Barack Obama. Wurzelbacher registered as an apprentice with the Ohio State Apprenticeship Council in November 2003, according to Dennis Evans, spokesman with the Department of Job and Family Services. Records show his training, which was sponsored by A & W Newell Co. of Toledo, should have been wrapped last year. “We don’t have a record of completion,” Evans said. “All we know is that he registered in the program and has gone through to the point where we should have record of completion, but we don’t.” And that’s not the only record...

One week ago, Joe Wurzelbacher was just another working man living in a modest house outside Toledo, Ohio, and thinking about how to buy the plumbing business where he works. But when he stopped Senator Barack Obama during a visit to his block last weekend to complain about taxes, he set himself on a path to becoming America’s newest media celebrity — and as such suddenly found himself facing celebrity-level scrutiny.

HOLLAND, Ohio -- Joe the Plumber's story sprang a few leaks Thursday. Turns out that the man who was held up by John McCain as the typical, hard-working American taxpayer isn't really a licensed plumber. And court documents show he owes nearly $1,200 in back taxes. "Joe," whose name is Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, was cited repeatedly in Wednesday night's final presidential debate by McCain for questioning Barack Obama's tax policy. Wurzelbacher instantly became a media celebrity, fielding calls during the debate and facing reporters outside his home near Toledo on Thursday morning for an impromptu nationally televised news conference.The burly,...

HOLLAND, Ohio (CBS) ― Republican John McCain said Thursday that 'Joe the Plumber,' whose questions about Democrat Barack Obama's tax policy became a centerpiece of the final presidential debate, was the real winner of the televised forum. But it turns out that 'Joe The Plummer' doesn't have a plumbing license, owes back taxes, makes less than $250,000 a year and is a registered Republican, according to television, newspaper and wire service reports Thursday. Joe Wurzelbacher, 34, of Holland, Ohio was cited by McCain in Wednesday evening's debate as an example of someone who wants to buy a plumbing business but...

University of Tennessee student who is the son of a Memphis legislator has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of hacking Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's personal e-mail. David C. Kernell, 20, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Knoxville for intentionally accessing without authorization the e-mail account of Palin, the governor of Alaska and Sen. John McCain's running mate, according to U.S. Attorney James R. Dedrick. Dedrick said Kernell, the son of state Rep. Mike Kernell, D-Memphis, turned himself in to federal authorities today for arrest.

Sarah Palin and Joe Biden may have made a few mistakes during Thursday night's vice presidential debate, but it remains to be seen whether their mistakes will stick in voters' minds like one infamous vice presidential gaffe from the 1992 election. Few political gaffes are as memorable as Vice President Dan Quayle's misspelling. Quayle told a grade-school boy in New Jersey that he had misspelled the word "potato" during a photo-op spelling bee. With the cameras rolling, Quayle directed the boy to add an "e" to the end of the word. "Potatoe" became a defining moment in the election, and...

WASHINGTON - Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin repeatedly failed to cite a newspaper or magazine when asked what she had read regularly before John McCain picked her as his running mate, saying only that she had read "most of them." Palin also said that she doesn't believe that the media's coverage of her has been sexist. "It would be sexist if the media were to hold back and not ask me about my experience, my vision, my principles, my values," said Palin, Alaska's governor....

"She gladly accepted gifts from merchants: A free "awesome facial" she raved about in a thank-you note to a spa. The "absolutely gorgeous flowers" she received from a welding supply store. Even fresh salmon to take home" (YIKES. She took that fish gift willingly!)

VICE-President hopeful Sarah Palin has denied an affair with her husband Todd’s business partner. The Republican candidate is furious over claims she cheated on Todd — dubbed the First Dude — in 1996. The National Enquirer claims she had an affair with his snowmobile dealership partner Brad Hanson. The magazine said it took place when Palin was mayor of home town Wasilla and started because she was “lonely” while Todd was away working on oilfields. The alleged fling ended when Palin, 44, confessed to furious Todd. Palin denies ever cheating on Todd and Republican John McCain’s campaign has threatened legal...

On to the propaganda piece statement: Statement of Ethan Winner The following is in response to questions I have received regarding the post on the Jawa Report website. I produced and posted on the Internet the video entitled "Sarah Palin: A Heartbeat Away." The idea for the video was mine. No one paid me to produce it. The only out-of-pocket cost will be the fee for the voice-over narrator, which I will pay personally when I receive an invoice. Contrary to the allegation in the Jawa Report, the voice-over artist has never done any work for the Obama campaign. I...

It looks like Sarah Palin wasn’t the only target of an online hacker. Law enforcement officials are investigating claims that the private e-mail accounts of the Republican vice presidential candidate’s family and staff were also compromised. “Yesterday, the Department received a referral alleging that the personal e-mail accounts of Gov. Sarah Palin, her staff, and her family had been unlawfully hacked. The Department is reviewing the matter,” Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeney said on Thursday. The FBI and Secret Service launched a formal investigation on Wednesday into the hacking of one of Palin’s Yahoo! e-mail accounts. Yahoo! declined to comment...

The Tennessean reports what blogs have been buzzing about all day: The son of state Rep. Mike Kernell has been contacted by authorities in connection with a probe into the hacking of the personal e-mail of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, Kernell confirmed on Thursday.Kernell, a Memphis Democrat, said his 20-year-old son David had been contacted by authorities investigating the hacking of Palin’s personal email account. AdvertisementThe FBI and the Secret Service started a formal investigation on Wednesday into the hacking. David Kernell is a student at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. Mike Kernell said he spoke to his son on...

Here’s all you need to know about the state of the elections... A tally of name appearances at 4:15 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, September 16, on the ABC News website at “The Blotter from Brian Ross and The Investigate Team” Palin: 24 McCain: 2 Biden: 1 Obama: 0 One is tempted, and I think I will, to use the “Send Tips to Brian” link in the upper right of the page to let him know that not only is Sarah Palin not running for President, but I have heard Barack Obama might be…. http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/

The chair of the Connecticut College history department, Catherine McNicol Stock, has suggested that Sarah Palin is somehow associated with Pacific Northwest hate groups such as Posse Comitatus and the Aryan Nations. Her proof? Well, because Palin lived in areas with low "diversity." I kid you not. Here is the professor's "learned thesis" presented in a Philadelphia Inquirer opinion column melodramatically titled, "Intolerance thrives in Palin's Pacific Northwest" (emphasis mine): Despite her efforts to portray herself as an average, small-town, "folksy" American, Sarah Palin's political views - ardently pro-gun, pro-censorship, antichoice and antigay - make John McCain's conservative credentials pale...

Katie Paul at Newsweek alerted me that Newsweek printed a correction to their story claiming that Palin cut funding for teen mothers and the state WIC program. I blogged about it here and had extensive conversations with Alaska officials about the claims. Ms. Paul was also diligent to work with Alaska officials to correct the story once I made her aware of the facts. Here is the correction (at the end of page 2): Clarification (updated Sept. 11, 2008) : A number of readers have challenged the assertion in this story that Gov. Palin “cut by 20 percent the funding...

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska's attorney general says state employees subpoenaed in the investigation of Gov. Sarah Palin will not testify. In a letter to the Democratic state senator overseeing the investigation, Attorney General Talis Colberg asks that the subpoenas be withdrawn. He also says the employees will not appear before the investigator unless either the full state Senate or the entire Alaska Legislature votes to compel their testimony.

The former Alaska public safety commissioner who refused to fire a state trooper embroiled in a domestic dispute with Gov. Sarah Palin's sister says he holds no grudge, but still believes the GOP vice presidential nominee is too thin-skinned for the job she hopes to fill. -snip- It turns out that well before he was jettisoned for what he says was his refusal to fire trooper Wooten at the behest of Sarah Palin, Monegan had his own share of domestic troubles - some of them spilling all the way down to the Bay Area. In October 1994, Monegan's estranged wife,...

I have run across some very explosive audio from an Alaska Joint Judicial Committee Hearing. What you will hear is the committee discussing who's really running the investigation. One of the committee members tells the "independent" investigator Branchflower that he has the right to put someone on the subpoena list who was omitted for some reason. However, investigator Branchflower refuses to do so, saying that he must consult with Mr. French, the Alaskan Democratic Senator leading the "troopergate" investigation. This confuses the committee member, who wonders why he has to consult with Hollis French at all. Does that mean Hollis...