Stray thoughts about Joe

I was a little startled today to stumble across this headline on Politico, the influential political webzine.

“Joe the Plumber: Pelosi Un-American”

I know, I know: the first and natural response is, “Who cares?”

Nancy Pelosi is one of the most powerful people in America, the first women in our nation’s history to win the Speakership of the House of Representatives.

It’s fine to disapprove of her policies; it’s perfectly American to want to vote her and her party out of its current dominance.

But un-American? Sigh.

Joe Wurzelbacher is, in political terms, roughly the equivalent of Vanilla Ice. He’s an invention, a product of cable news’ 24-7 silliness and a stiff dose of political motivation.

He has absolutely zero credentials, not as a spokesman for conservatism and certainly not as arbiter of what is and is not American.

Here’s why he’s interesting: Try to think of a similar figure on the left.

Yes, there are movie stars and musicians and non-politicos who sound off and get attention because they were famous.

But a figure like Wurzelbacher? Someone who’s famous just because he really really really hates liberals?

I can’t think of a single hard-core liberal yacker who’s been inflated into a national icon.

The closest I come is Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war activist who set herself up in opposition to President George Bush’s war in Iraq.

But Sheehan had one undeniable qualification: Her son had been killed serving his country.

Wurzelbacher’s qualifications? Honestly, I’ve read a ton of his yak. He makes Sarah Palin look like an editor of Foreign Relations magazine.

There’s a general meme in our society that journalism is a left-of-center institution.

Hard to square that with the fact that Joe’s fifteen minutes of fame have stretched now to fifteen weeks and beyond.