For my sins, I just spent a few minutes watching Joe the Plumber in conversation with Bill Maher. And guess what: he (Joe) is not dumb as a box of nails. Well, maybe he
is dumb as a box of nails, but he seems to have had a bit of basic briefing lately, and a few lessons in presentation. I'm not for a moment predicting what the future holds (Palin/Plumber in aught 12?). But lots of political wonders come from nowhere. We have not heard the last of this guy.
The problem isn't that he's necessarily stupid in the sense that he can't process basic thoughts. The problem is that he believes in nonsensical ideas like the Fair Tax, a la Huckabee, and that he doesn't seem to be intellectually curious enough to find out why those ideas might be wrong or how they could be modified enough to be improved.
ReplyDeleteI also suspect that his whole regular guy routine is really more of an act that anything else, something that he is milking to build a profitable image. This might be making a lot out of nothing, but among other things, he is always in the same style of clothes. Most people, were they to be making a scheduled appearance on a national show, would spend the necessary time to put on a pair of dress pants and an ironed shirt, and perhaps even a tie.