Nov 2, 2009

County GOP imports Sam the digital converter box promoter to speak


The Livingston County Republican Party is scraping the bottom of the barrel for people to speak at its annual Reagan Dinner this week. It has tapped “Sam the digital converter box promoter” to speak.

Sam - AKA “Joe the Plumber” AKA Samuel Wurzelbacher - gained 15 minutes of national fame - believe it or not - after a chance encounter with President Obama on the campaign trail, and he was used as the McCain camping as a prop to supposedly represent the average Joe. For some inexplicable reason, his 15 minutes of fame have stretched to a year. This whole saga is filled with ironies. First, he’s not a plumber and his name is not Joe.

He says he “feels he was used as a gimmick by the McCain campaign,” yet he has cashed in on being a prop. If that were not the case he would not be speaking in front of the county GOP.

I don’t understand why anyone would plop down $50 to hear this guy spout off when they could have seen him for free in September when he appeared in Brighton at the so-called “Tea Party Express” bus tour that was nothing but a hate-filled, racist anti-Obama rally. It masqueraded as a “grassroots effort,” but it was promoted heavily by the county party, Fox “news” and rightwing Washington, D.C. lobbying groups.

It makes Sam/Joe’s appearance even more ironic, and he told the Press & Argus that he “isn’t loyal to the troubled national party.”

“In a Daily Press & Argus interview, Wurzelbacher went a step further and said he doesn't identify with today's Republican party.”

That’s a view shared by the majority of Americans, and less people identify with the Republican Party.

Here’s the ultimate irony. Rightwing extremists are not satisfied with hijacking the Republican Party and driving reasonable, moderate Republicans out of the party. They are forming some weird, third party like movement and are not supporting some Republican candidates.

That’s not a problem for me.

But Livingston County Democratic Party Chair Judy Daubenmier had the best line, saying the GOP is so bankrupt that had to search high and low to find an actual working person, and the best they could do was find was someone who plays one.

"Why didn't they get a local plumber?" she asked.

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