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.

Don’t forget the counter protest to the fake Astroturf bus tour today

In yet even more free publicity and promotion from the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus for the promotion of the big money, Anti-Obama partisan “Tea Party Express” bus tour sponsored by the rightwing “Our Country Deserves Better PAC that will be in Brighton today, the paper let’s us know that Sam “the digital converter box promoter” Wurzelbacher will speak.

You may know him as "Joe the plumber," only he’s not a plumber. His 15 minutes of fame should have been up long ago, but for some unknown reason right-wingers continue to roll him out as some sort of prop at these fake, Astroturf events. You will recall that he gained instant celebrity status after a chance encounter with President Obama when Wurzelbacher asked him a question during a campaign stop in Toledo in October of last year.

The right has, for some reason, trotted him out as, I guess, an example of a regular guy. He’s living proof that the President’s economic stimulus plan is working because he is thriving despite being unqualified for just about every job he has held because of his chance fame.

Don’t forget the peaceful counter protest sponsored by the Livingston County Democratic Party. Be at the Mill Pond in downtown Brighton no later than 3 p.m. today, Tuesday. Plug in the address of Brighton City Hall for directions, 200 N. First St. Brighton 48116. The Mill Pond is between First and Main Street, and there is a large municipal lot near city hall. There is additional parking behind the stores on the opposite side of Main Street across from the Mill Pond.

The Milli Vannelli of protests brings out the whiners and obnoxiously selfish

Like millions of patriotic Americans, I spent yesterday working and getting my taxes in the mail.

Despite withholdings from my paychecks and the deductions for my mortgage interests and other deductions, I ended up writing a check for $341 to Uncle Sam because I had a chunk of income with no withholding taken out earned from freelancing. Once I left work yesterday, I rode home on the MichiVan Commuter Vanpool that receives a small federal subsidy, using the interstate highway paid for and maintained by state and federal tax dollars. Once I got home, I had just enough time to grab some clothes and go to my second job teaching swim lessons at the high school pool, paid for by state and my property taxes.

The point of the recap of my day? Simple. I agree, in part, with Republican-nominated U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes when he said:
“I like to pay taxes,“ he said. “They are the price we pay for civilized society.“

I agree with having to pay the price to live in a civilized society and the greatest country in the worlds, in my opinion, but I really don’t like to pay taxes all that much. I don’t like to pay taxes, but I know all of the good it does and that it’s my patriotic duty. I guess if I made enough money that I didn’t have to worry about a paying all my bills every month and keeping the mortgage up I would agree 100 percent with Justice Holmes.

I didn't get the opportunity to get out of my office yesterday to hear Sam the digital converter box promoter speak at the fake Astroturf “tea party” in Lansing because a co-worker was on vacation, and I had to man the office and could not leave for lunch hour. I tried to watch it on the Press & Argus web site. But it was lurching and unwatchable, but it turns out I didn’t miss anything; the same old rhetoric and lies that did not work in November. But the Washington, D.C. lobbying group that organized the farce did not get their money’s worth out of old Sam. He could not have spoken for more than 10 minutes.

I had to watch the recaps on the cable News channels when I finally got home, which was strange since I have been haring the lie since the February “tea parties” that the media was ignoring them. The one thing that struck me was that these people were protesting in parks and on the Capitol lawn; all things paid for with tax dollars. I also heard a much better description of the GOP rally from a Democrat. He called it the “Milli Vannelli” of protests.

Girl, you know it’s true.

I also agree somewhat with veteran journalist Jack Lessenberry - where I lifted the Holmes’s quote – when he says, “I like paying taxes.” “This is a pretty wonderful country, and I like to contribute my bit to it. That doesn’t mean I approve of everything the government does. I think every cent spent on the Iraq war is wasted, and I wish the feds would spend it on rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure instead.”

I agree with the later; the former; not so much. However, I understand the good it does and it’s the dues for being in the great club I am a member of. If I don’t agree with how it’s being spent, I let my elected representatives know, and I have not missed a single vote in the last 15 years; including city council, school board and primary elections.

To quote Mr. Lessenberry one more time with a sentiment I saw plenty of yesterday, “I don’t mind paying taxes, and regard those who whine about them as obnoxiously selfish.”

I wish I had said that.

Sam the digital converter box promoter to appear at ‘tea party’

Does every protest by right-wingers involve the Boston Tea Party?

Apparently, because of their lack of imagination it does. They are at it again, and on tax day on April 15 they are planning another “Tea Party” to protest “wasteful government spending at the state and national levels.” Apparently, they have even gone as far as to mail tea bags to political leaders.

They pulled a similar stunt in February that I called “Music and Meander.” They inflated the numbers of people who attended the event, and then attacked me because I underestimated the people who attended. I corrected my numbers, but they stuck with their inflated numbers.

But while they were hammering me on numbers, they inconveniently failed to explain what the Boston Tea Party has to do with the protest. The Boston Tea Party was staged to protest the Tea Act of 1773, and it was part of the discontent brought about by the Stamp Act of 1765. The Colonists were protesting "Taxation without Representation."

Will somebody please explains to me how this is Taxation without Representation? The American people spoke loud and clear in November, and the people they want representing them are representing them.

Perhaps instead of tea bags and signs displaying what they are told to write, they should bring a text book.

One of the organizers of the misguided "protest" in Lansing is rightwing extremist Howell Public School Board member and founding member of the defunct anti-gay hate group called LOVE - (Livingston Organization for Values in Education) Wendy Day. She was quoted in a recent edition of the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus as saying she hopes the President is listening.

“This is a grassroots effort, much like the Boston Tea Party, of standing up against the oppression of big government and out-of-control spending,” she said.

What she needs to do is audit a history class at Howell High School, or better yet, attend one of Mark Oglesby's government classes.

The Lansing people are all atwitter because Samuel Wurzelbacher – AKA “Joe the Plumber” – is going to appear. You will recall that he gained instant celebrity status after a chance encounter with President Obama and asked him a question during a campaign stop in Toledo. After that, the McCain camp trotted him out at campaign stops and shopped him as the everyman Joe the Plumber.

It turns out he wasn’t a plumber and his name wasn’t even Joe. We know President Obama will be good for the country, but he has been especially good for Sam the digital converter box promoter. He has been unqualified for every job he has held since October 12, 2008. and I can’t understand why anyone but his family and friends care about what he has to say, but they are calling his appearance a “big get.”

I guess Victoria Jackson was already booked.