Sam Wurzelbacher, a.k.a. Joe the Plumber, another rabidly anti-government tea partier who desperately wants to depart the bliss of private enterprise and land on a cushy, benefits-laden government payroll, may not be quite up to the challenge of professional campaigning.
When asked this morning on CNN why he considers himself qualified to be a United States congressman -- a job that entails dealing with our most complex issues, ranging from further bloating the U.S. tax code to maintaining D.C. cab fares as the artificially lowest in urban America -- Mr. Wurzelbacher answered that that "seems like a silly question."
To be fair to Sam, though, he did in fact expand on his answer: "One, I’m an American citizen. Two, I’m very much involved in the process of what’s going on," whatever the hell that means. My border collie was also born in this here great nation and he, too, pisses on a lot of its scenery, but that doesn't qualify him for the city council.
It is in times like this that I find myself in the profoundest support of a return to literacy tests -- not to vote, but to run.
So. What's his border collie's opinion on the necessity of raising the debt ceiling in a timely fashion. Although there is a logical fallacy attendant with an appeal to authority, pragmatically, the opinion of the better informed authority is more valuable.
Posted by: Peter G | March 08, 2012 at 02:11 PM
That should have been your instead of his. Ahh for a correction option.
Posted by: Peter G | March 08, 2012 at 05:49 PM
When will people ever learn? Don't trust a government haters who run for government jobs. Their idea of smaller government means removing government from anything that would regulate the have's and aid the have nots. While they themselves sit up on high in the comfort of fancy government offices, collecting government checks for doing nothing, and fatten themselves at the government benefits trough. And who pays for this? We do. What is wrong with this picture?
Posted by: AnneJ | March 09, 2012 at 11:58 AM
Forgot to add: If this were 1776, today's republicans would be rooting for the British Empire.
Posted by: AnneJ | March 09, 2012 at 12:00 PM
I work for a Community Reinvestment Act focused non-profit that met with David Vitter, who is on a banking, housing and urban affairs committee. He had NO knowledge of the issues he was presented with- dealing with banks, housing and urban affairs. My colleagues left that encounter feeling ashamed of their government.
Literacy tests as a prerequisite for running for office is a fine idea.
Posted by: LT | March 11, 2012 at 12:58 PM