Sigh.....

Hat tip Stormin's Morning Java

Meet Helen Jones-Kelly, director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, who has confirmed that she OK’d the check on Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher following the Oct. 15 presidential debate.

This makes my butt hurt on two fronts: 1. What made this woman think it was at all appropriate to delve into Joe the Plumbers' private information because he happened to get himself on tv with her preferred candidate (she is a max Obama donor)? It goes without saying that if Joe had been an Obama supporter, she would not have done this. 2. Her actions only give fuel to a paranoid "fear of a black planet" undertone in the campaign and supports the most irrational and ugly accusations of a black fascist state to come should Obama win the presidency. Her actions help poison the post election atmosphere as badly as any nutjobs on the right.

Joe the Plumber Is Not A Surrogate

By now, you're probably like me on the Joe the Plumber thing, sick of it. Even Joe say's he's sick of it, as he jets off to the next media appearance. I knew when McCain talked him up during the debate that we would hear more from this guy. I had hopes that once the media had talked to him post debate, his 15 minutes would be up and he could go back to being an obscure plumber in the occasionally making the news town of Toledo, a place I know well.

Alas, not to be. Next thing poor Joe knows, he's getting a media colonoscopy. His credit info posted online, all his business in the street about owing back taxes and not having like an official plumbers license and probably some other stuff. Biden goes on Leno and cracks on the guy.

Now, on the one hand, Joe wasn't trying to ask Obama a real honest question, he was trying to make him look foolish. For all his playing coy with Couric about who he supported, the guy is a McCain supporter which really was not too difficult to figure out after listening to him talk about the issues for a minute or two. I really didn't get the keeping it a secret on that front either. So this guy was just out to do some damage to the One.

Nonetheless, Joe is a citizen, not a combatant in this political warfare, and the media should not have treated him any other way. He's just a voter. I had hoped the Obama campaign would issue a statement about the media not tormenting Joe. That would have been a nice gesture and maybe helped the media restrain themselves, but they didn't. So Joe didn't get much cover.

Memo to media. Lay off Joe's personal business and stop treating the guy like a surrogate . He was not really a confused voter trying to get clarity, but he is a voter, not a candidate and just because he got in the One's face, you don't need to put the smack down on him. He's little people.

Note to Joe: Now that you have had all your business put on front street, I highly recommend you do some quick self promotion and throw up a snarky anti-One website with some ads on it and milk your remaining 10 minutes. Maybe trademark Joe the Plumber, buy your plumbing business with the proceeds and make it your company name, start pulling in those dollars in so you can spread your wealth to the minions of the One.