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Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, famous for arguing with Barack Obama on the campaign trail, died of pancreatic cancer

Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, who shot to brief fame during the 2008 US presidential election as “Joe the Plumber”, has died aged 49. Cause of death was pancreatic cancer, his wife, Katie Wurzelbacher, told news outlets.

Fifteen years ago, Wurzelbacher became famous after arguing with the then Democratic candidate, Barack Obama, on the campaign trail in Toledo, Ohio. Wurzelbacher asked Obama if he would pay more taxes if the Democrat won. Obama, then a US senator from Illinois, conceded that he might.

Wurzelbacher then told Family Security Matters, a rightwing group: “Initially, I started off asking him if he believed in the American dream and he said yes, he does – and then I proceeded to ask him, then, why he’s penalising me for trying to fulfill it.”

(further below)

Obama won – and Wurzelbacher’s brush with fame soured with revelations that he was both not a fully licensed plumber and owed more than $1,000 in taxes.

(The rest of the article is omitted - but it makes for an interesting read!)

  • nkat2112@sh.itjust.worksOP
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    10 months ago

    Obama won – and Wurzelbacher’s brush with fame soured with revelations that he was both not a fully licensed plumber and owed more than $1,000 in taxes.

    My condolences to the Wurzelbacher family, but I feel compelled to ask:

    Why is it that all these selfish right-wingers are integrity challenged? This pattern is remarkable, and Joe the Plumber Who Was Not a Licensed Plumber is but one mere example.

    Even under the prior Republican administration, this “plumber” did not fulfill his tax obligations.

      • SamsonSeinfelder@feddit.de
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        10 months ago

        I rewatched the Video after all these years and have to say: In some aspects it aged like milk. For example 6:11 “The word here is ‘tend’. Liberals are still capitalist and conservatives still stand for democracy”. Are they? The Conservatives love for democracy is eroding hard. Fascism is really tightly bonded to the “conservatives” of today. Being a nazi, wanting a dictator or at least an authoritarian leader like Putin seems pretty popular in the conservative mindset.

    • Boddhisatva@kbin.social
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      10 months ago

      I can’t say for certain that all right-wingers are integrity challenged, but it sure seems that way. It’s almost like you wouldn’t be right-wing if you weren’t already lacking in integrity. Then again, maybe it’s the other way. Maybe people have to sacrifice their integrity in order to support right-wing positions.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    10 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Fifteen years ago, Wurzelbacher became famous after arguing with the then Democratic candidate, Barack Obama, on the campaign trail in Toledo, Ohio.

    In the final debate, the Republican candidate, Arizona senator John McCain, repeatedly invoked “Joe the Plumber” as an everyman who stood to suffer under Obama.

    Obama won – and Wurzelbacher’s brush with fame soured with revelations that he was both not a fully licensed plumber and owed more than $1,000 in taxes.

    On Monday, Tom LoBianco, a reporter and biographer of current Republican presidential hopeful Mike Pence, said: “Every time I hear about Ivy League folks running as ‘populists’, it’d make me wonder about Joe the Plumber and why you don’t get more actual blue-collar candidates.”

    LoBianco also linked Wurzelbacher’s brush with fame to current arguments over the song Rich Men North of Richmond and its author, the factory worker turned singer Oliver Anthony.

    News of Wurzelbacher’s death, LoBianco said, “meshes with … Oliver Anthony asking politicos to stop stealing his tune for their benefit.


    The original article contains 455 words, the summary contains 167 words. Saved 63%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Ah yes, the idea that taxes are penalizing the American dream and not just paying your fair share from what you can