The first appearance of Joe the Plumber
August 29th, 2004 9:38 pm
Day in the Life of Joe Middle-Class Republican
by John Gray
my comments in italics - The first appearance of Joe the Plumber
Joe gets up at 6:00am to prepare his morning coffee. He fills his pot full of good clean drinking water because some liberal fought for minimum water quality standards (and every year, his local water municipality has to report on the quality in order to show that they are not accidently poisoning the community with things proven to be harmful). He takes his daily medication with his first swallow of coffee. His medications are safe to take because some liberal fought to insure their safety and work as advertised.
All but $10.00 of his medications are paid for by his employer's medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance, now Joe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs this day. Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because some liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry. (and, chances were that a few years ago, the workers in the meat packing industry also earned a living wage, and had the liberal protections and benefits of union workers too. Though, that may have changed, but no worries, the multi-billion dollar conglomerates that run the industry now can afford to report the unprotected, undocumented immigrant workers to ICE and have a fresh batch of workers shipped in before Joe gets too sick from e-coli and salmonella breakouts that have appeared throughout the increasingly de-regulated industry these last years.)
Joe takes his morning shower reaching for his shampoo; His bottle is properly labeled with every ingredient and the amount of its contents because some liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained. Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some tree hugging liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air. He walks to the subway station for his government subsidized ride to work; it saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees. You see, some liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.
Joe begins his work day; he has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe’s employer pays these standards because Joe’s employer doesn’t want his employees to call the union. If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed he’ll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some liberal didn’t think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.
Its noon time, Joe needs to make a Bank Deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe’s deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some liberal wanted to protect Joe’s money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the depression.
Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae underwritten Mortgage and his below market federal student loan because some stupid liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his life-time. (and was able to be a long-standing community member with affordable home security, meaning he wasn't homeless or transient in unsafe, unaffordable tenant status! And, this of course, is hoping that Joe didn't refinance out of that low-interest, fixed rate, long-term loan with it's mandated affordable payment into the unregulated realm of a subprime loan that has destroyed new and old communities alike.)
Joe is home from work, he plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive to dads; his car is among the safest in the world because some liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood home. He was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural loans. The house didn’t have electric until some big government liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification. (Those rural Republican’s would still be sitting in the dark.)
He is happy to see his dad who is now retired. His dad lives on Social Security and his union pension because some liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn’t have to. After his visit with dad he gets back in his car for the ride home. (His dad probably also has a decent medical coverage plan in addition to medi-care, again because of the crazy liberals! So his dad doesn't have to choose between food and medicine once his costs go past the "medicare donut-hole" that deregulation, and the free-market have created.)
He turns on a radio talk show, the host’s keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. (He doesn’t tell Joe that his beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day.) Joe agrees, “We don’t need those big government liberals ruining our lives; after all, I’m a self made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have.”
This kind of thinking is what allows people to unequivocally support right-wing conservatism talking points with very little basis in reality, facts, analysis nor a deep understanding of how our society has functioned and how the fabric of opportunity, equality, and justice is being ripped to shreds. That's probably why people have been standing around a little stunned at just how crappy their situation is - and why those two "economic stimulus" payments were actually needed by many to eat, pay the rent or mortgage, and cover their unregulated rising energy costs, living expenses, and more.
Day in the Life of Joe Middle-Class Republican
by John Gray
my comments in italics - The first appearance of Joe the Plumber
Joe gets up at 6:00am to prepare his morning coffee. He fills his pot full of good clean drinking water because some liberal fought for minimum water quality standards (and every year, his local water municipality has to report on the quality in order to show that they are not accidently poisoning the community with things proven to be harmful). He takes his daily medication with his first swallow of coffee. His medications are safe to take because some liberal fought to insure their safety and work as advertised.
All but $10.00 of his medications are paid for by his employer's medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance, now Joe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs this day. Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because some liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry. (and, chances were that a few years ago, the workers in the meat packing industry also earned a living wage, and had the liberal protections and benefits of union workers too. Though, that may have changed, but no worries, the multi-billion dollar conglomerates that run the industry now can afford to report the unprotected, undocumented immigrant workers to ICE and have a fresh batch of workers shipped in before Joe gets too sick from e-coli and salmonella breakouts that have appeared throughout the increasingly de-regulated industry these last years.)
Joe takes his morning shower reaching for his shampoo; His bottle is properly labeled with every ingredient and the amount of its contents because some liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained. Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some tree hugging liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air. He walks to the subway station for his government subsidized ride to work; it saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees. You see, some liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.
Joe begins his work day; he has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe’s employer pays these standards because Joe’s employer doesn’t want his employees to call the union. If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed he’ll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some liberal didn’t think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.
Its noon time, Joe needs to make a Bank Deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe’s deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some liberal wanted to protect Joe’s money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the depression.
Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae underwritten Mortgage and his below market federal student loan because some stupid liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his life-time. (and was able to be a long-standing community member with affordable home security, meaning he wasn't homeless or transient in unsafe, unaffordable tenant status! And, this of course, is hoping that Joe didn't refinance out of that low-interest, fixed rate, long-term loan with it's mandated affordable payment into the unregulated realm of a subprime loan that has destroyed new and old communities alike.)
Joe is home from work, he plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive to dads; his car is among the safest in the world because some liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood home. He was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural loans. The house didn’t have electric until some big government liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification. (Those rural Republican’s would still be sitting in the dark.)
He is happy to see his dad who is now retired. His dad lives on Social Security and his union pension because some liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn’t have to. After his visit with dad he gets back in his car for the ride home. (His dad probably also has a decent medical coverage plan in addition to medi-care, again because of the crazy liberals! So his dad doesn't have to choose between food and medicine once his costs go past the "medicare donut-hole" that deregulation, and the free-market have created.)
He turns on a radio talk show, the host’s keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. (He doesn’t tell Joe that his beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day.) Joe agrees, “We don’t need those big government liberals ruining our lives; after all, I’m a self made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have.”
This kind of thinking is what allows people to unequivocally support right-wing conservatism talking points with very little basis in reality, facts, analysis nor a deep understanding of how our society has functioned and how the fabric of opportunity, equality, and justice is being ripped to shreds. That's probably why people have been standing around a little stunned at just how crappy their situation is - and why those two "economic stimulus" payments were actually needed by many to eat, pay the rent or mortgage, and cover their unregulated rising energy costs, living expenses, and more.
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