"Runnin' on empty . . . "

Sara Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Joe The (former) Plumber. Yep, the GOP is history.

Everytime I think the Republican Party has reached it's nadir, they manage to go one better.

This bonehead will wind up being Sarah Palin's VP candidate in 2012.

That's right, the Dumb and Dumber ticket. No ideas, no hope, no clue.

...that Republicans, ESPECIALLY "conservative congressional staffers" who work in politics and government for a living, can't recognize that exalting Joe the Plumber is nothing but a huge joke? Something that only total morons would do?

And Joe himself doesn't recognize that he's a huge laughingstock? How deluded can a person be?

Pitiful. Just pitiful.

Because his name isn't Joe nor is he a licensed plumber. What a joke.

Is there anything Joe the Plumber can't do? He's like a real-life Buckaroo Banzai!

Wow, what a wonderful sobriquet. Well done teresa!!

Really, we need to make this happen. Every time this pathetic little man is in the news, he needs to be Sam the Liar. Every time.

At first, it may be necessary to point out that he gained fame by pretending to be a plumber when he spoke to Obama during a campaign stop. But after only a very short time Sam the Liar will be well known the world 'round.

Come on War Room, pick up the ball and run with it!

After reading Joan Walsh's post last night about the lack of leadership in the Republican party, I had this thought: Joe the Plumber is taking over the Republican Party. Ms. Walsh wrote about how Sen John DeMint was on a Sunday morning talk show criticizing the stimulus and getting taken to the woodshed, if you will, by Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Federal Express Chairman Fred Smith. Fred Smith is exactly the person you'd think would be a Republican. He's from Memphis, TN. He's a Vietnam war veteran. He's an entrepreneur who started his own company and built it into a billion-dollar enterprise.

But you could see this coming. In the infamous Joe the Plumber debate, Barack Obama was naming the people he'd want to talk to for advice on the economy and mentioned Warren Buffet. John McCain snickered that he doesn't talk about Warren Buffet, he wants to talk about Joe the Plumber.

When talking about advice on the economy, McCain wanted to talk about a guy who had accomplished nothing and whose sole contribution to the discussion was that he didn't want to pay taxes. There was a time when Republicans looked up to successful businessmen like Schmidt, Buffet and Fred Smith. That seems like a very, very long time ago. Now Republicans are exalting averageness over achievement.

I think it's kind of childish to pretend like someone's middle name isn't really his name--speaking as one who has gone by his middle name all his life. I am certainly not trying to say there is anything other than that I would support Joe the Plumber on though.

So an unlicensed plumber who was pretty much a failure until he was elevated by a campaign encounter to the media darling of the moment is now ADVISING Republican Congressional staffers.

What's next -- a weekend retreat for Republican leaders with Paris Hilton on how to market their ideas? She made a mockery of John McCain with her own commercial, after all.

I need someone from the dark side to explain to rational folks how Zippy the Pinhead became a GOP strategist? Or has he would put it "Duhhhh...me help GOP...me talk and frown..."

Politics is one of the few careers other than conservative radio talk show host that you can get into with no credentials, qualifications, experience, ability, or talent. You don't have to know anything bout the political system, the constitution, history, economics, foreign policy, or even where Canada is. Joe would be the perfect complement to Sarah Palin. Gentlemen, start your snow machines and grease your O-rings.

I am not rich, and I only have a Bachelor's Degree from a state school in this very red state.

But, damn, I can't help but say the rank and file Republicans that support Palin and the Plumber ARE STUPID!!!!

I guess that makes me a liberal elite. I prefer to think I am just an average person who doesn't want total idiots in charge of my country. And I didn't think they could get more stupid than Bush. Guess I was wrong.

I can't think of anyone who was managed to milk their fifteen minutes of fame better.

At this point, "leadership" in the Republican Party has devolved into nothing more than celebrity status. True, this is a general problem in American society: Obama succeeded partially on his charisma and "likeability." HOWEVER, he has the intellectual chops to back it up.

Republicans neither know nor care about ability any more. So, first we had Dubya, who everyone supposedly wanted to have a beer with, and now with Sarah, Rush and Joe, they've dropped any pretense of anyone having any sort of competence whatsoever.

(It's even worse than it sounds: out of those three, PALIN is the most competent!--she at least knows the operation of Alaskan government pretty well.)

That's what I'm wondering too RichEmery. There are smart people working in the republican party, why do they not stop this train wreck? Sure it's easy to generalize republicans but I honestly can't believe that ALL of them are OK with supporting nothing more than a campaign slogan.

When I saw this guy in Israel I was thinking, who the hell thought this was a good idea? He doesn't know anything other than his own opinion, has (from what I understand) very little education, and has never been involved in politics before. Sure, I guess you could make the argument that he's not tainted by Washington and all that, but are there no leaders in the GOP that will stand up and say, "Hey guys, lets get back on track here and drop this Joe guy"?

As far as Democrat criticism of him. I think what Keith Olberman does every time he mentions him (lists his lack of paying taxes, not having a plumbers license, etc) is the wrong way to go about this. We shouldn't be attacking him, we should be attacking the lack of leadership that continues to support him and parade him around like the next leader of the GOP. He simply is not qualified to be in the situations he's in. And in some cases, like sending him to Israel, it's dangerous.