The 2008 Campaign’s Frankenstein
Joining a growing choir of conservative luminaries, thought-leaders and activists in criticizing newly-elected RNC Chairman Michael Steele, Samuel “Joe The Plumber” Wurzelbacher leveled some harsh, Johnny-come-lately criticisms earlier this week in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
At a gathering of 800 conservative activists at Americans for Prosperity’s “Defending the American Dream Summit,” Wurzelbacher warned of the “long road ahead” as Republicans wander the desert for the next four years without leadership, awaiting the 2010 and 2012 elections.
“Unfortunately we have a chairman up there who wants to redefine conservatism; he wants to make it hip hop, put it in a new package and sell it,” Wurzelbacher griped as he referenced a three week old Steele interview with the Washington Post’s Ralph Z. Hallow. After his historic election, the newly-minted Chairman told Hallow he intended to revitalize the Party’s stale image – one all too often associated with aging, technophobic white men – via an unprecedented presence in print, television, radio, and online outlets.
Wurzelbacher’s reductive critique of Chairman Steele’s agenda serves no one’s purpose beyond his own, as he recently hung up the plunger and boots to publish a book. And to boost sales of this not-so-originally titled book, Fighting for the American Dream, it isn’t surprising that Wurzelbacher would resort to drumming up controversy where none exists, or revive a one which has long since faded into the annals of bad talking points.
After a brief run-in with then Senator Barry Obama, Wurzelbacher was catapulted to the national stage by the McCain campaign as a shining example of the quintessential blue collar, small business owner who was threatened by Obama’s tax system. But his lasting influence – the fact we’re now 4 months out from November 4th but still forced to read the cringe-inducing title “Joe the Plumber” – is explained as such: His current media presence is an unfortunate byproduct of the 2008 campaign, a byproduct I regrettably helped create. We unknowingly created a monster, and I suspect he won’t leave town until he’s chased by angry villagers with pitchforks.
Liz Mair, the former RNC Director of Online Communications, isn’t too pleased, and nails the issue on the head. “The GOP is really becoming a circular firing squad, and an increasingly embarrassing one at that,” she said on Twitter. At a time when the Republican Party should be unified in our opposition to the President, Speaker Pelosi, and Majority Leader Read, we find ourselves in a period of ‘all against all,’ each non-descript conservative claiming the mantle of “Leader” and vying for their own book deals.
But Wurzelbacher already got his book deal; aside from his dignity, he’s got nothing to lose. Oh wait, I suppose he’s already lost that now, too.
The Chairman of the Republican Party is certainly not beyond reproach, but next time Joe, or his publicist, plans a canned, hackneyed attack to regain some media attention in an attempt to sell books, they should take serious pause.
Cross-posted at www.Skepticians.com.
