Quote Originally Posted by dragonrider
Daihashi, we have a completely different understanding of what Joe the Plumber is meant to represent and the purpose of trying to use a specific person to make an example.

Say Obama repeatedly cited the example of a real person he called Suzy the Store Clerk, and Suzy was on MSNBC telling John McCain, "I am a single mom making $30k a year. I work for a store that gives me a health plan. which is a good thing, because I have cancer, and my four kids all have diabetes. If your health plan is enacted and my employer gets taxed on the cost of my haealth care plan, he is going to drop my plan. I'll have to get health insurance on my own, which I probably cannot do with my pre-existing conditions. And if I do it will probably cost $12k a year. You are onoy going to give me a $5k tax credit to pay for the $12k plan I'll have to buy, if i can even get in a plan. You are going to put me $7k in the hole. I migth even die, and then who'll take care of my kids?"

That's a compelling example, because it is a real person confronting McCain with her real problems, right? Now if it came out that this Suzy was not waht she claimed and was actually a marketing executive making $300k a year, who was in perfect health, was married, had one healthy kid, had a great health plan, and would benefit by $70k a year under McCain's plan instead of Obama's, I think her example would not be as compelling, becasue her story was all a lie. Maybe you would disagree becasue her story COULD be true..

I don't think these kinds of examples work just because they COULD be true for a hypothetical person. There are a million hypothetical examples used al the time. The impact of real-life examples of real-life people is greater because they are authentic. If they are found to be based on a lie, they lose their value.
Her question would still be valid because there are many other people in her situation.

I feel that these are questions that the media and others should be asking the candidates but for whatever reason they are not throwing any hardballs; more so at Obama but even McCain hasn't really been pressed.. if it takes a make believe person to ask these serious question then I am all for it and I want to see what these candidates have to say when they are put on the spot.

I place value in the question regardless of who asks it.

So while you are placing value in the person whom asks the question and who they really are.. I place value in the question because I realize that the question that is being asked applies to many other people out there not just the individual who asked it and it is a question worthy of an answer.
daihashi Reviewed by daihashi on . Joe the plumber Has anyone been following this story ? Celebrity News Examiner: Joe the Plumber is a fake (he's related to the Keating Five scandal, John McCain's 'asterisk') Keating Son-in-Law to Serve Prison Term - New York Times Rating: 5