Evidence Free Blogging: HuffPo Sleuth Links Joe the Plumber to Charles Keating

It's all too good to be true, therefore it is. Newfound celebrity Joe Wurzelbacher happens to share the last name of a man involved in the Keating 5 scandal, and this genius connects the dots.

Just when you didn't think things could get worse for John McCain -- they go in the toilet.

Literally.

So, you remember Joe the Plumber, who John McCain kept relentlessly bringing up. And up. The apparently undecided plumber who had complained to Barack Obama that he couldn't buy his own plumbing company because he'd have to pay 3% more in taxes. The plumber who John McCain lauded as an Everyman while oddly proclaiming "Congratulations! You're rich!" in the midst of a disastrous recession. The fellow who said that Barack Obama "tap dances better than Sammy Davis Jr."

That guy.

Well, it turns out he's the one gliding around the dance floor so much, you should expect to see him soon on "Dancing with the Stars."

You see, Joe Wurzelbacher is apparently related to Robert Wurzelbacher. Who is the son-in-law of (are you ready...?) Charles Keating!

Yes, that Charles Keating. The Charles Keating of the Keating 5 Scandal. For which John McCain was reprimanded by the United States Senate, for his involvement in attempting to illegally influence government regulators. The Charles Keating who John McCain has been trying to avoid have mentioned. So, he basically mentioned it 24 times.

(By the way, lost in all the attention paid to John McCain not getting the same career-ending censure by the Senate, as did the other four defendants - the reason for that is because he'd been in the House of Representatives at the time of his transgression. The Senate decided that they didn't have jurisdiction over him to give the same penalty. So, his career was saved.)

Anyway, back to Robert Wurzelbacher, Joe the Plumber's father. You see, Robert Wurzelbacher was an executive of American Continental Corporation, the parent company of Charles Keating's Lincoln Savings. That's the bank which caused citizens to lose their life savings and cost U.S. taxpayers $3.4 billion. As part of that scandal, Robert Wurzelbacher pleaded guilty to three counts of misapplying $14 million and served 40 months in prison.

And now, Lincoln Savings, Robert Wurzelbacher and Joe the Plumber are back with John McCain.

Naturally, Robert J. Elisberg provides no evidence or links that the two are related.

This isn't guilt by association, it's guilt by virtue of having the same last name as someone. Sweet. Love this new standard.

So this must be the new--are your ready?--October surprise!Just one problem, as some commenters try to talk Elisberg off the ledge.

The funny thing is, the guy was playing football in his own front yard when Obama walked up to him.

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081016/NEWS09/810160418

Quote:

Mr. Wurzelbacher was playing football in his front yard with his son, Joey, on Sunday afternoon when Mr. Obama made an unscheduled stop to go door to door greeting voters and asking for their support.

But that will not prevent people from claiming that this is some kind of McCain operation. Insane Andrew Sullivan is already on the case.

Indeed, the man obsessed with Trig Palin apparently was on the case, but has retracted his latest insanity, using the scrupulously meticulous Daily Kos as a source.

Robert M. Wurzelbacher, son-in-law of Keating, was 37 years old in 1991 when federal charges were filed against Keating. It appears that he has addresses in Phoenix and Coronado, CA.

The Robert M. Wurzelbacher of Milford, OH, a heavy donor to GOP candidates, is 83 years old and retired. They're not the same person.

Digging to see if this guy is a plant or a hypocrite is a good idea. But I think it's equally important to know the link before idle speculation.

Savor the delicious irony of the left digging for plants.

On Wednesday there was a wild rumor making the rounds on several conservative blogs citing a dubious source that claimed Michelle Obama went on a racist rant and they were widely dismissed contemptuously.

Today we have Andrew Sullivan, Daily Kos and Huffington Post, three of the leading blogs on the left, printing wild accusations, all meant to destroy a guy who happened to be approached by Barack Obama for a photo op.

Having now forfeited all credibility, will they be the subject of widespread ridicule? And why should anyone trust what these blogospheric kingpins ever have to say?

I guess they're answering to a higher calling than salvaging self-respect and credibility.

Which is why many of their cohorts are already on an ugly seek-and-destroy mission against Joe the Plumber.

How dare he question The Messiah!

Thank God we live in a free country, where you can speak your mind on public issues, without fear that those who disagree will respond by exposing anything you've ever done that you regret or that could embarrass your family.

Oh, wait, never mind. We have to know, according to some, about Joe the Plumber's tax lien, and how he doesn't have a license - which, if the smear artists bothered to check the law, he only needs for commercial work, not residential work.

This is the way our opponents operate now. Destroy anyone who stands in your way. Humiliate them. Make sure that anyone else who ever wants to skeptically question Barack Obama knows that every last bit of their dirty laundry will be aired for all the world to see. Bristol Palin, Trig Palin, — hey, it's all fair game. They've got to make an example of them. Show them that this sort of dangerous speech won't be allowed in the New America.

Now let them choke on this:



Michelle Malkin traces the roots of Joe the Plumber Derangement Syndrome. Meanwhile, Allahpundit notes it's getting uglier now.

I still say he's got a future in TV.

'If She Were a Democrat, It Would Be Banner Headlines Every Day'

While I realize the left resides mostly in an alternate universe, one would hope they at least stay in touch with the news on a regular basis. Here we have yet another totally out-of-touch Huffington Post screed essentially blaming every societal ill on John McCain while also working in the ritual trashing of Sarah Palin.

John McCain and the Republican Party simply hate regulation. Hate government oversight. Hate government protections. And what they've done has pushed America towards its ruin.

But it's not the economy or other regulation-free disasters you might think. Not Katrina, not collapsing bridges, not lead poisoning, Gitmo or wiretapping Americans. No, all these are all just symptoms of a larger lack of oversight, just precursors to something worse.

You see, when you've spent your entire life fighting regulation and oversight, in the end it can only lead to one ultimate disaster.

Sarah Palin.

First of all, it was McCain, among others who were calling for oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, only to be rebuffed by Democrats every step of the way. Second, how much longer do we need to hear about Hurricane Katrina? Now, since the bridge collapse in Minneapolis last summer, has another bridge collapsed anywhere in this country? Lead poisoning? Hello, this isn't China. And, of course, he has to work in Club Gitmo and the horrors of wiretapping terrorists.

But this author save his real hatred for Sarah Palin, naturally.

When John McCain recklessly nominates someone he doesn't know and doesn't care about checking into, the only possible result is yet another shiny package on the surface, but crisis underneath waiting to collapse.

You get someone who attended a convention to secede from the United States! Whose personal life is a disaster on almost every level. If she were a Democrat, it would be banner headlines every day.

Soak that part in: If she were a Democrat, it would be banner headlines every day.

Really? She's not headlines all day, every day right now? What planet did this guy just arrive from? It can't possibly have escaped him that she's been ripped to shreds in virtually every media outlet known to man around the globe. But if she were a Democrat it would be worse? Huh?

Palin isn't the one with terrorist friends. Palin isn't the one who sat blindly in a racist church for 20 years. A certain Democrat is. And funny, it wasn't until just this week that the name William Ayers started making headlines, though they're not exactly banner headlines.

Naturally, with everyone who trashes Palin, we find out how dangerous she is.

You get someone who is dangerously without any qualifications to be a heartbeat from becoming leader of the free world. And anyone who says otherwise is either lying to you or themselves.

And John McCain didn't care about any of this. He chose to put his country at risk. All the while knowing his age and his serious case of cancerous melanoma - for the sake of winning an election. Regardless of his noble past, this is an act of scathing dishonor.

Even the most heroic can fall from grace. So has John McCain fallen.

In three months, Sarah Palin could be sworn in as President of the United States.

Not the worst idea in the world, considering she's far more qualified than ACORN's community organizer.

But this is what happens when you're John McCain and don't care about oversight, due diligence or regulation. Don't fully investigate your choice to be vice president. Don't allow the press to fully question every, last detail of the person who could be a heartbeat from the presidency. Don't allow Americans to make a fully-informed choice about who to put in charge of their national security, their economy, their future. Don't let your full medical records be investigated. To hell with the country, you just want to win an election.

And you end up with Sarah Palin.

Nobody has given us every last detail of Sarah Palin?

Again, I ask, what planet did this guy just come in from?

The I realize, this must be satire. Just check his bio.

Born in Chicago, he attended Northwestern University and received his MFA from UCLA, where he was twice awarded the Lucille Ball Award for comedy screenwriting.

Problem is, this guy isn't funny.