On The Bus Or Off The Bus

Joe Wurzelbacher. Remember him? Well, it turns out that he doesn't want the rest of the country to think of him as just "Joe The Plumber" anymore. More to the point, he doesn't want people to think that he was all that thrilled to be the poster boy for John McCain's ill-fated presidential campaign. He was recently recalling a conversation he had with the senator from Arizona about the pending seven hundred billion dollar bailout for the financial industry: "I asked him some pretty direct questions,” he recollected. “Some of the answers you guys are gonna receive — they appalled me, absolutely. I was angry. In fact, I wanted to get off the bus after I talked to him.”
The bus to which Joe referred was The Straight Talk Express, apparently some sort of misnomer. The talk Joe got was anything but straight. He spoke for many of us when he suggested that Americans did not want that bailout to happen. He could do this because he was a duly recognized representative of the common man, named as such twenty-odd times during a presidential debate. What other qualifications could this person possibly need? When asked why he didn’t leave McCain’s campaign then and there if he was so “appalled” by the candidate, Wurzelbacher (the Plumber) said, “honestly, because the thought of Barack Obama as president scares me even more.”
Who doesn't scare Joe the Plumber? Sarah the Maverick, that's who. Joe says she "is absolutely the real deal.” And now I will spend a few quiet moments being appalled myself.