As a Reporter, Joe the Plumber's a Good Plumber

In our YouTube world, "anyone and everyone can play journalist," but not everyone should, writes James Rainey in the LA Times. Case in point: Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher. In his work for conservative Pajamas Media, "Wurzelbacher looks about as capable with a microphone and a tough news story as I do with a wrench and a bathroom mess," writes the veteran media reporter.

Though Wurzelbacher says he's “not a Republican mouthpiece,” his populism is shtick. Bashing the stimulus as tax relief for the “Hollywood elite,” he asked, “How many people does Hollywood put to work?” The answer is 250,000, which Wurzelbacher might have found out, writes Rainey, "if he had been doing more than throwing a hackneyed populist dart.”
(More Joe the Plumber stories.)