(crossposted at five before chaos)

…simply refuses to go away. I got to hand it to Joe, though, for an idiot who's managed to turn the art of saying moronic, uninformed things into both high art and a career, he's doing something rather brilliant in that regard.  His most recent topic, even though he doesn't have a clue what he's talking about, is rallying against the EFCA legislation (the legislation that will make it easier for workers to unionize and will NOT do away with the secret ballot option no matter how many times opponents lie that it will):

Joe the Plumber is hitting the campaign trail again! He’s been pressed into service to do a series of events throughout Pennsylvania rallying opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act, the organizer of the events confirms. Mr. Plumber will speak at rallies against the measure in Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, and Philadelphia on March 30th and 31st, according to a spokesperson for the anti-EFCA group Americans for Prosperity.

“The public loves Joe the Plumber,” the spokesperson, Mary Ellen Burke, claimed to me. “They see him as a role model.”… Pressed on whether Joe the Plumber has any particular claim to being a spokesperson on the issue, Burke replied that “he represents the American worker.”

Where, oh where to to begin? Hmm, a correction is apparently in order, about “representing the American worker”. First off, before the campaign happened, if I remember correctly, “Mr. Plumber” was unemployed. I know, a nitpick. But to be more accurate, the quote should have said “represents the thoroughly uninformed, uneducated worker incapable of critical thinking or factual analysis who buys into the perceptual victimhood portrayed by the WATB GOP”. Or something like that. Apparently, real plumbers are pissed about this, too. From, Rick Terven, the political and legislative director for The United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry of the United States and Canada:

“Joe the plumber is selling out real plumbers. Right now, labor law is stacked against real plumbers. Real plumbers want and need the Employee Free Choice Act as a way to empower themselves to join a union, without fear of intimidation or losing their jobs. Joe the Plumber doesn’t speak for real plumbers.”

And about the spokesman saying how “the public” sees Joe as a “role model” (although I'd be hard pressed to find anyone to admit that an unemployed, uninformed dunce who knows nothing except how to shill for people who work tirelessly against his own interests is somehow a “role model”)… I'm curious as to who else they may consider a “role model”. Howzabout this guy? He's not funny either, isn't really what he says he is, and makes a career out of being ignorant (although, admittedly, his is just an act):

I can't fight the nagging suspicion that if the GOP were still in charge, Larry'd be in charge of the FCC or something. They do things like that, you know. They can't help it.

(h.t to The Political Carnival) Have a great weekend, folks.