Whose Brilliant Idea Was It To Make Joe The Plumber A Journalist?
Apparently Pajamas Media (of which I am a charter member) sent Joe “The Plumber” Wurzelbacher to Israel to, um, report on the Gaza conflict. And so far it isn’t going well.
When Joe first stood up and asked Obama some touch questions about wealth redistribution and subsequently became a media sensation I was happy for him. He was an average citizen not afraid to speak his mind even as he underwent personal attacks from Obama-crazy journalists eager to destroy anyone who dared question The One. When Joe got his inevitable book deal I thought it was ok. Let him make few bucks off his fifteen minutes of fame. After the treatment he got upon reaching the national stage he deserved it (I’m not personally interested in the book as I find political books even by professionals to be largely trite and superficial).
But when Pajamas Media announced that they were sending Joe to Gaza it became clear: This guy has jumped the shark.
Has Joe’s commentary on redistribution and politics in America been, at times, insightful and refreshing? Sure. But that does not a journalist make. I could see Joe perhaps writing a column for some publication, or starting a blog, and sharing his views on current events with us that way. But he’s not a journalist. He’s not an expert on middle eastern events. I don’t think one necessarily needs to be an expert engage in serious commentary, but it is a little ridiculous to take a 15-minutes-of-fame media sensation and try to turn him into a war correspondent.
Joe, I think, has let his rise to fame go to his head. And Pajamas Media should be ashamed of themselves for a rather blatant attempt to cash in on Joe’s 15 minutes before they’re over in a terribly ill-advised fashion.
