Samuel Wurzelbacher’s encounter with Barack Obama gave some material to Republicans who were eager to brand the Illinois senator a socialist. Today, the man better-known as “Joe The Plumber” has himself a union job.
It might seem like an odd fate for Wurzelbacher, whose status as a mini celebrity in the 2008 presidential race paved the way for a book deal and a failed congressional bid. A quick scan of his Facebook page makes it clear that he’s still the same guy who promoted an article last year saying that America needs a “white Republican president again.”
And as Wurzelbacher described Sunday in a blog post that was flagged by The Toledo Blade, things have been plenty awkward at his new job with Chrysler.
“I had three days of orientation, and now I’m ‘on the job’ over here at Chrysler and on Day 4, I’m outside on a break smoking a cigarette and right on cue – some guy calls me a ‘teabagger,'” Wurzelbacher wrote.
The insult underscored what Wurzelbacher sees as a double-standard. It also left him a bit confused.
Now, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Democrats and liberals, who are supposed to so tolerant and enlightened regarding homosexuals have for three or four years now, have been using a gay slur to describe people who they think are associated with the Tea Party. “Tea Bagger” has traditionally been a derogatory slur used to intimidate, put down, humiliate and otherwise taunt, smear, bully or just discriminate against gays – usually gay men – based on a sex act that gay men apparently made popular.
Decorum prevents me from describing it – they got this thing called “Google” now for that – but suffice it to say that the double-standard for what Democrats can say and what conservatives can say continues unabated, but still I thought to myself, did this guy think I’m gay, or was he making a statement of my political affiliation? I tried talking to him, but he went off about how he was a “journeyman” and started walking away.
When it comes to his place at the union shop, however, Wurzelbacher said there is no hypocrisy. For one, he said Chrysler required him to join. And he argued that “there’s a big difference between private unions and pubic (sic) unions,” the latter of which he still opposes.
Wurzelbacher also made it a point to note that, although he has become “part of the zeitgeist,” he was awarded the job on his own merit — not that he’s against extending his 15 minutes.
“I wasn’t hired because I’m Joe ‘The Plumber’ but on the other hand, if that’s who people know me as, so be it – that I can’t control,” he wrote.
