Govt. data on 'Joe the Plumber' illegally accessed?
Government computers in Ohio may been used to illegally access personal information about Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, otherwise known as "Joe the Plumber," according to the Columbus Dispatch.
During their October 15 debate, presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain referred to "Joe the Plumber" constantly. In the days following the debate, information on Wurzelbacher's driver's license or his sport utility vehicle was retrieved from the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles database three times, the Dispatch reported.
With access to such information limited to legitimate law enforcement and government business, state and local officials are now investigating whether the information was obtained illegally. The information was retrieved using accounts assigned to the Ohio attorney general's office, a county child support enforcement agency, and the Toledo Police Department, according to the report.
An Ohio spokesman for the McCain campaign told the Dispatch that the information breach may have been politically motivated.
"It's outrageous to see how quickly Barack Obama's allies would abuse government power in an attempt to smear a private citizen who dared to ask a legitimate question," Paul Lindsay told the Dispatch.
The Obama campaign refuted those claims.
"Invasions of privacy should not be tolerated," Isaac Baker, an Obama spokesman, told the Dispatch. "If these records were accessed inappropriately, it had nothing to do with our campaign and should be investigated fully."
References to "Joe the Plumber" spurred many to search the Internet for information about Wurzelbacher, a 34-year-old from Holland, Ohio, who is, in fact, not a certified plumber.
Both campaigns are attempting to benefit from the interest in the plumber and are paying for ad spots on Google for the search term "Joe the plumber," shown below.
The McCain ad leads to a video, in which Wurzelbacher appears, that says Obama is "not truthful on taxes." The Obama ad leads to the "Obama-Biden tax calculator."
Stephanie Condon is a staff writer for CNET News focused on the intersection of technology and politics. She is based in Washington, D.C. E-mail Stephanie. 
unless you work in the financial district or an HR Block, i dont think you're certified to make statements like that, they wouldn't hold up in court, so i doubt they'd hold up at all...
If 95% of the people receive a $1000 windfall, how much do the remaining 5% have to pony up?
If 99% of all people receive a $1000 windfall, how much does the remaining 1% have to pony up?
If everybody but Bill Gates and Warren Buffett receives a $1000 windfall, how much do Bill & Warren have to pay? Can they? (probably yes)
When does this stop being social justice and start being governmental theft?
I am pretty sure that the question was a set-up.
Please explain how the question was a set up. Obama is as slick a politician as the come. If he wanted to dodge the question he could. HE choose to say "spread the wealth". Joe, didn't put words in his mouth.
Plus it was a nice touch Stephanie to throw the "he isn't a certified plumber" line in there. As if it matters what he is. He could be an active necrophiliac pedophile for all I care. It doesn't change Obama's answer. Typical Obama/Biden tactics. Just like the new news of the campaign banning all interviews for the Orlando TV station that interviewed Biden and asked him if Obama was a Marxist. Obama's answer to Joe was a textbook definition of Marxism, but somehow they were outraged by the question. I guess that was a setup too.
Selling information is the new game in town.
That question WAS a setup. "Joe" was approached by MC campain and asked to meet BO."
I would like to see proof that Joe the Unlicensed Plumber was approached by the McCain campaign, it would give Barack an even bigger lead in the race. However, there probably isn't a paper trail. Well at least he didn't carve a "B" on his head.
Not to worry, McCain is getting trounced.
In Ohio, by law, a plumber is required to to be licensed.
This buffoon has no such license.
Changing a washer in a leaky faucet or plunging a stuck toilet is not
likely to earn Joe anything near $250,000, so he has no worries about
paying higher taxes to actually fund Bush's occupation of Iraq or
otherwise help balance a severely debt ridden budget.
Now the problem with the question is who was the person asking this question and for what purpose. These are the important issues. We have to find out everything about this person and why he asked such a difficult question.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with the answer because it is the truth. He has spoken. Now everyone knows that this answer was incorrect, but what has to be accomplished is to denounce the person asking the question to cover up the facts of the statement.
Do the simple minded have a better understanding of this encounter now? I certainly hope so. If not I can make even more simple so a 2-3 year-old can understand. If the public does not understand the danger that Obama poses it is shocking. People are so focused on change away from Bush that there is no logical reasoning. I would venture a guess there is not one of his followers who would consider having as friends any of those of his past associations. If Davis, Ayres, Wright, Rezko, Acorn, + more would be your circle of friends then Obama is your man. If not walk, no run away from supporting him.
"Do the simple minded have a better understanding of this encounter now"?
I don't believe you do, bcorp.
Contrary to your simplistic comparison, it is Barack who is saying the world is
round, while tax-cutting morons starting with Reagan who can't see very far, to
them, the financial world is flat. What they see is the short term benefits, like a credit
card user or mortgage owner who doesn't appreciate that debts must be paid or there
will be dire consequences. We are seeing these now, with the subprime mess.
The federal government is like one of those myopic and irresponsible mortgage holders,
and has run up a national debt of over $10,000,000,000,000 - ten trillion, or a
million times a million dollars, half of that owed to China. The cost of this credit
card economy is currently $406 billion in interest payments which must be paid, and
these constitute about 25% of each taxpayer's income tax.
Obama wants to go back to the Clinton tax brackets, ending the Bush tax reduction to
America's wealthiest taxpayers. This should help reverse the tide of the mushrooming
national debt, which was doubled by the unbelievably idiotic George W. Bush, who did
more damage to this country's economy, and killed and maimed more Americans than
Bin Ladin's could ever have fantasized. And, by the way, he's still a free man and
Al Qaeda is more powerful than ever. But that's another discussion
Adding one-third of tax revenues going to a still underfunded military, that leaves
less than half for beneficial services and no health insurance for a vast portion of
America's citizens. Other countries have a higher tax scale but they aren't wasting it
on interest payments for a colossal national debt or a warmonger's army. And their
citizens benefit with a higher standard of education, longer life expectancy, lower
childbirth death rates, and fewer people (per capita) living in poverty. I believe
another way to express this is, they share their wealth, and their citizens are happier,
healthier, and smarter as a result.
Why can't you right wing nit-wits understand this?
When one doesn't work by itself, the other has to be employed to repair the damage. Communism failed because of the lack of the incentive of private enterprise. Capitalism was necessary to get the country back as a viable world power. Likewise, the greed of borrowers and lenders alike in a mad rush for property and profit made necessary a 700 billion - and that's still not enough, program of socialist bailouts. A measure the most extreme right-wing Republicans was felt was necessary.
It's not a matter of black and white as the right wing will have you believe. Social Security and medicare are social(ist) programs that work, and so is a free public education for all children through high school.
But that's not enough. We need a comprehensive system of health care, free college tuition for those who qualify with good grades, and funding for music and arts would not be bad for the cultural health of this once great nation.
- by WhyTheLeftHatesAmerica October 28, 2008 7:56 AM PDT
- the government today has it all backwards,they are supposed to work for the people and be their represenitive not their boss.but politicians today are out for one thing and one thing alone and that is power.they will say anything on the campaign trail and not mean a single word.the best way to find what a candidate really believes is to fins what he/she said before they were a candidate for office,that way you get what thereally believe and think.not the lies they spew on the campaign trail.
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- by slickwilli October 28, 2008 11:18 AM PDT
- NO, NO, NO, You must listen to comrades barrack and fidel. He who has nothing shall have less and that which he has shall be taken from him. This will make Amerika greatness much more.
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