Samuel Wurzelbacher, aka Joe the Plumber, is in Israel. (Getty Images/Israeli GPO)
(CNN) – ‘Joe the Plumber’ Wurzelbacher told a group of journalists covering the conflict in Israel and Gaza that he didn’t think the media should be allowed to report on war.
“I think media should be abolished from, you know, reporting,” Wurzelbacher said. “You know, war is hell. And if you’re gonna sit there and say, ‘well, look at this atrocity,’ well you don’t know the whole story behind it half the time, so I think the media should have no business in it.”
Wurzelbacher arrived in Israel on Sunday to start a 10-day assignment for pjtv.com, a Web site run by the conservative media outlet Pajamas Media. The plumber-turned-foreign correspondent said he wanted to cover Israel’s side of the conflict, because he thought the media was slanting the story to make it look like “Israel’s being bad.”
In his first day as a reporter, Wurzelbacher described the hardships of daily life in the southern Israeli town of Sderot.
“I’m sure they’re taking quick showers, I know I would,” Wurzelbacher said. “So you can’t plan your day, you can’t take a picnic.“
Wurzelbacher said he thought Israel should have attacked Gaza sooner. He told a group of reporters that he was a “peace-loving man,” but that "when someone hits me, I'm going to unload on the boy.”
He got a first-hand taste of reality in Sderot, when his group heard sirens warning of a rocket attack. With cameras rolling, Wurzelbacher and his group ran into a shelter.
“I’m in the bunker, I’m sitting there angry, outright furious, that I’m letting this terrorist dictate what I’m going to do because they’re firing missiles,” Wurzelbacher said. “It was fear at first, then outright anger, and then me wanting some kind of retribution. I’m not a person that runs from things, but when it’s a missile, you run.”
From CNN Politics
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
| Advertising practices | Advertise with us | About us | Work for us | Help
I hope he was a better wannabe Plumber than he is a wannabe news correspondent.
If you want to ban media from the war, why are you there "reporting"?? And if you really want to report "the other side of the story," shouldn't he go to Gaza?? Because that's the opposite of the side he supports.
You see how far he is away from the reality of this war...He is on Holidays....
Joe the Plummer, YOU'RE THE PROBLEM! Take your extreme right-wing ideas back to the 20th century!
Hypocrite says what? He's in an armed conflict trying to get only one side's view. If he spent time in Gaza, perhaps then he'd gain some minor credibility. While criticizing a slanted viewpoint, his own actions are only making that slant steeper.
Is there a more stupid man in this country than Sam Wuzelwhatever? Well there is one and he's getting ready to head back to Midland for the last time in just over a week. Seriously though when is this fake plumbers 15 minutes going to be up?
God help him for he knows not what he says. It is not his fault!
When one is working for a media outlet....doesn't that make you a member of the media?
Joe- drag your sorry butt back to Ohio and clean out someone's toilet.
What an idiot!
Why is this guy famous again? I really, really, really don't care about what a part-time, unlicensed plumber who has described himself as "uneducated on foreign policy" has to say about Gaza and Israel. Can we all collectively stop paying attention to him please?
May be joe the plumber should keep his mouth shut just like his surrogate Palin. Most of the time they don't know what they are talking about.
This is so funny, they should have sent Palin with him, this could be on "Comedy Central" If anyone takes this man serious, oh crap they took Palin serious.
I'm scared!!!
This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. I can't wait to stop hearing about "Joe the plumber". His start was when he asked Obama if he would get tax breaks for his new business venture where he expected to make a lot of money. How does this guy become the spokesperson for the common man? The average man works a business owned by someone else. Now he's reporting on the war? You've got to be kidding!!!
So let me get this straight: Joe believes that the media should not cover war because it only provides one side of the story, yet he wants to cover it as a "journalist" and only cover one side of the story. Yup, this guy really is a representational figure.
Mr. Plumber is right. The media does not report the whole story about how Israel is basically had made the Gaza Strip an open prison for Palestinians with no jobs and little water.
The Plumber obviosuly does not understand the conflict and should get out.
Nothing like riding the coat tails of John McCain. Who is this guy? Why is he even over there. He can't pay his taxes, but can take a trip half way around the world. Gimmie a break. I guess his plumbing business didnt start out to well if now he's all of a sudden a "politician" and going to restore peace around the world. Get a life, GO HOME JOE!!!!
Uh, Joe the Idiot says he doesn't think the media should report on the war, while he's their "acting" like a journalist reporting on the war. Does his brain ever engage his mouth before he speaks?
Good grief. Just when I thought I'd reached the limit of my disdain for this douche, he raises the friggin' bar. I'm speechless.
That is frightening! It is people like him that give the rest of the world the cliché of the stupid American. It is irresponsible to let him report on anything, let alone such an important global issue that he clearly knows nothing about.
GO AWAY DUDE.
Joe Wurzelbacher is proving that he is a simpleton, and so are the morons that sent him to Israel.
Hey Joe, why not cross the border and see if you get any water at all, lets see if you ever get to leave your bunker? This guy is the poster boy for lame.
True to form, "Joe" has put his foot in it already! If the media/reporters have no business being there, covering a war, what in the heck is he doing there, to start with?
He doesn't want the media to report on the war and he decides the best way to show that is by going to Israel and reporting on the war?
I AM SO GLAD THAT WHAT JOE THE PLUMMER HAS TO SAY IS NEWS!!!!!!!!!!