Joe the Plumber: Ban media from war
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.”
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Is the conservative movement so broken and devoid of intellect that this guy is the best they can come up with? The only other explanation is that Joe the Plumber (or whatever) is a liberal Democratic mole working to make Republicans look as ridiculous as possible. For that matter, Pajamas Media is probably run by Keith Olbermann...
Never mind that high-pitched whirring sound - it's just William F. Buckley spinning in his grave.
HIS 15 minutes are UP already! I vote we ban this so-called "plumber" from all media. Seriously, can we stop the nonsense already? Please?
LOOOOOOOOOOSER a plumber working as a reporter>????????
who listens to this moron!!!!!
To Rob, get a grip....
"Joe" is the embodiedment of hypocracy. Joe goes no to say, "I think media should be abolished from, you know, reporting...”, but forgot that he is in Isreal as a member of the media and IS reporting what he is seeing. Next, he says that he's a peaceful guy, but talking about him "wanting some kind of retribution" for being in the middle of the rocket attacks.
Joe needs to understand that being a member of the media, he is supposed to fair and as unbiased as humanly possible. He already is operating on behalf of an agenda/a preconcived notion that one side is in the right and the other being completely in the wrong.
Has it ever occured to him that BOTH sides are right AND wrong?
What's next....Joe Hazelwood opening a school teaching inland waterway skills?!?!
The most ironic thing about the Joe the Plumber phenom, is that Barack Obama (the guy he can't stand) made him famous....... If Barack had not spoke w/ Joe, McCain would not have had the oppurtunity to speak joe's name 10 to 20 to 100 times, during the last presidential debate...... So Joe, thank your incoming president for making you famous...... Oh yeah, isn't what he's talking about banning media,, dictatorish, communish?
Isn't he now part of the "elite media" he complains about?
"we have seen the enemy and they are us"
Joe !! Just in TIme to Fix the Plumbing in Gaza!
thats what you do right? oh wait your just a token now for Conservitive Out of Touch Republican Media,, this is pethetic
Send Joe the Nitwit to cover the war and Dog the Bounty Hunter to catch Bin Laden.
reading your thoughts leads me to believe that israel should respond equivalently to hamas. israel should launch 7,000 missles into gaza.
now that would be balanced. launch them all at once. perhaps on a holy day.
Why do you Media people keep putting this guy in the news, who the freak is he?, what does he do? He pops his head in front of the camera and his stupity comes out. Between him, Sarah Plain, Paris Hilton I don't know whose worse.
What bothers me more is that there are people in this country who listen to morons like this .... there are people who are willing to pay this moron ....
Hey CNN, are you guys really covering JTP??? For real?
To CNN: Stop Giving This Ignorant Jerk A Soapbox.
You're beginning to have about as much credibility as "Joe" does.
He's not a journalist. He's not even a plumber. He decided what to "report" on based on his extreme political views. He thinks war should be waged in secret. And yet you, CNN, continue to give him a forum.
Your bias has become clear for all to see.
I no longer watch your network.
I would just like to know what this guys credentials are, to be able to become a "War Correspondant" overnight? I want to be a rocket scientist, but I dont know the first thing about rockets! Who paid for his trip over to Isreal? Who is employing this buffoon who is everything from a plumber to a political commentator to a war correspondant? Does this mean I can apply to NASA now?
When will this idot go away? And why would anyone give him another second of fame? I repeat, "When will the idiot go away"?
No, we should just be reading the BBC coverage of the war instead...
Finally – some hard-hitting news from Joe The Plunger, a seasoned reporter.
You media people should be ashamed of yourselves for reporting on this war! What? A free trip to Israel? All I have to do is report on the war? When can I leave?
Doesn't this JOKER ever Quit?
I'm tired of him. – What a insult to our intelligence.
Ladies and Gentlemen; here is the future of the Republican Party! A total and complete moron who believes the "media" should shut up...even while he is "ostensibly" reporting himself. Hey Joe, take your own advice...
This guy gives a bad name to plumbers everywhere!
Anyone who listens to this moron would probably vote for Bush...twice....
....and perhaps we shouldn't allow the media to criticize our government officials....
What a wack-job...maybe Joe the Plumber could get citizenship somewhere else...
With all due respect to CNN:
WHAT DA H-E-L-L WHERE U THINKING WHEN U POSTED THIS???
Where did the serious news reporting go??? JOE THE IDIOT???
Please pleaseeeeeee give me my 3 minutes back!!!!
To Joe "The Idiot":
Go to Palestine and die of hunger or get killed by an IDF! MORON!!!