Oh, and alchemist, here’s another few dissimilarites you missed:

The details Malkin exposes were about the Frosts’ finances and wealth. That is directly relevant when the Frosts mug for the cameras in an ad campaign which presents them as so destitute that the taxpayer must once again be forced to open his wallet. If Donald Trump was the poster boy for such a plan, would you buy into it as you did with the Frosts? No? Why not?

On the other hand, maybe you can explain exactly why it’s relevant that Joe the plumber uses his middle name…or who he might be related to…or what his licensing status is. How’s that related to the central point, which is how Obama wants to “spread the wealth around”?

And once the Frosts were exposed, could you tell me their address? Did Malkin or any other conservative writer print it and invite a rabble to descend on them? Nope. On the other hand, just as the Obama campaign is encouraging their people to “get into our faces”, you’re seeing Joe’s address plastered on the leftist web sites. And not but a few days after Obama supporters firebombed a home in Oregon for the sin of having a McCain sign on their front lawn.

The left is despicable, and their strong-arm tactics should have every American with any appreciation for our freedoms up in arms. Too bad that apparently doesn’t include you.

You know it’s funny. this is almost exactly the same thing I complained about in the S-CHIP case a few months back… where Malkin was tracking down the assets of the Frosts

Some major differences there, alchemist. For one thing, the Frosts were hand-picked by the leftists as their poster children for bigger sChip handouts. They were a willing and knowing part of the campaign.

Joe the plumber, on the other hand, was minding his own business when Obama walked up to him – and then he dared to ask Farrakhan’s Messiah a tough question. Unlike the Frosts, he didn’t scheme or volunteer to become a player here. He’s an innocent bystander who made the cardinal sin of actually speaking truth to power.

Second, the Frosts (or their handlers) were hiding their true financial status with the objective of milking more money from the overburdened taxpayer. Joe isn’t asking the taxpayer for anything. He just wants Obama’s confiscation commissars to leave him alone.

One was a knowing participant in a money grab, and all that happened is a negative column or two. The national GOP didn’t set out to destroy them. The other got involved by chance and the result is a presidential campaign trying to ruin his life.

Which ought to tell you a lot about the left in this country – although if you were paying attention, it wouldn’t shock you a bit.

Under no circumstances should we elect Obama. He will turn us all into his soldiers.

(If I could get America’s ear for 15 seconds, I’d say: Please, America, look at what is happening to Joe the Plumber, realize that Joe wouldn’t be the last guy to get this kind of treatment should Obama become President, and vote for McCain.)

I imagine the same thing is going on here, and again I don’t really approve.

Here’s the problem though, the combination of McCain’s use of ‘Joe’ as a political icon, and his upfront denunciation of Obama on multiple talk shows (5, 6 interviews by now?) has turned him into a political footbal. The best way for Obama to deflate the argument is to point out that the argument is a strawman… this man is not making 250,000 (nor is he about to buy a 250,000 business), and there aren’t very many plumbers who fall into that category.

My father-in-law is a full time electrician, air-conditioner install/repair guy, and owns 7 small apartment buildings working 7 days a week, and not making close to 250,000. Since the average plumber makes 34,000 dollars, this all seems like a demonstrate that Joe’s ‘plumbing business’ is largely an illusion.

I don’t care that he voted republican, or that he has a tax lien. To me those are irrelevant.

Goose and Gander come to mind and two sides of a coin.

The attack on the person asking the question here is wrong and detestable but don’t let it make you forget the question and the answer that it is all about.

With the candidate clearly stating his socialistic goals that is too important to be lost over the distraction of attacking the messenger.

Don’t forget that or else their attack tactic will have succeeded.

A few days ago, I linked to Michael Barone’s article about the thuggish nature of politics under a possible President Obama. Here’s an excerpt: “I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors,”……

Let us hope this is not a taste of things to come.