Wooly Bully!

Mine is one of those puckish senses of humor that enjoys seeing something become acceptable and highly regarded when there is no reason for that to happen. The inevitable denouement, in which the house of cards tumbles all over the deck does not amuse me as much as the part in which an entire nation is taken in by some outlandish goon.

What better recent example than this Joe the Plumber person, the ridiculous prop used by the Republicans to prop up their meager hopes of electing old McCain last fall. Joe didn't seem to realize that two minutes after the polls closed would have been the appropriate time for him to sidle off, stage right, so he's still hanging around, writing books, apparently reading none, and offering his trenchant views on matters he can't even see from where he stands.

Joe the Plumber, whose name is not Joe and who is not a plumber, is the subject of a quick bite in TIME magazine this week...
Samuel Wurzelbacher, better known as Joe the Plumber, tells TIME he's so outraged by GOP overspending, he's quitting the party -- and he's the bull's-eye of its target audience. But he also said he wouldn't support any cuts in defense, Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid -- which, along with debt payments, would put more than two-thirds of the budget off limits. It's no coincidence that many Republicans who voted against the stimulus have claimed credit for stimulus projects in their district -- or that Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal stopped ridiculing volcano-monitoring programs after a volcano erupted in Alaska.

In these parlous times, isn't it great to know that we still can turn to Sam the Sham for wise wisdom and guiding guidance?