Joe the Plumber Focus of Third Debate

After the first fifteen minutes of Wednesday's debate, I have to admit that I was pretty irritated. I almost turned it off--just more of the same. I was getting ready to write an angry rant about how outrageous it was that these candidates cranked out their exact same rhetoric nearly word for word as they had in the first two debates. It was like someone was just pulling the strings on the Obama and McCain dolls barking out recordings of the stump speeches they gave in the first two debates. McCain barked "no more $3 million projectors" and Obama droned on about McCain's big cuts for Exxon Mobil.

Then, I was introduced to "Joe the Plumber." Joe the Plumber would remain a fixture throughout the night's debate. In response to the very first question, McCain pounced on his new best friend "Joe the Plumber." Joe was someone who spoke up at an Obama campaign stop stating that because his small business was worth more than $250,000, he would be subject to higher taxes under Obama's leadership. McCain introduced the idea of Joe the Plumber right away and stuck with him throughout the entire debate.

"Congratulations Joe, you're rich!" exclaimed McCain at one point.

I wonder if Joe knew he was going to be the centerpiece of McCain's positions tonight?

I wonder if he was a McCain campaign plant at some Obama event? Or merely an innocent bystander who was snatched up by the McCain campaign as a team mascot against his will--like a reluctant goat from a local petting zoo.

I have to admit though that I DID feel better when Joe the Plumber was introduced, if only for the reason that he was a new character in the absurd marathon reality TV show that the campaign has become.

Joe the Plumber got things heated up in a hurry.

For a short while, the debate moved on to other issues for which Joe the Plumber apparently had no opinion. Bob Schieffer whipped out the butane lighter and tried with all of his dignified and repressed might to set the debate on fire with the provocative question of: Are either of you willing to say to each other's faces the sort of things that you've been saying about each other in your ads?