On Vetting

It seems John McCain hasn't done his homework again. Joe the Plumber isn't what he seems. And his 15 minutes of fame are up, hopefully with John McCain's soon to follow.

A day after making Joseph Wurzelbacher famous, referencing him in the debate almost two dozen times as someone who would pay higher taxes under Barack Obama, McCain learned the fine print Thursday on the plumber’s not-so-tidy personal story: He owes back taxes. He is not a licensed plumber. And it turns out that Wurzelbacher makes less than $250,000 a year, which means he would receive a tax cut if Obama were elected president. [emphasis mine]

In other words, the Joe the Plumber story that John McCain would have the American people believe is a fraud. But the problem here is yet another instance when McCain failed to vet, in this case, the Joe the Plumber myth.

So if we apply McCain's penchant for rushing into things without fully checking them out, what do you think a McCain Administration might look like? Four words: More of the same.