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Home > Blogs > Ohio politics > Archives > 2008 > October > 23 > Entry
Eye on Ohio: “Sweat Equity” ad for McCain
By William Hershey | Staff Writer
THE AD: “Sweat Equity,” a 30-second TV ad
PRODUCER: McCain-Palin campaign
WHERE TO SEE IT: Televised in key states, including Ohio
SCRIPT:
Barack Obama: I think when you spread the wealth around it’s good for everybody.
Woman: I’m Joe the plumber.
Woman: I’m Joe the plumber.
Woman: I’m Joe the plumber.
Announcer: Spread the wealth?
Man: I’m supposed to work harder…
Man: Just to pay more taxes.
Man: Obama wants my sweat to pay for his trillion dollars in new spending?
Woman: I’m Joe the plumber.
VIDEO: Ad opens with Democrat Barack Obama’s now famous encounter with Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher — “Joe the Plumber” — on a recent campaign visit to the Toledo area. Obama’s words - “I THINK WHEN YOU SPREAD THE WEALTH AROUND IT’S GOOD FOR EVERYBODY” — are superimposed at the bottom of the screen.
Next comes quick flicks of three women, who each declares “I’m Joe the plumber.”
According to a press release, they’re small business owners. There’s soft music in the background as each declares membership in plumbing. Next comes a picture of a group of small business owners scrolls across the screen with a question superimposed “SPREAD THE WEALTH?”
So far, all the business owners have been white but the next person is a black male who says “I’m supposed to work harder.”
A white guy finishes the thought “Just to pay more taxes.” There’s a brief glimpse of a thoughtful woman who doesn’t speak before a semi-disgusted male appears, asking, “Obama wants my sweat equity to pay for his trillion dollars in new spending?”
Then it’s back to another female who declares “I’m Joe the plumber,” with “I’M JOE THE PLUMBER” superimposed on the screen. A smiling Obama shows up next with the announcer declaring what’s flashed on the screen in sequence - BARACK OBAMA HIGHER TAXES MORE SPENDING NOT READY.
A smiling McCain approves the message to finish off the ad as the “MCCAIN PALIN” campaign insignia appears on the screen.
ANALYSIS: One good thing about this year’s campaign is that McCain and Obama both make occasional campaign stops where they encounter voters who are at least undecided and maybe are outright opponents.
It’s a pleasant contrast from President Bush’s 2004 rallies before robotic crowds of true believers, with any whiff of opposition locked out. This ad explains why campaign handlers like to avoid such meetings. Obama had an actual encounter with Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher — “Joe the Plumber” — and Wurzelbacher had a question about Obama’s tax proposals.
The McCain campaign has turned the encounter into a central part of its effort to cast Obama as a high-taxing, big-spending “socialist” out to destroy job-creating small businesses.
The ad should get a prize for the most effective use of small business owners in a misleading commercial. First, Wurzelbacher is not a small business owner, which means he doesn’t have that in common with the other folks in the ad. It’s likely he would benefit, not lose from Obama’s tax plan. The ad doesn’t say exactly what kind of small businesses the speakers in the ad own but probably not all of them are plumbers.
Neither is Wurzelbacher, at least in the journeyman sense. He is a plumbing apprentice in a program that the state oversees and wants to own his own business. How about the “trillion dollars in new spending” by Obama? The McCain campaign apparently did its own calculations on the cost of Obama’s programs to come up with the figure. A more neutral calculation comes from the New American Foundation, a nonpartisan, nonprofit, Washington, D.C.- based think thank.
The foundation did an analysis of the proposals Obama and McCain made in their speeches at the national political conventions. The tab: Obama proposed $547 billion in annual spending increases and tax cuts while McCain proposed between $524 billion and $563 billion in annual spending increases and tax cuts.
All the Joe the Plumbers in the ad would have to agree that both figures represent lots of money.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment | Categories: Eye on Ohio
Comments
By Leslie
October 24, 2008 1:34 PM | Link to this
First, it is increasingly clear that Barack Obama’s primary constituency is the non-tax payer. Because Obama’s tax plan gives cash payments to those who don’t pay any taxes at all, it amounts to another form of welfare. As the Journal points out: The Tax Foundation estimates that under the Obama plan 63 million Americans, or 44% of all tax filers, would have no income tax liability and most of those would get a check from the IRS each year. The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis estimates that by 2011, under the Obama plan, an additional 10 million filers would pay zero taxes while cashing checks from the IRS. So, Obama’s plan is geared to increasing the number of non-tax payers. He is not trying to assist them in getting jobs that would help them earn enough money to pay taxes in the first place. Rather, by transferring wealth from tax payers to non-tax payers, Obama is actually enshrining a new and larger underclass — dependent on government handouts for their livelihood. This is, of course, regressive. But it meets Obama’s desire to make a large voting class permanently indebted to the Democrats. Second, we are on a slippery path to having a majority of the nation being dependent on the innovation, hard work and entrepreneurship of a shrinking tax paying class. This is both unfair and unhealthy for the country. A permanent dependent class will be an economic burden and ultimately a killer for economic growth, because it will require new and ever higher taxes to support. What is the motivation for innovation if you know that 50, 60 or 70% of your income will go to supporting people who either don’t work or don’t pay taxes? How is that equitable? It isn’t equitable. And even worse, it totally ignores human nature. Multiple studies of welfare recipients have shown clearly that people want to be self-sufficient — there is no pride in taking handouts. People want to feel proud about their lives and the work that they do. I don’t believe that they want to be treated like children. The welfare reform of the 1990s proved that putting in place incentives for people to find work is effective. When given the right motivation, people find jobs for themselves. It’s basic human behavior. Unfortunately, Obama and the “well intentioned” Democrats have never understood this basic fact. The opposed welfare reform because they didn’t think people could pull themselves up and provide for themselves. Their basic assumption is that we are not capable of taking care of ourselves. And now they are planning a system that will be a massive new entitlement program — funded on the backs of those who get up every morning and go to work. It is destructive and will result in a massive new dependent class which society will have to deal with for generations. Is this the kind of country America will become? A Democratic-socialist state with ever higher taxes and ever lower productivity? This is the America that Barack Obama envisions. His tax plan proves it.By Jim
October 24, 2008 11:17 AM | Link to this
McCain’s campaign is going down the toilet with Joe the Plumber.By Ohio mom
October 24, 2008 10:51 AM | Link to this
I have seen this commercial, but it hassn’t really grabbed my attention. I think most people, including me, are sick of Joe and sick of political ads and calls. I’ve already voted, so I’m ready for the election to be over and to get the results.