A pro-gun rights campaign video (above) from Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, better known as "Joe the Plumber," is stirring up controversy with a reference that ties gun control to the Holocaust.
The ad shows the congressional candidate in target practice, taking aim at various fruits. His voice intones: "In 1939, Germany established gun control. From 1939-1945, 6 million Jews and 7 million others, unable to defend themselves, were exterminated... I love America."
The video was posted by the campaign on YouTube and its Facebook page, though it does not appear on the candidate's website.
The incumbent for the ninth district of Ohio where Wurzelbacher is running, Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur, has served in Congress since 1983. She called the ad "peculiar" and labeled her competitor "out of step with the vast majority of people," while appearing on Daily Rundown Thursday.
Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio reacts to a controversial campaign video from challenger Samuel Wurzelbacher, better known as 'Joe the Plumber.'
"Most people in the region that I’m privileged to represent and live in—which he does not; he does not live in the 9th district—care about jobs. They care about how we keep the automotive recorvy going, the boom in agriculture, in biofuels, in natural gas drilling," she said. "They want to hear about expansion of our ports, our rail, airports. They want to hear about the future. He’s talking about years ago and I’m not quite sure what relevance that has to the jobs of today."
Wurzelbacher has defended the ad, telling Politico that those who are offended by it "are probably serving a political agenda."
The National Jewish Democratic Council called for its removal, arguing that "using the memories of the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust to make a political point is never appropriate, under any circumstances."
Wurzelbacher, a native of Ohio, became known as "Joe the Plumber" after asking then-candidate for president Barack Obama a tax policy question on the 2008 presidential campaign trail. Republican candidate Sen. John McCain took up his cause and Wurzelbacher was catapulted onto the national political scene.
More Lean Forward headlines:
Leave a Comment:
So some blond dingbat who is trying to make a career out of what should be a 2-year volunteer job doesn't agree with him? How does that mean he's in trouble?
He isn't. This is the media way of discrediting him.
Its the way the media leverages a story to get the outcome that they want.
For instance: Zimmermans father, and Treyvons dad.
Do you see the implication there? It is almost always stated that way to get sympathy for Martin; make him seem child-like, rather than the thug that he was, and contempt for Zimmerman, who must be a nasty adult who took advantage of Martin, who in fact was trying to keep his community safe from thugs like Martin.
It's all spin. Just like the moron who made the bigoted and racist comment about my earlier post.
BTW. I'll bet that 90% of the people on this blog have no idea of what you meant by a two year volunteer job, just like they don't understand that politicians are public servants, not public officials. Officials is a power grab.
Joe the faux plumber who wasn't a licensed plumber and still doesn't own his bosses business since Obama increased his taxes...oh wait a minute none of that happened except for him being a fake plumber
If only they had their weapons they could have shot up a bunch of fruit like Joey!
Joe- get a real job. Those of us who really care about jobs, the economy, world issues, housing, how they're going to feed their families, etc. don't really care about your views and are so over you. You've had your 15 minutes, now goodbye.
And this fruitcake is the teabaggers own persona. Wow, talk about a bunch of low informed people. Keep up the good work pugbags.
Misinformed, not low informed.
Oh boy. "Joe The Dumber" got himself back in the news.
Hay Joe. I see you are still looking for work. I got a toilet that needs scrubbing.
The country does not need another gun-toting, climate change hoax believer, anti-women's rights, wing nut in office. Have the group of Tea Party folks elected in 2010 accomplished anything? No, they have simply obstructed the President at every turn and nearly caused us to default. They do not have any real solutions, they just want to take us back to the 1950's when women and minorities knew their place, and corporations could do whatever they wanted without those bothersome regulations. Joe, stick with plumbing, you are shooting blanks.
Yes, good point, Obama should get whatever it is he wants. What does he want to do? What? Does he have a plan? No, all he does is blame GWB for all these problems. Yet, he takes credit for whatever good occurs. Hmmm, could not that good also have come from GWB?? Using Obama's argument, it is possible.
Do not vote for King Obama or we will be in a Stalin/Hitler-esque world very soon.
Stalin and Hitler...yeah, good post. Two guys with little in common that hated each other and that had completely different idealogies.
Read any good books lately...?
mickey mouse McCain gave us two big winners silly sarah and joe the schmo. Thanks John boy.
As a conservative I have to agree wholeheartedly. While I don't have anything personal against either of them it was political disaster. McCain was the best asset Obama had.
hey mitt; joe for vp;
I like how everyone is focusing on the Holocaust reference in the video and not the Armenian Genocide part. Apparently the National Jewish Democratic Council wasn't appalled by that part.
Guns are manufactured to kill. So long as people who harbor the paranoia of self-defense against imaginary threats are permitted to get guns without background checks, we will continue to be the most violent country in the world.
I love America because we have a government that can settle differences with a ballot instead of a bullet. Time to end the NRA intimidation of elected officials and end tax exempt status for nonprofits and churches that engage in political activity.
Those who believe an elected representative government is the problem are saying our Constitution is the problem, and maybe it is because it assumes an educated rational public that shares a common public interest.
Sure, liberals always call the public "rational", until they vote the liberals out of office. Then the public becomes a "crazy beast" that needs more control.
What's amazing is the Republicans of his district nominated Wurzelbacher as their candidate for Congress. What were they thinking?
They were thinking to get rid of the trash currently in office who are "serving" us by getting themselves huge raises, huge pensions and huge benefits.
Oh, sorry, forgot this is "liberalworld.com". Go back and worship your big govt idol.
no they think guns are more imprtant than anything else, its a dumb cultural phenomenon
Joe is appealing to NRA members with this one and using the Holocaust to justify their position on gun control. If he doesn't live in that district, how can he even qualify to run for office from that district?
HURRY UP LIBERALS COLLAPSE ALL THE COMMENTS THAT DO NOT AGREE WITH OUR PARTY LINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My gosh, everyone is a history major today - huh? This is one time when the liberals are in glee-ville. Get rid of guns AND disobey the Constitution? Oh glee is mine!!!!!!!
DO NOT VOTE FOR OBAMA - HE IS A SOCIALIST WHO IS LOOKING TO ADD TWO LETTERS TO "US" TO MAKE IT USSR.
dude, the founders wanted us to have guns in case we needed to revolt against the government, they didnt want suicidal or homicidal people to have M-16s and walk around the mall with them or have guns in bars while intoxicated (see the law that got shot down in AZ but was promoted by the NRA). So if I hope to god nothing liek this ever happens, but if a little child gets a hold of one of your guns that you want to protect yourself against an intruder (a low probability event), then dont be surprised at any bad outcomes. Remeber 33 suicides for every person that protects their home from an intruder with a gun. So keep giving them to anyone and everyone. Libs are saying theres a limit to who should haave them, but I guess that goes agaist the 2nd amendment which isnt open to interpretation
"RWING" you are a moron....Name one.....Just ONE law Obama put forward to restrict gun control....You can't.....Because it doesn't exist......Socialist eh?? You even know what that means or did you get the definition from Fox news?
Don't like Socialism? Fine.....You can mail your future Social Security and Medicad checks to me then if it offends you that much because you know what, those programs are Socialism.....Oh yeah, get rid of the cops and fireman...Socialism....
Joe, is that you...? Don't you have a campaign to run?
joe the moron plumber and the morons like him (palin) will be exposed, sooner rather than later
Joe the Douche-bag just became part of the establishment and he isn't even in congress yet.
Come and live in Arizona. The threats are alot more than imagined.
Guns are made to shoot. How does any one know what guns are made for other than that?
Sorry that a "little ole gun" scares so many folks.
Yeah, those threats have bony fingers and badges...
Any chance Arizona might secede? I'll contribute to any real effort to do so.
I have to agree with Liberals on this and I loathe to do this unless I can help it. The campaign was not only factually incorrect (the Nazis were not interested in gun control laws beyond the restrictions that were imposed on them militarily and Europe, including Germany simply never had a well armed populace. This is an American tradition and one that I fully support but still it is uniquely American. Further the connection just doesn't make sense so one can only conclude that the intention was to play to emotions by invoking the holocaust and this is in bad taste. Had the commercial been about usurpation of power through executive fiat then perhaps the link would be more fitting but as it is Joe the Plumber was just playing emotions.
Oh you guys are just mad that he has attention and you don't. I better call the Waaaaambulace.
Yeah, that's it...
I say that he isn't getting ENOUGH attention - give him more!
I'm
very pro-gun. I’m also pro integrity. This statement is totally false. Joe the Plumber’s statements about gun
control have NEVER been proven. Fact is
modern weapons combined by a nation that was swayed by rhetoric allowed the
Nazi to launch their reign of terror. Gun
control had no discernible influence on WW II.
Russia’s Bolshevik revolution used modern terror tactics and gaining the
people’s support through promises of a better life. The Russian government used modern weapons
(tanks, machine guns…) verse bolt action weapons against its own people to keep
control in the 60s. Gun control doesn’t
work but these type of lies put Joe the Plumber more in line with the Nazi than
gun control advocates. It was the lies
and rhetoric that allowed Hitler to build a base of hate that people followed
into horrific actions.
Getting ultra right-conservatives and ultra left-liberals to see the error of their mind-set is like trying to teach the proverbial pig to sing. It can't be done. So far I've seen both Romney and Obama both take stances that an educated intelligent person would deem as irresponsible and contrary to the interests of the average citizen. What we need are more statesmen and stateswomen that have the interest of the people at heart. Not politicians wanting to line their pockets before they drop out of politics. Remember government is supposed to be "...of the people, by the people, for the people", not the politician.
Mike-1499840 Comment collapsed by the community. For what reason? Making a correct historical statement that disputed the party line?
theres room for everyone here, NO MATTER WHAT YOUR HOBBIES ARE .
if the people in the holocaust had had a gun they could have defended themselves or come a whole lot closer than being taken at gunpoint and exterminatated
type in FEMA CAMPS into your browser and u ll find a whole series of camps that have been built surrounded with razor wire and said to be by fema emergency relocation
centers for national emergenices like hurricanes floods etc
why do u need razoor wire around a facility built for those purposes
they are stocked and manned with personnel
DRAW YOUR OWN CONCLUSION
Someone needs to tell Joe the Plumber that his 15 minutes of fame were up 4 years ago!
What an a$$!