Samuel Wurzelbacher, more commonly known as “Joe the Plumber,” gained a minor level of fame during the 2008 presidential election after the McCain-Palin camp continuously used him as a metaphor for the average working American.
Since 2008, Wurzelbacher has infrequently popped back into the media spotlight for a few brief moments, usually after saying something ridiculous. In June 2012, Wurzelbacher said that gun control resulted in Europe’s Jewish population being unable to defend themselves during the Holocaust, and that the Ottoman Empire’s gun control laws had the same effect during the Armenian Genocide.
Later that year, during a campaign event for Arizona State Senator Lori Klein, he said in reference to illegal immigration, “For years I’ve said, you know, put a damn fence on the border going to Mexico and start shooting.” Earlier this year, Wurzelbacher penned an open letter to the parents of the victims killed in the Santa Barbara mass shooting. “As harsh as this sounds,” he wrote, “your dead kids don’t trump my Constitutional rights … We still have the Right to Bear Arms … Any feelings you have toward my rights being taken away from me, lose those.”
It should come as no surprise that the plumber has come out from under his sink to post awful comments on Facebook regarding the situation in Ferguson, Missouri. In one post, Wurzelbacher put up an image of a dirty pair of work boots with the incorrectly-punctuated statement “It’s interesting that one of the items NOT being looted in Ferguson is work boots?” above it.
Another post said, “The best way to end the rioting and looting in Ferguson… job fair. They’ll scatter like cockroaches when the lights come on!”
There were no shortage of insensitive, ignorant, and racist comments from his legion of ridiculous followers on Facebook. One post said “Cut their welfare and the foodstamps [sic] off and give the police real bullets and kill the worthless bastards.”
Another said “You don’t think any of these worthless people who are looting actually work for a living…they have obama [sic], and the democrats [sic], they don’t need to work…just mooch off the white people who work for a living.”
See both Facebook posts below.
Amy is a writer and researcher with Ring of Fire. You can follow her on Twitter @AEddings31.
