I doubt the voters will make much of "Joe the Plumber" unless they go for getting government off our backs by freeing plumbers from the oppression of licensing.

Sir;... I can't talk for plumbers... I have a buddy who put himself through college with the GI Bill, lawn mowing and plumbing. He taught me all I know on the subject , which is: clean it before I solder it, and crap runs down hill... it isn't rocket science... I know a lot more about pipe fitters, which is a sort of glorified plumber... As an Ironworker for thirty years I picked up the fact that the only thing that works on a pipe fitter is their mouths; and that is a remarkable likeness to republicans. Like Ironworkers, and unlike plumbers, they take off their gloves to eat. Fitters got it good ... Ironworkers would cut their mothers out of a job to make a profit, or get the job done a day early... Many hands make light work says the Bible; but Ironworkers say many hands run a job into the ground. Who cares about light work. If it was easy, your Gramma would do it... So it does not surprise me that the republicans are pinning all their hopes on a plumber... I wouldn't... I'd bet on an Ironworker any day...They may be the biggest essholes on the planet, but they don't take wine with their cheese... If the boys can't get it, they hire a man, and that man will let no impediment stand between himself and a done job... I think the republicans are riding Joe pretty hard, and what have they ever done but ride working people to the bank???Will it work this time??? I think they should have put their saddle on an Ironworker if they wanted to get some where... Old Joe looks big enough to eat hay, but I'd bet he needs shoes and a little opportunity...Don't ride him hard and put him away wet. Don't ride him like you stole him..Save some of him for another day.... Thanks...Sweeney

Re: Masako;... In the trades, the ones who are licenced have a better claim to the cash. People put up an elevator in a building with a licenced hand, but they'll let school boys and rummies stand their buildings up.. I'd love to see Ironworkers licenced... You might lose ten percent of the union, but you'd lose ninty percent of the snakes... I swear, if you ever want to hide in a building in a bad storm git under a truck... If a rat built it you have no idea what you got, and if it is too heavy to wear, you don't want to be wearing it... In this country you can't just hand a guy an intelligence test before offering him a job.. But that is wrong. Some people should not be there. I shouldn't have been there. It is a dangerous place no matter where you work... It would be better for the society to pay some folks to stay out of the way because the Joes don't just hurt themselves, but others as well... It is not fair to the ones that can work to be there with human hazzards, so people ought to test into jobs at least to see if they can pass a physical or an an aptitude test... Besides; as many a lawyer has found; a licence is not just something to have , but something to lose. It would be a wonderful day in this country if an Ironworker could say: Boss; that point need doing right, and if I let that by me, I could lose my licence... Work should be worth doing, and doing it right ought to earn the price of doing it at all...There is no quality control in this world like a man in love with his work. Such affection should be encouraged...Thanks, and best...Sweeney

Come to think of it, Barone, you are so out of it, it's pathetic. I was an auto mechanic when I put myself through college, doing real work unlike you, and to me like just about everyone else, making the equivalent at that time of the amount of income Obama wants to tax now was unthinkable. And the same is true today of Joe or Sam the plumber or whoever the hell he really is. I seriously doubt you have a clue how to solder a copper pipe, why copper over galvanized or pvc is better, or anything else having to with the real world of what you spew hot air on. What a phony you are.

Hey Mr. Sweeney. I should have known. You are an Ironworker. You guys practically walk on water. Let's invite Barone to get up there 60 feet above the ground so he can see why OSHA wants him to be tied off. Think he can handle it?