NewsWest 9
HOBBS, NEW MEXICO - Americans have failed to do their duty, and now is the time to step it up. That's the message from Joe the Plumber. The Ohio man made famous in the 2008 Presidential Campaign made a stop in Hobbs to fire up New Mexico voters Friday. He wasn't easy on the President or any political parties. NewsWest 9 found out why he's trying to get voters ready for this year's congressional election.
"We have failed miserably. I mean, look who we have in office for crying out loud. I mean you have Pelosi, you have Boxer, you have Lindsey Graham, you have McCain, you have Barack Obama, I mean you really can't tell the difference between one or the other," Joseph Wurzelbacher, "Joe the Plumber," said before a TEA party crowd outside the Lea County Event Center.
It's fair to say Joe the Plumber didn't hold anything back at Friday's rally. Dozens of TEA party supporters came out to get his take on all things political. He said there's plenty of blame to go around.
"Yeah, a lot of these guys get caught in their lie, yet they're still in office," Wurzelbacher explained. "It's incredible that the American people still have faith in them. Or is it just because they have become complacent and lazy? That's what I'm trying to point out. The reason why these guys are still in office is because you're not doing your job as Americans."
He said right now there are few politicians he personally has endorsed, and those come with strict scrutiny. After he became a figure in the McCain campaign in 2008, he said it was clear he was being used.
"John McCain. Yes, he saw an opportunity to use Joe the Plumber, which was supposed to be mainstream America, middle class working man, and see if he could get a bounce in votes in that," Wurzelbacher said. "Barack Obama tried the same thing, but shortly after that found out I wasn't voting for him and he went the other way with it."
One piece of American culture that did make an appearance was "Thomas Jefferson," who also said it's time to get back to the basics.
"The government is simply there to be our servant, to watch out for us and to protect us but not to take everything from us, to provide for everything," Warren Rushton, who was dressed as Thomas Jefferson for a TEA Party speech, said. "It's just gotten way out of hand. Pretty soon it'll be like Europe, and parties will only be discussing who can manage socialism the best."
With all the issues, many are united in saying the voters have all the potential to fix the problems.
